My New Year’s tech resolutions

Some years I make resolutions, others I don’t. The ones I make are usually the same -- lose weight and get fitter (something I finally achieved this year thanks to the Zombies, Run app), get that novel finished and land a book deal (another tick in the 2012 "done" box), and cut back on the amount of caffeine I consume (well, you can’t win them all).

For 2013 I thought I’d make a short list of tech-related resolutions, things I genuinely plan to do or achieve, and share them with you. So, in no particular order, here they are:

Embrace Google+

There are simply too many social networks. Yes, you can use them all, but you can’t use them all properly. Not if you want time to do other things. I mostly just use Facebook, as it’s where all my friends are. I tweet a bit, but nowhere near as much as I did, and I pop into Google+ once or twice a week. I like Google’s site, but I just never really get as much out of it as I should. So in 2013 I plan to change that, and start using it more actively. Add and organize more friends, share more, comment more, complete my profile and even use Hangouts. I’ve started the process today with the following update: "In 2013 I plan to use Google+ more".

Change my passwords

This year I changed a lot of my passwords, and in 2013 I plan to do it all again, creating a list of difficult to guess logins for every site -- a minimum of 15 characters, with no duplicate passwords -- which will be challenging. I’ll use LastPass to help me remember the trickier ones. I’ll also make sure I'm using features like two-factor authentication where available.

Sort out my inbox

I’ve been using Gmail since it launched and although I’ve had the occasional major purge, my inbox is currently 79 per cent full (8GB). In 2013 I plan to archive everything and go through and delete as many messages as I can, and unsubscribe from any unwanted mailing lists. Of all my tech resolutions this is one I expect to fail on first, but I’ll give it a go at least.

Learn to love Windows 8

It seems the more I try to like Windows 8, the more I end up hating it, and I’m not sure why. My peers who use it as their primary OS all appear happy enough with it, and have made the transition smoothly. I just think it’s a bit of a half-baked mess and can’t seem to see beyond that. In 2013 that will change. In 2013 I will love Windows 8. Love it. I’ve even decided to upgrade my Windows Vista laptop to Windows 8 so I’m faced with the OS on two fronts. I’m also going to get rid of my Windows 7 dual boot. Maybe.

Watch out for a series of articles over the year in which I profess my love for Windows 8, and see if any of them come across as sincere.

Move to the cloud

I use a lot of cloud services, but I don’t use them as much as I should. I’m never going to move all of my data entirely online -- I’ll always want several local copies -- but I intend to make sure all of my most important data is backed up online at all times.

(Re)Learn to program

It’s been years since I’ve done any real programming and I’ve forgotten mostly everything I ever learned. I’m hoping my Raspberry Pi will help me re-discover my love of coding. And that I won’t just use it to play Minecraft.

So those are (some) of my tech-related New Year’s resolutions. What are yours? Leave your comments below.

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