Boot up: app purchase stats, Secret v anonymity, 4G in China, and more

Plus Microsoft's mobile opportunity, what's the ultimate pixel density?, critiquing Windows 8, and more

What does secrecy do to behaviour online? The app Secret might show us. Photograph: moodboard/Corbis

A burst of 8 links for you to chew over, as picked by the http://www.techblown.com/

In-app purchases - fool's gold or pay dirt? >> Yankee Group:

Their December 2013 survey asked smartphone owners about their app behaviour:

• Two out of three smartphone owners in the US never spend money on app stores. 30% of users do not download apps at all; an additional 34% only download free aps and do not spend money on in-app purchases.
• Users that download only free apps will most likely not spend money on in-app purchases. Only 12.5% of users who download only free apps will spend money on in-app purchases; this represents 5% of the total number of smartphone owners in the US.
• Users that download paid apps are more likely to spend money on in-app purchases. 83% of users that download paid apps will also spend money on in-app purchases; this segment represents 26% of all smartphone users in the US.
We estimate that revenue from in-app purchases represent approximately one-third of that coming from paid apps.

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Anonymity >> Sam Altman

On the rise of "Secret", the app that lets you say things anonymously:

I've often thought about the need for an anonymous social network to go along with the fully public and the friends-only ones. But I can't figure out a way to stop an anonymous network from decaying into a Mean Girls-style burn book. If I were running Secret, my number one focus would be to kill every comment about a specific person or company. If Secret becomes more of a confessional than a burn-book, it can probably thrive.
Anonymity breeds meanness - the Internet has proven this time and time again. People are willing to say nice or neutral things with their name attached - they need anonymity for mean things and things they are embarrassed about.

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4G smartphone market to boom in China, says IHS >> Digitimes

China's domestic market for 4G smartphones is poised for a massive liftoff in 2014, as shipments grow sixteen-fold from 2013 levels, according to IHS.
Shipments of 4G smartphones in China are forecast to reach 72.4m units in 2014, up nearly 1,500% from just 4.6m in 2013, with the market expected to take off after the second half. It will be the first big year for 4G smartphones in only its second year in the country, up from a practically nonexistent base two years ago, IHS noted.
The 4G smartphone market in China will see unstoppable growth for the next few years, with shipments doubling to 144.1m units in 2015 and rising another 53% to 219.8m in 2016, IHS projected.

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Microsoft's mobile muddle >> stratēchery

Ben Thompson:

Saying "Microsoft missed mobile" is a bit unfair; Windows Mobile came out way back in 2000, and the whole reason Google bought Android was fear that Microsoft would dominate mobile the way they dominated the PC era. It turned out, though, that mobile devices, with their focus on touch, simplified interfaces, and ARM foundation, were nothing like PCs. Everyone had to start from scratch, and if starting from scratch, by definition Microsoft didn't have any sort of built-in advantage. They were simply out-executed.
Not that that should make Satya Nadella sleep any better at night. The power of mobile is that it is always with you; it is impossible for your mobile device to not dominate your computing time. At first, said time was accretive: on the bus, in the waiting room, the seams in your life. Increasingly, though, mobile is stealing time formerly devoted to PCs, making mobile not just a threat to Microsoft's growth, but also to their cash cows.

So, what should it do about it?

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The pixel density race and its technical merits >> AnandTech

Joshua Ho:

Going from around 330 PPI to 470 PPI for an LCD IPS display incurs around a 20% power draw increase on the display, which can be offset by more efficient SoC, larger batteries, improved RF subsystem power draw. Such power draw increases can also be offset by improvements in the panel technology used, which has consistently been the case with Samsung's OLED development but regardless of these improvements, it is an increase to power draw compared to an equivalent technology display with lower pixel density. In the case of LCD displays, a stronger backlight must be used as the higher pixel density means the transistors around the liquid crystal become a larger proportion of the display, and the same is also true of OLED panels, but instead the issue becomes that smaller portions of organic phosphors on the display have to be driven at higher voltages in order to maintain the same level of luminance.

(Via @tabdump on Twitter.)

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What the heck is happening to Windows? >> SuperSite for Windows

Paul Thurrott sounds increasingly exasperated:

So what does Update 1 add to the mix? This time around, Microsoft has committed what I consider to be the cardinal sin of Windows: It's a return to that age-old issue where Windows simply grew, spaghetti-like, to accommodate every silly possible need of the system's too diverse user group. Now, there are multiple ways to do different things in Metro, too. These previously consistent environment—like it or loathe it—has finally been put under the committee's knife.
Now, some people will see this as "choice," because these changes — desktop-like context menus in the Start screen, a desktop-like title bar in Metro apps, and so on — will somehow make the system more consistent for them, because they still use traditional PCs. But here's the thing. This mobile environment worked just fine with mouse and keyboard in Windows 8.0 and 8.1, and it was consistent with the touch-based interactions for which the environment was designed. Now? It's a mess.

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New Apple Mac Trojan called OSX/CoinThief discovered >> SecureMac

Initial infection occurs when a user installs and runs an app called "StealthBit," which was recently available for download on GitHub, a website that acts as a repository for open source code. The source code to StealthBit was originally posted on GitHub, along with a precompiled copy of the app for download. The precompiled version of StealthBit did not match a copy generated from the source code, as it contained a malicious payload. Users who downloaded and ran the precompiled version of StealthBit instead ended up with infected systems. A user posting over the weekend on Reddit, the popular discussion site, reported losing 20 Bitcoins (currently worth upwards of $12,000 USD) to the thieves.

Sneaky and smart - taking advantage of peoples' trust in repositories but their unwillingness to compile if compiled code is already there. (But would you have checked the code?) To run this on a Mac you'd have to agree to a UAC-style "trust code from unknown developer" checkbox. But if you're downloading from a repository, you're already willing to do that. (Thanks @timacheson for the link.)

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Managed multitasking for the masses - the Windows Phone and iOS way >> All About Windows Phone

Steve Litchfield was helping a friend out with his slow-running smartphone:

"Err… what's that circular icon superimposed on the interface?", I said, fearfully.
"Oh, that's just a utility I downloaded that's helping me clear some space. It runs all the time and err… helps."
"Does it?", I said doubtfully. "You might like to get rid of that for a start, it's probably sucking up processor time. But in the meantime, why don't we get you up and running with some sort of Internet sync for your documents so that you don't lose an important file again?"
I installed Google's Drive utility. A message popped up superimposed on the status bar" 'Scanning Google Drive…' The friend noticed me open-mouthed at the message: "Ah, yes, I installed an anti-virus program, just to be safe."
"So, do you side load Android apps often", I said.
"'Side load'? Eh? I get my apps from the Play Store!"

The number of people who use antivirus unnecessarily on Android may be quite high.

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