Ever noticed that folk using Twitter seem to fit into patterns according to what they share? Have you found that over time you begin to review your incoming twitter stream according to some sort of inbuilt filter that you devise according to this pattern? The Innovation Diaries has pondered on this and the needs that folk bring to their Tweeps. Relating this to the work of Abraham Maslow the diaries have come up with a Hierarchy of Tweets. Not only informative but quite amusing it is interesting to try to place ones self in the hierarchy and even more so your twitter friends :).

A really well made cautionary YouTube tale about how Twitter can be used in facile ways. It opens up the topic of addictive use, though it does ignore completely the positive aspects of its use. Info says; A young man struggles against the pressure to Twitter his life away. From: "SuperNews!" An animated sketch comedy series airing on Current TV. Every Friday night at 10 PM ET/PT. For more SuperNews! go to www.current.com/supernews."

Breathing Earth is a real-time simulation that purports to display the CO2 emissions of every country in the world, alongside birth and death data. The simulation tracks on a map where in the world these vents are likley to be taking place. "Please remember that this real time simulation is just that: a simulation. Although the CO2 emission, birth rate and death rate data used in Breathing Earth comes from reputable sources, data that measures things on such a massive scale can never be 100% accurate. Please note however that the CO2 emission levels shown here are much more likely to be too low than they are to be too high. "

Breathing Earth is a real-time simulation that purports to display the CO2 emissions of every country in the world, alongside birth and death data. The simulation tracks on a map where in the world these vents are likley to be taking place. Really interesting stuff. "Please remember that this real time simulation is just that: a simulation. Although the CO2 emission, birth rate and death rate data used in Breathing Earth comes from reputable sources, data that measures things on such a massive scale can never be 100% accurate. Please note however that the CO2 emission levels shown here are much more likely to be too low than they are to be too high. "

From The East of England Broadband Network (E2BN) one of 10 Regional Broadband Consortia (RBCs) set up by the UK Government to help raise standards in teaching and learning by the use of broadband technology, comes this selection of learning activities. The activities are arranged under the UK Keystages and divided into subject areas, (note some activities feature in more than one category). Included are links to interactives, movies and a range of activities many of which are suited to use on an IWB.

These fascinating Flash based maps trace the history of events and trends such as the march of democracy, and the Imperial History of the Middle East. The maps play in a flash player that can also be embedded in a blog or wiki. Another great tool for use with an IWB.

This virtual keyboard can be played solo or as chords very much like a traditional eectronic keyboard. It also has some drum presets and just like other keyboards there are a range of instruments to choose from. Great for an IWB.

Want to set up a search for students so that they get results specific to them and not from the whole web? Do you have a website that you want to your visitors to search within? If so then setting up a Google Custom Search my be just what you need. "A Custom Search Engine is a tailored search experience, built using Google's core search technology, that prioritizes or restricts search results based on websites and pages you specify. Your Custom Search Engine can be tailored to reflect your point of view or area of expertise. With a Custom Search Engine, you can: * Apply your website's look and feel to the search results page. * Provide search refinements within results pages to make it easier for searchers to find the information they're looking for. * Add sites to your search engine's index as you surf the web. * Invite friends and trusted users to co-edit and contribute to your search engine. * Make money from your Custom Search Engine by participating in Google's AdSense program. Once you've defined your search engine index, Google will give you a simple piece of code for a search box to place on your site or blog. You'll then have the option to choose various customization options to make the look and feel and functionality of your search engine your own."

In February 2008, the National Council of Teachers of English began to develop a statement on 21st literacies. This is the product of these ongoing deliberations. As the discussion says, "Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. As society and technology change, so does literacy. Because technology has increased the intensity and complexity of literate environments, the twenty-first century demands that a literate person possess a wide range of abilities and competencies, many literacies. These literacies-from reading online newspapers to participating in virtual classrooms-are multiple, dynamic, and malleable. As in the past, they are inextricably linked with particular histories, life possibilities and social trajectories of individuals and groups."

This is one to keep an eye on. If you want to check out where an image may have come from or to see if one of your images has been used elsewhere then this is the tool to use. At present the database is small so you may not yet find the details you are looking for but as they say, watch this space.... "TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks."

This is one to keep an eye on, (sorry really bad pun). If you want to check out where an image may have come from or to see if one of your images has been used elsewhere then this is the tool to use. At present the database is small so you may not yet find the details you are looking for but as they say, watch this space.... "TinEye is a reverse image search engine. You can submit an image to TinEye to find out where it came from, how it is being used, if modified versions of the image exist, or to find higher resolution versions. TinEye is the first image search engine on the web to use image identification technology rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks."

From the Executive Summary quote; "The Horizon Report series is the product of the New Media Consortium's Horizon Project, an ongoing research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe. This volume, the Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, is the second in a new series of regional and sector-based reports, and examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education. The hope is that the report is useful to educators worldwide, and the international composition of the Advisory Board reflects the care with which a global perspective was assembled. While there are many local factors affecting the practice of education, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries, questions we all face in K-12 education, and it was with these in mind that this report was created."

The Horizon Report is a product of the international not for profit New Media Consortium. Since 2002 they have been presenting a series of reports under the title Horizon reports generated by a dialog between an international group of educational leaders. "This volume, the Horizon Report: 2009 K-12 Edition, is the second in a new series of regional and sector-based reports, and examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education. The hope is that the report is useful to educators worldwide, and the international composition of the Advisory Board reflects the care with which a global perspective was assembled. While there are many local factors affecting the practice of education, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries, questions we all face in K-12 education, and it was with these in mind that this report was created." A must read for all teachers.

