Arnold Zafra

Cool Weather App for Star Wars Fans

April 20, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

There are many great weather apps out there but nothing comes close to the coolness factor of Tom Scott’s weather app which was made for Star Wars fan. You see, apart from telling you the weather in a particular place which you enter on the site’s search box, the site also gives you different backgrounds and commentaries mentioning the different locations in the Star Wars universe.

So depending on which city you’re from, you will get weather commentaries such as:

“Oh, 9C Fair. It’s like Naboo out there. Temperate, dry and fairly pleasant.”

“Hmm, 9C, Partly Cloudy?, It’s like Endor out there. Temperate but grey and cloudy”

Well, of course aside from the commentaries, the weather report is actually pretty accurate because the site fetches weather data from Yahoo Weather.

And while you’re at it, you might want to check out Tom Scott’s other creation which includes – Two Drums and Cymbal Fall Off a Cliff, The Corruscant Juggling Club and more. They are pretty cool stuff and makes you think that this guy is really enjoying his work.

Who is Tom Scott? Here’s a short bio:

Tom Scott is a geek comedian. He won the 2008 Kevin Greening Award for Creativity at the Student Radio Awards, once got in trouble with the Cabinet Officefor his version of their Preparing for Emergencies site, and has been described as a”sometime internet funny man” by The Register.

He runs the British part of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and accidentally got elected as president of his students’ union after running as “Mad Cap’n Tom”.

His work has been shown on BBC One, Channel 4, and at the paraflows net-art exhibition in Vienna.

He also once got five gold runs on ‘Blockbusters’.

So, go check out the the Star Wars Weather app and tell us, how’s the weather out there?

Via Download Squad

Adult Internet Users Spend 13 Hours Online Weekly

April 19, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

Harris Poll has released some interesting numbers on the daily usage patterns of Internet users. The survey which was conducted through telephone interviews with respondents reveal that the number of hours spent online by adult Internet now totals to 13 hours on a weekly basis. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive between July 7 and 12 and October 13 and 18.

It’s interesting to note that over the years, the average hours spent online by Internet users have increased consistently. From 1999 to 2002 it was only 7 hours. This increased to 8 to 9 hours in 2003-2005 then to 11 hours in 2007 before reaching 14 hours in 2008.

While this year’s 13 hours is less than the number of hours spent online in 2008, it is quite understandable since more people resort to going online due to the economic recession and the start of the U.S. election campaign. And now that the economy has gone back to its feet, Americans are gradually shifting from doing things online to going back to their daily chores in the offline world. [Read more…] about Adult Internet Users Spend 13 Hours Online Weekly

iPhone, iPod Market Distribution – Japan is Catching Up Fast!

April 18, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

With 78 million units reportedly shipped by Apple, have you ever wondered where those iPhones and iPods are located right now? Mobile advertising company knows their geographic distribution and they just released a report showing this.

According to the report, obviously most of the iPhones and iPods shipped by Apple are with U.S. consumers, 50% of the 78 million in fact. Now for the rest of the other 50% of the 78 million units shipped, majority of those are Japan, France, Australia and Canada. These countries are showing tremendous growth in terms of iPhone and iPod units being shipped and sold to consumers.

Interestingly, according to the AdMob data from Jan-Nov 2009, iPhone and iPod userbase growth in Japan surged to more than 300%. It looks like our friends in Japan are starting to love the iPhone and iPod music players this year.

Other highlights of the AdMob study are the following:

23 countries got more than 100,000 unique Apple visitors
unique Apple users located outside of the U.S. increased to 50% from 39% in January
71% of unique Apple users in November were for iPhone while 29% were for iPod

With reports that the Motorola Droid is catching up with iPhone sales, AdMob’s data just prove one thing – the Droid is still has a long way to go before it reaches the iPhone’s status.

Study Reveals Most Active People Online are Educated

April 18, 2023 by Arnold Zafra

I don’t know if this report by Eurostat is rather comforting or not. But according to the report people who spend most time online are the most educated member of the society.

The study was conducted on European households with at least one person aged 16-74. And the study found out that 90% of those who used the Internet on a regular basic have high formal education. Age-wise though, the numbers are insignificant but it is also worth noting that most of these people belong to the 16-24 age range.

But of course the study was European-based and we could probably assume that Europe probably has one of the highest literacy rate among the developed countries. So, it is rather no disturbing if majority of those who spend time online are educated because their difference with the not-so-educated Europeans may not be that huge.

But what if this study is to be carried out in the developing countries where literacy is inferior with that of the European countries. Of course, the result might be the same. But what is not so comforting is the fact that if education plays a vital role into IT literacy and usage, what happens now with the majority of uneducated people in the developing countries? Will they be given a chance to learn about technology and how it can change one’s daily life?

And how could the developing countries cope up with the technological revolution if majority of their population remains uneducated and technologically deprived?