Facebook Gets Whatsapp

So Facebook is acquiring Whatsapp for a whopping $19 billion. That sure is a lot of money for a mobile application but what does it mean for the future of Whatsapp. Surely Facebook needs to make money out of it, but how? Does this mean that we will start to see a bunch of ads popping up during chats?

Surely something has to change with Whatsapp for Facebook to monetise it and tap into its growing 450 million plus users. Whether this will affect the user experience or not remains to be seen. The guys at Whatsapp say nothing is going to change.

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Ceo of Facebook said "Whatsapp will continue to operate independently within

Facebook." He added that:

"Whatsapp will complement our existing chat and

messaging services to provide new tools for our

community. Facebook Messenger is widely used for

chatting with your Facebook friends, and Whatsapp for

communicating with all of your contacts and small

groups of people. Since Whatsapp and Messenger serve

such different and important uses, we will continue

investing in both and making them each great products

for everyone."

So why would Facebook pay so much for a mobile application company, is it to simply "give people even more options for connecting," as Zuckerberg said. Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily says that Facebook's interest in Whatsapp is to simply follow the photos. She states that Facebook has become the biggest social network because it owns photos. Adding Whatsapp's 500 million photos that are processed a day would secure its dominance.

This could also be a way for Facebook to accessing user data and integrating it with some of their products and further bolstering their advertising business.  Whatever Facebook's intentions are of Whatsapp will just have to wait and see.

Wearable Techs

So apparently 2014 is going to be the year of wearable techs, from clever watches to some fancy wristbands and glasses with computers, your closet is sure to get smarter this year. Tech companies are clamoring to get wearable devices become part of our daily lives.

 Already they are already some products which are already on the market. Earlier last year we saw Samsung release its Galaxy Gear to some mixed reviews. Apple is also rumored to be working on an iWatch which is still yet to hit the market. Already industry forecasts predict that wearable techs are set to grow in 2014.

           

Samsung Galaxy Gear

                          

                                 

The health sector is likely to benefit a lot thanks to some smart bands which monitor your health and fitness with shipments expected to reach 8 million units in 2014. Nike already has its FuelBand SE which measures the user’s movement throughout the day. LG also has a similar product with its Lifeband Touch which can monitor calories burned and has some other music function controls.

                              

                                 

Nike Fuel Band SE

Perhaps the most exciting of these wearable techs so far has been Google Glass. This is a computer mounted on a pair of glasses, giving the user the capabilities of a smartphone all from a pair of eyeglasses. A gazillion other companies and start ups are also building their own versions of smart eye wear.

                               

                                                       

Google Glass

Since gadgets are inevitably making their way into your wardrobe, some tech companies are starting to collaborate with the fashion industry to make wearables more, well fashionable. Intel for instance, announced that it was teaming up with  Barneys New York to make their gadgets more beautiful. Fit bit is also collabarating with Tory Burch for its activity tracking devices. 

These collaborations will allow the take industry to worry about the techy innovation part while the fashion industry deals with making these gadgets more fashion savvy and in turn convincing consumers to adopt these new techs. 

Music and piracy

 So the music industry in Zimbabwe is on its knees while piracy continues to thrive. Artists in Zimbabwe have had to come to terms with fact that they cannot make a living out of CD sells alone.I haven’t seen a music store in ages apart from the regular street vendors selling pirated copies.The rise of the internet has put the final nail on the coffin on what used to be a profitable career. But is the music industry in Zimbabwe also to blame for failing to embrace the digital age?

Oddly enough, artists in Zimbabwe do not generate much monetary gain from CD sells. CD's have become more of a promotional flyer rather than an adequate source of revenue, artists now have to rely on gigs and concerts to make something out of their careers. Artists in Zimbabwe have never quite hit that half a million mark in terms of album sales, the highest selling artist being Aleck Macheso’s Simbaradzo which moved 300 000 copies. Today such numbers have become almost impossible to reach especially with piracy rearing its ugly head in the industry. For most people it has become a bit of a no brainer to choose between a $10 original copy and $1 pirated one or even downloading it illegally online. When it comes to music people have become accustomed to an “I want I get” kind of attitude. You hear a song you like, all you have to do is take out your smartphone, search for it, download it and it’s yours.

The record companies in Zimbabwe are partly to blame for this, none of them have an online presence where people can easily access their favorite tunes digitally. The record companies such as Gramma Records are seeing the consequences of this. There is nothing which seeks to promote digital sells of local content. This has seen artists get rid of the middle man and sell their own records at their live performances. Though not as a profitable as can be, it is way better than spending large sums on distribution on an CD that no one will buy.

The music industry in Zimbabwe has to tap into the digital world, provide an online outlet where people can easily download their favorite songs and in turn not robbing local artists blind. If an album can be downloaded for reasonable amount, say $5, people may be willing to pay for it. Of course they are some who are unable to have access to the internet. Not solely relying on CD sells but digital downloads as well would allow for cd prices to drop and make them more affordable. Most people would willingly part with a few dollars for an original copy, album art and everything which they can have forever rather than buy a dollar pirated copy which might not even last a week.

Musician and their labels in Zimbabwe need to move towards online methods of distributing their products rather than rely on cd sells,that is if they want to survive.

Flappy bird

As i was surfing the internet aimlessly on my phone looking for something to get me out of my boredom. Soon I bumped into the new gaming sensation, an app called “flappy bird”. The game had top spot on iTunes for free apps and was recently made available for android on playstore. I have to say when I went to download it I was a bit hesitate seeing that it was only a megabyte in size but after reading a couple of good reviews I decided to give a shot and am glad that I did. The game is about as simple as any game can get. It has very few sound effects, four if am not mistaken and it’s very minimalist in design, not offering a very detailed in environment. The buildings and trees in the background are static and players have to control a bird flap its way through a series of pipes without hitting any of them or plunging into the ground by tapping on their screens. Am sure that sounds simple, but it’s not. Am sure it’s easier to control a fighter jet than to control this little bird. It’s one of those games that are fun just because of how hard they are. If you manage not to toss away your phone and with a little patience, you will start to get the hang of it. My personal best currently is 14, and I think that’s a reasonable score in Flappy Bird terms. The game is disturbingly addictive and will keep you entertained for hours.

Flappy bird is available on iTunes for iOs and on Playstore for Android devices.