St. Luke’s in Cedar Rapids says it is the first to twittercast a surgery in Iowa.

This morning I logged on at 10 a.m. to follow along. The communications team took short descriptions from the medical team in OR 2 and put them out into the twittersphere. They also posted pictures and answered questions from followers.

The hospital has hosted several Web cast surgeries in the past, but says Twitter is a less invasive way to get the public into the operating room.

The text version is also a little easier for those who have a weak stomach.

You can check out St. Luke’s Twitter (StLukesCR) to read through the process and check out the photos.

If they do this again, I’ll try to pass along the info ahead of time for those who are interested.

Posted under Health, Web/Tech

It seems like every media outlet is pushing its Top Ten Tech items for the back to school crowd. The Poynter Institute has an interesting piece on how expert lists are the new overrated traffic drivers, but that’s a whole different issue.

My own list is much shorter and much less exciting than many of these back to school guides. Sure, there’s a lot of fun toys out there for students, but when it comes to necessities there’s only two things on my list: computer and cell phone. Beyond that I would add a digital camera and Web cam for the college bound. Even as a working adult, Skype chats with mom and dad are very comforting.

But, one of the handiest back to school items that often gets overlooked is the USB drive. Between the tech-buying guides and back to school clothing commercials, an idea began to emerge. And apparently I’m not the only one to envision the USB drive as a hot fall accessory. 

Courtesy: Gizmo.com

Ubergizmo.com reports that Calvin Klein is coming out with a stylish pair of sunglasses this October with a 4G USB drive hidden in the arm. While I couldn’t actually confirm that on CalvinKlein.com, it’s an interesting, if pricey, concept.

Courtesy: ThinkGeek.com

Or, how about a black and silver stylish watch with a USB drive cleverly hidden inside? ThinkGeek.com lists it as a spy gadget, a place to hide your downloaded secrets.

Courtesy: ThinkGeek.com

Or – one of my personal favs – the mixtape USB drive. I love seeing teenagers wearing t-shirts with cassette tapes screen-printed on the front when they have likely never seen and almost definitely never created a mix tape. But, the old and outdated is becoming the new and trendy. So, you can give the student in your life their very own USB drive in a mix tape carrying case.

Courtesy: Swarovski

And for those who need a little bling, Swarovski offers several USB options, including this heart shaped necklace.

Back to school must-haves – fashionable or not…leave your suggestion as a comment!

Posted under Web/Tech

This weekend, news came out that traditional CPR, and specifically chest compressions, may be more effective than some of the more complicated techniques used in emergency rooms.

Like all good teenage babysitters, I decided CPR was a necessary and marketable skill set. So, I signed up for a summer session to get my CPR certification from the Red Cross.

We nicknamed our infant practice mannequin, “Pea-shooter,” because when you performed CPR correctly, a tiny foam pellet would come shooting out of its mouth.

At the time, the weekly training classes were fun, something to keep informed and entertained. But, now that I have a busy adult schedule, fitting in an evening or weekend class is a little more challenging.

Well, now you can get the training you need on your own schedule. The Red Cross is offering online training for CPR and Basic First Aid. You have a couple weeks to take the online course, then you set up a time to go into your local Red Cross office and perform a skill test to prove you actually know what you’re doing.

You still have to pay a fee to be certified, but your training is good for 1-3 years depending on the skill.

Check it out.

Posted under Health, Web/Tech

Tired of flipping through a conference agenda and seeing a long list of male speakers? Or are you a female tech expert, looking to line up a speaking engagement?

Geekspeakr is hoping to level the gender playing field when it comes to technology experts.

The site features an all female line-up of potential panelists on topics ranging from Twitter to CSS. Just log on and create a profile or search for experts in your area.

Posted under Web/Tech

One of my college buddies (@JasonLambKTUU) works up in Alaska and was updating Twitter with info following their 5.2 magnitude earthquake today. The most interesting thing he shared was the U.S. Geological Survey’s Twitter Earthquake Detector (@USGSted).

Using federal stimulus money, a grad student is developing a way to use tweets to track the areas affected by an earthquake and the magnitude of the damage.

When severe weather hit today, I was basically doing the same thing – watching Twitter, Facebook and Show and Tell 7 – trying to determine where the damage was. Of course, that’s much less scientific than a computer program that monitors it all.

Earthquakes may not be a major concern around here. But I’ll be interested if TED will be used as a model for other types of weather-related Twitter tools.

Read more about TED from the USGS.

Posted under Weather, Web/Tech

A follow-up on yesterday’s post about the SEC banning social media at games.

