What I Did in 2010

It’s now less than 24 hours into 2011, and I already feel hopelessly behind. My list of tasks that absolutely, positively, without any question or wiggle room whatsoever, had to be done by the end of 2010—and are in fact not yet done—is agonizingly long. So I’ll be spending the first part of 2011 catching up with all that stuff, putting me that much further behind on all the incredibly urgent things that have to happen this year. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but to be honest, I have a feeling that even “Polish off my 2010 list” is too ambitious a goal for 2011. That makes me feel kind of, you know, unhappy.

On December 31, 2009, I wrote up a little post here called What I Did in 2009. As I explained in that post, I did it as a sort of therapeutic exercise to help me overcome the disappointment of unfinished tasks and unrealized goals at the time, and the feeling that the year had been woefully underproductive. It worked so well I decided to do the same thing this year. Maybe I’ll make it an annual tradition.

So here we go—what I accomplished in 2010:

I also spent quite a bit of time doing non-work-related stuff:

That’s a long list—but then, in 2009 I did a similar number of things plus wrote a 900-page book on Mac security. On the other hand, Morgen and I have the cutest baby in the world, and I am not one to exaggerate. And I find that playing with our baby (or, to be honest, even changing poopy diapers while he’s screaming his head off) is about 37.5 times more fun than writing that book was. So there’s that. Also, as is my custom, I ate large quantities of chocolate, which makes me feel a whole lot better. And I would have ended the year with an empty inbox if a couple of people hadn’t sent me messages right before midnight that I was really not going to interrupt my movie watching, wine drinking, and family time to deal with. (It’s empty now.)

In just over a week I turn 44. Back when I turned 30, I predicted that my 40s would be my decade of wealth and influence. I’ve made some meaningful strides in that direction, but I can now say I’m actively cultivating a plan to make that a reality. This could be a very big year indeed, but if I’m too distracted by the smiles and giggles of my wonderful son to achieve fame and fortune in the next 12 months, that wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.

January 1, 2011 by Bricolage

Soren Thomas Kissell

One week ago today, Morgen and I welcomed our son, Soren Thomas Kissell, to the world. In the days since, I’ve been much too busy and sleep-deprived to pay much attention to things like writing blog posts or answering email. But we’re thrilled to have this new addition to our family, and if you’d like to see pictures and videos and keep up with the latest news, you can visit a separate site we set up for that purpose: Morgen & Joe’s Baby.

May 27, 2010 by News

Unhelpful Error Message of the Day

iDisk Error

Gee, thanks. That tells me so much. I would have never understood the problem without this detailed explanation.

At least it appeared over and over, as though with repeated exposure I’d eventually get the point.

February 27, 2010 by Mac Stuff

Apple Tablet Rumor Ruminations

Let me begin by saying that I don’t know anything more about the new product(s) Apple will be announcing on January 27 than anyone else outside the company. (And I can’t get over how often people ask me what I know about future Apple products, as if Apple would share their trade secrets with me but not the rest of the world!) The only thing I can say for sure is that I’ve had discussions with two publishers about the possibility of writing a book on the next iProduct, whatever it is and whenever it’s released, so it’s a fairly safe bet you’ll see my name and the name of the new whatever-it-is sharing a book cover later this year.

But last night while I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I was thinking about the various rumors I’ve read, the paint-spattered “Come see our latest creation” invitation to the upcoming event, and the fact that no one, to this point, has proposed anything I’d consider a killer application for a product that’s presumably something like a large iPhone/iPod touch or a MacBook without a keyboard. So far, I haven’t read any descriptions of what the thing might do that make me conclude I really need to spend another however many hundreds of dollars on a device to supplement my iPhone and MacBook Pro—something that’ll do things neither of those devices can do, and do them so well that I can’t live without it. (Other than, you know, in the sense that I can’t live without money, and I make money by writing books about technology.)

As all these ideas were bashing around in my head, I thought of Wacom’s Cintiq, which is a graphics tablet with a display underneath the surface, so the artist doesn’t have to choose between looking at the pen and looking at the screen. And I thought, hmmmm, there’s a handheld device with a wide-screen display and touch-sensitive surface, no keyboard, hooks up to a Mac or PC, and costs $1000. Where have I heard those specs before?

So this is what I’m thinking:

  • One of the major selling points (not the only point, by any means) of the new iProduct will be its painting/drawing capabilities. Which means…
  • Apple will introduce some brand new iApplication that runs on the device and does for graphics what GarageBand does for music creation—puts high-quality results within easy reach of non-professionals. But that would make the most sense if…
  • A version of said application also runs on your desktop computer—though probably just Macs, like most of Apple’s other apps. So, in addition, I’m guessing…
  • The iProduct could be used for painting/drawing in either a stand-alone way, with the new iApplication, or as an input device for an existing program on your computer (Photoshop or Illustrator or whatever). Needless to say…
  • This’ll all work wirelessly, unlike the Cintiq. And…
  • A stylus will be optional. (Hello, finger painting!)
  • If Apple does use the name “iPad,” I think it’ll apply to the software, not the hardware.

So, if this all came true, you’d be getting a thing with considerably more capabilities than the Cintiq for (I imagine) about the same price. This all seems utterly logical to me, and I’m rather surprised that none of the gadget blogs and rumor sites I’ve read have been playing up this particular scenario. But since I have nothing to lose by being wrong, I wanted to go on record with my predictions, such as they are.

Now, I have zero artistic skills or ambitions, and personally, I don’t think this set of capabilities would interest me much regardless of how easy and snazzy Apple were to make the software. I can’t imagine watching movies on such a thing (my flat-screen TV would get jealous), and I’m not a gamer, so those capabilities (which will surely also be present) won’t attract me either. I’d read books on it, sure, and surf the Web from the sofa, but I can already do that on my iPhone. So I’m still waiting to find out what it is about this hypothetical device that would induce me to buy it if I weren’t doing so for entirely professional (and tax-deductible) reasons. We’ll know soon enough!

January 23, 2010 by Mac Stuff
Joe with a small Canadian flag
Joe Kissell is a best-selling, award-winning, hyphen-overusing author and technologist, and the publisher of Take Control Books. He enjoys making complicated topics easy to understand. He’s also a husband, dad, and dreamer. Having lived in numerous places in the U.S., Canada, and France, Joe has now settled in Saskatoon.

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