True to what was announced last week, Apple has started accepting pre-order for its much talked about product – the Apple iPad.  And while everybody else is probably still thinking right now whether they are going hit the pre-order button or not, I closed my eyes, took a plunge and just made Steve Jobs $553 richer. Yes, I did pre-order the Apple iPad, and I’m proud of it.So how was the experience? To tell you frankly, it was kind of uplifting to be part of this whole process. From the anticipation, to the online discussion, to the countless hours of reading articles that praised or criticized the iPad up to a moment ago when after clicking the refresh button of my Chrome browser – the store was up again. And there it was the iPad pre-order page – waiting for me to partake of this while shenanigan which Apple has mastered through the years.

Call me nuts or what ever but hey, this is the first time that I’ve participated in something like this. When the iPhone hype hit the web, I couldn’t participate. I couldn’t line up outside an Apple Store to be the first to grab an iPhone, simply because the region where I am currently located wouldn’t have the iPhone for a year after it was released in the U.S.

Thanks to the wonders of online commerce, the geographic and time barrier has been taken down. And thanks to a friend who agreed to receive my order, I am now one of those who can’t wait for April 3 when Apple will ship my iPad to my friend in the U.S. who agreed to send the iPad to me.

So, are blindly taking the plunge? Or have you placed a pre-order already? Which one did you get?

For those who are planning to placed their order, here are the different iPad models that you can pre-order.

Expect additional charges such as recycling fee and appropriate taxes to your total cost.  I got the 16GB WiFi iPad model with a price tag of $499 but my total cost upoin check out amounted to around $553.

So, now the waiting begins.

In case you’re still using Google Reader to get your daily dose of RSS news from sites you monitor, you might be interested to try out Google Reader Play. It’s Google’s latest offering that aims to take the Google Reader interface into a new level. Something innovative and yet can be counter-productive.

Google Reader Play gives you the most recommended news items of the day. These are culled from various news items that were identified using the technology Google employs with Google Reader’s Recommended Items. It’s basically random selection, so you’ll never know what will be displayed next.

Speaking of display, that’s basically what Google Reader Play is all about.  Feed items are displayed one at a time, in a huge, graphically-enhanced interface in full-screen mode. And it’s interactive as well. You just need to click on the next arrow to move to another item or browse other items by simply clicking on the filmstrip located below the screen. It’s like browse an online photo gallery. But in this case, if you click on an item, you will be brough to the source of the item.

To make it even more interesting, Google Reader Play can be personalized if you login to your Google Reader account while browsing Google Reader Play. It will allow you to like items and Google will use this information to show other items that may interest you. You can also categorize the items that you want to view.

But if you just want to browse items randomly, you can just visit Google Reader Play without signing in to your Google Account. Just hope that something interesting comes out as you browse.

Google Reader Play is currently in beta and is now part of Google Labs. Google was very clear that it is not aimed at replacing the original Google Reader, but an alternative way of viewing and getting the latest news items on the web instead. It can also be Google’s way of sparking interest to their Google Reader service.

Here is great infographic form Pingdom showing Google from every angle.

Congratulations Twitter team!

Here is what they are saying:

Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million per day. Today, we are seeing 50 million tweets per day—that’s an average of 600 tweets per second.

Big tech blogs like Mashable and TechCrunch have already added Google Buzz buttons to their articles for people to share their content. If you also want to have such feature on your blog download Google Buzz plugin here. With just a few click you will be able to setup the button and place in custom location on your blog.

Download The Plugin

Plugin is the easiest way to add Buzz button, but if you want to customize it more and build your own here is explained how to add button manually.

And if you like this article Buzz it!

There are alternative address for Google.com domain which you can use to always get to Google.com without redirecting to local Google domains.

Use this address: http://www.google.com/ncr (nrc – no country redirect)

If you use Google as your browser start page (as I do) you may want to type in this address insted of Google.com if you want to get rid of redirects.

Folks over Twitter Skin Fight have a great and entertaining project that can test how cool your page is comparing to others. Sign in and get ready to rumble!

How do you know you are the best?

Well, you can check out Top 100 (also divided by country) and if you can find yourself there, scroll for next paragraph.

If you lost…

Don’t panic – you can change your background within minutes but first take a look on these tutorials that can help you to design real killer twitter page.

