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Instagram Didn't Lose a Quarter of its Users, But it Is at Risk

2012-12-28T15:19:00.001-08:00

You can tell you've really become a part of the national discourse when theNew York Post writes a sensationalist story about you.

That's what happened to Instagram Friday morning, when the Post seized on numbers from AppData that showed the photo-sharing service had lost a quarter of its daily active users in the week since its Terms of Service debacle. But the data was misleading for so many reasons, it would make a good case study for a statistics class.

First of all, the Post article was cherry-picking numbers. AppData's record of Instagram's Daily Active Users plummeted from 16.4 million on December 19 to 12.4 million today. But the number of people who used Instagram in the last month actually rose in the same time period, from 42.5 million to 44 million.

You could just as easily write a story about the 1.5 million people who opened the app in the last week for the first time in December. Nate Silverwould not be impressed with either piece.

It hardly bears pointing out that the period in question covered the Christmas holidays, when traffic is generally light across the web (though this is not always the case for apps). It does bear pointing out that AppData is only able to look at numbers from users who've connected their Facebook accounts to Instagram, which is by no means a plurality of its users.

And while AppData told the Post it was "pretty sure the decline was due to the terms of service announcement," that whole kerfuffle quietened down when co-founder Kevin Systrom made his apology on December 20.

No wonder Instagram was able to so confidently refute the story. Said a spokesperson: "This data is inaccurate. We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram."

A Big Side Order of 'Yes, But'

All of that said, the Daily Active User statistic should still give the company pause -- just as an abnormally high blood pressure reading means you should probably check in with your doctor, even if it is an outlier.

Yes, it's an incomplete picture of Instagram users. But it does cover 44 million out of 100 million total users, which is a pretty massive sample size in any statistician's book, especially when the sample contains no inherent bias. If pollsters had canvassed a random 44% of likely voters prior to the Presidential election, not even Mitt Romney would have been able to argue with their numbers.

Yes, it was Christmas. But shouldn't that mean more people want to take more pictures of more shiny things -- presents, trees, relatives, food -- with their phones, especially the new phones they found in their stockings? Instagram's Daily User figure actually rose over Thanksgiving, which only offered the relatives and the food.

Flickr's photo-sharing app saw a 100% gain in Monthly Active Users over the same Christmas period, according to AppData. To be sure, Flickr is starting from a lower base, and has the novelty factor on its side for now. (It's also offering a gift to users: 3 months of Flickr Pro for free.)

But Instagram should be concerned that dissatisfied users appear to be clustering around one particular alternative. As most tech industry veterans will tell you, in this business, it pays to be paranoid.

SEE ALSO: 5 Lessons from the Instagram Debacle

Systrom should be watching like a hawk for signs that his apology didn't cut it, or got lost in the noise -- after all, it did land late on a Thursday night. In any case, just because he apologized on December 20 doesn't mean users have heard about it by December 25. Most of his 100 million users aren't paying as much attention as you, dear tech news reader.

Many will have heard something second-hand or third-hand about a change in the privacy policy, something about selling photos to advertisers (which, for all Systrom's protests about user confusion, was precisely what the new terms of service would have allowed.) Some will have only heard about it the moment they gathered around the dinner table with relatives. Still others will have heard about the apology, but don't know whether to believe it.

Instagram's potential health problem, then, has nothing to do with statistics and everything to do with perception. The Terms of Service story went viral, but the apology didn't. The danger is that Instagram has been indelibly defined in the public mind by this story, and is on its way to becoming a butt of late-night jokes, a dinner-table meme -- and yes, a whipping boy for the New York Post.

How can Instagram fight that perception and make up with disaffected users? Give us your take in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, andrearoad

Norovirus cases may have passed 1m

2012-12-28T05:57:00.000-08:00

Health Protection Agency says confirmed cases of vomiting bug are 83% up on this time last year

The HPA believes there are 288 norovirus cases for every one that is reported. Photograph: CDC/Phanie/Rex Features

Press Association

The number of people affected by an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug could have passed 1 million, new figures show.

The number of laboratory-confirmed cases of the norovirus has reached 3,538 in England and Wales, up from 3,046 last week and an 83% increase on the 1,934 cases at this time last year, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said.

But the HPA has said that for every reported case an estimated 288 go unreported, meaning there could be 1.01 million cases, up from just under 880,000 last week.

The HPA said that in the two weeks to 23 December there were 70 reported hospital outbreaks of the virus, compared to 61 in the previous fortnight, bringing the total of outbreaks for the season to 538.

The number of cases has risen earlier than expected this year, following an as-yet-unexplained trend seen across Europe and other parts of the world.

John Harris, an HPA norovirus expert, said: "The number of laboratory confirmed cases has risen once again as it appears that we have seen the rise in cases that usually begins in January start a little earlier than we normally expect.

"Norovirus is very contagious, and very unpleasant. To help prevent spread of the disease, it's important that people who believe they are unwell with the virus maintain good hand hygiene and stay away from hospitals, schools and care homes, as these closed environments are particularly prone to outbreaks which can cause severe disruption."

Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp asked to explain criticisms of referees

2012-12-28T04:13:00.000-08:00

• Manchester City and QPR managers could face FA charges
• Comes a day after Sir Alex Ferguson escaped censure

A day after Sir Alex Ferguson was told he would not be punished for his confrontation with the referee Mike Dean, the Football Association has written to Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp, asking them to explain their public criticisms of match officials during the Boxing Day programme of Premier League fixtures.

The Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers managers have three days to respond and the FA – which takes a dim view of the capability of referees and linesmen being called into question – will then decide whether to bring any charges relating to improper conduct.

