HP Magic Giveaway kickoff on jkOnTheRun! Enter here.

NOTE: Site maintenance from 6 PM ET - 9 PM ET will take the comment system down.  It will be up after that so if you can't enter the contest just wait a bit.  We promise it will come back shortly and you have 7 days.  Thanks.

Finally it's time to kick off our HP Magic Giveaway where one lucky winner will snag a huge prize bundle full of magic.  It's a great time of year to be giving such a great bunch of stuff away and we're making it really easy to enter our contest.  A big shout out to HP and Microsoft for putting this contest together and supplying all the great prizes! 

Here's what's being given away, all to one super duper lucky duck:

• HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC
• HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC
• HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live)
• HP Mini 1000 (with XP)
• HP MediaSmart Connect
• HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO (printer)
• HP 564 Photo Value Pak
• Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition) – 1 DVD with 3 licenses
• Microsoft Windows Live
• Corel VideoStudio X
• Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-Ray)

That's FOUR new computer systems accompanied by all that other good stuff.  The TouchSmart is a 25-inch all-in-one PC that is totally awesome, the HDX18 is an 18-inch laptop, the dv4 is yet another cool laptop and the Mini 1000 is the newest netbook from HP.  You could win all of this stuff in time for the holidays if you follow the simple rules and enter our contest.

All you have to do to enter the contest is to post a comment on this thread that shares your best mobile tech tip that has provided you the most "magic".  That's it, certainly not too much work to win all this cool stuff.  Your tip can be anything that makes your mobile tech work well for you and that you think worth sharing.  Explain your tip with enough detail that anyone can figure out how to start using your idea with no help.  Since this is a giving time of year and HP is sharing all this cool gear with the winner we think it would be super if the winner would share some of that stuff with those who need it.  There are four computers after all, and while it's not a requirement it would be special to see it shared with others.  If you will share some of this prize package then tell us who you will share it with and why.  That's all you need to do to have a shot at over $6,000 of great gear.

Here are the official rules for the jkOnTheRun HP Magic Giveaway contest:

1. Entries must be left in a comment on this post, nowhere else.
2. Only one entry per person.
3. Contest is open to all entrants world-wide.
4. Entry to consist of your best tech tip to share explained in detail.  Plans to share part of the prizes should also be left in the same comment.
5. Contest will accept entries from December 16 - December 22.
6. Kevin and I will choose the ten best entries and choose the winner randomly from them to be announced December 23.
7. Winner will have 24 hours to provide us with shipping information via email upon our announcement, otherwise an alternate winner will be chosen.
8. Our decisions are final.
9. Our friends and families are not eligible nor are any employees of the GigaOM network.

That's it, now isn't that simple?  Get thinking about your best mobile tech tip and leave the advice in your comment.  Only seven days until someone is going to have the best holiday season ever!  Good luck!

Our HP Magic Giveaway contest starts tomorrow

We've been patiently not so patiently waiting to get our own HP Magic Giveaway contest going where one lucky individual is going to snag over $6,000 worth of prizes.  There are 50 sites running their own contest as we've warned you so I hope you are all entering all 50 of the contests.  Here's a list of the contests running live right now:

Student Bloggers	09-Dec	15-Dec
Slashdot Review	10-Dec	16-Dec
Gadgetell
Liliputing
Stop, Drop & Blog	11-Dec	17-Dec
Living - In Theory
GeeksRoom
Eliax
OSNN	12-Dec	18-Dec
SlashGear
Digital Home Thoughts
Study Hacks - Demystifying College Success	13-Dec	19-Dec
Digital Inspiration	14-Dec	20-Dec
Geekzone
The Digital Lifestyle
CíberPrensa	15-Dec	21-Dec
Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
Last 100	16-Dec	22-Dec

HP Magic Giveaway continues

Given busy schedules as the end-of-year holidays approach, it's easy to overlook a contest that kicks off anew each day. Here are the sites that are currently active in the HP Magic Giveaway, which is offering mega-large prizes to over 50 winners:

• Geeks to Go!
• Gear Diary
• Geeks!
• One Day, One Job
• Techie Diva
• Notebooks.com
• Geek.com
• Techmamas
• merlot mom
• Noticias Tech
• Info Wester
• Planet x64
• AbsoluteVista
• Barb's Connected World
• Student Bloggers

Quite an eclectic list, although I couldn't help but note that three of the sites have the word "geek" in the name; a compliment in my book. Many of the sites are reviewing the prizes in the contest package, so you might want to hit them up for more information on the latest HP desktops, notebooks and netbooks. Although our contest hasn't kicked off yet, we decided early on that folks might appreciate a "factory sealed, new in box" prize, so we're not reviewing the products. It's simply a matter of preference on our part. Now we just have to think through how we're going to give the package away when we kick off entries a week from today!

