I Know What You're Doing
Forget Paris Hilton... the trend these days is for ALL of us to have our lives perpetually on display. I'm not so sure anybody is watching, but if you want to share everything you do with anyone who cares to know about it, technology has provided you with a variety of methods - some reasonably tame, others downright scary.
Let's start with the more tame. Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a website, or social network, which you can join and start publishing your activities, and photos of said activities, as often as you wish.
As it developers tell us, there are a three ways to send updates: "send a text message from your mobile phone, type a message from the Twitter site, or instant message from AIM, Jabber or Gtalk. Start by texting the word help to 40404 if you're in the United States. From Canada, use our new Canadian short code, 21212. For international Twitters, use the new UK long code: +44 7624 801423. Australia can use the new UK long code, and Italy is a special case; write us and we'll give you more information.
40404 is the number you send your Twitter updates to if you're in the United States (US) and 21212 is the number you send to from Canada. These are short codes: special codes made for Twitter. Sending a text message to a short code is just like sending a text message to a phone number. Short codes are made specifically for text messaging, so you can't send an email to a short code, or call a short code. There are no special charges for using these numbers, however, international phones may not be able to send to a US or Canadian short code."
So you don't just make updates while you're at your computer - you can update from wherever you are via cell phone.
Most Twitterers, from what I have seen, use Twitter to update us on what was eaten for breakfast, how fat they are, who they went out with last night, my latest sexy picture, and that sort of thing.
However, there are real possibilities for it to be useful and entertaining: let's say someone in your family is on a trip. This is a quick and easy way to stay in touch with that person, and learn more about his travels, easily and often. Or perhaps a sales person is traveling and meeting clients - the home office can be updated about her activities in almost real-time, complete with necessary and appropriate visuals.
Another approach is to videocast your daily doings. While this is not exactly new - there have been some adventurous souls who have done this as almost a form of performance art in the past - now this technology is available to all of us, and there are platforms where we can publish our fascinating lives for the world to see.
Justin.tv was founded October 10, 2006, and positions itself as "the" main tool for broadcasting and viewing live video online.
You can plug in to any of several channels broadcasting - catching one person in bed, another at his computer, a third not there at all - and join the chat going on about either that individual's activities, or whatever else happens to come up.
Suggesting that it does exactly the same type of thing as Justin.tv, Ustream.tv says it is "a platform that provides live interactive video for everyone. Anyone with a camera and an Internet connection can use Ustream to broadcast to a global audience."
While the folks at Justin.tv tend to mostly share the mundane, Ustream has some "produced" shows, as well as some webcam-in-the-face video. Check out Zooomr.tv, for an example of someone just sitting and talking.
And if you want to broadcast your own show (it's free), just sign up to create an account, plug in a name for your show, plug in your webcam, and hit the "go live" button. You can also pre-produce shows and upload them for "air." You can schedule times when your shows will be live, so "viewers" can tune in - and chat - when you're on the web.
Again the possibilities here are both mundane - to simply sit within your camera's range and do nothing much exciting, or to actually produce a regular "tv" show for others to share and enjoy.
Technology has definitely put mass communication in the hands of anyone who wants to step up and use it. Let me know if you have, or if you create, a show - we'll feature in here in this column!
Forget Paris Hilton... the trend these days is for ALL of us to have our lives perpetually on display. I'm not so sure anybody is watching, but if you want to share everything you do with anyone who cares to know about it, technology has provided you with a variety of methods - some reasonably tame, others downright scary.
Let's start with the more tame. Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a website, or social network, which you can join and start publishing your activities, and photos of said activities, as often as you wish.
As it developers tell us, there are a three ways to send updates: "send a text message from your mobile phone, type a message from the Twitter site, or instant message from AIM, Jabber or Gtalk. Start by texting the word help to 40404 if you're in the United States. From Canada, use our new Canadian short code, 21212. For international Twitters, use the new UK long code: +44 7624 801423. Australia can use the new UK long code, and Italy is a special case; write us and we'll give you more information.
40404 is the number you send your Twitter updates to if you're in the United States (US) and 21212 is the number you send to from Canada. These are short codes: special codes made for Twitter. Sending a text message to a short code is just like sending a text message to a phone number. Short codes are made specifically for text messaging, so you can't send an email to a short code, or call a short code. There are no special charges for using these numbers, however, international phones may not be able to send to a US or Canadian short code."
So you don't just make updates while you're at your computer - you can update from wherever you are via cell phone.
Most Twitterers, from what I have seen, use Twitter to update us on what was eaten for breakfast, how fat they are, who they went out with last night, my latest sexy picture, and that sort of thing.
However, there are real possibilities for it to be useful and entertaining: let's say someone in your family is on a trip. This is a quick and easy way to stay in touch with that person, and learn more about his travels, easily and often. Or perhaps a sales person is traveling and meeting clients - the home office can be updated about her activities in almost real-time, complete with necessary and appropriate visuals.
Another approach is to videocast your daily doings. While this is not exactly new - there have been some adventurous souls who have done this as almost a form of performance art in the past - now this technology is available to all of us, and there are platforms where we can publish our fascinating lives for the world to see.
Justin.tv was founded October 10, 2006, and positions itself as "the" main tool for broadcasting and viewing live video online.
You can plug in to any of several channels broadcasting - catching one person in bed, another at his computer, a third not there at all - and join the chat going on about either that individual's activities, or whatever else happens to come up.
Suggesting that it does exactly the same type of thing as Justin.tv, Ustream.tv says it is "a platform that provides live interactive video for everyone. Anyone with a camera and an Internet connection can use Ustream to broadcast to a global audience."
While the folks at Justin.tv tend to mostly share the mundane, Ustream has some "produced" shows, as well as some webcam-in-the-face video. Check out Zooomr.tv, for an example of someone just sitting and talking.
And if you want to broadcast your own show (it's free), just sign up to create an account, plug in a name for your show, plug in your webcam, and hit the "go live" button. You can also pre-produce shows and upload them for "air." You can schedule times when your shows will be live, so "viewers" can tune in - and chat - when you're on the web.Again the possibilities here are both mundane - to simply sit within your camera's range and do nothing much exciting, or to actually produce a regular "tv" show for others to share and enjoy.
Technology has definitely put mass communication in the hands of anyone who wants to step up and use it. Let me know if you have, or if you create, a show - we'll feature in here in this column!
Comments