Am I finally getting over my gadget obsession?  Perhaps.  Every year, I plan to buy one decent sized gadget (macbook, ipad, kindle etc). This year, i’m not sure what to have on my list.  I’ll definitely get the next iPhone once that comes out, but I can’t seem to find anything new that excites me enough to shell out good money for it. What’s going on?  For those who didn’t get the first generation iPad, it makes sense to get the iPad2.  Personally, for me it just doesn’t offer enough to make the leap.  I thought about getting a 30” monitor for my study, but then though, how much time to I actually spend in my study to justify one? And that was a quick and easy decision.  It’s kind of sad really, but I feel like I have a very connected house already with my living room as connected as it can be, and with minimal cable service, I can pretty much watch whatever I want by way of NetFlix, AppleTV, DLNA, or all the other possible gadget apps that are available between my TV and BluRay player - so not much I can do there.  My study is hooked up, and my smartphone does pretty much what I expect it to.  For the one-off’s I have the robots running around on the floor to fill in the blanks.  Now what? I already feel like we have one too many TV’s and barely watch any.  I never thought i’d have this problem - but maybe it’s not me.  Maybe it’s just that the industry is not creating enough exciting things for me to get excited about.  Maybe home automation is the next thing for me to look at.  Whatever I get has to be practical, save me time, and be so easy to use that it just comes naturally.  So far nothing on my list for 2011.  So disappointed…. sigh!

It’s been fascinating to observe what has been going on in Tunisia, Egypt, and now Yemen with the unrest as a result of authoritarian regimes and peoples frustration with being left behind in the global context.  I read this fascinating article on GigaOm (link) called “Gladwell Still Missing the Point About Social Media and Activism” by Mathew Ingram and couldn’t help but think about both sides of the equation.  I’ve read all of Gladwell’s books and find him to be an author who doesn’t make off the cuff comments.  His writings tend to be well though out and present factual data to support his hypothesis.  That being said, he is not one to make predictions or evaluate situations as they are unfolding.  The unrest in Egypt, Tunisia, and now Yemen certainly were influenced by their close proximity and similarity in situations.  All evidence so far suggests that Social Media did in fact play a role in accelerating and organizing the protests.  More importantly, the government in Egypt quickly recognized this and quickly shut down the internet communication from the outside world.  That being said, Malcolms point that uprisings like this have happened for centuries is also valid.  Here in Boston itself, it was Paul Revere on horseback spreading the word about the English coming.  Just imagine if he was tweeting this from his smartphone though.  The word would spread infinitely faster, engage more debate, and allow people to organize and latch-on to a constant stream of information that would be virtually impossible to disconnect from.  I’m not suggesting that this all happened because of Social Media.  Obviously, the frustrations people have are not new and have been building up over time.  What technologies (particularly the connection to the outside world via Social Media) that give an immediate, interactive, and explosive channel to people who may not otherwise be part of a movement like this.  

What’s also very interesting to me is that the rest of the world is tuned in and following this story.  Even 10 or 15 years back, that may not have been the case.  People are connecting to each other at a personal level and exchanging information.  This time around the main-stream media is going along for the ride.  They are not reporting the story as it builds, they are reporting the news as it’s being passed around the twitters and facebooks.  It’s the photo streams from that region that we’re all watching in real-time that have the world tuned-in.  

The question that we should be asking is… what was the tipping point in Tunisia?  We know Egypt mostly ignited because of the events in Tunisia, and we know that the situation in Yemen is bubbling up, and it’s possible that other countries in that region are starting to organize similar protests.  What is this a start of?  How many simultaneous uprisings will we be observing in a week, a month, or a year from now?  What’s going on in China, Tibet, North Korea, Pakistan, Iran, and other areas where this can occur?  Whether the Egyptian government falls or not, the governments of these countries know they no longer operate in the same reality they were comfortable with just a few years back.  They are trying to react - like the Egyptian authorities using the Vodafone mobile network to broadcast pro-government SMS messages to the people.  

People like me have a number of keywords that we are observing in our twitter streams - and let me tell you - it is amazing the breath of information that’s coming through.  But I am just a mere observer.  I dont’ have relatives in those countries or any vested interest beyond concern the common man who has let out a scream because the pain was just not bearable anymore, and now it’s too late to stop screaming, and they must continue on.  

On a personal note, I hope the people of Egypt prevail, not just with ousting Mubarak, but establishing a government that represents their interests and those of the future generations.  The US is doing the right thing by letting the situation evolve and take it’s course.  We must watch from the side lines, hard as it is, otherwise the people of Egypt will not succeed.  This is Democratization in the digital age, and it’s available to the common man.  It’s not going to be a rough ride, but it’s too late to put the breaks on now!

This year I will….

1) Do at least one home-improvement project

2) Drink more water

3) Write more code and learn one new programming language

4) Read more and keep up with things broader than the technology arena

5) Figure out this work/life balance thing

Five resolutions are about all I want to take on this year.  #3 is going to be the hardest, but one i’m looking forward to the most.