Mancini criticised the performance of Kevin Friend during Manchester City's 1-0 defeat at Sunderland, suggesting that "maybe the referee ate too much for Christmas". Mancini felt that Friend had missed a foul on Pablo Zabaleta in the buildup to Adam Johnson's decisive goal and he said that it was "impossible two men couldn't see it," referring to the referee and his linesman.

Redknapp was left fuming by what he called two "scandalous decisions" in QPR's 2-1 home loss to West Bromwich Albion; the first, a nudge on his goalkeeper, Rob Green, that played a part in West Brom's second goal and the second, the non-award of a late penalty when Liam Ridgewell appeared to handle.

"I asked the linesman how he didn't see that penalty – it was the most blatant handball you could wish to see but he said it was murky down there in that corner and he couldn't make it out," Redknapp said. "Maybe he should go to Specsavers.

"It's just poor refereeing. I had him [referee Chris Foy] at Stoke last year when I was Tottenham manager and he let three penalties go, so what's the point in talking to him? We have had two terrible decisions that have cost us dearly."

Apple iPhone is the choice of Generation Y in the U.S.; Samsung is on top overall

2012-12-28T02:50:00.002-08:00

Breaking down the U.S.smartphone market by generation

According to the latest data from Forrester Research, in the United States,Generation Y is the leading age group behind purchases of the Apple iPhone. Forrester says that 29% of this generation uses Apple iPhone as their main handset. Samsung handsets rank second, with 20% of the Generation Y people choosing them. This is the most technologically aware generation - 72% of them own a smartphone and 25% have a tablet; nearly all in the group send SMS messages and 70% of them use their smartphone to check the news, read email, grab sports scores and visit social networking sites. Gen Z is the next largest group buying the Apple iPhone at 24% followed by the 22% in Gen Z.

Overall in the U.S., Korean based Samsung has a leading 24% of the U.S. Smartphone marketfollowed by Apple with 18% and, quite shockingly, LG also with 18%. The difference is that while Apple attracts younger buyers, an amazing 22% of Golden Generation responders, aged 65 and up, said they have an LG smartphone (versus 6% for Apple and 27% for Samsung in the category). Would you be proud to see granny sportin' an LG Optimus G?

Motorola is fourth with 12% of the U.S.smartphone market and was, along with Samsung, the most consistent performer across the time-line. The Motorola DROID RAZR series has a model with a 3300mAh battery and even the non-MAXX Motorola DROID RAZR HD offers a 2530mAh battery that should last at least a whole day. Motorola makes its phones like tanks, which help attract the older users who are more prone to drop their handset on the floor. HTC rounds out the top 5 with 8% of the U.S.smartphone market. BlackBerry and Nokia and tied for sixth place with each owning 5% each.

source: ForresterResearch, ReadWrite via TUAW

New Year’s Eve: here are all the apps you’d need

2012-12-28T02:48:00.011-08:00

And just like that, 12 months swooped past us and 2012 is drawing to a close. The year that supersized our smartphones, brought us affordable tablets, and got us more accustomed to the little wonder of having an amazing device hopefully also was a good year for you.

And now, as it is coming to a close, we have a couple of days left to think about what happened, remember the good moments, jot down some resolutions and prepare for meeting 2013.

Your smart devices can of course help out with all that. We have selected just the apps you’d need to take a better look back at 2012, make (and keep!) those resolutions and greet friends. Take a peek.

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China approves tighter rules on internet access

2012-12-28T02:28:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of millions of people in China use the internet, although its content is closely monitored by the authorities

China has tightened its rules on internet usage to enforce a previous requirement that users fully identify themselves to service providers.

The move is part of a package of measures which state-run Xinhua news agency said would protect personal information.

But critics believe the government is trying to limit freedom of speech.

The announcement will be seen as evidence China's new leadership is targeting the internet as a threat.

In recent months, the internet and social media have been used to orchestrate mass protests and a number of corrupt Communist Party officials have been exposed by individuals posting criticisms on the internet.

Under the new measures, anyone signing agreements to access the internet, fixed-line telephone and mobile devices will be required by network service providers to give "genuine identification information", the decision says, according to Xinhua.

Hundreds of millions of people use the internet in China, with many using micro-blogging sites to complain or campaign on issues of national interest, including government corruption.

The Chinese authorities closely monitor internet content that crosses its borders and regularly block sensitive stories through use of what is known as the Great Firewall of China.

iOS apps of the year 2012

2012-12-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

What were the best apps released for iPhone and iPad this year? Shane Richmond shares his favourites.

App of the Year
The Orchestra (Touch Press, £9.99)
An astonishing interactive exploration of orchestral music, this app from Touch Press takes you inside the Philharmonia Orchestra as they play eight pieces. You can watch the performance from a variety of camera angles, follow the sheet music as it scrolls along in time to the music and listen to commentary from condutor Esa-Pekka Salonen and his musicians. There's also an encyclopedia of the instruments in the orchestra, featuring video from the musicians and high resolution, 360-degree images. All of it is wonderfully constructed and delightfully simple to use. Entertaining, educational and essential.
The Orchestra: the app that puts a symphony at your fingertips
The Orchestra iPad app review

The Best of the rest
Google Maps for iPhone (Google, free)
When Apple ditched Google Maps from its iOS devices with the release of iOS 6 this September, they replaced them with a vastly inferior alternative of their own. Apple Maps, error-strewn and unreliable as they soon proved to be, were a major reason for many people holding back from upgrading to iOS 6. Thankfully Google has released Google Maps as a free app and a very impressive app it is too. It includes features that Apple Maps doesn't, such as StreetView and public transport directions but it's biggest selling point is simply its greater accuracy.
Googe Maps for iPhone review

