I’ve had my own 3G iPad for a little over two months now and I get it the bad rep it gets. If you’re bored or tired of talking you can simply slip out your iPad and play a game or check email. Our great-grandfather and mothers would probably take it as the height of rudeness (after they got over how shiny it was).

And yet, you don’t hear a lot of folks talking about the ways it brings people together. My iPad travels with me everywhere, I take it out everywhere and I use it a lot. There’s three or four pages of apps that you have to flip through (in landscape mode). So I have quite a bit to show off. Inevitably, when I’m out, a total stranger will stop, take a sharp intake of breath and go, “is that an iPad?”

This simple question has been the basis for many a small talk conversation with a waitress, coffee shop customer, or small child. Once I even had a woman nearly run up to the table I was sitting at in Starbucks and bounce with glee, “isn’t this thing wonderful? My husband and I love ours!” Another time, it was a waitress at a restaurant who sat down at my table to talk about how she could use the iPad for a small home business she wanted to start. This past fourth of July my parents and I were playing Scrabble on the iPad (pass and play) while we were waiting for the fireworks to go off. That’s when I noticed that the nearby group of kids had gathered around us.

“Whose winning?” One kid asked.

“My mom is.” I replied.

“Can you read books on that?” Another kid asked (see, kids still like books folks).

“Yep. I have six books on it right now.”

“Ohhhhhh.” The kids said collectively.

“Look, she has an iPad.” One of the boys told another boy who just wandered up to us.

“An iPod?” The boy asked, confused.

“No, an iPad.” The first boy responded. “It’s so cool.”

Later, as the evening went on, the kids would come up to me and ask who was winning the Scrabble game and peek over at the shining screen. We had several small chit-chatty conversations after that.

Social interactions? I’ve got them.

Or, consider my recent flight where I was playing Boggle. The stewardess (who seemed tired and cranky most of the flight) leaned over and said, “did you get stairs?” When I replied I hadn’t yet, she smiled and was so pleasant the rest of the time.

My favorite story about how social an iPad is comes from friends of our who have 5 kids, all under the age of 14. The four boys gathered around my iPad on their coffeetable and played Plants vs. Zombies for about four hours. Now, if you have’t played Plants vs. Zombies you may miss the beauty of this. Technically it’s a one player game. But the four boys worked together to collect the needed sun, plant the correct plants and watch for invading zombies. There were no squabbles or shoving or pushing (my iPad never was in danger) and it was so much fun to watch them having such a great time.

So yes, I could be a hermit with my technology. I see why folks worry about us isolating ourselves and burying ourselves into our Blackberry (I’ve seen that one way too many times), but I submit it’s not the tech — its the people using them.

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The broadcast will be seen on sites across the web including here, http://www.greenballblog.com and http://www.greenball2009.org

The event showcases the movers and shakers in the green movement and political arenas. Chaired by Al Gore the webcast will feature THE GREEN CARPET, Behind-The-Scenes and Interviews with Talent and Industry Experts. With special performances by Will.i.am, Maroon 5, John Legend, and more.

This event celebrates the new green economy, the inauguration of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden and the opportunity to work with the new Administration and new Congress to ensure a better future with shared prosperity for all while protecting the health of the planet.

Official Site: http://www.greenball2009.org
Official Live Twitter: @greenball2009
Official Blog: http://www.greenballblog.com

Please spread the word and join the party – YES WE CAN Be the Green Economy!

100% of the carbon footprint of the Green Inaugural Ball 2009 will be offset with high quality carbon offsets from Native Energy.

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And I think “Get Smart”.

Here’s the press release if you want to know
TalkShoe Launches ShoePhone Internet Voice Service
Unlimited Free Group Calling with Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime
Pittsburgh, PA — September 11, 2007 — TalkShoe™, the leader in Internet topic-based voice conversations, discussions and live interactive podcasts, today announced the general availability of ShoePhone, an easy to use service for unlimited group calling with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Up to 250 people can participate in a live call (which TalkShoe calls Talkcasts™), and 1,000s more can listen to the simultaneous live Internet audio stream. Users can also simultaneously text-chat, and Talkcasts can be recorded and stored on TalkShoe’s website for later listening and podcasting. Talkcasts can be done instantly, or scheduled in advance. ShoePhone is Free to use.

ShoePhone uses voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology to create calls. However, unlike other VoIP services, ShoePhone users can connect with other ShoePhone users as well as to people using standard telephones, mobile phones, other VoIP services such as Skype, and 3rd party VoIP clients such as SJphone and Gizmo. This is because ShoePhone is based on a telco-grade conferencing system unlike other server-based VoIP-only services which have limited conferencing capabilities.

“People want to talk. And people want to talk about something,” said Dave Nelsen, CEO and founder of TalkShoe. “TalkShoe and ShoePhone together are a great tool for social networking. Our goal is to bring topic-based interactive voice discussions to the masses.”

