Dec 10 2010
I read an interesting article about using Twitter while watching television today – see The audience tweets back.
I must admit that this is something that I have done, and I found it made mundane programs become very entertaining!
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Apr 11 2010
Over the weekend I did a search using Google for something that was on television at that time. I was very surprised to see Google listing current Twitter postings near the top of the search results!
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Mar 29 2010
The Irish Prime Minister is to start using Twitter according to Ireland’s first Twittering Taoiseach to tweet to the nation.
I think that many people would argue that using alternative forms of communication is pointless when you do not have a message to communicate :(
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Jun 08 2009
I have another web site that is unrelated to this one. I have had it for approximately a year. However, I now need to use Twitter in conjunction with this web site.
Unfortunately, the Twitter account name that matches my domain name has already been registered :( However, it was registered almost 2 years ago, contains 1 post, is not following anybody, and has no followers. So it is as inactive or as disused as possible!
I tried searching the Internet for advice from people who were in similar situations. I did not find a lot of information, and the best article I found was How to Secure an Unused Twitter Account. I was initially very optimistic when I read that Twitter releases unused accounts if requested. However, Twitter no longer provides this service according to Help Resources/Terms of Service and Rules policies/Name Squatting :( Twitter might release inactive accounts, although its policy is contradictory:
Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months may be removed without further notice. Twitter is not currently releasing inactive/squatter accounts unless in cases of infringement.
I have followed the advice given in the first article, and I will update this blog with my progress!
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Apr 29 2009
Sometimes URLs can become very long, and this can be problematic in certain circumstances. I usually notice then when I send or receive an email containing a URL, but the email software forces a line break in the middle of the URL. Therefore, the link cannot be clicked :( I am also notice this in Twitter, because the URL can consume a lot of my valuable characters!
Luckily, there are several websites that allow you to rewrite a long URL as a short URL.The websites that I am aware of are (in no particular order):
I have not used any of these enough yet to determine which is best!
Apr 07 2009
I came across this web site recently… it seemed that Jamie Varo really wanted to work for Twitter. So she created http://www.twittershouldhireme.com/
I thought it was very creative!
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Apr 02 2009
There was some good technology related humour yesterday as part of the normal April Fools’ Day celebrations! Here are some of my favourites!
For a more comprehensive overview of the technology related humour see April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I..
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Mar 25 2009
A very interesting story about Government censorship has been unfolding in Ireland over the last two days. Indeed, if not for the Internet then the story would have been successfully squashed by now!
It all started with a practical joke in which paintings of the Irish Prime Minister, who was naked, were hung in two popular art galleries in Dublin. The national broadcaster RTE provided coverage of the story.
Here is a screenshot of one of the paintings in case the video gets removed:
Painting of Brian Cowen (From RTE News)
Initially this was just an example of Irish humour, but it quickly took a sinister tone. First RTE was pressurised into removing the video from its web site, and it was subsequently forced to issue the following apology:
The Government then continued to flex its muscles today by sending the police into a radio station that covered the story. The police were demanding the name of the artist. More information about this can be read in Gardaí visit radio station in Cowen painting inquiry.
The police identified the artist in one of the fastest investigations ever undertaken, and they are currently preparing a prosecution. The police also seized five other similar paintings. More details of this are described in Teacher questioned over Cowen paintings.
My opinion on all of this is that it is outrageous that the Government is putting so many resources into trying to bury this story. I am also delighted with the responses of the online community, and I hope to play my part also :o
I am also really surprised that the Governemnt, or even the Prime Minister, did not seize the opportunity to turn it into good publicity.
For more coverage of this story from the Irish blogging community take a look at the recent posts by Maman Poulet, Damien Mulley, and Caricatures Ireland. This last web site has a very good caricature in The Taoiseach has no clothes and RTE has no balls: the Brian Cowen Nude Caricature.
Brian Cowen Caricature (Copyright Caricatures Ireland)
The t-shirt version of it looks great in Get your b*ll*ck-naked T*oiseach t-sh*rt.
I also think that this is yet another example of how a small story becomes a huge story when somebody tries to censor it! A perfect example of this is all of the other caricatures that are now appearing on the Internet, such as the caricatures in Photoshop Cowen extravaganza. I think that some of these are very funny, while others are not. However, I think it is vital in a democracy that they are all available to the public!
I have been following this story, and the associated outrage, all day on Twitter. I must admit that I really liked the real-time nature of this, although it was a distraction :o
It is also very interesting to see how the global media is covering this story. The story is covered in the UK in Naked taoiseach paintings removed, Cowen artist ‘could be charged’, and Guerrilla artist hangs nude paintings of taoiseach Brian Cowen. France is reading about the story in A poil, par Robert Solé, and the US is reading about it in Ireland: Nude Premier Paintings Appear. Perhaps the most ironic, or even worrying, coverage is by the Chinese in Naked Irish PM portraits removed. I am sure that it is also being covered by many other news agencies of which I am not aware!
The story has also made it into Wikipedia, where it is known as Picturegate. Perhaps the Irish Government will try to remove this next!
I wonder how this story will continue in the following days!
Mar 24 2009
I logged in to Twitter earlier this afternoon to write something, and I got the following screen (click to see it in original resolution):
Twitter Over Capacity
I am surprised, and a bit disappointed, with this. I wonder how often this happens!
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Mar 23 2009
I keep hearing positive things about micro-blogging, and in particular, Twitter. So during the weekend I decided to create a Twitter account. At the very least I thought that I should reserve the name Teknovis. Perhaps in the future Twitter names will become as sought after as popular domain names!
I am suggesting this because I recently read that Blacknight changed from its original, but less obvisious, Twitter name to simply Blacknight. The latter was not available when Blacknight first registered with Twitter, so I wonder if it had to buy it. You can read more about this in Attention Twitter Followers!.
Once I created my Twitter account I decided to configure it a bit, and I was pleasently suprised how easy it was to do this so that it has the same theme as my blog! At this point I decided to disregard my scepticism, and commit to Twitter :)
I am not familiar with using Twitter, so I found that Newbie’s guide to Twitter and A Quick Introduction to Twitter for Bloggers were good introductions! There are still a few things that I am not clear on, but hopefully these will become clear with usage!
I also used the Twitter web interface from my PDA, and I was very impressed with how well it renders. I can see myself using that a lot. Perhaps I will eventually use a dedicated client on my PDA, such as the client shown in Twitter for Windows Mobile.
I am hoping to achieve two things with my new Twitter account:
So my Twitter URL is http://twitter.com/Teknovis.
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