How many times have you wanted to smack the cell phone out of your texting teen or twenty-something’s hand while you are talking to them? Or while they are eating dinner with you? Is your irritation at your date’s texting his buddies during your first date reasonable? Is it ok to break up with someone by email or text message? Do you have to accept the Facebook friend request from your co-worker? The answer to these, and more – oh so many more – pressing digital manners questions are in a new book – just in time for the holidays – from New York Times Social Q’s columnist Philip Galanes – Social Q’s: How to Survive the Quirks, Quandaries and Quagmires of Today.

Louis vs. Rick – “The story of a man who taught his cat to use instant messaging” – is a very funny – and very clever – online ..publication? Offering? We aren’t really sure what to call Luis v. Rick – it’s almost like a web comic strip – only it doesn’t have any pictures.

You may be familiar Meetup.com, in fact you may even belong to a Meetup group or even a few Meetup groups, or participate in a Meetup meetup or two. The Meetup concept is simple: join a Meetup group (or found your own new Meetup group), which is hosted on the Meetup.com system, but with the express purpose of the Meetup group meeting in person. And that, says Meetup.com founder Scott Heiferman, is the whole purpose of the Meetup group concept which, says Heiferman, he founded in direct response to 9/11: to use the Internet to get off the Internet.

Spotify is an online streaming music service that has been available in certain countries in Europe since 2008, but Spotify in the USA has only been available since July 15th. Spotify differs from some other online music services in that 1) you don’t have to own the music to listen to it – Spotify music is streamed directly from Spotify’s own enormous online music library, and 2) the music Spotify offers is a vast collection of commercial music from well-known artists, any of which you can add to your Spotify playlists. Users can get Spotify for free by signing up at spotify.com, then you download from Spotify the correct Spotify app for your computer. And speaking of your computer – Spotify also lets you listen to your own music as well as that in their library – the best of both worlds! There are also Spotify apps for most mobile platforms, so you can use Spotify on Android phones, iPhones, and Windows Mobile phones. And, of course, it took just two weeks for the official Spotify United States welcome: a lawsuit for patent infringement by PacketVideo. Welcome to the U.S., Spotify.

Today was the first day that the MyTouch 4G Slide was available to the public from T-Mobile, and so we picked one up so that we could give you our first impressions. The My Touch 4G Slide phone is known primarily for two major features (well, three if you count that it comes with Android Gingerbread 2.3 installed), and those are the incredible 8 megapixel camera, and the blazing fast 1.2 GHz dual-core processors. But it’s the little things that make or break a phone experience, so read on…

Reviewers around the world are lauding the new Harry Potter website, Pottermore, that was recently launched by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowlings. The interactive site includes activities sure to enchant Harry Potter fans, including letting them sign up for Hogwarts, and helping them choose the right wand. And, the entire Harry Potter collection will be available in ebook format from the Pottermore site.

Mark Twains autobiography was published for the first time this past November, in keeping with his wishes that the Mark Twain auto biography not be published until 100 years after his death (Mark Twain’s date of death was April 21, 1910; Mark Twain’s date of birth was November 30, 1835). In the autobiography Mark Twain clearly indicates that he is speaking freely (and often shockingly) about friends, acquaintances, enemies, and other contemporaries, because he has fixed it so that the Mark Twain autobiography cannot be published during their lifetime or, indeed, the lifetime of their children. And so it is that the Mark Twain autobio is only just now coming to light, and well worth the wait: Mark Twains life was very interesting. Straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, it only makes sense that of all the Mark Twain biographies one might read, at the top of the list should be Mark Twains biography of himself. But how to read it, when the font is so tiny that it almost necessitates a magnifying glass, and weighs in at hefty 743 pages of tiny print? Here’s how.

