T.G.I.F. - Reflecting on Technology

Whew! Glad the weekend is here. I don't know if it's the economy but things have slowed down for me, big time. As a Salesperson who relies on commissions to meet my salary requirements, that is NOT a good thing.

I try to spend some time each day researching what could possibly be the next hot product or technology. It gets confusing because the needs of my customers (IT Directors, CIOs, etc) are vastly different from the technology trends I'm noticing that pertain to things I'm interested in: Blogging, Online Communities, Online Networking, etc. And, let's face it, I spend a lot of time participating in the things that I'm interested in!

Makes me wonder if I could be MORE [productive, inspired, successful, happy] if my career better reflected my interests? I digress. Perhaps I'm thinking too much.

I have always been fascinated by technology. From the day, as a child, my dad brought home our new Commodore-64 computer. I loved that thing. I learned to program in BASIC on it and I spent hours playing a very rudimentary version of Frogger. I am giggling as I recall the black screen with the "frogs" (green colored x marks) with no other graphics whatsoever.

It amazes me how far we've come. Nowadays, I don't think I could survive 2 days without Internet access...

Sometimes I wish I had a crystal ball just to get a glimpse of "what's next".

Here are a few of the things that I would like to see in the near future:

1. Free Global Wifi (so I don't have to travel from coffee shop to coffee shop searching for reliable internet access when mine goes down)

2. Handheld Computer -- perhaps it will be a cellphone/PDA/MP3 player as well. I am thinking it needs to have a USB port so you could simply plug in your removable disc that has all of your pertinent files. I'm talking just like your laptop but small enough to put in your purse.

3. Faster EVERYTHING - Internet access, Processor speed, etc. I think I might have A.D.D., I get so impatient sometimes waiting for my computer to respond.

That's it! Nothing too far-fetched -- just simple things that would help my productivity level.

I found the following presentation online, Technology Trends

The author is one of those Internet Guru types, I hadn't heard of him before... but I did find the slideshow thought - provoking.

For one, I think it will be interesting to see how things develop with the various Social Networking sites out there (consolidation?) and where they go from here.

Also, the concept of Open Standards intrigues me. My last gig was at an Open Source Software Company, GroundWork Open Source , so I understand and embrace the notion of open standards. It does seem like a very slow shift is occurring from a dominant Windows world to an Open Source world (like Google).

I guess we just gotta wait and see.