Savvy shopper? Yes we are! Summer is prime traveling season which means, high demand and high expense. I don’t know about you but I’m watching every penny going out of my wallet. I will admit, I have a weakness for cute purses, shoes, shirts, dresses, and everything else I can’t seem to live without. But a penny saved is still a penny saved.

As I’m scouting for Summer airfares, I’ve discovered this really nifty website Functravel. Functravel essentially compares multiple airlines airfare cost depending on your flight date and airports. Nothing special right? Here’s the kicker. If you check the “Low Fare Graph” and select the flight months, Functravel will produce an average airfare price for the selected flight period. Now you know what’s the average price for the flight there and back and the price of the surrounding days. This is perfect for those travelers who have a bit of flexibility and looking to save money.

Not ready to commit but know exactly where you would like to fly? Functravel has a TravelAgent alert tool. TravelAgent sends you a daily or weekly (you set the preference) email alerting you if they found airfare that matches your specifications. That’s right, you tell TravelAgent where you want to go, what date range you would like to travel, what’s the max budget and they do all the searching for you. Free travel concierge? That’s right.

I love it when technology does all the foot work for me. Now this leaves me more time to search for what I really love, like those new shoes…

Today was a big day for all Apple geeks. The iPad was officially presented to geekdom. Yes, it looks like an enlarged iPhone. Yes, it’s shares commonalities with iPhone and iPod. But once you get down to the niddy gritty, a more correct comparison would be iPad is similar to a Kindle. So far the Kindle has dominated the portable ebook market. Even with the introduction of Sony’s Reader, the Kindle is still the clear industry leader. Think Kindle is to ebook as Pruis is to hybrid vehicle.

Steve Job’s presentation of the iPad. You have to admire a man with such passion and the ability to turn his dreams into reality.

Specs

* Display: 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 Fingerprint-resistant capacitive touchscreen, IPS screen
* Size: 9.56 x 7.47 x 0.5 inches
* Weight: 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds Wi-Fi + 3G model)
* CPU: 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip
* Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 3G via AT&T (users will also be able to access AT&T wi-fi hotspots for free.)
* Memory: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB flash NAND
* I/O: Dock connector, headphone jack, mic
* Extras: Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, compass

Pricing

Wi-Fi only: 16 GB for $499 | 32 GB for $599 | 64 GB for $699
Wi-Fi + 3G: 16 GB for $629 | 32 GB for $729 | 64 GB for $829

One big downer, AT&T will be the 3G provider. Why Apple why!? AT&T already has enough issues supporting their current 3G network. So disappointing… But still not enough to keep me from want one! Now how to get me one of these toys…

It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here! On June 17th (which is today) all iphones can upgrade their OS to the new OS 3.0 version. What does that mean for us iphone addicts? Well, it means a number of new features:

1. Cut, copy, and paste: Absolutely been missing this feature. We now have cut/copy/paste functionality can move words, paragraphs, and links.

2. Copy/paste photos: Multiple photos can be moved into emails. Woot!

3. Spotlight: iPhone 3.0’s new search feature for music, contacts, email, and more. I don’t know what I’d do without Google search and now I can effectively search my iphone. Finally no more wasting time thumb surfing through my inbox.

4. MMS: Multimedia messages can be sent over the iPhone…if your carrier supports it. AT&T is lame. LAME. AT&T users have to wait until the end of summer to use MMS, although it should come with your standard text messaging plan. Still lame.

5. Tethering: The iPhone 3.0 supports tethering with laptops and other devices, so that you can get Internet on-the-go. It won’t come cheap, however, so we’re not sure how many of us will be using this (without a jailbreak).

6. Downloadable Movies and TV Shows: The iPhone’s iTunes store will now have movies and TV shows you can buy and/or rent. There will also be audiobooks and educational content to download. Hum, awesome. Now I can listen to Twilight on the go.

7. CalDAV Support: There will be better Calendar syncing as the iPhone 3.0 moves beyond the iCal/ics format and supports CalDAV, which is used by Google, Yahoo, and others. Syncing with your Google Calendar should now be possible. I know we could already Google Sync but there were limitations. Now we can sync more. Hooray for centralized data source!

8. Landscape for Mail and Notes: That tiny virtual keyboard can be a pain, so iPhone 3.0 allows you to go to landscape mode in the Mail and Notes apps. This makes typing out an email both faster and less mistake-riddled. I always thought it was a bit strange we could landscape for our browser but not for email? When I first got the phone, I would shake the phone because I thought it was user error (blush).

9. Voice Memos: There is a new application joining the iPhone line-up, and it allows you to record your to-dos or even spy on your buddies.

10. YouTube Login: I’m not a big YouTube fan but I can image many YouTube fanatics thinks this is the best thing since sliced bread.

11. Push Notifications: Finally, you’ll know when your get a new IM message. Apps can send you messages even when not running. Woot! I hated how I’d miss my messages. Boo on iphones not being able to run parallel apps.

12. Find my iPhone: You can ping your phone even if it’s on silent mode. You can also lock and wipe your iPhone from afar to protect the data.

13. Shake to Shuffle: Yep, if you get sick of a song, shake your iPhone like mad and something new will come up. Three cheers for accelerometer-based commands!

Now you ask, how to update to your fabulous new iphone?

1. Connect your iphones to itunes 8.

2. When itunes opens up, select your iphone under “devices”

3. in the iphone summary pane, click “check for updates”

4. click download and install. do not disconnect your phone until the updates have finished

It’s really that simple.  What? you need a visual? sure!

Well enjoy readers. I’ll be upgrading my software tonight. Happy surfing!

Happy Friday! Need a chuckle? Read below…

And my personal favorite…

HAPPY FRIDAY!