Watch the video on video textbooks from the link above, it is quite exciting for the elearning and school systems as kids today are having trouble staying up to date and engaged in the classroom. It also opens up a brand new marketplace for selling learning content as apple is offering a free creation platform to make your own textbooks and sell them in apple's textbook store.

Coming from a technology and education background I couldn't be more excited to see this evolution happen. I always envisioned this may be possible with the iPad but to see it in action it's truly stunnning. I also encrouage you to watch the video episode below of iPad today talking about the subject as well.

Another interesting point is that iTunes U is also now an app where you can download lectures from the most prestigius universities in the world. Having access to the most brilliant minds and their teachings for free? You have got to be kidding right? NO! Go to the iTunes app store and look up iTunes U. Absolutley amazing, now they get downloaded to you iPad.

Do you have knowlege in something interesting? If you own a Mac and have extra time, download iBooks Autor and create your own textbook. The information and knowlege revolution is upon us. As the iPad is more integrated in our lifestyle, I can see more and more how this will help connect our world together with the best knowedge our society has to offer. 

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If you haven't heard now there was a slight (I mean major) problem with the playstation network April 20th, it was hacked! Officials learned days before a hacker stole personal information from its 77 million users.

Yes you read right 77 MILLION people's Name's, Birthdays, email address' and basic login information (address, phone, username, password, and possibly Credit Card info) was compromised for players using its PlayStation Network (PSN). That includes me, I by having a playstation 3 and being on their network is quite certainly on that list.

So what does this mean to everyone NOT on the playstation network?This should be a warning that even Sony, on of the top technologically adept companies is not immune from online intrusions. I'm not too surprised, but they will not be the first or last on that list of corporate hacking casualties moving forward. The good thing is that this will be an example for others to see how things CAN go terribly wrong, then LEARN how to avoid the massive security and PR hit if something like this happens to a Fortune 1000 company.

What can WE do to learn from this? In this world today where Facebook is basically auctioning off your life to the highest bidder, and membership sites are getting profile information hacked... we have to keep a fresh perspective. Like Spiderman's uncle Ben said, "with great power, comes great responsibly" Not every company will always take responsibility for their shortcomings, for every Sony in the news, there are likely hundreds of online stores hacked every month.

Were still living in the infancy of the internet and the new information age. Here is a good example; in the early 1900's when the automobile became popular, there was no car insurance, seat-belts, even driver's licences. The drivers license was actually invented in 1915 by Jim Jordan when he was injured by an underage child driving a car recklessly. The Supreme Court finally passed it in 1923. It took almost a century to perfect the automobile, the infrastructure, and a few generations of humans getting used to the whole idea. The internet is in the same place! Were all getting used to the internet being a CONSTANT part of our lives, not knowing that it's really only about 20 years old. Remember we had Cars around for 20 years before anyone had to even get a licence!

Times they are a changin'. I love Bob Dylan, and he was right, technology and the way of life we see online is now in hyperdrive, so what do we do? We're all sucked into this vortex... do we dare get out, or just ride it out? Here are my 4 easy steps to avoid over-thinking this whole thing and go back to living life:

#1, Get some type of credit card or identify theft protection and check your bank statments. Banks are pretty good about calling you when there is a lot of activity on big purchases these days, but you may not notice that $25 charge every other month. Banking online is OK, it IS about the most secure thing you can do online these days. It is convenient to just log in once a month or so and review all you most recent activities from the month. As a technologist I embrace the convenience, banks have the most to lose in a case of a security breech, so they spend the most money protecting and insuring themselves.

#2, Try and reduce the amount of Credit Cards, Bank accounts, and other credit places of your life. Less is more, keep it simple. Part of the reason why people get robbed is that they have too many places to review every month so they don't even try. If you sign up for a new credit account, or open a new bank account, try to close an old one to make up for it. Otherwise you are creating more work for yourself.

#3, Create and use 3 sets of passwords. This one seams a bit silly, but so true. Start training your kids to setup a standard password system, when they grow up they will have to remember many passwords every day so get organized. I recommend you put your passwords in 3 categories: basic, work, and financial.

Basic Passwords: This is a password you should use for everyday websites like the playstation network, amazon, ebay, yahoo. It does not mean it shouldn't contain letters and numbers, but IF one of these websites get's hacked your going to be ok because there is not banking connections to them. "what about ebay or amazon?" your asking "they have the ability to make purchases in your name". Well, they also have insurance and if they or you get hacked, you can always call their customer service and get any purchases revoked quite easily if you tell them about the security breech.

