Blog conversations, Twitter, and wet t-shirts, oh my! Those were just some of the highlights of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) annual conference, which concluded today. Overall, the conference was as all conferences seem to be: some useful sessions, some not so much--but terrific camaraderie and first-rate opportunities for networking with higher ed faculty, faculty development specialists, and ed tech folks from around the world. And yes, you did read that correctly: I said "wet t-shirts." Allow me to explain. . .

Trash Did you know the answer to reducing petroleum dependency and producing environmentally efficient fuel may be right in your kitchen trash? Household garbage, old tires, and even plant stalk all contain carbon which can be turned into fuel for our cars and trucks. And all of this can be done cheaply and efficiently. Building upon General Motor’s 25 years of biofuel research and energy alternatives for automobiles, the automaker announced their partnership with Coskata at the 2008 North American International Auto Show.

“It is the next media solution and everybody needs to be a part of it,” says Gina MacCauley when discussing the importance of online accessibility. MacCauley is the organizer of the first annual Blogging While Brown: The International Conference for Bloggers of Color which will commence on July 25-27, 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia.

When Pudding Media unveiled its new free VoIP service at the DemoFall 2007 last week the reaction was fast, furious, and not particularly flattering.

If you just casually glance around tech departments in companies and tech-oriented conferences, it's easy to get the impression that there aren't many women in technology these days. Yet it's undeniable that women are making a big impact on the technology world. (If you think it is deniable, then please keep reading.) Exploring this subject is a special series this month on O'Reilly: Women in Technology. Every day this month, an accomplished woman in technology shares her thoughts.*

TANSTAAFL. But you wouldn't know it by looking at all the new sites, services, widgets and what-not catching buzz waves these days. It's nice to be connected in all these new and interesting ways, nice to have "free" alternatives to pricey and often overrated software, nice to be able to find information so quickly. Yet these "free" services and applications almost always come with a hitch: your information, your behavior, your data are being tracked, collected and kept -- and often shared with or sold to unknown others.

When I photograph, what I'm really doing is seeking answers to things. -Wynn Bullock Lately, I’ve been having the same conversation over and over. It always comes innocently out of the general inquiry, “So, what have you been up to?” I may mention attending the recent BlogHer Conference, blogging or photography, in general. Right around here, I get something like this:

It's impossible to encapsulate all that a new blogger like me learned in the four heady days at BlogHer 07. So I did a quick memory check. What do I recall clearly enough not to have to refer to my notes, or at least know exactly where I can spot them in those notes? Here are the lessons I digested best: