Need a nice looking, soft case for your iPad. Look no further than the “Etch a Sketch iPad Sleeve” from yummypocket. It’s made of felt and is priced at just US$34.00.

The AT&T 3G MicroCell has started its national rollout. This device is a must have for rural homes and businesses that have broadband Internet access via cable modem or DSL but terrible 3G wireless service. See Part I of my review where I rated it Great!

WWDC 2010 is officially sold out, so now it’s time to brush up on your strategy and tactics when in San Francisco. Here’s a great collection of tips for first time attendees. Read it and heed well.

Much has been made of the chart in this report by Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty. It suggests that the rate of growth of netbook sales is decreasing and cites a survey conducted in March that suggests customers who had been eyeing a netbook were thinking about an Apple iPad instead. Again, just like last week, the question goes to correlation vs. cause and effect. The iPad may nor not be the cause for this collapse in sales growth of netbooks, even with some supporting survey data. As always, collect information from different sources, then think about it all.

TechCrunch has collected some data from Encoding.com, which does encoding work for MTV, WebMD, Brightcove and others. It suggests that the work they’re doing is showing an increase in H.264 encoding and a drop in pure Flash. Our own Dave Hamilton pointed out, however, that Flash can encode and deliver H.264, so the conclusion may be murky. Again, seldom does on off the cuff story with a nice graph tell the whole truth. But it does suggest a trend, and the trend is definitely towards H.264.

Having trouble selecting (or even finding) just the right case for your iPad? Here’s a site that aims to collect information about every iPad case out that’s for sale. (I noted they did seem to overlook the NewerTech iFolio.) Otherwise, it’s an five page, impressive collection.

One of the numbers I keep track off is the percentage of U.S. homes that have at least one high-definition TV. It’s a number that’s thrown around a lot, so I try to keep up with solid sources. Here’s a report derived from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) that claims that number is now 65 percent, an increase from 52 percent a year ago. It’s been a great year for HDTV.

We may be on the verge of Mac OS X 10.6.4, according to ars technica. Release notes seen by AppleInsider say, “Most of the recent fixes center on graphics drivers, OpenGL performance, and graphics issues with iPhoto and DVD player.”

“Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security and performance.” A quote from Steve Jobs, right? Try Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft’s general manager for Internet Explorer. Holy crap. If Microsoft says it, then it really must be true. Gulp. Or maybe they’re just sucking up for some reason. Interesting either way.

Technical Word of the Week (TWow)

Geekling. (n.) The adorable child of a geek.