Every year is the year of something and this year I propose that it is the year of the girl geek. Why? There are so many reasons (and none of them are even remotely pink).
You can now talk to your phone and set it to "red alert"! OK - so perhaps that not specifically a girl geek thing but as a girl geek I have been patiently been waiting for the ability to shout "computer - red alert" and have flashing lights go off and that alarm. I suppose teaching your phone to respond to voice commands so you can tweet about an interesting new motherboard design you just thought of while busy assembling a low space orbit rocket could be useful too.
Technology companies may actually finally learn that slapping pink on something and calling it "for her" does not float our boat. Most of us have been dab hands at a variety of methodologies of changing the colour of our gear, some of which involved high tensile steel and others enamelling. A survey taken a few years ago of attendees at a London Girl Geek anniversary event confirmed that they didn't care as much about colour as functionality. Hey tech firms - get a mitt and catch a clue!
With Google buying a handset manufacturer we may have a suh-weet handset to look forward to without a single shade of pink in the mix but just kick-ass functionality. It will be interesting to see where Google takes this new acquisition and how worried Apple is and also whether the rumoured release of two tablets at CES is actually them preparing for some sort of kit war. If there's more gadgets coming, I'm all for it!
We all (girl and guy geeks alike) get one last chance to watch a Windows product bluescreen on stage. It's a tradition and with Microsoft making 2012 the last year of involvement in CES (I'm so old I also remember Comdex) I'm hoping that the blue screen of death with something failing on stage will be a well-orchestrated and fully intended gaffe and that the message of doom will be something cunning in binary. Hey, a girl's gotta dream!
Finally, 2012 is going to be an awesome year for girl geeks because London Girl Geek Dinners is going to get you out more, meeting up more, getting out to more talks, learning more and enjoying networking more because we have big plans for 2012.
Rock on 2012!