I won’t go on about how I never win anything and how this was a total shock to me, and focus on the iPad itself.  This thing is very slick – that is the best way I can describe it.  Browsing the web or reading a book on this device is a very satisfying experience.  With the bright screen and 10 hour battery life, it is really a sight to be seen. 

The dual cameras are interesting, one in the front and one in the back.  I haven’t yet taken any pictures with it though.  It will also capture movies too – which is a nice bonus.  For the most part, I have been using it as an eBook reader 99% of the time.  This mixed together with Amazon’s Kindle app makes for a great book reading experience. 

Overall, I guess if I was going to jump into the tablet computer scene – I could not have been handed a better device to do so.  I am sure over the next few weeks and months I will be sharing more awesome iPad related apps, tools or tips on this website so stay tuned.

You start the game off with your axe and pick, and you’ll need to chop away at the trees or the earth to create your first little home.  As you explore, you will find more items you can craft with – mix together and make new objects with.  You can then keep digging deep under ground and find elaborate dungeons, and enormous bosses.

Check out the Terraira trailer here:

To wrap things up, I think Terraria does a great job at doing some of the same things Minecraft does – but in it’s own unique way. Calling it a Minecraft clone or a 2D Minecraft does not do it justice as the game has much more going on for it past the mining and digging.  I am excited to see how the game will develop more in the future, and wish the creators the best of luck with it.

Want to give it a shot? Head over to Terraria.org!

Here is a little more about the program from the developers:

The software allows various background colors, with optional gradient effect, to be set for the desktop notes. You can also customize the font of each note and set it to be semi-transparent so it will not fully cover up your desktop background or icons. To fully protect your privacy, the software encrypts the login password with the irreversible SHA algorithm and also encrypts data files.

You can also style Efficient Sticky Notes to match your wallpaper or desktop, search through past notes you have taken, and recover notes that you may have accidently deleted by mistake too.

Want to try the program out for yourself? Head on over to Efficient Software and give it a download!

So, as I mentioned before – this is my very first cell phone.  While you might think that all the features and gizmos added to it might draw me away from using it, having never had a cell phone before, it actually makes the experience more comfortable for me.  Thus far, I have it set up to check my e-mail for me, browse through my RSS feed subscriptions and I also have is synced up with my personal calendars. 

The actual phone functionalities are pretty nice too.  The call quality is clear on both sides, and while it might still be early – Verizon has been a fantastic cell phone provider to work with.  I get almost a perfect 3G signal for my entire area here – and that is pretty tough to find out in the boondocks of Texas.

The only annoyance I have been able to put my finger on thus far, is the built in Facebook integration.  To get the full effect of it, you have to add all your Facebook friends to your contact list.  Now, while I might enjoy my Facebook buddies – chances are I will actually call a slim majority of you all. Some people might also  not like the size, cause it is a little bigger than your average cell phone – but not me. It is comfortable to use for people with big hands.

Take it from me that the Droid X is a great phone for a newbie to the cell phone world and I look forward to bringing you more information, tips and tricks as I learn how to get the most out of it myself.

Steel Diver

Ever want to pilot your own submarine? No? Well, me neither – however Steel Diver still takes the cake when it comes to delivering a fun and unique experience. It is essentially a submarine simulation game that kind of mashes up the gameplay from strategy games and arcade shooters.  The periscope mini game missions (where you can turn yourself 360 degrees to look for ships to shoot) is really fun too.

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition

Fighting games on portable systems usually suck due to lack of features and poor controls.  This variation of Street Fighter though is thankfully the exception to that rule.  Sure, "professional" players might be turned off a ‘bit by it – however the inclusion of the touchpad combos and special moves for me, makes it a much more enjoyable experience.  It keeps the gameplay fast and you won’t have to worry about spamming Hadoukens by pressing the touch screen cause the computer will often counter you quickly.

Pilotwings Resort

Last but not least, you have Pilotwings Resort.  This game (especially with the 3D turned on) is amazing to look at and play too.  The best way to sum it up quickly would be if you took the flying parts of Wii Sports Resort and made them into their own game – plane and simple.  Really fun and there is always the challenge of beating your previous score in many of the missions.

Overall, I am pretty happy with all three game choices.  Each showcases the abilities of the 3DS really well, and should at least be looked into if you are wanting to pick up a few more new games for your new 3DS system.

The 3DS System Itself

The first thing you’ll notice, if you have had one of the other variations of the DS systems before is this one is a little ‘bit heavy in comparison.  It is nothing mind-blowing or anything, but it is a little noticeable.  I also keep wanting to pull the stylus out of the side, even though now it has been relocated to the back of the 3DS.  The buttons and controls feel really solid, not cheap at all.  Some people have said that the fact that it is a little ‘bit bigger than the regular DS Lite is an issue, but for me it wasn’t really noticeable.

The 3DS System Software Basics

Playing around with some of the basic applications and the system itself was almost as much fun as playing the games.  I am sure eventually the novelty of running around the house taking 3D pictures of things might wear off, but right now it’s just really cool.  I’ve also thought about using the 3DS as my defacto MP3 player too.  It does have all the functionality there – but not sure yet if I want to carry it in my pocket with me everywhere I go.  Right now it is more of a really expensive baby I am taking really good care of.

