This one-day series of events is happening in more than 185 200 cities around the world.

On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water … By rallying together globally, under short timescales, for a single aim on the same day, the Twestival hopes to bring awareness to this global crisis.

Get involved, even if it’s last-minute. Check the hub site (twestival.com) for a events near you, or find out how to donate through Twitter via TipJoy.

charity: water is a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

Don’t be put off by the title if you’re not a GTD-type person. This list is a cornucopia of services built on top of Twitter, many that I’ve never heard of until now.

After three years on the web, Twitter has become more than just another micro-blogging client. A whole industry of web applications have sprung up to extend and capitalize on Twitter’s capabilities, from the ridiculously silly, to the gobsmackingly useful. If Twitter is not already a part of your daily life, these applications can give you a whole new perspective on the idea of Getting Things Done. There’s a lot you didn’t know you could do with 140 character spurts.

Update: As someone just pointed out to me… if you thought that was a decent list, check out the Twitter Fan Wiki. Whoah.

Paul Boag lays it down. A must read.

You need to take control of the design process. It’s your site and you should get the design you want. The role of the designer is to implement your idea. Do not allow him to drag you down into endless discussions about ‘users needs’, ‘accessibility’ and ‘usability’. These are all distractions from the primary aim – to impress your boss and earn that next promotion.

Ok, I’ll admit, it took me reading past the first point to calm down and avoid jumping through the screen to grab Paul’s throat.

If Twitter existed in 1937, and farmgirls had web access, this is how we would see one teen girl’s account of daily life during the Depression. Fascinating in a strange, time-travel kind of way. Here’s the back story and a few answers to FAQs from David Griner, the great nephew, who is maintaining the account. (via Biz)

The practical, down-to-earth, and beautifully-designed book, A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web, written and self-published by Mark Boulton, is available for purchase and download (as PDF) as of today.

Beautiful (and scary at the same time) visualization of the growth of Walmart from 1962 through 2007. It’s like a virus that spreads across our country. Compare the Walmart viz with another Nathan just posted for Target today. From Nathan’s post describing the Target work:

You might guess that Target and Walmart expanded similarly (I did, at least), but you’d be wrong. Both started in Central United States, and both were officially founded in 1962 by two men who both owned stores under a different name before the Target and Walmart boom. However, besides more rapid growth, Walmart first expanded outwards from its home state before going country-wide while Target seems to have gone wherever opportunity knocked…

Fraser Speirs, developer behind FlickrExport (iPhoto plugin software that I use) dives into the details and simplified — or crippled, depending on your view — functionality of Flickr integration in Apple’s iPhoto ’09. I may have discovered this on my own after using it, but it’s nice to see some of the differences I should note before I try iPhoto’s Flickr syncing. Sure, Fraser has a biased view. But FlickrExport seems to be a way better option for exporting photos to Flickr from iPhoto or Aperature. That is, at least, if you want more control over how, and to whom, photos appear on Flickr. (via Daring Fireball)