Keep moving forward. Don’t look back. Happy New Year!

Alright, so at the beginning of this blog I mentioned how this blog would be an assortment of a lot of things that I think about and take interest in. But from time to time (on rare occasion) I may write about something of a spiritual or religious sense. I don’t want to do this often because I don’t want to get on controversial topics with readers, especially any that people might take offense to. So I refrain from coming off as preachy or imposing of my religious viewpoints.

With that said, I absolutely felt like this was one topic that needed to be shared. This is a video that was released through an LDS channel on YouTube that comes from my church (I’m not sure if it’s directly sanctioned by the church or made by church members). Anyway, it is a message that I think applies to all people on New Year’s. It is about leaving our past behind us and moving forward. It brings up the example of Lot’s wife from the Bible and how she looked backward towards the city that God had commanded them to leave. And as a result, she became a pillar of salt.

We all have things in our past that we may not be proud of. We all have regrets and things that we need to change about ourselves. The New Year is a blessing because it is a time where we can have a fresh start all over again. We can forget the past for a moment and dwell on the future. We can set new goals for ourselves and work hard to obtain them. Everyone gets the chance again to set things right and have a figurative clean slate again.

This New Year I feel particularly humbled. I finished grad school in 2010 and have yet to find employment. As one of my goals for 2011, I want that to change. This year is going to be a changing one for me and my family. I am almost certain of it. This year I resolve to be a little better, a little humbler, a better peace-maker in my home, a better father and husband. I look forward to this New Year as a new chance at life. I know I have made mistakes and have let myself down at times, but I am resolving to leave that all behind now and forget about the past. In 2011, I will be looking ahead to my future and striving to live each day as a gift from God.

May God bless everyone at this joyous season of the year, and may you all have (or should I say “make”) a wonderful New Year!

Happy New Year 2011! Be sure to check out the video:

iPad reshapes tech world: If Microsoft had invented the iPad, would it have been "cool" enough to succeed?

Apple iPad has taken the world by storm. No doubt, it has created a splash larger than anyone could have predicted. Critics were skeptical of the device before it came to market, claiming that there was no market for such a device. After all, wasn't that market already tapped through the huge success of netbook sales from 2008-2010? The iPad would be limited, in many ways, from operations that a typical laptop or desktop computer could do. In fact, it was even limited in doing some of the simple things that even netbooks could do (i.e. flash, webcam, Microsoft Office, USB expansion, memory capacity, and more). So how could such a device succeed.



Almost a year later, here we are. Not only has it surpassed anyone's wildest imagination, but it has entirely reshaped the market. Suddenly demand for tablet computers and ereaders is off the charts. The low-price netbooks of yesteryear are too cheap and undesired. Now everyone wants a $500-$900 tablet!



iPad completely reshaped the landscape. Suddenly device are being made to match compatibility, apps are being developed, websites and app stores are being designed to be compatible with the device.



Apple has created a market out of thin air. Tablet PC's have been around for years. But until now, no one really wanted them. However, everyone seems to want to tap into the tablet concept now. Laptops with tablet-mode flip screens are increasingly popular and more and more iPadesque tablet copies keep on emerging (Android, Windows, RIM, and more). Everyone's rushing for a slice of the newly discovered cash pie.



Even ereaders are benefiting from the new market demand. Because iPad has always lacked a place in any one specific product category, it often gets lumped in with ereaders, despite the fact that it does much more. Consumers keep comparing iPad to the likes of Amazon's Kindle, even though they are apples and oranges in contrast to each other. But as a result Kindle and rival competitors such as Barnes & Noble's Nook and Sony have all reached record sales this past year. The ereader market has never looked more promising, nor have we seen so many competitors wanting into it either. I doubt ereaders would have been the holiday gift of choice this year if it weren't for iPad. And the fact is, ereaders are much cheaper. So naturally, if you can't afford an iPad, go buy an ereader! At least that's what the consumer mentality is currently.



So how did Apple create a market out of nothing? If Microsoft had invented the iPad equivalent before Apple, would it have been as popular? Or is there a double-standard involved, some unconscious variable that draws consumers to Apple products that no one else could successfulness design? I tend to believe the latter to be true. I'm guessing that no other company around today (not Microsoft, not Sony, not Samsung, not Toshiba, not even rising rival Google) could have designed the product and had the same success. No one owns the corner on "cool" like apple does.



If Microsoft had put their stamp of approval on such a cut-down, limited, yet pretty device months before, people would have thought that they had lost their marbles, if they don't think that already. They wouldn't have been able to disrupt their own disrupted PC market (disrupted because of the netbook craze).



Don't get me wrong; I am not saying that iPad isn't an amazing device. I think it has a very gorgeous design, and I think it does the things that it is designed to do very well. I have played with it on many occasions, and have been impressed every time I've picked it up. I just think that there's no way any other company could have pulled this off. It is far too limited in its overall computing abilities and expansionability to have been a threat to sales of any market, let alone of opening a new market, without Apple's iBranding. If Google's saying is "do no evil," then Apple's has to be "iCan do no evil." I think they could brand a product the iNothing, and someone would buy it. How can any other company compete with that?

Amplify’d from www.cnn.com

How the iPad changed 2010

(CNN) -- Less than a year ago, some technology pundits questioned whether Apple's "iTablet" would find any buyers.

InfoWorld ventured to explain "Why Apple's rumored iTablet will fail big time," while VentureBeat's 2010 predictions included the claim that "tablets will fail."

Fast-forward to the end of 2010, and the iPad is a smash hit. eMarketer predicts that Apple will sell 13.3 million iPads this year, and one survey ranked the iPad as the most-wanted gift this holiday season. But the iPad has reshaped more than just the device market: From publishing to web design, we're seeing the iPad change the world in unexpected ways.

1. Pushing Apple over the top:

2. A new device category:

3. Publishing renaissance:

4. Reshaping web design:

5. App store victorious: Read more at www.cnn.com

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/gyaOQG

Did you know China is or soon will be the largest English speaking country in the world? That's right, ENGLIGH.

It's certainly evident, throughout the course of recent history, that English speaking countries have usually prospered among the large mix of world nations. Just to speak English, of course, does not guarantee the success of a nation. There are poor English speaking nations in the world as well (Zimbabwe for example). But there is a strong correlation between the success of a nation and its ability to speak English. That is why so many countries of the world are forcing their rising generation to learn English.



China is already the most populated country in the world, accounting for over 1 billion people (nearly 1/6 of the world's population). Imagine that? There are just over 300 million in the United States. So in terms of population, China dwarfs America. Of course in regards to GDP, no country comes close to the U.S.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)). With that said, we are all aware of the troubles that the U.S. economy faces; the U.S. deficit is spiraling rapidly out of control. It imports far more than it exports, and it hasn't successfully balanced a budget since the early years of Bill Clinton. More and more, it has become reliant upon other countries to feed it's ever-increasing consumer appetite. And there is perhaps no other country today that it depends on more for this than China. China is probably the largest export nation in the world, supplying nearly any product imaginable at dirt-cheap prices. America has become so indebted to China that it's become ridiculous. If China ever came to us and said, "OK, enough's enough. It's time to collect," the U.S. would be in trouble. With that said, China is quickly rising among world powers. It still remains very poor in its per capita quality of living. But it has the third largest GDP of any country in the world and is home to some of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world (18 of the 100 largest cities in the world are in China. The U.S. only has 11. http://www.worldatlas.com/citypops.htm). It's economy is taking off, and English lessons are only the tip of the iceberg.



I believe that China is on its way to becoming the next world power. As I see it, it's not a matter of "if" but "when". The U.S. will need to gain control of its borrowing and spending habits if it truly wants to stay on top of the world economies.



Thoughts?

Amplify’d from network.nationalpost.com

China largest English speaking nation now

The world's "lingua franca" is English and an estimated two billion are trying to learn it as their linguistic passport to business success and global access. China leads the pack, followed by India and Eastern Europe. "This year China will become the world's largest English-speaking nation of more than 300 million," said Mike Kraft, CEO of Lingo Media Corporation which is poised to cash in on this gigantic market. But English speaking is a bit of a misnomer. The problem in China is a shortage of teachers who actually speak English properly. Enter Lingo Media, Kraft's small, Toronto-listed company. He has been a specialty publisher for years who has been developing English textbook products for China's governments for years. Then he realized the teacher shortage problem so he just launched a breakthrough web-based learning product, using voice recognition software, for the Chinese market. Within one year of operation, it has signed up one million registered users and is growing its client base exponentially. Read more at network.nationalpost.com

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/eiV8q8

A bottle that tells you when you're thirsty. What's next? A bed that tells you when you're tired?

I wouldn't mind having my bed tell me when it's time to sleep, especially if it would work on my kids! Seriously though, a bottle that tells us when we are thirsty? Don't get me wrong, the technology is amazing to be able to do such a thing, and the design looks great too. But do I really need a bottle to tell me this? I think the body already does a pretty masterful job at doing such things.



I've heard that the average American already owns between 4-6 devices that connect to the Internet (I'm sure I own quite a bit more, much to the dismay of my poor wife ;-)). In 10 years, that number is expected to grow 10-fold. We live in an era of exponential technological growth. Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, and it just keeps growing. Sure we're not talking about flying cars anymore ,ala the Jetsons, but we're not far off from refrigerators that connect to the web and notify us when we need groceries and help us keep inventory of food. Who knows? We may even have fridges that order the food for us or that decide our diet based upon our BMI, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Given the kinds of advancement, It's not hard to imagine that we may see GPS trackers for animals (I'm sure they exist, but I mean more prominently). Or how about a translator for animals that tells us when they want to go out, want food, or need to do their duty?



It's really quite endless the possibilities of gadgets and web-enabled devices that we may carry in the future. Can you believe we actually lived in a time without cell phone and internet? My kids will never no such unenlightened times.

Amplify’d from www.engadget.com

Futuristic water bottle uses technology, science to let you know you're thirsty

The future is a scary place, yes -- but one thing we don't need to fear is being unaware that we're thirsty. Research and development firm Cambridge Consultants will be showing off its intriguing "i-dration" concept fitness water bottle at CES in a few weeks, combining a series of sensors on the bottle itself that communicate with an app you've got installed on your smartphone. The bottle will measure ambient temperature, how much fluid you've pounded, and how often you've consumed it; Read more at www.engadget.com

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/e0c4Sw