Yearly Archives: 2015

This has been a disruptive month for me in terms of technology I rely on every day: two of my favorite and most frequently used software applications have been or are being discontinued. Sigh. The first application, Zite, was officially shutdown on December 7, 2015. This had been a long-time-coming, as Zite (previously owned by CNN) was purchased by Flipboard back in March 2014. The deal gave CNN an advertising partnership with Flipboard, and the companies agreed to phase out Zite as a standalone application. While Flipboard looks like it has some potential, it lacks the simple user interface and familiar feel that I had grown accustomed to with Zite. This isn't necessarily a huge hit for me in terms of my business, but Zite was my primary means of digesting daily news. And despite having ample notice that Zite was being discontinued, my search of a suitable replacement was unsuccessful. While I downloaded countless apps over the course of the year to replace Zite, there really isn't a good replacement. I will miss you old friend. The second application, Mailbox app, is being shutdown early 2016. The death of this app required more immediate attention as I, like many other professionals, rely on email in my daily life and need a good email client on my mobile devices. I had used Mailbox since it came out; securing one of the coveted early adopter spots (I recall being in the fist 10s of thousands — the list had quickly grown to hundreds of thousands with new users being allowed to download the app on a rolling basis as [...]