I don’t know about you but while perusing Twitter, mostly on the iPhone, I often see links that people have shared and I want to save them for later.  The only real good solution was to “Star” the tweet and check it out later … if I remembered, which I usually did not.  So I was extremely happy when I started testing out TweetDeck on the iPhone and I saw one of the features was to “email tweet”.  I thought how cool, now when I see a link or an interesting tweet that I want to keep around for archiving review later I can just email it to myself. And for a bit that was pretty cool.

But in all honesty sometimes things that fall off the first page of my gmail page might as well fall off the face of the earth.  Sure they are “archived” but I would really need to go search for them.  So then it dawned on me, I had another tool that was perfect t capture and snyc these tweets that I wanted to save, that tool is Evernote.

According to the Evernote page:

Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.

I use Evernote for a lot of different things.  I scan my kids art into Evernote, I keep business card images, and so on.  Items can be tagged and placed into folders as you see fit.  So I thought, what a great combination, I can now simply email the tweets to my Evernote email address and it is there for me to organize and most importantly have in an organzied manner for future use or review.

Now once in Evernote, it can be tagged and organized in a notebook of your choice.  Best of all, Evernote syncs everything you put in it between your desktop and your Evernote account in the cloud, along with any other computers you intsall the Evernote client on.  Just the other day Evernote released an update that allows you to share a Notebook with others.  Now you can have a repositiory where a group can add interesting tweets to make the experience even better.

an open discussion forum of how broadband, and the networks that support it, affect our lives. NGW is where real people from all across our country talk about how they use broadband to solve some of America’s most pressing societal issues; keeping and creating jobs, enhancing health care, helping modernize our education system, protecting our environment and making public safety a priority.

Exciting stuff.  Well they recently went through a big update to their online presence and are throwing a party to celebrate their relaunch.  So make sure to head on over to the Darlington House in Dupont tonight from 6pm - 8pm and enjoy the festivities.

I am taking on duties as unofficial event photographer so make sure to check back here for the after event review and pics of the crowd.

In the beginning, all there was were technology podcasts before the mainstream players got in on the fun.  One of my favorite back in the day was TWIT (This Week in Tech) hosted by Leo Laporte and his usual cast of characters, many of whom reported and did shows with him back in the dat on Tech TV.  The shows were great, I learned a lot and couldnt wait until the next one was out and on the ipod to listen on the way to work.  Along the way, Leo started to build a quasi network of podcast shows with over 14 on the slate as we write.

However, something has happened over the last couple of years, mostly the last 8-12 months I would say.  I can’t quite put my finger on what has happened, but the era of the true tech podcasts are over I fear.  It does make me a bit sad, as they are the ones that put podcasting on the map.  I think some of the issue, at least with me, is the evolution of the news cycle and our access to it.  Whereas I once waited to hear the new insghts and tech news on the popular podcasts, these days I am inundated with up to 5 blog posts on the very same topics in my news reader every day.  So when it is finally time to listen to the most recent show, sadly it is old news.  I have found myself listening to otehr genre’s of podcasts over the last year.  I love No Agenda, and other NPR podcasts, along with different university lecture series.  Recently I can even say that I completly unsubscribed to any of the Twit podcasts alltogether.

So I was not surprised when this post by Michael Arrington popped up about his recent appearance on The Gilmore Gang with Leo Laporte.  Now I am not a huge fan of Arrington, but what happened was a bit shocking.  Check out the video of the show clip where all went haywire.

A bit surprising, but as I watched it I couldnt help by have my thoughts turn the the very question I pose in the title of this post.  Leo has spent a lot of time and money building what some might call a media outlet, all based around technology.  I cant help but think that some of the underlying tension in Leo may just very well be the fact that this well is drying up.

It was actually really sad to watch, but seemed to me to be the icing on the cake, the nail in the coffin of what once ruled the iTunes podcast store.  The mainstream shift is too strong as we are witnessing in other “outlets” now

It was really nice to actually get outside of our little echo chamber that we have created closer in to the city and meet some new folks who are new to social media and hopefully be able to impart some wisdom I have picked up over the last couple of years.

The turnout was great, over 100 folks braved the dreary weather to listen, communicate, and learn from each other.  The day started out with an outstanding keynote by our good friend Mario Armstrong and then we broke off into the breakout sessions.  The attendees when registering had self identified themselves with a level of social media knowledge, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, and there were three tracks dedicated to each of those levels.  My talk was for the Beginner’s and was titled HR102- HR and Admin Aspects of Social Media, see slides below.