• How to Brand Yourself with a Twitter Background
• Twitter Background Design How-To and Best Practices
• Twitter background guidelines

Well, I hope after tweaking your background you will be back in fight – if not you may want to setup Facebook fan page or something and fight with it! :)

Below is some of the best tools you can bookmark and later use to convert PDF documents to the most popular formats.

Nitro PDF to Word

Very handy tool form Nitro software that converts PDF files to .doc and .rtf formats. Just upload your PDF file and receive converted document to your email.

Nitro PDF to Excel

Second tool from Nitro dedicated to convert your PDF to Excel file. Works the same as Word converter – enter your email and lay back.

ZamZar

Firs two tools was specifically designed to do one task – convert PDF files or Word or Excel. ZamZar on the other hand offers large amount of formats you can convert your document to. To list them all i would need to write a dedicated post – just go and see for yourself.

Free PDF to Word

Free tool that will quickly turn your PDF to editable Word document – isn’t that all you want?

Able2Extract

Very powerful software that will convert your PDF to Excel, Word, HTML, Text, PowerPoint (PPT), AutoCad (DWG & DXF), Images, Open Office formats.

Here is our blogs Twitter account worth:

And how much costs your twitter profile?

What I lack in technical expertise, I make up for with ideas.  Unfortunately for me, these days, the guy with the coding experience is the guy who makes bank.

But there are workarounds.  Wix helps my Flash deficiencies.  SquareSpace helps me avoid WordPress updates.  And now AppMakr can turn me into an iPhone genius.

A combination of RSS feeds and searches will help make your Website’s content available for app building. Multiple feeds?  No problem.  Mash up your Twitter, YouTube and blog feed – add a few customizations – and you could be on your way to earning cash.

According to the AppMakr:

Want to make some money on your app? No problem. You can charge for your app in the iTunes App Store, or you can place ads from leading ad providers like Google, DoubleClick and AdMob, or even put your own custom javascript ad tag in. 1) Choose the ad provider you’d like to use or 2) put a custom ad tag in – that’s all there is to it!

There are some startup costs involved.  $199 gets your app live.  $499 saves it to your own machine for further  manipulation and sets you up with an Apple Developer Account.  The $199 package has your apps published by AppMakr.

With a WSYWIG interface, anyone – and we mean anyone – can create a fully functional Phone application.

The newly launched site is already making a splash.  Over the past few days, thousands of apps have been created.

Below you can find some of the best tools including South Park and Simpsons character generators. Of course that’s not all – you can find many more apps for this online. Feel free to share your findings in comments!

Simpson Avatar Generator

Face Your Manga

WeeWorld

South Park Avatar Maker

Yahoo Avatars

Portrait Illustration Maker

How big is your numbers – I bet you feel really small :)

Created by Online Education

• The Daily Plate – Livestrong’s all-encompassing weight loss monitoring tool lets you track calories, exercise and weight in an easy to use exportable format.  There is a free version or a more extensive premium package that removes ads, increases support and allows greater customization for $45 per year.
• Mobile Calorie Counter – Livestrong has a $2.99 mobile app available in the Blackberry and iPhone app stores that lets you track the calories you eat in thousands of foods, and calories you burn by doing a variety of activities.

• Lose It! iPhone app (free): A user-friendly mobile app designed to help you track long term weight loss goals through adherence to a calorie budget.  It measures the calories you consume in common foods and those you burn through an array of activities, including everything from walking to the more enticing “sexual activity”.

• Calorie Count (free): About.com’s Calorie Count has a website, mobile app and Firefox toolbar to make sure that you know how many calories you consume, what your daily caloric consumption target and how much exercise you need to do get yourself to where your desired weight.
• Sensei: In addition to offering the usual calorie counters, weight loss tracking and exercise monitoring, Sensei also gives you helpful shopping lists so you know what to get at the store.  Sadly, it costs $20 a month, and I’m not sure that’s worth a personalized shopping list with all the other great free and low cost tools out there.

• ShapeUp Club: This $0.99 iPhone app gives you nifty yet un-delicious pie charts to keep track of your weight loss, calorie consumption and daily exercise.  While pie usually does not help one lose weight, this might actually help.
• FatWatch: The blunt name is indicative of this simple, straightfoward $9.99 iPhone app.  Unlike the others, you don’t have to search for caloric content of foods, you just enter how much you weigh.  It tracks your weight through clear graphs and tells you that you need to eat more or less for a given day, week or month to get back on track.

