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Microsoft 'retiring' Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps
Eagle-eyed gamers may have already noticed that the Xbox 360's dedicated Twitter and Facebook apps have gone missing after the latest Dashboard update, and now Redmond has confirmed it's put the applications out to pasture. According to a Microsoft representative that spoke to IGN, the firm is "retiring the Facebook and Twitter apps" as it works to streamline functionality. When asked if the pair of apps will ever make a comeback, Ballmer and Co. didn't comment. Still crave to update your friends on your latest gaming exploits through the console? Spreading the news on the digital grapevine is still possible, but you'll have to access the social networks through the freshly added Internet Explorer app -- an experience we hope Xbox SmartGlass will improve.
Wolfram Alpha lets you stalk yourself on Facebook, reminds you how noisy you are
You know Facebook's got dirt on you, it's one of modern life's unavoidable trade offs. Now though, thanks to Wolfram Alpha, you can data-mine yourself -- something its creator has been doing for years -- and get a true sense of exactly what the social network knows about you. You'll first have to head over to the computational knowledge engine, then search "Facebook report." Follow the prompts to give the app permission etc, and you'll be rewarded with a detailed breakdown. The data shows information about your interactions, friends, most popular photos, most common demographics and more. For example, you might discover that you know someone in the Philippines, have a clutch of non-connected friends weirdly in the same location, or that you mom is your top post commenter. Though you probably knew that last part already. Paranoid or curious? Jump on the source link to get started.
ooVoo opens up 12-way chat on Facebook and the iPad, gives other apps a facelift
If there's some video chat corollary to Moore's Law, ooVoo is adhering to it. Almost a year to the day after announcing six-way calls, the company is expanding its offerings to include 12-way chats on both Facebook and ooVoo's iPad app. It would seem that on FB, at least, that means true 12-way, face-to-face conversations -- an obvious one-up to Facebook's native video calling app, which is powered by Skype. On the iPad, however, that 12-way claim comes with a substantial quid pro quo: while you can partake in chat with 12 people at once, you can only view up to four people's streams at a time. Moving on, folks using ooVoo on Android or the iPhone will notice some UI tweaks starting today, while people plugged into the desktop version will be treated to a more drastic overhaul. Rounding out the list of newsy bits, the ability to record and upload video chats to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter is now free. You can get your update on now at ooVoo.com, the Apple App Store or Google Play, and we've got one last screen shot after the break to help illustrate what's on tap.
Facebook redesigns mobile site and apps, takes a tip (or two) from Instagram
Maybe it was inspired by the other app's most recent update, or perhaps by Zuck's newly-minted commitment to mobile applications. Regardless, Facebook's redesigned its iPhone / iPod and Android apps along with its pocket-sized site, clearly taking some design tips from none other than its fresh acquisition, Instagram. As you can see in the image above, the news feed is now showing one large post rather than the usual two or three (at least on the iPhone / iPod variant), this mainly due to pictures now being up to 3X larger than before. Facebook didn't note any other major changes, and there was no mention on when, or if, this snap-driven design will make its way onto some of those not-so-mobile devices. Be sure to keep an eye out for the redesign, as it's said to be rolling out as we speak.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says mobile apps the top focus, we say it's about time
Facebook has been making a lot of promises during a tour to drum up interest in its ever-nearing IPO, but the one gadget-heads have been wanting to hear the most, a commitment to its mobile apps, has been elusive -- until now. Everyone's favorite hooded CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is telling investors in his home 'burg of the San Francisco Bay that mobile is front and center in his company's plans. We're hoping that means new app features, although Zuck is likely referring to money-making as well: shareholders are jittery knowing that Facebook makes most of its money on web ads that it's not running on smartphones and tablets. Paid titles in App Center will go a long way towards scratching that itch, mind you. As for us, we'll just be happy if Facebook takes less than a year and a half to produce a major tablet app.
