Skooba Design, the renowned brand producing many cases and bags for your tech pleasure, is now running a 20% off any purchase of $40 or more until February 7.

Among the many items, you will be able to find the first carrying solutions for the new Apple iPad.

These iPad-ready solutions are the Netbook/iPad Messenger, the Neo Sleeve, and the RAPS “portable padding”, already available.

The Netbook/iPad Messenger is a slim, lightweight but full featured courier-style shoulder bag with loads of useful pockets and cool features. It has a dedicated, padded sleeve that’s perfectly sized for the iPad, with or without Apple’s optional leather folio cover. The sleeve also fits all popular netbooks, for those who prefer computers that fold. Available in 4 color combos at $49.95 suggested retail.

The Neo Sleeve is a stretchy, neoprene (wetsuit material) skin that hugs and protects the precious panel of magical glass that will soon be yours. Keeps your iPad safe from the daily bump-and-grind, as well as the elements. Carry the Neo Sleeve in any bag you like, with confidence. And it’s “checkpoint-friendly,” so you can send your iPad or netbook through airport screening without taking out of the case—faster and much safer than throwing the tablet in a gray plastic bin. 4 color combinations, $19.95 suggested retail.

Skooba RAPS take a different, much simpler (and very economical) approach. These padded squares wrap around your iPad and self-fasten. The medium size wrap is perfectly sized to “origami” itself around the tablet, creating a nearly weightless, bulk-free envelope to protect your iPad in a school bag or briefcase.  Other sizes available too, so you can wrap and protect just about anything. The medium wrap is a positively painless $14.95 suggested retail.

Thus, place your order of $40 or more and remember to use the code 2040 at checkout.

Via: Skooba Design

Earlier today, I learned of a fantastic service for our mobile community, especially those of you who own or operate a small business.  of course, I am talking about Ring Central.  The Ring Central Service will assign you a phone number, which you can use to allow clients, customers, or friends to find you on any phone at any location.  Here’s how it works:

When you sign up for RingCentral, you immediately get your own Toll Free 800 or a Local Area Code phone number that serves as your business’ “front door” – Or, you can transfer your existing phonenumber into RingCentral and enjoy the same features that help you effectively manage your business communications.

Now you can answer calls on your existing mobile, home and office phones, or even on your PC. You can also use RingCentral to send and receive faxes, automatically route calls to any member of your team regardless of their location and provide callers with an auto-attendant (e.g., “Push 1 for sales, 2 for shipping, 3 for billing,” etc.) and a dial-by-name directory.

The service includes  a free trial, so you can check it out and see what you think.  After that, packages start at just $9.99 per month, which includes 100 minutes and five lines.  As your business grows, and you require additional extensions and minutes, there are a variety of additional plans which are sure to meet your needs.   In addition to just getting the new 1-800 number, along with forwarding to any number of extensions (depending upon your plan), you also get a full array of features, including:

So, go ahead an check it out.  The service offers everything your small business needs to put that professional foot forward with your new potential clients or customers.  Then, head over to this link to get 50% off your first three full months of service.  After you check out the service, come back and let us know what you think.

http://www.ringcentral.com/features/how-it-works.html

Update:  Iyaz and Randal are biz-zay!  So much is going on over at TechVi that my show time has been pushed back to 7pm Easter, 6pm Central.  We’ll be talking Windows 7 (several months in and doing well) things, so make sure you take a few and join us as we talk it up!

For those of you who have been watching TechVi on a regular basis, you’ll remember that Randal Bennett and Iyaz Akhtar have it goin’ on.  I was on TechVi representing JAMM not too long ago.

I’m going to be on again this week, Thursday 04-Feb-10 at 3pm Eastern, 2pm Central, to be specific.  The topics are to be determined; but I’m certain that it will be an awesome show.  Please tune in Thursday afternoon, and watch the show.  We’re gonna have a JAMMin’ time..!

http://www.techvi.com &JAMM – an awesome match!

When I first saw this post of the Palm Developer Program the first song that came me in mind was AC/DC’s “If you want blood, you got it”.

No, Palm is not willing to slay you if you don’t buy its webOS devices.

Instead is introducing a contest with money prizes to programmers developing for its webOS platform.

From the Palm Developer Center:

Don’t forget — the Hot Apps Program opens today.

The Palm Hot Apps Program rewards developers of the hottest webOS applications with a total of $1 million. The developer of the free webOS application that’s downloaded the most between February 1, 2010, and May 31, 2010 will receive $100,000. The developer of the paid-for webOS app that generates the most revenue during the same period will also receive $100,000.

Developers of other top free and paid apps will also receive cash awards, as follows:

• The next 20 apps in each category: $10,000 each
• The next 200 apps in each category: $1,000 each

Only downloads made between 12:00 midnight, February 1, 2010, and 11:59 p.m., May 31, 2010, will be considered for the awards. If you don’t have an app in the catalog today, you have plenty of time to get going and get one published and in contention for the prizes.

If you haven’t programmed in webOS yet, getting started is easy. Download the SDK, check out the tutorial and get yourself going!

In essence, the apps that will be downloaded the most between February 1, 2010, and May 31, 2010 will be rewarded with several prizes, ranging from  $1.000 to $100.000.

This is good news as it encourages new developers to embrace the Palm ecosystem.

While the program is a good point, I am not sure how much this could call new developers, as the rewards Program has been revealed on February 1, i.e. the date from which the download counts start.

Resco, the Windows Mobile developers responsible for bringing Resco Photo Manager 7 and other worthwhile enhancements to our phones, has just released Resco Explorer 2010. Explorer 2010, also known as version 8, provides several enhancements to an already outstanding offering. Version 8 incorporates improved Bluetooth support, smoother kinetic scrolling, the ability to display image thumbnails, the ability to upload files to different social networks and a revamped Today plugin. Additionally, the task manager previously embedded into the Today plugin is now it’s own standalone app, getting it’s own makeover and finger friendly UI. Stay tuned to JAMM for a hands on review.