Spout: Gorgeous Twitter Visualizer on the Cheap

What would you do if you were charged with getting a tweet board up for an important event, you had no budget, and it had to be something that would grab attention?

Sure, you could Google "Twitter visualization" and find a few finicky and not-so-flashy free products. You could also pay outrageous amounts of money to unlock a premium product.

Or you could pay $2 for Spout, the remarkable flexible tweet visualizer for iPad and iPhone. Spout gives you 15 highly customizable themes, modes, display times, animation controls - and more cool features than you can possibly use at one event.

Spout doesn't allow you to display multiple tweets, just one tweet at a time. But it's guaranteed attract eyeballs and draw your participants into the Twitter conversation. Hit the video below and feel your jaw drop.

Riveted to Young Woman's Tweets While I Eat Lunch

She choked on tear gas while I ate my sandwich. It was noon at the Subway in Oshawa where I'm attending a social media conference, but night in Egypt - and I just couldn't break away from her frantic tweets.

They outlined:

Her anger at the density of tear gas used.

Her concern for the people run over by police in front of her.
Her panic at the young man who was beaten severely nearby and needed an ambulance.
Her fears for friends and pleas for information from other Twitter users in the crowd.

Her twitter handle is @nadawassef and for 40 minutes I was scrambling through the streets of downtown Cairo with her. The contrast couldn't have been more stark.

My human rights have been secured through not much effort on my part.

She's still working on hers.

Winnipeg Convention Centre's Turn to Get Wireless

There's a story by Geoff Kirbyson in last Sunday's Winnipeg Free Press that MTS Allstream and Rogers are spending $1.5 million over the next six months to upgrade the wireless service for Jets fans and everyone else who uses the MTS Centre.

So, here's a related question for you:

Q: Which of the following is most likely to have free wireless service in Winnipeg?
a) Safeway stores b) Your child's orthodontist c) Winnipeg Convention Centre d) Any McDonald's

You're smiling right now, because you know which one it isn't.

Let's say you want to live tweet an election debate, conference, trade show or other event at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Or maybe you need to send email or access an important document for just-in-time delivery to the floor of your convention?

And forget the 3G or 4G (or any G for that matter) - you want the speedy snap of wireless.

The WCC will give you an hour's worth of free wireless, then pull the plug on their sluggish signal. After that you have to hike over to the offices on the mezzanine floor and make arrangements to pay by the hour or day to keep using it.

Get Wireless

Convention Centre pulls plug on free wireless after one hour.

Now, I like the WCC. I'm not a critic, I'm a customer. Over the past 30 years, I've enjoyed wonderful events there, everything from concerts and home shows, to the Signature Awards, political debates and the yearly career symposium. But the lack of robust, free wireless for the past couple few years is now quite bothersome. It's a situation that's been documented in an excellent post by Erica Glasier last summer.

While some North-American conference centres are announcing free WiFi - doubtless enough of a factor in bookings to equip themselves with it - and our own hockey palace is boosting its signal, the WCC is silent on its plans.

It's not like conference attendees can get much free WiFi at the Delta next door, either. The hotel has no wireless in the rooms - only high speed cable access. The only place you can get free wireless is in the hotel's main floor lobby. But at least it lasts for more than an hour.

I do have faith, though, that the WCC will come through, because it's their turn - even if they have to partner with another service provider and plaster a "free wireless compliments of" message throughout the building.

In spite of logistical challenges in outfitting a building of that age with systems that will work well, the centre must get it done. How can conference goers land at our new airport terminal, enjoy strong and free WiFi there and while taking in a Jets game - and not expect the same from the venue that's hosting their conference?

Get a Social Voice
Even before the free WiFi  is up and running, though, the Convention Centre should really take a dip into social media for voice lessons. If you search for Twitter, WiFi, or Facebook on the WCC website, you can hear - or see, rather - the digital crickets chirping. If you Google "convention centres on twitter" you'll find WCC's more progressive Canadian counterparts are already on Twitter - and finding their social voice.

Sure they use it as another broadcast channel for events ranging from United Way wind-ups to State of the Province addresses, to boat and bridal shows. But much more importantly, they use it to connect with their community and their guests.

After all, people don't connect with buildings, they connect with real people inside those builidings. So, these centres are using their authentic social voice, rather than their institutional voices on Twitter.

