Of course, now that I said that, some bored software junky will design the “Ponies and Rainbows” app for the G1 just to spite me.  I won’t be too heartbroken.

Probably everything you’ve heard about Google, T-Mobile and HTC’s new superchild, the G1 handset, is that it is the phone that will revolutionize the handset industry, take open software to a new level, and most significantly, crush the iPhone betwixt its powerful jaws (or something to that effect).  I won’t refute that completely, but there are some points I feel the mainstream media is leaving out when it comes to T-Mo’s new flagship device. Read the rest of this entry »

The show was a lively one. The panelists were fantastic, and we opened up the phone lines at the end for broader discussion as well. Each person on the call gave a take-away for the listeners before we signed off for the night, something they could do to bring politics into their lives using online tools and social media.

Tonight’s Topics on Fire will be a lively one, as the topic is Politics and Social Media / Technology. Catch it live at 11 PM Eastern on TalkShoe.

Leslie Bradshaw from New Media Strategies and JESS3 will be joining us on the panel. Leslie is a frequent panelist here at Topics on Fire and was on the episode that generated the Strong Women in Tech initiative.

Sadly, Leslie Bradshaw is ill. Taking her place will be Andrew Feinberg of Capitol Valley and Technosailor.

New panelists this week are Justin Herman, creator of the Voter Registration Night with the Nationals and the Mets and former Hill staffer and Amy Greenlaw of PortalVideo.

Tune in on TalkShoe at 11PM Eastern and participate in chat. If you follow the call on TalkShoe you also get notified when each new episode is coming up.

Brief after show recap: This was a great episode where we got some major goals accomplished. I will be writing a full recap tomorrow here. Meanwhile, I encourage you to listen to the podcast and join the resulting Strong Women in Tech campaign network as well.

The final panel for Episode 6 of Topics on Fire has been set and the topic will be Part Two of Gender Gap / Technology/New Media. Myself (Leslie Poston), Shireen Mitchell of Women Wired In, Leslie Bradshaw (recently featured on CSPAN covering the conventions), Meg Fowler of MegFowler.com (currently helping promote SM4SC.com), and Jen Nedeau will be paneling this discussion. Tonight’s podcast will be solution focused, as Part One zeroed in on defining the issues.

“Follow” the show on TalkShoe or stop back here for updates on each episode and notifications that a new episode is coming.

The first podcast on the Gender Gap and Technology was a lively one. As you all know I am always trying to push for real world solutions to the problems we talk about, and we didn’t come up with takeaways in the limited time the panel had to discuss it. Because of that, I’m scheduling a Part 2. I’m hoping that the same panel is willing to come back and take a different approach: instead of rehashing the existing and past issue of gender and technology, as valid as that is, I’d like to start Part 2 by stipulating that the problem exists and acknowledging that strong men and women have done much to pave the way for women in technology. Then I’d like to make the sole goal of Part 2 finding tangible ways to help women feel less disenfranchised in technology, to help women get access to technology for careers and educations and as many other solutions as we can think of in an hour of positive, focused, goal oriented discussion.

Future Topics on Fire Episodes include:

(as panelists confirm I will post them next to the podcast)

10/19 11PM Eastern Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw, remaining panelists yet to be determined)

Topics on Fire, Episode 5: Education and Social Media/Technology on Sunday, September 21st at 11:00 PM Eastern on TalkShoe

Tonight’s podcast will be a good one! We’ll be discussing education and new media, social media and technology with Dave LaMorte, John Herman and E. Christopher Clark.

I’m hoping to cover a lot of ground in an hour, so I won’t be opening up the phone lines until the recording is over. I know I usually let listeners call in ten minutes before the end, and I will be doing that again in the next podcast (part two of the gender gap topic). Our panelists are all active educators and need their rest for Monday morning school. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you can’t come participate in the lively chat room. We can see it while in the call and can handle questions live on air that way.

If you want to be notified of future podcasts, sign up for a TalkShoe account and “follow” the call. I send a reminder the day of the call to those who follow it.

See you there!

NOTE: We also have a new forum to give you a place to carry the discussions from the podcasts over into the real world, submit topic ideas, talk about social media, promote events, etc. You can SIGN UP FOR THE NEW FORUM right here.

