It's hard to rant or rave about technology a few days before Christmas, when most people are looking forward to the holiday and excited about the gadgets they're giving or possibly receiving.
So here's a little game to play instead, looking back and ahead at some of the puzzling things in the tech world.
1. Connect the Seattle-born high-tech company with its global head count, as of the third quarter:
A. Amazon
B. Boeing
C. Microsoft
1. 100,518
2. 109,800
3. 170,820
2. Windows 8 lost the old fashioned start button but it does have five "charms" to perform common tasks. Circle the five:
A. Search
B. Update
C. Share
D. Start
E. Devices
F. Settings
3. Google's Android software is now the most popular smartphone platform. Each version is named after a sweet snack. Which of these are Android code-names?
A. KitKat
B. Honeycomb
C. Gingerbread
D. Jelly Bean
E. Ice Cream Sandwich
4. Some American adults still don't use the internet or email because they think it's too expensive, hard to use or just not worth the effort, according to the Pew Research Centre. What percentage of the adult population remains offline?
A. 7 per cent
B. 15 per cent
C. 2 per cent
5. Microsoft's stock jumped by how much the day that Chief Executive Steve Ballmer announced his plans to retire?
A. 7 per cent
B. 15 per cent
C. 33 per cent
6. During Ballmer's tenure as chief executive, Microsoft's profit increased by roughly how much?
A. 7 per cent
B. 15 per cent
C. 300 per cent
7. Apple launched its original iPad in 2010, starting the tablet computing craze that's continuing through this holiday season. What generation is the iPad is the "Air" model released in October?
A. Third generation
B. Fourth generation
C. Fifth generation
8. What percentage of adults in the US owned a tablet computer as of last autumn, according to Pew?
A. 58 per cent
B. 43 per cent
C. 35 per cent
9. Which of these was the top smartphone app in 2013, according to Nielsen research?
A. Google search
B. YouTube
C. Instagram
D. Twitter
E. Facebook
10. As of Sept. 30, Facebook had 1.19 billion users who accessed the site at least once a month. How much revenue did each user, on average, generate for the company during its previous quarter?
A. $12
B. $1.72
C. 25 cents
11. Virtually all new smartphones today run on networks using 4G LTE wireless technology, enabling true mobile broadband. What does 4G LTE stand for?
A. Four Gigabytes per second Latency Transmission Equivalent.
B. Four Gigahertz Local Telephone Extension
C. Fourth Generation Long-Term Evolution
D. Four Grand Lost To Eternity
12. All those phones are being used to take billions of pictures, and we're increasingly storing photos and other digital files online, in "personal cloud" storage services. The amount of stuff we stash this way is expected to increase by 500 per cent over the next five years, according to ABI Research. How much data will then be stored in all these personal cloud storage lockers?
A. 1,250 terabytes
B. 6,500 gigabytes
C. 3,520 petabytes
D. 1 google
Answers: 1: A2, B3, C1. 2: A, C, D, E, F.3: All of them. 4: B. 5: A. 6: C. 7: C. 8: C. 9: E. 10: B. 11: C. 12: C.
