It looks like iOS 8 adoption rate has hit a wall at 70%.  Honestly I didn’t even update my iPhone because I heard so many bad things about it bricking your phone.

With people worried about their phone not working anymore (and then having to go the apple store to fix it) it is no wonder people are not upgrading.

You can read more about it here:

Updating its App Store Distribution page on Tuesday, Apple pegged iOS 8’s share at 69 percent, just one point higher than the 68 percent recorded around two weeks ago on January 6. The number doesn’t reveal the full scope of iOS 8 adoption but rather shows the iOS devices that visited the App Store on Monday, January 19.

Mobile analytics firm Mixpanel showed a slightly higher market share of 71 percent for iOS 8 as of Monday. Fellow analytics firm Fiksu displayed a 68 percent share as of Monday.

The latest figure from Apple does indicate a more leisurely continuation of the shift to iOS 8. Prior to January, adoption of the new OS had been proceeding at a slow but steady pace, from 47 percent on October 5 to 56 percent on November 12 and 64 percent on December 22. Such a slowdown presents a challenge for Apple, which requires iOS 8 for certain apps and services that it’s trying to push, including Apple Pay, the new Health App and HealthKit and the HomeKit home automation platform.

Apple’s iOS figures include devices that have upgraded to iOS 8 from a previous version as well as new iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches that automatically come with the new version. So the slowdown in adoption may simply be a result of fewer people buying iOS devices following the holiday season.

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Finally a good windows table for under $100.  You see a lot of these with the Android operating system.  But not very may with Windows.  It’s nice to see Microsoft isn’t laying down.

They can be a real competitor to Android.  Here’s one of the best examples I could find:

A sensible purchase? Here is a look at a fine example, a Linx 8 purchased from Sainsburys for 89.99 (even better deals are available online). It is one of a range of three, with 7″ and 10″ models also available.

The Linx 8 (bottom left) is cheaper than many Android tablets

What you get is an 8 tablet with a quad-core Intel Atom Z3735F 1.33Ghz chipset, 800×1280 5-point capacitive touchscreen, 1GB RAM and 32GB storage, front and rear 2MP cameras, micro HDMI and micro USB, micro SD slot, audio socket, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Oh, and a bonus of one years subscription to Office 365 personal, worth having considering that it costs 59.99 if you buy it separately. You could argue that if you want Office Personal, you might as well buy the tablet;

Despite the low price, the device is nicely packaged in a strong sleeved box. There is also a 16-page getting started booklet, which states that you can “use the tablet while it is chraging (sic)” so I plugged in and switched on.

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Android Phones and Tablets are great.  But you have to remember that their platform is much more open than Apple’s.  For this reason any of their apps are more suspect to having Malware in them.

So it’s no surprise that security companies are very concerned with payments apps using the android platform.

Be careful if you use the apps.  Do not put any of your bank account information into them.

They can be hacked or the app itself can contain malware.

You can read more about it here:

Eleven percent of the payment apps available globally for Android phones and tablets contain malware or suspicious binaries, according to RiskIQ, a company that helps organizations maintain the integrity of websites. It found that 40,000 of the 350,000 apps which reference banking had security issues and another 40,000 contained dangerous permissions.

Mobile banking presents a lucrative opportunity for criminals to commit fraud, said Elias Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ.

One of the easiest ways to steal a victims login and other personal information is using malware and apps with excessive permissions. These findings show that criminals are using look-a-like banking apps to distribute malware and capture data on the device in order to commit crimes.

Every country has at least one Android app store and most device makers have a store as well. RiskIQ works with banks to identify apps that can cause problems for their customers, he said. Apple operates a closed ecosystem and checks apps before they go up in its one official App Store, so it doesnt face the security problems Android does.

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The Turkish government isn’t very happy with Twitter these days.  They wanted private information from 24 user accounts.  Twitter said no and stuck by it’s policy of protecting their user’s information.

You can read more about it here:

Twitter, the phenomenal microblogging website, is on Turkey’s agenda mainly because the government is waging a war on the anonymous whistleblower Fuat Avni (@fuatavnifuat), but the resilience Twitter has shown in protecting user information is not only limited to cases in Turkey, the company says.

