This week: Facebook overpays for some Photoshop filters, Canada ditches the penny and starts work on a digital currency, and how one Chinese activist turned the tables on the police state. It’s all here to entertain and inform you, so what are you waiting for?
Every week we talk about apps we’ve been using and the games we’ve been playing. This week: Justin really loves the beta version of Ubuntu, and thinks you should check it out. James is becoming a Redditor because of Blue Alien, a Reddit app for the iPad and iPhone that’s less ugly than Reddit’s web version. And Dave talks about Mass Effect’s multiplayer mode, something James and Justin are enthusiastically unexcited about.
Plus: a bonus feature section, wherein Justin outlines how to be completely unproductive online. Don’t miss these must-know slacking tips! And, as always, the headlines:
- Facebook Buys Instagram For One. Billion. Dollars. Seems like the deal was pretty much Mark Zuckerberg’s doing, too. We’re not sure what the point to this is, but man is a billion dollars a lot of money.
- Microsoft Buys The Rotting Remains Of Netscape for One. Billion. Dollars. The deal was for 800 different patents, some of which relate to the original Netscape browser.
- Iran to Build It’s Own “HalAl” Internet. This level of censorship makes the Communist Party of China seem benevolent.
- Apple, Publishers, Sued by US Government For Alleged eBook Price Fixing. Does this lawsuit basically hand the ebook market to Amazon?
- Canada Ditches The Penny, Is Working On A Digital Currency. Why doesn’t America get rid of the penny? It’s so worthless people use it for flooring.
- How One Chinese Activist Turned the Table On Surveillance.
- Half of the top 100 blogs use WordPress as a CMS. Justin and James explain why this is, before they realize the real reason: WordPress is so easy even Dave can use it.
All this, and your listener questions, in Technophilia’s sweet sixteen. Enjoy!