Thursday, December 11, 2014

Zuckerberg Defends Free Facebook





By Dave Parrack




Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has defended the social network he cooked up in his dorm room at Harvard. In particular, he has defended its status as a free service paid for by advertising, which has been in the firing line of late thanks to newcomers such as Ello.
When the Fappening occurred — with celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence having private nude photos leaked on the Internet via iCloud — Apple CEO Tim Cook defended his company by stating, “A few years ago, users of internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.
Despite Facebook not being mentioned by name, the association Cook is making is rather obvious. And this is led Zuckerberg to defend Facebook while attacking Apple in a recent interview with Wired.
Zuckerberg countered, “A frustration I have is that a lot of people increasingly seem to equate an advertising business model with somehow being out of alignment with your customers. I think it’s the most ridiculous concept. What, you think because you’re paying Apple that you’re somehow in alignment with them? If you were in alignment with them, then they’d make their products a lot cheaper!
It’s difficult to disagree with Zuckerberg on this occasion, as Apple is well-known for marking its products up with premium pricing. And while few of us actively enjoy handing data over to Facebook, Google, and others in order to enjoy using their services for free, most of us would balk at actually paying for the privilege of doing so.
Do you agree with Tim Cook or Mark Zuckerberg? Let us know in the comments below.

See Cortana In Action On Windows 10


Cortana is starting to be rolled into Windows 10, with WinBeta getting an exclusive first look at how the digital assistant will look on the desktop.
Cortana clearly isn’t quite ready for her big close-up, with most of the functionality not yet working and Cortana exhibiting a distinct lack of personality at this moment in time. Still, it’s another sign that Windows 10 is shaping up to be one of the better versions of Microsoft’s love-it-or-hate-it operating system.

Microsoft’s 12 Days Of Deals Begins Today


With the holidays upon us, Microsoft is feeling rather generous. So, in order to get rid of unwanted stock reward its customers, the company is holding a 12 Days Of Deals promotion.
Microsoft’s 12 Days Of Deals starts today (December 8), with the product kicking the whole thing off being the 7-inch Toshiba Encore Mini Tablet with a 16GB SD card available for just $79. A new deal will be revealed at 8am (ET) every day between now and December 19.

Read Albert Einstein’s Documents Online


The Digital Einstein Papers, a website containing The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, has gone live online. This opens access to 5,000 documents containing just a fraction of the eminent scientist’s work to anyone who wants to view them. And with many more documents due to be added to the site in the coming years, this is one domain you’d do well to bookmark for future reference.

The Epic Uncharted 4 Gameplay Trailer


The PlayStation 4 is finally due to get its killer app in the form of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. The video above shows 15 minutes of gameplay footage, and, if nothing else, Uncharted 4 sure looks pretty. It may have been delayed — from November 2013 to sometime in 2015 — but developer Naughty Dog has clearly put that extra development time to good use.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was just one of the games announced at the PlayStation Experience this past weekend.

How To 3D-Print New Star Wars Lightsaber


You’ve watched the first teaser trailer for Star Wars: A Force Awakens, and you’ve watched the best parodies of the new Star Wars movie, so what’s next on the agenda? Why, 3D-printing your own copy of the new three-pronged lightsaber via Instructables, of course. It may only be plastic, but it’s surely better than nothing.

Break World Records In Track & Field


And finally, while we all had our own special technique for beating friends at Track & Field, I suspect few of us ever thought of using a “personal massager” to break world records. But it turns out that the Hitachi Wand is quicker at getting you across the finishing line than any combination of fast finger action.

Your Views On Today’s Tech News

Do you side with Mark Zuckerberg or Tim Cook on Free vs. Expensive? Are you looking forward to Windows 10? Will you be visiting Digital Einstein to educate yourself?
Let us know your thoughts on the Tech News of the day by posting to the comments section below. Because a healthy discussion is always welcome.
Image Credit: Lord Jim via Flickr  Source: www.makeuseof.com

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