This weekend Apple will launch the next great thing. I recommend you get your hands on an iPad soon.

The iPad will be a game changing device. Here are a few reasons why consultants, coaches, and speakers will want to be on the front end of getting this technology:

• You immediately garner attention and look successful by having one. Just as it was cool to have an iPhone, it will be cool to have an iPad. What a great conversation starter that can lead to new business. You never know who you’ll meet.
• You can actually use the iPad on an airplane. For most people that are not always in first class, you’ll know that it is nearly impossible to use a laptop of any kind when you’re in your seat…especially if the person in front of you leans back to take a nap. The iPad will lie flat and provide a large keyboard onscreen, making it ideal for creating text-based content, answering e-mails, writing on your blog, etc.

Even though the iPad does not have a camera, a phone, USB ports, or the ability to use Flash, you don’t need those things on this device.

• You’d look and feel ridiculous holding up a large device like the iPad to take a photo or video of someone. Have an iPhone in your pocket? That’s perfect for those tasks.
• The iPad shouldn’t be a phone. Again, the size prohibits the practicality of it being a phone.
• Who needs USB ports? Nearly all files can be transmitted electronically and wirelessly.
• Flash isn’t necessary. There are better ways to write apps that fully handle the multi-touch gestures and performance obstacles of the software better than any web browser could today.

So let’s concentrate on what the iPad is. It’s an awesome content delivery tool…in the form of movies, text, images, etc. If you’ve written a book, it needs to be published on the iPad soon…along with more than just text and photos. Think links to web sites, videos, and other content that will make your material a richer experience.

I can imagine taking the iPad in the kitchen to view recipes, having it on the couch to check some quick emails or surf the internet, or simply relaxing to watch a movie or play a game. These are places I might take my laptop today but would prefer not to. I love the thought of always having an awesome book with me wherever I go in a format that is extremely readable.

The iPad is not a laptop, camera, netbook, phone, ebook reader, or anything else you’ve seen before. It’s a whole new category. If you’re thinking outside of the box at all, you’ll start to see some incredible new possibilities.

In addition, this will be the first device of it’s kind to have an awesome suite of productivity tools in Keynote (like PowerPoint), Pages (like Word), and Numbers (like Excel). You can even use it directly to power your projector. Coupled with the ShowWX Laser Pico Projector, you’d have quite the amazing portable presentation.

Personally, I’m going to wait until the 3G version is available so that I have the option to have internet access where there is no WiFi…but that’s only a few weeks away. : )

LinkedIn is a professional business networking site. It’s a powerful tool for storing your resume, getting recommendations, and finding jobs or business prospects. LinkedIn can also help you find people you worked with or went to school with at some time and then maintain connection with them. I’ve found LinkedIn to be very valuable…and it will only gain more value over time as my personal network grows. It’s a great way to advertise your services and expertise at no cost to select groups of people.

Recommendations on the LinkedIn network truly have value. They are more reliable than a marketing resume you could put together because you do not have the ability to edit other people’s comments about you. You can only approve/disapproved them to be visible on your profile.

As your network grows, it’s fun to see people you connect to that may already know one of your contacts. Like Facebook, it can be a practical example of the small world phenomenon. The more information you enter about previous jobs and education the more likely you will connect with people you know.

Ideas for LinkedIn use:
* Use LinkedIn to connect to people you truly trust and have confidence in their work quality. On occasions I will connect with someone that has many similar interests or would be good from a networking standpoint, but it is the exception rather than the rule.
* Choosing when to connect with people is important. I only do so after working with them for some time or after having a good personal conversation where I feel I can trust them. If this is the case, I contact people on the same day I talk to them and include a short personal message about how I met them or why I’m interested in connecting with them.

I believe one key with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is authenticity. If you do not care about the person on the other end of the electronic communication or you’re not adding value to their lives, then they most likely will not want to connect with you. People don’t want to be advertised at, but they do want good information. Sales guru, Jeffrey Gitomer says it this way “People don’t like to be sold, but they love to buy!” I believe you need to be providing value at no cost. With an established relationship, you will gain clients. Your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts are not for sales unless you’re paying for ads which is a different beast altogether.

