Another year has flown by and it is 2014. Time to look back at 2013 from a bloggy (not just CAD) perspective:
Best Blog Event:
For me the event of the year, blog’wise, was the Revit Technology Conference. It was an inspiring mix of education, inspiration, meeting new folks (many Kiwis from out of town) and reunions. I didn’t get to Autodesk University this year but RTC meant some of the notable AU speakers came to me.
Also notable that it was ‘at home’, Auckland, but also a new experience. The evening dinner was in an Auckland venue I’ve known about all my life but never visited. What was once the 1970s licenced restaurant ‘Fishermans Wharf’ has transformed, after several dubious previous attempts to revive it, into a quality reception venue “The Wharf’. It sits under the harbour bridge I cross on my daily work commute but I’d never been there, or seen Auckland from that point of view, before RTC!
I also attended two other conferences —Skeptics NZ and TEDx Auckland—which were also excellent but haven’t blogged much about them yet!
Best Comment(s):
I found the comments on a post about my Samsung ATIV PC most interesting this year. The initial units had a dock fault and my experience and several readers—as seen in the comments—getting this sorted was interesting. I felt the retail channels handled it well but was totally underwhelmed by the lack of information from Samsung NZ.
It was apparent the retailers were not getting much supporting info, repair status or time, and a direct approach to Samsung NZ (who are literally next door to my work) was a complete waste of time. I wonder if mentioning I was blogging about it would have made any difference but didn’t as wanted to see the consumer experience.
While the issue was eventually resolved (and the hardware has since been fine) I won’t be favouring Samsung when the time comes to replace my PC and phone.
Best Podcast:
I’ve added a bunch of podcasts to my regular listening this year but one of the best offers a local spin on the world of IT, Tech and gadgets:
NZ Tech Podcast -nztechpodcast.com @nztechpodcast
Gadget and Technology News and Opinions (with a New Zealand flavour)
For a more international flavour the TWiT network podcasts are great with my favourite being:
A weekly look at all things Microsoft, including Windows, Windows Phone, Office, Xbox, and more, from two of the foremost Windows watchers in the world, Paul Thurrott of the Super Site for Windows and Mary Jo Foley of All About Microsoft.
Check out their December “best of 2013” shows for a flavour of these podcasts.
Blog Surprise?
Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was the demise of RSS, or at least my use of it.
While the technology is still a vital part of web services Google killing its Reader portal and, despite some reasonable attempts, the lack of a decent Web, Windows Modern/Metro/Phone reader which could handle the volume of feeds I use has greatly reduced my use.
I still have a desktop reader on my tablet/PC but must admit use it perhaps weekly rather than the previous daily use. My prime replacement for keeping current is Twitter with RSS reading now just a useful backup.
Twitter is instant; both its strength and weakness. If something is happening you’ll see it there but it flashes into history in minutes, even seconds. With a RSS reader you can look at your feeds and review a weeks, months posts at any time. As for Facebook, only really use it to keep up with those people and communities who are only on Facebook.
Busiest Month:
March was the busiest in a year which was pretty consistent. Posts from March 2013:
Overall traffic was down about 10% but probably because I’ve posted less this year than due to any other factor.
Blog Concern:
I’ve become even more of a lazy blogger, not posting much, which is something I also mentioned last year.
Some of that has been lack of opportunity to try some great new technologies (some cloud access limitations) but also not making the time to finish an increasing backlog of draft posts.
That quote about ‘my work never being finished, only abandoned’ seemed to happen in the draft stage for many posts this year.
Best Blog Tool:
I’ve had no problems filling this category before now but can’t think of anything radical which grabbed my attention over the previous year.
One aspect I’ve refined is use of a Windows Tablet and SkyDrive (replacing Live Mesh) for much of my blogging resources. I also switched to Windows Phone after my old iPhone 3GS finally literally cracked up (from use not abuse).
I haven’t regretted the move to a Microsoft only platform as the iOS apps I used, as opposed to those I had, were available. I think it really is easier to live in one ecosystem no matter which one you choose.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for visiting, reading and coming back. Lets see what 2014 brings!
Boring Blog Stats (for me!)
TypePad Community: 75 [78] Following | 95 [157] Followers [ ] = 2012 figures
Twitter: 17,574 [13,678] Tweets | 854 [451] Following* | 1,289 [1,135] Followers
* I’m also following another 1,200 or so just using lists.
RobiNZ CAD Blog
Posts: 1,995 [1,961] | Comments: 1,733 [1,604] | Pages: 8 [8]
Page Views: Total: 1,315,705 [1,199,610] | Average Per Day: 369.58 [375.94]
FeedBurner Subscribers: 10,117 or 395 which leads me to doubt FeedBurner is of much use [8,973]
Most Popular Post from 2013: My Samsung ATIV Smart PC: I love it, but returned it… – A post about my new Windows 8 tablet (which I still have in spite of that title!).
Most visited post of 2013 was from 2007: Align, the forgotten AutoCAD hero – Seems AutoCAD still generates lots of blog visits
RobiNZ Personal Blog
Posts: 1,982 [1,932] | Comments: 1016 [994]
Page Views: Total: 403.202 [384,392] | Average Per Day: 125.1 [134.59]
FeedBurner Subscribers: 81 [59]
Most Popular Post from 2013: A West’ie Harbour walk with Alfie – Dog walk with photos generated some interest.
Most visited post of 2013: Auckland City for Microsoft Flight Simulator - Real New Zealand – Same as last year. Lots of Flightsim fans out there still?
