For many of us, keeping up with the latest technology can be challenging enough. In fact, some of us are just learning how to Tweet on Twitter…..say that 10 times as fast as you can.

So imagine not only learning the technology, but using your mind to control it. That is exactly what researchers at the University of Wisconsin are doing.

The smart folks at UW are Tweeting by using only their minds to spell the message…..they are literally spelling with their brains. How you say? By using a brain-computer interface that monitors electrical impulses generated by your thoughts to turn brainwaves in to letters that in turn spell words that in turn create a Twitter message.

So how does this work? The brain-computer interface is basically a keyboard that is displayed on a computer monitor. The letters flash in sequence. You stare at the letter you desire for the message and when the letter flashes, your brain reacts as if to say….hey wait a minute, that was my letter! The interface picks up the change in brain activity and then “types” the letter in to the message. You then begin focusing on the next letter. Amazing.

Some of you that are like me have heard enough about Twitter in the last week….they are everywhere. So why did the UW folks pick Twitter? Ease of use. Twitter is simple…much simpler than an email. Believe it or not, sending an email requires quite a few decisions……addresses, cc’s, subject lines and so on. Twitter is 140 characters and that is it. Type your message and go. The only downside is that Tweeting with your brain waves can become tiresome as you will max out at approximately 10 letters per minute.

This type of communication could be a lifeline for people that are “locked-in”. When a person is locked in, their brain is perfectly fine, but their body is not. They can think and want to communicate, but cannot. Communication is the number one need for someone that is locked in. Think about not being able to communicate with those around you and now you can. This is a fantastic combination of technologies that will provide immediate benefit. Think about the future as well……clearly, this is the first of many steps for this concept……

Networking sites have become wildly popular on the internet, but they’re not just for socializing. Unlike MySpace and Facebook, which seem to keep people updated on your personal life……LinkedIn keeps people in the loop about your career and professional accomplishments. These days, many are turning to LinkedIn to find a job since LinkedIn is becoming so popular. LinkedIn is a free social networking tool that enables you to build a network quickly. I have over 7,000,000 connections in my network which includes everyone that I know, everyone that my connections know and everyone that they know……in LinkedIn you are connected 3 layers deep to anyone in your network.

The first suggestion I have is make sure that your LinkedIn profile is up to date and complete. A completed profile dramatically increases your chances for success in the LinkedIn world. A completed profile is a photo, your current job, at least two previous jobs, a summary, any specialties you have, at least 3 recommendations and your educational background. This may sound like a lot, but it isn’t. You can round up this information and get recommendations from your friends in no time and you will be surprised how much more effective you are on LinkedIn. In fact, I got a new project for G.1440 on Wednesday through LinkedIn.

Next, check out the jobs tab. You will see every job that your network is recruiting for. In my network right now there are over 300 positions that are unfilled……amazing. The next step is to use the company tab……in this tab you will find a listing of all the companies that are in your network and your connections networks. In this listing, you can target companies that are hiring or companies that you want to meet.

Last but not least, be sure to join some groups that are relevant to you and that you share an interest with. I have joined groups from former employer as well as Towson and Loyola for both undergrad and graduate degrees.

These are some of the major steps to using LinkedIn to find a new position or career, however the best strategy is to just get in there and start connecting…..you will figure out what is best for you. One other word of advice…….start networking now….it will pay off whether you stay with your current employer or not. Feel free to find me on LinkedIn and send me a request to link.

For a short while, we’ve been featuring guest bloggers on the Tech Blender.  Some local people plugged into technology in one way or another who were willing to share their insights and thoughts with the rest of us.

The response has been great, and we couldn’t be more pleased with contributions from programmers like Tim Kulp, and eBusiness pro’s like Steve Kruskamp and Laleh Malek.

Since the beginning we’ve said that “The G.1440 Tech Blender is your source for sage advice, brilliant insights and delight — delivered by the Baltimore/Washington region’s leading professionals”… and we mean it!  We’re proud to be a source where leaders come to share thoughts and trade comments.

In fact, we’d like to see more of it! So – what do you know?  What insights can you share?  Let us know and maybe you’ll be featured on the Tech Blender next!

The following is from another G.1440 Guest Blogger: Laleh Malek, eBusiness Professor and Director of Professional Experience at Towson University…

As a teacher of e-Business, I talk about Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social media applications frequently, but I have been deliberate in my adoption of these tools.

I’ve been a part of Linked in, and consider myself a satisfied customer, but found myself hesitant to jump headfirst into the Facebook phenomenon that’s grown 175 million strong – as noted on April 9 in the NY Times.

As an e-business professor, I actively witness the effect of social media on my students. When I walk into my classes, all the computers are on and a large percentage of the class is viewing their Facebook account. This generation perceives Facebook as a way to post and view photos, make connection to friends and stay in the know as to what is going on, which fits in perfectly with the mission of the company: “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” Not only do my students love posting messages but also the instant messaging capabilities. So recently I decided to join Facebook and learn of the power it has over so many active users firsthand.

It is truly a great tool to connect. I have been able to connect with my friends in the US and abroad. With not enough time in the day, it has provided me with the opportunity to quickly update my friends on what is happening in my life. And most recently, it allowed me to connect a hardworking student to one of my employer friends.

