Now that AT&T has joined the Android revolution, the first question new Android users will ask is what Android apps should I download? Luckily we've created a simple guide to get you started:

First we'll start with the operating system version of the Motorola Backflip at launch, which is version 1.5 the latest and greatest to date is 2.1 (with majority of users on 1.6). This may affect your ability to download some apps as they are compatible with higher versions of the OS. Why is the OS version so out of date? Motoblur Motorola tricked out the software for social networking ease however they have not released Motoblur on the latest and greatest Android OS. Don't fret an update is coming soon.

Now that we're over the OS hump, we'll recommend some of the best Android apps for your Motorola Backflip many for free!

ASTRO File Manager

Browse and Search files on your SD Card and phone with Astro File Manager.

Advanced Task Killer

Close individual or all apps and background services with Advanced Task Killer.

Meridian Player

Meridian Player for Music & Videos.

Dolphin Browser

Dolphin Browser allows you to browse the web using Tabs and create shortcuts using Gestures.

Handcent SMS

Handcent SMS offers text messaging like on iPhone, get T9 text capabilities and text signatures.

Shazam

Shazam... simply awesome! Get any song by simply letting your phone listen to it!

i Music Tao

i Music & i Music Tao allows you to download free MP3s.

Pandora Radio

Stream music for free with Pandora Internet Radio.

Gmote

Turn your AT&T Backflip into a media remote with Gmote and even control your computer via phone!

ShopSavvy

Scan bar codes of products in stores to find best pricing nearby or online with ShopSavvy.

Google Shopper for Android

Photo scan products to get pricing and details with Google's Shopper

Aloqa Always Be A Local

Aloqa location-based app finds places nearby you versus you searching for it.

Abduction!

Abduction! Is an additive game using your phone's accelerometer.

Robo Defense

Robo Defense is a classic tower defense game for Android phones.

Mystique. Chapter 2: The Child

Check out parts 1, 2, and 3 of the Mystique 3D horror puzzle game series.

Wixel

Like words games? Try Wuzzle for hours of fun!

Jewellust

Kill time with addictive Jewellust game

Solitaire

You can't forget a classic time-killer like Solitaire.

What the Doodle!?

Guess what others are drawing while they guess your drawing all online with What The Doodle!?

BlackJack Pro

Satisfy your Vegas crave with Blackjack Pro!

If you download all these apps you might run out of space on your Backflip! Do check these apps out and tell us what you think in the comments.

By Senior Editor Kris Smith (@croncast)

. . . nor should you.

I mean it.

And as far an unconferences go, WordCamps PodCamps, Ignites, TechMeetups or Hack Days haven't been that different from other paid conferences that I have attended; hit and miss, but mostly miss because the organizers are high on a sugar buzz.

What are the two things that make them hit or miss? They be:

1) Unprepared speakers
2) Awesome hallway conversations

The only way to have an unconference that gets people excited about coming back again or speaking about the event is to manage number 1 above. Unconference organizers shouldn't take candy from strangers and let them ruin the experience. Sure the suckers are tasty but while you're indulging on the sweets of filling the slots with people, the attendees are stuck with a sour experience. Bring that hallway enthusiasm to the stage in the form of raw, uncut sugar.

Unconference organizers should be in contact with their speakers dialoging about how to make their event useful to attendees, memorable, something that makes an impact in their daily lives. Nobody wants to sit and listen to what are essentially product diatribes or be spoken to like they are children.

How to save your unconference:

1) Plan, plan and plan some more. Plan everything and have a plan for it your plan doesn't work (because it is an unconference doesn't mean that attendee expectations are lower when they walk through the door than they would be for the $1000 conference that you bemoan)

2) Tell your speakers to get prepared (this is a golden opportunity to share experiences that can help people not make the same mistakes)

3) Create attendee tracks (create unconference value by allowing a channel for filtered conversations a.k.a. hallway conversations)

This post might not come off like it, but I am a big fan of unconferences. However, I am beginning to think that the best conferences might be a mix of the traditional and the new step-child.

