Posts Tagged ‘facebook’
Capture of alleged US spy reveals the difficulties of being a CIA agent on Facebook
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The capture of alleged diplomat-turned-CIA spy Ryan Fogle in Russia this week has to stand as one of the more bizarre moments in recent memory. Reportedly attempting to hire a Russian intelligence agent as a US spy, Fogle was wearing an ill-fitting blonde wig when arrested in Moscow on Monday, in a scene that many have likened to a Hollywood spy movie. The Russian secret service released video of the arrest, along with images showing a “spy kit” of sorts, with wigs, a collection of sunglasses, a hunting knife, a compass, a map, and other tools.
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KakaoHome is a Facebook Home alternative for Korea’s biggest messaging platform
Author: Melissa Shroeder
Facebook isn’t the only company that wants to give your Android experience a makeover. The Korean startup behind the massively popular messaging app KakaoTalk has just released KakaoHome — a launcher that lets you quickly reply to KakaoTalk messages without having to open the app, somewhat like Facebook Home’s vaunted Chat Heads. Reported by The Guardian, the app also lets you quickly check notifications for Kakao’s suite of apps, including the Tumblr-like KakaoStory, and KakaoGame, which is similar to Apple’s Game Center.
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Rumor: AT&T To Discontinue The HTC First Facebook Phone
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HTC’s Facebook Home-laden First smartphone may only have debuted on AT&T last month, but it appears that the device may be a dud as far as consumers are concerned. According to a report from BGR’s Zach Epstein, sales of the HTC First smartphone have been so disappointing that AT&T will soon be dropping the device from its lineup completely and shipping all unsold inventory back to HTC.
If this report holds true (representatives from AT&T, HTC, and Facebook have not responded to our questions at time of writing), AT&T will continue to sell the First until it fulfills its contractual obligations to display the thing in its myriad retail stores.
And just how bad was the First doing? Epstein expounds a bit on Twitter, noting that the infinitely lamer HTC Status sold more during its first month on the market than the First did. That may not be the most fair comparison to make considering that the Status was HTC’s first foray into baking Facebook directly into an Android device (and in a time when the Facebook Android app was markedly worse than it is now), but there you have it. What’s also unclear is what such a move would mean for the First in other markets — HTC CEO Peter Chou noted at the Facebook Home launch event that the device would be carried by France’s Orange and the UK’s EE later this summer.
To be quite honest, it’s not exactly a shock to hear that the First hasn’t managed to whip the smartphone-hungry masses into a frenzy. Less than a week ago, AT&T slashed the on-contract price of the First from $ 99 to a scant $ 0.99 — it seemed like a curious move at the time given just how new the First was, but many took it as a signal that the sales situation was dire. The real question here is what managed to turn off consumers more: the First’s relatively modest spec sheet, or its reliance on Facebook Home. If I were a betting man, my money would be on the latter considering the thorough drubbing that Facebook’s replacement launcher has received from reporters and users alike and the fact that interest in Home as a whole seems to be waning.
We’re working to verify this rumor one way or the other, but for now it’s best to take this whole thing with a grain of salt. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time a Facebook phone was erroneously thought to be taking a dip in the deadpool.
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What Does It Mean To “Like” Your Own Facebook Status?
Author: JohnnyBells
Depends: Are you terrible? Also: post-date Twitter rules, and untagging exes.
I have a Facebook friend who every time he posts a status update promptly “likes” it. And it makes me sad! But should it? Or is this a thing people do?
Well, your first mistake was framing those two things — stuff that makes you sad, and legitimate-ish THINGS that people, as a significant group, do — as being necessarily mutually exclusive. Let’s say we had a drawing of a very big Venn diagram. The circle on the left side is labeled “Things That Make Us Sad,” and the circle on the right side is labeled “Things That People Do.” The overlapping portion in the middle would be labeled “The Internet.”
I think we all have a Facebook friend or two (or twelve) who like their own statuses or their own comments with a frequency so striking you can pick up on this habit from the News Feed alone. How you feel about that is probably just going to be an extension of how you feel about that person generally. (I find it cute in a friend I like and admire, and annoying in a friend I find…annoying.) And one thing you can say about someone like this is that he or she probably does not care what you or I think. Yes, it's a weird thing to do — especially every time, especially right away — but as someone who not all THAT infrequently ends up kind of having Facebook comment discussions with herself (because nobody ever cares about the UFO sightings like I want them to), I can't really pass judgment on this one. (Oh. Ohhhh, I get it. Yep, never mind, it is sad! Haha, okaaaaayyyy, see you later!)
What IS a favorite?
Via: @articles
I went on a date with this guy I met through Twitter, and it seemed like it went well, and I really like him, but we haven’t yet talked about another one. It's been a week and a half. But then, yesterday, he favorited a tweet of mine. No word since. ??? What does THAT MEAN?
You know what I love? Doing what you're doing now. Having a conversation with someone you have a crush on (haha, “conversation”) and thinking about it one way but then, two hours later, thinking about it the opposite. Asking your friends if they think this one tiny little thing he said or did meant anything and then, when they say they don't know, because it's impossible to say, asking them, well, but what if you think about it like THIS. Making up your mind that you are sure and then thinking up a few (implausible, frankly) make-out scenarios. Then starting to wonder again. What. Does. It. MEAN.
You know what I also hate? All of the above! Ahhh, feelings. They are so fun! And so horrible! What is the answer? What if THERE IS NO ANSWER??
