Early tech adopters aren’t the people you see camped outside of an Apple Store a week in advance of a new iPhone. They’re the people who first saw how much emerging technologies like apps, tablets, and social media could do for their business and jumped on it. They’re the people that see emerging technology as something great and helpful, not scary and overwhelming. In a business world where technology is evolving faster than you can say “cloud-based business storage,” adopting new tools and applications can give you a big leg up on the competition.
You don’t need to be a tech geek to be on top of the emerging technology game, you just need to hang out at the same places as the tech geeks do. Here are the best online resources for becoming an early tech adopter.
TechCrunch: TechCrunch is THE place to find all the latest news on tech startups. Before Twitter became Twitter, before Square became Square, before Groupon was Groupon, it was all the talk on TechCrunch. Startups are becoming major companies overnight and there is no better place to keep tabs on the next big app than TechCrunch.
Gizmodo: While TechCrunch focuses mostly on applications and services, Gizmodo is all about the gadgets. Want to know if the iPad stacks up with the Samsung Tablet? The specs on the next big smartphone? How to optimize your MacBook for ultra-productivity? Gizmodo keeps you in the know about what cool toy all the cool kids will be playing with this fall.
Engadget: Engadget is very similar to Gizmodo but both are great blogs to keep track on all the latest hardware, peripheral tools, tech specs, and tech trade show news. They offer great in-depth reviews on all the latest gizmos without the boring tech jargon most of us don’t understand anyway.
BGR: BGR isn’t as big as the other blogs but it’s the place to go for everything mobile. BGR keeps track of all the latest trends, rumors, and business dealings of the big boys and offers a lot of predictions on what it all means. Aside from a ton of news, they offer a lot of commentary on how it affects you and your business.
Mashable: Social media is all of the rage and Mashable keeps you on top of all of it. The site is dedicated to helping your business make the most of the social media tools out there and offers a ton of news and tips on integrating big networks like Facebook, Twitter, G+, FourSquare, and Pinterest into your business strategy while keeping you informed on all of the emerging smaller networks and happenings.
All-In-One – Techmeme: If you want all the latest trends on these blogs and others, Techmeme rounds up all of the big tech stories onto one aggregated page. The site brings together big tech blogs, small niche blogs, and major news outlets all onto one handy and helpful run down of the biggest tech news and trends.
Stay on Top of Trade Shows: Before a product becomes the next big thing, it is unveiled at a tech show. Whether we’re talking about smartphones, tablets, gadgets, or applications, there is a trade show out there where tech entrepreneurs and marketers are trying to drum up interest in their upcoming release. If you know what are the biggest draws at trade shows like CES and IFA then you already know what the biggest draws will be once those products are released to the public.
