book about witty Twitter posts

I received “Twitter Wit: Brilliance in 140 Characters or Less” from the publisher, HarperCollins. It's "edited" by Nick Douglas and contains posts from Twitter.

Some of those posts are from celebrities: Ashton Kutcher, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Cho, Stephen Fry, Rainn Wilson, Penn Jillette, Diablo Cody, Michael Ian Black, Paula Poundstone, Eugene Mirman, Russell Brand, Aziz Ansari, Lisa Lampanelli, John Hodgman, Sarah Silverman, Susan Orlean, and more. (To my surprise, I didn't notice any from Shaquille O'Neal...)

The first "tweet" in the book got it off to a good start for me: "What's the deal with deaf people? Like, HELLO?" (Get it? As in, "Hello...and now we begin the book"?...) After that, I thumbed through it to see if any other posts might jump-out at me. What I found is that I would rather not reveal any more quotes, because I think the book is best experienced through your own browsing.

I intend to keep it accessible and available for those times when I'm trying to kill time. It's available in paperback. And, as an e-book (Sony, Kindle, eReader, and PDF formats). I suggest you put it in your purse, backpack, or portfolio for when you want (or need) to have something to do. The greatest thing about the book is that you can start reading it, and stop without feeling that you invested effort to either action.

Douglas (http://twitter.com/nick, http://toomuchnick.com) should be working on a follow-up. With more pages.

I wish I had thought of doing this book...(heel of palm to forehead)

new version of AIM available

You can now download AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) version 7...

Now, there is a "dock" feature which will allow AIM to be next to all windows at all times.

It looks like Bebo will be the service partner for profile information of AIM users.

The "Lifestream" service will all you to "Get updates from all your social networks and let your friends see your updates too...Set up Lifestream SMS Alerts and receive updates from your AIM Buddies wherever they are online...Activating allows AIM Lifestream to send text messages to your phone and you'll never miss what your Buddies are doing!" Some of the supported services are: Delicious, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube.

"The AIM Blast feature is a new part of the AIM service, allowing you to IM your Buddies all at once directly from your Buddy List. You can set up your Blast group however you'd like — keep things private with just a few friends, or let anyone invite anyone and watch it grow!"

sing a song about Twitter (and 12seconds.tv)

Artist Ben Walker has created a couple of pieces about services we use to communicate.

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The first one I noticed is the song "You’re No One If You’re Not On Twitter":

You're no one if you're not on Twitter
And if you aren't there already you've missed it
If you haven't been bookmarked, retweeted and blogged
You might as well not have existed

In the old days it was all about achievements
Collecting all your trophies in a shrine
Then everybody came across the internet
And suddenly you had to be online

A home page was all you really needed
To seem like a success but not a geek
As long as you updated semi-annually
And checked your email once or twice a week

You're no one if you're not on Twitter...

Technology was moving rather quickly
And the next thing you needed was a blog
With intimate and detailed press releases
And now and then a photo of your dog

More recently the students brought us Facebook
And everybody has a hundred friends
The parties in the photos look amazing
They're not so great but everyone pretends

You're no one if you're not on Twitter...

Now you need to publish every movement
And every single thought to cross your mind
I'm told the Twitterverse is full of rubbish
But most of us are actually quite refined

We validate each other's insecurities
And brag about the gadgets that we've bought
We laugh out loud at every hint of jolliness
And try to self-promote without being caught

You're no one if you're not on Twitter...

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And, check out "The 12seconds Song":

In twelve seconds you can tell them what you think about the world
You can show them all the toys you like to play with
You can premiere a witty animation of a dragon on a bike
You can keep in touch with people that you kinda really like
(But you wouldn't ever want to spend the day with)