Top 10 tech New Year’s resolutions for 2012

Here’s a look at several tech-related New Year’s resolutions you may want to consider adopting as your own.

New Year’s resolutions often seem to turn into goals more likely to be on a person’s bucket list: quit smoking this year ends up being quit smoking before I die or lose 25 pounds before summer converts to lose 25 pounds before I’m diagnosed with diabetes. If you’re looking for something that’s easier to stick to this year, check out the following tech New Year’s resolutions.

1. Empty your inbox. How many emails do you have in your inbox that really don’t need to be there? The problem is that they get mixed in with all the stuff you do want to keep. Me? Between my three emails accounts I have going to Outlook, I’ve got – I’m almost embarrassed to say – over 4500 emails! Yikes! I’m not really sure what the best plan of attack is, I think I’ll sort by the sender and rifle through them that way.

2. Quit forwarding your junk. I think part of the reason my inbox is so full is because I save unimportant emails with full intentions of going back to look at them later, but then never do. The emails I’m talking about are those from family and friends who forward me every joke and YouTube video they think is funny. I’m sure they’re a hoot, but I just don’t have the time or desire to read a 2500-word joke or watch a 20 minute video of cats falling into fish tanks  (sorry Aunt Martha, I hope the truth doesn’t hurt too much!). If you only choose one tech New Year’s resolution for 2012, make it this one – it’s so incredibly easy to succeed, simply refrain from hitting that Forward button!

3. Check your Facebook privacy settings. When was the last time you checked your account to make sure the settings are as you’d like? Perhaps more importantly, when was the last time you checked your kids’ privacy settings to ensure they aren’t divulging all their personal details and photos to strangers? Here’s a look at some related blog posts we’ve written this past year:

• Zuckerberg hacked: Is it time to quit Facebook?
• Facebook promises new privacy controls that actually make sense
• Secure your Facebook profile against scams and malware with a free app
• Access to my what? Facebook permissions explained
• Q&A: Can someone follow me in real life if I use Facebook Places?
• 5 ways to prevent Facebook from being accessed from your home computer

4. Delete your unused accounts. From social networking accounts to newsletter subscriptions, you probably have a lot of unused and unwanted accounts that are still active. Why not take the time to remove yourself from these email lists and delete the accounts you no longer use? The next time you receive an email from a company you really have no interest in, scroll to the bottom of the email and you’ll likely see an unsubscribe button. As for deleting your online accounts, it’s usually fairly straightforward to do – here are a couple tutorials that may interest you:

• How to delete your Facebook account
• Help! How do I delete my Google+ account?

5. Only download apps from reputable sources. In his post, Is your smartphone doing dirty work for criminal gangs?, Lee Mathews explained that, “… as many as 20,000 Android devices were actively communicating with servers known to be connected to cybercrime activities. Through the installation of Trojanized Android apps, those devices had become zombies and were now active participants in a mobile botnet.” So, make it a point to only get apps from reputable sources. And while you’re at it, read these tips on how to secure your internet-connected gadgets.

6. Sort through your digital photos. You capture 100+ photos of a recent event or family get-together, transfer the photos to your computer, look at a few, and then forget about them. Does that sound familiar? Make it your New Year’s resolution to go through your massive virtual pile of digital photos and print some of the good ones to share the old fashioned way with family and friends. There are some excellent online services that will print your photos in a variety of ways that look fantastic and are very affordable. A few recommendations I have that are worth checking out are:

• Posterjack – A Canadian company based in Toronto, Posterjack will print your photos on canvas, turn them into an acrylic print, custom frame your photos or even print them directly on metal.
• Blurb – This company enables you to create photo books, blog books, notebooks, cookbooks and even Facebook books which turns your Facebook albums into a photo book, including the comments and captions attached to these images. Further, you can resell your creations within the Blurb bookstore.
• Shutterfly  – With Shutterfly, you can turn your photos into just about anything, from photo books and stationary to fleece photo blankets, calendars and coffee cups. Oh, and you can also order regular prints from here too. Their prices are great and you can often score additional savings by searching the web for promo codes.

When you’re going through all your photos to decide which ones to print, you should delete all the rubbishy ones to free up storage space on your computer.

7. Habitually backup your data. There have been a couple times in my life when my computer started making an awful sound as my cursor suddenly froze and then – wham! – I got the blue screen of death. Panic started to sink in, not because I could have been unexpectedly out several hundred bucks for a new computer, but because I couldn’t remember when the last time I ran a backup was or what files I may have lost. Make it a habit to back up your data on a regular basis by scheduling automatic backups online or to an external hard drive. You’ll thank yourself one day.

8. Recycle old gadgets. Last year, I wrote a similar tech-related New Year’s resolution blog post. In it, I suggested recycling your old gadgets rather than throwing them away. This one is so important, it’s worth another mention. To repeat myself, “As a gadget freak or computer geek, you’re bound to have old gadgets, ancient PC parts, or other dead electronics laying around your house – especially just after Christmas. Before you toss your unloved electronics into the trash (which wreaks havoc on the environment!), first consider donating or recycling them. Read In With the New, Recycle The Old for ideas on where your gadgets can go.”

9. Talk to your kids. Sit down with the kids to have a serious conversation about online bullying. As parents, we should be doing everything we can to prevent our children from being hurt. Read this post about online bullying to learn some ways you can help prevent cyberbullying and to be provided with some helpful resources.

10. Learn something new. Make it your New Year’s resolution to learn a new skill – there is always something worth learning, and thanks to the internet and the plethora of tutorials out there, discovering new techniques and skills can be fairly quick to learn and also free.

What’s your tech-related New Year’s resolution? Leave a comment to let us know!