What Will Fizzle in the Next Decade?

I belong to a LinkedIn group called Future Trends, which has had a load of activity over the last month or so with a single post called, "What Will Fizzle in 2010?" It's not so much of a discussion about what will fizzle in the next year, but more in the next decade.
Side note: What the heck are we going to call this decade anyway? No one ever really came up with a snazzy name for the last one. The Aughts or Naughts went over like poop in the punchbowl. Many people resorted to calling them the 2000's, but here we are in 2010, and we're stuck. The last millenium didn't have a cool decade name until the '20s, so I guess we'll just need to wait another 10 years to see if these '20s roar as well.
Anyway, back to the Future Trends group, there were a lot of musings, particularly about technology and the media for the Next Decade That Shall Be Nameless. Many people agreed that mobile technology will continue to evolve, while traditional media, particularly print, will all but disappear. A couple of my thoughts about that:
- As print becomes more costly, as they've already started to do, most media will turn to the web and/or publish for the Kindle, or Kindle-like devices. I also believe (read hope!) that those devices will drop in price so even Joe and Jane Six Pack can afford them. Of course, like cell phones, there will be a range of readers, from low-end no-frills devices that just receive media, to high-end devices that are really closer to netbooks.
- Social networking will continue to evolve, but we'll hopefully see more applications that actually serve a purpose and bring people together, not help us continue to subsist in our digital cocoons. Let's face it -- Twitter was a good idea in theory, but the reality is most of us aren't interesting enough to follow. As the saying goes, don't follow me -- I'm lost! (And for those of you who have ever driven with me, you know that's not some philosophical metaphor.)
What will become the next Facebook? Push technology? Stay tuned....

Getting Twitterpated

I'm not sure why, but I'm being followed on Twitter by a few people. Thanks for wanting to follow me, and I'll try to be interesting, but I'm not making any guarantees.
In the meantime, if you've been wondering what all the fuss is about Facebook, Twitter, etc., or if you want to make those sites useful for you, besides hearing about what your friends are having for dinner, or taking quizzes that will probably just make you dumber, I've written an article about the social networking boom. Enjoy!

Americathon -- Its Time Has Come

As I was pondering the "doom and gloom" of our current economy, I remembered a stupid movie that was made in 1979 called "Americathon". It starred the underrated John Ritter as President of the United States in the future -- 1998. At that point, America was in such a financial crisis that the government decided to hold a telethon - with celebrity performers, etc. -- to raise money for a bankrupt U.S.
The movie was about 10 years off, but was oddly prophetic.
Because I saw this movie when I was 14, I didn't really understand a lot of the financial and political stuff, so I don't remember too much. I probably saw the movie only because I liked Ritter so much in "Three's Company." But I think this might be some food for thought for today's times.
If each American just put in $5 (about the cost of large latte!) toward a cause like this, think how much money we'd raise just from that. Think about all the other "necessities" we spend money on. Skip one manicure. Or instead of your weekly jaunt to the movies, play a board game with your family. And donate the money to America!
And then think about all the celebrities who are still spending $200 for clothes for their little purse dogs. If they thought this way, and donated their money to America, we'd be on our way!
Now if only our goverment would think this way, we'd be good to go!

OMG! It's Almost Fall!

My 6-year-old was just blabbing on about her next birthday party. As soon as her birthday party is over, she starts planning the next one -- who she's going to invite, where it will be, what kind of theme it will be, and what she's going to wear.
I was rolling my eyes, sighing and saying, "Sara, you have MONTHS until your birthday. It's only August and your birthday is in..." Holy @#$*! The little crumbsnatcher is right. There's only two months until her birthday.
Now mind you, in a 6-year-old's universe, she will probably change her mind 15 times over the course of 2 months about what her theme will be and who is her best friend this week.
But her way of thinking isn't a bad thing. Many businesses come to the same realization about their businesses. Hey, remember all those plans you had for your business to accomplish by the end of the year? Check your calendar. It's coming. OK, you don't need to plan what party dress you're going to wear in 2 months, but if you were thinking that at some point, you should redesign your web site for the New Year, now is the time to start planning.