On a related note, I already did one decent sized home-improvement project this year.  I put in a french door in place of the old door to my study.  This way I can keep an eye on the kid and also lock him out of my stuff.  The older door didn’t shut and this one looks and works great.  Best part, I did all the work myself, and it cost me roughly $160.  Pictures to come soon…

iPhone and the Android market share…
This Washington Post article was an interesting read, but I can’t help but share my perspective on it, so here it goes.  First off, let me just say in the interest of full disclosure that i’m an apple fan-boy and my opinion is quite biased.  That being said, I do want to present a different way of looking at the whole picture.  While Android is an OS platform developed by Google, it can run on a number of devices and service providers networks.  In contrast, the iPhone is the device itself.  This article is not comparing Android market share to iOS market share, though that I would argue would be a better comparison if one wants to argue the popularity of the platform itself.  What this article does is compares Apples and oranges if you will.  
iOS runs on a few platforms; namely the iPhone, the iPod touch, the iPad, and now the Apple TV and the iPod Nano.  The same day this article was released, CNN ran a story headlined - iPad adoption rate fastest in electronics product history.  On the flip side one could argue that the Washington post story was comparing the smartphone market.  In that respect, it is a good measure to look at what “platforms” are most popular in the market place.  For that argument though, one must not ignore the fact that the iPhone is only available for a subset of carriers that the Android based devices are available for.  Since Android devices exist for both CDMA and GSM networks in the US, it is again comparing apples and oranges.  A fair comparison would be to see how many AT&T customers choose Android devices over the iPhone as that would represent user preference given all things being equal.  The Washington Post article also doesn’t provide specifics of the data so it’s not clear whether these numbers are global or US only.  That’s just bad reporting.
Reading the article, one could draw the conclusion that, all things being equal, a buyer would prefer the Android device over the iPhone (ignoring the blackberry reference for a minute). An Apple fan like myself would tell you that, having compared both platforms, my opinion is that the Apple devices is a highly integrated smartphone with a much better over-all user experience.  That being said, it does have some limitations in terms of “openness” which the Android platform does not.  I would argue that there are tradeoffs when you talk about openness, and an “open source” platform is always going to have some advantages over the proprietary platforms.  As a user, I would decide what works best for me and what i’m willing to compromise on.  Now mind you, I and my wife both own iPhones (3GS for me, and iPhone 4 for her), we own an iPad, a Mac Book, and even the legacy Apple TV.  I want these devices to play nicely and the draw for me in a large part is the tight integration.  
If the Apple iPhone was available today on the Verizon network (something that is expected to happen with the roll-out of the LTE network), I would expect to see a lot of switchers to the iPhone.  There are always going to be haters, but the Apple brand identify is stronger and the user experience far ahead of it’s counterparts.  Look at the Android phones in the marketplace.  They look like iPhone copycats.  The level of innovation is not game changing.  It is merely taking the things that people complain about for the iPhone, and providing those.  The first generation iPhone with the aluminum body was better designed than most Android phones out today.  When Apple releases an iPhone, it is a media event.  When Motorola, HTC, or Samsung introduce a smartphone running Android, it’s covered in the tech blogs, but you don’t see lines out the door at their retail outlets.  
Now, if I were Apple, I would certainly be watching carefully and making sure that the competition is not running away with the segment of the market that the Cupertino company has identified as their target.  I would also keep a close eye on patent infringements.  With each generation of the iPhone, Apple has gotten closer to addressing the consumers big demands.  With the recent changes to their App store terms of service, they are also approving a lot of the applications that were historically rejected.  The next generation of the iPhone needs to be a game changer once again.  The current iPhone 4 in many ways is the same device that was introduced in 2007.  While there have been many hardware improvements, the real innovation has been in the software, primarily the iOS and the introduction of the App Store.  What I would expect to see continue is the thriving accessory market that is building some cutting edge devices, and some even leveraging the hardware API’s that Apple introduced with the current version of the OS.  
This is where the Android market is missing out a bit.  No accessory manufacturer is going to build products for every Android phone that’s out there.  You may see some of the more popular ones like the Droid get some love from the larger accessory makers, but its’ not across the board by any means.  Consumers will also learn that not every Android phone can get the latest version of the OS when it’s available to the masses.  Some of the older devices may never get an OS upgrade.  Apple gets grief for not supporting the latest OS on the first generation iPhone.  It’s not nearly as bad in the Apple camp though.  I installed iOS4 on my 3GS with no issues.  
So to summarize, the iPhone hates can do what they do best, but media outlets should provide the right perspective when reporting on the mobile market.  It’s one thing to beat-up on the top dog, and the iPhone is the trend-setter here.  We’re going to see the same thing when the tablets come out rolling.  Look at when Apple introduced the iPad, and look at every other device manufacturer trying to come out with copycat devices.  Do you think Apple is sitting still? Hardly!  The iPad was years in production and the unified OS is going to make it easier for Apple to introduce many more devices over the next few years.  The likes of Motorola, HTC, and Samsung are going to jump on every bandwagon, Windows Phone 7 included.  That makes sense for them to do, and the competitive landscape is great for the consumer.  
Consumers should get the devices they like that do what they want them to do.  They shouldn’t get caught up in the hype.  If you’re currently an AT&T subscriber, or don’t have an issue switching, you have the choice.  The rest of you don’t really so why bother.