I thought the session went really well.  It was actually nice to be able to chat to an audience very new to social media.  They had great questions and I hope I was able to answer them and guide them into the social media maze a little better.  We get so used to those around us being as knowledgeable about topics as we are and it was really refreshing to chat with an audience whose heads were not buried in a laptop and were paying attention

As I sat at lunch I was able to speak with Ric Adams, the President of the Chamber.  I was very impressed with his foresight and willingness to have the chamber host such an event.  He told me that this is the time period they usually host a local job fair, but said that they obviously saw the writing on the wall a while back that this may not be the best time to hold a job fair when companies are simply not hiring.  It was then they began looking into some new and different things, and with Jessica’s help the idea of the Social Media Conference was born.  Ric was very understanding of the need to reach out to a younger generation in new ways and I applaud him for that.  Some organizations like a chamber of commerce may not understand this, and the fact that his organization realizes this and is proactively looking to adapt to new ways is awesome.

I look forward to their next event and hope I can again help out and be a part of it.  I met many new people and will be reaching out to them on their new journey into the social media “jungle”.  Good luck, let me know if you ever need anything.

All of the presentations, or many of them should be in http://drop.io/fredsmc so be sure to check them all out.  Also feel free to drop in links, media, or questions for others to be able to share.

I was sent a link to this article on a recent ranking of hot technology spots across the country.  Not too much of a surprise that Silicon Valley fared the best, followed up by Seatte and the Boston area.  Washington came in a cool fourth, moving up a slot since 2003.

So what are your thoughts ?  Do you think this is accurate ? In any case, nice to see DC up there on the list, surprised to see SF down at the bottom though …

According to the press release

The June 11th event is the first known Twitter Conference on the East Coast and the first in the US aimed at both business and consumer communities. In addition to the conference, there will be a “Twitter Beginner Boot Camp” in session from 8:00am - 9:30am, aimed at educating and helping participants to become more familiar with the basics of Twitter and its potential applications. A “Twitter Intermediate Boot Camp” examining very specific applications and tools available for use with Twitter closes the day at 5:30pm.

They have a great lineup of speakers so far, to include one of our favorite social media folks, Shashi Bellamkonda of Network Solutions along with many others.  Head over to their site to see the rest of the lineup.

Here are the event details:

WHEN:  THURSDAY, JUNE 11TH, 2009, 10:00AM - 4:30PM

WHERE:  Busboys & Poets, 2021 14th Street NW, Washington DC 20009

Registration is now open and the costs are as follows

Early-Bird Registration through June 7th, 2009: $195.00 USD

Registration from June 8th through June 10th, 2009: $295.00 USD

On-Site Registration - June 11th, 2009: $395.00 USD

Twitter Beginner Boot-Camp: $95.00 USD

Twitter Intermediate Boot-Camp: $95.00 USD

Voluntary Carbon Offset: $5.00 USD*

Register HERE.

Now, DC wants to hear citizens’ ideas about problems that could be solved through technology, as well as their ideas about the perfect system to receive feedback and service requests.  Through blog posts, email surveys, video testimonials, voice call-in captures, twitter update submissions, and in-person town halls, iStrategyLabs will seek to engage the populace of Washington, DC to ask for their input into what they’d like to see in the form of a DC Community Platform.

Recently, Peter held Social Citizen Sunday, where he invited people to head out into the city and

1) Go to a library, church or another busy public area

2) Let people know you’re helping the city by collecting insights from your neighbors

3) Ask if they can answer this one question for you “What problems or ideas do you have for DC that you think better technology can solve?” If you can, please ask “Do you have access to high speed internet and if so, where?”

4) The answers you gather in #3 are what you’ll put into a ‘field report’. That report can take any form - video, audio, powerpoint/PDF etc. The $1000 prize will be judged based on the following:

• Quality of responses gathered
• Diversity of responses (different answers from different people in different neighborhoods)
• Quantity of responses
• Uniqueness of your field report

Well they got a lot of insights gathered from around town, you can check out the summary HERE.  But in the meantime they have announced the winner of the Social Citizen Award, they are our very own friends and incredible community members, Shireen Mitchell and Jill Foster.  They did a really incredible in depth fied report to include video, audio, etc.  Check it out below:

They did an incredible job in proposing Mobile Technology Education Labs (METL) that would

be comprised of a car fleet, traveling around the city to neighborhoods with the greatest computer access needs. This car fleet would be equipped with volunteers, laptops, and digital tools to not only offer computer/Web access to neighborhoods but also instruction on educational/professional resources available online.