Tonight’s Call:

Next Topics on Fire continues the conversation on Gender Gap and Technology, this time focusing on solutions and not rehashing the problem:

10/5 11PM Eastern Topics on Fire: Episode 6, Gender Gap and Technology Part 2 (Panelists: Corvida, Leslie Bradshaw, Micah Baldwin, Meg Fowler, Jen Nedeau)

Future episodes and panelists include:

10/19 11PM Eastern Topics on Fire: Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw)

The final panel for Episode 4 of Topics on Fire has been set and the topic will be Gender Gap / Technology. Myself (Leslie Poston), Shireen Mitchell of Women Wired In, Leslie Bradshaw (recently featured on CSPAN covering the conventions), Meg Fowler of MegFowler.com (currently helping promote SM4SC.com), Micah Baldwin of CurrentWisdom and Lijit, Chris Brogan (social media guru and PodCamp Boston co-founder) have all signed on, with Aaron Brazell from Technosailor possibly joining us also, schedule permitting.

“Follow” the show on TalkShoe or stop back here for updates on each episode and notifications that a new episode is coming.

Listen to the podcast here, or via TalkShoe or iTunes subscription:

The podcast on the Gender Gap and Technology was a lively one. As you all know I am always trying to push for real world solutions to the problems we talk about, and we didn’t come up with takeaways in the limited time the panel had to discuss it this week. Because of that, I’m scheduling a Part 2. I’m hoping that the same panel is willing to come back and take a different approach: instead of rehashing the existing and past issue of gender and technology, as valid as that is, I’d like to start Part 2 by stipulating that the problem exists and acknowledging that strong men and women have done much to pave the way for women in technology. Then I’d like to make the sole goal of Part 2 finding tangible ways to help women feel less disenfranchised in technology, to help women get access to technology for careers and educations and as many other solutions as we can think of in an hour of positive, focused, goal oriented discussion.

If you were a panelist on the show and would like to come back for part 2 to finish the discussion we started, please let me know via email, Direct Message or in comments.

Future Topics on Fire Episodes include:

(as panelists confirm I will post them next to the podcast)

9/21 11PM Eastern Episode 5, Education and Technology (John Herman, E Christopher Clark)

10/5 11PM Eastern Episode 6, Gender Gap and Technology Part 2 (Corvida, Leslie Bradshaw, Micah Baldwin, Meg Fowler, Jen Nedeau)

10/19 11PM Eastern Episode 7, Politics and Technology (Leslie Bradshaw)

Topics on Fire is one of the many ways I’ve been tying to make social media effect real world change. This is a topic near and dear to my heart these days (you can tell, I went so far as to submit a panel for SXSW on the idea, which you can find, and vote on, here). The first two episodes talked about the poverty gap and technology and ways to use social media to bridge the gap, and led to a companion piece on Technosailor here on the Hidden Human Costs of the Government Going Green.

This week’s podcast will talk about the Generation Gap and Technology and ways to solve the problem/bridge the gap. We have a stellar cast of panelists and what looks like it will be a lively chat room, so please stop by Sunday night, August 24th at 11:00 PM Eastern to the TalkShoe podcast here. As a rule I only allow the panelists to talk for the main podcast, however; if you have a TalkShoe account I do tend to open all mics at the end for everyone to weigh in.

Moderating: me (Leslie Poston, UptownUncorked, Blorge and BGWE)

Representing the Millenials / Generation Y we have Ben Grossman of the PlenaryGroup and creator of the famed TalkToRunningMan.com campaign and in chat Michael J Cohen, programmer and web designer

Representing the Generation X / Slacker Generation we have Jim Keenan of Cre8Buzz, myself and Gradon Tripp of DesignBoston (schedule permitting)

Representing the Baby Boomer generation we have Jack Herman of Barnhouse Lighting (and father of John Herman, Gravityland.com creator) and Jonathan Yarmis of AMR Research

I got a phenomenal response to my call for panelists on this topic. I chose panelists in the order they shouted their interest. If you weren’t chosen, I do hope you come to the chat and participate so we can benefit from what you have to say. If you have an agenda item suggestion for us on this topic, please leave it in the comments.

See you all there!

The call recording is on TalkShoe and in the sidebar of this blog. You can also subscribe in iTunes under Topics on Fire