Serendipity: That was the buzz word at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas. It was probably the same word as last year — but I wasn’t there so I couldn’t tell you. I’d love to tell you there was one major product announcement or even trend that defined SXSW, but I’d be lying. The experience was akin to being a metal orb in a pinball machine, bounding from one relay to another, having random conversations, seeing oddball sights and making unexpected discoveries. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Those who know me will tell you I’m not a go-with-it kind of guy. Conferences usually mean a packed schedule of meetings, lots of note taking, a ton of writing and absolute exhaustion. Fun doesn’t really fit in (in all the years I’ve attended CES and Comdex before it, I have never seen a Vegas show).
However, I had been traveling a lot in the weeks leading up to SXSW, (Barcelona, San Francisco), which meant I had less time to prepare. By the time I arrived on Thursday evening, I was in a state of panic: How do I cover this show?
That night, I walked over to the nearly deserted conference hall and picked up my badge. It would be almost 12 hours before I realized how big a deal this was. After wandering the mostly empty halls for a while, I headed back to my room to try and prepare for the day. In my hand I now had a pocket SXSWi schedule that detailed the dozens and dozens of panels I could attend. Some looked interesting, but almost none newsworthy. How do I cover a show without news?
This is Big
The next morning, I learned something important about SXSWi: News or no news, this was one hot conference. Remember how I waltzed in and walked off with my badge? Now there were hundreds of people in that same registration hall queued up for their badges and a line of thousands more that snaked clear around the perimeter of the conference hall. Some told me they waited three hours.
Obviously there was something here. As I had done before, I started walking the halls, taking pictures and tweeting what I saw. Panels didn’t start for a couple more hours, so I had time to acclimate myself. Outside, the driving rain, which had started when we arrived on Thursday, was only intensifying. It served to keep whoever came into the giant convention center inside. This, too, turned out be beneficial and helped me discover the most important part of SXSWi: The people.
Wherever I went, whether I was standing, sitting or walking at SXSW, I found people to talk to. Sometimes they were people I knew. Like a friendly PR rep who has helped me on many a story and actually connected me with Pinterest’s first investor while I was at the show. Other times, it was folks I’d only known through Twitter. I could recognize their avatars, but had never actually met them. There was the occasional Mashable fan and even some people who follow me. In every case, we had amazing discussions where I learned about cool stuff going on or around the show, new products and technologies and how to navigate SXSW. One guy gave me an important piece of advice, which would come in handy later. He said, yes, there are tons of panels, “but if you find yourself in one you don’t like, simply get up and walk out. There is no shame in that.”
Later when I went to a James Franco panel that ended up not featuring the multi-hyphenate actor, I quietly excused myself without even a hint of guilt.
Shuffling, Shuffling
As the morning progressed, I found myself wandering up and down the halls looking for anything that might turn into an interesting story or photo-op. I even hopped across the street — and out into the cold and rain — to check out Jud Apatow’s coffee stand for his new HBO series “Girls,” but mostly because I wanted more free coffee.
Even when I did find some newsworthy stuff, it was almost by accident. I wandered into a panel on documentaries mostly so I could sit down. Soon the panelists were talking about the most controversial doc on the planet: KONY 2012. Back in the halls, the ISIS NFC-based mobile payment system launch, which was news, was unhandled in a most un-news-like manner: They used a magician to show how ISIS worked. No press conference. In fact, I don’t think SXSW had a single press conference. I thought that was weird, but I just went with it.
I attended a couple of panels, but also got shut out of some others. SXSW is not really concerned with reporters. Panels are for everyone and if you’re not there early enough, you’re out of luck. When this happened to me, I just did my best to go with the flow and find other interesting opportunities.
Serendipity
Time and time again, the best parts of SXSW were happening in the halls. I met and chatted with Google’s Vic Gundotra and Bradley Horowitz as they ate breakfast. They seemed genuinely happy to see me, even if I was standing between them and their breakfast tacos. After this chance meeting, I began to focus more closely on the SXSW crowd, actively seeking friendly and familiar faces. I made a conscious decision to approach everyone and anyone I wanted to meet. No one ever ran away screaming.
Clearly others were doing the same. At one point it took me an hour and a half to walk 300 feet. No one was blocking my way, I just kept meeting people (like Robert Scoble, Ed Baig, Guy Kawasaki, Andy Cohen, Tony Hsieh, Steve Case, Tobey MacGuire, Craig Newmark). All the notables were kind, funny and gracious. I also met many people most (or relatively few) people have never heard of, though I bet someday you will.
There was the very young entrepreneur, James Brown, who stopped me in the hall to give me a fast pitch on Goalee, a site that mashes up your social graph and interest graph to create an eHarmony-like matchmaking service for business and networking.
I have a near-perfect memory for faces and spotted Irene McGee, the former reality TV star (Real World Seattle) who now blogs about health-related technology at FYIiving.
I sat with Americans Elect CTO Joshua Levine who spoke passionately to me about fixing a broken political system. The online organization’s grassroots candidate (who will be selected from among 300 drafted candidates via virtual primaries in May and a virtual convention in July) likely has no chance of winning. But don’t tell Levine that.
Then there was startup founder Hajj Flemings who grabbed me in the hall to show off Gokit.me. He said it was like a mash-up between Pinterest and About.me (though neither site is in any way involved with it). The site (an app is coming later) adds layers of identities to help you manage your social personas and content boards. Flemings was not the first to promise me that his product could tap into the best parts of Pinterest.
Later I ran into young food lover David Segall who came up with a way to track chefs and pop-up food experiences on PopGrub.com.
When the weather cleared up, I met more people on the streets, at food trucks and in outdoor event spaces.
All these chance meetings were not just the best part of the conference, they were ultimately what SXSW is all about. When I left the show, I had a fistful of business cards and new insight into how small companies and startups develop and work to grab attention. Many were not above a stunt or intense pitch, but they were also willing to let you come to them.
My plan for a highly organized SXSW never materialized, but I had one of the best conferences of my career. I can’t wait to do it all again.
My SXSW Magical Mystery Tour
A look at the ISIS Mobile Wallet Booth
 The mobile wallet software was a sponsor at SXSW. Click here to view this gallery.
More About: Google, startup, sxsw, sxsw 2012 
from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/14/sxsw-2012-wrap/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medi...
SXSW Interactive wrapped up Tuesday evening, and although many will remain in Austin while the music portion of the festival gets underway, for many in the digital industry, it’s time to wave goodbye for this year.
Meltwater analyzed the social buzz surrounding the final day of SXSW Interactive, where there was still plenty going on.
Possibly the hottest panel of the day was the Pinterest session with co-founder Ben Silbermann. He talked about Pinterest’s new feature set to a packed room. It will include redesigned profile pages, an iPad app, the ability to pin more video, and a public API.
Lots of conversation also surrounded the still-controversial campaign where Austin’s homeless were paid to be mobile Wi-Fi hotspots. While the homeless advocacy group Front Steps said the participants were paid for their time, many lashed out at BBH, the agency behind the campaign, saying it was turning people into products.
Events were still highly buzzed about, especially Jay-Z’s concert Monday night put on by American Express. Thousands tried to get in to the Austin City Limits studio to see the rapper perform.
What were you talking about most at SXSW? Check out the infographic below, and talk back to us in the comments.
More About: features, infographic, Meltwater, sxsw, trending For more Social Media coverage: 
from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/14/sxsw-social-buzz-infographic/?utm_source=feedb...
The wait for Internet TV could finally be over.
Intel Corp. is preparing to dive into web-based cable TV, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. According to that report, Intel’s online TV subscription service may be available by the end of 2012.
Intel plans to offer online access to U.S. TV cable channels, a creation Intel calls a “virtual cable operator,” the Wall Street Journal exclusive said.
According to the report, Intel wants to offer channel bundles modeled after cable and satellite providers’ subscriptions. The multinational chip maker is also developing a set-top box to carry its TV service to users.
For several months, Intel has pitched the idea to media companies and has asked for rate cards. Intel has not secured a programming deal. If it does, the site will offer tough competition for traditional TV services.
Intel’s launch may be delayed by the price of TV programming and a lack of bandwidth. In 2012, TV providers paid $40.7 billion in fees to cable channels, according to SNL Kagan.
Intel did not respond to a request for comment.
SEE ALSO: Netflix’s Apple TV Deal Could Signal New Business Model
Demand is high for live TV on laptops, but the current marketplace offers no legal way to easily watch TV live on the Internet.