Gaikai brings its cloud gaming to Facebook, launches beta application
Gaikai's certainly grown leaps and bounds since its early days, and today the cloud gaming firm takes another step by joining the largest social networking platform on the globe. For starters, this first beta of Gaikai's Facebook application is available to North American / European gamers, offering support for browsers such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox on Windows, OS X or Linux machines. Gamers who've fiddled around with the outfit's previous betas or Walmart's Gaikai powered Gamecenter will know the drill: streaming game demos in the frame of your web browser. Ready to try before you buy? The setup is serving up samples of Saints Row: The Third, Dead Rising 2, Magicka, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, The Witcher 2, Orcs Must Die! and Farming Simulator 2011. Gaikai CEO and co-founder David Perry told us that while the outfit's current Facebook rigging is still centered around demos, it's primed to push full titles if and when a publisher requests it. "Our goal is to get games as accessible as movies and music," he told us "so games get the chance to compete." Gaikai v1.0 is live on Zuck's site now, so click the source link below, pop in your Facebook credentials and you should be all set. Sean Buckley contributed to this post.
February 14th is Valen... Angry Birds day
Forget poking: from February 14th, show you love someone by flinging a mis-tempered avian toward them. It's Valentines Day that Angry Birds will finally arrive on the ubiquitous social network -- just in time to ensure half the coupled population of the world misses its dinner reservation, in order to get past one more level. The basic game will be free, but upgrades like the Mighty Eagle, double-sized birds, an earthquake weapon and a max-strength catapult will cost you. It'll be launched in Jakarta around the same time you offer up that heart-shaped box of chocolates, so if you want to ensure the day remains romantic, we'd suggest waiting until the 15th before installing.
PlayStation 3 video editor to hit Europe in Q1, 10 euros at launch
While Mr. Blurrycam already spotted the upcoming PlayStation 3 video editor at CES, he was unable to divulge any details on release dates. We were similarly unable to wring out much more when we hit the show floor ourselves. Now, Sony has finally outed a few key tidbits, including the fact that Europe can expect it to arrive by the end of Q1 and that you'll have to fork out for the pleasure -- priced at around €10 ($13). According to Electricpig, the PlayMemories Studio will offer up cropping and zooming tools, slow-mo, and a medley of sound and visual effects. Incoming versions of the movie editor for iOS and Android, however, will still arrive gratis. Are you willing to stump up to get your Spielberg on? While there's nothing concrete on a US launch date just yet, we'd expect to see the editor to make a similar appearance over the next few months.
Is this the PlayStation 3's new video editor? PlayMemories Studio shows up on CES showfloor, Facebook
Our blurrycammed tipster seems to have found a cozy hovel in Sony's CES booth, and just shot a few more out-of-focus shots our way. This time we're looking at PlayMemories Studio, a PlayStation 3 app that appears to be a family friendly video editor. A trademark filed in October outs the app as "software for viewing, organizing and editing digital photos and video," a description that aptly fits a potential video-centric successor to the console's original PlayMemories app. The presumed PSN video editor seems to have a companion Facebook app as well, though its landing page is predictably blank. Details? We'll fill you in on them when we hit the show floor on Tuesday. Can't wait? Hit the break for a second blurry take.
PayPal Facebook app lets you send money and greetings to friends, only takes 2.9-percent cut of your 'free' e-card
Well, this certainly seems like a no-brainer for PayPal. The company just launched a Facebook app that lets you send money to anyone on your friends list, with the usual list of terms and conditions in tow. After logging into Facebook and authorizing the app, you'll be able to use PayPal to transfer funds to individuals that you're connected with (who also have PayPal accounts, of course), adding a layer of security to the notoriously fraud-laden online payment service. Payments are free to send and receive, but only if they're funded using a bank account with both parties in the U.S. Want to use a credit or debit card instead? PayPal will collect 2.9 percent (either from the sender or recipient), with a 30-cent processing fee to boot. And if you're sending funds abroad, fees range from 0.5 to 3.9 percent, depending on a variety of factors. A rather comprehensive collection of e-cards helps soften the blow if a fee applies, and includes selections for just about every occasion. Fourth of July coming up? Let's top up that fireworks fund. So dig up those account and routing numbers and get ready to stick some virtual cash in a virtual card -- just one week 'til Thanksgiving!
