The new year is officially under way, it is Monday and we're back to work and I'm back to normal.  Or what passes for normal with me, anyway.  It was fun picking up all the projects that sort of got sidelined during December, and getting energized about the work ahead.  There are vestiges of the Holidays left - many of my neighbors are still showing Christmas lights, and there are still bowl games being played! - but it feels like the world is moving on.  So be it.  Let's make a filter pass, shall we?

Stanford sure looked dominant tonight defeating Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, didn't they?  Those Hokie orange helmets looked cool but the Cardinal looked better.  Would have been great to see them blow away Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl but this was good too.  The first half was close and interesting, but it felt like Stanford was the better team playing worse.  Then they blew it wide open in the second half.  Can't wait for the Oregon - Auburn shootout but we have to, it isn't until next Monday...

If you like wine you'll like Snooth, a sort of social network for wine lovers, and a good resource for finding interesting new wines.  They've posted The Year in Pictures, featuring some great vineyard shots.  Check 'em out!

Good news from the WSJ: M&A, IPOs Finish 2010 With A Pop For Venture Investors.  Yay, the VCs need liquidity.  (And so do I!)  Meanwhile TechCrunch is less sanguine: IPO Hype Boils for 2011.

Dave Barry mixes humor with truth: 2010 may be the worst year ever.  I must say I was rooting for Obama but his team failed miserably, and the Republican midterm avalanche was the result.  Even ardent Republicans can't be happy about the wild spending, lack of progress on jobs, deterioration of foreign relations, and weird healthcare [insurance] reform.

I loved this picture of Niklas "Skype" Zennstrom's RAN racing in the Sydney Hobart race.  Wow.  Makes being successful worth it, doesn't it?

What will the iDevice of the future look like?  Maybe this: the iSPEC, from Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski back in 2003.  Excellent.

Apparently Facebook users uploaded 750M pictures over New Year's.  Were you one of them?  Well, you weren't alone.  Yeah I did it too :)  this just confirms for me that connectivity is the most important feature for a camera, and this is why cellphone cameras are going to take over.  They might not have the picture quality - although they'll keep getting better - but there will be a tipping point where they're "good enough".  We might be there already.

This is incredible: How a guy found four new planets without a telescope.  Just by analyzing reported data captured over decades, and looking for anomalies.

Something to ponder for 2011: the Bermuda Triangle of productivity.  For me it would be RSS+blogging rather than Twitter, however... 

Cheers and enjoy the new year!