Today in San Francisco, the BlackBerry PlayBook was unveiled at Devcon, BlackBerry’s developer conference. The PlayBook is the much-anticipated rival to the Apple’s iPad.

Half the weight of the iPad, the PlayBook boasts more technology such as HDMI output and multitasking capabilities. Where the iPad lacks a camera, the PlayBook accommodates two, one with the capacity for videos and video-calling, the other for HD stills.

The downside? The PlayBook does not come equipped with a 3G connection, forcing the user to rely on WiFi. It’s also difficult to compete with Apple’s amazing applications. We must admit that both options are great strides for the wired world!

Which would you choose? Are you a BlackBerry fan or an Apple enthusiast?

Renowned author Steve Johnson is currently on tour promoting his fascinating book Where Good Ideas Come From. Johnson calls it his “version of a how-to book, supported with stories of great ideas from the past (along with a few stories of ideas that failed for interesting reasons.)” In other words, it discusses the spaces where creativity flourishes and how we, the reader, can implement these spaces into our everyday lives. Johnson gives practical advice on how to make our personal environments effectively innovative.

He’s a brilliant guy, incredibly funny, and great on-stage. The people at Riverhead books decided to translate his personality, and great concepts, to an animated demo to promote his new book.

Check out the video!

What really appealed to me is the question that has been coming up ad nauseam, “are we too distracted by an overload of technology to really create anything new and exciting?” Johnson assures us, (and I certainly agree!), that this is not the case.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Do you believe that we are still beyond capable of creating and innovating fascinating technology?

It’s as easy as ABC! We figured after running a story on the legendary Google’s future competitor, we should probably mention Google’s newest stroke of genius. Wednesday, Google launched its latest and greatest. “Google Instant” is a search ability in which Google predicts what you could be searching for, after only one letter! The search engine predicts what the user could be searching, and adds it in gray text after minimal lettering. All the while, the links it would normally show after pressing enter are continually showing up in correspondence with the gray finish. So what are the “ABC’s” of Google? Well, A is for Amazon and B is for Bank of America. The rest is up to you.

In perfect Google mantra, there are definitely some parental controls. Only G-rated website show up instantaneously.

Pros have established that this could save a total of 2-5 seconds per search. Considering Google gets a day, this is bound to save some serious time. After some serious research on our end, we have come to the conclusion that this development is very, very cool.

Have you checked out Google Instant yet? If so, what are your conclusions? If not, be sure to check it out ASAP!

We all get those obnoxious e-mails and click that link that turns out to be, at best, a dead end. Enter Blekko, a private beta search engine where one can use slashtags to specify what they are looking for. The slashtags are a feature original to Blekko, and one that should drastically improve search results. For example, when searching for “Ping” on the Apple website, simple search “Apple /Ping” to better focus your results. The goal is to create a more specific search without it being in the main bar. You can also note the most popular slashtags being used in other searches, and create your own public(or private) slashtags.

How does this reduce spam? With a more specific search, you are more likely to find that one link you are looking for. There is also a spam button below each link. Similar to the one used in your email. You can mark any link you don’t like as spam, and it will never show up for you again. This opportunity not only provides sanity for frustrated searchers who always seem to click the same link, but also encourages searchers to come back. It is personal enough that people will think of it as their own search. Programmers have also promised that should enough people mark a website as spam, the site will be investigated, and if necessary, removed.

While the launch date is TBA, users can be assured that this will be the search engine of the future. Developers have been working on it for almost three years and raised over 24 million to help fund their work in progress. Mashable was allowed a debut of the site, and was thoroughly impressed, and TechCrunch believes it to be more user friendly than Google’s specific searches. Who knows, could this be the search engine that finally give Google a run for its money?

Will you use Blekko when it launches? Do you think it could finally give Google the competition it needs?

“JiveWorld10, will bring together industry luminaries, customers, business executives and leading enterprise vendors to share social business thought leadership and provide a platform to network with peers” – Mashable

Jive is the largest and fastest growing SBS company in the world!

“Jive SBS takes all the great things people love about social networking software, collaboration software, and community software and makes those work for business. That’s why many of the brands that drive the global economy – including Cisco, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Intel, NIKE Inc., SAP, Swiss Re, T-Mobile and Yum! Brands – and thousands of other companies all Jive. Jive is number one in Social Business Software, with the most extensive solution, the largest implementations, and unmatched expertise in delivering value.” – Jive

At JiveWorld10 there will be real-life case studies and examples from various enterprise deployments in the industry. The speakers presenting at the event are very impressive! For example:

• Tony Uphoff (CEO, UBM TechWeb)
• Wolfgang Jastrowski (Head of Unite Communications &Collaboration, Swiss Re)
• Stephen Maiello (Sr. Manager Client Experience, Charles Schwab
• For the whole list click here!