Viva unconference.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/0

Unconference Organizers Shouldn't Take Candy From Strangers is a post from: TechStartups.com

I only wish I were kidding here, folks. From JLFinch at Daily Kos and Wonkette, we find out that Dan Riehl is pulling a Peggy Noonan It-Is-Irresponsible-Not-To-Speculate smear job on a dead guy who can't fight back:

Was Census Worker Bill Sparkman A Child Predator?

Update: Before any more people start going bonkers that I'm accusing Sparkman of anything, take a breath. ... . ...All I'm doing is looking at any and all possibilities. ... Why strip him naked and bind and gag him, which has serious sexual overtones?

I have no idea what happened, but from the reporting I've seen, neither does anyone else. If he adopted a boy as a single man, or was married and split with the wife and kids, who knows. But I never assume I know a story or motive until I know it. Right now we don't. I'm simply speculating on one possible alternative, however impolite.

Well, golly, Mr. Riehl, I'm sure Mr. Sparkman's wife and son must really enjoy your coy little efforts to smear their tortured-to-death husband and father:

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our co-worker," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with William Sparkman's son, other family and friends."

Gee, how would Dan Riehl like it if we asked, without any evidence to back up our questioning, if Dan Riehl had raped and murdered any little boys? I suspect he wouldn't like it at all.

But of course, this isn't the first time Riehl's been deeply amoral and stupid in public. It isn't even the first time this month. That's just par for the course with him.

Most of us are generally aware that television isn't the healthiest of activities. Yet, like cigarette smoking in the 1970s, it's one of those harms we continue to whitewash or worse exposing our children to it as though it were as innocent as playing with Tinkertoys.

Yet as today's Boston Globe reminds us, TV is not this passive device you sit your children in front of with no ill effects. Decades worth of research have shown the harmful effects of TV on your child's development. Most child psychologists and child development experts recommend no TV whatsoever for a child before the age of 2 or 3. None. Yet a whopping 43 percent of parents plop their toddler down in front of the television set, apparently blind to the consequence of their actions.

But don't take my word for it. Look at the research:

Countless studies have documented the inverse link between devotion to the boob tube and achievement in school. Researchers at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons concluded in 2007, for example, that 14-year-olds who watched one or more hours of television daily were at elevated risk for poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school, poor grades, and long-term academic failure.'' Those who watched three or more hours a day were at even greater risk for subsequent attention and learning difficulties,'' and were the least likely to go to college.

In 2005, a study published in the American Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that the harm caused by TV watching shows up even after correcting the data to account for students' intelligence, family conditions, and prior behavioral problems. The bottom line: Increased time spent watching television during childhood and adolescence was associated with a lower level of educational attainment by early adulthood.''

The baleful effects of TV aren't limited to education. The University of Michigan Health System notes on its extensive website that kids who watch TV are more likely to smoke, to be overweight, to suffer from sleep difficulties, and to have high cholesterol.

There are also the studies that show that teens who watch more sexual content on TV are twice as likely to be involved in a pregnancy over the next three years than their peers. Imagine an illicit drug was resulting in twice the amount of teen pregnancies and how quickly parents would be an uproar to stop the peddling of that drug in their neighborhood.

Ah, but you argue, I grew up on TV and I came out okay! Sure, personal anecdotes and analogies are great, but not a great way to inform public policy or carry on a serious public health debate. What works for a single individual at a single point of time in a single household doesn't carry the same weight as a scientific study that examines data across families and neighborhoods, studies that were carried out over time and with attention to possible alternative explanations (such as the fact that maybe in your household, TV time was more strictly limited than you remember, or the content in the programs themselves was very different than today's content).

The upshot we Americans watch way too much TV and we raise our children on TV, somewhat oblivious to its negative effects on our children's development. While TV isn't evil, it is a powerful media that has a well-understood impact on a child's or teen's development. Like the Internet, it should be allowed with clear rules and conditions, and time doing it should be monitored and limited. What the right number for you and your family will vary, but it should not be whenever they want and as much as they want.

Read the full article: Silence that idiot box!

Notice to my friends: I love you all dearly.