QatQi (ZWorkbench, free)
With its striking visual style and soothing soundtrack, QatQi would be worth investigating even if the game itself were relatively ordinary. As it is, QatQi is an intriguing, addictive and occasionally frustrating word game. In one way, it's like Scrabble: use your letters to make words and build high scores until all the letters have gone. However, QatQi spins the idea in some intriguing ways. First, you need to make chains of words in order to explore the map and gather coins. Second, you have a stash of 'undos' handy that you can use to go back and explore new approaches. A great game.
QatQi review

Lift (Lift Worldwide, free)
If you are trying to develop good habits, there is plenty of evidence to show that simply monitoring your progress can help you to stick with it. Something else that can help is having support and encouragement from others. Lift is a simple app that does both of those things in an easy way. Set up the habits you want to develop, for example excercising more or eating better, and then just tick a button each day that you stick with the habit. The Lift community offers encouragement and you'll want to keep the train of green ticks going. Ideal for the New Year.
Lift review

Fieldrunners 2 (Subatomic, 69p)
Tower defence games, strategy titles that involve positioning weapons to stop a horde of bad guys escaping from the map, have long been a mainstay of the App Store. For a lot of gamers they are considered passe but I still have a soft spot for the genre, especially when it is done as well as Fieldrunners 2. The original title was a big hit in the early days of iPhone gaming and the new version is bigger and better in almost every way. There are new styles of map and plenty of difficulty levels to challenge even the most hardened tower defence veteran.
Fieldrunners 2 review

Toca Tailor (Toca Boca, £1.99)
Swedish developer Toca Boca has pioneered a range of clever and delightful interactive toys for children. Almost any one of their titles is worth a recommendation but this year's Toca Tailor is perhaps their best. With the ability to dress a range of characters with almost limitless options. It's even possible to use the camera to create your own patterns. Toca Tailor will keep children occupied and stimulate their creativity. It's simple enough for small children but has the depth that will allow older children to really experiment. There is even a website offering themes and suggestions.

London - A City Through Time (Heuristic Media, £9.99)
Bringing together maps, 360-degree imagery, audio guides and maps, London - A City Through Time is an exhaustive guide to Britain's capital city. There's plenty to lose yourself in here, whether you're interested in the city's history, its geography or the famous people who live and have lived there. With more than 6,000 articles, 2,000 prints and photographs and 35 video documentaries, it's like the ultimate coffee table book and the ultimate TV documentary all rolled in to one. Expensive by App Store standards, this is still an absolute bargain.
London - A City Through Time review

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare (Touch Press, £9.99)
Some of the greatest poetry ever written is collected and brought to life in this brilliant app. It contains the text of all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets, of course, as well as analysis from the Arden Shakespeare and witty notes on each one from poet Don Paterson. However, the heart of the app are the readings from the likes of Dominic West, Sir Patrick Stewart and Stephen Fry. In all, there are two-and-a-half hours of video, making this a highly accesible way to discover - or re-discover - Shakespeare's work.
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare review

New Star Soccer (New Star Games, free)
This retro-style football game is phenomenally addictive. Take over every aspect of your player's career, from the club he plays for to how he spends his money and manages his social life. Perform well in matches and you will earn points you can use to develop your player. Play badly and you could be dropped from the team. It's very simple but a classic 'just one more turn' kind of game that can easily consume hours before you notice. An excellent title that's hard to put down.
New Star Soccer review

Wombi Ice Cream (Wombi, £1.49)
Like Toca Boca, Wombi is a Swedish company that makes apps for children with an emphasis on exploration and creativity. One of their more recent titles, Wombi Ice Cream puts the player in charge of an ice cream van. A series of cute animal customers will request particular combinations and it's up to you to serve them. There are lots of opportunities for creativity and, as with all Wombi games, the whole thing is delightfully colourful and well presented.

Android apps of the year 2012

2012-12-27T18:02:00.001-08:00

2012 has been the year that Android has finally been taken seriously by developers and Google has released innovative new programmes of its own. Matt Warman rounds up the ten that he uses every day

Google Now

Free
It’s hard to emphasise how much of a difference Google Now makes until you’ve lived with it for a few weeks. In short, it’s the first phase of a much-talked about Google project to give users answer to the questions they’ve thought about rather than typed in, or even haven’t yet thought about. That may sound slightly creepy, especially to those minded to be paranoid, but in this first incarnation it means automatically displaying data such as about public transport, appointments and driving times. None of this is actually newly available, but it is presented in a radically better way. That means local weather, directions to your next appointments and travelling times, without you lifting a finger. Just long-press the home button.

Flipboard for Android

Free
Although Android has a number of good news readers, including Google Currents, it has long lacked the best, Flipboard. Start it up for the first time and select the categories you want, and the app will automatically trawl for top articles, all presented beautifully and consistently. There’s that joyous feeling of serendipity that has long been provided by print magazines and newspapers but tailored slightly to your tastes, from design to video games.
Swiping moves you either from category to category, in the home screens, or from article to article. On the Galaxy S3 screen, the pictures look impressive. As on the iOS versions, too, you can sign in with your Twitter or Facebook logons, and suddenly the series of links that friends were recommending on social networks is represented. It may make you reassess who you are friends with.