Make sure to check out their presentation and while you at it, head over and propose your own idea and vote on the others submitted by other community members.

A quick note about the event from the web page

Businesses that have the most success with social media are the ones who approach it strategically. If you’re considering whether or not to use social media, or if you want to learn to use it more effectively, this is the place to learn!

This special event features breakout sessions for beginning, intermediate, and advanced participants. Those with little or no experience will have as much to gain as those who are skilled users!

The keynote is going to be done by none other than our good friend Mario Armstrong who is sure to give an animated and energetic time to all the attendees.  As the note above states, there will  be three tracks during the day for those who self identify themselves in a category of beginner, intermediate, and advanced.  My session that I will be holding is titled ‘Social Media 102 - HR and Administrative” and I will be covering topics like, Who will be responsible for your organization’s social media outreach? How will employees and/or volunteers contribute? Are employees allowed to discuss their work online? As well as any other questions the audience has for me.

I am really excited to be able to help some new people to the community be able to understand better the tools they have at their disposal.  Besides some other events, like Ignite Baltimore, this is my first official conference speaking engagement of many I hope will come.

Make sure to follow HERE for any event updates.  And also follow and use the hashtag on #fredsmc on Twitter, Flickr, and anywhere else updates are posted to get the latest news.

Some of there other offerings include

• EC2
• SimpleDB
• CloudFront
• CloudWatch
• DevPay

and so on.  If you are not familiar, make sure to head over to aws.amazon.com to check them all out, and if you need any help, just let me know.  In any case, I was excited when I saw they were doing a startup tour around the country.  Talking about the products and also showcasing small, and large companies that are utilizing their products to build really cool companies. The great thing about the products that Amazon is offering, is they allow the smallest of businesses and individuals the ability to become large, or seem that way, without the hassle and huge costs associated with that.  Withing 15 minutes if I wanted to, I could have over 1000 servers up and running at 10 cents an hour for each.  3 years ago this would have never been possible.  Then when I am done, they shut down and I pay for only what I used.

It was a really great event with a lot of really smart people there to learn and share.  Below are some videos of the event, including Adam Selipsky the Vice President of Amazon Web Services, Matt Corgan Co Founder of Hotpads.com and others.  Pay particular attention to Matt’s talk as he really breaks down the numbers and shows how Amazon helps out him and his developers.

Kickstarter is a new way to fund ideas and endeavors.
We believe that…
* A good idea, communicated well, can spread fast and wide.
* A large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement.

What is cool about Kickstarter is it allows you to, in essence, crowdsource to get the money to start your project.  There are already micro loan services like Kiva, but Kickstarter is doing that for entrepenuers ready to venture out and make their ideas come to life.

For instance a few of the ideas, or projects, listed on Kickstarter are

• Make the New Allison Weiss EP

or there is a guy trying to …

• Reunite the Kinks …

Allison on one hand has already raised her pledges of $2000.  Project submitters set an amount that they need and a date they need it by.  People who pledge to help only have to pay if the goal is met.  There can also be incentives along the way to entice people to help support the project.

I am sure that this can be useful for some of our friends in the local community.  And what do you know .. just today I received notice from Alice Marshall, a local PR Professional and author of Presto Vivace on her goal of using Kickstarter to write a book !  Here is a little bit about her project.

The book I propose would be entirely about the reputation of voting machine technology. Others have written about the merits of the voting machines; I do not propose to address that aspect of the story. I am solely concerned with the reputation meltdown of the machines. When they were first brought to notice, they enjoyed widespread confidence. Now they are seen as insecure at best and the instrument of conspiracy at worst. How did such a thing come about? This article I wrote for the Daily Dog will give funders a sense of my approach.

Now I think $30k is a bit ambitious, especially in such a short time period, but I am rooting for her and hope she makes her goals.  Lets all follow her on her journey.

But nonetheless, Kickstart is a great idea to help get your local community involved in helping out their own.  What about you all, do you see any kind of future in this ?