Wikipedia Will Go Dark On Wednesday In Protest Of SOPA/PIPA

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, tweeted in regards to the fact that the wikipedia.org website would be shutdown on Wednesday 1/17/2012 in protest of SOPA (Software Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act). The English version of Wikipedia.org will be joined by Reddit and more than 50 other sites.

But the Internet giants say the bills could require your Internet provider to block websites that are involved in digital file sharing. And search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing could be stopped from linking to them — antithetical, they say, to the ideal of an open Internet.

Read more 

The Most Popular Android Apps by Age

Nielsen conducted a study of Android applications used by age groups. 18-24, 25-34, 35-44 based on usage going back 30 days from. What I find interesting is that all of the the most commonly used top 6 applications, with the exception of Facebook all belong to Google across all of these age groups.
Nielsen findings:

Nielsen analyzed usage data from its proprietary device meters on the smartphones of the thousands of consumer panelists who agreed to be part of Nielsen’s ongoing Smartphone Analytics research.
Staying Social
Facebook’s popular app is the most active among Android owners 18-24 and 25-34, who both hover at around an 80 percent active reach. Additionally, more than three quarters of users 35-44 used the app recently as well.

 

Google’s YouTube app gets heavy usage from Android smartphone owners 18 -24: 64 percent have used it in the past 30 days, compared to 56 percent and 51 percent of 25-34 and 35-44 year olds. A preference for media apps with a social dimension (e.g. Words with Friends) among the 18-24 set is also reinforced by their sizable usage of music and video apps (e.g. Pandora) compared to older demographics.

 

Play Time
Not just for the kids, the ubiquitous game, Angry Birds, appeals more to those 35-44 when compared to other age groups: 35 percent of them have used the app in the last 30 days, while only 22 percent of those 18-24 and 29 percent of 25-34 year-olds launched the game.

 

Apps and More for Sale
Apart from gaming, the 35-44 segment demonstrates a greater inclination to shop using the Amazon AppStore: 24 percent of them used the app in the last 30 days, while only 14 percent of those 18-24 did the same. Groupon appeals more to those 25-34, not even making the top 20 ranking for those 18-24. A similar trend was found on Google+: active reach was higher for those 25 and older when compared to the 18-24 demographic.

Source – Nielsen Wire.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Review

Image: Steve Kovach, Business Insider

Asus has a new Android powered tablet. Its being compared to the iPad by Business Insider. Dont be fooled by the photo, that is not a netbook, it is the Asus tablet connected to a docking station for the tablet.

Images of the tablet can be found here.

Good Stuff:

  • Excellent design and build quality
  • Beautiful, bright display
  • Tegra 3 processor offers insanely fast performance and incredible 3D graphics
  • You won’t find better battery life in a tablet

Bad Stuff:

  • Honeycomb still stinks
  • Still tough to find good apps for Honeycomb tablets
  • Laggy response time when typing and scrolling on the dock

Should You Buy It?

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime will cost you $499 for the 32 GB, Wi-Fi model. I wish there was a 16 GB option for $399, but no go. The laptop dock costs an extra $149.

Is it worth the price? I would’ve preferred Asus package the dock and tablet together at a discount. There’s a lot of potential here to create a new type of tablet/laptop hybrid, and bundling the two together would help get more people to adopt it.

full Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Review.

RIM More Open to Rivals

According to All Things Digital, RIM is launching a service that allows smartphone tracking for BlackBerrys and other smartphones like the iPhone. Its not clear to me why RIM would include the iPhone specifically when that service already exist via the Find My Phone App.

Research In Motion Ltd. is rolling out a new system that aims to help its corporate customers keep track of employees’ BlackBerrys as well as rival devices they use, including the iPhone.