Flickr has released a new feature that allows its users to post photos on Twitter…I say Yahoo!
Flickr account holders can share their images in Twitter directly using custom Flic.kr URL.
Images or videos can be also shared via Mobile by sending it to a custom 2Twitter email address.
This has been one of the much demanded features of Flickr users addicted to Twitter.
June 29, 2009 - Place For Technology In Education
June 28, 2009 - You Can Have Your HP Calculator On Your iPhone
June 21, 2009 - New England Innovation Events For The Week
June 18, 2009 - Expert Bloggers Debate New iPhone or Software Upgrade
June 17, 2009 - Internet & Marketing $28B Industry to New England
June 16, 2009 - Twitter Serving As Communication Lifeline In Iran
June 14, 2009 - Another Big Week Ahead for New England Innovation Month
June 11, 2009 - RatePoint Email Marketing In BusinessWeek
June 9, 2009 - iPhone vs. Palm Pre…It’s All About The Applications
June 8, 2009 - iPhone Commands Share Of Wallet
June 8, 2009 - Mobile Apps Usage On The Rise
June 7, 2009 - Expanding Entrepreneurs Ecosystem In New England
June 7, 2009 - New England Innovation Month Events For Week Ahead
June 6, 2009 - Palm Back In The Game With Pre
June 5, 2009 - NameMedia Curates
June 4, 2009 - Twitter On Cover Of Time Magazine
We live in an era of rapid technological advancement for computing power, storage capacity, application development, proliferation of wireless networking, digitizing and indexing of what appears to be all information, and so much more. All of these developments are bringing the cost of computing down. These developments are enabling the advancement of complex research never possible before. These developments are altering how we consume and process information for our work, education and entertainment. These developments are also providing the largest interconnection of the human race since civilization began. Pretty interesting times we are living in.
There is much to contemplate on how these developments will change society. I think that the outcome to this question will be dependent on how we as a people “deploy” and “leverage” these advancements. You can not turn back the hands of time and not accept that all of this is going on. We must take an activist approach to understanding what is happening and how can we utilize these advancements in our lives. We must manage this process or it will overwhelm us.
An area that I believe stands to be a huge beneficiary of these advancements is education. I believe in a traditional curriculum that provides focus on the mastery of reading, writing and ‘rithmatic. I also believe that these basics must be augmented with exposure and participation in the arts, sciences and athletics to build “well rounded” people. This has always been the case but I feel it is even more important today. We are citizens of an interdependent country and world. This is where I believe technology can really play an important role in education.
There are three distinct areas that I belive technology can really advance education:
1. Research and access to information. This is the core of all education. I remember all those long days/nights at libraries searching for information for projects. I remember my first view into Microsoft’s Encarta that brought the encyclopedia to the desktop with all sorts of graphics, video and links. Look at what we have today with Google, YouTube, Wikipedia and the millions of web sites that publish and share content. Sitting down at a computer connected to the web today gives the student access to some of the deepest libraries known to man. It can be overwhelming…but rather than be overcome by this we need to embrace the tools that will help us manage the access to all of this information. Can we turn our children loose on this? No we need to teach what sites to go to, impose controls on the computer and get involved in this process. The opportunity is limitless though.
2. Use of interactive tools to broaden learning. All of this information gives the teacher an opportunity to broaden the content used in the classroom. The advancement of technology also offers many new tools for delivering the information and allowing the students to connect/touch/interact with the information. This comes in many forms like smart boards, multimedia lectures/lessons, video demonstrations and so much more. This past school year was challenging in the Northeast due to weather then the flu. In my sons school he had teachers that were using their Macs to create video lessons/demos that the students could then access via the Internet/email. There is so much opportunity for the use of interactive tools to broaden learning.