• Weight Tracker: A simple, $0.99 weight-tracking iPhone app that month that also tracks BMI.
• iGoogle’s Calorie Counter (free): A stripped down tracker that allows you to see how many calories are in the food you eat and how much you need to maintain a healthy wait, all from the comfort of your iGoogle homepage.
• GoalKeep: Lets you track, graph and maintain many different types of goals, like losing weight, learning an instrument or quitting smoking.  $3.99

• Graphite: Sleek web-based interface that lets you track calories and weight loss without a lot of cluttery bells and whistles.  $5 per month or $50 per year.

Good luck on your weight loss plan!  Let us know in the comments which tools you like best.  And have a great Thanksgiving (don’t eat too much!).

Hopefully by now, most of you have already received your Google Wave invite. And chances are you are either enjoying Google Wave or still trying to figure out how it works. If you’re enjoying Google Wave right now, you might want to check out two available desktop client for Google Wave – Waver and Waveboard. These desktop clients allow  you to use Google Wave without needing to open a new browser window. And for a real-time communication tool, this is very important.

I’ve downloaded both clients on my MacBook Pro and come up with the following comparisons. Take note, Waveboard is currently for Mac OS only, while Waver runs on Linux, Windows and Mac.

Waver Google Wave Desktop Client

Waver is an Adobe AIR application that gets your Google Wave account and lets you create waves, updates existing waves  as well as reply to existing ones. It’s a single column interface that renders Google Wave using WebKit. Being a single column that it is, it also allows you to navigate through the various components of your Google Wave account including your Wave Inbox, Contacts, and existing Waves. It doesn’t open another windows though.

Good thing about Waver since it is using Adobe’s Javascript implementation is the fact that it renders Waves quickly. For a real-time communication that supposedly updates as fast as it could, this is very important. And Waver succeeds on this department.

Waver also works with bots and gadgets. Meaning you can use bots to automate tasks that you would normally do on Google Wave.

Remember, to run Waver you need to install Adobe AIR. Doing so will take some valuable space of your machine, so that’s just the low-down of using it.

Waveboard Google Wave Desktop Client for Mac

While Waver is as simple desktop solution for Google Wave, Waveboard takes it a little farther by introducing more features and functionality that will surely make your Google Wave experience a more pleasant one.

Waveboard presents you with four windows – Navigation, Contacts, Inbox and the Wave windows. These are the main components of Google Wave actually. It works like your usual email client, where you can have access to each of the menus quickly and easily.

Three features of Waveboard that makes it superior with Waver are – file drag and drop, keyboard shortcuts and notifications.

To enable “drag and drop” you need to run Google Gears first. Once this is setup you can upload files from your desktop into a Wave that you are currently editing. Participants of that Wave can immediately see  the files you’ve dragged into the wave.

As with other Mac applications, there are several keyboard shortcuts that you  can use on Waveboard.  Most of these Waveboard keyboard shortcuts are similar to the Mac Command + key functions.

Finally, Waveboard sends notifications when a new Wave you created or in which you are a participant has changed since the last time you logged in to your Wave account. If you’ve participated in many Waves or created several of them, you can easily monitor which have changed. But to make the notifications disappear you need to read the Waves or use the SPACE key if you don’t want to read the Waves.

Which is Better Waver or Waveboard

Much as I would like to say that Wabeboard is better, I could not because both desktop client for Google Wave serve their individual purposes and will cater to the preferences of different people. If you want a lightweight client you’d prefer Waver. But if Waver is too simple for you, you’d use Waveboard instead.

To make my Google Wave exploration useful, I decided to look around for Wave gadgets that I can use, and actually found a handful of them.   So here goes, 5 Google Wave Gadgets that you will most likely use.

Twitter

You knew this is will be my first useful gadget right? It should be, well at least for me. This gadget gives you your Twitter’s public timeline as a wavelet. Unfortunately, it does not allow you to post tweets, reply to conversation directly on Twitter. To activate this gadget just add tweety-wave@appspot.com to your contact list.  It will authenticate your Twitter account the first time you use it.

Amazon

This gadget lets you search for products on Amazon’s various product category. It’s the best looking Google Wave gadgets I’ve seen so far. And the Amazon bot works fast t00. To add this gadget, just add amazon-withwaves-com@appspot.com to your contact list.