Work Passwords: DON'T MIX PASSWORDS FROM HOME WITH WORK, often times you may have to give out your work password to a college, or frequently change it because they make you. Using your Basic or Financial Passwords will either cause you to eventually have to tell an IT guy or work partner your password to your life, just to they can help you fix a virus or login to your profile.

Financial Passwords: These are the passwords that are most important, they are usually the longest and hardest to figure out, UPPERCASE lowercase, numbers, symbols, yikes! Yes, you can create one master password here, but only use it to login to your credit card, mortgage, bank account, investor accounts. Anything  you can transfer money in and out of from. Don't use it for facebook, that is by far most frequently hacked password these days.

There are many ways to STORE all these passwords, the best way i have found is to use a hand written notebook (it is more likely a thief will get your passwords off your computer than off your desk), consider using a password program like RoboForm or Password Safe. Of course another safe place is to store it in your head. Here is a great article in the NY Times on passwords.

#4, Never respond to an email asking to update or change your password for "security purposes". Banks or Paypal will NEVER ask you to change your password via email. This is a clear attempt to send you to a fake website that looks just like your banks, and when you enter in your username and password and it will give it directly to them. Check the addressbar, it should always read your banks web address.com. The email they give you in those scams will not always take you to the same address that shows in the hyperlink. Bottom line, always use the addressbar to type in bankofamerica.com instead of clicking a link in some email. 99.9% of the time, you will never have to change your password once it has been set anyway, so any email asking you to do so should always be a red flag.

Remember, if you get hacked or your credit card is stolen and used, most banks and credit card companies will refund your the same or next day in most cases of fraud. Be nice to their customer service people and tell them the truth. Have them re-issue you another card witha new number. If you shop online a lot, it's not all that uncommon, so don't think it's the end of the world... it happens every day, take a deep breath and call them... talking to someone will ease your frustration and fear as well as assure you it gets done. Sometimes changing your credit card number is a good thing, it causes you to re-evaluate all those companies setup on a re-occurring charge which could save you some cash in the long run anyway.

So it now seams commonplace that, we all wait every other month for Apple to release it's latest device that we all want... even before we have even seen it, held it, or even checked our bank account to see if we can afford it! Somehow Steve Jobs is able to walk on stage and throw down the 50,000 pound Thor Hammer that is the "next awesome" thing we won't be able to live without for the next 8 months.

Apple aside there was a lot of big developments in the tablet space this year. Motorola has a wonderful Xoom tablet, Blackberry has one now, and even HP's doesn't seam too shabby. But hey with 90% (yes i said 90%!) of the tablet market going to Apple's iPad (they invented the space a year ago, I would hope they could keep a hold of it up until now) we all now await what is in the apple store for us tech junkies.

Let me begin to generalize a bit. What is a tablet? Will I really use it? And is it for everyone? I will begin to answer these 3 most important questions.

What is a tablet? A tablet is a thin, light, ultra portable computer that is larger and more powerful than a cell phone (Most can actually make and receive calls) and less bulky and expensive than a laptop. Remember netbooks? Yes, their dead now. Feel free to go ahead and throw them on the heap of smoldering newspaper subscriptions, AAA maps, and blockbuster video cards that we are all now so glad to see out of our lives. I had a kid knock on my door tonight and try to sell me a newspaper subscription to the chronicle. HA!! I gave him $10 NOT to put me on their list. I should have told him he should try selling iPad apps to get to college. Back to tablets, sorry... So a tablet is something like a notepad that you can take to meetings, but also on vacation. You can take it to a baseball game to keep score & watch replays, or to class to record a lecture. A tablet is up to the owner to what it's real purpose is, and that is the real beauty. It's anything and everything we always never knew we needed.

Will I really use it? At first it when I got one, it was the worlds greatest pooping device. I never went to the bathroom without it. From games like Angry Birds, or surfing internet sites, I began to realize this thing could work pretty well in business too. Walking into a meeting, I leave the laptop in the car and only carry in my tablet. It's easier to carry, take notes, show examples, view presentations, do research, etc. If you don't know why you need one, but have one anyway... just take it with you, everywhere you go. You will be surprised how often it replaces a laptop in its so many ways throughout the day. Hey it's not perfect, I'm writing this article on my laptop, but the world is rapidly seeing just how ultimate technology at your fingertips is now a complete reality!

Apps are here to stay. When so many people bought that first palm treo, it was a game changer. A all-in-one phone that now semi-replaced a laptop. Email, text messaging, universal contacts, calendar, and even light web surfing was now in a pocket. But that was really it, no-one was using the palm app store to buy apps. It was practically impossible to buy them in the first place. The apple/android marketplace has now given the world a wonderful dose of American ingenuity and invention. Have any problem? Someone has likely written an app to solve it. I'm constantly amazed how many apps truly change my way of life and perception solving problems and retrieving information. So rightfully when tablets stepped up to the plate we now really see the apps true purpose, "to boldly go where you never thought you could with integrating technology & lifestyle"

Is it really for everyone? As a true geek I find it important to always push the comfortable limits of my daily life to see if i can replace certain aspects with tablet technology. In some ways its a success (finding cheap plane tickets, converting currency, sharing photos of my son) and in others not so much (to-do lists, shopping for clothes, finding the nearest/cheapest parking space). All in all, I consider myself a "crash test dummy" with technology, slamming into the technical wall so you don't have to. With tablet technology there are the 3 S', smart, social, and sexy.

Smart, carry one around... you feel smarter, you have the power of the internet with you at all times. Whether your just checking the news and weather, or looking up that trivia question, the internet provides humans with a collective intelligence that is instantly honest and it is silly for my NOT to want that with me at all times.

Social, "phones are personal, tablets are social" with the larger screen it now is something you can share with others. "Hey, check this out" "Let's take a look at..." Tables are able to cross the personal boundrys where multiple fingers can interact and contribute.

Sexy, "paper is so 20th century" the new camera in the iPad 2 means not only can you take notes at lunch, you can record the conversation to review later, snap a photo of the lunch receipt to write off, review the hamburger you just ate, and sign the contact with a finger. Just make sure you wipe the mustard off before touching the screen, it's 21st century etiquette :)

a&tt/Cingular signed a 5 year exclusivity agreement with apple in 2007. 

An ongoing California class-action lawsuit filed in 2007 claims that Apple and AT&T illegally exerted a monopoly over iPhone service by telling customers the iPhone's required service contract was two years long when the Apple / AT&T exclusivity deal was actually for five years -- thus requiring buyers to re-up with AT&T for three years (and not, say, T-Mobile) if they wanted to keep using the iPhone. Obviously Apple had to respond to these allegations, and in addition to arguing that no one was ever promised an unlocked iPhone after two years, the company's lawyers repeatedly confirm the existence of the five-year agreement while noting it was publicly reported in USA Today.

So because at&t was the only company with the iPhone, problems arose as more and more iPhones sprung up throughout the US, especially in major cities like the bay area. Eventually the towers carrying all those calls would fill up and have to either do one of two things: drop the circuit, or pass your call on to another tower. This was not a good thing for at&t's 3G gsm technology which although a bit faster than cdma (verizon/sprint), was not built for that much traffic.

Dropped calls on at&t's network was very typical and unpredictable. I remember so many days driving home through San Francisco and as soon as I got into the city my call would drop. Because of the iPhone's popularity, thousands and perhaps millions of people who all want the same phone were stuck with at&t's crummy network. The birth of the Verizon iPhone was a long awaited rumor even since 2008 when the 3G model came out and began its revolutionary technology trail of demand and attention.

Now on to my review: My new verizon iPhone so far is GREAT! 3 first reactions, it's exactly the same as the at&t model that came out in July but with some differences:

1. The service works! I drive everywhere on the phone and in 3 days and a few 1 hour+ calls have not dropped one call yet.
2. You can't surf the internet while talking, had this happen to me once now too. Driving on the phone, need to get driving directions, google maps doesn't work without internet so had to finish my conversation before getting online to find the address. Verizon says they will have an update that will ALLOW this in the spring, so look for that ViPhone users. NOTE: With Verizon you will have UNLIMITED data, unlike At&t who is now capping their data plan to 2GB/mo.
3. You can pay extra per month for a feature called "personal hotspot" it will allow you to share the verizon internet connection with up to 5 computers via wifi, it will cost an extra $20/month. This is similar to at&t's tethering package but only allows a wired connection with one computer. (If you jailbreak the phone with GreenPois0n & download/buy the MiWi application you can do the same thing for a $20 one time fee, I just did it and it works great!)

Well, on to my final opinion; Verizon was anticipating a large launch event with daunting lines at every store filled with angry at&t customers eager to get am iphone that would work. They didn't get those long lines and crazy media attention they might have expected but they did fill up their preorders and have converted many frustrated bay area residents. Because the iPhone 4 is exactly the same and doesn't really offer much more than the last at&t launch, there wasn't much sizzle in this story.

The bottom line is... if you like making phone calls consistently and have the money or contract freedom to switch from at&t to verizon, it was worth it for me. Verizon is primarily a cell phone company, and they are way ahead of at&t with their LTE/4G rollout of the new faster network. In the future... the verizon customers will have the upperhand with coverage reliability and network speed. At&t does also plan on a 4G rollout, but not until 2012. Long after a new 4G iPhone will be released and on the market.

Mobile Technology & Productivity

Social Networking

To be honest, the stars aligning so perfectly all at once is not likely... but LTE is here and it's awesome! Faster than DSL speeds in your hand with tower strength reaching twice as far as it's predecessors. If Apple was able to pull off this "FOG City Miracle" and give San Franciscans what they always wanted, an iPhone that actually makes and holds phone calls for more than 5 minutes! WOW!

iPhone bay residents may have noticed the At&t network on the peninsula and outlining areas of the East Bay mountains has been tapped out since the release of the iPhone 3GS. Now with new iPhone 4 and iPad 3G customers running around using bandwidth it has only perpetuated the ongoing dropped call problem. Having full bars and losing a call every 2-5 minutes is actually normal for most iPhone uses who reside in the prestigious silicon valley "pioneer for tech innovation". As a resident and iPhone user I was forced to purchase a MicroCell for my house just to guarantee important calls don't get dropped, and after the $150 investment and extra draw on my bandwidth... i wasn't impressed with the call quality. Any amount of money it will cost me to dump At&t and move to a Verizon iPhone (especially if it has LTE) would be well worth it for me and thousands upon millions of iPhone users around the country.

Steve Jobs... make it happen!

1. MLB at Bat 2010 - $4.99

Since baseball season is almost over, it may not be worth getting just for the world series. For $4.99 I have certainly made the price of this app worth while. Here is why I like it:

• Real time pitch by pitch locations
• Batter, Pitcher, Team stats for any game that day final, or in progress
• FREE streaming local broadcasts of every side of every game in progress
• FREE in game highlights uploaded throughout the game
• If you sign up for MLB TV you can literally WATCH the game in HD quality! (you have to pay $19.99 for the year but you can also watch on your computer) *NOTE: you have to have fairly fast high speed internet to get the high quality stream video, **DOES NOT SHOW LOCAL TEAMS' broadcast so you will have to turn on FOX or your local station to still watch games broadcasted locally. ***NOTE: you can pay $9.99 extra for the premium postseason package which not only gives you the broadcast but 4 different fixed camera angles during the game.

This is literally the future for the iPad, applications like these is what the iPad was built for. I can see very soon an application like this that you take to a football or baseball game... connect to the field's WiFi and watch camera angles, view in game stats & message other fans in other seats from a GPS fan locator. NFL... take notes!

2.  Let's Golf 1 & 2 - $4.99

The only thing better than playing golf on the course is playing golf in on bart, or in your living room. Not only is this game fun and easy to play, but the challenges and courses make it quite addictive. The price is also very reasonable at $4.99 for what you get. My favorite is still the first Let's Golf, but Let's Golf 2 is still fun and just as addictive.

3. Golfshot GPS - $29.99

Well, I know what your thinking... $30 for an app! That's crazytown! For the avid golfer, you don't know what you have been missing. This app works with both iPhone and iPad and syncs to your account so you can use either on the course. Not only does it have every course known to man, but it is always updating the latest GPS Ariel shots just to make sure the greens are the same.

As you start play, you enter in yourself and all the other golfers your playing with. It grabs from your contact list in the phonebook. Every hole will show you an ariel shot of the hole and a blue dot where you are in relation to the hole with the distance in yardage you are from the approx flag location.



