Our local children’s museum is called the “Discovery Center of Idaho.”  For about ten years now, I have provided free patent searches to the winners of the Discovery Center’s annual “Invent Idaho” science fair contest for elementary and middle school students.  It has been a blast working with young kids that are so excited about inventing.

Through that participation, I have come to be a big fan of the Discovery Center’s Education Director, Woody Sobey (@twsobey).  A few weeks ago, Woody mentioned that he had a book on toys called “The Way Toys Work: The Science Behind the Magic 8 Ball, Etch A Sketch, Boomerang, and More.” I immediately ordered it.

The book is amazing.  In the book they take apart toys, deconstructing them for kids while explaining how they work.  Additionally, most of the toys mentioned include figures from the actual patents for the toys.  It is definitely something that most of my readers would enjoy reading, as well as giving away as a gift to their children/grandchildren/nieces/nephews.

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1.   The “Files” button in the lower right doesn’t work unless someone has already uploaded a file.  The “Files” button is not used to upload files (yes, very illogical).  To upload a file, you need to click on the paperclip icon.  Note:  you can’t see the paperclip icon until after you start a new reply or are otherwise in “edit mode.”

2.   If you add an image (Tip 1 above), a separate button for Images shows up next to the Files button.  Perhaps the Files button shouldn’t be visible until after there is at least one file…

3.   The first line of the first message (aka “blip”) you type in a wave…becomes the title of the wave.  Having a nonsensical wave title is frustrating when you are looking for a wave amongst a list of waves.  Yes, you can go back and edit the first blip to make a better title.

4.  In a “wave” you’ll have a number of threaded conversations.  Each conversation is a “wavelet.”  Each message in a wavelet is a “blip.”  See this Mashable post for a more thorough explanation.

5.  If you push the “Reply” button in the upper toolbar, you start a new wavelet.  .

6.  If you mouse over the bottom of a wavelet window that no one else has responded to, you receive the option of “Continue this thread.”

7.  If you mouse over the junction between the two blips in the wavelet, you receive the option of “insert reply here.”

8.  If you double click in the middle of a blip you can insert an inline reply.

I’m sure those tips are just the tip of the iceberg…

Update:  A video worth watching:

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I’ll be using this post as my “show notes”…a listing of links I think the presentation’s attendees (design professionals, graphic artists) will find useful.

• Copyright: Sample Forms and Strategies for Registering your Online Content – http://www.seomoz.org/blog/copyright-sample-forms-and-strategies-for-registering-your-online-content-3962
• The UT System Crash Course in Copyright – http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/cprtindx.htm
• The Copyright Law and Litigation Resource – http://kasunic.com/
• Internet Cases » A guide to registering the copyright in your blog (http://blog.internetcases.com/2008/04/29/helpful-guide-to-registering-copyright-in-your-blog)
• Blog Law » 12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know – http://www.avivadirectory.com/blogger-law
• EFF: Bloggers FAQ — Intellectual Property – http://www.eff.org/bloggers/lg/faq-ip.php
• Legal Rights of Photographers – http://www.kantor.com/blog/2005/12/legal_rights_of_photographers.html
• Excellent law blog on copyright & photographers:  http://www.photoattorney.com/
• Copyright Office Circular on How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work – http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.html
• How to Find Copyright Owners – http://www.masters.edu/DeptPageNew.asp?PageID=1993
• Flow chart to determine copyright durations – http://www.sunsteinlaw.com/practices/copyright-portfolio-development/copyright-durations.html
• Center for Social Media (American University School of Communication) website on: Fair Use and Online Video (http://centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/online_video) and Fair Use Resources (http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/fair_use).
• Chilling Effects on creating derivative works:  http://chillingeffects.org/derivative/faq.cgi
• Previous Invent Blog posts on Copyright:  http://inventblog.com/?s=copyright
• Tool to help search the Internet for images that infringe your copyrighted work:  http://inventblog.com/2009/03/tineye-reverse-image-search.html
• The Statue of Liberty design patent – http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=6esWAAAAEBAJ&dq=D11023
• Copyright Office Circular on copyright and slogans/short phrases – http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf
• Copyright length and the life of Mickey Mouse – http://techdirt.com/articles/20090811/0123105835.shtml
• Legal Pitfalls in Taking or Using Photographs of Copyright Material, Trademarks and People – http://www.wipo.int/sme/en/documents/ip_photography.htm

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The audio can be found here: Trike Show Podcast.

By the way, Johnathan designed my non-work “calling cards,” as well as my Twitter background and J. Matt Buchanan’s Twitter background. [BTW that is not an advertisement, but a personal recommendation...he does great work!]

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Don’t get me wrong, I am not bad mouthing Idaho inventors. Instead, I’m criticizing those (typically in government) that pound on their chests like Tarzan, bragging about this statistic, trying to make it mean something it doesn’t.