Mortal Online launches Facebook integration complete with discounts
Facebook integration isn't exactly a new thing for MMOs these days, but it's not often that you can use it to outright pay less money for a subscription. But that's what Mortal Online is experimenting with, offering players of the game a discount based upon their friend counts. Of course, there's a slight catch -- said friends can't themselves be players. The integrated application will also announce your major achievements to your friends, making it a clear method for players to show off the game they're enjoying and give it a bit of advertising to boot. The discounts, naturally, are a nice incentive. A maximum of 1.25 EUR will be deducted from the subscription price if you have 750 non-playing friends, but even five non-playing friends will net you a 0.25 EUR reduction. The discount begins to apply 12 days after you link your account, meaning that new players to the game can enjoy the discount right from the start. It's money off and a chance to show off what you've accomplished, and that should be enough to win over almost any Mortal Online player with a Facebook account.
Facebook clarifies policy on user IDs, vows 'zero tolerance for data brokers'
Facebook promised that it would address the issue of developers unknowingly dishing out Facebook user IDs to third parties, and it's now finally laid out it's full response to the problem. That includes both a technical solution to the way UIDs can be "inadvertently" shared in the browser (to be released to developers early next week), as well as what Facebook describes as a clarification of it's policy on the use of UIDs and other private data received from Facebook. On that latter point, Facebook's Mike Vernal says that while the company's policy "has always stated that data received from Facebook, including UIDs, cannot be shared with data brokers and ad networks," moving forward it will state that "UIDs cannot leave your application or any of the infrastructure, code, and services you need to build and run your application." Facebook also says that it's requiring all ad networks to delete any Facebook UIDs immediately "regardless of how they were obtained," and it insists that it will enforce a "zero tolerance policy for data brokers." On that last front, Facebook notes that it has worked out a deal with data broker Rapleaf, which has agreed to delete all UIDs in its possession and not conduct activities on the Facebook platform in the future, and it's dealt out a six-month suspension to a handful of small developers found to be selling UIDs. Hit up the source link below for the company's complete statement.
WSJ: Facebook apps and games are dishing out your user ID to unauthorized third parties
So you thought tweaking your privacy settings could actually keep you private on Facebook? The Wall Street Journal has some sobering news for you and everyone else playing Farmville on the 'book: your favorite apps are transmitting your user ID to advertisers and other third parties, and there's pretty much nothing you can do about it. According to the WSJ, even users who set their privacy sliders to the most hermit-like setting are exposed to having their unique Facebook identifier served up to data collection and advertising agencies, who in turn have been connecting that ID with your name (and anything else you've set to "share with everyone" on your profile) and snowballing it into their archive on your habits and tastes. Even more unsettling, three of the top 10 most used apps, including Farmville, have been found to have dished out the IDs of their users' friends. For its part, the company that Mark Z built says it's "committed to addressing" the issue and a number of the offending apps have been noted as becoming unavailable following the WSJ report. Farmville is of course not among them, it'd be madness to ever yank that cash cow, but whatever happens, you should have already got the message: the internet and privacy don't mix well.
Lord of the Rings Online adding Facebook Player Feed
Lord of the Rings Online is adding to their presence in the social networking scene. Now you can let your Facebook friends know about the achievements of your Lord of the Rings Online characters via the new Player Feed. The Player Feed is a Facebook application installed in the usual way. It uses your my.lotro account information to keep track of your characters as you choose, giving you a series of checkboxes to control which servers, characters, and achievements you want to display. It lets your friends know when you log on and log off -- everything after that is up to you. (To prevent the Player Feed from spamming Facebook every time you switch characters, it will wait for a short period of time after you log out to send that notification.) Check out the post on the LotRO site for all the details.
Faunasphere goes Facebook
We've received word today from the team over at Faunasphere that they're taking their game over to the land of Facebook, to show the "social gamers" what a MMO really is. Faunsphere Facebook and Faunsphere.com will be linked together into one large world, letting users from both realms interact with one another. The game will continue to run on the same microtransaction system, where users can buy additional items for their fauna and commission scientific tests to know more about the hidden skills that lie in their favorite animals. All we can do now is pray that this style of game catches on in Facebook, so when we ask our friends if they play any MMOs, they don't respond with, "Oh, yeah, Farmville!" Then, we won't feel the need to throttle people.
