We have lots of group projects in college, more than you’d think you’d have to deal with once you’ve left high school behind. The business world too is getting more collaborative in the digital age. Well it’s time to make collaboration even simpler.

Introducing the iTwin. Basically its two USB drives but if you plug one into your computer and your friend/buddy/partner plugs the other into his own computer you can share instantly! Instant access to the other computer, no wires, no more cramming around one small laptop screen to work on a single project. It sure sounds convenient to me. The iTwin is due out in 2010 for about $99.

So, the new ipod nano comes with a camera, as well as a screen for movies. Well, not there’s just the accessory to help you both watch and shoot your own miniscule masterpieces.

The kickester. The kickester is an ipod case that doubles as a stand for the ipod nano. No more holding the screen up to your face on an plane let it rest on your fold out tray, propped up by the extendable kick stand of sorts on the back of the case. So too does this stand make it stable and easy to film if you choose to. At $14.35 it’s not out of the range of most ipod cases to begin with, but it’s a little bit more useful.

This year I am taking it one step further with registering the prices for items I want with PricePinx!, an online price-watching service.

It’s free, and they do all the time-consuming work. No need to keep checking multiple web sites daily to see if prices have dropped. Just Pinx! them and then you get an email when the price drops or when it reaches a pre-determined price.

You just have to sign-up for a free account and then add the Pinx! tool to your bookmarks. When you find an item you want to watch, simply highlight the item’s price from the product description page and then click the Pinx bookmark. The site will track your item and send you email updates with price notifications.

A penny saved is a penny earned. Let PricePinx! help you save them!

Made with a flexible rubber socket that slips over the top of most bottles and a standard tripod screw, the ingenious design turns your water bottle into the extra set of hands you need to take awesome pics.

The device works best with point and shoot cameras and bottles that are at least half full for obvious weight reasons.

It can also pivot about 15 degrees for extra flexibility. Cost about $10.

Cool.

Found via Rachel Ray magazine

Especially if you have a chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease or allergies, the application helps users keep track of frequent tests and monitoring.  The information is input by the user and stored locally on the device.  Future version will support data sharing to enable users to manage data via Google Health’s web-based interface.

The app is $2.99 via the iTune App Store.

So I’m a huge Harry Potter fan and being a huge nerd comes along with the territory I guess. So although I know how lame this looks to other people, I think it’s pretty fun.

The Kymera Magic Wand universal remote is a magic wand for your television, literally. Just like spells in HP there are specific gestures to control volume and channel. It’s $84 so it will set you back a bit, but so will any other movie related prop or memorabilia, and this is much more useful.

So, for now, it only translates in Japanese, but I think that just makes it all that much more amusing. Tomy has released a new dog translator, the Bowlingual Voice.

You heard correct, a collar that will translate your dog’s barks into plain English (well, Japanese for now anyway). It’s a new addition (the old addition didn’t have the recorded human voice capability) and claims to be able to decipher six different doggy emotions for over 50 breeds of dogs.

The handheld controller features an action dictionary, to further decipher a dog’s mood, as well as a dog quiz, and doggy scheduler. I mean, obviously I’ll have to wait for an English version, but what a kick it would be at parties.

The evolution of comic books continues. iTunes has boasted a handful of comic reading applications for its ipod touch and the iphone, but now Marvel comics has officially jumped on board.

Through the comiXology, Fanelfly, iVerse, and Scrollmotion official Marvel comics can be downloaded and read for anywhere from .99 cents to $1.99. Current releases aren’t as extensive as they could be, but everyone starts somewhere, and it certainly is another step forward in comic’s accessibility.

Office Live also boosts working with a team b/c it tracks comments and actions allowing multiple people to work on the same document–no more searching for the latest version.

I’ve already found it useful b/c I work back and forth b/w two computers. Rather than emailing myself stories or information, I can now just put it “in the cloud” so I can access it wherever I happen to be.

Best part–it’s free!

Found via Hands on Small Business conference ( a free small business technology workshop coming to cities across America )

Of course, like anything on Facebook, when people get upset about something they start a group. In this case, it’s the “CHANGE FACEBOOK BACK TO NORMAL” group and it boasts more than 1,500,000 members.

Who’s in charge of the group? A 14-year-old from Apex, NC near Raleigh named Jonathan Woodlief. His parents had no idea until reporters started calling the home to talk with the boy.

He actually didn’t start the group, but noticed it didn’t have an administrator so he “clicked a button” to make himself the admin.

It’s just another in a line of controversial choices by the powers-that-be at Facebook. Facebook contends that it made the changes in response to feedback from its users.

Some have posted workarounds for the new reality, but nothing makes it like it used to be exactly.

The only thing certain in the social media world is change.