In the life of a tech aficionado, there are many old favorites, i.e. programs you stay faithful to even in the presence of better alternatives. For years, my favorite browser has been Firefox. Not owned by a large corporation, reasonably fast and with support for countless good extensions, Firefox was my go-to-browser until, eventually, sand got in the gears. The visuals hadn't been updated for years, display errors kept coming up and the speed was hardly on par with the available alternatives. I made the switch and, with a heavy heart, put Firefox on the scrap heap along with my old love, Netscape. Did I grieve too soon? Version 57 promises nothing less than a revolution. Is this the return to its old strength?
There are unsung heroes out there, especially those who accomplish ungrateful tasks out of a sense of duty or charity for others. While there's International Volunteer Day and much appreciation for social commitment, one species of helpers mostly stays in the background: family administrators. It took a while for their field of activity to take form but it's seen rapid growth in the wake of mass Internet use ever since! I'd like to honor these ladies and gentlemen by describing their typical daily routine. And believe me, it's not as fictional as you might think.
Though I'm already quite involved in social media (through my job), there has always been a white spot on my map until now: Pinterest. "Something with images" was all I could say about it. I like text over images and anyway: who needs another portal? As I look around my circle of friends: obviously quite a few. Described to me as "a cross between a photo site, a constructive community and a virtual pin board with a high percentage of female members" by a friend, I seek to find out mainly one thing in my self-experiment: is Pinterest really the better Facebook as some say? Time to register!
When managers have a chat without firing off marketing buzzwords things get really interesting. Last week, Joe Belfiore, the man in charge of Windows Edge, announced the end of Windows in the mobile space as a side note. Windows 10 for cellphones will no longer be developed and users will only receive bug fixes and security updates until the end of 2019. That means there'll only be two big competitors left in the cellphone market, i.e. iOS and Android. Even though Windows Phone ran on only 1% of all cellphones it had a resounding effect. Rarely had it become so apparent where market power ends and how hard it is to close an innovation gap.
I'm always open to reader suggestions so this week's article is about PayPal, one of the world's biggest online payment services. What is PayPal, what are the advantages and how do you use it? How much does it cost and what do you need to make payments through PayPal? What about security? Why does the payment behavior of family members matter? And of course: what disadvantages and criticism apply?
