Social Media
I explained how to use Twitter back before everyone was on it and wrote about how I finally learned to love Facebook, despite its periodic privacy disasters. I incorrectly predicted that Facebook would kill Foursquare. I’ve tried to explain why Facebook’s new Graph Search feature is so important and recently confessed that Facebook killed my blog.
Grooving with Gadgets and Apps
I’ve written about the devices I can’t live without and how the number of indisposable devices in my life is actually shrinking, not growing. I was an iPad believer even before I’d seen one, and even more of a believer after it hit stores. I’ve compared the iPad and the Kindle as reading devices. Microsoft’s Kin phone was short-lived but I actually thought it was kind of cool. I wrote about how Apple’s iMovie for the iPad makes video editing fun again and have reviewed awesome apps like Letter M Press, Garageband, and MyPad. I published a gadget gift guide in 2010 and followed that up with holiday app guides in 2011 and 2012.
Apple
The iPhone came out two days after we launched Xconomy in June 2007, and Apple is obviously the defining technology company of the last half-decade. I’ve asked how a company that’s so closed can be so innovative and criticized Apple for loading too many functions into iTunes (a trend the company has now begun to reverse). I shared my painful experience migrating from iOS 4 to iOS 5 and my hopes for iCloud, and tried to offer an antidote to the Steve Jobs hagiography after his death in 2011. I’ve defended skeuomorphism in Apple apps and talked about why I hated the iPad mini.
The E-mail Plague
I’ve written about how to declare e-mail bankruptcy and what to do next. I’ve looked at software that turn e-mails into to-do items. My contention is that Gmail’s Priority Inbox feature is terrible at helping you prioritize your e-mail but that Sanebox is far better at the same thing. I’ve looked at ways to gamify getting through your e-mail, ways we can work together to restore e-mail sanity, and why no single app will fix your e-mail troubles.
Apps for Notetaking and Personal Archiving
As an inveterate note-taker, I’m always looking for new ways to capture, store, and save my notes. I’ve asked whether Evernote can help you think like Leonardo da Vinci, and profiled Springpad, which continues to be an interesting alternative to Evernote. In 2010 I compared Evernote and Springpad head-to-head. I’ve spent a lot of time trying out tablet-based note-taking apps like Paper from FiftyThree and Bamboo from Wacom and I’ve written about the peanut-butter-meets-chocolate moment when Evernote got together with Moleskine.
The Evolution of Media
I was disappointed by the first generation of digital magazines and hopeful about Rupert Murdoch’s The Daily as a standard-bearer for the second generation (wrongly, it turned out). I reported from an Arizona conference on the future of news and wrote about the return of long-form journalism on the Web. I’ve also examined the new crop of news reader apps like Flipboard and Zite and Trapit.
Traveling Daze
I’ve written about great travel apps. In 2010, I drove from Boston to San Francisco with my friend Graham and we made a series of videos chronicling the trip—see “World Wide Wade Goes West” Episodes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII (plus the inevitable “making of” video).
Technology and Health
I’m intrigued by companies that aim to use the Web or mobile apps to help people make better choices about their health. In that vein, I’ve covered the Larklife wristband, my experiences using running apps like Runkeeper and Runmeter, HealthRally’s neuroscience-based behavior change programs, and efforts at WellnessFX to get companies to pay for comprehensive blood panels for their employees.
Slick Startups
Sometimes I’ve used my Friday column simply to write about cool companies and organizations, including Xtranormal, Plinky, Hunch, Fitnesskeeper (and its rival Abvio), Quick Hit, Spreadshirt, Audioboo, Shareaholic, Rockmelt, Anybots, the Kauffman Foundation (twice), Intuit, OpenAppMkt, Fotopedia, Keas, Klip, Chomp, Mobileworks, WeVideo, Kullect, CoffeeTable, AllTrails, WikiHow, Greenstart, SportStream, Blurb, and Pageonce.
Random Rants
I’ve called for the abolition of meat, football, and driving. I’ve written about how the Challenger disaster changed my life and argued against Nicholas Carr’s contention that Google is making us stupid.
I’ve written a few old-fashioned book reviews, including one of Guy Kawasaki’s book Enchantment, another of John Palfrey and Urs Gasser’s Interop, and one of Reid Hoffman’s book The Startup of You.
I’ve railed against California’s Proposition 8, and talked about why the 2008 settlement between Google and the Authors Guild was bad for readers. I’ve attacked TechCrunch (partly for the way it perverted the embargo system) and written about why it wouldn’t be so terrible if the Boston Globe folded.
I called for an end to decay porn in Detroit and explained why that city is an important laboratory for innovation. I’ve argued that there are too many startup accelerators and shared my experiences as a juror in a month-long medical malpractice trial. I’ve even written about mythical creatures such as the tree octopus and zombies.
After all that, what’s left to write about? Come back next week and see.
