The race to uncover the next big thing in journalism is firmly underway. As consumers turn to the web for their daily news fix, an emerging breed of entrepreneurs are finding innovative ways to manage and capitalize on the flood of online content.

While reporting a story for Digital Trends, I had the enviable opportunity of meeting with the founders of this year’s most promising media ventures. They are a young, fearless and uniquely passionate bunch. Often less concerned with making a quick buck, these entrepreneurs are hell bent on creating a bright future for journalism. Read on for a list of the “ones to watch,” and to discover how the major news institutions like CNN, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have enlisted their help.

The content curators
This group is more concerned with content curation, rather than ownership. Information is disseminated to audiences on a variety of platforms including mobile, web and tablet in a personalized way – often with a focus on a specific vertical.

1. Pulse partners with top-tier news organizations to drive cross-platform news consumption.
What’s cool about it? What isn’t? Pulse is the brainchild of Ankit Gupta and Akshay Kothari, and was launched during a class at the Stanford School of Design. Gupta, then 22, and Kothari, then 23, saw Pulse shoot to the top of the most downloaded list in the App Store. After a rocky start (the founders’ successfully fended off a lawsuit from The New York Times), Pulse is currently partnered with virtually every major media institution in the world.

2. Zite: A personalized magazine for iPad and iPhone that gets smarter as you use it.
What’s cool about it? Zite was acquired by CNN for a reported $20 million (in 2011?). And this year, it was named the best iPad App of the year by The New York Times.

3. Flipboard is a social magazine app that aggregates web links from your social circle.
What’s cool about it? Steve Jobs was said to be a fan of Flipboard’s superior design aesthetic.

Honorable Mention: Skygrid, News.me, techmeme.com, Storify, Paper.li, scoop.it, Percolate

The content creators
The most successful platforms in this category welcome citizen contributions – an unfailing cheap source of content. Nonprofit organizations and hyper-local blogs have also made significant gains in this space.

1. PandoDaily: The site of record for tech startups.
What’s cool about it? Founder Sarah Lacy, a former TechCrunch blogger, raised 2.5 million from a veritable “who’s-who” of Silicon Valley investors.

2. The Phenomlist: Showcasing phenomenal people you don’t know.
What’s cool about it? Amanda Schwab and Laura Yao, co-founders, met at a Digital Media Entrepreneurship class at Stanford University. In their first months, they scored video interviews with entrepreneurs from hot startups like Birchbox, Zaarly and Instagr.am.

3. Spot.us: An open-source project to pioneer community-powered reporting.
What’s cool about it? It’s the “kickstarter” for environmental and political journalism, pouring much-needed funds into investigative work.

Honorable Mention: Digital Journal, Allvoices, California Watch, Patch, The Verge, Propublica, Examiner, The Bay Citizen

By now, companies are aware that they should be blogging. It’s how you raise visibility, pop-up in searches and create-to-maintain consistent messaging. Now that we’re all aware that we should be doing it, there is a next step involved: getting people to not only go there, but to keep coming back.

I’ve put together a few tips and best practices to help you get your brilliant blog out into the world and in front of your adoring readers. Some may already be in your blog arsenal, but for those that aren’t…take ‘em and run with it!

Enjoy!

©iStockphoto.com/fotosipsak

On your blog

1. Allow/link to encourage pings and trackbacks

2. Create a blog roll that showcases your industry thought leaders and go-tos

3. Reference past blog posts of yours if relevant, to encourage more poking around

4. Be consistent with posting; whether it’s twice a week or “every Wednesday,” consistency is key to develop a reader base

5. Comment on other blogs, linking back to yours to encourage dialogue

Integrate integrate integrate

6. Have social buttons available on posts, for easy sharing – if they can’t share it right then and there, they probably just won’t share it. Don’t miss out on the exponential reach!