There’s speculation that several technology and electronics companies including Google and Apple have considered offering TV via the Internet, but none have yet done so. The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple, Google, Sony Corp. and Dish Network have talked to media companies about the possibilities of online bundles.
Google has began construction for its Google Fiber Optics project in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. The company has yet to announce pricing for the 1 gigabit Internet service, but it has said the service will be 100 times faster than the average connection. Google plans to offer service to customers sometime during the first half of the year.
“It doesn’t mean that we will offer TV service,” said Google spokeswoman Jenna Wandres. “All we have said publicly is we will be offering one gigabit of internet service.”
Would you pay to watch cable TV on your laptop? Tell us in the comments below.
Image courtesy of iStock, Neustockimages.
More About: cable tv, Fiber Optic, Google, intel, online tv For more Entertainment coverage: 
from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/13/intel-online-cable-service/?utm_source=feedbur...
Another day, another app release from the folks at Sky, who have this time around delivered v2.0 of Sky Sports for iPad (formerly Sky Sports News). Coming just in time for the F1 2012 season, this iteration includes not only live streaming of the four Sky Sports channels and Sky Sports F1 HD, but it also has a new F1 Race Control companion feature built-in. During a race, it lets viewers choose from eight different camera feeds with in-car and pit lane views, in-race highlights, live race data like lap times and integrated social media feeds -- while these are just for racing now, according to Sky's blog post, we may see similar ones for other sports soon. Access to the app is included with various Sky TV packages, while those in the UK and Ireland without a TV plan can get access to the app and Sky Sports News channel streaming for £4.99 per month, billed through iTunes. Check it out there for a few more screenshots or to download and get ready for the Australian GP. Sky Sports for iPad 2.0 launches with live TV streaming, F1 Race Control companion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink The Digital Lifestyle | Sky, iTunes | Email this | Comments
from Engadget http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/16/sky-sports-for-ipad-2-0-launches-with-live...
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Militarizing Your Backyard With Python and Computer Vision (video) -- using a water cannon, computer video, Arduino, and Python to keep marauding squirrel hordes under control. See the finished result for Yakkity Saxed moist rodent goodness.
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Soundbite -- dialogue search for Apple's Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro. Boris Soundbite quickly and accurately finds any word or phrase spoken in recorded media. Shoot squirrels with computer vision, search audio with computer hearing. We live in the future, people. (via Andy Baio)
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Single Page Apps with Backbone.js -- interesting and detailed dissection of how one site did it. Single page apps are where the server sends back one HTML file which changes (via Javascript) in response to the user's activity, possibly with API calls happening in the background, but where the browser is very definitely not requesting more full HTML pages from the server. The idea is to have speed (pull less across the wire each time the page changes) and also to use the language you already know to build the web page (Javascript).
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Why Finish Books? (NY Review of Books) -- the more bad books you finish, the fewer good ones you''ll have time to start. Applying this to the rest of life is left as an exercise for the reader.

from O'Reilly Radar - Insight, analysis, and research about emerging technologies. http://radar.oreilly.com/2012/03/four-short-links-16-march-2012.html?utm_sour...
REYKJAVIK, Iceland — While visiting Iceland for an online marketing conference last week, I found myself in the president of Iceland’s living room, scratching my head at how welcoming and eager he was to talk about the country’s use of social media and technology to rebuild the nation.
The fact that Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson — who has been running the country for 16 years and just announced last week that he will be campaigning once again for re-election — invites strangers into his own home is not all that surprising, when you consider the way he runs the country.
Sure, it’s highly rare for someone in his position to open his door to people he doesn’t know, but this is precisely the way he approaches government in this tiny, snowy country in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
“Iceland is a society based on the principle that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise,” Grímsson tells me. “Unfortunately, most societies are going in the opposite direction, assuming that everyone is a potential threat. That is a dangerous route to take because you fundamentally destroy the democratic nature of human encounters. That’s not how we approach things in Iceland.”
The country is currently undergoing a resurgence since its economic meltdown in 2008. Iceland opted not to bail out the businesses that were partly responsible for the country’s crisis, and has since created a new constitution to move ahead.
I made my way to his home, a series of beautiful white buildings on the water outside the capitol of Reykjavik. The taxi driver mentioned he met Grímsson once at an art event. Not to mention, the founder of Nordiac eMarketing Kristján M. Hauksson — who ran the 2012 Reykjavik Internet Marketing Conference — said he used to go to the same gym as the president. (Grímsson even gave the keynote at the conference the following day).
