What if there was a way to “send” a smile to a complete stranger? Well now there is, with a new web app called “Two of Us” created by the Barbarian Group. How does it work you ask?

Simply take a picture with your computer’s webcam.

And if you like it….

But no cheating! The app’s developer built in “smile detection software” that legit tells you if you’re unhappy.

But once you’ve chosen a photo that looks good (and the system knows you’re smiling) you get matched up with someone random who is also smiling!

//via laughingsquid

On Saturday evening, I was doing what I usually do – check up on blog feeds, twitter, and the like. And given that it’s nearly Christmas, of course all of the feeds were dominated with… SALE! FREE SHIPPING! BUY ME! LOVE ME! ETC!

However, I found something different admist the noise of consumerism — a post from the Bloggess with a movie reference to when the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes. She described of a giveaway she held for $30 giftcards for those in need who posted a comment describing their situation.

Soon, the need was far greater than the amount of gift cards available to give – and people were writing stories that could break even the coldest of hearts – stories of families who were going to wrap empty boxes, layoffs, or who could not put food on the table or buy any gifts for their children this Christmas.

So I (collectively along with hundreds of other bloggers and fans of social media) posted that I would give a giftcard in the comments, and a few hours later I received my Secret Santa — someone who I’ve never met, but who is in need of some Christmas cheer. [The end result was over 900 gift cards sent to those in need!]

The emails from my Secret Santa nearly broke my heart – it was the story of a daughter who was posting on behalf of her mother, who has been very ill and unemployed, and lives hours away from where she receives treatment.

It’s a story we all hear far too often – high medical bills, poor local medical care, unemployment, and just a need for some hope .

So,  what better way to get people involved than via blogging and social media? This is, in essence, what it’s all about. Being able to coordinate real-time and connect people together to make something happen – not because we have to or our boss told us to – but because we WANT to.

After sending across an Amazon Gift Card, I received an email from my Secret Santa which was so real and relatable that I couldn’t help but cry. A big thank you to the Bloggess for setting this up and reminding all of us what Christmas is really all about.

I actually told my mother about your gift a little while ago.  She didn’t believe me at first, thinking I was giving her something of mine, and covering up.  lol  I convinced her that it was true, and she cried.  So, thank you for that.  : )  Of course, her immediate reaction was to spend it on a gift for me, but she finally conceded to use it for herself.  I filled her in on the whole the Blogess situation, and we had a lengthy discussion about what Christmas is really about.  Thanks for being a part of this.  Amazing.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you readers of the Techyness.

[Note: the giveaway from the Bloggess has been closed as of 12/20/11 - but keep in mind there are always chances to make a difference in someone's holiday season... there's still time!]

//graphic via theBloggess.com

Every day we find things, see things, hear things, that inspire us. We find them both offline and online.

But the hardest part is organizing, saving, categorizing, and remembering these things. Long is past the days of ripping out paper copies of things from magazines and putting them in a binder.

C’mon – digital, baby.

My newest obsession is PINTEREST — a new site in limited beta ]that allows you to do all of the above — while also maintaining credibility to the source of the image. Think of it as some sort of cross between POLYVORE, FLICKR, and FACEBOOK.

Every girl’s dream, right? YES.

That’s why the pinterest team has deemed it “social cataloging” – which kinda makes sense when you test it out.

How it works is that you surf the web, find your favorite files and add the URL (or the toolbar link) to “Pin” an item. While “pinning,” you can choose to categorize the picture — tag it, add a comment/description, url, price, and choose to which board/collection it belongs.

Take for example a few of my boards listed below.

Follow me at http://pinterest.com/amedmunds

How do I spell it? How is e-reader correctly punctuated? Is there a space in between these words?

These are questions that have plagued the social media/digital geek community ever since these technologies became an extension of ourselves.

But who has it worse is the journalist population… and I know this for two reasons – my sister lives and breathes the AP stylebook, and I went to Syracuse (S.I. Newhouse, ahem ahem). Yes, they sleep with the book.

So, it is for all of you that I would like to share this fun document on how to correctly spell, punctuate and hypenate all those words that you couldn’t find in your book.

apstylebook –

via RandomSarah.com

In watching this video from the #140 conference this past week, I liked this video because it helps to showcase the impact of social media on the job search.

I think that recruiters are starting to look into the best way to find top quality candidates using twitter — i.e. what you say on twitter is your real life resume.

If there’s an open job, and the recruiters are on twitter, there’s a chance you may get approached.

Favorite Quotes:

“We are not your average 18-25  year olds – We are all super users and early adopters.”

“[Social Media] Allows students to be more proactive in going after a job or company you like.”

“I asked for a palm pilot for my 13th birthday” (me too Sarah, me too.)

Re: Digital Footprint — “There are pictures of me in a skirt on Facebook… Rather than try to remove negative things, I try to counteract with the positive.”

“My digital footprint speaks for me as a person… you need to know who you’re dealing with (& who you’re hiring). This is my life. I clearly put all of this out there so you would know who you’re hiring”

“This is your digital portfolio.”

“The resume is dying or is already dead. You already know more about a person before they step into your office for an interview.”

What are your thoughts on this video?

Today, we’re all over the place.

Not just in a busy sense (well, that too), but also in a digital sense. We leave our footprint (Foursquare checkins, Facebook wall posts, Tweets, Blog posts, Comments, Yelp Reviews etc..) all over the ‘net. We share where we’ve been, where we’re going, what we did, ate, thought and felt with our friends, family and even complete strangers whom we’ve never met.

But, in reviewing a few photos that were posted by @GeorgeGSmithJr from a recent trip up north, all of the tweets and foursquare checkins fall in the shadows of some of the pictures he uploaded from the trip.

So my question is– we’re sharing our social lives online- but it all seems to fall short when you compare it to a picture.

I think this one’s my favorite, but check out his Flickr stream here for the rest (if you’re interested).

There are tons of videos out there with statistics on Social Media – and I understand why – with the number of people who seem to still be opposed to this revolution, the creators of these videos have to keep pushing out new content in order to bring a few more to the “dark side.”

How do you teach people about social media and “why” they should pay attention?