"AnswerTips are small bubbles of information triggered by double-clicking any word on an AnswerTips-enabled page. AnswerTips-enable your site or blog: An AnswerTips-enabled page allows your visitors to access definitions and fast facts on millions of obscure words, personalities or slang. Keep your visitors from wandering: Don't lose your readers to outbound links, new browser windows or other distractions. AnswerTips delivers quick and integrated answers."

Mission to Learn contains links to 26 ethical games, some browser based and others for download. Most are free though in most instances donations are encouraged. From a World Without Oil through Darfur is Dying to a very alternate version of the Golden Arches in the McDonald's Video Game these game offer a very different perspective on gaming to World Of Warcraft.

"TidyRead is a service that extracts the text from almost any web site and displays it on an easy to read page that removes all of the clutter that can make reading on the internet so hard sometimes. TidyRead provides a browser bookmarklet, which strips away all the extra stuff from news or blog article pages, leaving you with some nicely formatted text to read."

The good folk at St Mary Star of the Sea College in Wollongong, Australia have put together this great Slideshare presentation for an education session for parents at the school. As the say in the Slideshare info, "The college works with parents to create a healthy and safe environment for learning and growth." and with well presented information like this they are certainly headed in the best direction.

Today's Meet is an alternative chat room like space where you can quickly setup and invite others to join to collaborate, make comments and suggestions and reflect on meetings presentations etc. As the Today's Meet folks say: Using Twitter at social media conferences has become a great way to do just that. But Twitter isn't appropriate for every situation. * Your audience isn't on Twitter. * You don't want the discussion to be public. * You need to see only relevant updates"

Now that you are well established on Twitter and following more friends than ever you might like to know those who are not adding to your knowledge or update stream. Twitoria is just the place to check up on how many friends you are really following? By entering your username on the main page, Twitoria finds your friends that haven't tweeted in a long time so you can give them a gentle reminder, (or as Twittoria suggests, the boot!).

There is increasing discussion about whether Twitter's "real time search" could pose a threat to Google. While Twitter may or may not pose a threat to Google, it is clear that real-time search such as leveraging Twitter is becoming increasingly important. Mark Carye at MTHacks decided to get realtime twitter search results on Google so he created a Greasemonkey user script that does exactly this. It displays the most recent 5 tweets for the query that you are search for, giving both real-time Twitter search results and Google results on the same page. This entry also has some interesting links to the Google/Twitter search debate as well as other ideas related to searching via Twitter.

the latest edition of Measuring the Information Society, which features the new ITU ICT Development Index . The Index captures the level of advancement of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in more than 150 countries worldwide and compares progress made between 2002 and 2007. Its main objective is to provide policy makers with a useful tool to benchmark and assess their information society developments and to monitor progress that has been made globally to close the digital divide.

The latest edition of Measuring the Information Society, which features the new ITU ICT Development Index captures the level of advancement of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in more than 150 countries worldwide and compares progress made between 2002 and 2007. The data and graphs make for fascinating reading making the point that the magnitude of the digital divide between countries remains almost unchanged over these last five years. At the same time the gap between the very high and very low levels have narrowed slightly.

Screen Australia's Digital Resource Finder is a quick, convenient and easy-to-use search engine for teachers and educators. It features FREE FOR EDUCATION downloadable video clips from Screen Australia's remarkable archive-one of the nation's largest and most historically significant collections. Clips are matched with print-friendly two-page resource sheets that include background information and engaging student research and classroom activities written by leading teachers. Screen Australia's Digital Resource Finder makes it easy to search via curriculum, topic or keyword. Watch or download video clips featuring Australian life from the distant past to the present day. The video clips are carefully selected to cover topics including Australians at Work and War, Immigration, Indigenous Australia and Native Title, Asia-Pacific region, Australian politics, The Arts, Broadcast Media from radio to the Internet, Sustainability and Values and Citizenship. There are more than 600 resources to select from, with more added weekly.

Screen Australia's Digital Resource Finder is a quick, convenient and easy-to-use search engine for teachers and educators. It features FREE FOR EDUCATION downloadable video clips from Screen Australia's remarkable archive-one of the nation's largest and most historically significant collections. Clips are matched with print-friendly two-page resource sheets that include background information and engaging student research and classroom activities written by leading teachers. No registration or log in is required, however we would appreciate your feedback. Screen Australia's Digital Resource Finder makes it easy to search via curriculum, topic or keyword. Watch or download video clips featuring Australian life from the distant past to the present day. The video clips are carefully selected to cover topics including Australians at Work and War, Immigration, Indigenous Australia and Native Title, Asia-Pacific region, Australian politics, The Arts, Broadcast Media from radio to the Internet, Sustainability and Values and Citizenship. There are more than 600 resources to select from, with more added weekly.

My Sound FX is your source for a whole heap of professionally recorded and edited, studio quality, free sound effects arranged under a number of categories. These mp3 files may be used, without restriction, for both private and commercial use and load directly into Audacity and Garage Band. They claim to be adding new effects on a daily basis so please be sure to check back often. You can even let them know if you can't find what you are looking for please and they will do their best to add it to the collection.