Here is a quick rundown of the built-in software:

• Nintendo 3DS Camera  – Not a replacement for your expensive digital camera, but it is fun to take both 2D an 3D pictures.  There are also a lot of interesting photo effects you an add too.
• Nintendo 3DS Sound – Your standard sound recorder and player.  Comes with a few audio effects you can add too – just in case you wanted to listen to yourself in a tunnel while talking into an electric fan.
• Mii Maker – Creating a Mii from your photo is really the draw with this application.  You also have a few more items to choose from in comparison to the Wii Miis, however facial hair is still rather wonky looking.
• AR Games – A great example of what the 3DS is really capable of.  I haven’t gotten around to playing with all the cards and features, but this one is great to use when you want to show the 3DS off to a friend.
• Face Raiders – I thought this would be stupid and I was surprised by how fun it was.  You pretty much turn around with the 3DS, shooting flying faces you input into the game.
• Activity Log – Here you can check to see how long you have played each game and some other interesting stats.  I really haven’t played with the 3DS long enough to get much to show up here.

I am sure over the next few days and weeks I’ll have more to say about the 3DS, as I get a chance to play with it longer.  Overall, I can sum up the experience like this.  It was the same sort of wow factor I had when I played the Wii for the first time.  You are kind of in awe of the technology – and then realize, they the games are pretty fun too.

So, to start things out I dumped about $100 into StumbleUpon to run ad stumbles for my free marketing eBook. To stretch things out a ‘bit, the daily account budget was also adjusted to $5 per day.  For the particular webpage I was promoting, that equaled out to about 100 daily stumbles. 

So, how did I do? I received 2,283 ad stumbles and a little over 150 natural or "free" StumbleUpon visits. 

StumbleUpon can generate real traffic.  If you pay for 100 stumbles a day, you will get 100 people stumbling across your content on a daily basis.  The only problem is the amount of time they stay there on your website.  I would say it is highly doubtful I converted many new RSS subscribers or fans via this method because the average time they spent on the page was around 5 to 15 seconds.  I have learned though that to run a successful advertising campaign on StumbleUpon you have to keep the goals really simple.  Grab their eyeballs, give them a goal and hope for the best.  You don’t have a lot of time to waste as these visitors seem to jump to the next link very quickly.

Hope this helps others out who might want to try StumbleUpon out as an advertising option, but wasn’t sure if it was really worth it or not.  I would say as long as you have a big enough budget to make a dent, give it a shot.  Just make sure you have a plan or a goal in mind.

Minecraft, simply put, is a game where you go around building things for fun. If you want to go out and build a 400 foot monument to yourself, go for it.  If you want to go dig a house out of a mountain, you can do that too.  From what I have seen there really is no right or wrong way to play the game. You pretty much sit down, figure out your goal and do it.

At the core of the game, you gather resources to make things.  For example, when you start out – you can go punch a tree down.  Yes, this is as awesome as it sounds. You can then gather the pieces of wood to craft something else. You might make a crafting table, so then you can create a pick axe.  With the pick axe, you can start mining for coal to make your torches.  Then you can build a shovel to dig faster in the dirt.  Before you know it, you will have an entire fort built for yourself with animals randomly spawning in your second floor (as you can see from the picture above). 

You can download this amazing little game and play it again and again for only about $20 or so (technically, If you pre-purchase now during beta, you pay  €14.95!)  My entire Sunday was lost in Minecraft and I am sure more productivity will go down the drain soon.  How else will I finish my 200 foot tall stone badger monument?

NBA Jam has been just about the only sports game (outside of wrestling games) that I can play and actually have fun with.  Like it’s predecessor, the new NBA Jam for Wii is a basketball game for people who may not know all 227 rules you need to know in most basketball games.  It is simplified, when you compare it with other basketball games out there – but that’s perfect for me, because I’m not the world biggest sports fan. 

The game is great for a group of people or as something quick you want to play while you have a little free time to spare. 

Overall, I would say this version of NBA Jam might even beat out the old SNES version I still dust off and play from time to time.  It gives you all the basic features of the old two on two basketball game and tosses in enough new fun modes and un-lockables to get you to keep playing. 

Simply put, OpenCart might be one of the best looking ecommerce scripts out there today. It is a robust shopping cart solution for anybody out there that wants to host their own good looking online store.  If you are an online merchant that wants to get a good looking store set up at a minimal cost – OpenCart is worth checking into.

Using OpenCart is very easy to do.  You pretty much just install OpenCart on your hosting account, select the template you want to use, ad your products and you are ready to start accepting orders. It is also free to use, so even if you are just shopping around (pun intended) there is no harm in installing it and seeing if you like it or not.

Here are a few more features worth mentioning:

• Automatic Image Resizing
• Multiple Tax Rates
• Related Products
• Unlimited Information Pages
• Shipping Weight Calculation
• Discount Coupon System
• Unlimited Categories
• Unlimited Products
• Unlimited Manufacturers

You can also extend the built in services that OpenCart provides with a number of great extensions they have ready to download from their website.

Go give OpenCart a shot or learn more about it via OpenCart.com.