How two whizz-kids made a billion dollar app in 551 days

Instagram was recently bought by Facebook for 1bn US dollars. That is even more than was paid for MySpace and The Huffington Post and almost as much as was paid for YouTube. Instagram is an app that puts a retro filter on photographs. Its succes grew rapidly after celebrities like Barack Obama and Justin Bieber opened accounts. It is not a total mystery why this app that was released only one and a have year ago, was worth such a big buy-out. The reason probably is the release in the Android App Store that, after an immense popular period in the Apple Store, resulted in 1 Million buyers withing 24 hours.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/how-two-whizzkids-made-a-billion-dollar-app-in-551-days-7631272.html

My reaction
Nowadays it seems like everyone can become rich with just one simple idea. Lots of people are living the Internet dream now, instead of the American Dream. Everyone, anywhere in the world could become successful by using the Net. However, this succes could fade away easily. For instance, Geo Cities and MySpace were huge successes, but nowadays no-one uses those platforms anymore. In that perspective the young men behind Instagram were wise to sell the app while it is so extremely popular.

Ghana calls an end to tyrannical reign of the Queen's English

More and more Ghanaians choose to be creative with the English language by using their own pronunciation and mixing English with local languages. RP used to be the accent Ghanaians tried to master, but it is lately seen as the former colonist's accent. Ghanaians are starting to feel proud of being and sounding multilingual. One of the most famous Ghanaians who does not try to hide his Ghanaian roots in his speech is Kofi Annan. Moreover, nowadays there are also famous rappers who are proud of their Ghanaian sound.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/ghana-calls-end-queens-english

My reaction
Although I am working hard to achieve a British accent, I totally agree with the Ghanaians. They were colonised by the British and used to think sounding like the rulers meant sounding intelligent. I am glad they feel proud of their own roots and their multilangual history. This change in looking at their native languages might even mean that those languages will not go extinct. If this trend broadens, other African countries could also become more proud of their native tongues and that could ultimately save hundreds of languages. Therefore, this trend could not only be a good thing for Ghanaians, but also for linguists.