JiveWorld has also put together track sessions that you can choose from over 40 track sessions to attend:

• Driving Market Results
• Engaging Customers
• Connecting Employees
• Custom uses of Jive
• All things technical
• Custom applications of Social Business software

Check out the conference website at www.jivesoftware.com/jiveworld for complete track descriptions and to view the agenda.

What JiveWorld10 will offer:

• Get deep product dives, consulting advice, and answers to any questions you may have for our experts in the Jive Showcase
• Take part in Roundtable Sessions
• Benefit from the live online JiveWorld discussions
• and much more!

Unfortunately tickets are sold out, but you can join the wait list! More information about the event here:

Who is attending? What are you hoping to learn from this event??

Last week Apple revealed iTunes 10, which included a new logo and a new social music network called “Ping“. Ping allows you to “follow your favorite artists and friends to discover the music they are talking about, listening to and downloading.” – Apple

Ping is a combination of iTunes, Twitter and Facebook. It is a lot like Twitter where you can follow your friends or your favorite artists.

Ping allows you to:

• follow your favorite artists and become a part of their inner circle
• Read artist’s news feeds
• Find out what music an artist likes and learn songs that they recommend
• See pictures and status updates from your favorite artists (and you can join in our their conversations)
• You can also access Ping through your iPhone and iTouch
• You can also follow your friends and learn about what they are listening to who they like.
• See what artists are playing near you and who else will be in the audience too (over 17,000+ concerting listings)
• You can even buy tickets to concerts directly from Ping

I recently downloaded iTunes 10 and I am very impressed with how easy it is to use Ping! I look forward to learning more about it and to hear about what others have to say about it.

Have you tried Ping yet? Do you think Ping will be a great success?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the blessed way in which Google, Yahoo!, and Bing make their millions. When used correctly, SEM can be the most effective way to market and advertise your business. It is by far the easiest way to get your name out there, and should not be too expensive.

Some of the reluctance regarding creating a SEM is the possibility of being “attacked”. The way search engines charge you is called “Price-Per-Click” and used to charge whenever someone clicks your link, off of that particular search engine. This used to pose a problem for small business with big rivals. Competitors would hire employees to simply click on other businesses links over and over until funds were exhausted! Luckily, the search engines caught on quickly and started using IP addresses to monitor the number of times that address clicks a particular site. Too many clicks from the same user and monitors recognize what is happening and even has the power to ban users from clicking in the future. (I love technology!)

The most important aspect to creating your SEM are the keywords you use for the search. Use a formatting site to gauge which keywords will be most effective, and a keyword finder to figure what they will cost. It is imperative that you use keywords actually found on you site (the marketing Gods don’t like liars). Finally, keep it brief! The more specific you are with your keywords, the more effective the results will be. And the shorter the phrases, the higher the profit!

Search Engine Marketing is the key to success in our technological era. Follow these tips and your links will be blowing up in no time!

Happy searching!

What are the most popular SEM keywords? Do you find SEM to be profitable to your company? Let me know what you think!

We love to report on event happenings around the city, and this one is definitely one we’d like to spread the word about. If you are reading this post it probably means you recognize the importance of social networking for business success.“The Art of Active Networking” brought to you by “The Box SF” will take place every other Monday from October through December, 2010. Here you can participate and learn about some alternative forms of social networking, while increasing your business and online capabilities. Each guest is allowed 30 seconds to give a speech on the discussion at hand or to share new information for others to enjoy. So, put your thinking caps on and get ready to share some of your techniques and expect to learn something in return.

This event brings together an active cross-section of the Bay Area including business owners, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, dancers, artists, sales folks, designers, architects, bankers, wine lovers, marketing folks, media folks, doctors, singers, musicians, trainers and coaches. Their network includes everything from techies to trekkies. This is a great place for small business owners and entrepreneurs to make stronger active connections, and to help each other.

Bring your cards, laptops, i-Toys and smiles and be prepared to meet an interesting, outgoing, cross-section of cool people! Bring your ideas, add new friends on your social networking sites, with their high-speed free Wi-Fi, and build a new kind of network!

Shop. Sip. Listen. Taste. Learn. See. Connect

Cost is $7 online or $10 at the door.

What are some topics that you would like to hear discussed?