LinkedIn is another really valuable tool in your toolbox for finding people/jobs, connecting with other people that may have similar interests, sharing your knowledge in discussion groups, building relationships, etc. Guy Kawasaki had some ideas for 10 uses of LinkedIn.

It’s important to build your network now and keep at it slowly over time. You never know when you’ll need it and it’s more difficult to build quickly.

The other day I came across this story about a teacher:

The computer in my high school classroom recently started acting up. After watching me struggle with it, one of my students came up and took over the keyboard. “Your hard drive crashed,” he said.
I called the computer services office and explained, “My computer is down. The hard drive crashed.”
The help desk technician explained “We can’t just send people down on your say-so. How do you know that’s the problem?”
“A student told me,” I answered. “OK…We’ll send someone over right away.”

The point here is that kids “get technology”. Why? One big reason is because kids are not afraid to try new things. They just keep at it until they get it right. They also often have the luxury of time. They are open to learning.

I can’t believe how many adults fear Facebook.com. Recently, though, the population of Facebook users seems to be changing. Facebook started with young people on a college campus. Now many of my high school friends (that I haven’t seen for 20+ years) are joining. Even my mom joined Facebook. (Part of this was due to being somewhat blackmailed into it. If you ever want to see photos of the grandkids again…you need to join FaceBook.)

One question I get frequently is “Why should I join Facebook?”
I’ll answer in the form of a question “Do you value relationships with your friends and family…and your time?” If the answer is “yes”, I believe you should join Facebook. It’s free due to sponsored by advertisements that appear on the right side of the web page.

What is Facebook?
Facebook is also a great way to connect with people that you know and even people that you haven’t seen for a long time. Officially, it is called a “social networking” application. It’s kind of a personal web page and blog where you can interact with other people that also use Facebook. Facebook is a lot more controlled and legitimate than MySpace.com.

I use Facebook to connect with friends and family and to share what’s up. I’ve posted a bunch of photos on FaceBook to share with my Facebook buddies. The new version of iPhoto integrates with Facebook so it’s super easy to upload photos. There is a Facebook iPhone application so I can even update my page live from my phone and check on my friends as well while I’m on the road. Facebook helps you track birthdays, major events, and even find other people that live nearby or have common interests.

Once you begin connecting to many people via Facebook, it can become addictive. My wife and I were competing at one time to see who had more friends. Then she simply gave up. (To her credit I have 10 years more friends that she does…and a custom database I developed to keep track of them all.) Although Facebook can take a lot of your time, in the end I believe it saves you time. Why should you repeat the same story over and over to multiple friends? You can post your photos of your latest travels or family events and all your friends see it at once…and can even comment on it. It helps you to stay more connected with people around you that you value. Then when you do see your friends you can converse at a deeper level since they already are aware of the basics of what’s going on in your life.

When you know something about the personal lives of the people around you, it improves your work environment and fosters a culture where people care more about each other. Facebook will also allow you to create or join groups if you like for associations, clubs, fans, etc. Then you can automatically get notifications of events and things that may be of direct interest to you.

What’s a Friend?
There may be some confusion with Facebook regarding what a “friend” is. There are different levels of relationships you have in life but on Facebook they’re all called a friend. Facebook friends can consist of:

• Close friends and family. Real friends.
• Acquaintances or people you’ve recently run into.
• People you want to maintain some minimal contact with such as people you haven’t seen in 20+ years. Maybe you’re curious to see what people are up to…and it may help to plan a reunion. Maybe you will rekindle a lost friendship.
• Business connections…to get to know co-workers or contacts on a personal level.
• Extended family…to find out who they are and get to know them a bit.

