2010 wrap up part one

1. The top selling electronic device under $500 will be...

This was a lot more difficult to tally than I thought it would be. In many was it was an apple verses orange comparison. Lots of people bought High Definition TVs but in many cases they cost more than $500. We had guesses that stuck to certain brands, (Kindle) and some that named a technology (netbook). Within brands and technologies, the divisions also became more complex. For instance, “droid cellphone” is not one kind of cellphone but actaully refers to the Androis OS used on many different smartphones, such as the HTC or Motorola Droid. You then compare it to the iPhone (iOS) and Blackberry (RIM OS). Right now the race for top in this category is between the iPhone and the Android OS loaded Smartphones. Blackberry (RIM OS), your star is falling!

When the dust settles later this month, it will be either Gail ((Android) or Tom, Beth and Jeff (iPhone) as winners. Netbooks, iPods and eBook readers were all popular and newcomer Kinect also generated a lot of sales (partial points will be awarded) but cell phones remain the top electronic devices.

Amanda's Facebook Prediction

I was listening to NPR this morning and heard that Facebook is now the most visited website and has eclipsed Google. This is exactly what Amanda predicted. The interesting thing is that the story was not positive about Facebook.
If you want to read or listen to more on this topic visit
http://www.npr.org/2010/11/30/131700947/new-networks-target-discomfort-with-facebook

Economic Recovery in Iowa

In January, Wendy predicted that Iowa would lead the nation in economic recovery. Well she got it right.

A November 8, 2010 article in Newsweek talks about places in the nation (Iowa included) where the recession has not only been mild but are in some ways better off than they were before October 2008.

Here is an exceprt that pretty much tells it all.

Des Moines was recently rated the No. 1 spot in the country for business
and careers by Forbes magazine, thanks to a surging agricultural sector and
strength in the business-services segment.

Read the entire article at: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/11/08/the-top-10-places-in-america-poised-for-recovery.html

Tom and Beth's prediction on midterm elections...

In January, Tom and Beth predicted that "Midterm elections would swing to the right with 36 Congress and 8 Senate seats changing hands"

That is pretty close to what happened.

As of tonight, there were six seats in the Senate that have changed from Dem to Rep and two to be decided. They could hit that part on the nose! And although they could have gotten it a little closer, it looks like about 60 House of Representative seats changed hands.

Looks like we have some pretty savvy pundits on our hands. Look out Fox News!

Biden Swears in public predicted by Ben!

It may be a year late but Joe Biden very publicly swore last week during the health care bill press conference. Read about it here.
Here is Ben's original prediction from 2009.

Should we award him bonus points?

Local movie-goers pick Academy Awards winners

http://www.galesburg.com/lifestyles/x1013166431/Local-movie-goers-pick-Academy-Awards-winners

Anybody look familiar here?

olympics, the winners...

Ben was closest on the total medals. The US won 37 medals and Ben guessed 35. Jerry also gets some credit for predicting the total number of silver medals won by the US. He guessed 15!