The president of Iceland’s accessibility is unique, as is his approach to embracing the Internet and modern technology to help boost the economy. In addition to the country’s quirky Tumblr blog (Iceland Wants to Be Your Friend), its Twitter account and its Facebook presence, Iceland has gone out of its way to spread awareness about the nation and increase tourism.

Its 2011 “Inspired by Iceland” campaign encouraged citizens to take travelers on tours throughout the country. Even the president participated, inviting tourists into his home for pancakes with whipped cream and rhubarb jam.
Overall, the Internet has played a big role in modern day Iceland. The government recently asked citizens to post online comments and feedback about what they thought of its new constitution proposal. And although the president actually said he wouldn’t be running for re-election earlier this year, he changed his mind after Icelanders gathered thousands of signatures online as a part of an effort to keep him in office.

But this begs the question: Is all of this possible because the country only boasts 300,000 residents, or could this let’s-all-work-together mantra work elsewhere?
Government Accessibility
“To some extent, the size of Iceland allows this happen,” says Grímsson, leaning back in his chair. “However, there are smaller communities in bigger countries that can look at Iceland as a model.”
Although some believe the president’s accessibility could be a risk to his safety, he says it’s a far greater risk not to build trust and relationships with his people.
“Many say that there should be more barriers up for a president when interacting with citizens and that they could even get killed, but this contradicts the way we want to live our lives,” he says. “There is a risk to giving a teenager a driver’s license, but we accept that risk and let them drive anyway.”
Iceland’s progressiveness in embracing modern technology is astounding. In fact, Iceland’s 2011 Constitutional Council crowdsourced its constitution, turning to social media sites to make the process transparent and to collect input from the public.
SEE ALSO: Iceland Unveils Crowdsourced Constitution
“In the aftermath of the financial crisis, we realized that this wasn’t just an economic or a financial crisis; it was also a social, political and judicial crisis,” says Grímsson. “If we were going to allow the nation to regain its strength and position, it wouldn’t be sufficient to deal with it in traditional economic and financial ways. We needed a different democratic approach.”
A draft of the document was posted online, where it encouraged recommendations and comments from citizens to amend it. “You can look at it as an innovative thing, in terms of modern technology, but it’s actually just a modern expression on an old Icelandic tradition,” says Grímsson.
After the country was first settled by the Vikings, residents set up a parliament, an open assembly and open courts. It was based on rule of law and not on executive power.
“The tradition of conducting everything in a way that everybody could follow and have access to it was an early part of our history,” says Grimsson. “It has become a big part of the identity of Iceland.”
“Since Iceland is a small society, transparency here probably has a different meaning than larger societies where a bureaucratic state is in place,” says Grímsson. “It’s never been the case in Iceland. But like many other countries right now, we have a lot of activism created with the help of the Internet and social media.”
The Power of the Internet
When Grímsson announced he wouldn’t be running for re-election in 2012 — which could make him the longest serving president in the country’s history — Iceland’s residents started an online petition, urging him to stay in office.
“I decided not to serve more in the presidency, and thought I could be useful doing other things,” says Grímsson. “However, a lot of people wanted me to continue, and didn’t want to open the presidency up during a time of uncertainty.”
He agreed to run again under the condition that once the uncertainties regarding the economy and other matters were more resolved, he would reserve the right not to serve the full term.
“It goes to show that you can get so much accomplished with the help of the Internet at a much faster rate than ever before,” adds Grímsson.
As for how he plans to approach the campaign, he’s still weighing his options.
“There is this danger that if you become too fascinated by technologies and communicating with people digitally, it lessens the personal encounters,” says Grímsson. “There is also a risk that technology could become the main field of communication, and that could also impact transparency and trust. I wouldn’t want that to happen in Iceland.”
Inspired by Iceland
The country has been embracing the Internet to boost tourism, and it seems to be working. Hauksson of Nordiac eMarketing says that Iceland has experienced a nearly 20% increase in tourism in 2011. The campaigns have certainly helped, but public awareness also increased when the world learned of Iceland’s economic crisis and its recent volcano eruption. In addition, airlines such as EasyJet have expressed interest in flying to Iceland.
