G-OGRAPHY: a southeast asian lady travels...

Photo Credit: MTV

As one person said: "It's the biggest piece of news this morning". He's right, a quick glance on Facebook and Twitter shows tons of feeds and tweets about the iPad. Even blogs and online news sources are featuring "live" updates from Apple's creation event here and here.

There seems to be a lot of mix reviews about this product which looks more like a cross between an iPhone and a Macbook. LA Times thinks it will bode well for the publishing industry. While others think that it could possibly be bigger. Meaning the iPad will find itself in the hands of a large demographic of tech savvy users who are hungry for content on the go. Be it movies, music and games there will be a connected app on this very mobile device (Read Pocket Link's How the Apple tablet will change the world).

I think one of the more amusing posts would be MTV's ( click here) which feature speculations on possible famous early adopters like Lady Gaga. After all, the singer made a big splash at the recent CES event in Vegas with Polaroid naming her as their creative director for a new line of products!? (I'm still trying to find out what her qualification are for this job).

On the other hand, a lot of backlash have already begun with one of the reasons being it's $499 price tag. While, finally, some couldn't care less about all this buzz- it's just another fad like the iPod, right?

I kid you not, I truly am an introvert. I have always represented myself as an extrovert especially in my mid to late twenties because I work in an industry that required me to be one- Recruitment. Of course, I did this unconsciously. My pervading logic was: I am in recruitment therefore I am an extrovert. I am also a very curious and adventurous person by nature so I find myself engaging in various activities and interacting with different people. Besides I can talk to strangers if I want to. I like going out. I have a large social network. Most of all, I can deliver a presentation that can knock all the socks off a crowd. This is why I always thought I was an extrovert...or so I thought.

I was reading this blog post by Cincyrecruiter and she embedded the slide below on her post:

Let me tell you that after finishing the presentation I felt something inside me click. For me, slide number 10 had the largest impact. It said: "It's about helping others. Sharing and learning." I so get it! It's about helping candidates connect to career opportunities that help companies achieve their business objectives. This has always been one of the things I love about my job! It has also been one of my recruiting mantras help and be helped.

Sacha did well capturing what it is like to be a "Shy Connector". So now I know why I don't like small talk. I also know why I go into cycles of what I call "hibernation" where I just prefer to be by myself. Accepting it just makes it easier for me to be aware of how I can capitalize on this.

According to Cincyrecruiter:

Introverts - Recharge by spending time alone.

Extroverts - Recharge by being around people.

It's a simple as that. Yet, there are a lot of negative connotations and misconceptions about being an introvert. It is because the majority of people aren’t very knowledgeable when it comes to introverts, in terms of why they are the way they are and why they do the things they do. Brian Kim writes an article called Top 5 Things Every Extrovert Should Know About Introverts which is a must read.

I am also copying and pasting Money Qoute's from posts that the Cincyrecruiter has summarized. She did a great job of linking excellent resources for both introverts and extroverts to use. There are also books on Amazon if you want to delve deeper into the topic.

* Funny and accurate: Caring for Your Introvert - Money Quote: "Now I am here to tell you what you need to know in order to respond sensitively and supportively to your own introverted family members, friends, and colleagues. Remember, someone you know, respect, and interact with every day is an introvert, and you are probably driving this person nuts."

* Introversion and Leadership - Yes You Can!!! - Money Quote: "Plenty of introverts are skilled at "acting" extroverted in necessary situations. An introvert who understands their energy needs will be able to "extrovert" with the others and be a social butterfly and then simply retire to their own personal space to recharge for their next social function."

* How to Network: For Introverts - Money Quote: "Introverts typically don’t like to talk about themselves - we prefer to talk about ideas. Force yourself to discuss some of the things you’ve done. Don’t brag, make sure they are relevant to the conversation. Then the extroverts can talk about you and pass your achievements along."

* Job Search Tips for Introverts - Money Quote: "Value your listening skills. When you're searching for a job and reaching out to others, you'll do this much more effectively if you're a good listener."

* Top 5 Things Every Extrovert Should Know About Introverts - Money Quote: Introverts have more brain activity in their frontal lobes and when these areas are activated through solitary activity, introverts become energized through processes such as problem solving, introspection, and complex thinking. Extroverts on the other hand tend to have more activity in the back of their brain, areas that deal with processing sensory information from the external world, so they tend to search for external stimuli in the form of interacting with other people and the outside world to energize them.

Moral of the story is whoever you are you have to learn to embrace yourself. Accept your strengths and weaknesses. Once you do, you can learn how to leverage this to create meaningful connections that can be mutually beneficial to your professional and personal relationships.

So that being said I end my post with an introduction: Hello, my name is Graciel. I'm an introvert and I love it.

Technology Predictions for 2010

Photo Cred: Dan Zen

Here they are:

Web 2.0 & Social Media
For 2010, Geolocation is the new buzzword for the online community. Last year, services such as Loopt and Google Latitude became popular applications that allowed people to share their real-time location to friends through any internet connected device. Experts think that this will continue to catch on for 2010. More businesses will offer location-based services that will allow you to identify exactly where objects and other people are. Even photos and videos can now be “geotagged”. Mashable has an excellent article that will give you a detailed account of what it would look like here.


Augmented Reality is also another technology that will rock Social Media in 2010. AR combines real images and virtual data into an interactive real-time 3d format. Layar and Yelp were the first ones to release apps for this. Now even Lonely Planet and the US Postal Service has it!


Google Wave will also become bigger. More people will be using it as a collaborative tool even small enterprises. Speaking of Google, it looks like a big year for them since they will also, possibly, release Chrome OS...that is if they are able to prepare for hacker attacks.


Devices
They will continue to be connected, portable, and smart. It would be interesting to see the Android and the iPhone battle each other out for the #1 spot for Smartphone of the Year in 2010. On the other hand, Netbooks and Ebooks will still make an appearance but sexy Tablets are going to make a big debut with Apple's iSlate looking very promising.


Electronics
Behold the coming of 3d TV! Ten years ago this was a technology that you could only see in science fiction movies, yet, we now have it in this decade. Of course, it will be very expensive but early adopters will be showcasing one of these in their homes in no time.


Gaming
Ever since Microsoft announced Project Natal in June 2009 (with no less than Legendary Hollywood mega-director/producer Steven Spielberg helping to unveil it), the world has been eagerly waiting for it. What they have is a device that could revolutionize the way people play video games. The motion-sensing, facial-recognizing, voice-controlled device could make the Xbox 360 unbeatable.


As for game titles, best bets for making it to the top are: Bioshock 2, God of War 3, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Mass Effect 2, Gran Turismo 5, Metroid Other M and Bayonetta.


Green Tech
Although investments in clean technology are supposedly cooling off clean energy innovation will still be big in 2010. Consumers and businesses will also begin to monitor their energy use in real time and take steps through home energy monitoring displays. Lastly, electric cars such as the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf will sell this year.

Related Links

Gadget and Tech Predictions for 2010 - ABC News

10 Predictions for 2010 - PC World

6 Tech Predictions That Helped Shape 2009 and 6 That Might Shape 2010 - Mashable

Tech predictions for 2010 - ZDNet

Technology predictions 2010 « Technobabble 2.0