Looking forward by scanning back

I've been reading many of the 2010 prediction lists. So many folk have done such a great job thinking about the future of the web/IT, I thought it would be interesting to list the web/IT oriented things that I have done recently that were not in place for me 12 months ago.

1. Signed onto PC using Chrome browser...faster than Firefox, but crashes Gmail more often. Can't wait for HTML5 for the next generation browser experience and saying goodbye to another layer of installed software as the browser sucks away more market from the software domain (as MSFT did in the 90's).

2. Sifted through 27 overnight e-mails. The majority were social oriented (Twitter following, FB friend requests, LinkedIn stuff). Amazing how quiet the house is with the shift from phones to texting/social. Thinking about how noisy offices were in the 90's (remember the noise containing containers on printers) and how the Enterprise is going to embrace many of the social tools with a vengeance that will bring a smile to long suffering shareholders.

3. New FB Friendfeeds this AM were 2x the e-mails received....and the gap is growing by the week

4. Looked at Tweetdeck, where the number of new Tweets from people I follow were 2x the FB feeds...got to filter these better. Craig Newmark...too many squirrel photos and bird posts!!!!

5. Scanned my 3G BBerry for BBM's and Chats (4 overnight). A device optimized for an aging metaphor (mail)

6. Took the wife's 3G iPod and spent an hour catching up with Meebo, YourVersion, Twitter, FB and chess with nephew (who wants a piece of me). No doubt there is a big role for a big screen Touch like device in my life (iSlate?)

7. Using TVersity to stream web content to the big TV (installed N router with a Wifi enabled LG BlueRay player)

8. Scrolled through GoogleLabs, now 5 pages long (including 1 1/2 pages of graduates) to see what could complement my move to GOOG apps for '10. GOOG is an innovation machine; too bad MSFT is in maintenance mode...the IBM of 201x

9. Interrupted my daughter's Hulu watching to do homework (no TV in her room, and doesn't ask for one)

10 For the first time, mailed driving directions to an inanimate object (my car)

11. Forwarded a Skype call via GoogleVoice.

12. Ordered another book on my Kindle; can't wait for it to evolve to a more open platform as it follows the rest of 'Amazon as a platform'

13. Lost a bet to my son (is Philadelphia a top 5 US population city?). Verified via WolframAlpha. This computational knowledge engine (just another way to say search for things that require some computations). This is serious technology. Hope it evolves to find a market.

14. Reached 575 family members and traced the family tree back to the Austrian Hungarian empire in 1825 via MyHeritage.com

15. Experimented with Geo location apps; FourSquare, GOOG Latitude, Loopt and Gowalla. GEO and profiling will capture intent to bring me better shopping, unlock more 'implicit' social relationships, and continue the shift from a 'pull' driven internet to a highly relevant 'push' experience

16. Though it's a stretch for '09, as the Apple App store is now 16 months old...its success has changed the software business (cratered prices, shifted web platform to mobile, and unleashed a tsunami of programmer creativity), while extending the web to your every second fingertips.

17. Sent a message to Scott, Yair and Laurie, co-founders of PlumWillow, a new and potentially exciting e-commerce company I am pleased to be investing in.

Feel free to expand this list with your personal '09 'Newbies'.

Wishing a great New Year to all my Friends and Followers.