The End Of The Vine…

Well that’s that then, it’s official, Twitter is Vinally ending its popular video looping app, Vine.

It was the Vinest of time, it was the worst of times…

Vine, which Twitter,  the social media company bought for a guesstimated $30 million in 2012 that plays 6 second loops in an endless loop, and that only officially launched in January 2013, is soon to be no more.

According to some sources, the ending of Vine has been on the cards for some time, but last Thursday, Twitter said as well as ending Vine as a going concern, it was also going to cut around 9% of its global workforce (around about 350 people) in an effort to reduce costs.

While not unexpected, the internet still seemed collectively saddened by the news. Twitter has for a while now been focusing more on Periscope and its live video streaming, and Vine has at times begun to becomes a somewhat anachronistic throwback despite only being a little under 4 years old. It is telling as well that none of the original co-founders are left at Twitter either, having all left since the original acquisition.

That said, Vine still has a sizeable active base. At the last count, the 6 second video loop still had around 200 million active users, despite signs that the numbers were starting to contract.

The hash-tag #RIPVine began trending on-line in the hours after the announcement, and still seemed to be going strong earlier today when I last checked.

But  it’s not like Vine has disappeared just yet.

Users still have time to download Vines and save for them for the sake of nostalgia or to post them somewhere else, and the Vine website is apparently not going anywhere any time soon, so people will still be able to view old Vines whenever they feel like it. It’s just Vine itself won’t be accepting any new ones.

As for alternatives, there’s always other apps, such as the aforementioned Periscope, and others such as Instagram, or Snapchat.

But in the meantime, find a quiet spot and for 6 seconds, reflect on the fact that Vine is now out of time.

Control Your Security & Privacy With Secure Browser

Despite all the hype and attention that surrounds the “Big Three” of internet browsers, there are far more options than the standard internet user may realize. Each of the lesser-known options has its best features and its selling points, but there may be no bigger factor in this current digital climate than privacy and security.

Secure Browser was built with complete privacy in mind, intent on making sure no one tracks the user’s history or can access it later. That’s why closing out the browser automatically deletes the browsing and search histories, the cookies, and more. It might be annoying to those who want to “autocomplete” their search terms based on what they have viewed in the past, but for those who recognize the potential for harm–especially those looking for a secure browser to protect proprietary information related to their work–this is a huge plus.

But that only prevents outsiders who’ve gained access to your computer or device from seeing what you’ve been up to. What about real-time protection? Secure Browser gives you the option to activate its tracking protection feature. Even the sites you visit won’t know you’ve been there.

One of the major security pitfalls is in the way users communicate online, which is why Secure Browser has addressed encryption. According to the company, Secure Browser lets you “encrypt your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure. Automatically switch thousands of sites from insecure ‘http’ to secure ‘https,’ protecting yourself at all times online. We have enabled HTTPS Everywhere produced by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in an easy to manage service.”

This browser also offers a “safe” mode for browsing, powered by Google, that alerts you to malicious code or harmful sites in real time. Google has made headlines lately for its web alerts that will inform users about the threat as they browse, and Secure Browser’s alert system is powered in the same way.

But all of this security and privacy is useless if the speed isn’t there. It’s all well and good to lock yourself in a tower, after all, but pointless in the end if you can’t climb down. Secure Browser has addressed the page load speed issue by targeting lag times at the source: advertising. The company estimates that as much of 60% of the time it takes for a page to load is related to ads, and its ad-blocking feature means you not only get pestered by annoying ads, you don’t get bogged down in them either. Of course, browser speed starts at the source, and Secure Browser was built on the Chromium rendering engine to ensure that your websites load efficiently and quickly.

   

Mobile Overtakes Desktop Web Browsing For First Time

According to data released by StatCounter for October, mobile devices were used more often for web browsing than traditional desktop machines.

The figures show that combined mobile and tablet devices accounted for 51.3 percent of worldwide web use compared to 48.7 percent via desktop.

OK, so there’s only a 2.6% difference overall, but the moment is a very significant one for the world-wide web overall, and it’s a trend that’s unlikely to find itself reversing any time soon.

It should also serve as a wake-up call to any business that hasn’t yet decided to focus on mobile first approaches to doing business in the cloud in the 21^st Century. Not only is mobile use going to become  increasingly more important as the amount of traffic it generates continues to grow, but Google itself now favours mobile-friendly websites for its mobile search results.

That said, StatCounter’s data also found some interesting demographical (wow, I honestly didn’t think ‘demographical’ would be an actual word!)  differences between different global regions. The ‘maturity’ of western based internet markets such as in the UK, the US, and Ireland still see a majority of web traffic being accessed from full blooded desktop machines. In the UK for example, desktop browsing accounted for 55.6% and 58% in the US. (Although the gap is decreasing)

It will come as no surprise that the emergent markets in the world such as India sees mobile web traffic account for 75% of all use as more users seek to use the internet in a cost effective manner.

Google originally identified, helped pioneer, and promote the original trend towards mobile browsing several years ago, and its ranking algorithms have shifted in recent times to favour mobile devices. since accelerated the shift with changes to its search favouring mobile.