7. Have an RSS feed so readers can easily subscribe to receive your posts automatically

8. Tweeting? Attach a “Share/RT if you agree” from time to time – you are much more likely to get the word out by placing a call to action at the end of your Tweet

9. Add your blog URL to your email signature

10. Change your Twitter bio URL to your blog link (as opposed to your company homepage)

Pump up your content

11. Feature exclusive content on your blog: videos, photos, event announcements, slide shows, etc. When sharing that link on (for example) Facebook, it will drive people back to your blog in order to view it, as opposed to just living on wherever it lives, which is….not your blog site

12. Feature guest bloggers – and enjoy sharing their blog reader audience!

13. After that:  Request guest bloggers to post a preview of the guest blog they wrote to their site, with a link back to yours

14. Write about what’s current:  Find a creative way to tie your point to the conversation that’s at top of mind (in the news, trending on Twitter, etc.).   Bonus:  When sharing on Twitter, it has a greater chance of being picked up because of the keywords

15. Have an opinion: Between Twitter, Google, newsfeeds and traditional media, people can find the scoop anywhere. If you become a consistent source with a view, people will come back to see your opinions

16. Acknowledge your readers: Reply to all comments that contribute to the conversation you’ve started

17. Blog a series: Feature a blog series alongside your regular posts.  A part X of a series can catch someone at any time, possibly encouraging people to dig back or look forward to future posts in the series

18. Keep titles short:  Provocative and intriguing titles are worth passing around. If you blow your story content out in one shot, there’s no reason to want to read further

19. Include an image. All the time, every time.

20. Have about 5-7 standard “blueprints” for content – consistency that readers can expect and contributors can work off of is always a plus

21. Occasionally feature a near if not completely visual blog, such as an infographic

Have any of your own that I haven’t listed here? Leave it in the comments!
Still grasping on to the blog world and need a little help decoding the lingo? Search to your heart’s content here.

Courtney

@CourtneyPong

That feels different than, say, The CES of Innovation. Yes, we saw enhancements to market standards – 3-D plasma TVs, brave new tablets, phones playing catch-up with market leaders (some smart enough to get into MIT) – but breakthrough innovations? Not so much.

CES 2012 hit me as the “ripple effect” CES, the one that saluted top technology but tossed few new stones into the pond. From a true “consumer electronics” perspective, this year’s show was about repetition, not revolution – about even-betters of things that were already pretty darn good.

I hesitated to write that. I mean, who am I to say we don’t need another level of excellence in plasma TVs, devices, or accessories? After all, this PluggedIn writeup describes a CES that’s “littered” with innovation, TV-wise, but maybe that “littered” word is just the point. Showgoers on the zippy Las Vegas monorail gushed about LG’s innovations, OLEM TV, new motion-activated screens and at-home 3-D. But some I spoke with – like the two engineers from Dish Networks I cabbed to the airport with – didn’t +1 the additive levels, declaring that what they had at home was already enough. Dish, by the way, won a lot of love at CES for their big-news Hopper and Joey announcements.

Which kind of fits in. I felt less interested in the iterations to televisions, phones, or tablets and more inspired by the innovations built upon them. Many of us feel that we have the tech we need in our lives, and the next wave of innovation will be about how we use it. Take the iPad. We sensed its potential moment we touched it. On some intuitive level we knew “This changes everything” and began slinging our Angry Birds while we waited for the real innovation to emerge.

And CES did hint to real change, even if you had to look beyond the iPhone cases to find it. The Digital Health aisles, for example – and the add-on Digital Health track held upstairs from the show floor – showed at what’s to come as entrepreneurs put our favorite technologies to work on health.

The bustling Digital Health corridor.

Entrepreneur Sonny Wu, who raised the bar on personal medical testing with his iPhone compatible blood sugar monitoring device, hinted at new ways of leveraging established technology to address health challenges with Misfit Wearables, his next startup, backed by former Apple CEO John Sculley (whose keynote drew parallels between the emerging Digital Health field and the early PC days). Sculley also advises Audax Health, creators of Careverge, a social network supporting positive health habits – another healthcare innovation shared at the show.

A few cleantech announcements shone. Ford’s gorgeous new Fusion concept, due to market in 2012, hinted at the design and green value coming to the EV category. Our client Qualcomm’s new Halo – which charges EVs through induction, removing the need for plug-in charging (you simply park over the charger) – was a non-traditional star and a big cleantech attraction.

Halo charges underneath an EV chassis.

