Last week, I started working on a post highlighting things that were great in 2010. Somehow that draft disappeared, so I will do this which is more random than chronological.

• Attended lots of conferences: Lavish, PodCamp Philly, InfluencerConf, Blog World, BlogHer, 140Conf NYC, Finovate, Blogging While Brown, TechMUNCH Austin and NYC, SXSW.

• Celebrated six years of Cupcakes Take The Cake.
• Met some famous people Gail Simmons, Carla Hall, Dr. Mae Jemison.
• Hung out with Martha Stewart again.
• My pink camera and hand pictured on the Samsung website
• Quoted in ABC News article about my SXSW panel.
• Quoted in Inc about best small businesses to start right now.
• Appeared on TV- IFC segment about the digital afterlife.
• Appeared on TV- CNN segment about Foursquare. (BTW, my cousin saw this on CNN while he was in Germany)
• Profiled in Atlanta Post
• Taught Four Cupcake Business Classes this year.
• Judged a cookie swap in NYC and a mini cupcake challenge in LA.
• Went on a cupcake junket to Seattle.
• Competed in a hot dog cookoff and casserole bakeoff.

I am not a professional prognosticator, but I look at trends. Taking note of the tech, food and media start-ups that have been bubbling up in 2010, this I what I think will be big in 2011.

1. The rise of niche VCs. There will be venture capitalists who will direct their attention to lifestyle-focused start-ups in food, fashion, home and travel.
2. TV apps. Thanks to social media, GoogleTV, Apple TV and Hulu, television is NOT dead. There will be more TV apps and hacks dedicated to water cooler shows and TV events like the Oscars, Grammys, etc.
3. Food is Big. There are already restaurant apps and recipe apps. In addition, there will be apps for CSAs, farmer’s markets, nutritional information and calorie counting and cooking how-tos.
4. iPad as a home appliance. There are people who take their iPad to work, to Starbucks or on the road they travel. However, I think the iPad will more likely be the home computer that sits in the den, kitchen or living room. With that said, geo-location apps for iPads seems like a waste of time.
5. Geo-location for everyone! As smartphones reach the prepaid phone market, there will be a more diverse and younger market that can potentially use services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, Shopkick,etc.

Update: TV app, Qvivo, is set to launch. Qvivo, a media center app that manages your videos and music all in one place, streams files over the cloud on any number devices (TVs, smartphones, tablets), and integrates with all your social media. -Fast Company

This year was the first ever TEDWomen Conference. It was held yesterday and today in Washington, DC. I was not down in DC, but luckily TEDxGotham provided a simulcast. I attended today to listen to the sessions. It was amazing to hear all the wonderful things women are doing all over the world. Below are my free form notes from today.

Annet Namayanja-Uganda bean breeder
Her father said: “When you eat beans,you don’t get sick.”

Moringa, great nutritional food -Judith Robin, RockefellerCenter

Dereck and Beverly Joubert-Conservationists, Filmmakers
preserving big cats
“As we delink ourselves from nature,we lose hope.”

Dr. Hawa Abdi and Dr. Deqo Mohamed:
Somali doctors for women and children
Every morning 400 people come to their clinic.

Penelope Jagessar Chaffer and Tyrone Hayes
toxicity in frogs
atrazine- #1 contaminant cause hormone imbalance, chemically castigated.
baby products mimic estrogen
600% increease in autism over the last 20 years
aromatase
cancer treatment blocking estrogen
letrozole
BPA – what baby bottles and sippy cups are made out of
synthetic estrogen
6 mass extinction
amphibians are heading toward extinction

Naomi Klein
ecologist activist
the earth has limits
Alberta tar sands-oil production
oily sand
terrestial skinning
need a new narrative a circular story-what goes around, comes around

Jody Williams
Time to reclaim the word “peace”
access to live dignified lives
human security
“I don’t believe in hope without endeavor”-recently released woman in Burma

Jaqueline Novogratz is a social entrepreneur
slow money (patient capital)
“What we yearn for as human beings is to visible to others”
@jnovogratz

Great poem by Suheir Hammad
she said to hold a woman while listening to the poem.
I first thought of my Grandmother, but realized that the poem fit my cousin Walani who was murdered eleven years ago.

Joan Halifax, zen Priest
Compassion has enemies.

Sejal Hathi
social entrepreneur
GirlsHelpingGirls.org

Johanna Blakley, Norman Lear Institute
entertainment
Can Social Media dismantle gender stereotypes?
Our tastes are now respected, not presumed
Women are driving social media
Dominate the Social media space
Media companies will hire more women
The death of the chick flick!
The future of entertainment will be data driven.
Look at how people amuse is a way to see how the world works.

“It’s not how powerful you are, It’s how you empower others.”Sally Osberg

Let the record show that just because I run a cupcake blog doesn’t mean that I would not enjoy delicious macaroons from Sucre. Sucre is selling a holiday gift box which has chocolate mousseline or cool peppermint cream macaroons.