No less that Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the Ipad last January 28, and he referred to it as a “truly magical and revolutionary product.”

“What this device does is extraordinary,” Jobs said. “It is the best browsing experience you’ve ever had. … It’s unbelievably great … way better than a laptop. Way better than a smartphone.”

The product was presented for demonstration at an  invitation-only event in San Francisco, and it operated without a hardware keyboard, with Jobs typing on what he described as a nearly full-size touchscreen keyboard. “It’s a dream to type on,” he said.

The iPad has a nearly 10-inch screen, about half-inch thick and weigh around 1½ pounds. It is available in 16-gigabyte, 32-gigabyte and 64-gigabyte versions.

Jobs said the iPad will be lightning fast: “It screams.” The device will have a 1 GHz processor, an announcement that coaxed “oohs” and “ahs” from the audience.

The price of this new device starts $499 for the 16-gigabyte version, $599 for the 32-gig version and $699 for the 64, Jobs said. Having 3G mobile access will cost an extra $130 on each, he added.

Two mobile plans will be available through AT&T, and there will be no contracts, allowing customers to opt out at any time, according to Jobs.

Some tweets I’m reading about this iPad isn’t really very encouraging. I haven’t read them though, so I’ll still give this iPad a try… that is, if I can even afford one.

Launched in 1996, the annual Webby awards are judged by 650-member academy.

David-Michel Davies, executive director of the awards said, “The Internet is the story of decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture.”

“The recurring theme among all of the milestone on our list is the Internet’s capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people,” he added.

And the Webby Awards list of  Top 10 most influential internet moment of the decades are:

- the launch of online encyclopedia Wikipedia in 2001 which “epitomizes the Internet’s power to bring strangers from around the world together to collaborate on projects both big and small.”;

- the use of the Internet in the US presidential campaign in 2008 which “transformed every aspect of the way election campaigns are fought.”;

- the launch of Google AdWords in 2000, the Google’s targeted text ad system which “turned advertising on its head.”;

- the expansion of Craigslist, an online classified site, outside San Francisco in 2000;

- Google’s initial public offering in 2004;

- the shutting down of file-sharing site Napster in 2001;

- the opening of Facebook to the masses in 2006;

- Apple’s iPhone debut in 2007;

- the online video revolution led by YouTube in 2006; and

- this year’s protests of the Iranian elections, which were mobilized through social media including Twitter.

Were you ever wary of what information you have provided Google and how the internet giant is using it? With the new tool released by Google, you can find out. Introducing the Google Dashboard which was released by the company last Thursday.  It lets users see and control data that the company has collected about them.

The new service provides an online summary of a user’s files with Google, in Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa photos, and so on, by collecting privacy controls in one place. With the Dashboard, users can review delete recent Google searches, see what was documents were recently opened and shared, and survey their interactions with other Google-powered sites such as YouTube.

Recently, Google has come under fire from politicians and privacy advocates for its data-collection practices. In its official Google blog, it headlined, “Transparency, Choice and Control – now complete with a Dashboard!”

It’s like seeing all your Google accounts in one place (finally!), as long as you’re using the same e-mail address on all of them. Which would explain why I can’t see some of my accounts

It is still too early to tell whether it would be a hit or a miss, but the idea of having control over your data sounds like a good idea. However, as some reviews have mentioned about it, it doesn’t remove the control from Google either over your information.

And I said to myself, “What’s all the fuzz about this Google Wave?” Some even made videos on YouTube just to ask for an invite! What is Google Wave really? In my search, I was led to a CNN article which features the genius brothers behind Google Wave.

They are Lars and Jens Rasmussen, the same team who were responsible for today’s Google Maps. An application that saved them from being broke and jobless.

According to them, “Google Wave will kill e-mail.”

Google Wave, even the brothers admit, is hard to describe. It’s your e-mail, instant messaging system and social networking all rolled into one -- and then some. And all of this done in real time!

Think of it as chatting through your e-mail, or e-mailing in your chat lines and getting instant replies when your friend is online. As the description says, you can see what you’re friend is typing because they will appear in your screen letter by letter as he/she types them.

Wow! I really feel Jurassic! Considering that I am not even comfortable in instant messaging and then this!

The application even boasts of online translation as you communicate with friends with different languages.

Here are a couple of YouTube presentation to help you understand Google Wave better… I hope…

Unfortunately, Google Wave is available only by invites. Which explains why you can see almost everybody begging for it. According to the Wikipedia entry it was “Initially released only to developers, a “preview release” of Google Wave was extended to nearly 1 million users beginning September 30, 2009, with the initial 100,000 users each allowed to invite up to twenty additional users.”