Today’s Zaman paid a visit to Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco last week to learn more about the liberal-minded company. Twitter is more concerned with protecting freedom of expression than extending special treatment to users like @fuatavnifuat.

Nu Wexler, from Twitter’s public policy communications department, told Today’s Zaman that Twitter has never shared any user information with the Turkish government, as stated in the transparency reports of the company on its website. These reports display information about government requests to Twitter, including how much information a particular government asks for. In the first half of 2014 only, Turkey requested content removal with 65 court decisions as well as the user information of 24 accounts.

Wexler says Twitter does not comment specifically on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons, but they have legal guidelines for certain information that requires court decisions. “Our transparency report shows we have never turned over private user data to the Turkish government,” said Wexler. In a recent example, Turkey asked Twitter to remove the account of the BirGün daily.

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I have been doing a lot of work with Facebook and their ad platform.  Honestly it is pretty shocking what they know about all of us.

Compared to Google Ads, Facebook is a lot cheaper.  If you have not had good results with Google then check out Facebook.

Much like Google Ads you have to be very targeted with Facebook.  Otherwise you won’t get good results.

To see the actual differences and how they work on a large scale here is a good article that explains it on a big scale:

Universal access to the internet through smartphones, tablets and computers has driven the success of numerous companies. Most notably, Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) have witnessed staggering growth as a result of technological innovation.

Consumers are largely familiar with Google as the dominant search engine platform. However, Google operates in multiple verticals consisting of mobile operating systems, hardware, video technology, and social media.Facebooks ascension came as a result of widespread use of its social media platform. Connecting families, friends and colleagues through an easily-navigable website was innovative at the time. But in addition to conquering social media, Facebooks business ventures consist of the acquisitions of Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus VR, to name a few.

The continued success of both Google and Facebook can be credited to their entry intonew markets. While web-based search and social media brought both company’s success, it is the advertising services offered by Google and Facebook that drive continued revenue growth. With massive audiences, Google AdWords and Facebook Ads both operate through pay-per-click advertising channels. Likewise, mobile advertising has an increasing role in the advertising efforts of both companies. Although the difference between the two advertising services may be apparent, quantifying the maximum return on investment is difficult. (For more, see:How Facebook, Twitter, Social Media Make Money From You.)

Generating over 90% of revenue in any given year, advertising fuels Googles expansion.Google AdWords is an online advertising service that allows companies to leverage new audiences. Companies bid on the placement of an advertisement and keywords that trigger company websites. AdWords primarily focuses on keywords that users type into search. Searches with keywords will trigger advertisements within the web page. Through efficient search engine optimization and Google AdWords, companies can seamlessly attract website traffic.

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Here is a cool study I came across.  Basically it says that students who use Facebook to share links are resources end up doing better on tests.

But they say don’t get the study confused with use Facebook while at school.  You should be paying attention to what’s going on class (hard to do I know):

Good news, college students: A new study has found that stalking your friends and friends of your friends on Facebook will not, generally, hurt your grades. In fact, certain things such as sharing links and checking in with friends may actually improve your GPA. That being said, this much is clear: You still shouldn’t use Facebook while you’re studying.

Reynol Junco, an associate professor of education at Iowa State University, surveyed over 1,600 college students about their Facebook behavior and their grades. He found that not only is there no reason to believe Facebook hinders students’ grades, but it may actually be the opposite.

“Students use social media to make friends and create the support network they need,” he says. “If they’re committed to their social circles, then they’re also committed to their institution, and that’s a major part of academic success.”

The real problem, the study indicates, is not that students are using Facebook, but rather that younger students don’t know when or how much to use it—just like any other activity. (As most of us can recall from our own experiences of staying up until 3am and subsisting on caffeine jolts, college freshmen have no idea how to manage their time.)

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Microsoft unveiled it’s new Windows 10 operating system today.  So What’s so great about it?  Well first of all you get it FREE if you already have Windows 8.1.  Press Cool.  

Lots of people really like their Haolgram feature but in my experience things like this rarely play out.  If you want to lear more about Windows 10 check out this article from CNN:

At its Redmond, Washington, headquarters on Wednesday, Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) detailed how its new operating system will work across desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones — oh, and it’s going to use holograms.

