Last week, I also finally gave in and got a Facebook account. And I've continued my trot to the dark side by signing up for Twitter. Both of these moves are work-related. I've been holding off for a long time, and I remember the rousing cheer I got when I spoke at GameCampToronto a few months back and said that I wasn't on MySpace or Facebook, and that I didn't Twitter.

I'd long held the view that the inanity and trash of most Twitter posts that I'd seen was just ridiculous to the point of self-absorption. Who cares about some of the crap people spew out? I mean really, do I give two shits about what you're having for lunch? And then there are the lazy people who think that a stream of verbal poop can replace a blog post. Sheesh. But that's not to say that services like Twitter can't be good. After all, it's just a tool, so the real problem is the way some people use it.

There are good examples too, ones that combat the random inanity. I'm sure we've all heard the story of student James Earl Buck who was in Eygpt covering an anti-government protest and how his one-word message, 'Arrested', set in motion the chain of events which would eventually free him in relatively short order.

So now that I was all signed up, I had the question of how I was going to actually participate. I wasn't eager to do it by SMS.

I have a red flip phone from LG, nothing super exciting, at least to me, although it does do photos and videos. Telus Mobility gave it to me for free, or I wouldn't have something that swanky because when it comes to cellphones, I sort of just like the basics. I've had mobile service for 2 decades, 10 years plus with my current company, and another almost 10 years with the company they bought up. Heck, I had the original Motorola brick phone.

Unlike most people I know, I don't use my cell phone for instant messaging. There's just something unappealing about getting tendinitis in my thumb. In fact, when the number of spam messages I was getting finally got really annoying, I called my carrier and had them turned off. Still, I know a lot of people - and not just kids - enjoy texting. Last year, I even blogged about the LG National Texting Championship.

Many mobile carriers in Canada have decided to start charging for both outgoing and incoming text messages. Previously only outgoing message were billed, and the proposed change has raised a hue and cry throughout the country. It's seen as a huge money grab, and at a cost of 15 cents per message, and millions sent every day, it's not hard to see their point.

According to a recent Toronto Star article: "The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association says Canadians sent more than 10 billion text messages last year, as compared to only about 350 million a mere four years earlier." The article didn't break down how many were actually incoming or outgoing, or which went overseas (for which there may be an extra charge), but let's just guess half outgoing and half incoming and do a little math - OH MY GOODNESS - CHA-CHING!

I use Skype (previous posts), almost exclusively these days, for both text and voice chat. No more MSN or AIM or Yahoo Messenger, and I've never actively bothered with GoogleTalk despite having and liking Gmail (except for the lack of a sort function, and please no one write to me and say 'search is so much better', ok? Because for me, it's not). Skype is great for video conferencing too although it's not a feature I used often.

Why just Skype? Well, it got tiresome having so many messenger programs going at once. And sure I could use one of those mostly open source all-in-one type of programs, some of them are great, but it gets to be a pain since there can be hiccups and incompatibilities. So I've settled on Skype for all my chatting. I even bought a 10 000 minute a month plan for 24 bucks a year that lets me call any landline or cellphone in USA for 24 bucks a year, on sale from 36 dollars, which was also pretty good (post).

Anyway, I started Googling for a Skype solution to my Twitter dilemna, and after several false starts, I found one. It seems that there is a little known Skype feature actually built into Twitter. Here's how to get it working for you.

1. Sign up for Twitter if you haven't already.
2. Sign up for Skype if you haven't already.
3. add twitter4skype as a contact on Skype
4. message twitter4skype with the following, all on one line:

/account (hit shift/return)
accountname (hit shift/return)
password (hit enter)

Note: So that's actually the word ACCOUNT, and then YOUR Twitter account name, and then your Twitter password. Hitting shift/return at the same time let's you do a multi-line message before hitting enter and sending the whole thing. If you do it correctly, and I had to do it 3x (hence my extra note of explaining), you'll get a notice saying 'twitter4skype Registration complete!', and that's it, you're done. You'll be able to send messages to your account (no charge) and you'll get messages from whoever you're following. All in the twitter4skype window.

One thing that would make this even better is if you could click on the name of someone you're following in the message you get from them and send them a message directly or add them to your list of contacts. Oh well, maybe later. I'm pretty happy with this solution. I have a wi-fi Pocket PC loaded with Skype that I can use to get online. And I just bought a NetGear Skype phone on sale from Dell that's small enough to take around and use on wi-fi networks when I'm on the go (more on that later when it arrives).

On January 15th, the very excellent, and no-cost AVG Free Anti-Virus 7.1 program from Grisoft stopped being supported, and was no longer available as of February 18th.

Some weeks prior to that, many people were concerned by a pop-up that kept showing up saying that the program's protection was ending. They were directed to a website which had the new 7.5 version which was no longer free.

I'm not adverse to paying for software - I do that all the time - but the way that this was handled was somewhat annoying, not to mention a bit deceptive. Still, the company responded to complaints and made it more clear that a free version would still be available. Very smart of them. And very good PR. Companies - and people - stumble, but admitting a mistake quickly creates a good impression.

I highly recommend both the free version and the pay version, both because the software is outstanding, and the quick response impressed me. Customer service and response makes a big difference, especially when there are so many choices. I actually prefer this software to McAfee and Norton.

Download AVG Free 7.5 program and manual. It's available for Windows AND Linux users. Windows users: scroll down a bit more and check out AVG Anti-Spyware Free.

Google Earth combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.

* Fly to your house. Just type in an address, press Search, and you’ll zoom right in.
* Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.
* Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.
* Save and share your searches and favorites.

View a world full of 3D content: Google Earth gives you a wealth of imagery and geographic information. Explore destinations like Maui and Paris, or browse content from Wikipedia, National Geographic, and more. Learn more.

Explore popular places: View some of the most popular Google Earth content, published by many organizations and millions of users around the world. Open the files and browse them just like a document, but in a visually intuitive and interactive interface. Check out the showcase.

For U$20.00, you can upgrade to Google Earth Plus which will allow you to "intensify your Google Earth experience with these added features":

* Enhanced network access for faster performance
* Real-time GPS tracking and track/waypoint import –- for upload of data from select GPS devices
o Verified support for Magellan and Garmin devices only
o Does not support export of tracks or waypoints to a GPS
* Greater-than-screen-resolution printing – for impressive hardcopies
* Customer support via email
* Spreadsheet importer – to import locations from .CSV files

For businesses and corporations, there is Google Earth Pro which costs U$400.