Swiftkey Flow Beta

Free
As more people use mobile phones to communicate, so more people too are being frustrated by the usual keyboard experience. That’s where improvements such as Swype and Swiftkey come in.
Swype is a way of speeding up individual word input – rather than typing each letter, you simply move your finger from one key to the next, but don’t take your finger off the screen. The process is a lot faster than the traditional method of tapping.
But Swiftkey takes the idea to another level: this isn’t predictive typing. Instead it’s predictive messaging. So the software, once activated on your Google Android device, predicts what word you’ll type next. Begin a text “I’ll be…” and it guesses “late”, say. Tie it with your Facebook, Gmail or Twitter accounts and it can learn from your existing style.

BBC iPlayer/Sky Go/Virgin Tivo

Free
Tablets and phones are fundamentally changing the way broadcasters do business, and the many excellent applications demonstrate how seriously Virgin, Sky and the BBC must take the new model. Its technology is allowing users to take their TV with them, and flagship Sky Go is well established on Apple’s iOS and mainstream Android phones. The iPlayer is five years old and also going strong. On Android, Virgin’s offering has yet to launch, and that demonstrates the problem of the platform: each device needs attention and there are hundred of Android phones compared to just three current models of iPhone. The great thing, though, remains the content and its easy availability. Sky leads the pack in terms of both availability and quality of application.

Sonos

Free
Sonos is a wireless music system that lets you stream your radio or music around the house to different zones. Over the course of 2012 its app has been upgraded to let you stream directly from an iPod or iPhone, too, and it also includes integration with services such as Spotify. That gives you instant access to almost every tune you could ever wish for, all in an intuitive, easy interface.
The wonder of Sonos, however, is in music suddenly appearing around the home, thanks to a tap of the screen of your phone. The speakers are worth every penny.

Chrome

Free
Google’s Chrome web browser has seen huge growth on the PC, and been the subject of the search giant’s most substantial marketing campaign. The selling point is its raw speed, minimalist look and background, six-weekly updates. Even Mac users have taken to the browser with alacrity unprecedented for a Google product.
Sync is where it’s at for Chrome. The browser now takes information from a Google user's desktop Chrome use, if they’re signed in, so it provides an experience on a phone that learns from, and is very similar to, the full desktop experience. Tabs that are open on the desktop can be sent to and seen, already open, on the mobile version. So you need never lose your place on the web.
That means proper tabbed browsing, too, implemented in a way that is even better than Apple’s excellent iOS browser. Google likens it to a stack of cards in your hand, each one of them a browsing window, and that does make finding what you’re after much easier. It also means clicking on links on a browser web page does not necessarily mean you’ll lose the page where you started. In the tablet version, this is particularly good.

Cerberus

Android; €2.99 (in-app)
Phones get lost or stolen every day, and theft of Apple products now account for 14 per cent of all crime in New York, according to NYPD. With the release of the new iPhone 5, it surged 40 per cent.
Cerberus, like a supercharged Find My iPhone, offers remote control of your lost phone either via the web or text messages and means you can remote sound an alarm, lock the device, get a list of recent calls and record audio. Some may worry that this sounds like a tracking device for suspicious spouses, but it has already been responsible for countless recovered phones.

Pingit

Free
Pingit allows anyone with a UK current account and mobile phone number to send and receive cash, without having to share bank details.
Sean Gilchrist, head of Digital Banking at Barclays, claims the new app features “industry standard encryption”, and can automatically be wiped from a phone if a user tells the bank they have lost their device.
Users must also use a new, five-digit PIN code to access the app, which Barclays claims was developed with the help of its own and mobile banking security experts.
Mr Gilchrist says the registration process asks for a large number of personal details to verify that a user is who they say they are. The app claims to be ‘revolutionary’ because it allows users to send money from one bank account to another, rather than from, for instance, one PayPal account to another.
To send money, customers can use the app available on iOS, Android and Blackberry, or they can register online to receive payments regardless of what type of phone they use.
Payments must range between £1 and £300 and the maximum someone can receive in a day is £5,000. Infuriatingly, however, non-Barclays customers' accounts are confirmed by post rather than online, and a new letter is sent every time you change phones. Nonetheless, it's an app that chages your attitude to money.

Starbucks

Free
Big brands from Starbucks to Natwest have had iPhone applications for several years, much to the irritation of Android users. It’s only in relatively recent months that Android has begun to complete the roster, adding to forward thinkers such as British Airways newcomers including Instagram and Flipboard.
Where Starbucks is novel, however, is that it’s one of the first major Android apps that will allow loyalty card holders for the coffee chain to eliminate cash or card payments altogether. If a Starbucks card has sufficient money loaded onto it, users can simply fire up the app and hit ‘Pay Now’ to bring up a barcode that can be scanned at the till. It’s so convenient that a third of all Starbucks customers now pay via a card, either in the plastic sense or via their phones.
The experience saves around ten seconds per purchase, which makes it surprising that Starbucks has not introduced any ‘loyalty card only’ lanes.

First of the Tube

99p (limited, 10-station version free)
Regular London commuters quickly learn which carriage they should stand in to move quickly off the tube and towards their exit or interchange. Any unfamiliar journey, however, makes it obvious that few have the level of knowledge to always stand in the right place – this app, however, changes that.
Using a database containing information on what side tube carriage doors open and the location on each platform of exits and interchanges, the app means that you can stand in just the right place and be, literally, first off the tube. That could save people hours over a year, not least because you avoid the scrum of public transport users who all get off and then slow to a crawl while looking for a sign.
The app doesn’t need a data connection, so it can, helpfully be used underground. Unfortunately, it takes a few seconds to load each time you open the app, and that means losing the crucial seconds when you’re about to catch a train. If you’ve got a few minutes on the platform it doesn’t matter, but future builds no doubt will be snappier.
So while there are problems with First off the Tube, it’s in many ways exactly what a modern app should be: via a simple interface and using hard data, it saves users valuable time, all thanks to a smartphone.