Our new friends at Ooyala echoed the theme of “extending platforms,” showcasing how big-name studios are using advanced analytics to make ad placements more relevant, actionable, and well-timed for media viewers (they weigh in on CES technologies here). And Seagate, a perennial CES favorite, won big yet again for their advances in storage and media access technologies.

I did have one jaw-drop moment, thanks to Vidyo’s dazzling videoconference capabilities. Vidyo shone at Verizon’s booth, with live conferencing so vivid and natural I can’t even compare it to other services – a whole new level. I actually asked my conference partner if she was really conferencing, to the chuckle of the helpful Verizon engineer guiding me through the booth. I also liked cool little cameras like the GoPro Hero. Taut design and the contagious appeal of their user-shot content (mountain bike descents, epic surfing, parachuting free falls) made me linger in the booth (and ask once again what Cisco was thinking when they closed shop on the Flip).

Now I’m talking myself out of curmudgeon-dom. Yes, it was The CES of Things, and honestly – there were just too many iPhone cases. But even a thing-muddled CES is still a hotbed of innovation, as CNET’s sparky “Best of” list shows. Maybe Microsoft’s exit from CES and the that-fast booking of their prime booth spot by Dish and a Chinese device manufacturer Hisense is a sign of the times. Like at this year’s show, CES 2013 will again push the consumption of things while showing the power of innovation to make these things more useful, relevant, helpful – and fun – in day to day life.

By far, the 2011 granddaddy of them all was the collapse of rooftop solar panel maker Solyndra. Now that the dust has settled an economic and political debate has ensued. The outcome of this debate is likely to re-define how the government subsidizes renewable energy projects in the future.

Beyond Solyndra, major questions remain around the economic viability of creating new forms of fuel from alternative sources, like biofuels, after high-profile companies like Range Fuels Inc. folded after failing to produce a viable product.

Stack on top of this some curious pre-IPO announcements recently from biofuel producers  like Coskata and PetroAlage, neither of which have been, nor look to be, profitable in the near future, and it becomes clear that the renewable energy and cleantech industries have some serious work to do in 2012 to regain public and investor faith.

These failures force us to ask an important question: what will it take for cleantech companies to renew public faith in 2012? It’s a big question, but fundamentally I think that companies will succeed if they do these three things well:

• Demonstrate that cleantech is the underlying foundation of a new energy economy that goes well beyond renewable energy
• Dazzle us with exceptional ideas and technology that reminds everyone why innovation in this space is so important
• Have a vision for the future and be ready to broadcast it

Cleantech as an industry is more than energy creation and it will be critical for companies to make this distinction. Remember, clean energy creation is the end game and in order to get there fundamental industry building blocks need to be established. Take for example energy storage technology. Without serious innovation in this space it won’t matter how much clean energy can be created if it can’t be stored for later use.

Companies like Qualcomm (client) who recently debuted  wireless electric vehicle charging technology, or Bloom Energy a fuel cell company trying to change the way people use and pay for energy, have the ability to both capture our imagination while simultaneously alternating an industry.

These are just two examples, but a host of breakthrough ideas and emerging products in cleantech exist. These innovations address vitally important areas like energy efficiency, energy storage, green IT and the CleanWeb, and we can’t wait to be dazzled by them in 2012.

If you’ve been following the cleantech world closely in the past months you probably noticed that a clear, strong voice touting the future of the industry is absent. Don’t get me wrong, there are a handful of visionary cleantech VC’s that have assumed the role of industry spokesperson.  Their leadership is great, but what’s needed in 2012 is for a new set of cleantech entrepreneurs to emerge, broadcast their vision of the future, and assume the position of industry thought leader. This will go a long way in restoring public faith in the people driving the cleantech industry forward.

Entrepreneurs, if you have a great vision, the confidence to execute it, and are looking for a partner capable of helping you achieve your leadership and communication goals we’d love to hear what you have to say.

Bridgelux, a leading developer and manufacturer of technologies and solutions, is transforming the $40 billion global lighting industry into a $100 billion market opportunity. The solid state lighting (SSL) pioneers are based in Livermore, California, and hold more than 550 patent applications filed or granted worldwide.