According to Mashable, the new compromise: updates and photos are okay, video is still out.

It’s a step in the right direction, but still going to be difficult to enforce.

Posted under Web/Tech

Stopped by Mashable for my morning tech fix and had to roll my eyes at the SEC (Southeastern Conference).

According to the St. Petersburg Times, the SEC is expected to release a final version of its new media policy today. And from what I’m gathering from online chatter, fans are hoping for some major revisions.

A version released earlier this month said this:

“Ticketed fans can’t produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.”

Of course, social media giants are freaking out that they won’t be able to tweet from the sidelines. I’m more concerned about the ability of fans to capture the memories. I’ll admit it – I don’t like football. But some of my favorite memories from college were captured by a camera or cell phone inside the football stadium on game day.

The Times article says that tweets and fan photos aren’t the concern. The wording is meant to safeguard against the future because a few years down the road, phones may be able to stream high quality video, which could detract from the ESPN/CBS audience.

For those of us in new media, it shows a close-minded attitude. Instead of finding a way to work with new technologies, the SEC is banning what it may not understand and has no ability to control.

Plus, there is the issue of enforcement. I remember going to a Bob Dylan concert a few years and trekking back to my car after I was told I couldn’t bring in my camera. But, as phones turned into cameras, the music world wised up and banned “professional” cameras. It’s hard enough to control unauthorized drinking, angry fights and people sneaking into the wrong seating area. Can you imagine the security force it would take to enforce this policy at a football game?

A post on bleacherreport.com contends the Big Ten is taking the opposite approach by openly encouraging discussion and dissemination through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But, putting hours of old game footage on Hulu isn’t exactly the same as allowing fans to produce their own content. The conferences have millions, and sometimes billions of dollars on the line, and anything that threatens exclusivity will threaten those agreements.

Realistically, none of us truly know what the future holds for technology. But, it’s fairly clear that the idea of exclusivity is quickly becoming outdated. Obviously, if I’m watching a game online, I’m going to choose a well-produced high quality stream over grainy cell phone video. But, if that phone was the only camera to catch a major fight in the stands that sent some guy to the hospital, I’m probably heading over to YouTube or Facebook to watch it.

It’s about more than sporting events. For major corporations, and even news outlets, how do you protect your brand when you can’t always protect how it is represented online? So far, there’s no perfect solution. People will talk about you online, with or without your blessing. But, by being involved in the process, hopefully it becomes more like a conversation and less like a comment box.

There’s been a lot of ideas in this post – so let me sum it up. Social media can be scary because we can’t control it. But, it’s so important that you can’t ignore it. We should be working to find a way for it to work inside the framework of our rules and agreements, instead of just saying no.

Posted under Web/Tech

Posted under Web/Tech

Think you’re the best texter around? Well, now you can put that to the test.

This weekend, Z Wireless is holding a Textathon in eastern Iowa. Preliminary rounds will be held at the Z Wireless locations in Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. Then, the 10 winners will compete the following weekend at the Blairs Ferry Road location.

Prizes include an LG phone or Bluetooth headset.

You can get the official rules and enter to compete on the official MySpace page.

Posted under Web/Tech

I’ve seen this New York Times article dissected a dozen ways today, so I feel compelled to add my own two cents.

The general gist – While people used to wait until they were at work to go online, new data shows that technology is now a huge part of our mornings.

The first thing I reach for in the morning is my phone, partially because it’s my alarm clock. I haven’t used an actual alarm clock since high school. I’ve never been a morning person. It doesn’t matter what time I go to bed or what time I wake up – unless I put forth a very concentrated effort to be pleasant, I am generally grumpy until about noon. It’s my habit to lay in bed after I shut off the obnoxious alarm and check my text messages, e-mail and Twitter (in that order) while I convince myself to actually get up.

Then it’s off to the living room where I grab my laptop and check the news wires before doing some general maintenance on KWWL.com. If I do eat breakfast – this is usually when it happens, typing with one hand and a spoon full of cereal in the other.

And even though I have the TV on and watch the news all morning, most days I seem to be blow drying my hair or in the kitchen when the weather is on. So that means standing in front of my closet with my phone in my hand – trying to decide if the weather will influence my wardrobe.

If there is a rare morning that I don’t spend most of it online before work, then I feel completely out of the loop when I walk into the station.

I can’t really imagine how my mornings could change or involve more technology. But a few years ago, I was the type of person who checked my e-mail once a day.

What are your thoughts? Are you logging on earlier in the day? How is technology affecting your morning routine?

Posted under Uncategorized