Case in point. We are training, we’ll call them business X, to use our software for organizing data. Business X used a system before that started the day with” C:/” on the screen…. it was that far out of date. I’ve been training them for months and we’re still coming up with the same questions and negative attitudes from their employees. I was directly asked why by my boss and I told her exactly what the problem is… they have no natural curiosity for our product.

Curiosity is the key ingredient to successful adaptation in any environment. My greatest hope for the youth of today is that their teachers are teaching them to learn and be curious.

The feature with the highest fun factor is easily Hangout. It’s video conferencing made easy. The concept is to have a video conference space on the web where multiple people can video chat at the same time.

Google plus also takes the broadcast feeling out of the Internet by allowing users to choose Circles for sharing and communicating. On Facebook, you generally tell everyone you’ve friended what you’re up to. Google makes it easy to group people more like real life. Take a look at the demo and see what you think. And yes, if anyone has an invite, please send one to me!!!!

Email Charter

I love this. Especially now that I’m about to officially start a two week vacation. From Save our Inbox

GoodReads - Probably the largest community at the moment. GoodReads allows a book lover to document their reading library, review books and connect with friends and family about books.

Shelfari - Comes in a close second in popularity and purpose of GoodReads but takes it all a step further. Shelfari often works with libraries to incorporate the social nature of their communities into library online catalogs.

ShelfLuv - is relatively new on the scene and  aims to become “an interactive way to share and explore books with friends, family and other readers who share your interests and taste,” the site explains.

Bookrabbit - twists the concept of social networking and books along a bookstore them. They’re a little like Amazon on display.

1. Make sure you have an hour to kill

2. Clear your browser tabs

3. Play!

Basically, Google Play calculates your interests in Reader and puts up interesting tidbits from articles that might interest you in a slideshow format. You can chuckle and move on or click through to find out more. It’s a fun service and I hope Google never gives up on it.

“It takes tremendous expertise in order to get out of the box. You have to have years thinking about the box, and watching people put things in, and then you have to have an idea that you recognize as fitting near the box but not in it. (Malcolm Gladwell, in his book, Outliers, says this process takes 10,000 hours.)

Most composers, for example, learned to compose by following rules. John Cage has a composition I love, titled 4′33″, where the pianist sits down at a grand piano on stage, and for a little over four minutes, he does not move. The music is the crescendo of the audience growing restless that they have no idea what is going on.

John Cage studied music and thought about music for decades before he could recognize his ability to create music by annoying the audience with silence.

Grant Wood studied under popular teachers of his time, learning the mainstream painting techniques of his time.

Only after decades of not feeling like he had his own style did he stumble on a stylized way of painting that made him famous.

If your goal is to present fresh new ideas, or old ideas in a way that people have not heard before, then you must have as your goal, first, to learn all the rules and become an expert at following them. Your long hours of practice will enable you to find your own spirit within your field, and it’s likely to be out of the box.”