Here's a sampling of how other Canadian conference centres court their guests by using their social voice on Twitter.

Now, this might look like the nuisance stuff. But I am so impressed that there's someone tweeting for the Ottawa Convention Centre that would take the time to ask a guest about their meal and the speaker at an event. That scores you big points. And if someone does have a bad experience, like the fellow with the note on his bike outside Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre, you get to smooth feathers or pass the message on to someone who can make it better.

Those kinds of social media interactions are the daily grind of dedicated community managers and such a welcome human voice. And at the WCC - it's a voice they need.

Get Manitoba Bold
So how about it WCC? This is 2012. Tech is a part of everyone's life including the conference and event patrons who converge on your facility. The competition down the street is putting big bucks into making sure their guests have a great WiFi experience.

My Manitoba Bold idea for you?

Let your guests connect with each other through strong and free wireless, and give yourselves permission to start connecting with them through social media.

Get wireless, social and Manitoba bold. We'll all enjoy you more.

Why I Can't Be Faithful to One Twitter App

I can't be faithful to just one Twitter app. Sure I can point to a favorite depending on the platform, but I would never stick with just one.

Echofon
I love Echofon on the iPad because of the way it displays the lists of people I'm following and who are following me. People I follow are listed in alpha order making it easy to scroll through and find exactly who I'm looking for. My followers are listed chronologically. No other app presents this info better - it's a must see.

The whole Echofon experience is simple, easy, a pleasure to use - and I love the bright theme.

But I rarely use Echofon on my iPhone, though, because I just can't bump up the font size big enough for my tastes (can you please fix that, guys?). A larger font feels like my visual home, and Echofon just can't take me there on the iPhone.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck is awesome on my laptop and desktop, because I can run those great notifications in the background. It's the undisputed powerhouse when it comes to features and ideal for participating in #edchat and other education-related discussions. When you first graduate to TweetDeck it's pretty heady stuff seeing that flight deck with multiple columns and fancying yourself a power user.

On the iPad, though, TweetDeck takes much too long to load. I can't fit as many columns on it as on the desktop and I'm much more limited to the amount of tweets I can see at once.

TweetDeck for the iPhone is a complete wash for me. What it does so brilliantly on the laptop or desktop, just isn't possible on the smaller screen - so why bother?

Twitter

I love Twitter on my iPhone, and use it almost exclusively. I can kick the font size up, I feel comfortable with the pull-down-to-reload feature and I love the translation option which lets me follow Japanese speaking astronauts or tweets from Arab countries and actually find out what they're saying.

On the iPad, I don't know if it's Twitter's dark theme, the horizontal swiping or what, but it just doesn't turn my crank. I know I'm not alone in feeling that the iPad iteration wasn't as brilliant as the one for the iPhone.

And the Twitter desktop app? Despite the new look and functionality, it still remains the least efficient way to tweet. Its only value, in my books, is when demo-ing Twitter at workshops. There is little point using anything else because it really is the entry point for newbies and the interface most will use to start tweeting.

Switching Between Apps
That having been said, I have switched and will continue to switch between these apps depending on the need and the mood.

All of which has me worried about Twitter's objective of buying up the universe of third-party apps with which to tweet.

I don't want one app, built by one group of people, however brilliant, to be THE Twitter experience for me and the only tool I will ever be able to tweet with. I love the variation in looks, purpose and function.

After letting the genie - and the genius - out of the bottle by initially making the Twitter API open to everyone, why would you want to lock up all of that power and diversity and shove it back into just one container?

Jealous of My Duct Tape Twitter Wallet?

If you haven't heard of duct tape wallets before, they're pretty cool. I mean, I've heard of things being held together with duct tape, but not made out of it.

Andrew Cardona runs a local business here in Winnipeg called Custom Pockets and he offers various styles of wallets to choose from, and tons of graphics to go with them.

"Could you do a Twitter design for me, Andrew?" I asked him. "You got it," he said, and this was the result.

He gave it to me tonight at a church Christmas dinner and I was so impressed. It's cool, inexpensive, and although I currently use a bungee wallet, I'll keep this one around as a working conversation piece.

If you'd like to get your own, check out Andrew's wares at http://on.fb.me/gm5elB.

Jott Assistant - Personal Productivity on Steroids

Over a year ago, I walked away from Jott Assistant (then simply called Jott) because it moved from free to paid. But I'm back, I'm paying - a modest $3.95 a month - and couldn't be happier.