Don't forget the HP Magic Giveaway!

We've been so very busy but it's important to take time to remind you that various sites have contests underway for the HP Magic Giveaway.  Our contest will kick off on December 16 but right now you can enter the contests underway at these participating sites:

The Gadgeteer	02-Dec	08-Dec
Gotta Be Mobile
I Started Something
Down-to-Earth Mama	03-Dec	09-Dec
moosh in indy.
La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
Carlos Alberto
Geeks To Go!	04-Dec	10-Dec
GearDiary
Geeks!
One Day, One Job	05-Dec	11-Dec
Techie Diva	06-Dec	12-Dec
Notebooks.com
Geek.com
Techmamas	07-Dec	13-Dec
merlot mom
Noticias Tech
InfoWester

Fifth round of the HP Magic Giveaway starts

Just a quick reminder that today kicks off a new round of HP Magic Giveaway contests. It amazes me that HP is providing fifty prize packages that are each worth around $6,000! Today marks the beginning of contests at The Gadgeteer, GottaBeMobile, and I Started Something. Each has different rules and requirements, some easy and some will take a wee bit of effort, so you'll want to hit each site for a shot to win.

Don't forget the HP Magic Giveaway is live

It's a holiday weekend here in the US but don't forget to be checking and entering all of the active HP Magic Giveaway contests!  Here's the schedule in case you forgot because you can enter the contest of every single site participating (5 so far):

URL	Contest Launch	Award Announcement
Bleeping Computer	28-Nov	04-Dec
Gear Live
Windows Connected
Morningside Mom	29-Nov	05-Dec
Thoughts on poetics & tech
MediaBlab	30-Nov	06-Dec
Neowin
BostonPocketPC
HackCollege	01-Dec	07-Dec
The Gadgeteer	02-Dec	08-Dec
Gotta Be Mobile
I Started Something
Down-to-Earth Mama	03-Dec	09-Dec
moosh in indy.
La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
Carlos Alberto
Geeks To Go!	04-Dec	10-Dec
GearDiary
Geeks!
One Day, One Job	05-Dec	11-Dec
Techie Diva	06-Dec	12-Dec
Notebooks.com
Geek.com
Techmamas	07-Dec	13-Dec
merlot mom
Noticias Tech
InfoWester
Planet x64	08-Dec	14-Dec
AbsoluteVista
Barb’s Connected World
Student Bloggers	09-Dec	15-Dec
Slashdot Review	10-Dec	16-Dec
Gadgetell
Liliputing
Stop, Drop & Blog	11-Dec	17-Dec
Living - In Theory
GeeksRoom
Eliax
OSNN	12-Dec	18-Dec
SlashGear
Digital Home Thoughts
Study Hacks - Demystifying College Success	13-Dec	19-Dec
Digital Inspiration	14-Dec	20-Dec
Geekzone
The Digital Lifestyle
CíberPrensa	15-Dec	21-Dec
Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
Last 100	16-Dec	22-Dec
JK On the Run
Geek News Central

HP Magic Giveaway is live- better go enter

That awesome HP Magic Giveaway contest we told you about is getting underway today at some of the 50 sites participating.  The way it works is every day 1 - 3 of the blogs will be kicking off their own contest and starting December 4 sites will be announcing their winners.  Fifty prize packages each worth $6,000 will be given away, one on each blog.  Our contest will kick off on December 16th but since you can enter on all fifty blogs you'd better get busy.  Here's the official contest schedule to help you on your way:

URL	Contest Launch	Award Announcement
Bleeping Computer	28-Nov	04-Dec
Gear Live
Windows Connected
Morningside Mom	29-Nov	05-Dec
Thoughts on poetics & tech
MediaBlab	30-Nov	06-Dec
Neowin
BostonPocketPC
HackCollege	01-Dec	07-Dec
The Gadgeteer	02-Dec	08-Dec
Gotta Be Mobile
I Started Something
Down-to-Earth Mama	03-Dec	09-Dec
moosh in indy.
La Bitácora de Erwin Ried
Carlos Alberto
Geeks To Go!	04-Dec	10-Dec
GearDiary
Geeks!
One Day, One Job	05-Dec	11-Dec
Techie Diva	06-Dec	12-Dec
Notebooks.com
Geek.com
Techmamas	07-Dec	13-Dec
merlot mom
Noticias Tech
InfoWester
Planet x64	08-Dec	14-Dec
AbsoluteVista
Barb’s Connected World
Student Bloggers	09-Dec	15-Dec
Slashdot Review	10-Dec	16-Dec
Gadgetell
Liliputing
Stop, Drop & Blog	11-Dec	17-Dec
Living - In Theory
GeeksRoom
Eliax
OSNN	12-Dec	18-Dec
SlashGear
Digital Home Thoughts
Study Hacks - Demystifying College Success	13-Dec	19-Dec
Digital Inspiration	14-Dec	20-Dec
Geekzone
The Digital Lifestyle
CíberPrensa	15-Dec	21-Dec
Unión de Bloggers Hispanos
Last 100	16-Dec	22-Dec
JK On the Run
Geek News Central

Do you believe in Magic? HP Magic Giveaway is giving it away!

This is the time of year when we want to believe in magic.  It's also a great time of year to be in the sharing mood.  HP is sponsoring a giant giveaway to welcome in the magic sharing season and you'll be able to enter right here on jkOnTheRun soon.  Not only that but there are a total of 50 blogs that are going to each give a stunning prize package away so you have 50 chances to win.  What can you win?  Take a look at this:

• HP TouchSmart IQ816 PC
• HP HDX 18 series Premium Notebook PC
• HP Pavilion dv4 series Entertainment Notebook PC (with Windows Live)
• HP Mini 1000 (with XP)
• HP MediaSmart Connect

Yep, you read that right, there are multiple complete computer packages!  That TouchSmart IQ816 is a 25.5-inch all-in-one PC that will knock your socks off.  This isn't all that is being given away, no this is truly magic!  Here's the rest of the prize package up for grabs:

• HP Photosmart C6380 Wireless AIO (printer)
• HP 564 Photo Value Pak
• Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 (Student-Teacher Edition) – 1 DVD with 3 licenses
• Microsoft Windows Live
• Corel VideoStudio X
• Kung Fu Panda (2 widescreen DVDs; 1 widescreen Blu-Ray)

One lucky winner on each of the 50 sites will win the complete package above with a value in excess of US$6,000.  We'll soon be announcing exactly when the contest is open here but meantime you can visit the HP Magic Giveaway site for details and information about all the cool prizes.  This is so big that the winner can share the prizes with friends or family for sure.  Don't you think?

Download an eBook title, win $500 worth of eBooks or an iPod Touch

Like James, I'm definitely consuming more eBook content now that there's an eReader client application for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I guess the Fictionwise folks don't believe me when I say that though. Why else would they be having a contest trying to get me to buy more content? Probably because I'm a sucker and besides: I'd be purchasing a new eBook anyway before August 22. ;)

That's the deal: buy an eBook title on your device from your Fictionwise or eReader account and you're entered into the contest. A randomly drawn winner receives a $500 store credit. Don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch to buy a book on? No prob.... just make sure you're on the newsletter list and log into your account between now and the contest end date. You can win an iPod Touch that way as well. Ten other random winners will receive a $100 store credit, while another hundred lucky folks will get a $10 credit.

I need to drop off and get reading... I'm finding it hard to keep up with my RSS feed of new eReader releases.

Contest winners announced- finally!

Weeks and weeks ago in a video I shot I offered up 3 super prize packages for 3 lucky winners.   The prizes were donated by Microsoft and each package includes a subscription to Visual Studio Team Suite and MSDN Premium.  Each package is worth a bundle and all the entrants had to do was email me with details of why they needed this prize bundle.  I got a lot of good entries but with the move and other things I forgot to award the prizes!  Bad contest host!  Bad, bad contest host!  Well I am happy to announce the 3 winners who will each soon be receiving their prize package in the mail.  And those 3 winners are:

Brian Jarvis
Rick Huizinga
Jeff Hewitt

Congratulations guys and if you will email me your mailing address I will get your prize on its way to you.  I promise.