Let’s talk about one of the fastest growing apps in technology today, the WhatsApp. The message app has become so popular and so effective even Facebook bought it out and put WhatsApp in it’s lineup. Apparently, one nation isn’t so impressed.
The Brazilian government orders cable and telecommunication companies to censor WhatsApp for 48 hours. The app was blocked because WhatsApp didn’t respond properly to a criminal case. ?The blocking wasn’t in response to catching a serial killer, drug cartel, terrorist organization or hate group. It was in response to a petitioner seeking an injunction against the company! Brazilian telecom companies have been campaigning for their government to limit free VOIP (Voice Over Internet Services). According to a high ranking criminal court in Sao Paulo, WhatsApp didn’t respond to a court order. Prosecutors requested, and got, a blockage of WhatsApp services for 48 hours. Naturally, the app company expressed great disappointment in this ruling. Keep in mind 93%of Brazilian regular online users access Whats App to help avoid astronomical phone service costs. Some Brazilian phone companies even want this app declared illegal. In response, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum?accused Brazil of isolating itself from the rest of the world. Nobody knows who the petitioner is.
And it’s not stopping Brazilians from messaging either. Rival company Telegram gained 1.5 million new customers since this fiasco began! I should call this whole situation more than a fiasco. I call it a borderline shootout situation between WhatsApp and Brazilian telecom corporations. And the Brazilian people are caught in the crossfire. They didn’t ask for this. Business wise, I understand telecom companies are losing money. But if they lower their prices to an affordable rate, maybe the people wouldn’t have to turn to WhatsApp. Do they ever think of that? The year 2015 hasn’t been kind to Brazil at all. They’ve dealt with economic recession, environmental ?problems, political unrest, and more. They don’t need this, especially with the Olympics coming their way next year. Don’t you think shutting down a global messenger app is a little extreme to solve this dispute? Why take it out on the people?
Ah, the holiday travel season. Nothing says Happy Holidays like crowded airports, miserable flights, tight security and exploding tempers. What if you miss your flight? Was it canceled or severely delayed? There’s an app for that.
That app is called Freebird. For about the cost of an airport dinner for two, you can book another flight on your smartphone or device. Just follow the simple instructions on Freebird. There are no mean-spirited airline reps, and no outrageous fees either. Before you can make alternative plans through Freebird, your original flight needs to be cancelled or delayed for 4+ hours. Then Freebird will send you a text to alert you about alternate flights. Freebird came out last week. It will cost you $19 to re-book an alternative one way, and $34 to re-book an alternative round trip. It will give you a choice of substitution flights. Follow Freebird’s instructions, pick your favorite flight, and press ‘Book Flight’. The ticket gets delivered to your phone, and you use that ticket to get on your new flight. And just like that; it’s back to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress. Let’s say a blizzard goes down. All flights are grounded. Not even Freebird can bail you out of that one.
I have a feeling Freebird is going to be very popular in the next five or six weeks. It’s no coincidence Freebird chose mid-November to be released. That’s just smart planning. Now let’s talk about weather related issues. If a couple of flights are canceled, Freebird is just what the doctor ordered. But remember how bad the last winter was for some of the country? Remember when airports were shut down for two days at a time…then again…then again? What if that happens again this year? What’s to say that it won’t? So far this Thanksgiving week, we’ve seen blizzard like conditions from Colorado to Illinois. Can Freebird save travelers from this during the busiest travel week of the year?
The next time you have a medical issue or health emergency, there will be a new doctor in town. Here’s to paging Dr. Uber.
Word on the technology street is Uber is preparing to serve health care needs with the push of their app button. Later this week, Uber riders can get flu shots from registered professional nurses for $10. This will be in 36 US cities. They hope to vaccinate at least 10,000 people. Uber also hires their official health adviser: Dr. John Brownstein. He runs the Computational Epidemiology Group at Boston‘s Children Hospital in Massachusetts. He’s also a bio-medics professor at Harvard Medical School. Brownstein believes vaccines are important, but not always convenient. That’s why he wants Uber to bring vaccines to the people. In 2007, Brownstein co-founded Epidemico. Epidemico studies and interprets data to forecast potential health problems. Last year, Brownstein helped Uber do a trial run of this program. They used Uber to deliver vaccines in Boston, New York City, Washington DC and Chicago. Over 2,000 people were vaccinated. According to an article in Annuls in Internal Medicine, 486 people participated in a follow up survey. Up to 80% say Uber’s convenience was one of the main reasons they got vaccinated. Many surveyed say they won’t go to a doctor or clinic to get a flu shot.
