, soon after he'd arrived in Silicon Valley, the landlord was immediately struck by his confidence.
"I said, 'Gee, how old are you?' And he said, '20,'" Fusco remembered in a recent interview. "I said, 'You think I'm going to rent you my million-dollar house?' And he said, 'Yes.'"
Over time, Fusco also came to understand her tenant's clarity of purpose. When she ran into him in downtown Palo Alto two years later, she asked Zuckerberg just how he could have turned down the reported $1 billion that Yahoo (YHOO) had offered to buy Facebook.
"He said, 'Judy, I didn't do this because of the money,' " said Fusco. "Money to him is just a vehicle to do what he wants to do."
As Facebook begins the journey to an IPO, Facebook's founder and CEO is entering a new phase: Now, he will very much have to care about the money. In the coming months, questions inevitably will be raised about how far the kid who stood on Judy Fusco's doorstep has traveled toward maturity, and whether he will be a CEO as passionate about the business of Facebook as he is on creating the addictive social software that
SEVENTY-TWO hours before Facebook’s big moment, Sheryl K. Sandberg was half a world away, hobnobbing with the likes of Bill Gates and the Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Yes, Ms. Sandberg is Mark Zuckerberg’s No. 2. And, yes, if all goes well, she will soon become the $1.6 billion woman. On Wednesday, Facebook filed to go public in a deal that, in all likelihood, will instantly make it one of the most valuable corporations on the planet.
But Ms. Sandberg, who has helped steer this social network to this once-unimaginable height, had more on her mind than securities filings and ad metrics. She was attending the annual World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, where her subject wasn’t Facebook — but women. Specifically, how women, in her view, must take responsibility for their careers and not blame men for holding them back.
Apple iOS device such as an iPhone or iPad, or an Android device.
One of the reasons for app crashes is the proliferation of mobile operating systems on iOS and Android. As Apple and Google have released more new operating systems, each with multiple updates, app developers face more operating systems to test apps on. In data that mobile app monitoring startup Crittercism compiled for app crashes between December 1 and 15, there were at least 23 different iOS operating systems on which apps had crashed and 33 Android operating systems on which apps had crashed. (See the graphs above.) Note that the graphs that separate out Android and iOS show these number of operating systems and the graph that combines both iOS and Android shows less–22 iOS and 17 Android.
Last year, AT&T said it would begin throttling customers who are in the top 5 percent of users, and late last year, they began enforcement, as well. It seems, however, that at least for some, being in the top 5 percent means exceeding the 2GB limit that used to exist for its now-dead $25 DataPro plan.
Some AT&T users with grandfathered unlimited data plans are reporting that they are seeing their data throttled after they pass 2GB. Considering that AT&T's original "most commonly selected" data tier had been 2GB, and that it's current "middle tier" is 3GB --- at the same $30 pricing that the unlimited data customers receive, it's hard to understand that.
At the very least, since the two groups (3GB and grandfathered unlimited data) pay the same price, you would expect --- based on common sense --- that throttling might begin at 3GB. What's just as strange is that when AT&T began throttling its "highest 5 percent" of users, those who were seeing throttling said they were using 10GB - 12 GB of data monthly.
With this news, are we to believe that suddenly the top 5 percent has dropped to 2GB? Even if it has, why throttle then, if AT&T is offering not just a 3GB plan, but also a 5GB. That alone points to the 2GB "line" as not being among the "top 5 percent" of users that are "killing the AT&T network."
John Cozen, who first reported being throttled at 2GB, contacted AT&T after receiving a warning on his smartphone. After some exchanges with the company, he was assured it was not an error. The AT&T representatives said that 2.1GB --- where he was throttled --- fell into the "top 5 percent" range and the only option to avoid throttling was to switch to a tiered data plan.
Since then other users have chimed reported the same issue, but it doesn't seem to be universal. Some areas of the country report this sort of "low use" throttling, while others do not.
