Do you think that the brand of the tablet will make your decision easier?  If you are a Google fan you might just take a look at all the Android powered tablets before even thinking about the iPad for instance.  Apple fans are more likely to keep with the Apple brand and it only makes sense noting that Apple generally does a good job making that decision for you.

More than 48 million iPad’s are expected to be shipped in 2012 and experts are calling that number “conservative”.  Some are commenting that with the proposed specs for the Apple iPad 3, the number should be estimated at more than 100 million.  Apple has a very good community following, slick user interface on their products and can distribute large amounts of products like it’s nobody’s business.

These sales numbers are about to put Apple at the top of the PC market in 2012.  With the possibility of a quad-core iPad 3 with a new HD display and 4G LTE support, you can bet that will help the sales climb throughout the year.  Those that do not have an iPad, because of price, will be able to pick up the iPad 2 at a reduced cost as the iPad 3 is launched in March.

Consumers are really enjoying the Android operating system and all of the products that it powers.  With the recent release of the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the software, consumers are racing to update their smartphones and tablets to get a good look at the new operating system.  Android powered devices still out number iOS products, but since the first of this year, Apple has been closing the gap as Android’s market share starts to fall.  Android powered tablets are coming out of the woodwork, but that does not mean they are all worth buying.

Higher end tablets like the ASUS Eee Pad, Acer Iconia, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Toshiba Thrive might be the best options on the market and might be good enough to pull market share from the iPad, for now.

As the launch date for the new iPad 3 gets closer, what direction are you going to go if you don’t already have a tablet?

The Kindle Fire is one of the most popular tablets released in recent months and if expert predictions are right, the Kindle Fire will sell over 5 million units in the first two months on the market.  If that number is true, Amazon will stand to lose over $13.5 million in total.  These numbers are based on the component pricing information released by iSuppli.com.  According to the bill of materials they have posted for the Amazon Kindle Fire, the total cost is just over the $199 selling price, $2.70 over the selling price to be exact.  Of course, since you can do the math, that is a lose for Amazon, initially.

See, what Amazon.com does is they use the Kindle Fire as a “loss leader” to get you into their ecosystem of streaming and subscription based content.  Amazon figures taking a loss of just under $3 is worth getting another subscriber to their content.  Well, the content and the Amazon Prime memberships, which cost a user $79 for a year of free two-day shipping and other perks.  The plan that Amazon uses to price the Kindle Fire under cost is similar to the way a wireless company offers a smartphone at a discount, with a two-year contract.

So, now you know why the Amazon Kindle Fire lost the company over $250,000 on launch day, that number being on the actual sales of the product, nothing added on after the sale.  Do you know what part was the most expensive?  Maybe you could leave a comment with your answer.

How can you describe your use of Twitter in 140-characters or less?  Today marks 5th birthday of Twitter and the site is still gaining users and breaking records all along the way.  Five years ago, the first tweet, “inviting co-workers”, was sent out by co-founder Jack Dorsey and it’s been quite a ride since then.

Many people flocked to Twitter to sign-up and see what the “hub-bub” was all about, without really ever knowing how to even use the site.  Much like a Facebook status update, a “tweet” is a short, description of what you have on your mind.  Or maybe it’s what you just ate for lunch, a link to a review of a new product or maybe you just wanted to let your “followers” know how your cat was doing today.  It can be whatever you want as long the tweet is 140 characters or less.

What has Twitter been up to over the last 5 years?  Not only has the site become one of the best places to find up-to-date breaking news, headlines, sports scores, and more, Twitter has also helped when other forms of communication have failed.  Is your father a follower of you?  You can contact him via Twitter if you are unable to call for instance.  Granted, your father might not be into Twitter as much as you are, but at least he can’t say you didn’t try to communicate.

One thing Twitter has still been trying to figure out ways to make money.  Don’t be confused, Twitter has plenty of funding from investors, but there has been little return on that money.  Do you think Twitter could survive without making money in the long term?

Nonetheless, Twitter has been a large part of our lives for the last 5 years.  More and more businesses use it as a way to connect with their customers and many devices are used in connection with Twitter, thus getting more connecting out of each user.

There are plenty of celebs and pro athletes on the Twitter wagon as well.  You can search for tweets from 50 Cent, Bob Vila, David Spade, Ice-T and John Cena just to name a few.  Pro athletes make news when they tweet and some of them include, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, Eli Manning or even Shaun White.

Don’t forget, you can follow this blog on Twitter too.

ESPN has always been a leader in the sports world when it comes to all the sports you can pack onto one channel.  Take that note and add the fact that the network is going to be the first to go 3 dimensions.  That is right, ESPN is going 3D in June 2010.

The network is going to show a minimum of 85 live sports events during the first year and the first one is going to be a FIFA World Cup match South Africa vs Mexico.  There are plenty of other events, but the ones announced so far include 2011 BCS National Championship Game, college basketball, football, 25 World Cup matches and the Summer XGames!

I personally think that watching sports in 3D might be a little hard on the brain at first.  But once the headache is all worked out, it would be quite an experience.  ESPN has been testing the technology for about 2 years now and the CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association is claiming this as the “turning point for 3-D”.

ESPN will be the first to offer this experience and this rockets them to the forefront of the next big advance for TV viewing.  (Source: ESPN)

Search, cell phones, RSS feeds, code, documents, blogs, Gmail, picture editing, 3d drawing, plus 100′s of applications for everything you can think of.  Do you think that Google is taking over the world?  As one that is very good at getting around the web, checking out the newest apps and gadgets, I think that Google has a very tight hold…..oh whatever they want.

Today I read that Google is checking into creating their own cell phone.  Can you believe this?  A couple years ago I was excited to hear that Google might hook us up with free wireless internet (called TiSP) and now they have come so far in other places.  Right now the free in home wireless internet is in BETA and you can see 8 signs it’s coming right here.

