Gratitude List, 2012

SAN JOSE, Calif. – American Thanksgiving is a good time to write a gratitude list. When I focus on things I am thankful for I tend to see abundance rather than scarcity.

So here are a few items torn from my 2012 Silicon Valley work-related gratitude list:

Technocopia: I tell people there is more going on in electronics in a greater diversity of areas and its moving faster and at higher levels of complexity that ever. I also tell them there are fewer tech reporters to cover it than ever, but that’s that old scarcity thing rearing its ugly head again.

An open Internet: I met a woman this year who has an office in Shenzhen and a home in Hong Kong. She said on days when she needs to do a lot of Google searches she works from home because the filtering for censorship on the mainland is so great it slows down her work too much. I am thankful that while we in the U.S. have our issues with Google and Internet service, that isn’t one of them.

My iPhone: OK I admit it, when UBM Electronics gave me an Apple 3GS earlier this year I instantly fell in love. In 1995 Bill Gates had a futuristic vision of having access to everything anytime anywhere. We can see that vision now in the rear-view mirror.

San Jose Federal Court: I came back from a vacation to find the Apple vs. Samsung trial starting the next day just down the road from my home office. I enjoyed sitting with the press corps as two of the largest and most secretive companies in our industry revealed some of their inner workings.

Proximity: From that same home office it’s an easy drive to the headquarters of Facebook, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Nvidia and many, many other fascinating companies packed with smart people doing interesting things--to say nothing of world-class conferences that gather top notch experts on the hottest topics of the day. I live in a tech reporter’s paradise.

Twitter: It’s been a love/hate relationship, but I crossed into the positive side this year when I cracked 1,000 followers and even started to find the occasional news nugget in a tweet.

Words, words, words: As an English major I am thankful each working day I don’t have to make anything work, I just get to write about the people who do.

Google: How else am I going to quickly find out how to thaw that 21 pound turkey!

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