By logging on to InspiredbyIceland.com, tourists can sign up for free tours, meet local residents and, of course, even visit the president’s house.
Inspired by Iceland Invitations from Inspired By Iceland on Vimeo.
“By participating in the campaign, it carried out the message that everyone is a friend until proven otherwise, and that we can all work together to spread awareness,” says Grímsson. “It was very successful and promoted Iceland without huge costs.”
Grímsson noted that technology is having a greater impact on politics in both small and large communities. “What could have taken months to accomplish is now possible in just hours, thanks to mobile phones and the Internet.”
He also referenced one of President Obama’s speeches in Washington D.C. Amazingly, a crowd in Cairo, Egypt turned down Obama’s initiative via tweets and online messages even before he had finished speaking.
“Technology is becoming a side show to whatever is happening — it’s giving people the opportunity to be active and influential almost immediately,” Grímsson says.
Do you think Iceland’s tech efforts can work in other countries? Can nations learn from its model? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, 221A
More About: crowdsourcing, Facebook, features, Social Media, tumblr, Twitter



from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/15/iceland-technology/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_...
 All Stone, No Blarney “Aye, me lad, did I ever tell ye how me and me six brothers had to go work the mines just so our Mam could afford potato chips?” What? You don’t have any brothers. Your Mom always has plenty of potato chips around the house. And you don’t even like to go into an underground parking garage, let alone some mine.
“And me just ten-years-old and all! Evil days, them was! A’course that was back when the Ballyknocknaclough Soapstone Pit was the only job a lad like me could get ‘round these parts. Soapstone country, this was. The soapstone dust in the air, I swear ye couldn’t see to the end of your clay pipe! Lot of blood, sweat, and phlegm all so some fancy Orangemen could keep their cool drinks cool and their hot drinks hot, I’ll tell ye that.”
Uh, Brendan? You grew up right here in Wichita. I was there, remember?
“Oh, and the Sisters at the school, they loved their whiskey stones as well. Saints preserve ye if ye ran afoul of Sister Mary Maria Marie if her drink had gotten watered-down. Put her in a foul temper, I can tell ye. Take President Kennedy’s name in vain when her Tullamore Dew had got weak and she’d give you thirty whacks across the knuckle with a cabbage. I can still remember it hanging there on the wall, that cabbage…”
What are you talking about? We both went to Hadley Middle. There weren’t any nuns there.
“We had a set of our own whiskey stones, but in them days there was just the one refrigerator in the whole village. Right in the village square for us all to use, under the statue of Shane MacGowan. Alas, the village square was three hours away from our house by donkey cart, so we took ours neat as often as not.”
OK, next time I’ll know better than to let you drink Irish whiskey.
Warranty: 1 Year SPARQ USA
Condition: New
Features:
- 100% natural soapstone rocks are used to chill (or heat) your low-volume drinks without dilution
- Retains temperature out of the freezer (or microwave) for 1 hour or more
- Tumbling process wears down the edges, meaning they won’t scratch your glass
- Never wear out or lose their ability to chill (or heat) your drinks
- Non-porous, odorless and tasteless
- Will not react to household cleaners
- Chill (or warm) and enjoy a perfectly balanced spirit
- Recycled soapstone from factory excess
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FDA approved GRAS (Generally Regarded As Safe)
Additional Photos:
| Specifications |
| Dimensions: |
(9) Standard Size Stones: approx 7/8” cubed each |
| Weight: |
0.50 lbs |
| Material: |
100% Natural Soapstone |
How to Use
- Keep Cold Drinks Cold:
- Place stones in freezer for 2 hours or more
- When ready, add 3-4 standard size stones per drink and enjoy
- To clean, rinse with warm water
- Keep Hot Drinks Hot:
- Place (2) stones in the microwave for no more than 30 seconds
- Add the stones to your drink and enjoy
- To clean, rinse with warm water
Care
-
NOT recommended for use in a cocktail shaker
-
NOT recommended in a delicate wine glass (eg. Riedel)
- Work best in small volume drinks (2-3 ounces)
- Not meant for high volume drinks unless you use a large number of rocks to sufficiently chill your drink
- To clean, simply rinse in water and air dry before storing in freezer or drawer
- Soapstone is non-reactive to common household cleaners
General Warning: DO NOT handle or make direct skin contact with stones warmer than room temperature. DO NOT let children handle stones or put them in their mouth.