Here's just a sample of what Jott Assistant does for me:

1. Let's me send email just by speaking into my phone. I have around 80 contacts individuals and groups of people I've set this up for and I can add as many as I want. Individuals, committees, volunteer organizations, teams, I can email them all simply by talking. This works with dumb phones as well as smart ones.
2. Reads my favorite RSS feeds back to me. You want cool? Try this in the car with your bluetooth earpiece on. I need to keep track of media constantly throughout the day. This really helps.
3. Sets up events and appointments for me in Outlook Calendar when I tell it to - and reminds me of them when I want it to.
4. Allows me to set up categories for every hat I wear and for any meeting or label. Then, it transcribes my voice notes into them. This is unbelievably handy. Throughout the week I simply dictate a Jott note or agenda item, tell it to dump it into the appropriate category, then review the whole bunch a couple of days before the meeting. When I walked away from Jott in early 2009, I had 27 categories spread throughout my home, work and church life. They were all waiting for me when I signed up again.
5. Sends the people I email a slim voice file along with the transcription.
6. Plays well with all my devices. I can Jott on my iPad, iPhone or desktop and the information is always current. Wherever I am I can Jott and read my Jotts. And it works on the Blackberry, too.
7. Let's me print my Jotts. In a pinch, this can become an instant agenda.

There is so much I haven't tried yet - like voice posting to Google Calendar, Blogger, Facebook, Twitter, Remember the Milk, Toodledo and dozens more. But I'll tackle those if and when I need them.

All I can say for now, is that coming back to Jott Assistant is a real kick. It gives me another way to keep the balls in the air when I'm on the run - which is pretty much always.

Like most teachers - and people like me that work for them - I like free. But free can be so limiting.

If you're in the market for a reasonably priced productivity app, you've got to check this one out. Jott Assistant is not merely a clever voice-to-text toy.

In these fast and frantic times, it's a tool to lean on.

(Disclosure: I have no investment in Jott whatsoever, but I'd like to ; )

Twitter, The 140-Character Chameleon

Creative Commons photo by 1yago.com. Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/yjv/8458150882/

If you've been told that all there is to Twitter is telling people what you had for lunch or following celebrities, you've been mislead. For teachers, Twitter is about connecting with colleagues and sharing ideas, resources and advice.

Call it a chameleon, a shape-shifter, use a pipeline analogy - anything you like - but one thing is for sure, you can't nail Twitter down. Twitter is whatever you want it to be. That's what makes it so hard to explain to people who aren't there - yet so brilliant for those who've taken the plunge.

If you're unfamiliar with Twitter and what all the fuss is about, you're not alone. Consider some of the ways this 140-character chameleon can be used.

Broadcast medium - Twitter is permission-based. Every message you send is broadcast to a group of people who deliberately choose to follow your feed. You do not collect email addresses. You never have to worry that you're sending unsolicited messages (or need to give yours). And whether you're broadcasting from an institution, your classroom, or standing in line at the grocery store, Twitter excels at letting you engage with people who want you to share your ideas, blogs, wikis, videos, and websites with them.

PLN builder - Your Personal Learning Network takes a while to build. This is the one thing you should understand - building that PLN requires real work. But once you do, it can be a great morale booster, invaluable source of advice, and cheering section. You can find thousands of advocates for PLNs, any one of whom could guide you, at a Ning run by Thomas Whitby called the Educator's PLN. Sue Waters has an excellent post on how to get started on your PLN with Twitter.

Professional Development - On Twitter, PD is entirely within your control and available literally anytime. Links to resources, lots of them, are Twitter currency. And colleagues are more than willing to share. This can be a wonderful cultural shift if you're not used to it. None of us knows everything, but all of us know something. Together we're better.

Edchat - You can chat with educators in a true global village through #edchat. It happens twice every Tuesday, but continues throughout the week. It's teachers talking to teachers. Real time PD anywhere, anytime. You won't believe the connections you'll make. Check out details from Tom Whitby and Shelly Terrell.

Virtual conference attendance - Short on PD funds? Just tap into a conference by following people who are tweeting from the event. Seriously, there will usually be someone there. Just search for the event name here, look for a hashtag, and you can monitor and participate in what's happening in that very room in real time.
Live blogging - Send a constant stream of tweets from a particular session or keynote and you'll be providing a wonderful public service to those who are following a conference or other event.

