It’s become my first stop for portable gaming.  I have no need to pick up my Nintendo DS, PSP or even my iPhone.  The large screen is ideal for casual games and the iPad follows me around to spots when I want an entertaining distraction; meals, commercial breaks, even the bathroom.  ;)  I can fire up a quick game of golf or play through a few rounds of Tower defense over 10 minute bursts in my day.  The library of games is enormous and frankly makes the handheld platforms from Nintendo and Sony look weak.

The iPad has become the device I use to show people information or video on the web.  I can whip out my iPad, search for the video I want and have it load up for playback faster than it takes to boot up my laptop from a cold start.  It’s also much simpler to transport the iPad around the house than my 15″ laptop.  In fact, when paired with a keyboard, it’s very difficult to see the use in lugging my laptop around if all I need it for is word processing or web surfing.

It’s modified my organizational methods, specifically due to Things.  I’m really not that big on to-do lists, mostly because I can remember the tasks and priority levels I’ve assigned them in my head.  What it’s really assisted me on is keeping track of when something has been completed and branching out a giant project into several different tasks (ideal for work projects).  For something I need to remember for home, I typically use Penultimate, a fantastic writing app that uses your finger for quick notes.

It’s changed when I consume entertainment, such as movies and television shows.  I don’t feel compelled to fire up the DVR to record a TV show when I can watch it the next day through an network app or Netflix.   I can connect to my laptop through VNC to watch Hulu if needed as well.  There’s really no reason for me to be at the television at a certain time to catch a movie or show.

Overall, the iPad has improved how I spend my day, both when directly interacting with the web and increasing my productivity.  I may give it the trade show test at E3 this year (if I attend) and see how well it holds up as a mobile reporting tool.

• You Haven’t Registered Your Custom Username Yet. Assigning a username to your Facebook page couldn’t be simpler. You type in www.facebook.com/username and click on “Set a Username” for your pages.  You would be surprised how many pages (small and large) neglect to make their brand page more easily accessible to someone typing in a URL.  And, unsurprisingly, the Google ranking for the page rises.

• You Are Letting New Visitors Land On The Wall. The great thing about creating a brand page is having the ability to direct new  Facebook visitors to another starting point rather than the wall.   By sending them to a simple tab that you design (with a application tool like Static FBML) , you can welcome them with elements of your website / brand rather than a stream of wall posts.  Even smarter, you can lay out a clear path to becoming a fan.  For Example:

• You Haven’t Designed a Custom User Picture. While Facebook is some what limited in design choices, you can work within the constraints of Facebook’s profile picture requirements to blend into the design.  Take a look at  5 Creative Ways to Hack Your Facebook Profile Photo to get started.  I’m a fan of simply placing your logo beneath the blue line and seamlessly blending into the page.

• You Overwhelm Your Wall With a Busy RSS Stream.  This is a terrible way to treat your fans.  Each post that you make shows up in their Facebook stream.  Sending 15 to 20 posts a day into their stream is rude and defeats the purpose of the wall.  Take the courteous route and create a separate tab for your RSS feed.  Send only your best content onto the Wall to spur conversations.

• You Are Missing From The Discussion.  The whole point of having a Facebook page to promote yourself or your company is to create an open dialog about your brand.  This means you need to join the conversation on a meaningful level.  A Facebook Page isn’t designed for a one-way discussion.  It’s not a page to blast out a press release and ignore the responses.  In order to truly build a dedicated, loyal fan base, you need to become active in the discussion.

Tackle these five aspects of your Facebook brand page and you will be well on your way to building a solid readership of Facebook fans.  Check out 8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page to grab some great tools for building more functionality to your Facebook Brand Page.

The Oatmeal

The Oatmeal is a relatively new member of the web-comic community.  While some of the jokes can be a bit too obvious, the comedic nature of the illustrations are purposely crazy and captures the artist’s silly sense of humor.  (Link)

Amazing Super Powers

Amazing Super Powers (created by Wes & Tony) is a hilarious, twisted web-comic that occasionally borders on the insane.  The comic stays very fresh, but occasionally uses a few recurring characters to reward consistent readers. (Link)

Perry Bible Fellowship

Unfortunately somewhat defunct, the crazed cartoons of Nicholas Gurewitch live on in an archive on his website.  While his starting cartoons are light on the illustration quality, his work increases rapidly in quality and imaginative flair.  Unicorn Power!!!  (Link)

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Finally, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is probably the least attractive of this group of cartoons, but doesn’t disappoint with its own level of twisted humor.   It’s an excellent resource for morbid, geeky and occasionally inappropriate humor.  (Link)

Enjoy!  I know that I do.  :)

The house I moved into last month is absolutely ridiculous.  I have a room on the first floor with my own private bathroom.  The door from the bathroom leads outside and the in-ground swimming pool is but a single leap from the door.  The bedroom has hardwood floors and was previously painted a beige color.  I’m gave it some color over the Thanksgiving holiday.  It’s now a light sea green.  I also rearranged the furniture to open up the room.  I really want to create a place to chill out rather than a office / bedroom.   I’ve been perusing www.apartmenttherapy.com over the past week for ideas.

More later, bed for now.

I also came across two moderately funny web items today. The first is Where is Bob? It’s supposedly the tale of a absentee IT manager.  It’s likely a viral marketing campaign of some sort as the writing is a bit too good and the stories are just slightly outlandish.  It’s still worth looking at for a laugh.

The second is a Hulu video of a short comedy called The Line. It’s about a group of crazy fanboys that sit in a line 11 days before some sci-fi movie opens.  There are a couple guys from SNL in the mix.  Jason Sudeikis is particularly funny as the movie theater operator.

I’ve been listening to Chopin all day for some reason.  Dead Polish piano players seem to increase my productivity on the writing front.

I’m happy with the blog design for now.  I keep tweaking it every day just a little bit, so expect to see small changes.  I’m also looking to add something new to the sidebar, but I’m trying to figure out what I should toss in there.  I’m really digging the minimalistic look right now, but I’m still missing something.

I also completed a quick video preview of Friend Book for the iPhone this afternoon.  It’s not out on the App Store on iTunes yet and it’s certainly worth checking out when it hits the digital streets.  Click the picture to the left or the Youtube link at the top of the page to watch the 3 minute preview.

I’ve been receiving an inordinate amount of Facebook friend requests lately; many from complete strangers.  No matter how many times I passively hit Ignore, they keep firing pleas at me.  Facebook desperately needs to add more options for my possible response.  Speaking of Facebook, the new look absolutely stinks.  It’s slow to load and I have to browse those stupid tabs to read someone’s page.

I’ve been playing around with the Flip Mino for a week now.  The video and sound quality is really excellent for the size of the camera.  It’s about the height of my iPhone, but skinnier in width.  I wish I had the camera when my sister and I filmed our Rock Band session a couple weeks ago.  Unfortunately Mikey and Gerbil broke up after our three day World Tour in Rome, London and Paris.