However, with the positive comes the negative. Each Facebook user also opens the door for employers to access information posted on the page – a subject that I’m keenly familiar with as the liaison between the business community and business college. When posting information, you are providing full visibility to others. Recently, I mentioned to my class the idea of business etiquette in social media. One student responded, “it is my page, I should be able to post anything that I want.” However, with the expansion of technology, when do we draw the line and realize the impact of it on our lives? Is it time for us to realize that as we brand ourselves on social media that we need to follow social media etiquette. Etiquette could simply be what if you mom wanted to be your Facebook friend? Would you still have the same content out there? Ironically, in a recent posting by one of my Facebook friends, he asked the same question. Should he let his mom view his account?

Laleh Malek is the Director of Professional Experience and teaches Principles of eBusiness at Towson University, College of Business and Economics. The facebook page for the College is CBE Towson.

The Conficker worm appears to be waking up. If you recall, Conficker was supposed to wreak havoc on us all beginning on April 1^st. Well, April 1 came and went with no activity from CW to speak of and the rumor was that maybe this was a complex April Fools joke. Well, now it appears that Conficker is coming to life.

So what exactly is a worm? A computer worm is a self-replicating computer program that generally will use a network to send copies of itself to other computers.

On April 9th, a new variant of the Conficker Worm made its presence known at the University of Utah. The worm infected 700 computers, although according to a spokesperson for the University, no patient records were affected. The University did have to cut off internet access for approximately 6 hours on April 10th to contain the worm.

The new Conficker variant updates earlier infections via its peer to peer (P2P) network and is reported to infect your computer with the hopes of accomplishing the following 3 objectives: inject malware to steal passwords, scan and infect other computers and last but not least, hold your computer hostage by requiring you to pay $49.95 to remove a detected threat. The worm will continue to infect you and others whether you pay the $49.95 or not.

How can I get infected? Infection can happen in a variety of methods, with two examples being connected to a network that has infected computers, or by just visiting your favorite Web site.

Go to www.cert.org and search on Conficker for some simple tests to determine if you have been infected. If you are, then pay a visit to any of the virus protection firms such as AVG, Norton, or Symantec as they can supply you with a removal program. If you are not yet infected, then make sure you visit Microsoft to download and apply the patch.

Ever wonder how much good that could be created if the folks that invented Conficker had decided to work on something that helped us instead of creating a malicious worm? The good news is that the fix is out there and we can avoid being infected.

Do you Twitter or Tweet? This sounds funny or strange to say, but in fact, it is the latest communications craze. You can keep up with your friends, your favorite actor, your local police and even what is happening in Baltimore with just a few keystrokes.

Twitter is a micro blog….it is a simple way to communicate with as many friends as you want to stay in touch with. Signing up takes about a minute…..all you need is your name, an email address and pick a password and you are off and running…..in the 21^st century. Twitter is free….so why not try it out?

Each message has a limit of 140 characters to keep the messaging short and sweet. In fact, this is one of the reasons that Twitter is so popular….quick messages that keep you in the loop. When posting a Tweet, you are responding to the one question that Twitter asks…..”What are you doing?”

Once you start Tweeting, (I still can’t get used to saying that), then people will start to follow you……and you can sign up to follow them. By following someone, you are saying that you want to receive whatever info they post on Twitter. When someone follows you…they are signing up to receive your posts.

Something I like about Twitter is that no reply is required. You are just staying in touch and don’t need to reply to a posting. Another feature is the ability to schedule Twitter to turn off or on at a certain time.

From basketball teams to movie stars, everyone seems to be getting in groove with Twitter. For example, Demi Moore has over 380,000 people that she tweets with on a daily basis. How crazy is that?

Businesses are jumping on the bandwagon too. G.1440 uses Twitter to keep our followers up to date on technology news that we post. We make several posts per day on average…..after you sign up…check us out to get an idea of what you can do. Another great Twitter posting is the Md Daily Record. Check it out…I think you will be glad you did.

Have a great time with Twitter this week!!!

So yesterday every site online was promoting some fake product for April Fool’s Day, Google style.

We resisted the urge.  But naturally, we played along!

Someone from our marketing department – who will, of course, remain nameless – got to the office about an hour early, and armed with about 400 post-it’s he set his sights on the CEO’s office.  The method was a pretty classic routine – label EVERYTHING in a co-worker’s office with post-it notes.  And by everything, we mean everything.  This includes “scratch in desk”, “piece of dirt”, etc.

The result? A pretty funny look on CEO Larry Fiorino’s face when he walked in to a sea of yellow yesterday morning.  The best part of this prank? He’ll be finding those post-its for the next few days… The prank that keeps on giving!

Photo from Larry’s Blackberry:

Google continues to increase its presence on the web, and their newest release is truly unbelievable.

On April 1^st, Google unveiled Cadie. Cadie is the world’s first Cognitive Auto heuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity (CADIE). There are two ways to learn more about Cadie….first is to visit www.google.com and click on the link on the homepage and second is to go directly to Cadie’s website….. http://cadiesingularity.blogspot.com/ I will not be able to do it justice, so you have to check it out for yourself.

Cadie actually built its own www site……pretty scary……remember HAL in 2001 Space Odyssey? Cadie’s website gives a remarkably clear explanation of how Google built the first self evolving, intelligent learning system. What could be better for Google, whose entire mission is to organize the world’s knowledge. Be sure to check out the YouTube channel as well.

Once you visit Cadie’s site, you will notice how Cadie is already completely integrated with several major Google products such as Chrome and Latitude. As Cadie is self aware and self learning, it will no doubt grow in importance to Google and to the entire web.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the most important feature of Cadie…….that Cadie is an elaborate and very funny April Fool’s joke……have fun checking it out. While a concept such as Cadie is definitely coming our way, we have a little while longer. Congrats to the folks at Google for coming up with Cadie.