2011 was a huge year for Technology news, both good and bad. We gained the robot we dreamed of as kids when Siri was introduced this fall, but we lost one of the greatest minds technology has known just one day later with the passing of Steve Jobs.

The top three technology stories of 2011 (in our opinion):

1. SOCIAL MEDIA MOVES THE WORLD.

This year we saw social media bring together rioters, protestors and the clean up crews. First, the protests in Tunisia and Egypt were spurred along by images of protestors portrayed through social media and ultimately acted as a method of organization and even a reason for protesting once freedoms such as Internet and cell phone service were taken away by the government.

"One could make an argument, and I think there's [reason to believe] that a lot of young people view the freedom to connect as a fundamental human right and, when the government shuts everything down, and you're completely unable to communicate with your peers, and get access to information, and each other, you run the risk as a government of turning something into an issue for people that would have otherwise watched on the sidelines." Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas.

In London, Blackberry Messenger was used by participants in the riots, and the following days saw citizen clean up crews brought together by Twitter. Finally, ongoing protests from the 99 percenters are reported more ....

"We exist at the intersection of technology and social issues." Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg summed up at the Facebook annual conference.

2. GOOGLE+

As Facebook takes on more and more attention on the Internet, with 20 million applications installed per day, more searches are also being performed on the social media giant. In April, Google hinted that they would enter the social media contest as they announced a + button. But Google+ was hinted around, and then opened by invitation only, then exclusively by invitation... eventually it opened to the public in September and then to companies in November.

But was the wait too much? The social media site showed quick initial registrations and then lackluster growth. By the time company pages were announced, “61% of the top 100 [US] brands have established Google+ Pages, no ...

3. THE BATTLE OF THE TABLETS

The iPad 2 was announced, HP put their tablets on ebay and Kindle Fire heated up the competition.

Who will win this battle is yet to be seen, but the price of Kindle Fire versus the speed and capabilities of the iPad 2, it seems like a middle ground could take the lead in the new year.We're definitely excited to see what happens!

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