Weekly Rewind: SOPA blackout raises awareness, Facebook launches Open Graph, Apple takes on textbooks with iBooks 2
Didn’t have time to keep up with every ripple in the technology pond this week? We’ve got you covered. Here are some of the most noteworthy stories from the last week.
SOPA spurs Wikipedia and other sites to shut down for a day to raise awareness about Internet censorship
The controversial Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) as well as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) have caused quite the Internet uproar this week, thanks to a protest blackout by sites like Wikipedia, Reddit, and Moveon.org, and general subsequent panic across Facebook and Twitter. We take a look at both bills and what they could mean if passed, examine the blackout drama, and check out the results of it all by the numbers. We’ll be keeping a close eye on both bills and the certain controversy that will surround them.
Apple takes aim at conquering textbooks with new iBooks 2
We speculated what might happen at the Apple event this week back on Tuesday, and finally on Thursday got a complete picture of Apple’s new goal. The education announcement gave us the brand-new iBooks 2 as well as a new version of iTunes U. In iBooks 2 for the iPad, teachers can create their own textbooks or choose from Apple’s offerings, which will all be $15 or less. For anyone who has bought a textbook before, that sounds like a pretty sweet deal, but whether the education industry will take hold is another question.
Facebook finally launches Open Graph
Earlier in the week we learned that Open Graph was close to becoming an actuality for Facebook and its users, and just as expected, the new experience was launched the next day. The social media giant announced support for 60 new apps that will give users even more info on exactly what their Facebook friends are up to. Now you’ll be able to connect on the site with apps like MapMyRun, Pinterest, UrbanSpoon, eBay, and Living Social. All of these new apps will operate similarly to how Spotify does on the site.
AT&T hikes data plan prices again
In an unfortunate move for consumers, AT&T this week announced that it would be hiking up its already-expensive data plans by $5 per month. Now if new subscribers want a reasonable download limit of 5GB per month, they’ll have to fork over $50 just for data, not to mention the company’s expensive $20/month rate for unlimited texting. We’ll have to wait and see if Verizon follows suit here.
Kodak files for bankruptcy
After months of struggles and woes, we learned wednesday that legendary photographic company Kodak had filed for bankruptcy. The sad downfall had been looming on the horizon for some months, but the official filing is still a sad tale for the photography industry; Kodak has been a big name player for over a century. A loan from Citigroup is enabling the company to keep operations running for now, but time will tell if anything can be done to stop the downfall.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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