Badgeville, founded in 2010, makes it easy for business leaders, marketers and innovative technologists to increase user loyalty and engagement. Using Badgeville, brands and enterprises can reward users with real-time achievements and reputation, while at the same time driving user behavior, achieving specific business goals, and measuring and optimizing user engagement. The company has raised $15 million in venture capital and our team has thoroughly enjoyed watching Badgeville grow. 

Congrats on your hard work, Badgeville and Bridgelux!

Want to read the full list? Start here.

Want to see more great companies we work with? Go here!

– Sarah Goodman
 
Day 2: DonorsChoose
Today, Eastwick donated to a DonorsChoose project. It was our pleasure to place the final donation to completely fund a project giving math and science materials to curious kindergarteners at Cherry Chase Elementary School in Sunnyvale. DonorsChoose.org has created a space where public school teachers from across America post classroom project requests, ranging from pencils for a poetry writing unit, to violins for a school recital, to microscope slides for a biology class. The neat thing about DonorsChoose.org is you can give any amount that inspires you towards any project – of which there are thousands! As a long time donor and supporter of DonorsChoose, I was inspired by the Cherry Chase commitment to the sciences and childhood curiosity and experimentation. Eastwick’s donation will help Cherry Chase purchase magnets, color paddles, shape sorting centers, eyedroppers and feel & discover science bags to help students in Ms. T’s kindergarten class develop an understanding of the world around them.

– Jesse Hamlin
 
Day 3: The Melt/FeelGood
Food – it’s nutritious, delicious, and a means of connecting and sharing with others. But we often take it for granted and how extensive of an impact it has on our lives. Today Eastwick’s San Francisco office made a trip over to The Melt, a natural, eco-friendly grilled cheese startup sprouting up in the Bay Area. Today was a two-part day of giving: to support The Melt, a venture we are big fans of, and to also round-up our purchase for FeelGood, a San Francisco-based social enterprise which strives to end hunger in our lifetime. This organization empowers college students to run their own on-campus gourmet grilled cheese delis. All of the profits from on-campus sales go to The Hunger Project or Choice Humanitarian, which both work to sustainably end world hunger. The most amazing thing about FeelGood is they are empowering and mobilizing a generation of passionate and thriving changemakers. I have been so fortunate to be a part of FeelGood both as a student and an alumnus and it’s truly inspiring to see The Melt and FeelGood’s partnership to round-up for a better, more sustainable world for everyone. Thank you to FeelGood and The Melt for your thoughtful partnership to empower hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Oh, and of course, for sharing delicious food with so many!

– Peggy Snider
 
Day 4: Hope’s Corner and Day Worker Center
Today’s gift of giving is one that is especially fun for us—shopping for Christmas gifts for children and teens from local families that are not in a position to afford them. We are helping to supply toys and gifts for a “store” that will be set up for day workers and Hope’s Corner – a joint program of Los Altos and Trinity United Methodist Churches that provides a free breakfast and sack lunch to people in need – families in Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Los Altos where parents can select one or two gifts per child. There’s nothing like a bunch of Eastwickers, carts in hand, running through Target and scooping up bikes, dollhouses and games, knowing they are going to kids who could really use them. To join us in volunteering, go to Hope Corner’s sign-up page.

– Barbara Bates
 
Day 5: The Sharks Foundation
On December 15, the Eastwick team piled aboard its sweet party bus and trundled down to HP Pavilion to watch our San Jose Sharks take on the Colorado Avalanche. And since both goaltenders were clearly in the gift-giving mood (Team Teal skated to a 5-4, come-from-behind win), we were inspired to give as well.

The Sharks Foundation, founded in 1994, is a Bay Area-based charitable organization that supports local youth, families in need, the advancement of hockey in our community, and even provides emergency aid. The organization has donated over $5 million to more than 109 local beneficiaries since its inception, and we’re proud to be part of that.

While we were there, we met up with five-time Emmy winner and Sharks television play-by-play man Randy Hahn for a quick photo op. Thanks, Randy! And Go Sharks!