Doom and Gloom

Sometimes I just loathe the media! This past week, everytime I pick up the newspaper or log onto any news site, the headlines are all about recession, foreclosures, businesses tanking, rising gas and grocery prices, etc. One of our local papers here actually used the word "blight". Frigging Blight! The only time I usually hear that word is in the Passover Hagaddah, along with words like "pestilence" and "boils".
We get it. The salad days of the dotcom and housing booms are over. We don't need to be beaten over the heads with 2x4s.
In the meantime, what the media doesn't tell you is what's actually going on in the world. When my daughter and I walked to the park a few weeks ago, we saw 3 houses that were being moved into. And not by renters looking for a temporary place to sell crack! No, these were families looking to settle into our neighborhood.
Yes, I know why they sold. They are practically giving houses away in our neighborhood that just a few years ago had bidding wars over them. But this is a good thing -- houses are starting to sell (and owners are starting to weed their yards, too!), which means before we know it, housing prices will go back up. Maybe not to what they were at their height, but they will go up.
And, yes, many businesses are going belly up. But squished beneath the dire headlines are stories about more VC firms putting money into businesses.
Society has managed to survive crises like this. Economic booms don't last forever, but neither do economic busts. So keep your chin up and take what the media says with a big honking grain of salt.

I Heart My Centro

Back in the day (mid/late 90s for me) I used to pride myself on being an "early adopter" -- one of those people who prided themselves in having the latest hi-tech gadget. (And I'd also like to remind you that I'm not a guy!) and when it comes to the web, we're always looking at the next wave of technologies.
But I admit I was a little slow getting in on the smartphone revolution as I didn't really see a need in spending $8,000 a month on modem speed that was equivalent to a gerbil running in a wheel.
Flash forward the the 'oughts. Mobile internet of course has greatly improved, and if you don't text, you might as well be using stone tablets and chisel. Still, I was married to my Palm Pilot (I've been using once since Christmas 1997!), and was one of those rare people who mostly used her phone for talking to people.
But with a 5-year-old daughter, my purse was becoming so overloaded with half-filled bags of Ritz Peanut Butter crackers and tiny rubber Polly Pocket clothes, there wasn't much room in there for my wallet and gadgets. It was time to consolidate.
I started looking at the Treo -- after all, it was Palm, so I was used to the interface and I could easily transfer all my data. But the square device is weird to me (as it is with some of the Blackberries and other smartphones); it's like talking into a piece of toast.
And then last year, of course, came the iPhone. Holy crap! This thing did everything! And none of this postage-stamp sized window stuff for web access! So I thought maybe I'd save up for one of those.
Then I started thinking about what I really do the most with my mobile devices. I mostly needed a good calendar and organizer, and an intuitive interface. The iPhone is about as intuitive as you can get, but I really didn't need iTunes and all the other stuff.
And I started thinking more about my 10+ years of data I had on my Palm Pilot, and lo and behold, Centro came out and with my carrier too! The device is skinner and more phone-like. The internet access isn't stellar, but maybe that way I won't get hooked on it as much. And my calendar, dating back to December 1997, is preserved.
So far I'm pretty happy with it. I'll keep you posted.

Tis The Season for more Email Scams

Last week I posted about the Nigerian Scam sequel. Then I get an email from a friend of mine about the Do Not Call list for cell phones. In this one email tells you that 12 days from today (or some other ominous deadline), all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls, and you will be charged for them, yada, yada, yada, so you need to call the special number or all heck will break loose. This is more or less a hoax that seems to pop up every year around the beginning and middle of the year. First of all, the number that is listed is the same Do Not Call list for yor regular landline; secondly and thirdly, automated dialers are standard in the industry, so most telemarketers are barred from calling consumers on their cell phones without their consent, and besides, the federal government does not maintain a national cell phone registry. For more info, http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/04/dnc.shtm or of course, snopes.com.

Another scam I was reminded about over the weekend -- the "Please Help the Sick Kid". In this one, the email discusses the plight of some poor sick little boy or girl who has some rare form of cancer. The stated girl is often "Jessica Mydek". If you forward this email, 3 cents will be donated by the American Cancer Society and other corporate entities toward research. It makes you feel really good for doing something good for someone, and it's relatively easy. Unfortunately, this one is a hoax, too, and again, all you've really done is annoyed your friends. See http://www.cancer.org/docroot/med/content/med_6_1_chain_e-mail.asp, and again, snopes for more info.