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What is the difference between people who enjoy developing software for the Internet and those who don’t? The ones who constantly come up with good ideas and those just go with the flow? There is clearly a difference between the people who love what they do and the ones who just go to work. At the rate that things change around us, keeping up with the industry seems impossible, though there are some people are doing it. If you are not one of these people, I bet that you know somebody that is always talking about some new gadget or service before David Pogue even had a chance to write a silly review about it. How do they do it? I bet that they also seem a little more enthusiastic about their job. That person is not strange, a genius, or a witch; they are just living the Connected Lifestyle.

Internet Services are not just a new industry. Internet Services that run in your browser or connect devices are a breakthrough in how we connect as people. They enable people to communicate with a massive audience the way that we could only communicate with an intimate few in the past. Wether this is your thing or not, it will keep catching on and the world will never look back. Each generation will build on top of the foundation that is being laid today.

This new way of communicating is so effective that its own remarkable growth can be counted as its own greatest success. Rather then relying on a few computer scientists to design everything, now people of all educational backgrounds are invited to connect and include their ideas and experience. This took the Internet from a collection of research documents to what we have today. It’s an art gallery, a library, a news room, etc…

We have always had a desire to get what we know about our work and interests out there. Historically, the average person would spend years perfecting their skills in what ever job they had. So much knowledge and experience just stayed in their head or was let go as an anecdote during dinner. With the advent of blogs this information that is tedious and boring to your poor family at the table, can delight somebody across the world who is also passionate about what you do. This collective knowledge could eventually accumulate and reshape how we see educate ourselves by letting people design a curriculum for themselves that would make the best possible use of their talents and interests. As you can see, blogging, Twitter, and name your favorite web service; are not gimmicks or kids toys. These services are the first bricks in the foundation of a connected lifestyle that everybody will need to be a part of to survive in the future.

Looking back at what led to the polarization of American culture in the past 8 years. The media is supposed to be our voice but it seems to have become the voice of advertisers, lead by ratings dollars. We have to subscribe to one that sounds better to us but not much encouragement to hear out the other. This morning I wanted to see how some well known news organizations were covering this election. Here are some samples:

Lets start over-seas:

Now lets get started with the moderate domestic source:

and now the allegedly liberal:

And finally the conservative:

There is no doubt that the economy needs to be fixed but our culture needs some work too. I hope the new administration will be the unifying force that we need.

Obama FTW!

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I will never forget where I was on November 4th 2008.

I Voted

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I am optimistic about the future of our country. When I see the pride in which people are wearing this sticker today.

“The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson