So let me make this open confession right now. I’m a Twitter fanatic and I don’t care what the rest of you think about that. No, it’s not just “status updates” like what we find on Facebook. It’s a place to interact, engage, and communicate with many like-minded and inspired individuals from the local Toronto community and beyond. It is a hotbed of many brilliant ideas from passionate, creative, and driven people. Let me demonstrate…

Speaker Mark Kuznicki of ChangeCamp. Photo by Andrew Louis/Torontoist

Last Thursday, #voteTOin416 was held at the Annex Live, an event organized by #voteTO, a group of self-proclaimed municipal geeks that came together through Twitter with the shared goal of a better Toronto. Hosted by writer, broadcaster, and organizer, Jane Farrow, and using the upcoming municipal election as a backdrop for discussion, the event showcased fourteen different presentations that captured various solutions for Toronto. And staying true to the Twitter style, each presentation was kept short and sweet…not quite as short as 140 characters but almost. Each speaker had 4 minutes and 16 seconds to share and discuss their vision, some of which included voting reform, the establishment of Toronto as a fair trade city, and the need to solve the city’s bedbug epidemic (yeah, you read correctly). (more…)

Today I got asked my bra colour by a perverted male who shall remain unknown. I told him to f*** off. It’s none of his business, and for all he cares, I may not even be wearing one. The pervert in question then told me that all the girls were doing it on facebook to raise awareness for breast cancer. I am all for raising awareness for such a wonderful cause but I am very dismayed at the means by which women are reduced to doing this. I find it incredibly ironic that something that was once an appalling symbol of male oppression is now being used to spread awareness about an illness that is mostly prevalent in women.

Historically, the use of bras would change in response to the male attitude towards the female bosom at the time. So basically the bra was (and arguably still is) yet another means by which women find themselves at the mercy of the male’s fancy. Even though modern day bras cater more to the comfort and needs of women, they have no medically proven benefit.

More importantly, I fail to understand how indicating your bra colour raises awareness for breast cancer. Ladies, by letting men know your bra colour on facebook, you are just piquing their perverted male ego. They could not care less about the cause or breast cancer itself. If anything, you are diverting attention away from the cause and just encouraging the opposite sex to visit lingerie and pornography stores. So fellow sisters, I ask that you think before you so openly surrender your bra colour to the enemy. By letting them know, you are desecrating the very basis of feminine empowerment that every woman is entitled to.

It sounds like the perfect advertising campaign: tell people you’ve built the new generation of [insert product name here], and make them wait for an invite to use it. In theory, it’s the perfect way to build up hype. This must be what was going through Google’s marketing people’s heads when they chose this as the strategy for marketing Google Wave.

So what’s Wave? Well, that’s part of the problem.

Wave is Google’s new product. From my experiences with it, I would say it’s part email, part messenger, and huge chunk wiki. As their horribly-named video host, Dr. Wave, explains, instead of sending copies of the same message around (like we do with email), there is only one copy of the message, which anyone can access, modify, and comment on. Like wiki in email form. It’s a brilliant concept. (more…)

As December rolls right in, we are constantly reminded of our material desires as shopping malls are filled with Christmas trees, deals and stores with gift-wrapping services for the gift-wrapping-challenged. Nonetheless, although I can’t personally give presents to every single one of the wonderful readers at blogUT, I shall offer this article, which will hopefully offer fond memories and just maybe, reclaim the soul that you lost when you came to U of T. Think back to your childhood days as you slept in and had free time, do you remember asking for these things (or paraphernalia relating to these things) for Christmas/Hanukkah/name your winter holiday? (Warning: if you were not born in the late-80s or early 90s, these things may not apply to you. If that is the case, I entitle you to shake your head and mutter, “Crazy kids, back in my day…” and then write an entry on your own childhood fads and phases.) (more…)

Last week my fellow blogUT writer, Julia, wrote a great piece dispelling the alleged evils of social media. This week, I’m continuing that thought.

As Julia mentioned, social media has given us all the opportunity to keep in touch with our friends, reconnect with lost ones, and even share relevant (and well, sometimes not so relevant) information with each other with a simple 140 character tweet. More than anything else, Twitter and other social media tools lets us “learn about and interact with the world in real time, and in a way we never imagined”.

I’d like to take this one step further. Not only has social media given us this chance to connect with each other on a one-on-one basis, but it has also opened the way for a much more far-reaching and collective purpose. Case in point? Tweetsgiving. Never heard of it? Let me give you the low down.

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