3. Connecting to the broader community through collaboration. My generation and my elders have broadly adopted email. The generations that follow have adopted instant messaging and text messaging widely. Most of these tools enable one-to-one communication for the most part. Now we have Twitter which takes the simple 140-character messaging and allows the user to broadcast to their community of friends. There have also been collaboration tools like Lotus Notes, Intranets and now “Wikis” that allow broad collaboration and communicaiton for communities. This is another key area for the advancement of education - to enable connection and collaboration with teachers, fellow classmates, researhers and students around the world. I witnessed the power of a class using Twitter this past school year - it was a glimpse of the power of this kind of communication for learning. Some of my parent colleagues were upset at the use of this technology. We celebrate the innovation, creativity and groundbreaking work that these teachers demonstrated. I hope to see more and more of this in the school year ahead.
These technology advancements are happening. The tools are available. Children are coming online in droves through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Text messaging. The younger generations are more open to sharing information about themselves and open communication. This can be good…but only if there is an awareness of “what” to share, “how” to share, and “how” to leverage the massive opportunities available. Should we as parents embrace this or put our heads in the sand thinking that this will stop? It can be stressful to work to get involved and then keep up. Turning your head to avoid the stress is no solution. I believe it is best to embrace these opportunities. Work and interact with our children to understand what is available. We will all learn ourselves. I commend the teachers that are leveraging technology to advance education…and teaching children the right ways to establish their profiles and communicate.
As we continue to celebrate New England Innovation Month there are some great events on tap for this week:
The big question.
Should you buy a new iPhone 3GS or just upgrade your old iPhone 3G to the new OS 3.0?
Computerworld’s Richi Jennings polls some expert bloggers for their views on this big question in this IT Blogwatch post.
It is great to learn that even in this troubled economy that an industry near and dear to my heart, Internet & Marketing, accounted for $28B in gross domestic product last year across New England. In addition, the sector covers 2,100 companies employing a collective 69,000 people. This is impressive.
What is even more impressive is that this industry grew 20% in the last year, while the world was melting down in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression.
These facts were presented by Kiki Mills, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Innovation and Technology Exchange (MITX), an organization of 7,500 New England professionals in the Internet and digital marketing and advertising fields. Kiki disclosed this information in her keynote address before MITX handed out its yearly Technology Awards last night. The MITX Awards are a highlight of the year for entrepreneurs and this years crop of finalists and award winners is very impressive.
That is something to celebrate as we continue our New England Innovation Month across the region.
We have witnessed many events in the last year that were captured by a Twitter user and then shared and distributed around the ecosystem. I have always been struck by this. Twitter is a real time communication platform where one can broadcast to many followers who can then retweet and then you have a huge audience following a new story, event, happening.
We are seeing this play out in Iran right now. Since the election the government in Iran has clamped down on media and communication. Kind of odd that this has to happen….was there a problem with the election? As the Iranian government has imposed these clampdowns Twitter has emerged in some ways as the only manner Iranians can report what is going on and stay connected to the events and happenings of the day. Another big example of the growing influence and potential power of Twitter.
All online services have to be maintained and sometimes this requires shutting down access. Twitter has had much work to do with its infrastructure to handle its surge in Internet traffic of late. Last night Twitter was due to go offline for some maintenance and publicized this as they often do. There was a outcry that this would be harmful to those in Iran and around the world who were relying on Twitter. Twitter heard these calls of need and rescheduled this work. Wow.
Check out Bijan Sabet, Managing Director at Spark Capital who invested in Twitter on Fox News. 
Very interesting usecase for citizen activism…broadcast of real time information…leveraging the power of a network…and a service provider listening to it’s base of users. Bravo Twitter!
New England Innovation Month is in full swing. Big week last week. The major events planned for the week ahead are as follows:
Looks like a great line up for the week ahead. You can check out the full schedule for the month at the New England Innovation web site.
Email marketing can be an effecdtive marketing tool for small businesses. BusinessWeek chronicles how a small business can effetively use email marketing to connect to customers this week. RatePoint has emerged as a major player in this market and is featured in the article.
