As one who has dabbled in the waters of Internet marketing and wondered if there was a real business there, it didn’t take long to realize the field is infected with scam artists who make outrageous claims that prey on those who are looking to find a legitimate business they can use to supplement their income.

Perhaps the best expose I have seen on this is in this powerful and very illuminating subject is called “Scamworld.” The video dissects the get rich quick claims and exposes how the only people making significant money from online marketing are those who prey on would-be online marketers.

Watch the report.

Here’s a warning: Once you get on the mailing lists of these Internet hypsters, you’ll never get off. The big shots in the business all work with one another and pass mailing lists back and forth.

Beware of Socialcam on Facebook.

It is an incredibly intrusive app that posts stuff on your timeline without you knowing it.

If you made the mistake I did and clicked a video sent by a friend, it installs as an app.

To remove it, as I just did, go to your account settings under apps and delete it.

Consider it spam!

Same with a similar video app called Viddy.

If you want this junk, fine. but I can’t believe anyone would want it.

And I’m not the only one complaining about this very rude app. Used as a smartphone app to share pictures, as many do, is one thing. But as a Fecbook app, it’s on my list of the most obnoxious. In the Socialcam fine print it says:

“This app may post on your behalf, including videos you watched, videos you shared and more.”

Believe me, there is no “may” about it. It will post to your Facebook status update. It will tell the world what you watched. And, as it warns, it can post other stuff. That’s what “more” means. See why I hate these kind of pushy apps? You should, too.

Best rule to follow: If you have to “authorize” an app to see whatever it is you’ve clicked on… DON’T DO IT. Unless, of course, you know exactly what you’re getting into and what that app will do in your name.

I think it’s brilliant. A Seattle company is putting QR codes on headstones in cemeteries.

Living Headstone memorials have a digital link embedded in a traditional headstone that takes its users to a Facebook style webpage containing information that you and friends add about your loved ones, such as: an obituary, history, photos, or even comments by friends and relatives, heck, you can even share content via Facebook or Twitter.

Think Internet connected headstones.

Lifetime subscription to the Living Headstones personal web page is $75.0. That’s a bit steep but watch other companies offer the same thing much cheaper.

I have become a huge fan of the Verizon wireless network after a 2,300-mile to and from trip to Florida that had me camping out in some pretty remote spots in the Appalachian mountains going down and coming back.

I never lost 3g connectivity. Ever. Which is much more than I can say about my old AT&T days.

But better than that, I was pleasantly surprised by the 4g connectivity I got on my iPad.

The route took me on interstates and back roads in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and the Emerald Coast of Florida’s panhandle. As far as I was aware, whenever I checked, I was never out of VZW data connectivity for the iPad or my iPhone.

In a very rural Tennessee state park south of Nashville, I used the iPad and the strong 4g connection to set up a private hot spot for my MacBook Pro laptop. From a picnic table, I streamed live Easter Sunday church services and later used the hotspot to update a bunch of websites I run.

Couldn’t be happier with Verizon.

I now have a new on-the-go technology platform. Meet my brand new Class B motor home: A gently used 2006 Roadtrek Adventurous motor home. I plan to take it to a lot of places, with bikes in the back (first extra I bought was a bike rack), hiking shoes inside and plans to do lots of outdoor activities. My wife and I have been shopping for a used and very well cared, low mileage one of these for over a year and found the perfect one this week.

(Since I share most passions about my life online, I naturally have a blog for my RV plans, check out http://roadtreking.com if that sort of thing interests you.)

I’ll do a lot of video story telling, blogging and photography from the unit. I’ll edit and write everything on board as i travel and will be testing out all sort of battery gizmos, wi-fi boosters, wireless networks and the like to send and post the stories.

I shared in a previous post how my experiment to abandon pen and paper in favor of note taking on my iPad failed miserably in the first two hours of a day-long business meeting.

Although I had loaded up my iPad with a dozen note taking apps and even bought a stylus that would let me write on the display, it just was too cumbersome to have to wade through the various screens. It wasn’t spontaneous at all.

So today let me reveal my low tech paper and pen retro move: A new leather bound journal from a very cool outfit named Rogue Journals. I warn you, they are not cheap. The Whipstich Refillable journal that I chose is an elegant crushed and distressed leather model that costs $125.

It comes with a buckskin draw string and is even embossed with my initials.

The paper is a thick, handmade heavy fiber mulberry bark stock that is a joy to write in. I need to get a good pen now.

But I’m really enjoying it.

There are other journals on the site much less expensive.

I certainly won’t abandon my iPad. And I will use it to write lots of things like emails, blog posts, even reports. But for everyday not taking, it’s hard to improve upon pen and paper. Or so I’m thinkin’ these days.

Just returned from a three-day business leadership retreat.

There were 13 execs in attendance. Everyone was wired. Here’s the breakdown on what everyone was using at the conference table:

There were:

• 3 PCs
• 4 MacBook Pros
• 5 iPads
• 1 guy used his iPhone for connectivity

This is a fairly conservative industry group. But Apple clearly ruled the day.

Do me a favor, next time you have a big meeting involving people from different divisions, count up the gadgets and post the results as a comment. I was surprised at the strong Apple showing at this gathering. I’m wondering if this was atypical.

I now have the new iPad. After a weekend of experimenting with it, I’m ready to pronounce it a nice upgrade, though not a compelling one. If your iPad 2 is doing the job for you, I’m not sure this latest version is a must buy.

I won’t call it the iPad 3, though that’s what it is, the third version of the amazingly powerful tablet that has become, with the iPhone, the most revolutionary tech product the tech world has ever seen. Apple chose not to give it a special name, like the 3 or the iPad HD.

I would have preferred iPad HD because with the new retina display, that’s what it sets it most apart from the iPd 1 and 2.

Yet I have to say that even with a display twice as sharp as the old one I have been using, I really can not tell the difference in most of my daily use. Truth told, I had no complaints with the old display. Where this one shows its improvement is with photos and in HD video.

What caused me to upgrade was the ability to wirelessly connect at 4G LTE speed.  I like the fact it can be tethered and run my MacBook Pro from it while on the road and I wanted to move from the AT&T network to Verizon, where I already have my iPhone and my wife’s iPhone.

The AT&T 4g network is just not as built-out as Verizon’s. With VZW, I can get 4g pretty much everywhere I go in Michigan, and all the way down the I-75 corridor to Florida. I am delighted with Verizon and now have all my advices on the network.

The camera improvement on the new iPad is also nice. But even at the new 5 megapixels, it could be better. I don’t use the iPad for video or still photos very much. Nor do I know anyone who does. The iPad just isn’t a very convenient camera.  But I’m glad there has been a quality improvement, it’s just that it’s not a game changer.

So, bottom line, I bought the new iPad for 4g access and to get me away from AT&T.

But as I’ve been setting it up over the weekend, I’ve become aware of how handy a gizmo the iPad truly is. I have vowed anew to make it my primary communication/writing/media consumption device and use it (and my iPhone)  to completely get me away from pen and paper. I’ll be experimenting with that over the next week or so.  I’ll post here to let you know how it goes and what apps seem to help in that goal.

Look for this to be a trendsetter, the telyHD, a set top device you put on top of your big screen TV that does HD Skype video calls.
It’s powered by the Android operating system and is meant so your whole family can sit on the couch and been seen via Skype.
But I’m also seeing a big business use here, in conference rooms as a remote conferencing tool for meetings.
It delivers 720p HD video, high quality audio and works with ayone who has a Skype compatible device, be it a computer, tablet or smartphone.
You plug it into your TV by the HDMI port and it has no subscription cost other than the $249 cost of the telyHD gizmo.