Backchannel - Following the hashtag for a particular conference session lets you communicate with other people in the same session. You can message people across the room, in another session, even those folks who are participating virtually a continent away - in real time. This sounds incredibly disruptive, but can work so well. Sometimes presenters will choose to display the backchannel tweets so they can get real time feedback on what's on the minds of the audience. Backchannels can greatly enrich your conference experience.

Complaints dept. - Get the attention of large companies and other organizations (at the least the smart ones who are listening) by mentioning your problem and including their name in a hashtag. Conscientious organizations will monitor their mentions and will often contact you to see if they can help.

Tech support - Crowd source (from your PLN) support answers to your vexing technical problems. Tell your followers what you're having difficulty with and tap into their expertise.

Subscription service - Whether it's Alfie Kohn, Sarah McLachlan, Lance Armstrong, or Michael Buble, Twitter gives you a glimpse into people's lives and the illusion (or the reality if you're lucky) of proximity to notable personalities. You can follow a author, a movement, a magazine like Fast Company or an organization like the National Education Association or the Canadian Teachers' Federation in real time.

Disaster and emergency tool - The American and Canadian Red Cross, Center for Disease Control, and police departments both stateside and in Canada are using Twitter to alert people to emergencies and send warnings and alerts.

Share your tastes and activities - Remember that tweet what you have for lunch thing? You can do that too, if you r-e-a-l-l-y want to. Some people even tweet pictures of it - ugh!

Real time search - websites are the institutional voices of organizations, tweets are authentic voices of real people. Find out what's happening on any topic under the sun by entering it at Twitter Search. Go ahead, type in anything under the scholastic sun to see what people are saying. You can use this to lurk and see the flood of real-time information on any topic before opening your official account.

News on demand - News from all the major corporate suspects are on Twitter, like the CBC, CNN, the Globe and Mail and the New York Times. But so are thousands of local news outlets - and millions of citizen journalists. If there's an accident on the highway, poor road conditions, plane crash, a dust-up at sporting event, you'll probably hear about it on Twitter before TV, radio and print get it.

Broadcast the revolution - When @cnn couldn't get reporters on the ground during election protests in Iran, citizens in the street tweeted all the drama and fed the world text and video as it happened. Glasnost and perestroika would have happened years earlier if the Polish shipyard workers had Twitter.

Journaling - Your Twitter feed is considered a microblog. But the truth is your tweets will disappear into the ether after a few months. If you want to save them longer than that, check out Twistory.com or BackupMyTweets.com. You can also send your tweets directly to your Evernote account.

Look at me, look at me! - A bit of shameless self-promotion is expected. So, go ahead and brag about what you or your kids are doing - you're allowed. Don't worry, your PLN will give you props.

Admittedly, there is overlap the categories above. But this list is nowhere near exhaustive. The point is, that Twitter can be a tremendous boon to your personal and professional life. It really is anything you want it to be. Simply put, Twitter puts you in touch with colleagues and great PD, and it makes your world larger.
Skeptical? Read How One Tweet Changed a Teacher's View of Social Media by Irene Tortolini.
If you still have questions or doubts, there are over 4,700 colleagues who can help you back at the Educator's PLN.

If you have questions, comment below and I'll help.

Fast Speech to Email (and More) for iPhone

If you own an iPhone, you have to try Vlingo. It let's you send email with your voice and it's wonderfully efficient. Sure, you can send Facebook and Twitter updates, plus SMS messages. But the ability to compose unlimited emails with your voice is a minor tech miracle to be savoured.

You can perform some neat voice search work using Google, Yahoo or Bing, too, but where Vlingo really shines is sending messages through its smooth voice-to-text interface.

The voice recognition is not perfect because frankly there's no such thing. But it is startlingly good and lightning fast. Just a couple of seconds of "thinking" time before your text snaps onto the screen. My playing around for two days produced emails with a high degree of accuracy as long as I spoke at a normal pace. If you do spot a glitch, Vlingo makes it easy to clean it up or add more voice transcription before sending.

The app is free and there's no cost for Facebook, Twitter and search functions. Unlimited email and SMS features are modest one-time hits on your iTunes account and are good for the life of your phone. Each will set you back $6.99. Or you can buy both for $9.99.

