Tech 2.0 for Tuesday, October 30, 2012

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Contributor: Matt Davenport

Email: mdavenport@kpvi.com

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Published: 10/30/2012 11:15 am

Updated: 10/30/2012 11:23 am

Hurricane Sandy didn't just drive heavy wind, rain and waves into the East Coast. It also drove loads of people to the Internet. There was a big "storm surge" -- of Internet surfers who went online to track the huge weather system's movement. One site which saw a huge spike was The Weather Channel. It streamed its TV feed on its own website -- as well as on YouTube. And it paid off, drawing its biggest audience ever -- 200 million page views as of Monday evening. The storm not only knocked down some structures, it blew away the paywall some news sites set up. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Baltimore Sun all allowed Internet surfers full access to their sites -- so people who don't pay were able to get the latest news.

Meanwhile the storm also produced a run on a site for those who wanted no part of storm coverage. Netflix reports video streaming was up 20 percent compared to last Monday, with most of the added traffic coming from the New York, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston areas. A Netflix spokeswoman says there were a lot of children's titles streamed -- mainly because schools along much of the east coast are closed because of Sandy.

Apple isn't saying why two of its top executives are leaving the company. But you don't have to be much of an analyst to figure out what's probably going on. Apple's head of store operations is out the door. John Browett departs after just six months on the job. And iOS software executive Scott Forstall is leaving next year. Apple didn't discuss the personnel moves. But both men oversaw major goofs on their watch. Browett cut staff hours at Apple retail stores -- a move the company has reversed and says was a mistake. And Forstall presided over the upgrade of the iPhone/iPad/iPod software. It featured a new mapping feature to replace Google maps. That went so badly Apple apologized -- and even asked users to abandon the Apple map app for others, including that of rival Google.

LIVE Superstorm Sandy Coverage - The Weather Channel

Get the latest breaking news and information on Hurricane Sandy as it impacts the east coast. Subscribe to The Weather Channel for top weather and outdoor videos: www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=TheWeatherChannel Comments have been disabled at this time due to a large volume of inappropriate postings. We will re-enable once we are able to insure that the discussion remains respectful towards those impacted by the storm. Thank you.

theweatherchannel

Oct 29th, 2012 at 9:13pm