Sir Alex Ferguson lucky not to be sent off, suggests Alan Pardew

2012-12-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

Sir Alex Ferguson has escaped censure from the Football Association for his confrontation with the referee, Mike Dean, during his Manchester United team's 4-3 home win over Newcastle United on Boxing Day. But Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, has suggested that Dean ought to have sent off Ferguson, as he described the pressure that the referee was put under as "tough to take".

On the day that the FA began to consider whether to take further action against Roberto Mancini and Harry Redknapp, the managers of Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers, for their public criticisms of the match officials during the Premier League's Boxing Day programme, Ferguson's behaviour came under scrutiny.

Pardew, who said that he did not speak to Ferguson after the game, took the unusual step for a British manager of being critical of his Manchester United counterpart. To him Ferguson's conduct was worthy of dismissal. "I think Mike Dean might feel slightly disappointed he didn't do something about it," Pardew said. "I think the pressure that was on him was tough for a referee to take. Sometimes when you reflect on a game you think you might have acted differently. You do that as a manager and I think he might have done that as a referee.

"But it's an emotional game and apparently they had a cordial discussion. I've had a few of those myself and sometimes I've ended up in the stands as a result of that cordial discussion."

The United manager was angry after Dean overruled his assistant Jake Collin to allow Newcastle's second goal to stand, after it was ruled out for offside. Newcastle's Papiss Cissé was beyond the final defender when Danny Simpson's drive was turned into his own net by Jonny Evans in the 28th minute. Ferguson approached Dean as he made his way out for the second half before he rounded on Collin and the fourth official, Neil Swarbrick.

Dean made no mention of any extraordinary incident in his match report, which he filed to the FA, and he and his assistants are understood to have regarded the conversations with Ferguson, despite their apparently heated nature, as being rational and reasonable.

The fact that Dean did not banish Ferguson to the stands was an indication that the manager had not used abusive or insulting language towards the officials, or questioned their integrity. There was a difference of opinion about the interpretation of the rules but it did not cross the borders of acceptability. As Dean did not flag up any improper conduct from Ferguson to the FA, it has taken the matter no further.

Pardew was also slightly surprised that Robin van Persie was not charged by the FA, despite appearing to strike the Newcastle captain, Fabricio Coloccini, in the face. "I think there were a lot of things the FA could look at," Pardew said. "But it seems they are looking at none."

The FA is, however, looking into the post-match comments of Mancini and Redknapp. Mancini was furious with Kevin Friend after City's 1-0 defeat at Sunderland, suggesting that "maybe the referee ate too much for Christmas". He felt Friend had missed a foul on Pablo Zabaleta in the build-up to Adam Johnson's decisive goal and he said it was "impossible two men couldn't see it," referring to Friend and his linesman.

Redknapp lost his cool after a pair of decisions went against Rangers in the 2-1 home defeat by West Bromwich Albion; the first, a nudge on his goalkeeper Rob Green that played a part in West Brom's second goal and the second, the non-award of a late penalty when Liam Ridgewell appeared to handle.

The FA takes a dim view of managers questioning the capability and integrity of match officials and it is expected to write to both Mancini and Redknapp in order to ask them for explanations. The managers would have three days to respond and the FA could then decide to bring charges of improper conduct, which can carry touchline bans.

Syrian rebels sidetracked by scramble for spoils of war

2012-12-27T15:39:00.001-08:00

It wasn't the government that killed the Syrian rebel commander Abu Jameel. It was the fight for his loot. The motive for his murder lay in a great warehouse in Aleppo which his unit had captured a week before. The building had been full of rolled steel, which was seized by the fighters as spoils of war.

But squabbling developed over who would take the greater share of the loot and a feud developed between commanders. Threats and counter-threats ensued over the following days.

Abu Jameel survived one assassination attempt when his car was fired on. A few days later his enemies attacked again, and this time they were successful. His bullet-riddled body was found, handcuffed, in an alley in the town of al-Bab.

Captain Hussam, of the Aleppo military council, said: "If he had died fighting I would say it was fine, he was a rebel and a mujahid and this is what he had set out to do. But to be killed because of a feud over loot is a disaster for the revolution.

"It is extremely sad. There is not one government institution or warehouse left standing in Aleppo. Everything has been looted. Everything is gone."

Captured government vehicles and weapons have been crucial to the rebels since the start of the conflict, but according to Hussam and other commanders, and fighters interviewed by the Guardian over a fortnight in northern Syria, a new phase has been reached in the war. Looting has become a way of life.

"Spoils" have now become the main drive for many units as battalion commanders seek to increase their power.

The problem is particularly pronounced in Aleppo, according to Abu Ismael, a young lieutenant from a wealthy family, who ran a successful business before joining the fight against Bashar al-Assad.

Many of the battalions that entered the city in the summer of this year came from the countryside, he said. They were poor peasants who carried with them centuries-old grudges towards the wealthier Aleppans.

There was also a lingering feeling that the city – where businesses had been exploiting cheap peasant labour for several decades – had not risen up quickly enough against the Assads. "The rebels wanted to take revenge on the people of Aleppo because they felt that we had betrayed them, but they forgot that most of the people of Aleppo are merchants and traders and a merchant will pay money to get rid of his problem," Abu Ismael said. "Even as the rest of Syria was gripped by revolution, the Aleppans said, why should we destroy our business and waste our money?"