In the box:
- (1) SPARQ USA Whiskey Stones – Set of 9
from Woot! - One Day, One Deal http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=22367
In its first policy explicitly addressing social media, Major League Baseball (MLB) endorsed the use of Facebook, Twitter and other networks by its players under certain conditions.
“We wanted to make sure we were encouraging them to engage in social media because we think it’s a good way to bring fans closer to the game and engage with them in a meaningful way,” MLB spokesman Matt Bourne told Mashable.
In a memo preceding the new set of guidelines, league vice president of public relations Pat Courtney wrote, “We hope that you will not view this policy as a blanket deterrent to engaging in social media.” Courtney specified interacting with fans, promoting charitable work and “sharing non-confidential information about you and your activities” as good uses of social platforms. He also warns players that tweets and posts are public, cannot be effectively retracted and will be reported by the media.
The policy comes with some interesting restrictions. Players are forbidden from posting official MLB media property such as video and audio content without prior authorization. They’re also not allowed to post links to official MLB sites without permission.
Social media use by players was previously only governed by a league rule prohibiting the use of electronic communication devices during games and within 30 minutes of start times, Bourne said. That rule is still in effect.
MLB’s first comprehensive policy comes as a result of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, which was negotiated last November. Players and team owners agreed a set of guidelines would be established for modern times. Twitter was just months old when the players and owners reached their last bargaining agreement, in 2006.
Do you think pro sports leagues should have official social media policies? Do you agree with MLB’s guidelines? Let us know in the comments.
Thumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, EricHood
More About: Facebook, Social Media, sports, Twitter 
from Mashable! http://mashable.com/2012/03/16/baseball-social-media/?utm_source=feedburner&u...

My wife is thrilled with the "new" iPad 2 she inherited when my new iPad arrived. I wanted to configure it for her so she could get up and running, so I thought I would just change a few settings here or there and give it to her using my settings. After about 30 minutes of tweaking, I decided to start over from scratch.
The reason is simple: there are just so many settings underlying the personalization of the iPad that un-doing them all was nearly impossible. It was much easier to add the things that I knew she would want rather than remove the things that she might not. Even the things that I knew I wanted to change, like Messages, left residual effects behind. For example, Spotlight had cached my iMessages, and continued to show them even after I had logged out of my iCloud account and into my wife's.
Long story short: start clean, sync back the apps and media you want to keep, and work from there. Here's how.
Backup your iPad and transfer purchases from iPad (optional)
Before you reset the iPad, you probably want to back it up and transfer all of your app and media purchases to iTunes. You can do this by connecting your iPad to iTunes and Control + clicking (or right-clicking, or two-finger-clicking on a trackpad) on the iPad in the devices list in iTunes. You'll get a contextual menu that lets you sync, back up or transfer purchases.

Of course you can always re-download apps and music from the App Store/iTunes Store, but if you have large applications it will be faster to sync them from iTunes.
You may also want to backup your iPad, just in case. Chances are you already backed it up before transferring yourself over to the new iPad, but it doesn't hurt to do it again.
Full Reset
All of your data from the iPad can be deleted very simply either from iTunes (by clicking the Restore button on the device summary screen, and then choosing "Set up as a new device" once it's wiped) or right on the iPad. On the device, go to Settings » General » Reset and choose Erase All Content and Settings. You will be asked to enter your passcode lock (if you have one set) and then confirm your choice.
(Aside: you may have set the option to delete your data if you enter the wrong password 10 times. However, the iPad will start to introduce a delay after a certain number of mistaken entries, so that isn't a good way to reset your iPad on purpose.)
Once you do that, the iPad will reboot, and after a few moments you will see the initial configuration settings. One of these is the setup detail for an iCloud account. Even if you are planning to share App Store purchases, each person should have their own iCloud account/Apple ID. The reason is that Messages, FaceTime, and many other setting are specific to particular users. Also, more and more applications will start to be able to sync documents through iCloud, and you will most likely want those to be personalized.
The good news is that Apple provides you several places to enter different Apple IDs. For the initial setup, make sure to enter the Apple ID of the primary user of the iPad. If you need to create one, you can do it right on the iPad.