Blizzard launches Facebook Armory app
Earlier this evening we received a tip (thanks, Taylor) that Blizzard has launched a WoW Armory Facebook application. It promises to publish data about your WoW characters to all your Facebook buddies in real time. I figured I'd give it a spin, not so much because I want to spam my friends with it as because I'm curious what they've come up with. You can see the results in the gallery below. Here are my brief impressions: It's a bit scary that it asks you to log in with your Battle.net account, but if you look at the URL of the popup window it is in fact from us.battle.net, one of the legitimate domains. Still, I'm not sure it's good training for users for Blizzard to ask us to log in within random popups. The login form does not ask for your authenticator. It doesn't tell you this in the brief description, but you choose up to five characters for the app to report to your followers. It doesn't just indiscriminately report the progress of your latest bank alt. By default, it publishes updates on your characters to your Facebook feed, but that box is easily unchecked (fortunately). It also by default posts to your feed that you've installed the app, which is something I can't forgive a Facebook (or Twitter) developer for. If I really want to tell all my friends I'm using your app, I'll tell them. Don't do it for me. At least this too is an option that can be unchecked. After choosing your characters and what you want to show, you may be worried that it's not working, but just give it a minute - it doesn't populate immediately. Mine started showing data in about ten minutes. Overall, assuming they manage to make it work, if you want your Facebook friends to know about your WoW characters, this is the app for you. If not, why are you still reading this post? Anyway, I'm glad to see Blizzard following through on some of the promise the Armory has always showed, even if I don't approve of all their methods. Innovation is always welcome. %Gallery-84420%
Peek gets a Facebook app, sort of
Peek devices are usually quite resolute in their single-purpose ways, but it looks like things are starting to change -- the company is beta testing Facebook integration called PeekSocial. Once you install the app on your Facebook account, you'll be able to update your status easily, and you'll also receive periodic emails that pull content from your newsfeed. Yeah, it's a little hacky -- how about enabling support for a real Facebook app, Peek? [Thanks, Devon]
Civilization Network bringing Facebook persistence to Sid Meiers' series
Civilization Network may not exactly be an MMO, but it's the closest a new game in the series has ever come to the concept. The announcement isn't too surprising as we've heard rumors in the past of a potential persistent version of the game being developed. Frankly, it's nice to finally know the pioneering developer's next game. Meier himself explains the general design goal of Civilization Network on the official Facebook page, and it's more or less all about cooperation with friends and family. That's not to say there's no competition either, but the biggest edge a social networking game has is similar to an MMO -- cooperation with other players. We'll be watching this project closely, as the blending of MMO qualities with a series like Civilization is by far abnormal. The next piece of the puzzle is the game's business model, but as of yet there's been no announcement of how Firaxis plans on making any money with the game. You can watch for beta news on the game's official Facebook page, and we highly suggest it.
Nintendo introduces some color to European DSi options
Hey Europe, Nintendo has stopped neglecting you! After Japan had color options before anyone else even had the DSi, the USA got in on the fun with extra pink and white, and Europe was left wearing the black and white dunce cap. That monochromatic dystopia is about to be vanquished on October 23, however, when Nintendo is set to offer the handsome red, blue and turquoise options you see above all over the good lands of the Old World. Facebook photo uploading will come preloaded, as well as the Flipnote Studio app for creating multimedia missives. You can see a couple more shots after the break.
Facebook MMO is the Warcraft killer, says EverQuest's lead developer
Ryan Barker, the lead designer of EverQuest, is a man who believes in the power of Facebook and social networking. In an interview with The Escapist, Barker is quoted as saying that a Facebook MMO might have the power to eclipse the MMO market much like World of Warcraft has already done some years back.Barker's reasoning behind declaring a Facebook MMO as a champion is due to the ease of playing with your friends. Facebook has the power to remove many of an MMO's social blocks, such as a lack veteran players, ease of access, a lack of servers, and the ease of playing with your friends, and turn those stoppages into forward momentum for a game and its community.
