Happy Saturday y'all! Below, I have rounded up some things for you to think about this weekend:
1. Remember two weeks ago when the news about Facebook's latest scandal broke? At that time, we thought there were only 50 million Facebook profiles that were affected. Now the latest update is that Cambridge Analytica actually accessed up to 87 million users' data. I'm with Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber on this one—the actual number is probably a lot more than 87 million, and Facebook will probably announce a larger number in the near future. This is known as the "Drip-Drip-Drip" PR strategy, and it allows the company involved to break the news about a scandal with a low number and then increase it after the buzz has died down. A sneaky tactic to be sure, but effective nonetheless.
2. Fans of the front page of the Internet have something to look forward to, as Reddit is getting a major redesign soon. I'm not sure that this will get me to use the site any more than I did previously (which was essentially no use at all), but it's still welcome news.
3. A rumor started going around this week claiming that Apple is going to quit using Intel processors in its Mac lineup, instead opting to manufacture its own chips in-house. I'm interested to see how that plays out—while Apple has been extremely successful with its homemade mobile processors, the desktop processor game is a totally new and uncharted territory for the company.
4. Probably the biggest news this week was that a YouTuber who was frustrated by the company's censorship practices went and shot up YouTube's headquarters in California. She was a vegan and animal rights activist who had a very strange and disturbing YouTube channel. After shooting a few people in the office, she ended up killing herself. It's a really bizarre and tragic story, but on the bright side—at least no YouTube employees were killed.
That's all for this week's edition of Weekend Thoughts. Until next week, keep thinking wilder.
Image by troubletrace_ux, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.