The Pros and Cons of sharing an iTunes account

Myself, my husband and my brother-in law all use my iTunes accounts; as we all sync music to the same mac, this made sense initially - there was no messing about with purchased music, we all got everything (and yes, I paid for it).

But now, we all have iPod Touches/iPhones and now it comes to apps, things are a bit different.

It still seemed sensible, as Apple is quite generous in that if one of us pays for something once, the other 2 don't have to pay for it again if they want it, but as it turns out, we don't all share the same taste in apps...and the minute you sync back to the mac you end up with quite a lot you didn't expect!

For example, my brother-in-law added some "Find the nearest Starbucks" apps recently whilst in Australia - and suddenly I've got all these new apps installed on my iPhone too. When updates for apps come out, it's almost invariably an update for an app someone else chose, not something I wanted!

If you're a bit fussy about keeping your apps nicely organised and tidy, then this sudden appearance of extra apps is the last thing you want.

However, on the whole it works well in terms of saving money. Would be interested to know what other people do? Would you sahre your own account wider than immediate family?

Marissa Meyer - She is Google (Ada Lovelace Day post)

For Ada Lovelace day I’m writing a post about an inspirational woman in technology as part of a pledge. I agree with the premise of the day, that women will be inspired by seeing role models; when I first heard about the pledge I was embarrassed that I couldn’t actually think of anyone to write about – I can list loads of guys in tech who impress me, but no women came to mind. Have also tried this as a test on friends…men they can do, women they can’t.

So I was caught off-guard earlier this month when I stumbled across this video interview between Charlie Rose and Marissa Meyer (Google’s Vice President, Search Products and User Experience) because I firstly, had never heard of her, and secondly, was suddenly hit with the realisation that she really is what I see as Google.

I might add that I’m a huge Google fan. I follow everything they do with fascination – each new product release is like they’ve designed some new tool or feature just for me, and I never even knew I wanted it. Well it turns out, the person pulling the strings – deciding which things do or don’t make it out of Google HQ and onto my browser, is Marissa. A bright, modern, smart and utterly non-backroom-geek-y woman.

Her background is all on Google and if you trawl that page you’ll find there are 9 other women in the Google management team, but it’s what she does now that I think is so compelling. One of the quotes they use in the interview is: “That power gives her enormous sway over the ebb and flow of competition on the internet.” Imagine that, having direct control over the way the internet changes. Definitely something to aspire to. Keep it up Marissa.