But I don't give a hoot that you are "having a busy Monday," your child "took 30 minutes to brush his teeth," your dog "just ate an ant trap" or you want to "save the piglets." And I really, really don't care which Addams Family member you most resemble. (I could have told you the answer before you took the quiz on Facebook.)

When you think of a hard-core gamer, do you picture a teenage boy battling his friends in World of Warcraft?

Also on wired.com:

• Gaming Gets a Level Up On Age
• Recession Proof' Gaming Industry Ignores the Stock Market
• SXSW: LoudCrowd Turns Music into Social Video Arcade
• Big Game Publishers Muscle In On iPhone Upstarts

I had a fantastic time at my wife's family reunion this past weekend in East Tennessee.

Every year her family rents a cabin in the Smoky Mountains. Everyone comes from far and wide to reunite for a few days, to spend time cooking, eating, talking, swimming and chilling with each other.

When I got home tonight I was showing my son some photos from previous years. Last year he wasn't confident in the pool, the year before that he was just walking, before that he was just a baby and an only child.

Seeing my adolescent nieces and nephews made me think about how the time has passed between reunions, about how our children are growing up.

I was stunned this weekend with how much our nieces and nephews have grown, they are from 8 to 16 now. They are great kids, but they are no longer little children who I had grown accustomed to seeing there each year.

When I first started going to the reunions we didn't have kids yet. Now when I look at photos from just three years ago, those young relatives have really matured. They are teens and tweens now. As that age dictates, they are all about hanging out with each other instead of the adults. It's all about independence now.

We use to end each weekend with an improvised play by the kids. The shows always included a comedy segment, some dramatic scenes by the pool (pictured here) and finally a magic act. The show was always an endless example of how kids imaginations work. We adults would tire towards the end of the show, but we would always cheer and applaud like we were watching a Broadway musical.

My kids are 2 and 3, they aren't quite ready to perform a variety show yet. Parents always tell us how our kids will grow quickly, I never doubted this for a minute. I notice their growth all of the time, especially in pictures and videos.

What's sinking in is that their innocence will only remain fully intact for a few more years. Our children really are growing quickly, too quickly sometimes. When I see how fast our family has grown, I realize it's only going to occur faster with our own kids. Soon they will be performing the reunion variety show, soon after they will outgrow it.

We tend to get caught up so much in our professional lives that we sometimes miss the most important people in them. Shut your machine off, kill your phone, get out there and spend some time with your children while you have it.

Getting through to the 5-18 year old demographic is increasingly becoming more and more complicated. Parents are more vigilant, multiple channels exist, and most of us in social don't know where they hang out in the first place. (Here's a hint: it's mostly mobile and will continue to go in that direction.)

How can you break through and communicate/engage with the kids without being mistakenly harangued by Chris Hansen? Good question and I don't necessarily know if direct social engagement is the right place to grab their interest.

It comes back to a simple tenet: Add Value. How can you effectively add value for a teen? Talk about sensitive issues like P&G (Beinggirl.com)? Provide information about cool products and their customizable options (Lego City)? Or just be a fun place to hang out (I looked, but anything I put here will be outdated by the time this post goes live)?

The key will being able to get in front of the child/teen and engage them in a dialogue that is beneficial to them, supported by/parent friendly, and is not intrusive. Mobile opt-in is a good place to start here. However, you have to really break down what kind of information you are sending to kids.

Partnering with a popular television show, movie or toy would be the best place to start. This way you already have a built in audience. Most marketing campaigns to kids start and end at this point. Do you have to stop the conversation though? Or can you continue to add value to the audience that you gained over the course of your program. The answer? Yes.

This can't be a half-hearted attempt to change the dialogue. You really need someone that can nurture the community, provide leadership within, and push the community to action when needed.

Best way to do this with kids? Free anything.

Children and teens both have a desire to conform, be cool, and acquire massive amounts of free anything. To inspire a community: simply make them feel welcome, give them a voice, and provide them with cool stuff/schwag. (Yes, that's it.)

Have any other suggestions on how to effectively transform the marketing experience of kids/teens online? How can we effectively build communities that add value? Do you have any other examples?