The Internet

57% of all app users have either uninstalled an app over concerns about having to share their personal information, or declined to install an app in the first place for similar reasons. Owners of both Android and iPhone devices are also equally likely to delete (or avoid entirely) cell phone apps due to concerns over their personal information. more »

Rose Mula writes: I just tried dialing a telephone number and couldn’t understand why the call wasn’t connecting, and the channels on my TV kept changing. I finally figured out it was because I was trying to dial a phone number on my TV remote. Doesn’t work. Neither does using the phone to try to change TV channels, which I also do often. more »

Editor's Note: We built a new home that has Internet, cable and satellite connections facilitating present and future smart systems. IBM is enabling citizens' smartphones with apps alert cities to the existence of potholes, graffiti, and water issues by taking photos and sending them to city management, where they can be dealt with. Sensors that give readouts about human activity are being embedded in shoes, medicine such as asthma inhalers, and medical exploratory surgery devices. more »

Doris O'Brien writes: The whole world seems fixated on keeping in touch with everyone other than those who are with them. Yesterday I observed a couple seated at a table at a pleasant outdoor café, perhaps to enjoy an early dinner together. It could have been a time for hand-holding or sharing the details of one another’s day. Instead, both were staring into their own latest-technology iphones, their minds elsewhere rather than on each other. more »