Twitter Twits

Trawling through the Interwebs bumped into this rather stupid Twitter prank....the new Twittr will charge for vowels (but remember Y is still free says Joan Rivers). There's a handy converter so you can get used to how messages will look in future.

And didn't know that Hilary Clinton did an endorsement of Twitter talking about "21st century statecraft". Boy, how that phrase didn't catch on.

Marconi Inspired Google Gmail Tap

I love well constructed April Fool's Jokes. 

I'd like to think that today's Gmail Tap feature was actually born at the Marconi Conference Center in Marshall, Northern California. Been there a couple of times on retreats and always felt inspired by the sheer history of the place. It was part of the Marconi telegraph network - in this case linking the US with the Pacific. All those messages were sent in Morse Code. If you want to hear about why Morse was so important, then have a listen to a programme I made in Scheveningen Radio in the days when Morse Code was still important for maritime communications. The programme about Kootwijk Radio also comes to mind. In both cases, Morse Code was a lifeline rather than a good joke.