The Ultimate Mind Blower

I sit here writing (or rather dictating to my still quite annoying Dragon software) with a mixture of excitement and relief, and oddly, a bit of sadness. My digital communications course has come to an end, now I am just trying to eek out a few more blog posts to solidly get a B on the assignment. I walked out of class on Monday telling my professor that my last blog posts were going to blow his mind, then left thinking... "oh crap, I was only joking, what am I going to write about to wrap this thing up?"

So I decided to give you a list of a lot of cool things (online tools, websites, apps) that I learned from my classmates during our weekly knowledge share. I wanted to review many of these for blog posts, but didn't quite get to it. I can't vouch for whether these are worthwhile, because I've not tried them myself, but my classmates are pretty knowledgeable and trustworthy. There is a little something here for everyone, enjoy!

For the do-gooder:

If you still like to print paper, but feel guilty about it, GreenPrint allows you to print only the parts you want from any kind of document.

FirstGiving allows you to select a particular charity and fundraise on behalf of someone, without having to be linked to a particular event.

For the social media buff:

Tired of logging and different sites and see what your friends are up to? Meebo.com allows you to sign into all of your accounts at once and have the streams appear in one dashboard view.

For those Twitter lovers, Twiangulate compiles Twitter lists and lets the user triangulate the data which helps them to find and revise the list of people that they follow.

For the creative types:

Issuu is a digital platform for individuals, businesses, and publishers to create content with traditional print design features (i.e. turns pages like a magazine) but with greater interactivity.

Customink allows users to create their own designs on all sorts of merchandise: t-shirts, mugs, hats etc.

For the effective project manager:

LessProjects is a free application for managing collaborative projects.

Remember the Milk, is a free, Web-based to-do list manager (with a poor name) that allows for offline use so you don't always need to be connected to the Internet.

For the data nerds:

Many Eyes is a cool online data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive visualizations of their data (sounds kind of like Wordle, but more extensive).

Lynda.com is an extensive library of tutorials for software such as Flashbuilder, Excel, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Avid Media Composer, Encore, Illustrator, etc.

Leapfroggers

Traditionally, marketers for tech gadgets ignore late adopters such as me. The standard practice is to lure the early adopters who in turn create buzz, eventually persuading the masses. The recent Wired article, Clive Thompson on Why Gadget Makers Should Target Late Adopters, makes a case for why marketers may want to rethink this strategy and show people like me a little love.

Marketing academic Jacob Goldenberg’s recent work suggests that laggards, which make up about 16% of the population, are a crucial high tech demographic for marketers because of their “leapfrogging” tendencies. Laggards may hold out on buying every new product on the market, but when they get around to buying they often skip several generations of products and end up leapfrogging ahead to the latest and greatest version.

According to Goldenberg, the economic impact of converting leapfrogging laggards is huge and can really drive profits. Also, word-of-mouth endorsements from these late adopters are especially powerful (i.e. “If Erin is using this thing, it must be easy and accessible”)!

Thinking about this potential shift in marketing strategy, I wonder what it may take for tech marketers to effectively reach me. They would have to meet me where I am, which until recently was not tech blogs. More mainstream avenues, perhaps my favorite New York or Lucky magazines, might be more effective. The message would have to be simple, emphasizing how the new product or service would add value to my life—I won’t be sold on cool, new features, because I likely won’t understand how I benefit from them. Speak my language.

Many late adopters like me have the motto, “if it ain’t broke…” and the lens “is this worth my while?”—show us that it is worthwhile, give us a fair price and you may win us over after all.

Your Brain (and Bodies) on Computers

The article More Americans Sense a Downside to an Always Plugged-In Existence, included in the New York Times (NYT) series "Your Brain on Computers," highlights the results from a recent NYT/CBS news poll. According to the poll, most Americans feel that technology, such as smart phones and computers, have made their lives better and easier, but some indicate that these devises are intrusive and increase their levels of stress.

Younger people in particular report that these devises make it harder for them to focus, and people in general just can't shut off after work with almost 40% of respondents checking work email after hours and on vacation.

Come on people, there is more to life than work! Not only is this addiction to technology changing the way our brains are functioning, it's also contributing to the overall health decline of the American workforce. Clearly, living a sedentary lifestyle and being chronically glued to our computers is a huge contributing factor to the obesity epidemic and the cause of many musculoskeletal issues.

I'm an active and fit person, and also embarrassed to admit that I am suffering from tennis elbow due to my excessive computer use. I wish it was from tennis! Too much work and not enough play, maybe this is my body giving me a sign.

Your Brain on Computers

A few days ago, The New York Times featured an interesting article, Your Brain on Computers: Hooked on Gadgets, and Paying a Mental Price, that highlights the Campbell family, especially Mr. Campbell, who is overly dependent on technology and is starting to notice some negative effects. Mrs. Campbell complains that her husband is often distracted, forgetful, and has a difficult time disconnecting and being in the moment.

This families reliance on technology seems somewhat extreme to me, but the scary thing is that it is the norm for many. If you are anything like the Campbell's, you may want to check out the warning signs of tech overload.

Researchers confirm that constant multi-tasking can be addictive, and is changing the way people think and behave, and not necessarily for the best. Multi-tasking used to be thought of as a great skill to have, but new research shows that multitaskers may actually have more trouble focusing and may experience more stress (test your focus and how well you can juggle between tasks with these cool, interactive quizzes).

Advances in technology that allow people to work anywhere and anytime, can be great for managing work and life, but not if you don't set boundaries for their use and unplug often. I know there are some great benefits to being connected, but living life in the moment is a real joy, and it would be sad to lose touch with that.

Is this blog worth my while?

I am not oblivious to the rapidly changing world of technology around me, but I am cautious in embracing new technologies. I managed to avoid joining MySpace and Friendster when those sites were hot, only caving to Facebook last year. I am still holding out on Twitter, but not for long. I haven’t had cable TV since I lived with my parents 15 years ago (not like cable TV is new, but I have yet to experience Tivo or DVR) and I just purchased my first digital camera nine months ago. I actually use my phone to talk to people, and it is not of the smart variety.

If I have managed to live without “it” thus far (whatever “it” may be at the moment), I question whether it’s necessary. I fear that once I become accustomed to using new technologies that I won’t be able to live without them. Case in point, I recently misplaced my new IPod shuffle and couldn’t fathom running without it. I managed to exercise with my big clunky IPod attached to my arm for years before, with no issue.

More importantly, learning new technology can be intimidating and time consuming. How do people have time to learn and use all these new, cool gadgets and tools? I am a full-time worker, part-time student, and also would like to have a social life. I only want to embrace new technology if it will help me be more productive, advance my career, or enhance my social life. No time wasters!

Through this blog, I will explore new technologies through this lens—-hence the title “Worth My While?”. I am hoping other late adopters may find some humor in my musings and may learn some tips for integrating new technologies in their work and lives through my experiences.