Millions of people across our planet are connecting with each other to create a shift toward a more unified world.  The SHIFT clip below is a hopeful piece that features Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Deepak Chopra,  Afghan Human/Women's Rights Activist Fatima Gailini, Indian Youth Activist Anand Shah, Marianne Williamson and others. 

 You can help complete the film here. 

That's the idea behind Pangea Day which will bring together millions of people from all over the world through the power of film to create a better understanding of one another.  Pangea Day is the "wish" of documentary filmmaker and 2006 TED Prize winner Jehane Noujaim (Control Room (2004), Startup.com (2001)) who we had the good fortune of seeing speak at the Sundance Film Festival.

Listen to Jehane at TED unveil her wish: global acceptance of diversity, mediated through the power of film.  The first step?  Getting people to understand each other.

I had my first iPhone experience last night. Wow. It's like losing my virginity all over again. Except much more satisfying.

It was at an upscale steak house in Kansas City last night with my husband Mike and our out-of-town friend Chad, bearer of iPhone. Both had worked at Apple back in the day on the Newton, a product so ahead of its time it was a dismal failure. Of course one could argue that now more than ever is "the day" for Apple.

My first impression of the iPhone? Thrilling. Sleek and substantive. The touchscreen, which is the user interface / navigation tool, is soft. Even sensual. Vibrancy of the 3.5 inch display, amazing. Desktop icons never looked so good.

Mike and Chad had been goofing around with iPhone before I met them at the steakhoue. I approached their table. Mike stands, snaps my photo, turns the display toward me. Gently flicking his thumb and index finger apart against the screen, Mike demonstrates the zoom feature, instantly endowing me, a 36B in real life, with a C cup. (Not exactly. Zoom magnifies images proportionately. In this case, my chest filled the screen. But you can bet that this particular two-finger salute is a hit with men everywhere. Prediction: video will surface on YouTube any time now that spoofs in new and imaginative ways the satisfying flicking, stroking and two-finger zoom actions soon-to-become muscle memory for iPhone users.)

The keyboard threw me initially. Then I realized I could simply slide away from an incorrect key I had typed to tap the correct one. Sweet.

I was so enamored spinning through Address Book listings and basking in the brilliant yellow sun in the Weather app, I almost had forgotten this phone is also "the best iPod ever," says Apple's web site.

iPod features can wait. Why rush getting acquainted? We'll see each other again.

The boys and I pull up and zoom in on a New York Times story about Pope Benedict XVI's latest hijinks, asserting that Catholicism, unlike other Christian communities, "provides the only true path to salvation." As if that wasn't enough of a conversation starter, we were simultaneously overcome with how beautifully the article displays.

Mike and Chad lock eyes, gushing: "It's got a real web browser!"

It's true. The promise of mobile has arrived in the form of the iPhone. For a category that handcuffs their customers into loyalty instead of delighting them, it's startling. It's even a bit scary to me because iPhone actually does make it enjoyable to watch video anywhere, any time. A mixed blessing, no doubt, for which I can argue many sides.

In my opinion, people have no business surfing the Internet or watching video in an upscale steakhouse where. (I know, as an occasional solo diner I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing.) Still, I avoid restaurants with video screens because, regardless of what's showing, my eyes can't help but wander to the electronic images. My attention is distracted away from my dining companion(s). Restaurants should be a sanctuary for face-to-face interpersonal interaction and high baud rate of communication in the form of conversation.

Hypocritically, Chad shared this hilarious video with us in the restaurant and I loved seeing it instantly.

We're nearly closing the place.  Diners at an adjacent table stop at ours on their way out.  "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah," I said. "You need to hold it."  They gather around man who takes it in his hand, sighing. Feeling accomplished, smart, even sexy, I show them how to elegantly unlock the iPhone then take them out for a spin in Address Book. They are mesmerized.

"As we used to say in the toy industry," I offer, "It's magic!"

iPhone returns and is set aside. Dinner conversation with Mike and Chad moves toward the TED Conference. Specifically, the nature of choice and why more choice often leads to less happiness. Fascinating stuff. We trade ideas.

Meanwhile my mind wanders. I'm a minimalist consumer. Especially with gadgets. I resisted buying a carrot pealer for a while because it's a job a knife can do. Yet I'm taken with the iPhone. It had me at the home screen. Silently, I bargain with myself: Our household really should have an iPhone. Mike's a business and tech guy. This thing would bring him great joy. I should get him one. Yeah. And I would win some major partner points if I did. I decide he's deserving of an early present for his November birthday. I wonder how long it will be until my iPod dies....

This morning, I find myself anticipating our next encounter. Where will I see iPhone next? A coffee shop. Maybe someone will let me touch theirs? I think I'm in love.

These are my two step-daughers, Maddie (left), 13, and Chloe, 16.

Like me, their Dad and two brothers, we're all fairly early adopters of technology. Yet, I'm typically the one in the family who insists the kids unplug from iPods, PSPs, other digital devices -- especially when we're all out in the world together, about to share a common experience.

("No, Clay, you may not play a game on my mobile phone at the table while we wait for the Indian food.")

My hope -- and I've seen this actually does work -- is that if all six of us simultaneously share common white space, we end up goofing around or having some really great face-to-face family conversations that don't easily occur at home, back in our routines when we're all coming and going at different times.

While my occasional urging of everyone to unplug sometimes causes family tension, it's also a source of humor:

This photo was taken when the girls were hanging out June 30th, on the lawn at Bethel Woods, a magical new outdoor concert venue built on the site of 1969's Woodstock. In moments, Bob Dylan will take the stage, his first return to the site since the famed show nearly 40 years ago. And when he does, Maddie, joking and smiling, turns to me: "Why is he playing so loudly? I can barely hear my iPod!!"

Social computing is an absolute game-changer for corporate reputation. It’s a fact that we live in a “Nowhere to Hide” connected world: a lesson reinforced almost daily.

This week’s reminder comes from the music industry. It spans geography, chronology and celebrity. This YouTube video claims that for the 2006 song “Do It” on Nelly Furtado’s current album, producer Timbaland stole large segments of a song (originally released in 2000) by Finnish artist Janne Sunni. The video superimposes the two to show similarities.

In the early 1990's, you could wander into a Hear Music retail location and trust any sales associate to introduce you to your next favorite song. Acquired by Starbucks in 1999, Hear Music is all about creating "new and convenient ways for you to discover, experience and acquire great music." Music was a critical foothold in evolving Starbucks beyond coffee to a lifestyle brand. (Disclosure: I had the privilege of working with a Hear Music co-founder on a subsequent music enterprise)

"There’s the faintest whiff of discriminating good taste around everything Starbucks sells, a range of products designed, on some level, to flatter the buyer’s self-regard," reports The New York Times in The Starbucks Aesthetic.

One customer reports appreciating that Starbucks helps him "edit down his cultural choices." Looking over the selections the company makes, he said, he has the impression that 'some people of caring hearts and minds have looked at this and felt it was worthwhile and beneficial and would create a good vibe in the world.'”

Now that Starbucks, with 12,000 stores around the world (5,400 U.S.) has become ultra-mainstream, they are smartly counteracting that reality by offering out-of-the-mainstream cultural products: CDs plus DVDs and books. that "add to the emotional connection with the customer," says Howard Schultz, the chairman of Starbucks.

Move over, Oprah.

The chain’s wireless Web-access network with 12,500 distribution points (stores worldwide) is a network with the capability to "to expose our customers digitally to unique content.” says Schultz.

What's the unifying brand promise of Starbucks and its cultural project? Discovery. No matter if it's a bold and smoky roast from Rwanda, or Lily Allen.