Meet the new Amazon: Kindle Fire. At $200, it’s significantly more affordable than most tablets. Here’s my video blog review on the Amazon Kindle Fire (if you can’t see the video below, click here).

@saradavidson made this photo with just her iPhone. Pretty cool huh? She took the photos and used the app Diptic. This was our 3 courses from dinner at CommonwealthSF <– which is darn good BTW! Check out both the app and the restaurant (if you’re ever in Mission, San Francisco).

Creating photos is easy with the Diptic app, you first choose the “grid” layout you want to use (there is lots of options)

…after you have your layout you just tap and add photos from your Camera Roll to each section of the grid.

I video blogged with my iPhone front-cam the magical journey that was to Best Buy getting my iPad 2!!!!! At the end of the vid is the un-boxing and comparison to the iPad 1.

So far I’m impressed. Especially with how thin and light the iPad 2. It’s 33% thinner, and 15% lighter than iPad 1 (thinner than the iPhone 4). But it’s the speed of the dual-core A5 processor that is the biggest difference. When loading web pages, images and apps, it’s noticeable.

The up-shot? If you have iPad 1, there aren’t significant enough updates to warrant the upgrade cost. But, if you don’t have a tablet, and want one …the iPad 2 is easily the industry front-runner.

I tweeted other 140-character thoughts about the iPad 2:

And I also took some picture of the un-boxing:

Google TV did not debut at CES, but it was my first time seeing it and test driving it hands-on.

So what is Google TV? It’s the search engine company we all know and love …just integrated to your TV set. Instead of using your normal cable or satellite guide to browse through channels, you can use Google search on your TV- that will scan every channel, apps, the internet- simultaneously. So if you were to search for “lady gaga” for example, the results that would come up on your TV would likely be mixed with results from TV, YouTube and internet websites.

You can get Google TV in 2 different ways. Purchase a standalone TV that has it installed on it (currently only Sony has a TV like this). Or purchase a separate box from Logitech or Sony that plugs into your existing TV. There is no annual fee or subscription to the service.

Here are what I think are the most noteworthy features about Google TV:

• You can watch movies from Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand
• You can use your Android phone and voice to control your TV
• If you browser the internet with Google TV, it also has Flash 10.1 built-in, so you can view almost everything
• There is a dual-view function that lets you watch TV and Tweet or browse the web at the same time
• Pandora is one of many apps that you can run on Google TV
• Downloads to updates to the Google TV software are free

In my opinion, if you are someone who watches TV more than browses the internet- this might be a device you should consider. However, if you use your computer more, you might find yourself on the couch with your laptop still even with Google TV.
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Most people don’t know that Yahoo! Connected TV is built-in to many new TV’s that you can buy today (e.g. VIZIO, Samsung). Yahoo! is trying to change that. This year at CES, Yahoo announced many upgrades to what they call “broadcast interactivity”. When you’re watching programs on a TV that is internet enabled with Yahoo! Connected TV, you are able to interact with prompts that appear on screen automatically. For example, you might be watching the CBS show “Hawaii Five-O”. During the broadcast, you could use your remote to click to view information about the actors, characters and fun facts. Or if you are watching a boxing match on Showtime, you could vote for the boxer that you think will win the match.

But what’s really slick about this platform is that you can use your iPad, iPhone or Android phone as a smart remote control for Yahoo! Connected TV. It syncs right up with what you’re watching on screen and you can browse videos on your mobile device and activate them to play in front of you on your TV.

Yahoo announced at CES, that in early 2011, they will be partnering with ABC, CBS, HSN, and Showtime. They also just launched new apps for Connected TV: NBC, Flickr, QVC, CNBC, Clear Channel Radio, Mediafly, Virtual Nerd and Screen Dreams.

I think Yahoo is on the right track of providing a true interactive TV experience. Because you do not need a mouse or keyboard to control the menus, it’s easy to introduce into the living room (internet + your TV). IMHO, the more social elements they build-in (not commerce) to their platform, adoption will be faster and easier (e.g. polls, chat, quizzes). Their app platform is also publicly available, which is nice, so developers can create their own TV apps as well. I think it is a smart way to let the community naturally grow the platform’s index of apps.
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I had a chance to play with the BlackBerry Playbook tablet today …and it is legit. Many are advocating for this tablet because if it’s capabilities to play Adobe Flash. The first thing I noticed is how small the device is. The 7″ screen looks great and has a bright LCD touch screen (compared to the iPad’s 10″). The BlackBerry tablet OS interface and graphics are also impressive, although I wouldn’t say it’s as easy to pickup and start using like the Apple iPad. Instead of using buttons to navigate to the home screen, the Playbook uses gestures. Swiping up or down on any application activates functions and is how you navigate the UI. Noteworthy specs on the device include: 1 GHz dual-core processor, support for 1080p HD video playback, HDMI out, Dual HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Blackberry also developed an app called Bridge that allows for a seamless wirelesss sync between your existing BlackBerry phone and Playbook. You can actually bridge the Playbook tablet to a BlackBerry phone for a data connection (send/receive). Bridging through a BlackBerry phone is the only way to access enterprise data like corporate email through the tablet.

The PlayBook is launching in the first quarter of this year. Price is unknown.

Personally, I like the iPad better Typing on the 7″ screen and running applications at that size just felt weird. It’s a great start for RIM, but I worry about the adoption of developers to create applications specifically for the Playbook. However, from an enterprise perspective, if they focus on making this the ultimate business tablet …instead of personal computing, I think they’ll have more chance for success with the device.

Facebook Places launched tonight, and this blog post is intended to provide you with a 1-minute read about the new update. Most importantly, I have recommendations for your privacy settings you should look at before you get started using this new feature.

• Facebook Places is a feature within Facebook that is very similar to Foursquare and Gowalla.




• You can check in on Facebook, through the iPhone app, just like Foursquare and Gowalla.




• You can also check in and post to Facebook Places -using- Foursquare and Gowalla.




• There are no “Mayors” of locations.




• There are no “Badges”, “Pins”, or “Points”.




• When you check in you can tag your friends and check them in too.




• Just like Foursquare, you can leave comments at specific locations. When you check in, if any of your friends have been there, you will see their comments (just like Foursquare).




• Applications and websites that utilize Facebook, can and will be able to utilize your location check-in data if you approve it in your settings.




• Businesses and companies CAN claim their locations on Facebook Places.





• For businesses and company locations, there WILL be a “Like” button on the page. So upon check in, you can “Like” their page and get updates.





• FAQs for Facebook Places
• Article: “The Implications of Facebook Places” (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Article: “Facebook Places: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and Why It May Change the World” (Forrester)

Security and Privacy
I suggest that you check your privacy settings right now for Facebook Places (click ‘Account’ in the top right, then ‘Privacy Settings’):

1.) Review the privacy setting for “Places I check in”. By default, it’s set to Friends Only.

2.) *I would recommend changing the setting for “Friends can check me into Places” to be DISABLED*. Personally, I want to be in full control of disclosing my location. I would not feel comfortable allowing others to do this for me on my behalf. Not that I have anything to hide, but I can see how this feature would get abused and others could check you into places.

3.) Review if you would like your name to appear on the “People Here Now” screen when your friends check in at locations.

This is the way Twitter was meant to be experienced. Echofon is my new favorite Twitter app of choice.

In the early days of when Twitter was first released, I had on-going debates with friends about the platform and how you should be able do this and you should be able to do that. All of my gripes I have with the design have been addressed with the Echofon app for iPad. It’s incredibly fast and light-weight, the refresh and response time is quick and responsive. I’m a HUGE fan of the way this app handles threaded conversations. This screenshot illustrates what you see if you explode-out a conversation. Finally, the ability to type the “@” character and dynamically lookup Twitter usernames of the people you’re following, is incredibly helpful (just like Facebook). Often times you don’t remember people’s entire handles.

Bottom-line, if you’re a Twitter user (heavy or light), you must download this app. I’m such a fan of this app, it’s reason enough to buy an iPad. It’s the closest thing to a Twitter appliance I’ve experienced. And you don’t have to just take my word for it, I know that @KanyeWest and @badbanana use this app too. So if it’s good enough for them…
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The iPhone app called iTextSpeed allows you to clock your typing speed on the iPhone. It’s a lot of fun, and totally a great geek game to challenge your geek friends with (we’ve had some pretty heated games at the bars trying to beat each other). It’s free for the LITE version (limited to 15 second time-trials) and $1 for the full unlocked version.

Think you can beat my 47 words per minute!?! That’s the fastest I’ve registered so far on the LITE version …if you can beat it, take a screen shot, post a link in the comments, Tweet-it to @ramseym or email it. I need proof you can beat my record!

This past month I’ve been using an iPhone app that literally has made me happier (or perhaps it’s just a placebo) The app is called Sleep Cycle. It analyzes your sleep patterns and wakes you in your lightest sleep phase. Think of it like Google Analytics for your sleep!

Before I purchased the app, I wanted to learn more about sleep patterns- so I did some light research (which means I Googled a bunch of different things and read for 30-minutes about sleep patterns). The short and sweet of what I found out is that a typical person’s sleep patterns is to go from light to deep sleep (REM) about 3 to 5 times each night. I won’t bore you by going off on a scientific tangent about the details of REM sleep and how it works, but generally speaking, getting deep sleep is the most important.

The Sleep Cycle iPhone app can’t measure your eye movement (which is the best indicator of if you’re in a light sleep vs. deep sleep), BUT what this app does measure, is your overall physical movement when your sleeping. The bottom line is, when you’re moving in your sleep, you’re likely in a light sleep- and when you’re not moving- you’re in a deep sleep. This app tells you that.

(two of my own recent personal sleep patterns)

For $0.99, this app has replaced my alarm clock. It’s awesome! All you do is put your phone under your pillow while you sleep. The motion sensor will detects when you’re in your lightest sleep within a 30-minute window of the alarm time you set. If you start to drift into deep sleep, it wakes you up in that 30-minutes so you don’t feel tired, groggy or exhausted. How cool is that!?!

If you’ve got an iPhone, this app is worth checking out- I think it’s pretty darn cool to know in the morning if you had a good night’s sleep.
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