This is a good way to get people to get a flu shot. And Uber has filled in the gap between patients and vaccinations. But I must admit, I’m slightly suspicious of the vaccinations themselves. Despite more people getting vaccinated, 2014-15 was one of the worst flu seasons ever. I know. Some medical experts say vaccinations are weaker because flu mutations are stronger. ?I’m no conspiracy theorist or anything like that, but if I were Uber I’d take a long, critical look at the facts before getting involved with this. Yes, getting shots delivered to you with nursing care for a low cost is admirable. But is it getting results?
In Canon City, Colorado, one of the biggest sexting scandals of all-time breaks out. Scores of high school students are in trouble for carrying nude photos of underage peers on their smartphone. Many face felony counts, child pornography charges and years of prison. How did they do it?
They do it through the ghost apps. These apps look like normal apps but hide a secret photo vault. It turns out a calculator ghost app was used during the Canon City High sexting scandal. On the surface, it looked like a calculator app. But if you type in a password through the calculator, it will take you to a secret room where you can hide pictures and other personal belongings. But these kids used it to take and receive nude and explicit pictures. One can simply search Google ‘vault apps’ and you’ll get an assortment of choices of ghost apps, including this calculator. These ghost apps first sold in 2012, and are extremely popular. The Private Photo Vault is the 28th most popular app in Apple’s App Store. The calculator ghost app called Secret Calculator Folder Free has over 800 reviews. And the Canon City High scandal is hardly unique. Unfortunately, sexting is a disturbing trend for many Gen Zers today.
So what do we do? I urge parents to stay on top of their kids’ smartphone activity. Check it often. Check their social media pages often. Talk to them about the dangers and long term consequences of sexting. It’s not a game, and what you do online can effect you for life. They’re a lot of teens in Canon City that will find that out the hard way. But it’s not just teenagers that could fall prey to this. There’re plenty of adults who would use ghost apps for sinister and perverted purposes. And there’re plenty of adults who would be victimized by adult culprits who use ghost apps for such underhanded purposes. The technology isn’t the problem. The person behind the technology is the problem. So what do we do?
The year 2015 has been a very busy one for Google. There’s been Google’s Alphabet. There’s been new Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Now there’s the Who’s Down app.
The Who’s Down app is exclusively on Android products. It’s an invite app to show who’s down for whatever. For example, you can use this app to ask your invite only circle: “Who’s down for lunch?”, “Who’s down to work out at the gym?”, “Who’s down for this concert?”, etc. Obviously, your friends can ask you are you down. If you are, confirm it. Once they know you’re ‘down’, they’ll see your confirmation and include you in whatever the activity is. You can also reply with a status message to say what you’re down for, whether it be partying on Saturday night or church on Sunday morning. Who’s Down is praised for the group chatting features it provides. But there are complaints. First of all, it’s invite-only. Plus, there’s not a?lot of instruction on how this works other than the handful of screenshots. Experts aren’t even sure how it matches your friends. Maybe it’s through Google chats and contacts. Maybe it’s through Hangouts. I’m still a little confused on how you make this invite only circle.
Keep in mind Google Who’s Down competes with Apple’s Find My Friend and Foresquare’s Swarm. But the Who’s Down App is offering nothing new under the sun. I can text my friend and ask him or her are they down for certain daily activities. I can call around and ask who’s down. I can go on Facebook and other avenues of social media and see who has invited me somewhere or who has messaged me to go somewhere. At best, this new app is just a new way to plan activities with family and friends. But can’t you do that anywhere? Are you down with Who’s Down?
Have you ever logged on Facebook with an iPhone or other Apple smart device? Ever watch the battery life signal go from full to empty in literally a few minutes? There’s a reason for it, and something is being done about it.
According to Facebook’s lead engineer Ari Grant, there are bugs that eat up CPU cycles, leading to the eating up of battery energy. Grant said the issues aren’t caused by Facebook‘s Location History feature, as some suspected. But there is a second issue. Facebook unintentionally ran a silent audio stream in the background. He vowed to correct this audio issue and cut out background audio altogether. The audio keeps the app awake. But it also drains battery power. They’re not the first ones to use background audio to keep their app awake. But Apple absolutely hates this practice, and I can see why. Grant ended his statement with an apology and promised to quickly fix the problem. Mobile Facebook iPhone users should see results soon and very soon.
I’m glad Facebook is addressing this. Battery problems can be more than a nuisance. It can cost more than time. Battery problems can get down right dangerous. When one sees battery power go so fast in such a short time, don’t take it too casually. It can lead to overheating, which can destroy a device beyond repair. Overheating can even lead to physical injuries. Imagine a device sitting there. The battery life is going crazy, but you ignore it. You pick up the device. You burn your hand so severely you must be treated by a doctor for first and second degree burns. This can happen, folks. So I give props to Ari Grand for telling the truth about this battery situation. I give him props for trying to do something about it. I’ll give him more props when it’s fixed. What else can poor smartphone battery life lead to?
