There has been a lot of press surrounding bitcoins lately. They are viewed as a fun way to invest and play a virtual market with high potential gains. There is risk involved as with any investment, but there’s a huge advantage of trading bitcoins that few realize. Taxes? What taxes? This graphic by the money-knowing folks over at Intuit breaks down the loophole and shows the advantages and disadvantages of the digital currency world. When you have money without borders, what could go wrong? Answer: a lot. Is it worth the risks? …

There may never be a better time for Steve Jobs to step away from Apple. Then again, there may never be a good time for him to step away. Rarely is one individually so acutely connected to the success or failure of an organization as much as Jobs has been over the decades. How will they fair when he finally does leave for good? This infographic by our friends at Online College Resource takes a look at the long and storied history of the man and his company and focuses on the rise of Apple University. The symbiotic relationship is striking. Whether the company will continue its extremely successful ways…

For most things, when we lose them, we lose them. Depending on the value, we either replace it or put in an effort to find it. There’s not much that goes into it. Cell phones are different. There’s a process that has to happen when you lose one. It can cause emotional distress and create challenges in day-to-day life. This graphic by our friends at MyLookout breaks down the process and shows us what happens when phones are lost. Click to enlarge. …

There has been a recent uproar about Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” feature that takes people’s faces, attempts to recognize them, and suggests tags for them that their friends can add to any image. It’s been called creepy at best and an attack on privacy at worst. A successful Google+ launch could be a major challenge for Facebook already, so the timing of the latest controversy is bad for the social network. This breakdown by ZoneAlarm shows us how the technology works and gives us interesting information surrounding the controversy. It then dives into ways that privacy-conscious users can…

When Jack Dorsey from Twitter brought President Barack Obama to answer questions on the social networking site on July 6th, it marked something that has never been done before. Technology met politics in a fresh and potentially intuitive way. Was the end result what everyone expected or were we “left hanging”? The questions were reportedly unknown by Dorsey or the President and were selected by the Twitter community. Things started off well with Obama breaking the ice by saying, “First of all, everyone can sit down. It’s much easier to tweet from a seated position.” So far, so good, but then he…

While it’s clear that the internet has become one of our primary methods of communication with friends and family, it’s only been in recent years that the emergence of using different internet tools has really emerged in the business world. Email has been used for a while, but social media, chat, and blogging are relatively new to the business world. This breakdown by our friends at SocialCast analyzes the different methods and points to a growing reliance on digital communications between businesses and their consumers. While the personal touch should always remain at top of mind, it’s clear…

In many ways, social buying was inevitable. Once eCommerce started really taking off last decade followed by the growth of social media, the two seemed destined to come together like chocolate and peanut butter. We trust each other more than we trust companies and the concept of using power of groups to buy in bulk while still being an individual has always been appealing. Thus, social buying was born, and it’s expanded tremendously over the years. This breakdown by our friends at Flowtown takes a look at the short but loaded history of social buying. Click to enlarge. …

The last few months has seen mobile device payments skyrocket. As consumers move in droves to smartphones and companies create more “wallets” that use mobile screens and other technologies to register payments, the history of money appears to have a new chapter. Barter, coins, paper, plastic, and now smartphones – what’s next? This graphic by our friends at Gplus breaks down the direction and evolution of smart phone mobile payments and gives us a clear understanding of where the industry appears to be going. Click to enlarge. …

Brick and mortar stores are closing on nearly a daily basis. We have all seen companies like Blockbuster and Circuit City lose their wars to the online variations of their products. It isn’t just eBay and Amazon. Social sites like Groupon and Facebook are pushing online transactions, while other giants like Google and Apple are moving more products online than off. This graphic by our friends at BuySellAds takes a long look at the Ascent of E-Commerce, exploring the history of buying and selling online. Knowing where we’ve been can help give clues about where we’re going. Click to enlarge. …

Security is always a concern online, but on social networks it’s doubly so as we put more and more personal information on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Some have been accused of lackadaisical measures to keep our data away from prying eyes. With the increase in mobile social networking, the challenges are compounded upon. This graphic by ZoneAlarm ranks 8 of the top social networks according to their current security standards and describes four of the most famous instances of social networking security breaches. Click to enlarge. …