My Facebook Policies
To help me keep my sanity, I set some personal rules or policies for my usage of Facebook. They are:

• I only connect with people that I actually know or have met in person. Occasionally, I will connect to a friend of a friend but I need to be sure that knowing about their lives will add value to my life. If someone posts annoying information, I can quietly and discreetly “defriend” them. Facebook doesn’t even tell them so as not to hurt their feelings.
• I ignore almost all requests to add applications or play games. I don’t have time for that. “Trout slapping” and “poking” are not so much for me. I find a strength in the “Ignore” button. You can, too. Don’t feel obliged to join every cause that your friends are involved in.
• My main Facebook photo is of me. It is not my kid, my dog, my favorite politician, or me with someone that might be confused with me. This makes it easy for people to identify who I am…even if they haven’t seen me for a long time.
• I do not use Facebook purely as a marketing tool for my business. I have a genuine interest in using Facebook to get to know people and be social.
• I do not post things on Facebook that I wouldn’t want anyone in the world to see. Even though there are privacy settings, Facebook is a public forum. Remember that potential employers may visit your Facebook page. Those embarrassing party photos may prevent you from getting a job in the future. Although Facebook has many privacy controls (and they are especially important for younger people), my privacy level is pretty open so that people can find me easily.
• I maintain a clean and simple Facebook page so as not to confuse others or myself.

Here are some other Facebook tips that might help you:

• When you post on someone’s wall everyone sees it. Avoid posting personal details about yourself or others that you do not what shared with all their friends or anyone that looks at their wall.
• If you want to send someone a private e-mail, use a Message. If you want to be more direct, just send them an e-mail directly outside of Facebook. Often you can find your friend’s email address on their profile Info tab. This also helps you stay in contact if they change their e-mail address in the future.
• Do not invite friends to message threads unless you know that they know the other people and are VERY interested in the topic. Currently, there is no way in Facebook to back out and remove yourself from a message thread. You just need to agree with everyone to stop chatting…and sometimes this is not easy…especially if you’ve never met the other people.
• Look through your wall once in a while. If you see any inappropriate messages or photos that were posted by someone else, simply click on the Delete button next to each one.

I hope these ideas and tips help you make use of a great tool and help you overcome any fear of Facebook technology. Take the attitude of a kid and just try it out. The worst thing is that you decide it’s not for you. The best thing is that it improves your life. Hope to see you there.

I’ve been a faithful user of paper-based calendars for the past 20+ years. Even as someone who is really into technology gadgets, I’ve avoided them in this part of my life to keep things simple. I never wanted to deal with the syncing disasters, battery hassles, and other issues I saw people struggle with on a regular basis. Well, I simply don’t need the paper anymore. I’ve finally found an electronic equivalent that works reliably and easily. It’s my iPhone. The iPhone has come of age. As of today, it’s even available at Walmart!

I live by my calendar. I need it to keep track of many appointments and events so it must be reliable. I have built up the level of trust with my iPhone over the last 6 months. I even use it to schedule fun in my day. I schedule times to go juggle with a friend and my oasis activities that rejuvenate me like working out at the health club. With the event on the calendar, I am more likely to complete those activities. The rejuvenating activities are just as important as my work activities because they keep me healthy and happy. I am also able to prioritize things better when I know I already have an activity that is important to me scheduled for that time.

The iPhone interface is so intuitive that even my kids totally understand it. Even my 2 year old can navigate and find any application they want without any instruction. So I got a couple of special games for them that they can use, for example, when we’re waiting for a doctor appointment. They are “ABC Animals” that shows ABC flash cards and gives them a chance to practice writing their letters and “Adventure” that includes some fun pre-school games where they can learn shapes, colors, etc.

My original iPhone investment was $200…the same as the cost of my old Motorola Razr a few years ago. I couldn’t wait to get rid of that piece of junk when my contract ran out. The size of the Razr was nice enough but the interface was awful. I was forced to scroll through up to three entries for each person in my address book just to find their phone number. Now, with the iPhone, finding a phone number is usually only a few simple finger flicks away. In addition, it seems that nearly every other day some new application becomes available that totally makes my original investment even more valuable. To those of you who are contemplating an iPhone purchase, I’m providing the lists below of all the iPhone applications I use regularly…so far.

Oh, and by the way, don’t forget that the iPhone also works as a phone!

