Android Market Reaches 20,000 Apps

December 16, 2009

3041646431_3851f024f5The iPhone’s App Store may be seeing a competition with the Android Market with the latter growing at a very rapid rate. AndroLib, the online store has declared that they had just reached the 20,000 mark meaning that they have doubled in size within the last five months. According to AndroLib, Android was able to hit the milestone earlier today and shows no sign of slowing and they are very excited with this development. It is assumed that the Android market will be able to hit 30,000 in the next 2-3 months which is one good way to start the New Year. Google does not disclose the figures of the Android Market but AndroLib and others are able to track what apps are added and at what rate. By the different statistics gathered, it is quite clear that the Android development is on the rise. The success of Android is evident in the month of November which is considered to be the biggest month in the history for both new apps in the English language Android Market and is considered to be their biggest gain month.

market_10000_appsExperts think that 2010 will be a good year for Android with all the handsets coming up and now that almost everything is going mobile. Twenty thousand apps is a nice way to kick off into the New Year. 15 percent of all applications in the Android Market are games which are very similar to the App Store’s statistics but it has been noted that the methodologies for categorizing the same application type is not necessarily the same.

{ View Comments }

Facebook Gets Criticized by Experts for New Privacy Options

December 16, 2009

Facebook, one of the biggest social networking sites has recently launched a new privacy setting tool for their millions of users. It did not take long for privacy and security firms and experts to comment on Facebook’s privacy move and some have advised against using the new privacy setting.

facebook-03 Although Facebook has described the changes as something that would set a new standard when it comes to user control, experts see an underlying goal. This is to make the users share more information which makes Facebook’s search partners – Google and Bing become more valuable.

Frontier Foundation made a comment on the changes and stated that the Facebook privacy transition will only have users share more Facebook info with everyone and this can be a “worrisome development that will likely cause a major shift in privacy level”. They also mentioned that the changes actually limit the amount of user control over personal data.

The security firm Sophos emphasized that readers should read the terms of these changes carefully and said that “If you don’t read carefully you could find that every post you make on Facebook, and your personal information, is visible to everyone in the world who has a computer rather than just your Facebook friends.”

Facebook_Publisher_Privacy_ControlThe privacy changes at Facebook were said to set significant issues for those who are unable to review these settings carefully. Millions of users have already been greeted with the new privacy tool and they either have made changes or ignored it and moved on to using the site the way they always have, unaware of the consequences of the changes that they have made.

Trend Micro, another security firm stated that the controversy over these change is a good sign. “I like that there is controversy about these settings. It shows people at least notice that there is something going on.”

For those who are concerned about their privacy and security, it is best that you get to read and understand the privacy guidelines on the site. To be on the safer side, place your private photos, information and connection somewhere else.

{ View Comments }