You can drag the target around to change the type of shot you want, after the hole enter in your score and move on to the next one. Finish the round and it will email your scorecard to you and all the other players you played with that day (make sure you have their email address in the contact). Over time you can track your GIR, fairway shots, putts, everything a pro would do if they were analysing every aspect of their game. So for all those guys who spent $200 for the GPS golf tracker, eat your heart out! This app is 15% of the cost and does much more. I literally stopped grabbing a scorecard in the proshop and have loved every min of using Golfshot on either my iPhone or iPad on the course. (I would recommend only the iPad if you have a nice case and a cart, keeping it in the golfbag doesn't always work so well)

Golfplan with Paul Azinger - $.99 or $4.99 for the HD

This is a compliment to the Golfshot software. It takes your data from the Golfshot and sends you into training to complete exercises to help your game. Paul have tons of videos that talk about different shots, techniques, and other exercises to step up your game. Plus is you keep up by adding in your golfshot stats like if fairways hit, amount of putts, etc. Paul will keep track of your development. WOW!

4. Epicurious - Free

So I said this was the top paid apps but i would have loved to pay them for this one. If you like cooking, or like me want to cook but have no idea how, this is app for you.

The features are too many to list but here are a few to give you an idea.

• Search by Cuisine, Ingredients, Season/Occasion, Dietary Consideration, Dish Type. once you choose an identifier like "chicken, Dinner" the 15,000+ recipes sort and dwindle down.
• Everything is rated from real users, you can even rate it from the iPad as your cooking it. 
• Save recipes to favorites, and add to a shopping list. Once you have all the dishes you need added to the shopping list you can take your iPad to the store and check each ingredient off your list.
• Photos look amazing! Everything is top notch, the app is not only easy to use, helpful, but every dish looks not only appealing but appetizing!

5. Audiotorium Notes - $4.99

If you use an iPad, chances are you might have thought about taking it into meetings. I love having it by my side in a conference room, lunch table, or just one on one... but up until Audiotorium the built in notes app from apple just didn't quite cut the mustard.

• Record the meeting audio with surprisingly good quality as your taking notes.
• All notes sync online to Dropbox for backup
• Increase font type size
• Download via WiFi smb sharing to PC or Mac

Honorable Mentions

Any office based iPad wouldn't be complete without GoToMeeting, QuickOffice, Keynote, Numbers, Pages

All the Apple office apps are great, they aren't quite perfect but very good.
Keynote is the must have tool for powerpoint presentations. Very easy to use and perfect for personally presenting in any meeting.

GoToMeeting- If you have ever been in a boring conference call, you would certainly appreciate the GoToMeeting iPad app. Plug in the meeting number, then watch the presenter's screen, communicate or just listen via the built in speaker and mic without plugging anything in.

Now just can't wait till multi-tasking comes in the next update so I can still listen to the meeting while I jump to play a quick 9 on Let's Golf :)

Very interesting. A new electric bike for urban areas. Very portable! Light and folds up so you can carry it on the bus or to your desk at the office. San Francisco this is for you!

It is a revolutionary biofuel for diesel engines here are some highlights of the fuel that may peak your interest:

• It stays fluid over 30 degrees colder than biodiesel (down 0 to -7 deg F)
• At a 5-20% blend with #2 diesel it will Increase Horsepower and boost MPG in any engine by at least 8-12%
• When mixed in the tank, G2 won’t settle out of a blend with #2 diesel and separate when parked it has the same specific gravity/viscosity
• It’s made from Soy Oil & Ethanol (unlike biodiesel, which is made from methanol) which is 99% natural
• The manufacturing process is much better for the environment and uses less energy

This video was made specifically for the Railroad Industry, I going to start to work on other videos specifically for bus/transit, trucking, marine, and more.

Any diesel engine can run on this NOW with no retrofit needed. Any newer diesel engine (2008-10) that may be incompatible with regular biodiesel can and will run great on G2.

The state of California Air Resource Board is calling this the NOW green diesel fuel, meaning that in our transition away from fossil fuels, this fuel can be blended as an additive for increased performance/fuel savings or completely replace diesel fuel altogether in some cases where the economics fit.

Imagine walking behind a School Bus or Semi Truck and the exhaust smells sweet like butterscotch and emits no smoke!

The future is now, we are ramping up to try and get this into all of California’s diesels. With all the bad news lately, I’m proud to be a part of something environmentally and economically positive that can truly make a difference without any infrastructure investment or modification.

Click on the link below to watch…

http://www.vimeo.com/10079820
G2 Railroad Marketing Video