Happy 2008 and my top 10 Geekout Things to do of 2007 - Jan 2nd

Thankfully, I no longer write hand-written checks. If I did, I probably would have had to cross out "2007" fifty times already and fudge my 7 into an 8 with some crafty penmanship. I find it hard to believe we're 8 years into this decade. I am still coming to grips with it, but I imagine by May 1st or so it will sink in that indeed time marches on and continues to tick and tock onward with or without my acknowledgement.

Since everyone loves top 10 lists, and they typically surface this time of year, I am jumping on the top ten bandwagon and chiming in with my top 10 list. I thought I'd share the top ten Internet happenings that made 2007 an enchanting year.

Honorable Mention: Giddy about all this virtual real estate
Do you really need to visit a realtor anymore? Zillow.com, local realty blogs, facebook realestate ads, ebay property bids, and 360 views make real estate hunting or competitive shopping an open book. So many great tools for the real estate shoppers in all of us. If only the housing market was doing as well.

10. Making and publishing slide shows for THE most laziest of web browsers.
Thanks to Slide and Rockyou.com, you the viewer can remain a mouse potato and not even bother to scroll down a page, or click a mouse to see all my photos in one neat wrapped up little package. Too bad my non-Internet friends didn't really understand the concept of a 'birthday slide show' and hence never bothered to check out the slides. Maybe in 2008.

9. Widgetized content
The world is going the way of the widget. Now a widget is not only a fictitious business-school term for a make-believe, nondescript manufacturing term. I was quite happy thinking they only existed in the ACME assembly line and outputting at 100% capacity. It's taken on a whole new (2) dimensional persona for anything you can mush together in an embedded object. Just check out the yelp, traffic, or other random widget on this blog and others. Wigetmania has taken 2007 by storm, and I'm sure will be along well into and beyond 2008.

8. Slingbox, Tivo and VOIP, ohmy!
2007 marked my 1st Slingbox, DVR device (not a tivo but that rhymed better), and the mass presence of VoIP in my everyday communications. I'm video conferencing over skype with family. I'm watching Robot Chicken without the poor resolution from youtube pirates and at a decent hour. Oh, and I'm doing all this on my laptop.

7. Consolidation of the online ad market
The pie just got a whole lot bigger. In 2007, Internet advertising finally got a seat at the adults table. This year earmarked online adserving viewed as a critical component for technology platforms that no major online presence can't be without. If only they all would close...

6. Rachael is Facebook makes me feel important!
What would I do without Scrabulous? Or making people zombies with no intentions other than to annoy my friends and waste time? Now not only can I stalk my friends, I can share with them every single divulged detail no one likely really needs to know. Ah, pure minutia for the masses. Seriously, I enjoy the newsfeed as much as the next facebookee.

5. Twittering (see box on right margin of this page for my own pathetic examples)
For the inner geek in you, there's twitter. If you really want to feel like nobody is listening, or you're a fly on the wall, or you have worthless things to share, just type in a twit over IM, SMS, or web and you have a twitter. Imagine if all the unstable people in the world knew about this form of communication, how much better they may feel. I know when I twitter, I'm yelling into a Grand Canyon-like void, with the exception of some random folks who for some reason follow me. It's fun to think you have all these friends!

4. iPhone - non US need not apply!
I don't own an iphone, but my brother and many friends do. It does have great mac integration. I don't own a mac, and my blackberry is doing just fine. I do hope it becomes open to other carriers beyond AT&T so my international friends won't need to ask me for US bought iphones that they can 'crack' in their own country.

3. Flash memory - perfect for capturing embarrassing moments
My camera now acts like a camcorder due to my $40 flash card I got from Santa. Who needs the flip cam now? I take some terrible movies, but maybe with my bigger memory, I'll be more motivated to take incriminating videos.

2. Meebo around blocked sites
I love Meebo. I don't use it much since my company trusts my discretion at what I view on the web at work. But for those less fortunate, or for school kids who may be lucky enough to find it, Meebo is your IM life perserver. It's under the radar enough that you can use your IM on Meebo/AOL/Y!/MSN as a thin client, and your boss will hardly know. I also think its a great business model and they have their heads on straight.

1: The common sense to unplug now and then
My number one highlight, an an ironic twist, is really the absence of technology. I spent last week unplugged from everything except my non-Internet savvy octogenarian grandmothers. Sure I flocked to the keyboard once I had access back in the comfort of my own home. It's absence made me aware of just how virtually connected I am. It's absence reminds me how connected I can stay with folks, soak up random or important info, and how dependent I can be on technology. I am a big believer in work-life balance and having both the plugged and the unplugged worlds exist in tandem. Don't forget to take a breather to unplug - try not twitting on weekends - and remember what life was like way before 2007 - when we had to rely on our people skills and penmanship to maintain connectivity.

Happy 2008 to all!

Rachael