The temptation of creating this video once I unboxed it was killing me.  You better believe that I have dedication to all of my fans!  The iPhone 4S has been my favorite phone that I have used, to this date.  I was excited to unbox it for you all but I’m even more excited to show you my first boot.

The set up process was a lot easier than I was expecting.  Minus all the jumps/cuts during the video, it took a total of 10 minutes to have my phone up and running.  Apple did all of my activation for me so I didn’t have to call my cell phone provider.  Apple makes all their products for simple to use and set up.  This is one of the main reasons why I love Apple.

I hope you enjoy my First Boot of the iPhone 4S.  Expect a lot of videos in the near future.  Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel.

In order to place these amazing quality calls, you will need a HD webcam.  Not everyone with an HD webcam will be able to send HD video.  You will need a suitable broadband connection speed of at least 2Mbps download speed.  Don’t worry, HD video calling isn’t the only feature that was rolled out.

You now have the ability to enjoy video calls with your friends over Facebook, whether they have a Skype account or not.  Previously, all participants were required to have a Skype account to video chat over Facebook.  If you’re a gamer, Skype has released a new feature called “Push to Talk.”  This feature allows those who use Skype for multiplayer games to configure a hotkey for quick and easy access to microphone muting during a call.

The last feature is something that is pretty cool for all you business owners out there.  You now have the ability to share your entire desktop or just a selected application with a group of people in a conference call.  This is an amazing feature to have if you have employees that work off site from your office.  The only draw back is that you will need a Skype Premium subscription to enjoy this screen sharing feature.

If you would like to download this update, head over to to the Skype Website.  This update is only available for Windows users.

What do you think of the new features in Skype 5.8 for Windows?  Will you be updating your Skype?

The fact that all this information leaked out from the FBI is making me believe it’s not true.  At the same time, however, there is physical proof of documents that have been written up.  Government agencies like the FBI are typically reluctant to openly discussing tactics with intelligence tools.  So basically, this is a completely shocker.

Attached below is the full six page document.  Here are a few highlights that we want you to read first:

• Provide an automated search and scrape capability of both social networking sites and open source news sites for breaking events, crisis, and threats that meet the search parameters/keywords defined by FBI SIOC.
• Ability for user to create, define, and select parameters/key word requirements. Automated search of national news, local news, and social media networks. Examples include but are not limited to Fox News. CNN, MSNBC, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• Provide instant notifications of breaking events, incidents, and emerging threats that have been vetted and meet the deÔ¨Åned search parameters.
• Ability to immediately access geospatial maps with coding in addition to providing critical infrastructural layers. Preferred maps include but are not limited to Google Maps, Google 3D maps, ESRI, and Yahoo Maps.
• Ability to instantly search and monitor key words and strings in all “publicly available” tweets across the Twitter Site and any other “publicly available” social networking
  sites/forums (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, etc.).

The whole document is worth reading.  Within the document, you will notice a request for a “tweet lingo” dictionary within the application.

Personally, I can’t decide which side I want.  As much as I would hate feeling like I lost my freedom with Social Media, I think it would benefit us at the same time.  What if there is some type of organization that plans on attacking someone and is working through Twitter?  Then, the FBI would know about this and take action.  It’s a win, win or lose, lose.  It really depends on how you look at it.

We don’t know if they would be monitoring everyone’s accounts or just those accounts that seem to have potential threats.

What are your thoughts on this?  Do you think the government agencies should be using social media monitoring tools?  Let us know in the comments.

Social Media Application

For the first time, Google has changed the terms of joining the network from age 18 to age 13.  Starting today, anyone who is age 13 or older can now join Google+.  This makes Google+ have the same age requirements as Facebook.  Could we see a bigger increase in user activity?  I know many of people who will be signing up for Google+ right away because of the new age requirement.

For all you parents out there concerned about safety, Google has thought of you.  Google has launched a new Google+ Safety Center with tips for teens and parents to prevents unwanted behavior.  I know many parents will love this feature so they can feel like their child is a bit more secure.  Being a parent myself, I know how much we care for our children and want the best safety for them.  I think Google did a great job!

Are you under 18 and planning on joining Google+ now?  What do you think Google+ will bring with the new age group entering the network?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

Many people have been asking me what exactly is MJ Web Associates.  To keep it simple, it’s a company that designs professional quality web sites for a great price.  Below is a bit about MJ Web Associates…

About Us

MJ Web Associates was founded in 2012.  We specialize in building you a professional website for your business.  Don’t own a Business?  No worries!  If you are looking for a personal website, we can certainly do that.  With professional skills in graphic design and online marketing, we assure your website to be highly ranked in no time.

Why We’re Better

Snappy Response Time

• When you call or email us with a high priority request, we will always respond same day.
• Normal priority emails and phone calls will always be responded to within 24 hours

What We Create Belongs to You

• 100% of our clients will be given full ownership of the work we’ve created for them.
• You will receive a detailed proposal outlining all project costs upfront, so there are no hidden fees
• We will give you a detailed list of all credentials for everything created.  This means, everything we create, is 100% yours.

We Beat the Competitors

• With 100s of other business’s out there doing web design, we strive to provide competitive pricing.
• Most companies charge an arm and a leg.  We assure you with great competitive pricing.
• If you receive a quote for cheaper then what we provide, send us proof of the quote and we will price match!

If you are still interested in knowing more about MJ Web Associates, visit their website and get in contact with them.  There website is http://mjwebassociates.com.

According to the title of this article, I’m not even sure how to start this post.  Typically, I have something useful to say but this just blows my mind.  We keep seeing a bunch of rumors about the next generation Xbox to be 6x faster and much more but this is the first time I’m hearing about this.  According to some rumors, the next generation Xbox won’t be able to play used games.  How is this even possible?

To some degree, I can see this being very plausible.  With the gaming industry taking a huge leap in quality, the next Xbox might feature Blu-Ray support.  Now that may sound like a lot like Sony and their Playstation but Microsoft might put their own twist of things on it.  Our sources don’t clearly indicate what that may be.

The main thing from what we have heard is that Xbox will feature something called the anti-used game measure.  Basically, this will make it impossible to play older model or used model games on the new version of Xbox.  This makes me throw my hands up and scratch my head.  Why on earth would Microsoft do this?  How would they even make this possible?  I wish we could answer these questions for you but we are just as lost as you are.

Out of these two rumors, I believe the first one the most.  Having Blu-Ray on the Xbox was something that has been missing for a few years.  It was only a matter of time that it was added.  The fact that we might not be able to borrow titles from our friends or even buy preowned titles at GameStop is making us completely lost.

Is it possible that Microsoft is trying to make it so only the consumer can play the game and stay with your piece of software and force others to purchase the game?  What if we wanted a free trial of the game?  This basically means we can’t even bring our games to a friend’s house to play for the night.  If we wanted to do that, we would have to bring our actual system.  I’m sorry Microsoft, but if this is true, why?!

What do you think on this matter?  Are you for it or against it?  Leave your thoughts in the comment section.

You may recall a blog post from a few days ago about Google planning to shut down Picnik in April.  Picnik was a life saver for many bloggers on a deadline who just needed to make simple photo edits and didn’t want to fire up Photoshop.  Even though we are very bummed at Google for making such a daring move, we kept our spirits up and did a search for you all.

Here are 3 sites that you can use if you need a quick online photo fix.

Fotoflexer – Looking for a similar photo editor with a lot of the same options as Picnik?  This will definitely be the site for you.  During our tests, we have noticed that load time isn’t very snappy and is much slower than Picnik.  There are advanced features that include a blemish fix and some easy-to-use layer functions.  Believe it or not, you have probably already used this editor.  It may look familiar because Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket and Facebook are using it as well.

Pixlr – Head over to this editor and you’ll notice they put out a “Welcome Mat” for Picnik users.  The site’s “express” version is almost identical to the former competitor.  During our tests, we have noticed that it’s very quick to upload photos and offers a bunch of options from the adjustment menu.  Even though the upload times are snappy, we found the pop-up menus for each function to be very time consuming.

Pixenate – This is a photo editor that may actually top them all for the photo printing and photo sharing business.  It doesn’t offer as many menu options as the others but they are fully complete with crop, rotate, red eye, colors, plus a nice “fill light” button for underexposed photos.  On top of the small features, you can also draw your own images in the “doodle” option.  Looking to do more than just post to the internet and save to your desktop?  Pixenate allows you to print the image on a T-shirt, mug, tote, etc…

With Picnik in its last few weeks, will you be checking out any of these services?  Have you used any of these services?  Please leave your thoughts in the comment section.

Most people have been aware of Facebook’s Timeline feature for quite some time now. If you’re a geek, then the likely hood of you actually having the new Facebook Timeline is very good. Facebook has announced that the new Timeline feature is finally open to everyone. Starting today, the service will be rolled out worldwide. If you don’t get it today, don’t be alarmed. It may take a few weeks to reach you.

Before you dive in a take the arrow to the knee, there are a few things you need to know. Once you make the switch to the Timeline, there is no turning back! Once you see the new Timeline feature, you will have 7 days to tweak what shows up before it’s published for good. Keep in mind, if you want to hide that bad relationship or pictures from the “hip” 1990’s, make sure you hope on that!

How many of you have been using the Timeline? What are your thoughts of it? Leave your comments below.