A local friend of mine, Chris Blanchard, recently wrote a post on this exact topic: Blanchard v. Florida: Why Patents per Capita is a Poor Economic Indicator. In that post he takes issue with portions of Richard Florida’s book The Rise of the Creative Class.  Chris’ post is worth reading too…

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I’m about 1/2 way through it, and it is a great one.  I’ve added it to my “must read” book for entrepreneurs.

It is similar to Farris’ Four Hour Workweek, but Warnke’s focus is more on building income so you can spend time with your family (instead of building income so you can travel the world).  What I really like about the book is how it lays out a “how to” guide to getting your finances in order, something that most entrepreneurial books overlook (they tend to presume that people know what to do first, second, etc.).

I actually ordered a handful of copies this morning…to give to colleagues/friends.  It is that good.

Amazon.com link:  ONO – Options Not Obligations.  Link to Marc’s website:  Onobook.com.

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By the way, Bob has a new blog:  BicyclePatents.com.

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I thought that some of my readers here would find useful an explanation of my system for effective use of Twitter. This is the system that works for me, for my goals. Obviously, some people have different goals, and thus will likely disagree with some of the things I say here. That’s fine.

Many of my tips are build around my belief that Twitter, if left unchecked, is “a timewasting fire hose of information.” http://is.gd/fWph (quoting @mathowie (although he was referring to desktop Twitter apps instead of Twitter in general).

My tips for controlling Twitter and making it a killer tool:

1) Do not follow everyone. The old saying goes “Linux is free if your time is not worth anything.” That saying also applies to Twitter, in that I think there are only three types of people who follow everyone that follows them: (a) people whose time is worth nothing, (b) people that are stat mongers (don’t care about building relationships but only care about how many followers they have), and (c) celebrities. If you are not a celebrity…you’re either an (a) or a (b).  Be selective in whom you follow.

2) No quid pro quo. You do not have to follow someone just because they followed you. If someone unfollows you, you do not have to unfollow them. If you unfollow someone, you shouldn’t feel bad. Again, Twitter is a conversation. If what I say bores you, please unfollow me. It’s not about me…

3) Cull the herd. Let’s face it…there are only so many people I can follow and not have Twitter be that “timewasting fire hose” Matt mentioned. Thus, I regularly go through the list of the people I follow and consider unfollowing some of them. You need to do it.  One easy way to do it is on the fly. If someone is annoying you, unfollow them. If they are blasting you with dozens of irrelevant tweets a day…unfollow them.  The easiest way to do that is use a service like http://friendorfollow.com.

4) Define your ideal audience. Effective Twitter use requires you to define an “audience.” Who is it you really want to communicate with? Is it people that live in your city? Is it people in your industry? Is it only your friends? Is it only potential customers/clients? Whatever it is, you need to define your audience and stick to it. If person X follows you and they aren’t in that audience…you should think twice before following them (you MUST control that fire hose somehow).  [I have two audiences: people I know via blogging and my local tech community.]

5) Audience participation. If someone you do not follow is regularly @replying to you in a relevant manner…you probably should follow them. They are trying to create an actual relationship…don’t be a jerk.  Get to know them.

6) Listen remotely. Use a service like Tweetlater.com or software like OutTwit (Outlook plugin) to alert you whenever someone mentions you by username (Twitter only considers it an “@reply” if it starts with your username, not if your username was mentioned in it (unless I am mistaken))(update, not so anymore). If you listen remotely, then you can SHUT TWITTER OFF at work (get some work done!) and ignore it…only responding to things that you need to timely respond to.  [I usually, while watching TV with my wife late at night, go back and catch up on what happened in my Twitterverse that day.]

7) Superstars!  It is OK to have favorite people you follow.  No one will be offended if you do.  Thus, it is OK to (as Justin Foster (@brandmilitia) says) have people that are “cell phone worthy” (following them by SMS messages), and it is OK to set up filters in TweetDeck or OutTwit or Tweetlater (etc) regarding their usernames (so you don’t miss a word they say).  No one will ever know…

8 ) Twitter is not a RSS reblogging machine. One way communication is bad. Do not spam people with your Netflix feed, your FriendFeed feed, your blog’s RSS feed, etc. It is rude. Be selective in what you post, and do not hesitate to unfollow someone that spams you with an RSS feed (that’s what I do).  [update:  I don't hate FriendFeed...I just don't like it when people abuse it (and me in the process).]

9) Direct message does not mean “secret” message. Know when to use a “direct message” (when it is a personal conversation) and when to use a public reply (when everyone else REALLY wants to know). If the world doesn’t really need to see your reply…use a direct message.

10) Describe links. Always provide a description of what it is that you want me to click on (e.g., “This is a funny picture I found today [link]“). I won’t click on something that might be pr0n, etc.

I hope you found this useful… If you have tips you’d like to share, feel free to leave a comment below.

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My daughter is a previous attendee, and my two boys will be attending this year.  It is worth it!

More information about Camp Invention.  (campinvention.org)

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