Traveling Geeks

Moby Picture: What Matters to us is Your Story

by Renee Blodgett on July 19, 2009 at 1:18 pm

Mathys van Abbe from Moby Picture was in London during our latest geek tour.

I didn’t have enough time to put their app through the test on the Nokia N79 we were using on the ground, but I plan to load it up on whatever new phone I end up with in the next couple of weeks. It’s most definitely time for a new one.

Their mission is to enable users to share their adventures as easily as possible. Says Mathys, “it’s not about the technology. What matters to us is your story.”

Moby Picture adds as much context in the background as possible to enrich your content. They also match your location against other content taken in the same timeframe, determine whether there’s a popular spot nearby, or an event going on.

Groups enable you to aggregate content about specific interests, events, hobbies, etc. Using this feature, you can post to a group in a variety of ways, but the simplest is to just add the group hashtag (like #moby) to the title or description of your posting.

They are working on closing deals with publishers and are encouraging third party developers to use their APIs. More after I start playing with it.

“I come from 5 generations of Cohen merchants …” Joe Cohen

by Susan Bratton on July 18, 2009 at 8:18 pm

Joe Cohen, Founder, Seatwave.com

“I come from 5 generations of Cohen merchants thus love the marketplace; I also have non-genetic love of sport and music = best job ever,” Joe Cohen. #WDYDWYD? #TG2009 @SeatwaveJoe

My Traveling Geeks Meme: WDYDWYD? What is it?

Video of Howard Rheingold talk in London on 21st Century Literacies

by Howard Rheingold on July 18, 2009 at 6:42 pm

This is my edit of a talk on 21st century literacies that I gave in London at the Reboot Britain conference in July, 2009. It was part of the action-packed, fun-filled Travelling Geeks tour. About 40 minutes. {Original link: Howard Rheingold on 21st Century Literacies.}

[bliptv 2373937]

Howard Rheingold on 21st Century Literacies.

Leading Memory Lane

by Renee Blodgett on July 17, 2009 at 11:25 pm

I had an interesting chat at the TechCrunch Europe Awards with Sven Hock of Kingston Technology Company.

They’re over twenty years old and tout themselves as the world’s independent memory leader. Kingston offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and cell phones.

Kingston also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.

In the MOO’d to be Creative? Richard Moross Has Some Fun Ideas for You #TG2009

by Susan Bratton on July 17, 2009 at 5:18 pm

While in London last week, I had the delightful opportunity to meet the founder and CEO of Moo.com. If you haven’t seen all the great things you can create with your images and Richard’s printing capabilities, you should click below to check out the options.

MOO PRODUCTS

Richard Moross of MOO.com

: Image by brianjmatis via Flickr

Interview with the Financial Times (richardmoross.com)
MOO in Printing News (richardmoross.com)

Howard Rheingold on 21st Century Literacy Skills at #RebootBritian #TG2009

by Susan Bratton on July 17, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Howard Rheingold Keynoting Reboot Britain

I had the good fortune to travel for a week with Howard Rheingold as part of our Traveling Geeks contingent to England. Being with him 24/7 is delightful. He rolls with the natural hiccups of travel, is cordial to one and all and is a deep thinker about the human condition as it meets the online world.

Howard’s keynote at Reboot Britain was his first pass at a new group of practices he believes are crucial skills for success in today’s online world.

Check yourself and see which you possess and where you can improve.

The five main skills, according to Howard are:

Attention
Participation
Cooperation
Critical Consumption
Network Awareness

: Image by SusanBratton via Flickr

Howard purports and I agree, that school is no longer enough to educate our students. If you’ve listened to my DishyMix interviews with Alvin Toffler, author of FutureShock and Revolutionary Wealth, Marcus Buckingham, author of The Truth About You or Sir Ken Robinson, author of The Element, you know I believe our schools are failing our children.

This presentation hit home for me as a litmus test to both my personal skills as well as those of my daughter. Howard says learning is happening outside the classroom via participation with others, including via online gaming and socnet interaction. He says that “being an active citizen has values on many levels that support learning.” As I’ve said before, passive consumption is no longer enough.

First there’s attention. In a world of multi-tasking and content snacking, we must continue to pursue focus. It’s a required skill. How is your attention span?

Next are Participation and Cooperation. Howard points to the value of online collective action and collaboration as trends happening now in which we should participate. Here’s my post on next generation collaboration tools. Are you taking advantage of these online tools to fix problems, change the world or just work more efficiently? Your children will be, if they are smart.

Howard Rheingold

Next is Critical Consumption, or as Howard calls it, taking a page from Ernest Hemingway, “Crap Detection.” He rails at the lack of critical thinking being taught in schools today. If we induce children to challenge authority by teaching them critical thinking, we won’t be able to control them in school. Now that anyone can post anything online, everyone must develop scrutiny, fact-checking, rational thought and critical thinking. Is that Wikipedia entry true? Did USA Today fact check that story? Doubtful on both counts.

Crap Detection 101 by Howard Rheingold

Finally, there’s Network Awareness. Who do we know? Who are we leveraging? Are you taking advantage of social networking tools to stay connected and grow your connections? A small number of distant connections has been proven to significantly empower one’s network. Are you proactive in your approach to online networking? Are you using it for good?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these or other skills you think are critical for our real-time, web-connected, networked world.

Susan Bratton and Howard Rheingold

Do You Think Futurists Are the Smartest of All Thinkers? (blogs.personallifemedia.com)
What to Learn: ‘Core Knowledge’ or ’21st-Century Skills’? (downes.ca)
Critical Thinking in the Classroom (downes.ca)

UK Diary FridayWatch – The Traveling Geeks Head For Cambridge

by Tom Foremski on July 16, 2009 at 10:20 pm

Next on UK Diary: The Traveling Geeks become the Punting Geeks as Cambridge, the innovation capital of Europe, hosts with great style and class.

UK Diary so far:

“I am an entrepreneur because WORK becomes PLAY!,” Michael Acton-Smith. #WDYDWYD? #TG2009

by Susan Bratton on July 16, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Michael Acton-Smith, Founder, MoshiMonsters.com

My Traveling Geeks Meme: WDYDWYD? What is it?

: Image via CrunchBase

: Image by Roo Reynolds via Flickr

: Image by Roo Reynolds via Flickr

Backstage Pass- Tom Foremski on rich interactions

by Sky (Jim Schuyler) on July 16, 2009 at 3:28 pm

“We can have our cake and make some more.“ Tom Foremski and I both like rich interactions. I’d walk a couple of miles (or travel much longer) to talk with someone, rather than connect with them on the phone. I went to Paris (after Traveling Geeks) to interview peace activist organizations face-to-face rather than use Skype and webcam. I went to London to meet with tech companies rather than just view their web sites. Tom will drive two hours to get face-time.