Captivated by Twitter

If you haven't checked out Twitter, then you probably can't relate to this. Why would anyone want to receive one to two sentence updates on what their friends - or even people they don't know - are up to? It's a cool way to stay in touch and share your thoughts with your "social sphere" without actually being in the same room or on the phone. It's like getting a status report bit by bit instead of in one long conversation. Granted, some of the posts are of the "who cares" category, but mostly it's fun and sometimes even informative to read what others are up to or thinking.

Student Loan P2P Space

Met with Fynanz last week. Great idea and a ripe time for them. They offer person-to-person lending for student loans. Circle lending for students and those that want to lend to them. Turns out students are a lower credit risk than general population. Lots of turmoil in the credit markets and in how universities are dealing with their relationships with private student lending companies. These changes will prove to be positive for a company like Fynanz.com

Night by Elie Wiesel

I read this book yesterday. Makes everything in life that troubles you seem inconsequential. I should have read it a long time ago - not that I wasn't fully aware of what the Nazis did. It's just something altogether different to read Weisel's first-hand account. Shocking what humans are capable of.

Great Sessions - Great Vibe in Austin

There have been some great sessions so far...and I've taken video of some. They'll be posted on tcg.blip.tv which is The Conversation Group's video blog site.

At South By Southwest in Austin

Just arrived late last night. The city is abuzz. Got my Flip Video Cam and am ready to interview some folks. Gotta go register now.

Is Facebook Making Our Brains Bigger?

Yesterday's Science Times (NY Times) reports on research that postulates that humans have such huge brains because of our social development.

Scientists have long puzzled over the enormous size of the human brain. It is seven times larger than one would predict for an average mammal of our size. Many of our extra neurons are in a region called the frontal cortex, where much of the most sophisticated thought takes place.

So by studying 4 different species of hyennas, scientists have discovered that the larger the pack (i.e. more social the species) the larger the brain. So, in essence, our brains are this big because of our social networking over time.

Brain imaging studies have revealed that when people think about other people, parts of the frontal cortex become active. Advocates of the social brain hypothesis say the frontal cortex expanded in our ancestors because natural selection favored social intelligence.

Add to that the coverage of another study that showed that blogging makes us happy...

A new study has found blogging regularly tends to make a person feel less isolated, more satisfied with their existing friendships and more part of a community.

- ostebsibly because socializing gives us a high - you can see why Facebook and other social networking sites are so popular and addictive. And why hyennas are always laughing.

Simple Private Exchange - drop.io

Ever wanted to post something online - to share it, solicit feedback - with just a select few friends or colleagues? Well, drop.io is a cool, easy to use site that does that. But the cool part is that you can remain anonymous - there's no registration process. And the user interface is a calm respite from all those flashy, busy websites out there. So you can create this private space online (aka "a drop") and no one will know about it unless you tell them where it is. That's because the site isn't indexed by drop.io or by the search engines. And your private space can also be password protected. They handle all sorts of media types and have cool ways for you to get your files uploaded. For instance, there's a telephone number for every drop. Call the number, speak your peace, and the next thing you know, there's an MP3 file on the site. Or fax a document to a special number and the doc will appear on the drop as a PDF file.

Drop.io was nominated for an award as one of 5 companies in the South By Southwest Tech Achievement category. They're also a featured speaker at the Facebook "conference within a conference" at SXSW.