It may be a little late in the season for beach-reading recommendations, but -- if you haven't already -- you need to put Daniel Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" on your list. In relatively simple terms, the book summarizes the psychologist's Nobel Prize-winning research into decision-making, cognitive biases, and behavioral economics. "Thinking" was published in 2012, but I was reminded of its worth this week, when I read about the release of a report from app marketing and retargeting startup Liftoff.

Amid reports of unhappy advertisers, merciless competition, and a slumping stock price, Snap watchers have had a field day bashing the young company. For my part, I recently said Snap was getting desperate. But, ahead of its quarterly earnings report, some knowledgeable folks are betting on a bright future for the social maverick.

Revenue from the Apple Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud pumped $7.3 billion into the company's coffers during the fiscal third quarter. That's up 22%, year-over-year, and an all-time high for Apple.

As Facebook reports substantial Q2 earnings -- up 45% from same period last year, mostly mobile-based -- its brand also remains strong, especially among U.S. consumers. Asked about companies that connect the world, Facebook was mentioned far more than any other brand, according to recent findings from System1 Research.

We'll give business folks the benefit of the doubt, and assume that they spend most of their mobile time messaging clients and colleagues, organizing their calendars, and combing through the trades for fresh leads. Yet, after tracking 100,000 corporate mobile devices over the past 12 months, Wandera found that professionals spend plenty of time slacking off on social media. "Our analysis shows that these services use about 15%-20% of a typical wireless user's monthly data allocation," according to Michael Covington, VP of product strategy at the mobile security startup.

Microsoft just sent a clear message to consumers brave enough to bet on its mobile strategy a few years back: You're on your own. Yes, the software giant revealed this week that it will no longer be updating Windows Phone 8.1, which means that most Windows-powered phones will soon be as obsolete as a street-corner payphone.

Despite what tech makers would have us believe, it's not a forgone conclusion that voice assistants are going to upend the mobile landscape. Ok, maybe it is. (I mean, why wouldn't we ultimately prefer a form of communication we've already been working on for the past 100,000 years?) But, at the moment, Amazon and Google seem more excited about the trend than do most consumers.

Apps may seem very 2010, but it's hard to overstate the opportunities that lie ahead for enterprising developers. Worldwide, the app economy will mushroom from $1.3 trillion last year to $6.3 trillion in 2021, according to a fresh forecast from App Annie.

Snap just announced a two-year content-development deal with Time Warner, yet analysts say it's less about awesome content for the "camera company" and more about TV networks trying to keep up with increasingly scattered audiences.

As its star has risen, Instagram has become a hotbed of shady marketing tactics, and influencers who specialize in blurring the line between their personal and paid-for product preferences. The problem is so bad that the Federal Trade Commission recently urged 90 or so Instagram influencers to step up their transparency game. Taking the matter seriously, Instagram will now require influencers to accompany sponsored posts and stories with a "Paid partnership with" tag.