Works like a charm, it’s loud enough to actually wake me up from a sound sleep. The display is large enough to see in the dark without my glasses.

The new pro version has a flashlight feature built-in; just shake your iPhone to turn it on. Plus you can adjust the brightness of the display by sliding your finger up or down the screen.

Future innovations include programming custom music from your iPod library. Also promised is a music timer feature where you can program an hours worth of music to go to sleep by. Nice touch.

I used the free version first, and that worked fine, but when they announced the upgrades, I gladly spent my hard earned dollar. I have to credit the makers iHandySoft for throwing in the upgrade screen, otherwise I might have missed the upgrades.

Alarm Clock Pro is an inexpensive but worth while and useful iPhone app. Not bad for 99 cents!

Apple’s YouTube video says the release date is April 3rd, which is the word across the web.

The Wi-Fi version ships first, followed by the 3G model sometime later. Apple will be accepting pre-orders for both starting this Friday, March 12th.

Steve Jobs has said the iPad won’t support iPhone tethering, but there’s alot of people looking for just that option.

Engadget has a review that highlights several shortcomings; no camera, no multitasking, and still no Flash!

The iPad looks sleek and sexy, but I can’t justify the cost between $500 and $1000 when I can do the same things on my iPhone, albeit on a smaller screen.

Happy Owl Studio is making some good looking cases. They’re giving away an iPad on April 15.

“We’ve left the digital decade behind, and now we’re moving into the era of the connected community.”

So what does that mean? Well, often I have to look back at where I’ve been, in order to figure out where I’m going. In a previous post I wrote about the past ten years, the World Wide Web from Y2K to Today.

In 2005 I started blogging and discovered that I love to write. The blogging format gave me a world wide voice which allowed me to connect with others I never otherwise would have met. I started working with my brother David and we naturally wrote about our common interest, music. We used Google’s Blogger and eventually migrated into WordPress, and even looked into other platforms like Joomla!

In the ensuing five years we have evolved into working with other tools like Twitter and Facebook, FriendFeed, bit.ly and HootSuite. We have become more connected to a community of like-minded net citizens, engaging in many different conversations across the world wide web.

The term Web 2.0 first took off in 2004, during the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference. Six years later, Web 2.0 has exploded, expanded and morphed into a host of different web applications connecting us all with each other.

What does it mean to you?

buzzom.com features a great Management page with Recriprocate, Flush and Grow tools…
Recriprocate: Follow your Followers back
Flush: Unfollow those who are not Following you
Grow: Grow your network and Follow new people

Other nice features include the Lock and Block feature. I’m using the free version, but buzzom is also promoting their paid version for an introductory $10 a month. They’re offering advanced tracking features, but I’m happy using bit.ly for free at the moment for my reports.

Thanks to @cybercoder on Twitter for pointing out this great new tool. Follow CyberCoder @ cybercoded.net

buzzom.com

Google News Archive Search google.com/archivesearch

The 5 Elements of Hard Work altitudebranding.com/

A contest to name a mobile restaurant obsessedwithconformity.com/

How to Install PHP PEAR on WampServer crc-stc.com/

and finally, how Boomers are slowly joining the mobile web
readwriteweb.com/

follow @mikiesoft on Twitter

www.whose-line.com is devoted to a DVD Campaign to rally fans of the U.S. version of the show. The website is requesting fans of the show to write in to Warner Home Video, so the studio will release the other 200 shows on DVD.

Season 1, Volumes 1 & 2 are already out, along with a ‘Best Of; DVD.

The popular U.S. version of the British improvisational-comedy showcase features host Drew Carey with regular comedians Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie and Greg Proops (who also starred in the U.K. version with host Clive Anderson).

Our favorite is Wayne Brady, who does great impromptu singing bits. There’s a couple of other guests that rotate on and off the show, plus occasional celebrity stars like Robin Williams and Stephen Colbert.

One of our favorite episodes features guest Robin Williams.

Whose Line? Links:
www.whose-line.com

tv.blinkx.com/

tv.com/

The Google Chrome Blog has posted several video demos about the new translation feature, including new privacy settings.

The adrenalin rush of racing down the winter slopes of Whistler Mountain has been captured in Vancouver 2010: The Official Video Game of the Olympic Winter Games. Dude, it’s awesome!!

Extreme speed…winter sports…new challenge mode and control schemes…revamped online gameplay…Vancouver 2010 is in development by Eurocom and SEGA for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

olympicvideogames.com

Updates on Twitter @MrPlayerism

I watched the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics last night, and after two weeks of nightly coverage, I was sad to see it all end. But I gotta say NBC did a great job of covering all the events. Bob Costas is really good at what he does, and he’s been covering the Olympics for years.

I really enjoyed the great view from Vancouver too, man the mountains were beautiful. Some of the point-of-view camera shots were amazing. I don’t remember those high-tech cameras being worn by the athletes before, but to ride along with the skiers whizzing down the side of Whistler mountain at 70 MPH was a real treat to the senses!

Speaking of high-tech, the Twitter streams were really buzzing too. The snowboarders and skiers were tweeting away, and sometimes provided more insight into their Olympic experience.

Man there was a lot of drama during these Winter Games, huh? You would have thought it was a national tragedy when Team U.S.A. beat Canada in Hockey during the prelims. They almost got beat at their own game; if only we had scored a couple more points Team U.S.A. would have broken the all time record by winning the gold medal for hockey. It would have been an Olympic first!

But the drama was truly international, Plushenko was pretty mouthy about losing to Lysacek, but Evan had the better performance. Complain all you want, but it’s the judges decision, and they were getting pretty strict with the rules near the end of competition. Hey you carried home precious medal from your last Olympic Games, so go home proud, not loud.

Look at Apolo Ohno, he got disqualified and it really wasn’t his fault the guy went down. Ohno almost got caught in the final crash before the finish anyway, but managed to cross the finish line and finish the race. Plus he was graceful with the press afterward, and made us all proud he won more Olympic medals than any other Winter Games athlete.

Lindsey Vonn and her German pal Maria, they both suffered losses but kept going. So did Joannie Rochette, but she showed the courage to go out on the ice and perform anyway. Lindsey and Julia Mancuso, what was that feud about? Oh, I can’t believe Lindsey ran right over that gate on her last run! Too much drama and not enough focus? The cameras don’t lie. But it made for great television, and the networks loved it!

Bode Miller, what a comeback after Torino. That was awesome, but I can do without the rock star attitude. That seemed to work better for Shaun White, but the dude was cool about it.

Team USA did great, they brought home the most Olympic medals than any other nation, AND broke some new records too! Just amazing performances in the Four-Man Bobsled, Alpine Skiing, Hockey, Snowboarding, and even the Nordic events!

Alpine Skiing: Bode Miller won Bronze Silver & Gold in the Men’s Downhill, Super-G and Super-Combined. Julia Mancuso, Silvers in both Women’s Downhill and Super-Combined. Lindsey Vonn, Gold in Women’s Downhill and Bronze in Women’s Super-G. Let’s not forget Hannah Kearney, she won the first U.S. gold medal in Women’s Moguls in Freestyle Skiing. More medals than ever before in the Nordic Ski events, way to go Team U.S.A!!

And how about Steve Holcomb breaking the sixty-year-losing-streak for the Four-Man Bobsled, and his team winning Gold in that “rocket sled” called The Night Train. The guy that helped build it won Daytona in the eighties.

So yeah I really enjoyed watching these Olympic games, especially with the new POV point-of-view cameras. It brought the action, the speed and the thrill of the Nordic sports right into my living room. I can hardly wait for the London games.

www.nbcolympics.com

www.vancouver2010.com

Adobe’s Photoshop for Photographers Seminar Tour with Ben Wilmore will be sharing digital photography tips and techniques for Photoshop users, in workshops across the country.

Adobe TV is a very useful learning tool with a comprehensive library of Adobe’s Creative Suite CS4 applications. There’s also a 20th Anniversary video documentary with the founders of Adobe Photoshop, talking about the history of the application and image processing.

Adobe’s also got online courses for most of their Creative Suite CS4 applications; Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, ActionScript, Dreamweaver, Captivate, Bridge, AfterEffects, and Acrobat 9 including Forms.

Adobe TV tv.adobe.com

Photoshop Seminar Tour kelbytraininglive.com/

Online Training onlineinstruct.com/