Dreams of video phones have been around since before Dick Tracy swapped his 2-Way Wrist Radio for a 2-Way Wrist TV in 1964. These days the technology is vastly improved. Forget tiny screens with fuzzy picture quality and voice-synchronization reminiscent of old Godzilla movies. Thanks to powerful microprocessors and luminous screens, smartphone video can look as good as standard TV.

Millions of people already have video chats on their PCs and laptops."We think mobile video calling will first be embraced by tech adopters, frequent travelers, professionals, and young people who are engaged with social media and accustomed to watching Web video," says Skype's Shaw. Pankaj Kedia, an executive in Intel's Ultra Mobility Group, says computer-like smartphones, faster networks, and consumer readiness mean the technology is ready to take off. "The perfect storm is here," he says.

More than 80 percent of college faculty are using social media, with more than half using these tools as part of their teaching, according to a first-of-its-kind survey, "Social Media in Higher Education." The survey was conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group in collaboration with New Marketing Labs and Pearson, a global leader in education, technology and services.

NEWS FACTS

To view a presentation of the results of the Pearson Social Media in Higher Education Survey, visit: http://www.slideshare.net/PearsonLearningSolutions/pearson-socialmediasurvey2010.

Millions of people use social media on a regular basis, and many more are joining the ranks every single day.
 
With the number of people involved, and the enormous amount of time we all spend using social media, it’s only natural to try to save some time and make life easier on yourself.

We’ve compiled this list for just that purpose — over 35 tools that can help you do more with social media in less time.

Mashable's Pete Cashmore (photo, left) says real-time communication threatens to further distract us in 2010.

The "real-time Web" is booming. From Twitter to Facebook to new search engines that discover information posted just seconds ago, it seems the 2010 Web will be fueled by our desire for instant gratification.

But between Facebook status updates, Tweets and new mobile applications that deliver breaking news on our phones, will we be driven to distraction in 2010?

Here are some easy ways to make a difference with social media, a look at how video conferencing technology is improving education, some new social strategies for businesses of any size, and much more.

Increasingly more companies use Twitter for business – to do market research, do brand advocacy and reputation management and provide selected highlights from a conference or event. Twitter allows them to expand their brand and thus generate new opportunities.

In this article, Mahendra shows you how you can integrate Twitter into your Powerpoint presentation and receive instant feedback. Steven has written about using hashtags effectively. And also, you can learn more about Twitter Lists to follow people more closely.

Research suggests that people are more likely to lie in e-mails than in other forms of communication.

In tests, students were given some money and asked to share it with someone who didn't know how much money there was to share. Ninety-two percent of the students lied about the amount in their e-mails (claiming the amount was smaller than it was) while 64% lied when they were writing by hand.

Keynote on corporate blogging and why it represents a revolution in corporate communcations.

Contents

1. Definition of RSS Feeds
2. What goes in the feed?
3. What can a feed do for you?
4. How are feeds different from e-mail?
5. How do people read feeds?
6. How do you find the feeds you want to subscribe to?
7. How RSS helps your search engine visibility
8. Who is reading feeds?
9. Putting Your Web content in a Feed
10. Where Are We Feeds Headed?
11. More RSS Resources

Making screencasts (also known as “video tutorials”) is already easy, and becomes easier with better tools and broadband proliferation. However, no tech is complete without a human who dives in, does experiments, and discerns best practices from the results.

I’ve made over 200 video tutorials, mostly for the virtual world of Second Life, and I’ve also done tutorials for stuff like YouTube () and Sony Vegas. If a picture’s a 1,000 words, then a video is a LOT more.

Through such experience, these are tips ‘n’ tricks I’m sure you’ll find practical and applicable to your further forays into the video fields: