My 2007 Tech Predictions

• Windows Vista will be hugely popular.
• Apple's growth in the personal computer space will slow as a result of Vista's success and the next generation hardware that will support it.
• RIA apps., powered by WPF/WPFE and similar technologies, will start to get traction as the line between client-side software and web-based software continues to soften.
• Yahoo! will continue to loose momentum as Google and nimble Web X.0 companies continue to eat away at it.
• Wi-fi everywhere and geo-based advertising will start to catch hold and Google's early efforts in this space will pay off - securing their dominance in the ad space for the near future.
• Microsoft will establish multi-media beach-heads in more American living rooms this year using the xBox 360 platform - re-configuring the gaming system into a Media Center replacement via free updates as unsuspecting users sleep.
• Apples's cell phone will change the way we think about cell phones and cell service forever.

Read what everybody else is predicting for 2007.

NOTE: I reserve the right to add to this list for the remainder of this week ; )

Conversation: Value of the Long Tail

Yahoo! Bookmarks BETA Blows!

Yahoo! Bookmarks BETA blows big time. Thomas Vander Wal reviews Yahoo!'s long overdue update to the popular bookmarking tool and calls it an Alpha at best and I think that's being generous. A ton of the primary functionality doesn't even work - it's bad to the point where I'm abandoning Yahoo! Bookmarks and heading off to del.icio.us for the 1st time and I've been using Yahoo! bookmarks for years. Yes, I know, Yahoo! owns del.icio.us but they haven't managed to screw it up yet - fortunately. Yahoo! gets 0 credit for anything to do with del.icio.us. I almost didn't install the del.icio.us toolbar buttons for IE because the setup was signed by Yahoo! A company with the kind of engineering and QA resources Yahoo! has - has no business publishing crap like this for public consumption. Stay far, far, away from Yahoo! bookmarks BETA. The mess that happend with the recent Yahoo! Toolbar update just adds fuel to my fire. I'm loosing all confidence in Yahoo! and I'm starting to agree with some of the voices that are saying Yahoo! will be the next AOL. Keep it up Yahoo! - good looks will only get you so far.

Update 01/05: Tom Chi, Yahoo! Bookmarks Product Lead, is in the comments. Yahoo! Bookmarks BETA is still totally un-usable for me and I've pulled it off 3 of my machines in favor of del.icio.us - which I'm really starting to like.

NBC - SNL - A Special Christmas Box // Un-censored

Me thinks NBC is on to viral marketing and I think they're using YouTube to get around the FCC censorship problem. Good for NBC. Related: Ikea instructions for making Dick in the box

Coffee Withdrawl

Starting today, I'm making yet another attempt to rip coffee out of my life. For me, this isn't an easy thing to do. I love coffee. I love coffee houses. I love Starbucks. I look forward to my morning cup in the evening and it's the 1st thing I think about in the morning. And I only drink a 16oz cup a day - it's not like I'm drinking 3 cups a day. Why am I doing this?

• Coffee contributes to dragon breath
• Coffee is turning my teeth yellow
• Coffee is ripping up my stomach ** main motivator at this point **
• I think coffee makes my eye twitch
• I don't like the headaches that come with missing my daily dose
• Sometimes it feels like I'm working for coffee when it should be the other way around
• To save money
• To prove I can

So... wish me luck. I thought it might help to blog about this attempt. I promise to update this post if I fall off the wagon. Let's see how many days I can go without the brown stuff. Wish me luck.

Related: How to Give up Coffee (enjoyed the Why Give Up Coffee at All? section and Teeccino's Top Reasons to be Caffeine-Free list.

Update 12/22/06: I fell off the wagon today and had a 12oz cup of jo - 10 lashings.

Update 12/27/06: Fell off the wagon again on the 24th and 25th.

Update 01/05/07: Back on coffee off and on - at least I'm not drinking it everyday.

Live African Watering Hole

Man vs. Machine Air-hockey

Check out how fluid this robot's motion is - impressive. Robotics technology feels like it's starting to progress more rapidly. I'm guessing advancements in computer technology (smaller and faster processors) is making it easier to develop more complex and smaller robots.

Autumn Leaf and More

Autumn Leaf is an excellent time-lapse photography piece - recommended by Thomas Hawk. Interested in this type of thing? Check out Thomas Kranzle's time-laps photography - click "SHOWREEL" in the NAV bar to get it started.