If you’ve been hearing about “Sparah” and wondering who the heck she is, or they are, well, you’re not the only one. Sparah is a faux “celebrity couple” being pushed into the limelight as part of an advertising campaign by VirginMobile . The concept is that VirginMobile has taken two relatively unknown actors – Spencer Falls and Sarah Carroll – and is attempting to turn them into a celebrity couple, while folks watch along and “Keep up with Sparah” via commercials and YouTube videos. “Sparah” is a contraction of their first names, Spencer and Sarah, in the same vein as “Brangelina” and “Bennifer”. If the concept seems familiar, it may be because you remember when Taster’s Choice coffee did essentially the same thing back in the 90s, with British actors Anthony Head and Sharon Maughan (whose characters, Matthew Prescott and Alexandra Maitland meet and fall in love over the course of several serialized commercials).

As promised, here are our impressions of the new Android Sidekick, the first Sidekick with a touch screen, out this week from T-Mobile. The first thing to know is that this is one sweet phone, with the always-superlative Sidekick keyboard, which blows all other slider QWERTY keyboards out of the water, and blazing-fast 4G. There are already a few standard reviews out there – this review is the ‘other’ review, with missing tidbits and tips not found in those other reviews, like why is Gmail not syncing on the Sidekick 4G? And where is the flash on the 4G Sidekick? And does this version of the Sidekick still have those auto text macros (automatic word replacement) built in?

Believe it or not, nearly two weeks after the iPad 2 launch (release date was March 11), many Apple stores are still out of the iPad 2! Or, more correctly, they are getting them in in dribs and drabs, with long lines queueing starting at 6:00 a.m. (!), and any new supply of iPad 2s selling out within minutes of the Apple store opening 3 hours later. Here is our experience being in the Apple line, and getting our iPad 2, and our first thoughts and observations on the iPad 2, the “Smart Cover” (hate it!), and the iPad 2 case that we love.

Splick-It is a mobile phone application that lets you place an order with your favorite coffee shop or restaurant, and have your drinks or food ready and waiting for you to pick up, already paid for. In theory, it lets you pull up, walk in, and go right to the head of the line, picking up your triple creme mochaccino without having to even pull out your wallet.

Bed bugs have been in the news a lot lately. It turns out that bedbugs are having a population resurgence, at least in part, say bed bug extermination experts, due to the ban on the pesticide DDT. In particular, travelers who stay in hotels are being advised to sterilize their luggage and belongings upon returning home, in an effort to get rid of bed bugs which may have hitched a ride. Bed bug exterminators advise that when it comes to how to kill bed bugs, heat can be your best friend. But how to avoid bed bugs in the first place? That’s where the Bed Bug Registry website comes in. Offering bed bug information on hotels and other locations throughout the United States – and you can register your own bed bug hotel finds too – the registery also offers resources and links to all sorts of bedbug information. Wondering “what do bed bugs look like” or even “what do bed bug bites look like”? It’s all there, with links to bed bug pictures and bed bug bite pictures, and information about bed bug symptoms, bed bug treatment, and bed bug control, among other things.

Being in the Internet reputation space ourselves, we recently signed up for a test of RatePoint, where, they tell us, “Reputation is Everything”. RatePoint bills itself as being all about helping you build your Internet reputation. We actually had thought that if their service was as good as we’d imagined it could be, we might like to partner with them. How ironic that the company that is aware that your Internet reputation is everything is building themselves a bad Internet reputation by giving you no way to opt out of their mailings and by making you jump through ridiculous hoops to cancel even a free account.

Have you ever wished that you had a way to ask real experts questions about their area of expertise, without having to pay them? With no strings attached? That’s what ISIPP Publishing’s new Now You Know call-in talk radio show is all about! Featuring a different expert each week, the audience (that’s YOU!) can call in and ask them anything they want! Ask a chef the secret to making that dish you’ve always wanted to make. Ask an animal rescue and shelter expert what really goes on behind the doors of an animal shelter. Ask an orthodontist your burning orthodontia questions. Want to know the secret to buying bras that actually fit? Ask a bra fitting expert (really!)

This is the first of our T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant reviews. While there are the inevitable Samsung Vibrant vs. iPhone questions, where we really want to focus in this first Samsung Vibrant review is on the vibrant performance of the Vibrant’s screen, as well as sharing with you some of its cooler features. And we answer the burning question: Does it really come with the movie “Avatar” included on it? We also tell you how to take a screenshot with your Vibrant.