Yahoo board has reportedly decided to acquire Tumblr. The reasons for this move are many. For instance, this move could signal that Yahoo is still a relevant force in the tech sector. Also, Yahoo may be viewing this as an opportunity to appeal to a younger audience. Otherwise, this is just a move to monetize a platform that supports millions of blogs and hosts billions of posts. That is a lot of web traffic that is going to have to get used to seeing Yahoo ads.

Only time will tell if Tumblr was really worth what Yahoo paid for it. Especially since it is unknown whether members will continue to generate content and users will visit the site after any changes are implemented. If there are too many ads or if the product is allowed to become stale, such a turn of events could cause Tumblr to wither. Hopefully Yahoo has a plan in place to maintain an innovation culture at their soon to be newly acquired property.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2039183/report-yahoo-board-approves-deal-to-buy-tumblr-for-11b.html

50 billion downloads and counting!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/tech/web/itunes-50-billion/index.html

This is amazing considering the dominance of Android in much of the world. What this statistic illustrates is that iPhone users love apps and definitely like to test them out and experiment.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2038817/googles-vision-for-search-highlights-knowledge-graph-speech.html

As we have seen with SIRI and other voice assistants, voice recognition is certainly taking hold. It gives the user the ability to be hands free and has the potential to include people with visual deficits as users. Between touch and motion, gesture recognition, innovation to improve the mechanics of search is accelerating.

We don’t know if the start button or boot to desktop will be features, but at least it is free!

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2038718/microsoft-confirms-the-windows-8-1-update-a-k-a-blue-will-be-free.html

Windows 8.1 is an opportunity for Microsoft to address the inadequacies perceived in Windows 8 and eliminate these barriers from the buying equation. Are users really skipping Windows 8 because of issues such as the Start Button missing in action and the lack of a boot to desktop option? (This is more to do with the post traditional pc dynamics taking place. For example, instead of desktops and laptops, the form factors that are experiencing growth are tablets and smartphones.)

Truthfully, these features are not needed to use the operating system. However, many users are too accustomed to these legacy features and were not ready for the shock of these go to mainstays not being there. Supporting boot to desktop does not help Microsoft’s initiatives surrounding apps, but this along with the start button will at least serve as good PR.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2038798/google-more-than-900-million-android-activations-served.html

This is a really impressive number on its face. The question is how many activations are still being used? Android has been available since 2008, so there are probably a lot of users on the third or even fourth handset since Android’s debut. So this number needs to be kept in perspective.

Regardless, the Android ecosystem is a massive place, and the user base is significant.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2038823/google-maps-gets-stunning-makeover-for-web-enhancements-to-mobile.html

Considering the challenges out of the gate for Apple Maps, the fact that Google Maps is getting a refresher will further underline the need to improve.

This competition can only help users as surely Bing will examine these changes and make improvements to its own map capabilities. Sitting still is not really option for anyone.

Good news! The app will be free on iOS and Android!

If Blackberry is going to remain relevant and possibly regain some lost market share, users need to be excited about buying Blackberry phones. Also, if Blackberry does not port its services to other platforms, it will lose brand value and awareness, as well as the potential to grow its business beyond established Blackberry users.

Blackberry has its work cut out for it, especially since Bring Your Own Device policies have allowed Android and iPhones onto Blackberry’s turf in the enterprise space. They can’t simply hope to eventually outsell the competition (Let’s face it: not likely to happen). Behind on apps and OS iterations, there are not a lot of reasons to own a Blackberry handset besides security and the utility of Blackberry keyboards. Services and software may be the only future for Blackberry if the new handsets do not sell.

http://www.techhive.com/article/2038717/blackberry-ceo-bbm-to-be-released-as-a-free-app-on-ios-and-android-this-summer.html

Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves..5G (5th Generation) technology will not be out at least till the end of the decade. Plus, as we have seen, 3G and 4G have taken a long time to actually roll out to all users.

Some users still do not know what 3G or 4G are yet. While others can’t tell the difference because existing 4G service is barely faster than mature 3G signal areas. The theoretical possibilities are very exciting, but let’s actually start realizing  or actualizing the potential of existing service before getting excited about what is yet to come.

http://mashable.com/2013/05/13/samsung-5g/