Eliza

If got bored while exploring Google Wave or you’re contacts are not sending you waves, you might find Eliza useful. Yup, it’s the auto-chat bot who is also an auto-shrink. Common, talk to her if you must. Just don’t ask too many complicated questions. To add Eliza to Google Wave, just add elisarobot@appspot.com. Have fun!

Starify

This gadget lets you bookmark Waves which you can then later on list or delete. It uses the following commands – /star’, /list’, and /delete’. To add this gadget to Google Wave, just add starifybot@appspot.com. It could be useful if you’ve created many waves already.

Calcbot

This Wave gadget will come in handy whenever you need to do some simple calculations while in the middle of a conversation inside a wave.  Just add calcbot@appspot.com to your contact list and you’re good to go.

These are just some of the Google Wave gadgets currently available. Using these gadgets on your Google Wave account adds some excitement to Google Wave, especially if you don’t have too many contacts who are in the exclusive circle of early Google Wave users. If you’re not one of them and you want an invite, just shoot me an email with your gmail account and I’ll include you in my invitation list. I still have a couple of invites to throw out.

Halloween Haunting

Haunt your friends with this Halloween app. Select any Halloween gifts that you think would scare your friend.  Everytime you login you will be awarded with Freaky Funds which you can later on use to purchase other Halloween treats.

What should you be for Halloween?

If you haven’t decided yet what costume you wil be hearing during Halloween, this app will help you by asking several questions that will determine its final suggestion  for what you should be.

Halloween Countdown

Want to have a Halloween countdown clock on your profile, this is the Facebook app to to use.  It allows you to select background for your Halloween countdown clock as well.

Halloween Pumpkins

This app lets you carve a pumpkin and put it on your profile or carve another one and send it to your friends.

Halloween Wars

If you like Mafia wars, this app is a simple taken on yet another war game. But this your objective is to terrorize Halloween night.

Halloween Eating Contest

Challenge your friends into a virtual eating contest featuring some yummy halloween-inspired treats.

Halloween Hatchlings

Kill the new breed of monster hatchlings before the evil Count starts creating a new of monsters and release them to the world.

Halloween Quotes

Pepper your Facebook profile with cool Halloween quotes complete with nice looking background. The app lets you display a single or random quotes.

Halloween Treats

This app lets you send Halloween Treats to your Facebook friends.  You can select various treats such as scary, spooky or funny pictures and animated GIFs. You will be able to unlock more treats eavery day.

Halloween Name Generator

Still don’t know what name to call your self, use this app to get your Halloween Name. Just type in your name, select your sex and select a background to use in your Facebook profile.

Which sexy Halloween costume is right for me?

So you want to join the Halloween fun but could not decide what costume to use that will make you still look sexy? Take the quiz and find the perfect sexy costume that will suit you.

Because cell phones have become equipped to do so much more than simply call or text, we’re exploring some of the various ways cell phone users can maximize the potential of their phones.  An often overlooked category is safety because vigilance tends to happen *after* an event, so take a moment and look into these 10 apps and find new ways to use your phone…

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
The Life360 Google Android app was born from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and is an emergency preparedness tool for families that “in less than five minutes, families can have access to a tool that does everything from family GPS tracking, to document warehousing, disaster planning, and emergency messaging.”

Rave Alert calls themselves the “next generation alerting system” for mass emergencies and is employed in places like colleges or apartment communities to alert a large group at one time via text messaging, email, PA system, Facebook and even via Twitter.  It is being adopted most quickly by colleges and high schools in this post-Virginia Tech era.

DRIVING
Cell phone app MotoRiety monitors driver distractions from text messages to phone calls and reports all phone activity, even tweeting about driver behavior while driving.  Aggressive acceleration, miles and idle time is logged and provided in periodic email reports making this tool perfect for parents of teen drivers.

Playsafe is an iPhone app that makes scrolling for music safer and less distracting.  The app turns the iPhone into a large button so users don’t have to scroll through small icons while driving and tapping the screen will play or pause music while swiping to the left or right will change the track.

SAFETY ALERTS
Safety Button is a simple iPhone app that allows users to start the program, push the big red button and it begins tracing the user’s step and reporting to a server.  If the red button is pressed again (in case of distress), the server will send your emergency contact person a panic message containing your position.

