Mobli, which is similar to Instagram, got on everybody’s radar thanks to its interesting partnership with Latin America’s largest wireless carrier, America Movil. If you aren’t familiar with America Movil, it’s controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, who regularly trades places with Bill Gates as the richest person in the world.

With about 5 million active users and the America Movil partnership, Instagram might begin to view the app as a threat, which explains why it cut Mobli off from the Instagram API. Before this, Mobli users were able to easily share their content from Instagram to their feeds. Such a move shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, as we’ve previously seen Facebook cut Vine (owned by Twitter) off from its API. Twitter has also cut Instagram off from its API too.

The API access that was revoked by Facebook and Twitter are all related to finding friends, which could be viewed as a way to lure users off the platform. While the current issue between Mobli and Instagram isn’t related to finding your friends, it could still be viewed as a tool to lure users away. So Instagram’s response isn’t surprising.

In Instagram’s own words

Instagram’s API guidelines make it clear that an application that replicates or attempts to replace the essential user experience violates our terms of use. We have a team dedicated to reviewing apps and enforcing our policies.

It’s also worth noting that Mobli is no saint either, as the company has previously run a campaign with the specific goal of having Instagram users move to it’s platform, along with monetary incentives.

TUAW reports on a chart by Fidlee that demonstrates iOS and Android support for older devices.

The chart shows that most older Android devices are a few verions of Android behind the latest release.

Even more jarring is that some Android models, just two years after their initial release, are two major versions of Android behind. Three years out, you’d be hard-pressed to find an Android device that isn’t three or four major versions of Android behind.

Apple provides better support for older devices, with the iPhone 4 supporting the latest version despite being in its fourth year after release. The iPhone 3GS was supported into its fifth year after release, up until Apple’s release of iOS 7 earlier this year.

Things look a whole lot different on the iPhone side of the equation. An iPhone 3GS for example, a device which first launched in June of 2009, was compatible with all iOS updates up until Apple released iOS 7 this past summer. The takeaway is that when you purchase an iPhone, you can be confident that you will be able to take advantage of future iOS features and enhancements many years down the line. The value proposition provided by the iPhone in this aspect is simply unmatched by Android.

Many Android users complain that Apple forces users of older devices to upgrade their iPhones. This chart proves the contrary. Android users with older devices are the ones who are forced to upgrade to a newer device to be able to enjoy the latest Android version.

We brought your attention to LINE recently, notably when the popular Asian messaging system hit the 300 million user milestone. The company isn’t intent on resting on its laurels, and has just launched LINE Shopping in Malaysia today. The launch of LINE Shopping in Indonesia at the end of November was quite successful, collecting about 900,000 subscribers within a week. You can bet that Naver (the company behind LINE) is looking to repeat that feat or improve upon it.

LINE is already well known for its adorable and expressive stickers, and offering a free sticker set as an incentive to get folks to subscribe will definitely drive subscription numbers.

The next step will be to see how well LINE harnesses its subscriber base to promote wares from its retail partners, including Groupon, Lazada, Zalora, Rakuten, Superbuy, H&M and more. With messaging platforms being highly personal, if LINE manages to continue its growth trajectory and strengthen partnerships, it’ll be able to have an edge against competitors in Asia such as WeChat and Kakao Talk.

LINE Shopping launched for e-commerce business in Indonesia and Malaysia

If turning down the previous acquisition offers of $3 billion (or$4 billion, depending on the source) didn’t convince you that Snapchat is becoming a force to be reckoned with, this next move will. It wasn’t too long ago that Emily White moved from Facebook to Instagram, and now she’s heading over to Snapchat to be second-in-command to CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel. Considering that Mark Zuckerberg tried to buy Snapchat recently, it’s going to sting to have a key person from Instagram (owned by Facebook) make such a move.

White has a lot of experience in the online advertising space, initially at Google, then at Facebook and Instagram, being instrumental in bringing ads to the latter.

Without a doubt, she’ll help Snapchat continue on it’s path taking on the mobile messaging scene. It’ll also be interesting to see if she grows into a high-profile COO like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg.

Instagram Business Lead Emily White to Be Named COO of Snapchat

“It happened really quickly, but to have an actual COO role in one of many companies that is disrupting the communications arena is one I could not pass up,” she said. “I have always been captivated by the creativity that has gone into the product … and I think that Evan has been looking for someone who can help him grow and scale what is already something that has changed a lot of the way people think about the mobile experience.”

“Instagram has great leadership in place and this is not me walking away from anything but an A+ management team,” said White. “But I am about to learn a lot about the way communication is happening right now and am excited to help grow it into a big business.”

The good news is that she seems to have left Instagram on good terms.

Said Systrom of her departure in a statement: “I cannot thank Emily enough for her contributions to Instagram. She was tasked with getting the first ads products out the door — and she did that beautifully. Instagram is in an even better place today because of her efforts and we thank her.”

Jathan Sadowski writes on WIRED.com about how pushing people to code will widen the divide between the rich and poor.

For instance, the burden of adding coding to curricula ignores the fact that the English literacy rate in America is still abysmal: 45 million U.S. adults are “functionally illiterate” and “read below a 5th grade level,” according to data gathered by the Literacy Project Foundation. Almost half of all Americans read “so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as reading prescription drug labels.” The reading proficiency of Americans is much lower than most other developed countries, and it’s declining.

I don’t agree with Sadowski about how literacy and the ability to code should be lumped together when considering the school curriculum. Just because a person is illiterate doesn’t mean that they are precluded from learning programming.

Teaching children how to code will instil in them problem-solving skills and logical thinking. More importantly, it will eventually become essential for our children to be able to read and write code. Software is changing the world. Technology has become an integral part of our lives. We need to be able to understand how technology works.

The Verge reports that UPS is testing and evaluating using drones to delivery parcels.

UPS has a number of different ways it might utilize drones. It could offer something similar to Amazon’s Prime Air, or it might use them to help move packages around its own warehouses. Calo was skeptical of the video offered up by Amazon, where a drone drops off a package in a family’s suburban driveway. “I think from both a tech and a policy perspective, delivering to consumers in residential areas is going to be tough thing to accomplish any time soon,” says Calo. “But a company like UPS could use drones to bring packages quickly and cheaply from a major airport or city to pick-up centers in more remote locations, speeding up delivery for a lot of customers.”

Should we expect FedEx and DHL to jump on the bandwagon soon?