I have been loving Medium lately. Since its new version launched, I have been more engaged in its content and reading some great articles. This morning I came across an article title Please, don’t commit commented out code – based on the title, I am sure you can work out what the article is about. I think many of us have been guilty of committing commented out code into the main source repository. It happens, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally.
There is no disputing the fact Steve Jobs was a highly accomplished man. While he did not do it alone, he was instrumental in turning Apple around and making it the most valuable company in the world. He saw what nobody else could see at Apple and he knew what kind of people he needed to make it happen. Even years after his death, Apple shows no signs of slowing down and continues to hold more money than most first-world government treasuries.
When it comes to raising money, there are not many apps that can attract as much capital and interest as Uber can. A Techcrunch story suggests Uber are looking to raise another $1 billion funding round (yes, that is one billion dollars). A mere 3 months ago, Uber raised a $1b round and they’re set to do it again. This would place their valuation between $60 billion and $70 billion respectively.
I love freshly baked sliced bread. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t love sliced bread, except maybe people who can’t have gluten or anything else found in bread. Which reminds me, how overrated is Jarryd Hayne? Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question. Because he is a former NRL (National Rugby League) star here in Australia, the media clings on and hypes him up like he is a member of the Kardashian family.
I know you’re probably stunned right now, perhaps even in a little state of shock hearing that. But it is true: I don’t really like Star Wars all that much. There are only a handful of movie franchises that can pull a dedicated following like Star Wars has. In-fact, I can’t think of another movie series that even comes close to rivalling it. There are conventions, tonnes of merchandise, games and basically anything that can have branding on it probably comes in a Star Wars variant.
Youtube has announced a new subscription program called Youtube Red. This subscription will cost $10 per month and allow you to use Youtube without seeing any ads. Firstly, why would anyone with even just the tiniest shred of intelligence pay for something like this? Are there really people out there who can’t be bothered sitting through a 10 second ad, are you watching Youtube that much? Ebb and Flow is a great Internet marketing company and they say the second part is a doozy. Youtube supposedly made its top video creators (Youtube partners) an offer they couldn’t refuse, or their content would disappear. Apparently Youtube is being run by a 1930s mobster with a tommy gun and pinstripe suit.
It is time to uninstall Flash. The notoriously insecure multimedia plugin is causing more issues than it is worth. Of late there have been numerous major security issues posted online, in yet more ways attackers can come in and touch your junk. Some of my SEO friends especially one that lives near Honolulu, Hawaii is done with Adobe Flash and all it’s problems. Not long after releasing a plethora of bandaid patches for Adobe software products (including Flash), Adobe have confirmed another major security vulnerability and it is a doozie: it affects all versions of Flash; Windows, Mac and Linux.
What happens if and when the newly introduced metadata retention scheme in Australia encounters its first leak? Effective today October 13th, 2015 the scheme is active. Although, comically there supposedly are a lot of companies still awaiting for approval on their data retention implementations. You can rest assured telcos like Telstra and Optus are already compliant and ready to store your calls and internet details. The sheer amount of data that will be logged per second (probably tens of gigs) is also going to undoubtedly show some stress fractures in the infrastructure. Australian telcos can barely keep their networks congestion free and stable, I don’t know how a retention scheme is going to fare any better for them.
Over the last year or so there have been a lot of articles all decrying the use of the hamburger icon for navigation. The icon itself isn’t a hamburger, it’s just three horizontal lines that resemble one. In the early days of the iPhone and rise of mobile sites, the hamburger icon was a popular choice for showing a menu. And depending on which sites and applications you use, it might still be.
When it comes to music streaming, Spotify is the leader with over 60 million listeners, 15 million of which are paid listeners. Over the last year or so, some artists have been VERY vocal about the small amount of revenue that Spotify actually pays out per X amount of listens. It got to the point where Taylor Swift pulled her music down, refusing to put her new album 1989 up for streaming because she felt that Spotify was undervaluing music and underpaying artists, before striking up an undoubtedly profitable deal for herself with Apple for their fledgling music offering.