You know the situation: you're searching for a product and online reviews are staggering. "Wonderful device, works without a hitch, very sturdy even - I ordered another one for my kids! They were thrilled!" And so were their children's children, I guess. This and similar adulation pushed the product rating up to 4.8 out of 5 stars and now strongly motivates others to make the purchase. The system works because these are the opinions of real customers, real people like you and me. Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
Wouldn't it be great to always be right? Errors feel unpleasant and embarrassing at times, you might even be forced to reconsider your actions. Way too much stress! That burden has been lifted thanks to social networks and a wide selection of other media outlets. Even for those who believe that the earth is flat.
Every time a year ends, we're treated to the "top 10" from various categories. What were the most often used baby names, which car models sold best, who had the most followers on Twitter? A snore fest. One piece of news, however, woke me up from my winter slumber. A collection of 1 billion stolen data sets was analyzed to find the most popular passwords. Would it just be a case of same old, same old or had there been a learning process? What I found seemed like an invitation to unwanted visitors
It happened (again), a colleague was late and yet had no trouble finding a parking space. My appointment calendar is getting lighter and the first emails with Christmas greetings and goodbyes from colleagues leaving for vacation are coming in. There's change in the air, barely noticeable at first but then unavoidable. Things are quieting down, colleagues are lining up in the corridors having chit chats over their Christmas plans. You no longer mindlessly pass by all the Christmas decoration but start to notice the various adornments. There's small fir branches with golden Christmas bulbs on the window sills, they must have been lying there for weeks but I just started noticing them. Suddenly, Christmas is no longer a distant date.
In 2010, Apple guru Steve Jobs was not amused. In an open letter, he vigorously panned the Flash software and announced that from now on, Apple would no longer tolerate Flash on their devices. This created quite a stir and Flash was believed to disappear rather quickly. What Flash is? Animations, movies or sophisticated ads - Flash is often behind it. Do you like browser games? They're also frequently Flash-based and so are many security issues, many of them even make it into the news. Getting rid of Flash would change the face of the Internet. What Jobs didn't achieve - banning Flash from the computer world - is now seemingly becoming a reality. Another giant has stepped onto the scene and vowed to do away with Flash and this time it might actually happen.