Microsoft understands that Windows 8 wasn’t well-received by customers, and most of its updates to Windows 10 reflect that. It offers a much more familiar experience to Windows 7 users who never made the jump to Windows 8. But it also brings some innovations to the PC that tablet and smartphone users have become accustomed to. And by adding holographic representations to Windows 10, Microsoft is hoping to take Windows to a world beyond screens.

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Brittany Johnson threw a mega party in Mecosta County Michigan.  Right by my home town.  Man.  Maybe I should have gone to it.  But I didn’t.

How did it get SO big?  Twitter.

Now it looks like they are up to doing it again.  You can check it out here:

MECOSTA COUNTY, Mich. — The woman who runs the Twitter page that was created to promote this weekends massive party at a house in Mecosta County said that shes proud of the events turn out.

The woman even goes as far to say that the group plans to host another large gathering in the near future.

Brittany Johnson, 20, said that alongside her best friend, she wanted to promote a party for another friends birthday last Saturday.

Johnson said that herself and six other organizers spent hours cleaning up the yard outside the Mecosta County home on Saturday afternoon, digging fire pits and cutting the grass.

Johnson said that once she announced the location of the party on social media, attendees coined the name Project P for the event.

She said just hours after the party, #ProjectP became a world-wide trending topic on Twitter.

“We are proud we hosted it. We, I mean we are proud to be a part of it. We are glad it happened. It is definitely something that we will always remember, said Johnson.

Johnson said that her fellow organizers hired people to work security, and the goal was to keep everyone safe.

The Mecosta County Sheriffs Office said that at least six drug overdoses and one sexual assault were reported.

“Stupid mistakes with obviously drug overdoses and the rape, which I mean we definitely, we didn’t have any control over that. I mean people came at their own risk, said Johnson.

Johnson said that “Project P” was round two, and that the first party took place at the end of June in Howard City.

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Wow.  I know we all heard that Facebook was down today but really?  do people really need to be calling 911?

If you want to read more about it you can find it in this clip I saw on the Healines & global news blog:

By Amanda Bernocco | Aug 04, 2014 03:47 PM EDT

People are encouraged to call 911 for various emergencies, but apparently Facebook being down is not one of them.

This was the call of action of many Los Angeles Facebook users Friday when the social network went down on Friday.

#Facebook is not a Law Enforcement issue, please don’t call us about it being down, we don’t know when FB will be back up!

The sergeant continued to tweet that the department frequently gets calls about emergencies not related to law enforcement, including cable, TV, and other electronics not working.

CNN reported that about 70 percent of LAPD phone calls are non-emergency, including one instance where a man called to complain that he hadn’t gotten cheese on his hamburger.

According to thewire.com, in the time that Facebook was down, the company lost about $426,007.

Facebook has yet to comment on the issue, but released a statement to users on their Platform Status Page:

“Facebook is currently experiencing an issue that is affecting all API and web surfaces. Our engineers detected the issue quickly and are working to resolve it ASAP. We’ll update shortly.”

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A week or so ago Google came out with a new way of showing its search results.  The change is called the “Pigeon” update.

What changed?

In a nutshell they give more results to directories.  Namely Yelp.

If you want to read about why here is an article that goes into a lot of detail about it:

All E-Solutions Spotlights |

Jul 25, 2014 at 3:06pm ET by Matt McGee

As the analysis continues on yesterday’s Google local search algorithm changes — that we’re calling the Pigeon update — one thing appears to be clear: Local directory sites are getting better visibility in Google’s search results.

More specifically, it looks like Google has fixed its “Yelp problem” and is now showing Yelp pages at the top of search results when queries specifically include the word “Yelp.”

You might recall Yelp’s recent accusations that Google was manipulating its search results to show Google’s own local listings and content ahead of Yelp pages even when users specifically included “Yelp” in their searches. Yelp’s report specifically looked at the search term “gary danko yelp” (Gary Danko is a San Francisco restaurant) and showed how Google listed the restaurant’s official website first, along with several links to Google+ content such as reviews and its Google+ page.

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