Just in Time...Travel 2.0 (Thing 33)

I didn't see this one coming at all! Travel 2.0 is right on time though. Spring Break approaches in just two weeks and I still have a few dreams for taking a vacation. These tools just might help make it happen!



The first thing I started checking out was the Travel Blogs...A venue for the Novices or the Expert filled tips, tricks, and tidbits about seeing and experiencing the world.



I think my first article was fascinating (although maybe dealing more with the changing economy than travel specifics). It was about Lobster! I think that the last time that I ate lobster was in some ravioli while on vacation. I have always considered it to be a luxury food - so I limit myself to splurging on seafood for special occasions - Vacations being one of the few times that I permit such splurges! Tips from the T-List lead me to an article that may just have me shopping the seafood aisle at the grocery store! This blog filled with travel tidbits brought to my attention the striking similarities in prices between bologna and lobster in: Lobster…as common as bologna? yikes!. (And Yum!)


On the other hand, I am completely jealous of The Lost Girls who are taking a year of their life to travel and blog. The most current entry places them on the Outer Banks of South Carolina. I've been wanting to travel there too! So, now I am taking a deep breath and realizing that even if I can't be there now...I can use their great tips once I get there! Their blog entry is focused on seeing the Outer Banks on a budget! That is totally what I need! It is so quick and easy for people to share their personal experiences and to benefit from them as well. So, now I need to find a blog on budget trips to Britain - I'm sure there are quite a few and I still might get there one day if I take advantage of all the work others have put in before me to make my travels budget friendly.


I think that my laptop will be coming with me on my next travels and there are lots of Travel 2.0 tools to support this experience as well! I am bookmarking Hotspotr right now! This cool tool will help locate Wifi on my travels in the United States. I do have one question though - what is up with charging for WiFi Access Starbucks? (There is a "$" sign on the map for these locations).

I am on a roll and having fun with Travel 2.0...Now if only I can actually get on the Road. Check back in a few weeks - it might just happen!

Twittering....Again...and Not... (Thing 27 and 31)

I got back onto Twitter tonight and made my first Tweet - You can follow me at:

http://twitter.com/frenziedmedia

Now...I may not ever get beyond my first Tweet and that is a chance that you are going to have to take if you start following me, especially if I keep seeing this screen below:




At the moment, I understand the great love of Twitter - but I in a web full of tools, I am not sold that this is the one for me. It would be very different if "text messaging" was actually a part of my cell phone budget. The mobile networking capeabilties of Twitter are what I believe make Twitter so powerful.


So for the moment...I am mostly having fun looking for other people to follow in the world of Twitter.


I do wonder at the evolution of so many of these Social Networking tools. They start out with something so revolutionary and as the network grows, the power seems to get diluted. I want to get into this while it is still somewhat fresh and before the next revolution pulls users away - but I guess that is still when the glitches are getting worked out too...

I am hoping to explore a few more Twitter tools and uses for Twitter in the next few weeks.

Where I want to be! Tools to organize the information overload! (Thing 30, Part 1)

RSS feeds and readers are probably one of the tools of the Internet that I can say has changed my life!

Changes in information literacy and educational technology seem to occur exponentially and being able to tap into the information leaders and communicators sharing ideas in these fields is essential but incredibly time consuming. My homepage on my personal computer is set to open to my RSS reader, Bloglines. I love being able to grab the postings with a quick click and have the most recent updates at my fingertips.

The RSS enhancements suggested in "Thing 30" made me quite excited!

Feed My Inbox: I really want this one to work for me! I signed up for some updates on a website, but haven't received anything yet. I need to keep working with it to make certain that I can get it working.

Spoken Text: Multitasking heaven! I can do my dishes and listen to all the important news via RSS! (Now if there were only a solution to the pictures and video!)