There are hundreds of iPhone apps out there, so to make sure you are getting the best applications, check out iPhone App Reviews and Free Promo Codes. From business apps to games and GPS apps, read the latest iPhone app news and developments.

Need help winning your fantasy sports league? Then use the Fantasy Sports Coach app.  Or, learn to play the guitar with the Pocket Guitar Songbook app, load your favourite songs and start playing them.

Gadget freeks, take full advantage of the promo codes.  There is also an app for soccer fans going to the Soccer World Cup in South Africa, SouthAfrica-Fan, which provides iPhone users with everything they need to know about the 2010 World Cup.

Did you see Jon Stewart on The Daily Show?  He completely rips into Apple about the way they handled Gizmodo getting hold of one of their new iPhone development phones.  Watch the video of Jon Stewart slamming Apple -calling them Appholes.

A police raid on Jason Chen’s home to get the prototype iPhone back… and to think that once Apple was the little guy trying to take on another giant.

Whilst there has been a lot of media hype about Apple’s iPad and the development of the HP Slate, there are actually many other manufacturers of tablet PCs worth checking out for price, quality and functionality.

Have you seen the Amazon Kindle?  Its an e-book developed by Amazon.com. Actually most of the big PC manufacturers have got in on the tablet PC manufacturing.  Booklet PCs, e-books, notebooks, slates, iPads… whatever you call them, they are becoming as common as the laptop or regular PC.

Its worth checking out the operating system, is it compatible with your needs.  Does the tablet PC have any internet connectivity, how well does the wireless internet connection work?

Then there are all the applications that go with your particular brand of tablet PC.  Just like the iPhones apps that are so popular now, depending on what you will use your tablet PC for, check whether there any applications for it.  With the cool touch screen facility there will many applications making use of this function.

Then of course there is the after sales service and guarantees on offer.  We all know what can go wrong with our favorite IT gadgets!

Thank you to my geeky colleagues on fr.hobbynewsonline.com for this article…

Do you have any idea what the following jargon used on the internet means?

BJR TLM, KOI29 ? AUJ G RAS and RAD PCQ CHUI OQP, DSL ! G BCP  TAF and + G  PB DS IE7… ALAP !

RE, AMHA, MSG  PTDR,  XPDR. DTF JDC TJRS : PR NS  TPS C NIMP !

BJ NSP ? STOU PR AJD, at 2M1

This is now part of our reality …

There are millions of people who send thousands of messages daily online, be it instant messaging, cell phone, blog, forum, etc… And of course to allow a written exchange as fast as the spoken word, a multitude of acronyms, abbreviations, emoticons have been created.

The boom in media and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and company has only increased the phenomenon, and now the language of the Net is part of reality.  Obviously as with any organic language, it is sometimes difficult to navigate.  You can quickly become an old fossil if you do not keep up with the latest trends and jargon!

In addition, there are now expressions that are widely used and reinvented … And yet I’ll spare you the many emoticons that come with it to indicate your voice!

^ _ ^:-E-_-> _ <:): (>: (: |: – /

A short list of cool sites to help you understand the jargon of the Internet

Internet Slang Translator : For English abbreviations and acronyms, a tool of “translation” very nice instantly translates the acronym as plain text

AcronymFinder : account for its nearly 4 million acronyms and abbreviations in its database.

If you are still at a loss, then I advise you to consult the fairly comprehensive list in Wikipedia , which is always changing.  LOL

Should I buy an iPad? I dunno… should you?

300,000 iPads sold on the first day of sales… get your iPad quick, going once, going twice… c’mon gadget freaks whats holding you back?  Sure there were a few people complaining about weak signals on their wi-fi connection to iPad… ahh what do they know, they probably have the wrong Apple iPad wi-fi settings. And, sure its an over-sized iPhone, but its worth it…

Queues may not have been as big as when the iPhone was launched, nor sales for that matter – 525,000 iPhones were sold on the first day. But thats no reason to get on down to your favorite gadget store. This little song should help you make up your mind on …”should I buy an iPad?”

Click here to view the embedded video.

And in if you want to want to enjoy DVD movies on iPad, you can use this DVD to iPad video converter.

To answer the question on the article “Applications for Magazines on Tablet PCs”, about whether tablet PCs are suitable for online games like poker.  I don’t see why any of the proposed tablet PCs couldn’t be used to play online games.  In fact the mobility could really enhance your gaming experience, as you can move to the couch and be more comfortable.  The nice big screen should be able to display all the game’s functions.

The graphics display on tablet PCs is going to be more enhanced and way better than an iPhone application.  The iPad will have its own operating system, which will be similar to the iPhone’s operating system.  So it should support online gaming. We all know the graphics capability of Apple and the Mac PCs, so the iPad should be in the same league.  The HP Slate will have a Microsoft based operating system, which will also work for online games.

If you are buying a tablet PC for online poker, then I would recommend checking whether the iPad, HP Slate or whatever make of tablet PC that you are buying, allows online poker – especially given all the legal issues with online gambling etc.

Obviously it will be a bit different how you operate the tablet PC, using a pen and the touch screen functions instead of a keyboard and mouse.  But those that have played iPhone apps would be used to this by now.  In fact some may even prefer the touch screen functionality.  Multi-tabling is going to be a bit more difficult, as maybe changing between the tables would be a bit slower, than clicking away with your mouse.