A very limited number it is. Which makes me want to ask, why boast of a very powerful application when there are only a few people who can use it? Would you be happy to get access knowing that you can’t reach through your friends with it when you didn’t get an invite?

Darn! Now, I want to get an invite!

Still couldn’t get it? You can watch the one-hour video here or read about it from the official Google blog.

Just today, I read that Yahoo! officially shuts down Geocities, so I guess it’s time to say… Goodbye Geocities…

The closure of the free-webhosting facility is all part of Yahoo! cost cutting strategies.

“We have enjoyed hosting websites created by Yahoo! users all over the world, and we’re proud of the community you’ve built,” the California-based Internet pioneer said in a message at the GeoCities website.

“However, we have decided to focus on helping our customers explore and build relationships online in other ways.”

(I wonder why though, I just tried accessing my old site, and it was still able to load. I am not sure though after making this post).

British company Dyson has reinvented the fan, it do away with the rotating blades, and instead uses suction and acceleration to expel air.

The new device is called the Dyson Air Multiplier, it draws in air and amplifies it 15 times. Its ring that expels the air is hollow and is not covered by a grill.

You can say that this is technology without the ‘cutting edge.’

It definitely looks safer than the traditional electric fan, and I’m sure it’s much quieter since there are no blade rotating.

Designer Engineer James Dyson said of the traditional fan, “The fundamental problem has remained the same for more than 125 years — the blades ‘chop’ the air creating an uneven airflow and unpleasant buffeting.”

He based his design for the bladeless fan on the Dyson Airblade, a hand dryer that is more efficient as it dry faster than others in the market.

Here’s Dyson as he explains the principle behind his bladeless fan

The revolutionary fan is not cheap though, it cost $300 for the 10-inch and $330 for the 12-inch model.

A model of an electric sports car was unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show last month. It was a sleek two-seat sports red sports car

Back then, there was no confirmation yet whether they have plans to produce it. Now Audi of America President Johan de Nysschen says the car is on its way. He said, “I expect we will see running examples in the in the next 24 months.”

The high performance e-tron concept is powered by four electric motors, one on each axle. The car has a range of 154 miles using a lithium ion battery which is positioned behind the passenger cabin.

The show car is 168 inches long–about midway between Audi’s TT and R8 sports cars–and 75 inches wide.

The e-tron uses a space frame. All the added-on body parts, including the doors and roof, are made of a fiber-reinforced plastic.

The new Google search options is an enhancement of its options sidebar added last May. You will see the options side bar by clicking on the “show option” link at the top of the search page result.

The new search options include Past hour and Specific date range where you can look for the most recent updates or when you know the specific time of the updates you’re looking for was posted.

You can also toggle between Visited pages and Not yet visited so you can remove all the sites that you have already checked and find new sites you haven’t seen yet.

The Blogs, Books and News options allows to search for an item at a specific platform.

And then, there’s also the More shopping sites and Less shopping sites option which obviously filters out or add more shopping sites depending on your preference.

Looks like searching for items now on the Internet is easier and faster with these filter options.

Online social media like Twitter and Facebook have become major sounding board of Filipinos asking for help, to send rescuers to where help is most needed and to give status updates of different people and places affected by the storm.

After the storm, the internet has become a channel too in helping the victims of Ondoy. TXTPower has a Paypal account exclusively for accepting donations for the victims.

Anywhere you are in the world, if you have a Paypal account, you can send your donations through TXTPower’s Paypal and they will forward all the money to the Philippine National Red Cross.

Donations can also be sent via SmartMoney at 5577-5144-1866-7103 or GCash at 0917-9751092.

You can also visit Red Cross and send your donations directly to them.

Other websites and blogs have also joined the campaign to raise awareness and help for the victims of tropical storm Ondoy.

Because 3-D TV sets will be coming out next year, so I guess that if I should buy a new TV I better wait for the new 3-D TVs to come out.

According to the CNN websites, Sony and Panasonic will be releasing home 3-D television systems in 2010, while Mitsubishi and JVC are reported to be also working on similar products.

Robert Perry, an executive vice president in Panasonic said “TV finally becomes real. You’re in it. It’s the next frontier.” Perry compared this transition to 3-D TV to the switch from black-and-white to color television and the shift from standard-to-high-definition images.

Using cameras with two sets of lenses, ESPN is test-recording some sporting events in 3-D. The double lenses would make football players appear to jump out of home television screens during live 3-D broadcasts.

The new technology though, said the TV makers, will have a price which is not really expected to be substantially higher than some high-definition televisions on the market now.

Wow! Is that exciting or what. Honestly, I rarely get to watch TV lately, but if I get to like the experience brought by 3-D TV, I might be watching more TV just because of pure amazement.