More smartphones shipped last year than PCs

Smartphone shipments outpaced PC and tablet-PC shipments in 2011 according to research cited in a Forbes article published yesterday.

The article caught my eye because I think that smartphones are going to dominate the post-PC era (and not tablets). I can easily see a point not so far in the future where everyone is carrying the equivalent of a laptop in their pockets at all times via their smartphones.

Furthermore, I think that with the help of docks and a blended OS (like what Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 is turning into), you'll be able to do most of the production and consumption activities that you currently do on a laptop on your smartphone.

Basically, you'd run mobile apps on the phone when you are on the go but be able to run traditional apps (like Excel) off of your phone when you are docked.

Visualizing Mark Zuckerberg's letter to investors

30 of the most frequent words in the letter. Notice any themes?


Source: Mark Zuckerberg's Letter to Investors in the Facebook S-1

Scientific American article on introverts

Ran into a great article on introverts today on the Scientific American's website - The Power of Introverts. It's a short Q&A with Susan Cain, the author of a recent book on introversion. The Q&A covers what it means to be introverted and misconceptions about introverts amongst a few other things.

Growing up, I definitely subscribed to the false notion that being an introvert was a problem or character weakness to be overcome. I didn't know I was an introvert at the time; just that I felt like I was shy for preferring to hang out in smaller groups and thoroughly enjoying the time that I spent alone reading, drawing, or doing whatever else caught my interest at the time. The more I've come to understand what it actually means to be introverted, the more I've embraced it as a personality difference rather than weakness and learned to appreciate the benefits that come along with it.

I'll definitely be picking up a copy of Susan's book to learn more about the research that is out there on introversion. Should be a nice change of pace from my recent fixation on Positive Psychology.

A few pics

I've always wanted to ride a Segway, and on the last day of 2011, I made that dream into a reality. Highly recommended.



One of the perks of a recent work trip to Chicago: the view at sunset.

Tablet PC mfgr ratings from Amazon

I pulled some data today on tablet PCs from Amazon that I used to create the above graph, which shows the number of ratings and average rating across all reviewed tablet PCs by manufacturer. I filtered for tablets priced between $75 and $1000 and removed duplicate information across variations of models (e.g. same reviews/ratings across different versions of the iPad 2).

It's very rough, but I still thought it would be fun to share. I wouldn't feel comfortable making any conclusions from it outside of the fact that Amazonians that review their tablets seem pretty happy overall with them (~75% of the ratings are above 4 out 5).

Hitting my stride

It's been 3 months since I moved to Dallas to start working, and I can confidently say that I am starting to hit my stride again. That isn't to say I have it all figured out yet, a fact that should be obvious based on how long it's been since my last post, but I feel like I've mastered the inner circle and am ready to move on to larger circles (reference to the training in The Mask of Zorro - Alejandro was confined to the inner circle until he mastered a core set of skills). As such, I'm slowly starting to expand the set of things I'm involved in.

The main things on my plate these days are:

• Work - the more I work with others in the office, the more I realize how far I have to go until I'm at their level. There are a lot of resources in the company for self-paced learning, so I'm trying to remain focused on a set of topics that I'm most interested in. I'm also trying to get as comfortable as possible using the resources that are available to us so that I can improve my day-to-day efficiency; I think it will make a big difference on future projects.
• Running - I signed up with ~40 coworkers to run a half-marathon in March, so I've been training for that the last few weeks. Most of the time I'm training on my own, but on weekends we meet up for a group run. I actually started running more back in November, and since then, I've racked up 150 miles or so, mainly on the Katy Trail, which is right next to the office. Although I still haven't been able to hit 13.1 miles, I've come really close at 11 miles, so I think I should be good to go for the race, assuming no injuries or training problems.
• Toastmasters - I managed to find a Toastmasters chapter within walking distance of my apartment with meetings that I can attend every week, even when I'm traveling for work. I've been going for about 2 months and have given 2 speeches so far. I'm starting to feel pretty good about prepared speeches, but I still have a ways to go with impromptu speeches. I'm going to focus on that this year.

Outside of that, I mainly fill my time traveling to Austin, reading, and doing a lot of chores.