Tech Round Up: Laptop Shot, Stores for Google, Windows 8 Hype and App Store Ratings

Time for another tech round up and we’ll kick off with the biggest social media story of the week “Angry Dad Shoots Daughter’s Laptop.” If you’ve managed to miss this story, which is very unlikely, then the basic gist is that a 15 year-old girl wrote a whiny post on Facebook and her dad got revenge by posting a YouTube video in which he angrily reads from her post and then shoots her laptop. It has kicked off a major debate about parenting and Facebook with many supportive comments and many angry criticisms. Watch the video and decide for yourself (at the time of writing it already has over 22 million views.)

You may think bitterly complaining about your parents to your friends is just a natural part of teenage life but social media changes the rules. In the past moaning to some friends would have had little consequence but to post a public moan online is opening it up to a much wider audience and, unfortunately for this girl, her parents too. The fact her father responded through YouTube was supposed to teach her a lesson about the dangers of posting online and how you can’t take something you post back. It seems as though it is now a lesson he’s learning himself as he gets 15 minutes of unwanted worldwide fame as that dad who shot his daughter’s laptop.

It has stirred up a surprising number of issues and coverage looks set to be a meme that will run for quite a while. Amongst all the arguments we should all pause and spare a thought for the poor innocent laptop that was brutally gunned down!

There has been a lot of talk on the web about bricks-and-mortar stores for Google, eBay and Amazon. This is mostly connected to the rumor that Google is opening a new retail store in Dublin to sell “Google merchandise.” In December eBay opened a pop-up store for a few days in London where you could make purchases with your mobile phone. That sounds more like a gimmick and PR stunt than the beginning of a retail strategy. As for Amazon reports suggest that retail stores may open in Seattle and Washington mainly to show off their branded wares – the Kindle range.

Why are these online behemoths making the move to offline stores when most retail stores are going the opposite way? Apple is the answer. Apple’s mega profitable retail stores are the envy of everyone and speculators think Amazon and Google would love to emulate them. That’s probably true but neither really has the necessary prerequisites that made Apple stores such a success – a big self-branded product range and a fanatical following clamouring for the next release.

The hype surrounding the imminent release of Windows 8 is ramping up. Microsoft has been offering developers sneak peeks and the Windows 8 public beta consumer preview should be available any day now. Depending on what you read, Windows 8 will catapult Microsoft back onto the tech throne or drag them to the bottom of the lake of failure like a lead balloon. As usual the truth is probably somewhere in between. One exciting facet of Windows 8 is the idea it will offer a unified experience across devices, even the mighty Apple hasn’t unified iOS and Mac OS. The question is – do people want a tablet or smartphone UI on their PC?

We’ll finish off today with a quick mention of app store ratings and their general unreliability. Many apps and games are offering users rewards for giving five star ratings in an obvious attempt to boost themselves. This is understandable since climbing into a chart position in the App Store or Android Market is going to lead to a positive feedback loop of more sales whereas missing the charts can lead to a negative feedback loop of no sales and complete obscurity. There are also third-party services popping up that use dodgy techniques to boost your chart rating. Apple released a comment last week warning developers about using services that guarantee a chart position and there are rumors about bots being used to artificially boost download stats. Probably best to read reviews rather than rely on that star rating if you download a lot of apps and games.

Got an opinion on any of this? Post a comment and let us know. Don’t worry, even if we don’t agree, we won’t be executing any laptops.