These changes are being rolled out across the entire GigaOM family, so everyone can benefit no matter which site is being visited. The header at the top has been unified across the network, so it’s now easier to find desirable content no matter where it lies. The benefit will be immediate for jkOnTheRun as our content will be exposed to a huge new audience.

These changes don’t affect the content you are used to seeing here on the site. They’re intended to make it a easier for you to find what you are looking for, and enjoy reading it. You can still subscribe to the content at jkOnTheRun via email, follow us on Twitter (@jkontherun), Facebook, and get the RSS feed with everything as usual.

Om Malik describes the changes best:

Of course, many of the industries we obsess about– online video, mobile devices, collaboration, cloud computing and clean technologies among many others — are converging and are influencing the outcomes of others. Mobile devices redefine the meaning of collaboration, just as data centers for cloud computing drive up need for power, including clean power.

So what we’ve done is build a back-end system to showcase content from across the network, each one picking out the pieces that meet the needs of their unique set of readers. Our objective is to give you a more-frequently updated, more in-depth, 360-degree view of the technology business we so obviously love.

We’re anxious to know if you find the changes makes the site better to use. Please let us know in the comments, as you’re the reason we are here.

After many long hours of design, feedback, and testing, we’ve got a fresh new coat of paint! For the first time since our acquistion, I believe that jkOnTheRun is now fully integrated with the great GigaOM Network of sites. And it’s not just some visuals that have changed. We were late to the tagging game, so you’ll now see posts with relevant Tags to help you find information faster. Plus, we’re in full control of what Topics are hot, so you’ll see those Topics change as fast as the news does. We’re also making it easier for you sift though content to get at what you want — each post will have a brief excerpt to help you decide if the post is worth further reading. And there’s easier methods to “get social” with jkOnTheRun as well.

Now change of any kind is a tough nut to crack — there’s simply no way to make everyone happy. But we’ve taken your feedback and also evaluated the changes as if we were readers of the site ourselves. We think the new changes add value for the audience and we hope you do as well. Of course, our focus won’t ever change — James and I are devoted to bringing you news, views and reviews that you can use in your mobile lifestyle. Enjoy!

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

What sets jkOnTheRun apart from other tech sites is the engaging community. A lot of posts on the site result in good conversations, and a sharing of ideas and views. We have a very intelligent audience, and the sharing of ideas in the comments is a valuable resource to us all. There is often more good information shared in the comments on the posts here than on many tech sites in general. So it seems only fitting to list the 10 most engaging posts on jkOnTheRun for 2009. This was determined by the number of comments left on the posts, an indicator of the best conversations here for the year.

Here is the top 10 list of conversations:

1. Windows Mobile vs. Android: WinMo is Better Than You Think. Nothing fires up good conversation like the passion toward one platform or another. This post pointed out that Windows Mobile is not as bad as many think, even though it is frequently bashed.

2. Verizon MiFi 2200 Review– Mobile Broadband Done Right. The MiFi is the gadget I consider the best gadget of the entire year, and the comments show that I am not alone with that view.

3. 10 Updates My Palm Pre Needs Now. The Palm Pre was a big launch this year, and as innovative as the phone is, it’s not perfect. This post addressed things the Pre was lacking at launch.

4.  Kevin Tofel Needs Your Thoughts and Prayers. We are fortunate to have the great community here, and we consider you our friends. The friendship we have forged was never more evident than when Kevin faced a tragedy this year and many stepped up to offer good thoughts for him during that rough time.

5.  We Have a New Look! What Do You Think? When we updated the tired look of the site we asked for your opinions and you didn’t disappoint us.

6.  I’m Putting My Palm Pre on Notice. Kevin kicked up some dust when he put his Pre on notice. His frustrations with the phone touched a nerve with many other Pre owners.

7.  Palm Pre: Thoughts After Using it a Day. No question the Palm Pre was one of the hottest mobile tech topics this year as it appears multiple times in this list. My impressions of the phone after using it a day kicked off a good conversation.

8.  Is Gmail’s Spam Filtering Failing For You, Too? Gmail has grown positively huge, and when a lot of spam started creeping into the inbox, many had some things to say about that.

9.  Palm Pre WebCast Tidbit: Browser Nearly 4x Faster than iPhone. The Pre makes the list again as a lot of folks got excited to see how fast the browser operates. The video in the post demonstrates how fast the Pre browser handled a complex web site.

10. HP tc1100 — a Viable Alternative to the Netbook. Netbooks have been big news this year, and this post that pointed out low-cost alternatives was a good conversation starter.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

While visions of netbooks did dance in their heads.
With a click and a whir there arose such a clatter,
As the smartphones and Blackberries began to all chatter;
A song they did sing to ring in good cheer,
In their sleep geeks were smiling for what did they hear?

Nothing, it was all SSDs here,
And as they settled their heads back down in the bed,
They dreamed of the gadgets that might be colored red;
An iPhone, a Nexus, or a new Palm Pre,
Could that be what they’d find underneath the tree?

As the geeks fell asleep with their eyes all aglow,
And the visions of electrons did come and did go;
With a whoosh down the chimney the gear did alight,
Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

// //

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

This is the second survey of three that will help us create our 2010 Media Kit for potential sponsors. Rest assured that no personally identifying information is passed along — we’re simply aggregating the overall information to gather information about our readership as a whole. Some of you were kind enough to provide useful feedback on our last survey, and for that, we say “Thank You!” We’ve tried to make these questions and answers a little better due to your direct feedback. No survey is ever perfect, but hopefully, this one is better than the last. If you have all of five minutes to help us out, we definitely appreciate it. And to say thanks, everyone who completes the survey has a chance to win a $50 iTunes gift card.

// //

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

(Nope, no singing this year).

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

var host = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://secure.” : “http://”);document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” + host + “wufoo.com/scripts/embed/form.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”)); var m7p4s5 = new WufooForm(); m7p4s5.initialize({ ‘userName’:'gigaom’, ‘formHash’:'m7p4s5′, ‘autoResize’:true, ‘height’:’2673′, ‘ssl’:true}); m7p4s5.display();

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

We’re trying something new here on the site since it’s been requested at various times over the past several years. See that Daily E-Mail Newsletter bit in the sidebar? It just appeared today and it sends our content to you through e-mail. If you sign up with a valid e-mail address and confirm your free subscription, you can expect one e-mail per day with all of that day’s content, courtesy of FeedBurner. If we don’t write something on a given day (rare, but possible), you won’t get an e-mail. Of course, you can always end your subscription at any time as well: we have no desire to clog up your Inbox!

Your e-mail address won’t be used by us nor collected by us for any other purpose other than to deliver the daily newsletter, so rest assured, we’re not farming for e-mail addresses. ;)

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

• Viliv S5 Premium
• Sony VAIO P
• Intel Classmate Convertible
• Lenovo w700ds (if I can figure out how to get this behemoth there)

Coffee Groundz has free WiFi and is located at:

2503 Bagby, Houston, TX, 77006

Hope to see you there!

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce

Here’s the deets on the location:

CoffeeGroundz, 2503 Bagby, Houston, TX 77006 (Note Google Maps puts the pushpin on the wrong street. It’s Bagby, one street over)

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks