Here are a few of the stories that caught my attention over the past couple days
Oracle Emerges as Suitor for Tik Tok
Oracle Corporation, one of the larger companies that most people know very little about, is apparently in talks to buy Tik Tok. Oracle is mostly an enterprise software company, with very few consumer applications. Tik Tok would be…. A strange buy for them. Even more strange than Microsoft. I have no idea why Oracle wants Tik Tok, but it is 2020 so…..
Apple and Fortnite
Here is a very good explainer about the Apple and Epic Games fight. I don’t have much to add, other than to say watching the video is highly recommended.
Internet Traffic in Canada is up Significantly compared to Pre Pandemic Levels.
The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association has released a study that shows that home internet usage in Canada was up 21% in June and July compared to pre pandemic levels. That his a huge increase, but not terribly surprising considering so many more people are working from home. While not a surprise, it is notable.
What is a surprise, however, is how much mobile traffic is up compared to before the pandemic. The CTWA’s study shows that mobile internet traffic is up 43%. That number surprises me, considering that as people are home more, you would think that phones would be spending more time on wifi, and using less mobile data. Personally, before the pandemic I usually used around 6GB of mobile data in a month, but in the Month of April my usage was less than 500MB. Even now, my usage is lower than it was pre pandemic because I am at home much more. Apparently I am in the minority.
Spotify Outage Blamed on Expired TLS Certificate
Usually I wouldn’t highlight a service outage, especially one that was as short as Spotify’s roughly one hour outage on Wednesday morning because by the time someone is reading this it will be long over, and this one isn’t super important in the grand scheme, but this one really speaks to me. You see, Spotify, a company with thousands of employees, forgot to renew a TLS Certificate. As someone who is a Systems Administrator by trade this is one of my nightmares. Everyone has forgotten to renew a certificate, including me. In a way, I appreciate that a company with thousands of employees and almost 300 million users can make the same mistakes as someone working for a small business.
Now, I can’t be sure if this was an automated system that failed, or human error, but either way, that probably was not a very fun hour for the company, and is a feeling I’m all to familiar with.
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Reviews
Reviews for the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra are out, and it is receiving nearly universal praise as the best Android phone you can buy today. It had better be for $1818.
The phone really does look great, and in a world with unlimited money, is absolutely a worthwhile purchase. Is it the best purchase in the world? No. But the Note 20 Ultra is aimed at the type of person who buys the $3000 laptop or a $5000 TV. If you have the money to burn, it is the best experience on the platform. But most people don’t have that kind of money to burn. Thankfully, Samsung makes approximately 275 other phones for your consideration, never mind the solid offerings from OnePlus, LG, and Google among others.
But honestly, at this price, I’d almost rather spend my money on a folding phone. That seems more fun.