Vlingo is not the only voice-to-email app in town. I was a heavy two-year user of Jott in its beta stage. It's a class act and I know it's improved far beyond where it was when I left. But Jott also costs real money--$3.95 to $12.95 per month.

So, if you're looking for a clean, simple and economical way to compose email or text using only your voice, Vlingo for the iPhone offers a lot of functionality for a modest one-time price.

If you're a Blackberry user you can smile. Vlingo launched on that platform long before it was available for the iPhone and it includes even more features.

More tips for your iPhone...
Another 5 Essential Tips for New iPhone Owners
5 Essential Tips for New iPhone Owners
5 More Essential Tips for New iPhone Owners

Desperately Seeking Loved Ones in Chile

Twitter and Facebook messages through Ustream chat Saturday 3:00 p.m., translated from Spanish.

We're watching from France, it looks really bad.

I need to know if my mom in Concepción is OK!

I need to know about Silvia and Paulo Ruiz in Maipo.

Somebody from Concepción Please!!

Your sister is OK, she got in touch with me.

I'm in Scotland and I need to know about Chiguajante.

Cobquecura is 80% destroyed.

News from Temuco please!

Messages pour in every few seconds. Worried relatives around the globe are casting their pleas onto the waves of social networks in the hope of getting a scrap, a clue, a fragment of information about loved ones. Google launched http://chilepersonfinder.appspot.com/ for people who are looking for relatives.

Hearts are turned toward the people of Chile.

But hydro is out, phone lines are down and infrastructure has taken a huge hit. The 8.8 magnitude quake (8.3 according to Chilean media) has meant deaths, chemical spills, broken bridges, flooded hospitals, homelessness and high anxiety. The Chilean minister of housing is saying many buildings will have to be demolished to prevent further injuries and says she will launch an investigation into why some newer buildings faired pourly in the quake. Search and rescue teams have started their efforts are seeing their first successes.

Any nation hit this hard will be reeling from the impact--and the physical, social and emotional aftershocks. But this is a nation that's much better prepared and organized for this kind of disaster than Haiti, for example. Chileans have dealt with deadly upheaval before, most notably the huge earthquake of 1960 which claimed thousands of lives, and the tremendous societal quake brought about by the military coup in 1973.

On a personal note, my wife and I are on edge waiting for news from the Region 8, the area hardest hit and home to many of my wife's relatives in Concepción. Scenes of crushed cars, demolished buildings and streets full of debris stoke the frustration of the information vacuum. No word yet.

We're hoping that when communication comes it will bring relief, not pain. We know the importance of family. When it comes right down to it, folks--that's all that really matters.

Who Really Taught Me Spanish - Was It My PLN?

I've been blessed with being able to speak Spanish for a long time now. It's a real kick being a gringo and knowing my way around this wonderfully exotic language. And it may not have happened if it weren't for The Midnight Special.

Back in 1975, there were two Friday night concert shows on TV--The Midnight Special, first hosted by Wolfman Jack, and Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

One night, two extraordinary acts hit the screen. One was David Bowie back in his glam rock days--the other was a British-American, flamenco-rock group called Carmen.

These days, you'd probably call Carmen's style world music or worldbeat. All I knew at the time was that they sang in English and Spanish and their sound really rocked.

So, I enrolled in Spanish lesssons at the International Centre and met Soñia Amaya, my Spanish teacher. Sonya taught us hapless Canucks how to trill our Rs and do various other pronunciation gymnastics which anglos have such difficulty with.

During the coffee breaks, I would sit myself down at a table full of Chileans--this was three years after the coup in Chile, so there were lots of them around--and test my halting Spanish. I'd ask if they had the time or invent any other excuse to start practising my rudimentary Spanish skills.

Well, I had a ball.

I got such a warm reception and made so many good friends that things snowballed from there. Setting foot into the Chilean world made mine so much bigger. They fed me and helped me learn their language. I heard their stories and grew to love them pretty quickly.

There were other Canadians who were just as adventurous and who were rewarded in the same way. And right about that time, I discovered that there was a small Spanish-speaking branch in my church.

I had hit the jackpot.

I was so excited. In fact, the first talk I gave in church was in Spanish, after I had spent eight months reading Condorito magazines, buying Chilean newspapers, listening to Radio Havana Cuba on the short-wave and working through a book called Spanish Made Simple.

