Sarah Claus's "Good and Bad" Christmas list
Good
Flickr - just love it! People's creativity and willingness to share / connect with others continues to amaze me
Twitter - chat-worthy, news-worthy, people-worthy... service flaky, but hey... nothing's perfect
Blogger - nothing like having somewhere to plop the entire contents of your brain every so often
Google Reader - fantastic RSS goodness, nice little improvements throughout the year - what's not to like?
Google Scholar - the nerdy version of Google search - makes academic searching a joined up process - hooray!
Google - okay, most stuff Google has continued to be pretty groovy. Google Calendar, GMail, Google Notebook, iGoogle... I'm a Google trollop, it's true. Yes, they do look like they're going to swallow up the world on occasion... but what's a little world-swallowing between friends?
Delicious - social bookmarking - why bookmark locally? Share the love!
Online document editing - Zoho, Google Docs... loving your portable office-style goodness. Making your working world portable is easier than ever. An internet connection and you're away.
Netbooks - I love my little Asus Eee pc. My days of trying to get a laptop to act like a desktop are done. A netbook bridges the gap without pretending to be something it's not. Rocking!
iPods - mobile learning-tastic! I've moved about a fair bit this year whilst finishing off my Masters degrees... and being able to put audio /video materials on my iPod has been superb
Your stockings will be bulging with well-deserved loveliness
Bad
SecondLife - I know, I know... I know it has lots of merits... but it failed, again, to win me over. It doesn't win over the media, it doesn't win over the majority, it doesn't win over me.
Microsoft - okay, not exactly bad... but haven't set the web 2.0 world on fire this year either. I even opted for Linux instead of Windows on my netbook - and the world didn't cave in either.
VLEs - Blackboard, Moodle, WebCT and the like... enjoy the burning embers that were the educational fire you failed to set alight. "Jack of all trades, master of none" isn't a great place to position yourself... will be interested to see how the monolithic VLE copes with 2009.
iPhones - expensive and still needs to prove that it's more than hype and hysteria. Not getting the iPhone frenzy... but then... *whisper*... I'm not really a big mobile phone fan either.
iTunes - yes, I love my iPod, but I don't like iTunes. I hate that feeling of being sucked into the big Apple machine when I connect my iPod to my computer. Not rational, but I don't care... Who said Christmas lists needed to be rational? :o)
Usernames and passwords - OpenID. 'Kay? Let's just accept that I cannot possibly remember all of my username and passwords, pop them in the bin and go for the OpenID approach. I'd really like that, y'know.
A lump of coal will await you all tomorrow morning. Let's start afresh next year, huh?
Stuff hovering between lists
Facebook - definitely not as 'hot' as it was for those of us who like bright shiny things, but has settled into an everyday use... which is a plus point
Linux - I want to embrace your open source goodness, honestly I do... but the geek-factor is still a little overwhelming even if you and I co-exist happily on a daily basis via my Asus Eee pc
Beta services - please stop enticing me to sign up and then disappearing into the ether. You and I both know I'm addicted to new sparkly stuff... give me at least a little chance to enjoy your offerings. Please?
For you, I give the gift of an e-mailed gift voucher. The gift that says, 'yeah, I remembered, but I didn't remember in time or care enough to think deeply about your present'. Set my world alight a little more next year and we'll review the gift-giving where you're concerned.
