Welcome to the Weekly Tech Update with me, Mike Walmsley. It’s a look at everything that has happened in the world of technology, the Internet, Search Engines and social media over the last week. This week I will be bringing you stories from Samsung, Firefox, The BBC, Google, Facebook and also a look at the perils of social media.
Technology
Apple make a bigger iPhone, so what does Samsung do? Samsung makes a smaller Galaxy S3. It is widely expected that by the time you view this Samsung will have announced the release of a smaller Galaxy S3 with a smaller 4” screen. Details are sketchy about this machine but it is thought to have a lower spec than the Korean giants flagship phone.
If you are looking for a low priced tablet this holiday season then you might want to consider the Zoostorm SL8. It’s a 7” Android tablet and comes with Ice Cream Sandwich as standard. It sports a 1GHz Amlogic processor and 8GB of memory that can be expanded to 32GB. The camera is only 0.3 megapixels, which is certainly low, but at around £80 it is possibly something to consider as stocking filler.
Internet
Firefox this week released the latest version, version 16, of its popular browser and then pulled it after 24 hours after a major security flaw was discovered. The flaw allows malicious sites to work out which sites a user has visited and although there is no evidence that the flaw has been exploited Firefox have still removed the product until a patch is in place. If you have downloaded Firefox 16 you can protect yourself by simply reinstalling Firefox 15.0.1 again and this is the version that Firefox are currently offering as the latest version.
If you’re a fan of radio over television, as I am, then you might very well be interested in downloading the new BBC Radio iPlayer. The app is currently only available on iPhone but an Android version is on the way. You can listen to all your favourite radio stations live or listen again to shows from the last 7 days. There’s a search facility and you can even set reminders to let you know when your favourite shows are about to start. You can also set the alarm through the app so that you wake up to the dulcet tones of your favourite DJ. This is just another example of the mobile phone subsuming the functionality of another device, in this case the radio alarm clock.
Search Engines
Google has rolled out another change to its algorithm and this one looks at the layout of your page. Pages that show mainly ads above the fold are being downgraded in the rankings. So make sure if you carry advertising on your website make sure that your own content features heavily in the top part of the page. If your content is good then you will rank more highly and higher rankings equals more visitors. If your site relies on advertisers for your revenue having more visitors will lead to more clicks and more clicks will lead to more money. It makes sense when you think about it.
comScore will be publishing their usual figures on search this Friday. Search Engine Land have had a sneak peak at the figures and they show that Google’s share of search has increased from 66.4% to 66.7% and are, as usual, streets ahead of the competition. The real losers this month seem to be Yahoo who fell from 12.8% to 12.2%. I’m sure that these figures will give Yahoo’s new CEO, Marissa Meyer, something to think about while she’s on maternity leave.
Social Media
A company in New Zealand is reportedly suing Facebook. Profile Technology says that Facebook cut off access to the search giant’s data after the Auckland based company created a search engine with the data. Profile Technology says that they had a contract with Facebook to access the data and are suing them for loss of profits. Facebook says that the claims are groundless and they will fight the case. If the claims are true then it might mean that Facebook had been considering a move into search as far back as 2010 when Profile Technology had their access to Facebook data revoked.
Twitter has launched a profile directory of users. This is not aimed particularly at other Twitter users as they can simply search for username within the site already. The aim of the new feature is to make Twitter more search engine friendly by allowing the profile index to be crawlable by search engines so that they can be indexed more easily. The profile directory follows all SEO best practices and may help your Twitter account gain higher rankings in search engine results. It’s another example of how social and search are becoming more and more intricately linked.
And finally, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about the perils of social media. There have been two high profile stories this week involving social media. The first involves Chelsea and England footballer Ashley Cole who took umbrage at an FA report that criticised him and responded with a tweet that some found offensive and resulted in tabloid headlines. The FA are now bringing in a code of conduct for footballers that will include rules on social media activity.
The second case involves a 19 year old from Chorley in Lancashire who was jailed after posting sick comments about missing 5 year old April Jones. He was initially arrested for his own protection after a crowd gathered outside his home after news of the comments spread. He was jailed by magistrates for 12 weeks after he pleaded guilty to sending by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive.
My point is this, social media can be very beneficial in so many ways by helping us to keep in touch with friends and relatives, but you must always remember that you are communicating in a very public forum. Never put anything on a social media network that you would not be happy to see on the front cover of a newspaper next to your name and photograph because you might one day find that it is and that you are in prison.