Archive for March 15, 2019

Two Top Execs Decide To #DeleteFacebook As They Leave The Company

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 15, 2019 by itnerd

Things are going from bad to worse for Facebook as two top execs at the company have decided to leave. The BBC has the details:

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced the departure of the firm’s chief product officer Chris Cox and head of WhatsApp Chris Daniels.

Mr Cox joined in 2005, a year after Facebook was founded, while Mr Daniels took up his role only a year ago.

No reason has explicitly been given for their departure.

Neither is good for Facebook as anytime key execs leave a scandal ridden company, the optics never look good. Of interest, Cox noted in his own Facebook post that the company is “turning a new page” in its product direction, focused on an encrypted, interoperable, messaging network. Is there something to read into that? Who knows. But if the departures keep coming, then that will be a clear signal that there is trouble in Facebook HQ.

 

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Surprise! Tumblr’s Porn Ban Has Hit The Platform Hard With Traffic To The Platform Falling Sharply

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 15, 2019 by itnerd

You might recall that Tumblr banned porn from its platform, which of course set off a wave of anger across the Interwebs. Well, to nobody’s surprise, that ban has had a negative effect on Tumblr. If you check out these numbers from SimilarWeb, you’ll see that from December to now, there’s a decline in traffic to the site from 521 million views in December 2018 to 437 million in January, and 369 million in February. That’s not good for Verizon who dropped a lot of cash to get Tumblr which was part of Yahoo at the time. That despite the deal becoming a bit of a mess because of Yahoo and the various issues that they had at the time.

I wonder if Verizon thinks it’s all worth it now as clearly Tumblr is being abandoned faster than people leaving a sinking ship?

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Huawei Says It Has Its Own OS In Case It Gets Punted From The Android Platform

Posted in Commentary with tags on March 15, 2019 by itnerd

Clearly Huawei is feeling the heat because they have built its own operating system for phones, tablets and computers in case they get cut off from the Android OS. That’s a very real possibility as Google would be required to cut them off under US law if their fight with the US escalates further. And seeing as they have Windows 10 devices in their lineup, you can likely copy and paste that for Microsoft too. The South China Morning Post has the details:

The Chinese company has developed a proprietary OS as tensions between the company and the US government could impact the availability of US-made operating systems used on Huawei devices, Huawei’s mobile chief Richard Yu Chengdong, said in an interview with German publication Die Welt.

Yu’s comments confirm an earlier report by the South China Morning Postin April 2018, which revealed the existence of a years-long project to build an alternative to Google’s Android OS. Huawei started building its own operating system after a US investigation into Huawei and ZTE Corp in 2012, a person familiar with the matter said in the report.
 
“We have prepared our own operating system, if it turns out we can no longer use these systems [Android], we will be ready and have our plan B,” Yu said in the interview.

You can’t be surprised that they have gone this route. But let’s be honest here for a second. The world is largely dominated by iOS and Android handhelds. Huawei may be able to use their own OS in China. But I would imagine that they would be pretty much ignored if they tried that elsewhere on the planet. After all, Samsung tried this with their Tizen OS and it at best has very limited success. So I cannot see how this strategy would be successful for Huawei. But good luck to them if they want to go down this road.

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Review: top4cus Genuine Leather Apple Watch Band

Posted in Products with tags on March 15, 2019 by itnerd

I am always on the lookout for Apple Watch bands of different sorts so that I can always have the look regardless of the situation. The band that I am going to talk about today is one that I got from Amazon called the top4cus Genuine Leather Band. I got mine in brown as illustrated by this picture:

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An examination of the band revealed no quality issues. It was well stitched and well put together. There is a faint leather smell and it felt like a quality product. The lugs do have a bit more play than I am used when they are slid into your Apple Watch. But it isn’t objectionable. The clasp doesn’t feel cheap either and it all adds up to give you a very upscale look.

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It looks good with business casual clothing, suits and ties and even stuff that’s more causal. In short, it fits a number of use cases. When I first got it, it was pretty stiff. But that is typical of leather bands as you have to wear them for anything from a few days to a couple of weeks before they break in and it becomes comfortable to wear. And that was the case here.

People who see this band will think you spent the sort of insane money that Apple wants for their Apple Watch bands. But in reality, you will have only spent $20.99 CDN on Amazon for one. It you want to up your Apple Watch band game, the top4cus Genuine Leather Apple Watch Band is very much worth a look.

 

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