Few Things I can't live without
Google Apps: The cloud is awesome. Our entire operation (extanz.com) is run using google apps. Yes, there are some hiccups and occasional downtimes but overall, we've been very pleased. I reached one of those moments where you can hear yourself saying...how did they function without a computer? How did they function without internet? How could we function without Google Apps?
iPhone:I know Nexus and the Droids are soon to be big time rivals but frankly, this thing has been a blessing in terms of ease of use. @kblucy is rarely a prime technology adopter but in the space of a few hours she was comfortable with it. Don't we just ask for technology to be functional for humans? How many times do we say, people who invented this or that product should be shot?
Yep, victim of the iPhone and happy to be, we moved to Mac and again, what a delight. Workflow speed and ease of use have never been better. Let's see if I say the same after 18 months. I see a lot of reviews which mention that Apple haslost their edge in terms of innovation... I may not have been an early adopter but I won't easily go back to a windows based OS. Chrome OS might just take care of my computing moves. The cloud is awesome. (As I say that, my 1 year old PC just crashed and when it came back up, said "the system has recovered from serious error"....). 'Nuff said.
Friendfeed:
Friendfeed was acquired by Facebook earlier this year?. I think that the tight community on Friendfeed is still faithful to this platform. The learning curve was indeed harder than let's say, Twitter or Facebook, but once you truly work with it, it's been a "be in the know machine," which I keep using every day. I still think that FriendFeed is organically better than most things out there.Yep, the Twitter list is close but still not good enough; the meta-data and crowd curation is still pretty poor.
Trusty D80 Nikon: I'm probably one of Flickr's least favorite customers, as in 18 months I probably have accumulated close to 8,000 photos (before, they sat on HDrives) and no signs of slowing down for just $25/year. The trusty D80 is responsible for much of this and this machine has ridden pretty much as many mountain bike rides as I have since it's always on my chest... I've crashed more than once but the thing is still very functional and captures so much of my surroundings. Yes, I'd love to have a D300s or D700 but ....but that's for later.
RFX: A mountain bike better be a nice piece of engineering and efficient with that to support my 195lbs (88kg) and a less than friendly type of riding. We ride on very harsh and rocky terrain here in Colorado and Utah. I simply can't spend a year without having to change my entire drive train (cogs, chain, cassette, derailleur...), yes, it is that harsh. Our riding group rides early mornings west of Fort Collins where some of the best riding can be found along the front range and only 15mn away from town. The RFX.... has been flawless with 12 months under its belt (3 trips to Moab, Grand Junction and countless rides on the front range)...Kudos to you Turner Bikes!
Pandora: Even though not new, the thing is running every day and sometimes all day long.... Listening to good music has never been so easy. On the iPhone / in the car/ at home... it's suggestively good. Pandora needs a big refresh though, the UI (user interface) is starting to feel 1990s and the lack of customization (my own made up play lists I can share)... are critically lacking but they are probably working on it. It's been a life changing experience. CDs were here for a while, I thought MP3 music would keep me busy for long but no, music streams and sharing are now my downtown. It's sad that other countries can't access it yet...
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