Anyway. I'm going to do what I'm supposed to do and say “I don't know,” because it's the truth, and I do not have a great track record in predicting the outcomes of these things? But! I think there's a decent chance this young man wants to go out with you again and is gauging your interest in the same. He might not be sure what you're thinking either! (Weirddddd, right? And you thought you were being so obvious!) The favorite is a reminder that he is there, maybe. (Also, does he read my column? Sneaky!) I think you should send this guy a text message and tell him you had fun meeting him and want to go do something again soon. This wondering stage you're in is SO fun/awful, but it'll probably only get to the next fun-er/awful-er stage if one of you takes action. I hope he says yes.
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The Worst Graph Search On Facebook
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Who works at Facebook and is trying to bone their buddies?
Bang With Friends is an app that connects to Facebook to tell you which of your friends might also be “down to bang”. You sign into the app, check off which of your pals you’d be DTB, and you get a notification if they also picked you as well. What could possibly go wrong?
The downside, as recently discovered, is that because it's a Facebook app, you can use Graph Search to see which of your friends have the app enabled (it IS possible to hide this info in your profile, but most people don't). While you can't see who they're down to bang, you know they're using the app, which may be incriminating enough.
Using Facebook's new and improved graph search to narrow it down, we found a few amusing groups of Bang With Friends fans.
Oh, you naughty naughty people:
Uh oh
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Microsoft issuing takedown notices for third-party Windows Phone Facebook apps
Author: Natalie Wood
Windows Phone developers who have created third-party Facebook apps are receiving takedown notices from Microsoft, reports Windows Phone Central. The issue is trademark infringement, and Facebook has sent a letter to Microsoft detailing 41 different apps that it believes infringes on one of its various pieces of intellectual property, along with the details on those trademarks. The purpose of the letter is presumably so that Microsoft can issue takedown notices to those developers, which it reportedly has — apparently giving those developers one business day to remove their app from the store.
Although some of the apps are good-faith efforts from third-party developers to create an improved Facebook experience, many more just clutter…
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Tags: Apps, facebook, issuing, Microsoft, Notices, Phone, Takedown, ThirdParty, Windows | 
No Comments »Facebook Messenger for iOS: now with stickers and message-deleting swipes
Author: Tech Blogger
Facebook’s been giving its Messenger app quite a few facelifts lately, with the arrival of Chat Heads and VoIP calling among the highlights. Today, an app update was released for iOS that lets users add stylized critter stickers to messages, freeing them from the crippling visual limitations of emoticons in textual communications — largely identical to the recent Android update. The upgrade also enables a swipe to delete feature to remove conversations from inboxes for good, saving users precious fingertips from an extra tap or two in the process. If your iPhone hasn’t already told you about version 2.4, you’ll find the fresh download at the source below.
Filed under: Software, Facebook
Via: The Next Web
Source: App Store
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Facebook friend integration pulled from Path in wake of recent spam complaints
Author: Brian McKinnell
Earlier this week we reported that users had been complaining about a certain feature from the app Path: namely, that its default behavior was to automatically send text messages out to people a user may know when they first signed up with the app. The Path app has now received an update that removes the ability to find Facebook friends altogether, and TechCrunch reports that it’s due to Facebook restricting Path’s access to its API. Users can still share any items they post to Facebook, but any friend-associated activity has disappeared.
The spamming behavior first went into effect with a March 6th update to the app. It gained traction when a digital marketer named Stephen Kenwright signed up with the app, and discovered that multiple…
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Tags: Complaints, facebook, friend, From, Integration, path, pulled, recent, Spam, Wake |
No Comments »Facebook reports Q1 2013 revenue of $1.46 billion, 12 cents EPS
Author: Stacey Cook
There’s a fairly good chance that Mark Zuckerberg’s heading Home today without a massive bonus check. Zuck’s social network, Facebook, hasn’t quite reached the level of profitability that some investors once expected — its first year of public trading brought highs and lows (though, mostly lows). But, revenues steadily grew, and, in the final quarter of 2012, the company finally turned a profit. And now, for the most recent quarter, Facebook is reporting revenue of $ 1.46 billion, with earnings at 12 cents per share. Mobile is clearly in focus this year, though the company’s efforts in that arena may be reflected in the future — the site’s legacy products are responsible for Q1 2013′s figures. We hope to get some more insight during the earnings call this afternoon, and we’ll be sure to share any notable tidbits as they’re made public.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
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How Darwin-Inspired Emoticons Became Facebook “Stickers”
Author: Jack Schmidt
Matt Jones sketched emoticons based on Darwin's research. Now, you can message them on Facebook's app.
In February we wrote about how Bay Area artist, Matt Jones, created emoticons for Facebook based on Darwin’s 52 emotional states that include complex nuanced feelings like contemplation, admiration, affirmation, maternal love, determination, devotion, resignation, and gratitude.
Today, those sketches come to life in the form of Facebook's new stickers. (No, not the kind you traded as a kid, but the new emojicons available for the Facebook iPhone and Android app—and soon Messenger as well.)
Jones has created his own stickers featuring a character called “Finch” (As in Darwin’s finches.) The 16 stickers feature facial expressions including surprise, cheerfulness, sympathy and sadness. Or as Jones says, “Finch appears to think, emote, and communicate.” Other Facebook artists also used his sketches to help inform their own.
