Jon, I got my hands on one this morning. The most fabulous piece of technology I've ever held in my hands. In a word: gorgeous. The words "my precious" came to mind :-) At this point, I'm thinking of waiting until the 3G version. I don't have a MiFi, and I'd like the location based services that will come with the 3G. Of course I'd like to wait until the camera(s) come too, but... Bill Petro www.billpetro.com

I think this could be Google's great flanking move: don't become yet another Facebook/Twitter status engine, but become the next Outlook. Become the aggregator of social information in a way that Hootsuite and Seesmic cannot -- with access to Gmail, Contacts, Gtalk, Google Docs, etc. And all with speedy search and filtering. Gmail as the dashboard, with its powerful filtering and tagging capabilities.

Polly, great tips from Paul. While I always advocate online "virtual" networking, as I wrote in "How to Raise Your Visibility on the Web" at http://bit.ly/1Ts4By, volunteering is a great way to practice "literal" networking. Social networking can enhance or augment your network, but sometimes there's nothing like the face-to-face connecting of volunteering. But more importantly, it is a way to give back, a tithing of one's gifts to others who need them.