AT&T eliminated unlimited data plans for new customers in 2010, but allowed those with unlimited data plans to keep them in a process commonly known as "grandfathering." Verizon has done the same thing, and since it also says it will throttle its highest users, we wonder if it will starting throttling those going over lower data usage, as well.
The most obvious reason for lowering the throttling bar is to force users out of the unlimited plan. Once a user makes a change, they can never go back. AT&T has made no secret of the fact that ... their words ... "if users want truly unlimited, unthrottled data they need to select a tiered data plan."
You might say, "but their highest tier is $50." True, but as AT&T likes to point out, if you pay "overage fees," it's unlimited and unthrottled. Also unlimited, because of the fees, is the cost.
It's the same conundrum we've written about before. Content providers (like HBO, say) want us to use less bandwidth. ISPs, both wired and wireless, want us to use less. They can't have it both ways. Or perhaps, we (customers) can't have it both ways.
Amazon.com has promised to make a paid app free every day in the Amazon Appstore, and today's app is 3D Mini Golf Challenge.
3D Mini Golf Challenge is currently exclusive to the Amazon Appstore. It is normally priced at $0.99 in the Amazon Appstore. As we've noted previously, prices sometimes differ between the two marketplaces.
3D Mini Golf Challenge is described as follows:
Fore!
Test your mini-golf skills to see just how many hole-in-ones, birdies, and pars you can get in 3D Mini Golf Challenge for Android. If you like golf, you'll enjoy this casual sports game with amazing 3D graphics.
Unique Courses and Themes
3D Mini Golf Challenge features four unlockable courses including Supernova, Transylvania, and Excalibur. Swing your way through a total of 100 unique tracks.
Controls are as easy as dragging down from the ball to increase the power and releasing to shoot. Swipe left or right to move the camera and pinch to zoom in and out. Music and sound effects are optional.
Challenges and Trophies
Gather points to unlock new challenges. Play against a computer opponent in Versus Match, try for a birdie on all tracks in Hole-in-One, and finish all the tracks before time runs out in Time Attack. Win up to seven trophies by completing the challenges. You'll be in putting heaven with this app.
3D Mini Golf Challenge has a rating of 4.1 stars in the Amazon Appstore.
It's another exclusive Android launch for Amazon.com. The only thing we'd warn about is the game's size. It takes up a lot of space on your device, and although for many of the higher powered smartphones there is plenty of space, on some others, you will have a problem. Naturally, tablets shouldn't have any issue with installing this game.
Those who are considering "buying" a Free Amazon Appstore app might want to consider what it means to developers.
Amazon.com opened up the Appstore despite a lawsuit by Apple, which has previously trademarked the term "App Store." Microsoft has filed an appeal against that trademark, saying the term is too generic. Amazon.com has responded to the lawsuit in the same manner.
Highly regarded mobile security firm Lookout Security has just released a "Push Ad" detector. The free app will detect any apps on your device that contain code to ad networks that can push ads to your Android notification bar, push ad-enabled search icons to your device's desktop, or make setting modifications to your mobile browser.
You might recall a story we recently published, detailing Japanese carrier KDDI's moves into pushing ads to the notification bar of Android devices.
Push Ad Detector currently detects the following six ad networks, which Lookout says are ther ones that use the most aggressive push ad techniques.
Airpush
Appenda
LeadBolt
Moolah Media
Startapp
TapIt!
Note: just because an app includes the code from one or more of these networks does not mean that the app is actually using the push ad technology. It will still be detected by the Push Ad Detector, however.
Once the Push Ad Detector finds an app that integrates one of these ad networks, if possible, it will display a link enabling an end user to opt out of the ad network. Note the words "if possible."
If there is no opt-out link for the network, a user will need to remove the app to effectively opt-out. Push Ad Detector also provides a shortcut to the Application Details page for the app, from which a simple "uninstall" tap can be used to remove the app manually.
Although Lookout is a security company, this isn't a malware detecting app. It could be categorized as an adware detecting app, instead.
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