When the rebels entered the city and started looting the factories, a source of money dried up.

"In the first month and a half the rebels were really a united revolutionary group," Abu Ismael said. "But now they are different. There are those who are here only to loot and make money, and some still fight." Did Abu Ismael's unit loot? "Of course. How do you think we feed the men? Where do you think we get all our sugar, for example?"

In the chaotic economics of the war, everything has become a commodity. Abu Ismael's unit, for example, took a supply of diesel from a school compound, and every day his unit exchanges a few jerrycans of the precious liquid for bread.

Because Abu Ismael has a supply of food and fuel his battalion is more desirable than others in the sector. Commanders who are unable to feed their men tend to lose them; they desert and join other groups.

Bullets are equally important. When military installations and warehouses are looted the battalion that captures ammunition grows by cannibalising smaller, less well-equipped units that have no bullets to hand.

In a dark apartment in the Salahuddin neighbourhood of Aleppo we sat with a group of commanders who were discussing the formation of a new brigade that would bring their various battalions together. They soon turned to the topic of loot.

One of the commanders present had led an operation into the predominantly Kurdish neighbourhood of Ashrafiya in Aleppo, but according to several fighters who were there the action failed when the army counterattacked because the rebel support units that were supposed to reinforce the front instead turned their attention to looting.

"I want to know exactly what you took that day," the commander of a small unit told the leader of the assault. The commander opened a notebook to write, while another man held a flashlight above his head. "As long as one fights while the others are busy collecting loot we can't advance," he said. "The loot has to be divided equally."

The leader started to list the luxury cars and the weapons his units had found and taken, while the other commander wrote them down in the notebook. Some of the cars would be sold back to the owners – if they paid out a hefty ransom.

Outside sponsors

The war in Aleppo is not only funded by what can be appropriated by the various units, but also by the patronage that they can attract from sponsors outside Syria, a factor which has also contributed to the myriad forming and re-forming of units, all of which control individual fiefdoms in the city.

All of this has fuelled rivalries and ever-shifting allegiances, factors that have undermined the struggle to defeat the forces of the Syrian president.

Fighting units often exist only because of their sponsors. If a sponsor loses interest a battalion is dissolved and the men join another, better-funded battalion. Battalions are often named after historical Arab or Ottoman figures in order to help lure money from the Gulf kingdoms or from Turkey.

One Friday afternoon after prayers a group of the most senior commanders fighting in Aleppo, 32 in all, gathered in part of a sprawling former government compound, the building's once polished marble floors now covered with puddles of water, its walls blackened by soot. Sitting in low leather chairs around a large table, many of the men carried the scars of two years of fighting – missing eyes, lame arms, crippled legs.

The meeting was chaired by Abdulkader al-Saleh, a leader of the Tawheed brigade, one of the biggest and best equipped rebel battalions in Syria.

First on the agenda was the task of reintroducing the men to each other, as many had switched battalions since their last meeting in the endless game of musical chairs of the Syrian revolution.

A who's who of the revolution followed, each commander stating his name and his unit. Some battalions were huge, with hundreds of men, artillery pieces and tanks. Others consisted of fewer than 50 fighters.

"Haji, I thought you were with Halab al-Shaba'a brigade," Haji Marea said to one of the men. "No, we have reformed. We are a new battalion," the man said.

"Brothers, we have a grave situation ahead of us," interjected Abdul-Jabbar Akidi, a defected colonel who leads the military council of Aleppo. Formed to channel supplies to the rebels, the council was supposed to be the overarching command structure for the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo. Instead, it soon became one more faction among many competing for influence.

"The battle has stagnated here," he said. "There has been no real progress on the fronts and that has affected our sponsors, who haven't been sending us ammunition.

"Even the people are fed up with us. We were liberators, but now they denounce us and demonstrate against us. We have to unite and form an operations room for all the battalions."

Soon, however, the conversation took a familiar turn, moving on to complaints about units keeping equipment to themselves.

A short, clean-shaven commander in a leather jacket spoke up: "The problem is that some battalions have artillery and tanks and they are keeping them for themselves and not participating in the attack. Bring me the pieces that were captured from the base of the 46th brigade [a government unit] and I will take over the secret police buildings in Aleppo without having to send my men to die in front of government snipers."

The second item on the agenda concerned the formation of a revolutionary police force.

As the revolution in Aleppo stagnated and the rebel commanders settled in to rule their "liberated" neighbourhoods, each battalion had started forming its own revolutionary security service, or Amn al-Thawra, manning checkpoints and detaining people, which had led to a spike in kidnapping.

The commanders put forward proposals for how they could create a single disciplined security force.

One moustachioed former colonel in a brown suit began reading what sounded like a Ba'ath party manifesto: "I call for the formation of a secret bureau of revolutionary military security service," he said.

Many of the men in the room had been detained and tortured by Assad's security services and sank into their chairs as the former colonel spoke.

"We fought against the regime because of these secret security forces," said a man with a thick rural accent.

Another battalion commander with a soft voice and a neat blue turban began to speak. "I call for the formation of a small unit of our brothers, the religious students," he said. "Their job would be to advise the people before the need to use force."

He added: "They will be armed with their wisdom and religious teaching and it should be called the committee of ruling with virtue and the prevention of vice. It will be the first step in preparing the people for an Islamic society."

At this, a young fighter shouted from one end of the room: "The problem is not with the people. The problem is us! We have battalions sitting in liberated areas who man checkpoints and detain people. They say this person is a shabiha [a government militiaman] and take his car, or that man was a Ba'athist, take his house.