Because of my association with Chileans, I learned all about the coup in '73, saw the movie Missing many times and tried to understand what my friends were telling me when they said they were in Canada as refugees--that they were forced to leave their country.

What an eye-opener.

The benefits of speaking Spanish have been extraordinary. But first, let's be clear. The language itself is not hard to learn. People talk about having a universal language and sometimes point to Esperanto. Well, Spanish has Esperanto beat hands down.

It's easy to learn, the grammar makes sense--I don't even have to know the meaning of a word to pronounce it properly--and it's already spoken in 21 countries. I love keeping a foot in each world--the Canadian and the Chilean. They really do complement each other.

I know my wife, who was born in Concepción, Chile, wouldn't have married a gringo who couldn't speak a word of Spanish, so I was lucky there. And that's the biggest blessing.

But it has enriched my life in other ways, as well.

I've learned that there are other ways of looking at things, other ways of thinking, other points of view. That the North American way of doing things is not the be-all and end-all. That has been a major benefit to me.

I like to think I'm more tolerant, more sensitive to racial issues, less patient with racial slurs, and more understanding of other people and cultures because of it.

I love this quote from anthropologist Wade Davis:

"The world in which you were born is just one model of reality.

Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you;

they are unique manifestations of the human spirit."

I owe a lot to this ability to speak such a warm and inviting language, to rub shoulders with such wonderful people, to have my world view broadened and my life enriched.

But my question is, who taught me Spanish? Am I really self-taught?

I could say I spent countless hours listening to La Voz de Los Estados Unidos on short-wave and many more dedicated to working through Spanish lessons on LPs, cassettes, and in manuals. I could give a nod to the excellent PBS sit-com Que Pasa USA--and to the many newspapers and magazines I pored over. Surely my own hard work combined with media and technology (such as they were) played a big part.

But even more important was the friendship of wonderful people in the early years. Recent immigrants who had little but shared their hospitality, friendship and their homes with me. Instructors who really cared about my success and the way I sounded. Church members who reached out to the Chilean wannabe in their midst. The Columbian woman at the Cosas Lindas Boutique who ran the local Hispanic radio show. My good friends Ivan and Victor. Later, my wife and my in-laws. All were huge influences.

In short, I had a large social network that adopted me just because I showed an interest in them, in their culture and language.

So, did I really "teach myself" Spanish?

Far from it.

I had a lot of people who mentored me, guided me and cared about me. People I enjoyed being with and who enjoyed being with me.

And even though we didn't have Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Livemocha--or any other social media tools to study languages with--we all shared and learned so much from each other.

To me, that wonderful network of friends sure sounds a lot like a pre-web PLN.

Your comments?

The iPad According to Geek Brief TV

I've been a fan of Geek Brief TV for months now. Cali Lewis, the show's "shiny, happy" host, delivers short, upbeat, balanced tech reviews. Here's her take on the iPad.

And when you're done with that, search recent episodes for loads of good stuff. iPhone users can go to iTunes and either stream or download podcasts of past episodes.

Follow Cali on Twitter at @calilewis.

The Power of Pocket Communities

One of the practical joys of 21st-Century learning is participating in pocket communities. I'm not talking about cozy suburban neighbourhoods with low taxes. Instead, it's my term for Twitter, Ning, Flickr, Wiki, and other online communities you take with you on your smartphone.

Unlike the first generation of web-enabled phones, smartphones actually make the net usable and pocket communities possible.

It's one thing to sit tethered to your desktop or laptop as you trade tips, links, and tweets with friends. It's quite another to follow a workshop, conference, #edchat, or local PD event while at the hockey rink or standing in line at the Safeway.

The ability to carry hundreds of online friends in your jeans, shirt, purse or backpack is really quite empowering. And your vicarious presence at their PD events by monitoring live blogs, streams, tweets, or Ning activity is a gift the community gives to you. After all, your pocket version of a conference tweetboard through Twitterfall is just as useful as the one they're looking at in the hotel lobby half a world away.

With the new Qik and Ustream apps available for the iPhone you can become a broadcaster in minutes and share great PD sessions with your followers and friends. And if you've never tried voice Skyping from the iPhone, you're clearly in for a surprise.

Relationships in online communities define us in a way. We can share with some of the smartest and most engaging people on the planet. We can mentor and be mentored by people we've never met.

The beauty is that now, we can take these friends with us wherever we go, and when we do meet in person, we're all the richer for it.