– Joseph Beare
 
Day 6: Community Services Agency
In many ways Silicon Valley has a vibrant economy; however, we are not immune to the global recession. In the midst of plenty, jobs are shifting, savings are depleted and families struggle with making ends meet. Too often, basics like food can take a backseat to more pressing financial demands. Today, Eastwickers delivered bags of canned and packaged goods to the food pantry at Community Services Agency in Mountain View, a wonderful organization that provides a variety of social services to residents of our area. CSA brings food assistance in a grocery store-type environment, helping to fill an important resource gap so that people can feed their families and stay healthy in the face of overwhelming financial constraints or unexpected emergencies.

– Cathy Thompson
 
Day 7: Save Our Shores
For 20 years, Eastwick has had a front row seat to watching Silicon Valley’s best and brightest ideas grow into revolutionary technological movements — the personal computer, the Internet, and social networking, to name just a few — that have gone on to affect major change on a global scale. Today’s contribution is one geared toward another type of movement — one that our ongoing interaction with the Earth depends upon: Environmental protection. For the past 30 years, Save Our Shores has worked to take care of the California coastline through pollution prevention, advocacy and ocean awareness. I’ve volunteered with Save Our Shores since 2008 — the same year Eastwick began building its cleantech practice. Three years later, I’m proud to see Eastwick continuing to work hard for the betterment of our environment. Whether it be through beach cleanups, solar microinverter installations or LED lighting solutions, we’re proud to be a small part of the global shift toward a healthier planet.

– Emma Wolfe
 
Day 8: Angels for Hearts
Each holiday season, we look forward to cozying up by the fireplace, sharing comfort food with our loved ones and celebrating with our own traditions. For many, that picturesque scene won’t quite be a reality – especially for pediatric heart patients. Every year, Angels for Hearts works with three California hospitals to deliver personal holiday gifts to children in the cardiac wards. The organization supports pediatric heart patients through various events by helping them remember that, first and foremost, they are kids. Eastwick joined Angels for Hearts at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s Heart Center in Palo Alto today for its holiday gift delivery day. And what a delivery it was! We helped load all the gifts into numerous vehicles and unloaded them at the hospital. Once there, we wheeled the gifts through the hospital to the Child Life Specialists – people who, day in and day out, take care of the children in this ward. They were so appreciative of all that we had brought them because they knew how happy the kids were going to be come Christmas Day when they saw what Santa had brought them. A huge thank you to Angels for Hearts for hosting us today and for all that you do to brighten the lives of pediatric heart patients.

– Peggy Snider
 
Day 9: D-Rev: Design Revolution
As evidenced through our enthusiastic Twitter handle, Eastwick loves D-Rev. Nestled in downtown Palo Alto this non-profit tech incubator is designing world class products for developing countries. Throughout the year we donate our time to foster some conversation and attention for D-Rev, and this holiday season we stopped by to check out our favorite project, Brilliance. This product provides a low-cost solution for rural and public hospitals to treat jaundice, a disease that affects about three in five children. Brilliance is designed to be a versatile, high quality, low-footprint, easy to deploy device for hospitals.  Tests at Stanford School of Medicine show Brilliance to perform better than state-of-the-art phototherapy devices. As D-Rev begins moving this device to market, we at Eastwick are totally inspired by their commitment to the needs of the doctors, nurses, mothers and babies in need of the best product available, regardless of their numerous constraints (money, space, resources). Thank you D-Rev for the continually inspiring work you do – here’s to a fantastic, impactful 2012!

– Jesse Hamlin
 
Day 10: The Haven Family House
With the holidays in full swing, there’s an element of chaos that, if you’re anything like me, comes in the form of last minute gift wrapping, card signing and party attending. And while this flurry of activity feels important in the moment, putting these tasks onto paper magically reduces them into trivial, everyday “stuff.” How’s this for perspective? In 2010, the Shelter Network reported  that they provided assistance to over 865 homeless families – 1,700 children included. I am delighted to say that on the tenth day of giving, Eastwick made an in-person donation to The Haven Family House in Menlo Park, a facility within The Shelter Network, which is committed to providing support to homeless individuals and families in the San Francisco Peninsula. Not only does the organization fulfill basic living necessities like food and safe housing, but they also provide services (counseling and childcare among others) which support the re-establishment of self-sufficiency for a return to permanent housing. Upon speaking with a Haven Family House staff member, my colleagues and I learned that not only is their Menlo Park shelter at full capacity, but that they currently have 40 families waitlisted for entry into the program. I can say that I am inspired to be of more service, and I encourage you to grab a friend or fly solo, and get involved. A friendly face and a little time could make a world of difference in the life of a person in need. To learn more, please visit Shelter Network’s programs.

– Sian Blevins
 
Day 11: The Ronald McDonald House
Kids should have their parents by their side, especially when they’re sick. The Ronald McDonald house is a home for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Today, the Eastwick team made the short trip to Stanford to deliver a donation and holiday cookies to this home-away-from-home for forty-seven families. Forget sterile hospitals – the Ronald McDonald house is all about comfort, care, and above all, fun. Volunteer your time by sponsoring pizza and a movie night with the kids, donate an item on the Christmas wish list, or make a much-needed contribution. The support of the community is crucial. Learn more about the many ways that you can help here.

– Christina Farr
 
Day 12: Urban Sprouts
As we’ve already touched upon, healthy food is an important issue to us, no matter what time of the year. Today Eastwick visited Urban Sprouts, an organization that partners with San Francisco youth and their families to build eco-literacy, equity, wellness and community. The organization primarily works with local schools in under-served neighborhoods – like June Jordan School for Equity – to cultivate school gardens and teach students about healthy food. We love that Urban Sprouts is educating the next generation about what it means to have a healthy food and a healthy community.

– Peggy Snider

Very temporary "Welcome" sign

Big day in San Francisco! in San Francisco! Under crisp blue skies, the SF-based Eastwick team tiptoed around fresh kreosote and ducked under shaky scaffolding to enter the temporary entrance to our new digs at 211 Sutter Street in San Francisco, close to Union Square. We ascended to the third floor and…caught our breath. Gleaming wood floors, hip eco lighting, wall-to-wall windows and the familiar Eastwick colors greeted us – along with the proud smile of our Operations Manager Shelene, who has masterminded countless steps to help us arrive at our new location.

We’re only a few blocks away from our prior location, but this space, which is our own (until we welcome a few Entrepreneurs in Residence) feels…different. It’s open, fresh, bright and best of all a place we can call home. Let us know if you’re in the hood. We’ll show you around (and maybe take you across the street for a good cup of coffee).

It’s great to be here – home sweet home.

View from the conference room (note: objects may appear larger than actual size)

"The Comfy Chairs"

A bit of San Francisco "perspective."

Click on image to view larger

Knowing that Eastwick would celebrate 20 years of business this year had us all thinking about Silicon Valley and the adventures we all experience here. The path of Valley changes, of client growth, new technologies, and milestones along the way seemed almost like a gameboard to us…and that visual simply needed to find its way to reality.

• Jon Fortt, CNBC
• Emily Chang, Bloomberg TV
• Nick Bilton, New York Times
• James Temple, SF Chronicle
• Harry McCracken, Technologizer/CNET/Time
• John Gallant, IDG Enterprise
• Audrey Watters, ReadWriteWeb
• Greg Kumparak, TechCrunch

As you might expect, the crew listed above had quite a bit to say. Media Predicts is exactly how it sounds – it’s a chance for some of the best and brightest journalistic minds to give their informed, albeit bold, predictions on the year ahead, and these eight did not disappoint. There were some light jabs thrown amongst the group – and some not-so-light jabs thrown at big-time sponsors Yahoo and Microsoft – a bit of friendly banter, and a lot of live Tweeting from the audience. And while it took a bit of sifting to separate the brilliance from the bluster, here are a few of the night’s highlights.

For the consumer:

The sexiest of tech topics, of course, revolve around next generation toys we can all play with. While Apple is still top dog, more than a few panel members agreed that the post-Steve Jobs era needs to start an early win. Though the next iterations of iPhone and iPad should be enough to kick start significant momentum, the panelists think an Apple TV will be the next big thing to come out of Cupertino.

A few also think we should keep our eyes peeled for an Amazon tablet that makes a real run at competing with the iPad.

