• Is Tumblr trendier? A survey released by Tumblr says the users of that social media platform have higher average incomes than users of Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, and a report from Adobe says that this translates into cash: The average revenue per visit from a Tumblr referral is $2.57 on tablets and 67 cents on smartphones. Both figures are higher than the numbers for Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.  According to an Adobe digital analyst, “the fact that [Tumblr] produces the highest revenue per visit from mobile devices is likely due to its user base, which is skewed to young, trendy and well-educated urbanites with a greater affinity for online purchases and the disposable income to spend more.”
• Come together. At a tech conference in San Francisco on September 15, Facebook announced that it, along with Google, Twitter, Square Inc., and other companies, is launching an initiative to jointly develop software programs that can be shared for free. This move has a great deal in common with Facebook’s strategy of offering its technology, including hardware technology, to other companies in an effort to reduce the costs of development and broaden Internet use. Facebook’s Open Compute concept, unveiled in 2011, already permits it to share the designs for more efficient products such as servers and network switches.
• Expert needed? How esoteric are forensic methods of technologically linking a person to an online video in a criminal case? A New Jersey man was on trial for invading his ex-girlfriend’s privacy by posting nude pictures of her on Twitvid.com, a video-sharing service. Through several steps, a police detective was allegedly able to tie the uploading of the photos to a particular IP address that was linked to the defendant. The defense objected on the grounds that these technical aspects were not fully understandable to the average juror and required an expert witness to present them. The trial judge, as well as a New Jersey state appeals panel, agreed that a hearing was necessary to consider the nature and extent of the detective’s evidence and whether she was qualified to testify about it or whether an expert was needed.