Fantastic 5 from July

We are at that point of summer where people are getting away from the stress and strain of work and going to sunnier shores. If you went away on holiday you might have missed some of what happened, so here is what we have been reading in the month of July.

Social media, in particular Facebook, reached a huge milestone on the 21st of July when it went beyond 500 million users. No one could of predicted this amazing success 6 years ago when Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook. To celebrate this milestone Zuckerberg announced Facebook Stories, showcasing interesting ways that people have used the social network around the world. If Facebook was a country it would now be the 3rd most populated after China and India.

Facebook reaches 500 million users

It’s not been a smooth few weeks for Apple since the launch of the iPhone 4. With wide spread coverage of the antenna problems and damning reviews by the likes of Which? Magazine, Steve Jobs and Apple had to react in a positive way rather than burying their heads in the sand. Apple’s solution? Call a press conference (and only invite journalists who write positively about Apple) and announce that every iPhone 4 owner will receive a free bumper or a refund for one they have already bought.

Apple gives out free bumpers to fix iPhone 4

Following the news of Facebook going beyond 500m users, fans of Facebook were shocked when Ron Bowes, a Canadian security consultant, collected data from 100m people on Facebook who had not set their profile to private. It strengthens the importance of reading your privacy agreements and double check what information you share online.

Details of 100,000,000 Facebook users published online

Google attempted to break into the Mobile handset market with the Nexus One back at the beginning of the year but on July 16th the company announced that it received its final delivery of the handset and that it has been discontinued. Although it did not sell as well as Google had anticipated many believed it served a purpose and showed other phone makers what the Android OS is capable of and drove them to produce better quality phones.

Google discontinues the Nexus One

The end of July brought some sad news, with the announcement of the death of the world’s oldest Tweeter and Facebook user, at the age of 104. Ivy Bean became famous in the Social Media world when the workers of her care home created her a twitter account and got her tweeting. The world embraced her simple tweets about afternoon tea and the photos she posted up of her and her friends on day trips out.

Ivy Bean passes away at the age of 104