It’s nice to have a new beta to play with. Microsoft’s released Windows 7 Beta 1 to the public, and I’ve got it downloading now. I’ve really enjoyed Windows Vista for the past 2+ years, and am looking forward to the updates that Windows 7 brings.
If you’re interested, you can head over to the Windows 7 Beta Customer Preview site and download the 2.8GB DVD to try out yourself.
I’m catching up on feeds and have run across a number of posts and articles on personal plans, goals, or predictions for 2009. It’s a good exercise, and one that I’m working on for this week as well.
However, I’m amazed (nay, dismayed) at the number of people who either do not understand what a goal should be or at the goal that they’re fixated on. Especially in relation to blogging. There are a number of great posts around outlining what people are planning to do, but I’d like to see folks really focus their energies when writing them.
For example, I’ve seen a number of people taking about increasing their blog posting schedule, or about getting 100, 200, 300 RSS readers, or hitting 1,000,000 page-views. This doesn’t tell me what they’re purpose is, however. It doesn’t tell me why I should come back tomorrow to read a post. It doesn’t tell new readers why they should spend time reading their blogs. This is simply a lack of understanding of what makes a good blog – in short, numbers don’t count. It’s about the quality of information rather than the numbers of clicks you can run through Google AdSense.
Another theme I’ve seen in some of these planning post for the new year are more lower-level task specific items rather than broad visionary goals for an individual. New or casual bloggers who are interested in growing their blog should look at things that bring value to themselves and their readers. An example of this would be something like "Revise and rejuvenate my blog’s theme to reflect it’s focus, and for easier reading" would be better than simply wanting to "get a new blog logo".
These more far-reaching goals help us stretch outside our comfort zones for the year. It gives us something to strive for, something to attain… hence "goals". I hope more folks take the time and really go through a good personal growth exercise for 2009. It doesn’t have to take long, and if a person allows themselves an hour or two to really think about what they want to accomplish in one year – and what just may be possible in one years time, they may surprise themselves and really accomplish more than they think they can.
So good luck to you on your goal quest for 2009! Watch for my 2009 goals post in the next day or so.
Ok, I’m getting antsy for a few good apps that I need or would like on my G1 Android phone. I’m betting we’ll see some interesting new apps hit the Android Market in January when Google adds the ability to charge for an application. I’d also like to make a few suggestions for some applications that I really need to have soon for productivity purposes.
Office Apps
The need for real word processing and spreadsheet applications is no joke. An app that supports Word, Excel, and a couple extra file formats would be appreciated. This is an application that I’d pay for. Make it decent, include PowerPoint support as well – it needs to be a quality app. Ability to save/load from SD is a necessity btw.
Adobe – Flash & PDF
’nuff said.
Video
A camcorder app would be awesome, but even better would be to see a QIK client released. Is this too much to ask?
Onscreen Keyboard (psst Google, you listening?)
There are a couple apps that already include an onscreen keyboard, so why can’t the OS? Alls you have to do is draw some buttons and feed the button presses through the existing keyboard driver – come on, it’s not that hard. I’m surprised at all the existing Windows Mobile onscreen keyboard vendors – this is an easy market to jump into here.
Navigation Software
Here’s another good opportunity for some enterprising company. Don’t get me wrong, Google Maps with GPS and 3G kicks ass, but when you’re out of data range – and when you really do need some navigation assistance – it really starts to show its deficiencies. A good navigation software package like TomTom or Garmin’s would be quite nifty – and with the size of microSD cards on the market, not too hard to load up maps for offline roadtrip fun.
So these are some of the things that I would like to see. There are tons more – do you have some suggestions?
Photo credit: disrupsean
Try as I might, I couldn’t find the post that I thought I wrote about Moleskines some time ago. I think it was about a year ago a couple of online friends and I had a chance to finally meet and talk in person. It was a local version of LifeCamp, and it was Jason DeBoer-Moran (@newcoventry on Twitter) and Thomas Knoll (@thomasknoll on Twitter) along with a few more folks looking to organize and prioritize our lives these days.
One of the biggest take-away’s for me from that first meetup with my now-good friends was the importance of keeping track of thoughts and ideas. While these guys had been doing this for some time, it was a new initiative for me to keep something close to hand to quickly capture those moments of inspiration. The best device to record this information seemed to be a simple notebook.
However, I wanted to find something that was as rewarding to write in as the thoughts I was trying to capture. This is where the Moleskine comes in. Sure, lots of folks are turning back to these traditional mobile information gathering notebooks – to the point of it being cliche. The thing is though, I really enjoy these notebooks. They seem to reward the writer with a great feeling when writing in them.