For the industry:

John Gallant of IDG was an audience favorite for those of us with clients in the deep tech space, and he put forth one of the more bold predictions of the night – that Oracle will acquire HP! While John admitted that he was being dramatic – for the purpose of making a point – it stands to reason that we’ll see some significant consolidation in the enterprise. Perhaps not as earth-shattering as Oracle buying HP (would they have to change the name of the Shark Tank AGAIN?), but something along those lines.

For the executive:

After what was a tumultuous year for high-profile Valley CEOs, the panel suggests that Reed Hastings of Netflix and Twitter’s Dick Costolo might find themselves in the hot seat as 2012 rolls on.

There were also a few digs at HP, and without getting too mean the general sentiment was it might be a what-you-see-is-what-you-get situation for recently appointed CEO Meg Whitman – less about the leadership, and more about the quality of product.

For the futuristic:

Who needs Google Maps when you can buy a Prius that Google literally drives for you? It might be a stretch this year, says emcee Emily Chang, but soon enough we may be our own backseat drivers.

Will Facebook cut out the middleman and market its own smartphone? Hard to imagine it happening this year, since Facebook just brought its iPad app to market, but it’s certainly not a stretch to file it under “someday.”

Do we live in a world that could happily exist without the mouse and keyboard?

How long until technology that allows us to not only talk to it – but converse with it – is available on a large scale?

To wrap up, I’ll go ahead and give my own bold (sarcasm) prediction – it’s a safe bet that something big, something landscape-altering that isn’t on this list or anyone else’s, will happen in 2012. And after what was a pretty entertaining year in 2011, I pretty much can’t wait to see what it is.

2. California is a pretty green state, but it’s in Silicon Valley where the technologies driving the world’s green and cleantech are developed. We’re saving the planet one solar panel and electric car at a time.

3. Where else do nerds rule?!

4. Two words: Dish Dash – the diverse communities throughout the Valley inspire access to varied delicacies. We love the occasional office-wide visits to our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, just up Murphy Street. No matter what craving hits us – Indian, Thai, Greek, Spanish or Cal-Mex – we’re never bored (or disappointed). And don’t get us started on coffee.

5. The start-up and VC communities breed a constant energy – you never know what your neighbor or you yourself are about to launch. Greatness could strike at any moment!

6. Photoshop: The magical tool is the brainchild of Silicon Valley resident, Adobe. Our 3-page, front and back, mass mailed Christmas Letter would be much less interesting without a keepsake photo in which a few stray chin hairs were “cosmetically enhanced.”

7. Being able to call ourselves the home of the San Francisco Giants since 1958. Watching our team win their first ever World Series trophy in 2010 was sweet – and so was being among the throng that gathered in the streets of San Francisco to watch the World Series victory parade. The games and the stadium chill off McCovey Cove can be torture, but we are loud and proud in those stands, hooting and hollering with the best of ‘em.

8. The legacy of Steve Jobs: when Steve Jobs passed away last month, it made Silicon Valley realize how much he meant to us (and the world).  Steve gave us new and better ways to communicate, read, listen, teach, learn and more – and he did it with style.

9. Silicon Valley is the birthplace of social media and is home to great companies like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Zynga.  Companies like these have changed the way we connect, share and consume.

10. Location, location, location: we are a quick jaunt to the beautiful California coastline and beaches to the West, and a short drive to the picturesque mountains and ski slopes of Lake Tahoe to the East.

11. Silicon Valley manufactures more new millionaires yearly than any other region in the United States. This means we can afford to make our cranberry sauce from scratch using organic ingredients procured at our nearest Whole Foods.

12. Winter doesn’t set in until after Christmas, and Spring usually starts in February.  Silicon Valley pros can ski in the same t-shirt and jeans that they wear to work.

13. Silicon Valley residents never have to utter the phrase, “Do you have free Wi-Fi?” at coffee shops. This saves the average person more than 38 hours over the course of a lifetime.

14. We speak our own language – where “leverage” has nothing to do with physics, and “recession” means “My 900-square foot house dipped in value from $1.5 million to $1.2!”

15. In the heartland of technological innovation, the value of education isn’t lost – Silicon Valley teachers’ salaries beat the national average by 25 percent.