Android application SafetyNet is activated when the phone is shaken and can function in panic mode or medical mode even if the app isn’t running which will immediately alert everyone in your “SafetyNet” sending them your position and a distress call.  SafetyNet is ideal for people with medical issues or lone joggers.

FIRST AID
iPhone offers two applications for your iPhone- First Aid for Infants and First Aid for Children, both containing easy to read instructions on topics from protection to blocked airways to CPR and other emergencies.  This app is ideal for parent, babysitters, teachers and more.

MEDICINAL USES
AT&T developed app, MedNet allows heart patients to send data from their heart monitors to Bluetooth enabled phones (on AT&T) and then on to their cardiologist making heart care more interactive.  Heart monitor data interactivity is a great preventative measure.

Although not available on the market yet, we wanted to share a glimpse of the future with you.  U.C. Berkeley is developing and testing a program called Cellscope which is a microscope connected to a cell phone for diagnostics (think doctors in remote areas like a desert, mountaintop or even space).  It can be used “for bright field microscopy, which uses simple white light–such as from a bulb or sunlight–to illuminate samples. The latest development adds to the repertoire fluorescent microscopy, in which a special dye emits a specific fluorescent wavelength to tag a target–such as a parasite, bacteria or cell–in the sample.”  It’s powerful enough to detect malaria, tuberculosis or even sickle cells.  Wow.

Are you currently using any mobile apps that promote safety?  Which of these work with your phone and will you be downloading any of the above?  Let us know in comments!

1. Fitbit- featured in the 2008 Tech Crunch 50, FitBit makes us want to start working out- it acts as a pedometer, measures calories burned and distance travel and even measures sleep quality. Fitbit has a 3D motion sensor like a Wii and is one of the smaller devices on the market that can be worn in a variety of places, and all of your fitness information is uploaded to your Fitbit.com page to track online from anywhere. Fitbit is only $99.

2. Nike Plus- Nike + iPod helps you rock out at the gym while tracking your progress. Hook up your iPhone or iPod to record your running, noting distance, time and pace or connect your Nike+ shoes with built in sensor to track your running progress while the Nike+ voice tells you your progress. Nike+ syncs with your computer so you can track your goals and connect with others focused on their fitness goals also. The basic sport kit starts at $29.

3. Run Keeper- this iPhone app is among the most simple ways to track your fitness activities, not just running but cycling, hiking and skiing. All you do is press start when you begin your activity and Run Keeper will track your distance, speed and duration, syncing to you web dashboard to keep tabs on your fitness progress. One of the cool features of Run Keeper is that it will map your route and email you a link to share with others. Run Keeper is $9.99.

4. Garmin FR60- one of Garmin’s newest products is a wristwatch style gadget that logs time, heart rate and calories from jogging or even syncs with linked fitness equipment to log your fitness regimen. The FR60 is wireless and syncs to your computer automatically when in close enough proximity. It comes in various colors and can track up to 15 straight hours of activity. It’s swim friendly and has a bike mount for cyclists. The FR60 is $199.

5. Vetta RT277- this heavy duty cyclometer tracks current, maximum, and average speed as well as cadence and offers a cumulative odometer, trip distance, ride timer and a simple auto start and stop function. The RT277 has a replacable front cover, easy handle bar mounting and is one of the few on the market that is truly water resistant. The RT277 is $37.99.

6. Timex Ironman Tracker- stay fit with this wristwatch that tracks calories, pace, steps, distance and has the iconic Timex indigo night light which is great for night running. The Ironman has two interval timers, users claim to be one of the most comfortable options on the market. It’s water resistant and is used by triathletes, swimmers and skiers because it is waterproof. The Ironman Tracker is $90.

7. Garmin Forerunner- is a wrist mounted lap tracker measuring distance, time and calories and features integrated GPS displays that show progress on your favorite routes and saves up to 100 of your locations. The Forerunner is pretty cool because it has a virtual partner mode that lets you race against a digital competitor and set goals for distance, pace and time. The Forerunner has a history function that breaks down and graphs your stats and is $121.95.

Are you a runner, swimmer or cyclist? Which tracking device above do you use or plan on checking out? Let us know in the comments what your routine is and how you use or plan on using a fitness tracking device