"They have become worse than the regime. Tell me why those men are in the city, in liberated areas, why are they not fighting at the frontline?"

As the room choked with the smoke of cigarettes, the commanders agreed to form one unified security force. Yet weeks later, there would be little evidence of that force.

Abandoned posts

There were many further stories of looting heard during the our time in Aleppo. A pharmacist who had volunteered as a medic in one of the rebel field hospitals explained why he was running short of penicillin.

The rebels had taken over the warehouse of a leading pharmaceutical company and then had resold the stock back to the owners, shipping all the drugs back into government-held territory, he claimed.

He added: "I went to the warehouse to tell them they had no right to the medicine and that it should be given to the people and not re-sold. They detained me and said they would break both my legs if I ever went back."

In Saif al-Dawla district a commander who was furnishing a new headquarters for his newly formed battalion walked into a school compound with a few of his men.

A group of civilians stood watching in the late afternoon as the men trawled through the school. Burned and torn pictures of Assad lay on the floor. Desks and chairs were upturned and broken, and plastic flowers and students' projects were strewn around.

The men ferried some of the tables, sofas and chairs outside the school and piled them up at the street corner. Computers and monitors followed.

A fighter registered the loot in a big notebook. "We are keeping it safe in a warehouse," he said.

Later in the week I saw the school's sofas and computers sitting comfortably in the commander's new apartment.

On the frontlines of the Ameriya neighbourhood, south of Aleppo, we met Abara and his men.

Abara is young and short, in his early 20s, with fair hair and few pimples scattered on his face. He had defected from the army a year earlier. We had first met three months earlier when he was leading his men through the alleyways of Salahuddin, and many of those fighters had been killed or maimed since then.

He was now sitting with the survivors on a cold concrete floor in an abandoned building a block away from government troops. Between the men was a jar of greasy-looking green olives, a bag of bread, a plate of olive oil and some thyme. "It's much worse now," Abara said of the war. "Now it's copper and wheat that commanders are after instead of liberating the city."

He added: "The problem when people stop fighting – I liberate an area, I need resources and ammunition, so I start looting government properties. When this has finished I turn to looting other properties and I become a thief."

The physical ground that, at the moment, lay between him and the government line consisted of a series of shattered buildings where snipers from both sides appeared to shoot at almost anything that moved.

"When the army attacked us last week the unit that was here abandoned their posts and withdrew," he said.

Now, he said, in order to regain the lost territory he would have to fight house to house. "Why should I, when the rest are looting?"

He added wearily: "One day when the war against Bashar is over, another war will start against the looters and thieves."

Social media-related crime reports up 780% in four years

2012-12-27T14:18:00.000-08:00

Complaints to police about alleged crimes linked to the use of Facebook and Twitter have increased by 780% in four years, resulting in about 650 people being charged last year, figures show.

The phenomenon of social networking crime was comparatively minor in 2008 with 556 reports made to police, according to the statistics released by 29 police forces in England, Scotland and Wales under the Freedom of Information Act. This year there were 4,908 reports in which the two sites were a factor.

Chief constable Andy Trotter, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the figures demonstrated a new challenge. It was important that forces prioritised social networking crimes that caused genuine harm, rather than attempting to curb freedom of expression, he said.

"It is a new world for all and we could end up in a situation where each constabulary needs a dedicated Twitter squad. In my opinion, that would not be a good use of resources in difficult financial times. We need to accept that people have the right to communicate, even to communicate in an obnoxious or disagreeable way, and there is no desire on the part of the police to get involved in that judgment.

"But equally, there are many offences involving social media such as harassment or genuine threats of violence which cause real harm. It is that higher end of offending which forces need to concentrate on."

Police forces were asked to provide the number of crime reports in which either Facebook or Twitter was a key factor. This included alleged offences committed on the sites, such as posting abusive messages, and those provoked by postings, including violent attacks.

A total of 653 people faced criminal charges over the allegations this year, according to the forces that responded. Great Manchester police charged the highest number of people, at 115.

In 2008 across all force areas, 46 people were charged in cases connected to the sites.

Some forces released a detailed breakdown of crime reports, showing a wide variety of alleged offences, with harassment and menacing messages among the most common.

For example, Tayside police received 66 reports involving the sites this year, 44 of which involved obscene or menacing messages. In Merseyside, 21 of the 76 relevant crime reports this year involved harassment. Lancashire police received reports of six threats of murder.

There were also numerous alleged sexual offences, including grooming, as well as complaints of stalking, racially aggravated conduct and fraud.

Trotter said offences can be roughly divided between those that would have been committed before the emergence of social media, albeit in a different way, and those that exist because of the online platform.

"In many ways, online communities can be self-regulating and good at weeding out unacceptable behaviour. We need to find a way of distinguishing between that type of behaviour and that which requires police intervention."

He welcomed recent guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service, saying it set a "high threshold" for intervention and represented a first step towards a better co-ordinated approach.

The guidance, announced by the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, is expected to result in fewer criminal charges being brought.

Facebook Poke Falls Out of Top 25 Apps as Snapchat Hits Top 5

2012-12-27T12:04:00.001-08:00

So much for Facebook Poke killing off Snapchat.

Facebook's new iPhone app, which copies Snapchat's self-destruct feature for messages, disappeared from the top of Apple's most downloaded apps list almost as quickly as messages disappear from the app.

Poke was released on Friday and rose to the top of Apple's App Store that same day, displacing Google Maps as the most popular free app in the U.S. The app has since dropped out of the top 10. In fact, it's not even in the top 25.

As of publication, Facebook Poke has dropped to 34th on the list of the most popular free apps.