ShoePhone is deeply integrated with TalkShoe’s award-winning software – TalkShoe Live™, where people can simultaneously talk, text-chat, and stream audio over the Internet. TalkShoe hosts and discussion leaders are in control with features such as see-who’s-talking indication, voice muting, text-chat censoring, and request-to-talk queuing. TalkShoe also has created numerous web widgets for people to easily integrate any live and recorded Talkcasts into their social networking websites including MySpace, Facebook, TypePad, Friendster, Webwag, Netvibes and Windows Live.

“ShoePhone makes connecting with TalkShoe quick and easy,” commented Aaron Brauser, Vice President of Product Management at TalkShoe. “There’s no need to enter IDs, phone numbers, or IP addresses – just use a headset and a PC or Mac.”

About TalkShoe
TalkShoe connects people and organizations using live and recorded podcasts (we call them Talkcasts). Anyone can listen, and anyone can become the host of their own Internet talk show. Uses include live talk shows, discussion groups, podcasts, conferences and friends and family chats. Live Talkcasts can be accessed using either phone or computer. Talkcasts are also recorded and available on the TalkShoe website where users can listen to and podcast using iTunes and iPods, or other MP3 players. What’s more, people can make money hosting Talkcasts.

TalkShoe is located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and can be reached at 724-935-TALK (8255) or by email at info@talkshoe.com The website address is www.talkshoe.com

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I don’t think I’m an extraordinarly hard to please person. I’m a simple kind of girl. I think shopping at Target is a major luxery.

Yet, I want things to work. And work properly.

As many of you who read this know, I’ve been working on the Buffy Between the Lines scripts. In Microsoft Word. The program made for MAC since that’s what I have – a gorgeous MacBook.

Guess how many times Word has decided to CRASH on me?

It brought me back to college – Word on a PC crashed on me often and I’d lose work and have to start over. Even having it save ever minute – I’d have to go back a minute and redo what I had just typed. Short of saving every 5 sec myself manually – there was little I could do.

Now, I do have the Mac program Pages. Which I really love and has not ONCE crashed on me. But the tables export funny in to Word.

Darn you Word.

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I had been feeling sick since Friday but thought it was food posioning or the flu. Sunday I was feeling better, went to church and what not, woke up Monday and started throwing up again. Then, later that morning I felt so awful I asked my parents to take me into the ER.

Long story short, there’s a kidney stone that’s blocking one of the entry ways into my kidney. This blockage caused an infection that could kill off that area of my kidney. The doctors at the hospital I went to couldn’t remove the stone themselves and there’s a long waiting list for the hospital they wanted to send me to. So Tuesday evening they were talking about putting a tube in to drain that part of my kidney until I can get the surgery. I said no to the tube, especially after they warned me one of the risks would be the infection spreading to my lungs.  So I have antibodics, pain meds and the like and I’m trying to figure out what to do next. I am amazed that such a huge hospital with a urologist couldn’t remove a kidney stone. Apparently it’s harder than I had thought it to be. I’ve been resting and drinking fluids and the like, so thoughts and prayers can be directed towards the next step and figuring out what it is.

It’s times like these though that I really appreciate and love my virtual friends. I came back to my computer today after a long absence to find worried emails, thoughts, care and and amazing outpouring of love and support. Thankfully my friend Kim was able to post over at my LJ about what was going on.

I had been in a conversation a couple weeks ago about social media and being online and blah blah blah. A large percentage of people apparently don’t like getting on the computer after being on it all day at work. And part of me can understand that. But a huge amount of people, like myself, have a vast network of friends, “business” relationships and the like that exist in an entirely virtual setting. I am not sure what I’d do without that network. And anyone who laughs at the idea of having virtual friends has no idea what they’re missing – my friends have been the most supportive, loving, giving and “there for you” people you could ever meet. I really appreciate and love them for that.

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I’m an iBook flipper…

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It’s amazing that people realized the impact of social networking and media, even then. They talked about customizable internet experiences (which is what Web 2.0 is all about) – they were prognosticating what is happening now. Very cool.

Of course, it also reminded me how bad my hair looked then.

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I realized it tonight when talking to my mom. I’ve been really digging the podcast Comedy4Cast. It’s short, hilarious and I have been laughing till I cried over some of the shows.

I emailed a couple to my dad, and he sent an email back that seemed like he enjoyed it, but not entirely crazy about it. Fastforward to tonight when I talked to my mom. She said, “your dad was laughing and laughing at the episode.”

Huh? It’s amazing how much is lost in the translation. I guess that’s why I’ve been enjoying podcasting. You can hear someone’s tone and inflection. A lot more two-dimensional than actually reading their words. I’ve been doing the Twitter thing for awhile now and loving it. Why? I am not sure. It’s part voyerism, part a way to really learn something about other people. My life is pretty much an open book most of the time – so twittering is fun.

That said, I think I communicate who I am more with words than with my spoken word. It’s very interesting the levels of communication and how all of them work together to make cohesive whole.

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