GLITR Picks 2011's Top Tech Stories -- And 2012's

So what were the top tech stories of 2011? A handful of readers weighed in on the subject, and here are there responses. Remember, your mileage may vary, and if you disagree violently, good -- it would make for a lively newsletter for you to email me and tell me why.

* Everything Apple: The iPhone 4 and 4s, the iPad 2, but Steve Jobs died without a clear succession plan, and everyone says the company's vulnerable in 2012.
* The mainstreaming of the electric car. Chevrolet Volts and Nissan Leafs popping up on the roads, lots of free subsidized EV charging stations too. Dearborn and Auburn Hills are among the municipalities adding stations. With Ford beginning production of a slew of EVs and hybrids, get ready for the deluge.
* The Year of the Tablet -- my favorites included a Motorola Xoom from Verizon and an inexpensive Acer from AT&T. Both perfectly serviceable as "real" computers with the minimal addition of a keyboard. Both small, light and fast. Both great computers to take on vacation without having your spouse yell at you.
* The Year of the E-book -- Kindle, Kindle Fire, iPad, Nook... many worthy competitors.
* Google minimalizes an already minimalist interface.
* Droid phones a worthy competitor to the iPhone.
* Former tech high-flier Novell sold, and loses a round of a lawsuit against Microsoft that's crucial to its survival.
* Microsoft makes it possible to put important company stuff in the cloud with Office 365.
* Wireless charging going mainstream led by Michigan companies -- Amway subsidiary Fulton Innovation, and Commerce Township-based Powermat.
* Japan's earthquakes slow both Japanese auto sales and seminconductor supplies.
* Tech outages, from Verizon's 4G network to Amazon's cloud service.

And our picks for the top stories of 2012?

* The rise of Detroit as a center for IT innovation and creation, led by local heroes like Dan Gilbert, Josh Linkner, and Earvin "Magic" Johnson, New Jersey's Tim Bryan, and a bunch of others we haven't met yet.
* More better voice recognition technology in all devices.
* Expanded marketing-through-social-media, which probably means younger people will find somewhere else to gather with their friends. (It may even be physical space.)
* New top-level domains will lead to amusing confusion. Well, as long as your company isn't real strict about what is and what isn't safe work work.
* From our friends at C/D/H, a prediction that Microsoft will refresh its server, workstation and Web technologies, including SQL Server 2012 midyear and Windows 8 late year.
* Facebook's IPO will take place.
* Displays will continue to get smaller and lighter, and even flexible.

With a nod and a wink, C/D/H also predicted an iPhone app that translates teenage-girl-speak to actual human languages, a collective yawn over our collective total lack of privacy, and social media apps that automatically turn any bounced checks or dwindling investment balances into pleas for a personal charity.

Also, my favorite: The Occupy Movement decides to go virtual and hacks into the Bank of America Web site. Guilt, insults and criticisms are texted to you each time you deposit more than $250 into your account, along with contact information on nearby credit unions.

With that, let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas, the happiest of New Years, and we'll see you in 2012, when we all find out if the Mayans were predicting anything, or if they just ran out of big flat rocks.