Sharing App Store Purchases
One Apple ID can be used on up to 10 "devices and computers" ("devices" here refers to iOS devices). It is very important to note that "[o]nce a device or computer is associated with your Apple ID, you cannot associate that device or computer with another Apple ID for 90 days." So you'll want to get this right the first time.
In most circumstances, the only thing you'll want to share an Apple ID for is App Store purchases. To change that Apple ID, go to Settings » Store and tap on the Apple ID. Then tap "Sign Out" to logout the current Apple ID from the App Store. Then log in with the Apple ID you have used for purchases in the past.
Sharing Calendars and Contacts
Sharing calendars is very easy. Just go to iCloud.com, log in with your Apple ID, and click on the calendar you want to share. Then enter the email address of the Apple ID you want to share your calendar with, and decide if you want to give them "View & Edit" access (so they can add, delete, and change events on your calendar), or just "View Only" access. (Unlike Google Calendar, iCloud calendars do not have an option for only sharing "Busy/Free" information without specific details.)
You don't need to do anything at all to enable that sharing on the iPad itself; that's done at iCloud.com.
My wife and I share our calendars that way, but we also want to share our contacts too. As you'd expect, we have not only family members in common, but also friends. If we are planning to meet at a restaurant, I'll enter the information into my iPhone, and it will sync to her iPhone (and iPad) too.
On my wife's iPad, I went to Settings » iCloud and turned off Contact syncing, since that connects to her account and is empty. Then I went to Settings » Mail, Contacts, Calendars, chose "Add Account..." and then select iCloud from the list of account types. I entered my iCloud information, and then only enabled Contact syncing.
Pro tip: When setting up contact sharing on my wife's iPhone 4S, I waited for the contacts to sync and then went to Settings » General » Siri » My Info and chose my wife's contact information.
Other Apple IDs
Here are some other places you'll need to enter your Apple ID:
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Home Sharing: Settings » Video » Home Sharing
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FaceTime: Settings » FaceTime
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Messages: Settings » Messages
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Game Center: For some reason, Game Center settings aren't in the Settings app, but if you launch the app, it will prompt you for your Apple ID.
(Note: iTunes Match under Settings » Music appears to default to the same Apple ID as in the App Store, which makes sense since it's linked to music purchasing)
You may also want to download and install Find My Friends and iBooks as the first two must-have apps, since Apple does not include them with iOS by default.
Apple even suggests using one Apple ID for iCloud and one for the App Store as an alternate setup. Whether you choose to do this for your config is up to you, but if you want to avoid buying essential apps separately for your family's two devices (or more) then you probably want to use the same Apple ID for the App Store on all of them; you might want to turn off automatic download of app purchases to the hand-me-down device, though -- and the same with Photo Stream.
Another important decision is which Apple ID you want to use for Find My iPad. I associate all of our iOS devices and Macs with our main Apple ID (the same one used for making App Store and Mac App Store purchases). That way, we can have a single "console" for tracking down anything that goes missing, rather than having to remember a list of Apple IDs and their associations with specific devices.
Worth the effort
Resetting the iPad might seem like extra work, but I believe that it's well worth it. You may find that you and your spouse (or whoever receives your hand-me-down iPad) have very different preferences. Fortunately my wife and I both agree that Keyboard Clicks (Settings » General » Sounds » Keyboard Clicks) are awful, and the side switch (Settings » General » Use Side Switch To) on the iPad should be used for Lock Rotation, not Mute.
If you passed your previous iPad along to a family member, let me know what other settings you customized for them. We discussed sharing an iPad between spouses back in 2010.
Thanks to PJ and David C. for suggesting this post. Giving your former iPad to a spouse or family member: the quick guide originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sat, 17 Mar 2012 22:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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from TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com/2012/03/17/giving-your-former-ipad-to-a-spouse-or-family-...
New submitter EuNao writes "TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), the organization based on 'ideas worth sharing,' launched a new initiative this past week. It is called TED-Ed, and it aims to engage students with unforgettable lessons. There are many places in the world where a wonderful teacher or mentor is teaching something mind-blowing, but as it stands now not many people have access to that powerful experience. Ted-Ed aims to bring that engaging experience to everyone who has an internet connection. Here are summaries and links to the nine videos that were initially released." Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
from Slashdot http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/03/18/058257/ted-education-video-lessons-fo...
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