One theory put out by Josh Constine at TechCrunch is that Poke's decline may be due to the fact that many people received new iPhones for the holidays and likely downloaded more essential apps for the device, pushing Poke lower on the list. This point isn't without merit, as some older apps like YouTube and Instagram experienced a significant uptick on Christmas Day, according to ranking data from App Annie.

However, even if this is part of the reason for the decline of Facebook poke, it's worth noting that Snapchat -- the app that Facebook Poke was supposed to kill off -- has actually gone up in the rankings during the same time period. Snapchat initially dropped from 6th on the list to 8th on Friday after Poke came out, according to App Annie, but it has since recovered and is now the 4th most popular free app in the App Store. Poke may have struggled during the holidays, but Snapchat certainly didn't. Perhaps users tried out Poke and then decided to download Snapchat afterwards.

What's more, Poke actually started to slip in the charts by the end of the weekend, several days before Christmas, suggesting that the app received a rush of downloads in the first 48 hours, but then quickly fizzled out. It's not too surprising that downloads for the app would be front-loaded given the promotional power of Facebook, but the speed at which the app faded suggests Poke may be more of a fad than Facebook probably hoped.

In some ways, this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The app has received been criticized in several early reviews, including by Mashable's own Pete Pachal, who described it as being "frustrating as hell" to use.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, jcsmily

Source: mashable.com/2012/12/26/facebook-poke-app-ranking/

First 'Alien Earth' Will Be Found in 2013

2012-12-27T11:34:00.002-08:00

The first truly Earth-like alien planet is likely to be spotted next year, an epic discovery that would cause humanity to reassess its place in the universe.

While astronomers have found a number of exoplanets over the last few years that share one or two key traits with our own world — such as size or inferred surface temperature — they have yet to bag a bona fide "alien Earth." But that should change in 2013, scientists say.

"I'm very positive that the first Earth twin will be discovered next year," said Abel Mendez, who runs the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.

Planets Piling Up

Astronomers discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star in 1995. Since they, they've spotted more than 800 worlds beyond our own solar system, and many more candidates await confirmation by follow-up observations.

Senate Democratic leader warns U.S. going over "fiscal cliff"

2012-12-27T09:34:00.002-08:00

The top Democrat in the Senate warned on Thursday that the United States looks to be headed over the "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts that will start next week if squabbling politicians do not reach a deal. Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Senate in a speech that "it looks like that is where we're headed."

He called on the Republicans who control the House of Representatives to prevent the worst of the fiscal shock by getting behind a Senate bill to extend existing tax cuts for all except those households earning more than $250,000 a year. With the House not in session and the clock ticking toward the scheduled January start of tax increases and deep, automatic government spending cuts, Reid offered little hope.

"I don't know time-wise how it can happen now," he said. President Barack Obama arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington after a flight from Hawaii on Thursday on his way back to the White House to try to restart stalled negotiations with Congress.

Obama made phone calls to congressional leaders on Wednesday from his vacation in Hawaii to try to revive the stalled talks to prevent the "fiscal cliff" scenario, which would worry world financial markets and could push the United States back into recession. U.S. stocks fell to session lows after Reid's pessimistic remarks. In addition, consumer confidence fell to a four-month low in December as the budget crisis sapped what had been a growing sense of optimism about the economy, a report released on Thursday showed.

"People are hearing about (the cliff) and it negatively impacts confidence and investor sentiment and even holiday sales," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at Landcolt Capital in New York. The chances of a last-minute deal - at least one that would prevent tax hikes - remained uncertain, with Republicans and Democrats each insisting the other side move first amid continuing partisan gridlock.

The Senate, controlled by Democrats, was scheduled to meet later on Thursday but on matters unrelated to the "fiscal cliff." Speaker John Boehner and other House Republican leaders, who say they are willing to take up a "fiscal cliff" measure only after the Senate acts on one, were to hold a conference call with Republican House members on Thursday.

The expectation for the call was that lawmakers would be told to get back to Washington within 48 hours to consider anything the Senate might pass. Weather permitting, that would bring them to Washington with perhaps three days left before the deadline for action. Storms affecting the Midwest, the South and the Northeast played havoc with airline schedules.

'NOT WILLING' "This isn't a one party or one house problem. This is (that) leaders in both parties in all branches of the government are not willing to make the deal that they know they have to make. Everybody wants their stuff but doesn't want to give up what they don't want to give up," Republican U.S. Representative Steven LaTourette told CNN. The House and Senate passed bills months ago reflecting their own sharply divergent positions on the expiring low tax rates, which went into effect during the administration of Republican former President George W. Bush. Democrats want to allow the tax cuts to expire on the wealthiest Americans. Republicans want to extend the tax cuts for everyone.

Congress has proven that it can act swiftly once an agreement is reached. Hope persisted that Republicans and Democrats might come up with a resolution before New Year's Day that could at least postpone the impact of the tax hikes and spending cuts while further discussions take place.

That gives some hope to world markets. "There is still hope for a last-minute deal, otherwise we're in for a correction in January. People have already priced in an agreement. Without it, the market can't stay at these levels," a Paris-based trader said.

Another battle is just over the horizon in late January or early February over raising the debt ceiling, which puts a limit on the amount of money the U.S. government can borrow to pay its debts and can be raised only with the approval of Congress. Republican leaders have said they will insist on more budget cuts as a condition of raising the ceiling.

Without any action, the U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday the government is set to reach its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling on December 31. The Treasury Department is to begin "extraordinary measures" to buy time. Many analysts believe the government can stave the default date off into late February.