For me in particular, these notebooks bring a sense of permanence to the things I’m writing. They bring a connection to the past, and offer a way to tap into the legacy of pen & paper in a way that the average ringed notebook found at your local big box discount store for 99¢ simply can’t. If you’re looking for it, a Moleskine can’t be beat for bringing another dimension to note taking or journaling. Give it a try for your next journal and see if it helps to inspire and capture the ideas, stories, and things that you’re trying to save.
I’ve been working in the technology field for a long time and the thing that really keeps me engaged is the fact that it’s always changing. Technology evolves and there is a constant need to be upgrading or planning on upgrading. It’s made a great career for myself with a number of great projects and experiences that I can look back on with fond memories.
"IT" as it’s called has also enabled me to push boundaries that were uncomfortable for me, allowing me to grow and continue to learn about things that I needed to but was uninterested in. To my mind, this is what a career should deliver; experiences, personal growth, team participation, leadership, and providing a decent living for a family. This is something that a technology career has rewarded me with for my investment.
So with that knowledge, experience and expectation, I wonder just how big the social media market is for it’s practitioners. As every site integrates more social media and "web 2.0" technologies and methods, how will social media professionals remain in demand? Ensuing generations will be even more well versed in the concepts, tools, technologies than even the much celebrated millennials today.
As the online world continues to circle around and pick up the once-forgotten "human face" that it lacked in the .com boom/bust, it becomes harder to distinguish just what a social media professional is. I fear that most of them will simply be absorbed into the existing professions as Marketing and Public Relations – already, the social media sphere is mostly made up of this demographic.
Am I off base here or is there really a career path for social media specialists or professionals as we know them today? Or will it just become another skill listed by bullet point on the resume of future marketing professionals? What do you think?
Photo credit: Jay Dugger
Hi everyone! I thought I’d let you know about the upcoming Social Media Breakfast – Twin Cities on December 19th. It’s a Holiday version of the event, meant to be fun and unstructured.
We will be meeting at the Lake Elmo Inn Event Center, where we’ll have a full breakfast buffet with all your breakfast favorites (including bacon!), served during the entire event. The Lake Elmo Inn has great food, and is a consistent reader’s choice winner in Mpls./St. Paul Magazine, with great facilities and excellent food.
This is a pay event and costs $20 per person. Registration will be open through Dec. 16th and there are only 60 seats available, so don’t wait! Click Here to Register
We’ll be having a great morning with the story of Ratchet, related by Katie Konrath. If you didn’t hear the story, it’s one of community, social media, and compassion coming together to make something happen. One of the great examples of our interest and commitment to social media on a personal level.
Also, we will have an “open mic†for you to share your stories from past events, or to talk about things that Social Media Breakfast has enabled for you. Tell folks what exciting new ideas you’re working on or what you do.
Along with that, we’ll have much more time to talk and trade stories on a more intimate setting, with smaller groups and less pressure to adhere to an agenda. Bring your ideas or stories and share with the folks at your table or the one next to you.
So come enjoy our most exciting event, our 10th event in Minneapolis & St. Paul, our first full breakfast, and probably the best chance to simply connect with more of the SMBMSP crowd than you’ve had a chance to previously.
I look forward to seeing everyone who can make it! If you want to make it, but don’t have a ride lined up, direct message or “@” smbmsp on Twitter and we’ll do our best to connect a some folks together
When:
Friday, December 19th, 2008 from 8am to 10am 
Where:
Lake Elmo Inn Event Center
3712 Layton Ave. N.
Lake Elmo, MN 55402
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I agree with @RealJamesWoods 100% on this suggestion!👇👇
It all started under Clinton
In (1993) Soros opened up a (HQ) in (NYC) for his Open Society
a month later ~ the National Voter Registration Act was signed into law by Clinton
Prohibiting the federal form used to require proof of citizenship to register to vote
Also making
HERO 🚨
Nick Shirley is finding so much fraud in CA, that they wanna pass a law that bans him from finding it
Shirley is right over the target... he's put off going to (IL) to go back to (CA)
Hit that like button if you appreciate what this young man is doing for the country
John Thune isn’t fooling anyone with his RINO tactics.
He is trying to delay passage of Voter ID and other crucial bills so that Democrats win the midterms and impeach President Trump.
He needs to be removed as Leader and primaried.
A 20-something kid with a cell phone camera just cut the national budget deficit by exposing hundreds of billions in fraud.
Turns out we didn’t need more taxation.
Only enforcement of our laws.