From a technical perspective there is no reason why online games cannot be played on tablet PCs.  Bandwidth should be fine, WiFi should be the latest technology available, so there should be no connection issues.  Processing power should more than sufficient, as the latest chip technology will be used. One might need to go for a bit more RAM. Finally, if you are away from a power source for a while, then battery power is going to up to 10 hours, depending on the make.

I would recommend going for a well known manufacturer that can compete technologically and will give you guarantees, plus support.  You get what you pay for!

Personally I can’t wait, this gadget freak will be first in the queue.  Being able to sit anywhere in comfort whether its on my couch, an airport lounge, hotel lobby… I will be able to sit back, log on and do what I want online.

Some of the large printing & publishing companies are working on applications to have their printed magazines go digital and become available on tablet PCs.  Whether this will make any difference to sales volumes of magazines remains to be seen.  Applications are already available for iPhones, its just being taken one step further.  The bigger screen on iTablets will make it more user friendly.

What do you think of accessing your favorite magazine online via your tablet PC?  Do you think it will make things easier, more convenient?  Or is it just another gimmick for the gadget geeks?

I can think of some cool animations, graphics and interactive stuff that could be done on the iTablets.  Also the search function would be really useful for when you are trying to find an article.  Even if sales are not increased they are bound to save printing and distribution costs.  This new tablet PC technology could be a savior to publishing houses, which must be seeing their sales being eroded by online information.

But part of me still just wants to be old fashioned and flip through a magazine.

Take part in our online poll, in the sidebar of the homepage, let us know whether you think iTablets will make any difference to the magazine business.

Well according to our online survey, most people don’t think that Google Buzz will be the next craze in social media.  Perhaps it is a bit behind the development curve when it comes to social media. People already have their Facebook account, LinkedIn profile, MySpace and are Twittering away until their hearts are content… so what are they going to gain by using Buzz?  And, most importantly do they want yet another social media tool?

The first step that Google made, was to launch Buzz within an already existing platform – Gmail.  Clever, because if it had been stand alone I don’t think people would have the inclination to use it. For many reasons, but probably most important is it would have been yet another application to open and manage… why bother.

The second advantage was to use the power of Gmail to help users use Buzz.  All those email addresses that have been stored – business associates, contacts, friends, acquaintances, family etc.

The autofollowing feature that was supposed to help Buzz users find other users to follow, has caused a few privacy issues. But now that it has been tweaked to allow users a bit more control of who sees their Gmail mailing list, it will give people more confidence.

Will Google Buzz take off and be a success?  I think this really depends on how much people will continue to use the shortened Twitter-like version of communicating.

Buzz has some advantages to users, but I don’t see any clear differentials that will make it stand out from the pack.

Avatar toys bring you the future in kids entertainment with augmented reality allowing the interaction with surroundings, to make it a more life-like experience.

When Star Wars action figures came out in the 1970s, they were considered to be revolutionary. The small representations of the movie characters sold by the millions, and changed the face of movie merchandising forever. Children played with these figures for hours and hours, even though they had relatively little detail and few points of articulation compared to action figures of today. Toys like this have endured and evolved for many years; however, even George Lucas probably could not have imagined where the future of action figures would take us.

Avatar and Augmented Reality
James Cameron and Mattel bring us that future now, with action figures and toys tied into his latest mega blockbuster, “Avatar.” The film, designed for IMAX 3D, is about creatures on a far-off world called Pandora and their relationship with humans, who visit Pandora and interact with its inhabitants safely through the use of proxies called “avatars.”
What makes the Avatar toys so revolutionary is that they are integrated with augmented reality, a new term for technology that interacts with one’s surroundings to produce real time, real-life results. In the case of Avatar, each toy is equipped with a 3-D web tag.

How the iTAG Works
This “iTAG” can be scanned by any computer webcam. When it is scanned, the toy produces exclusive, special content that can be accessed on your computer screen. This content includes not only static content like biographical information and images, but also 3-D renderings of your action figure in action. What’s really cool is that if you scan two iTAGs at the same time, you’ll be treated to 3-D animation of the two toys interacting with each other onscreen.

The Future of Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is a concept that doesn’t just apply to toys. It can be used with anything from map applications to social media, but integrating augmented reality into such a popular and widespread item as a line of movie tie-in toys probably means good things for this type of product. Expect to see much more from the world of augmented reality in the future, both in your children’s toys and in your adult life.

Have you tried Google Buzz yet and do you think it will be the new craze in social media circles?  On Tuesday Google launched their answer to the Social Networking craze.  Google have cleverly piggybacked off the successful platform of Gmail.  Keep a look out for the new Buzz button on your Gmail profile, that looks something like this:

Google’s strategy is based around people struggling to manage their social media accounts and deal with the overload of information.  Buzz will open up new functionality within Gmail and at the same time Buzz can make use of Gmail’s very strong email functions to send short messages and photos to friends, also to manage them.  One can make use of all the email addresses stored in Gmail, to make your social networking that much easier.

You can also use your phone to connect with Buzz using the smartphone applications and with Google Maps.  Its going to be interesting to see if Buzz can eat into some of the Facebook & Twitter market share.  Using the already established Gmail base will give them critical mass and being able to connect with the diiferent Google specific applications, may give Google an advantage.