The news about Apple's new tablet, the iPad, is only just minutes old at this point, and yet I feel compelled to write this blog post. Let me first be clear that I am (hopefully obviously) a big fan of new and exciting technology. I have an iPhone and love it, and I'm looking forward to trying out the ...iPad (it hurts me to even type the name). more

I've always been an advocate for making New Years Resolutions - I'm just not usually the type to actually keep them. This year, I have a few resolutions: quit smoking (which I've been trying to do for over a year now), work-out more (once I fix my injured shoulder), and get more cool stuff done at work. I find it incredibly frustrating that there is so much I want to do, but it feels like there's never enough time to do it all.

So, regarding resolution #3, I've become obsessed with not letting anything get lost in the shuffle. For me, it has become a three-step process: more

To celebrate 2009 drawing to a close, the EchoDitto team huddled 'round the fire and reminisced about the most memorable campaigns we've seen this year. more

Imagine a story, told in 6 different languages , from a myriad perspectives, that you personally have a hand in shaping and creating. Imagine collaborating with hundreds of people in countries all over the world to decipher a codex that ultimately reveals the location of lost artifacts physically located in cities around the world. Imagine building a network of explorers to visit these sites to unearth these objects. Imagine discovering the rules to a lost sport. Imagine teams of people all over the world learning these rules and training for months, participating in time trails and ultimately competing simultaneously around the world in a new Olympic sport.

Imagine following all this on blogs, youtube, twitter, facebook. Imagine communicating with the main characters – writing them emails, sending them video, and having them respond, having your contribution to the puzzle recognized and valued by your peers and becoming an active member of this community of adventurers and new athletes.

P.S. This is the future of our entertainment. And the future is here. more

Has voting for reality TV, trained us to vote in reality?

Have reality TV shows like Big Brother or American Idol - which challenge the audience to vote to determine the outcome of their entertainment - trained a generation of Americans to get to the polls and become more engaged citizens? Are shows like Big Brother responsible for the highest American youth voter turnout since 1972? more

There is a future waiting for us -- a future that's not so far off -- in which we won't bother to put filmmakers' names on their films. Musicians' names aren't going to appear in online music stores' listings. We might still search for books to buy, but we won't search by author. Admittedly, this can't help but seem contrived and far-fetched. Creative people demand credit for their works, don't they? If their labors aren't rewarded well financially (and often, they aren't), then they at least need to be recognized. Right? more

I was lucky enough to spend yesterday at the Google DC office attending the Mobile Tech 4 Social Change barcamp hosted by MobileActive.org. As is always the case when you get a room full of smart people who do cool things, there was a lot to be learned and many interesting conversations to be had. more

A few weeks back, we had the full tech team down in DC for a one day retreat/brainstorming session. It was just before DrupalCon DC (which was a massive success). EchoDitto was having a small party at the end of the conference, and the tech team thought it might be fun to put something together for it. more

It was the morning of Friday, February 13th, the slow end of a long week. Congress and the Obama administration were negotiating the details of the "stimulus" package, to which the Republicans had failed again to offer a constructive alternative other than tax cuts. The situation begged for satire and I needed a break. So when a gem of a tweet popped up at 11am in the corner of my screen, I jumped at it. The tweet was by Jay Rosen, a professor of journalism at NYU, aka @jayrosen_nyu. more