So, the main news this morning was about the Google Phone.  The phone, called the “Nexus One” has many questions around it, but the main one is who is going to buy it and can Google top other models selling on the web like hot cakes?

Apparently, there will be an option for an unlocked phone, as well as, a phone that is hooked with T-Mobile and their network.  At least you have the option right away, unlike some phones that have come out recently.  Of course, Google can pay for this type of thing through advertising.  Google has mastered the technique of getting ads to people in the smallest spaces on the web.  If they can do this with the phone, Google will stand to make millions more serving ads to it’s phone users.

Critics say the system could fail like the “free PC’s” system that was unvailed a couple years ago.  Users got a free PC with ads displaying and that kept the cost to the manufacturer to a minimum.  The PC’s failed because the speeds were slow and users complained the ads being served took up valuable PC resources.  Can this happen to Google too?

In my opinion Google will not let this happen and has the knowledge, technology and money to make sure of that.  That doesn’t mean Google will not fail at it, but they have a very low % of failure based on the resources available.

Just announced, Xbox is adding new features on the next mandatory update coming up November 17th, 2009.  As soon as you turn your system on the update will occur so make sure you do that as soon as you can.  Why, you ask?  Because the updates are awesome and well worth it.  Let me explain.

New Updates for Xbox November 17 Include

Connect with Facebook – we all know that it was only a matter of time before Xbox would finally join up with Facebook to allow users to connect to friends, share photos or status updates and even excellent gaming moments right from your TV.

Twitter your kill count – now you will be able to keep all of your friends updated via Twitter right from your Xbox.  Why even have a computer?  The Xbox updates are extremely timely since all of the social networking done these days is done from just about anywhere BUT your computer.  Log on to see your friends posts, reply to tweets or send your mood across the whole Twitter network after some noob just flash bombed your ass from behind.

Get custom music with Last.FM – explore over 3.5 million songs in the Last.FM library, right from your Xbox.  Gold members are able to “love”, “ban” or skip songs in an attempt to create the best radio station ever.  You are the DJ and now you can listen to ALL of your favorite songs right from the best gaming and entertainment console on the planet!

Watch HD 1080p Videos from Zune – Now you are going to flip!  Zune brings you the highest quality HD videos to your Xbox download free and with NO delay!  Watch the TV shows and movies you want in streaming 1080p and 5.1 surround sound.  The “instant on” streams of high quality good-ness will blow your mind and don’t forget your high speed broadband, HDMI cables and HDTV capable television for this option.

Xbox is really starting to come alive.  What other features could Microsoft possibly add that would make the overall experience better?

If you thought that your xBox was the sweetest thing on the block because of some hack or upgrade, think again.  Xbox just annouced they have banned 1 million plus LIVE accounts because of modified consoles.
In a statment from Wednesday, xBox says:

“All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live,” Microsoft said in a statement Wednesday.

Apparently, most of the gamers have modified their consoles, or downloaded games illegally from file sharing websites.  File sharing websites have been quite popular lately and with the brains of many people working together, consoles and games can be hacked to play on the xBox console.  The simple fact that you bought a new xbox case isn’t going to get your banned.  It’s really more about the gamers that have taken it a step further to download and play retail copies of games, they did not purchase.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some pretty cool xBox mods out there, but most of them should be cosmetic.  In some cases, gamers have upgraded the hard drive to a larger one because it will hold more media, but in fact, that console might be blacklisted and will not work online from that point.

Some stores are seeing an increase in xBox’s that have been traded in, purchased and then returned again because “they do not work”.  When in fact, the console has been blacklisted and there is nothing anyone can do with it from that point forward.

Taken directly from the Microsoft Terms of 9/2008:

“Terms of Use” agreement, as of September 2008, Microsoft says that players are to use “only authorized software and hardware to access the Service,” and that they agree that their software and hardware “have not been modified in any unauthorized way … and that we have the right to send data, applications or other content to any software or hardware that you are using to access the Service for the express purpose of detecting an unauthorized modification.”

In addition, “any attempt to disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute, or use for other purposes the Service, any game, application, or other content available or accessible through the Service, or any hardware or software associated with the Service or with an original Xbox or Xbox 360 console is strictly prohibited and may result in cancellation of your account and/or your ability to access the Service, and the pursuit of other legal remedies by Microsoft.”

I think that is quite clear and there isn’t any need to guess as to what is not accepted. Of course, some people can twist words and take the policy their own way, but I think that if you read it carefully, you should be able to see what is not accepted by Microsoft!

Yes, it is true, Symantec has reported that millions of computers actually have fake security software installed.  Even though most of these computer owners paid for the security software, it may be fake and actually makes their computer even more vulnerable.  Typical names of fake security software included, Antivirus 2010, Spyware Guard 2008 among the 250 varieties that Symantec found.

While reading the article I can think of a few times that I have seen popups on my system regarding some antivirus software, but I have NEVER purchased anything like that.  According to the report on Yahoo Tech, the number of people affected by such a scam is in the “tens of millions”.  That is a lot!

I started to think about how these cyber-criminals can get the software delivered so fast and then I read about “affiliates”.  These are middlemen that will actually try and convince you to download said programs and they will earn money for each download they refer.  Of course, this also might take them right out of the equation if big brother is watching and arrests are made.

TrafficConverter.biz, which has been shut down, had boasted that its top affiliates earned as much as $332,000 a month for selling scam security software, according to Weafer.

I have been involved in affiliate marketing in the past, but never thought about how much worse a scam can be if you have affiliates pushing the products as well. I hope that if you have downloaded one of these programs, you know how to get rid of it.