Built-in applications I use nearly every day:

• Calculator – Handy to have with you always
• Calendar – Keeping work appointments and important events. I also share calendars with the family by using Google calendars so we can coordinate baby-sitting schedules, etc.
• Camera – Take a shot and view it in the photo album
• Clock – Time in multiple time zones
• Contacts – All contacts are entered on my computer and automatically synced to the iPhone with other important information.
• iPod / iTunes – Selected songs and podcasts I have with me always
• Mail – Email
• Maps – Turn by turn directions that follow your position and traffic info
• Phone – Use the iPhone as a phone!
• Safari – Explore nearly any internet web site
• Voice Memo – Record quick voice snippets and sync with iTunes or email them
• Weather – Get the temp and current forecast in your area
• YouTube – Watch videos

Other important applications:

• AroundMe – Find almost any important type of business around you (anywhere you are) like restaurants, gas stations, coffee shops, hospitals, parking, taxis, theaters, etc.
• YouVersion Bible – The good book with multiple versions and daily readings
• FaceBook – Keep in touch with friends and family
• Google – Voice search of the internet
• FlightTrack – Get more information about a flight and where it is than the people in the air
• Google Earth – Visit details of nearly anywhere on our planet
• GPS Tracker – Keep track of where you’ve been on a bike ride
• LinkedIn – Track business contacts
• Mobile News – Associated Press articles ready at the moment
• Movies or Fandango – See what’s playing in theaters near you
• PayPal – Send money electronically to people
• Pocket Aid – First Aid and CPR instructions ready always
• Shazam – Automatically recognizes songs on the radio just by listening a few seconds.
• Starmap or Starry Night Mobile – Identify nearly anything in the sky
• TiVo Mobile – Schedule recordings of TV programs at home from anywhere
• WhitePages – White pages phone directory
• YPmobile – Yellow pages phone directory
• Amazon.com – Very cool app that will identify books just by taking a photo of the cover
• Dominos Pizza – Order and track where your pizza is in the process
• Chipotle – Order and jump to the front of the line
• USA Today and FOX Sports – News
• Currency – Convert money amounts around the world

Just for fun:

• Cookbook – Betty Crocker’s recipes on the phone
• Aerolite Free – Asteroids game
• WildWest – Great pinball game
• Cowbell Plus – iPhone percussion instruments
• Cro-Mag – Racing game with cave-man theme
• DigiLite – Digital drum set
• GalaxyImpact – Little Brick Out for the iPhone
• iXmas Tree – Decorate your virtual tree
• Lightsaber – Star Wars saber fights
• Zippo Lighter – Virtual lighter
• iChess Lite – Play chess
• myLite – Flashlight
• Night Stand – The iPhone becomes a digital alarm clock
• Pac-man Lite – The real game from the 80s
• GalagaRemix – One of my favorite old arcade games
• Relax – Create a virtual environments anytime…campfire, mountain stream, under the sea, etc.
• RotaryDialer – The old dialing method available today
• Sol Free – Free solitaire game
• Wings – Fly over mountains and virtual scenery
• Decibel – Meter to see how loud that music is
• StopWatch – Great way to track time
• Clinometer – Ultra level. See exactly how your iPhone is positioned.
• iHeartRadio – Listen to internet radio stations easily

Techy Applications:

• LogMeIn – Control computers remotely from the iPhone
• Snap – See all the devices (printers, computers, etc.) on your local network
• Air Sharing – Copy PDF, Word, Excel and other files to your iPhone
• MobileFiles – Access your MobileMe iDisk on your iPhone
• FMTouch – Sync a FileMaker database to your iPhone

Web sites designed for the iPhone:

• Fedex Mobile – http://fedex.com/mobile – Track packages
• Google Translate – http://translate.google.com – Automatically translate foreign language phrases
• Weather Underground – http://wunderground.com – Get radar weather
• US Bank – http://m.usbank.com – Great way to bank online via the phone
• and many others…

More iPhone fun:

• Remote – Use to control slides during a Keynote presentation
• Crazy Candle – A birthday candle you can blow or shake out
• Crazy Mouth – Place in front of your mouth for some funny stuff
• EyeTricks – Optical illusions
• iMilk or iSoda – Drink virtual milk or pop
• iMunchies – Eat virtual popcorn
• Walt Disney World maps, wait times, and dining – For our family trip

(Theses lists were updated 10/3/09…since technology changes a lot.)