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Facebook lets users 'celebrate pride' with rainbow filter
If you're a fan of the Supreme Court's ruling today that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, Facebook has your profile-pride needs on lock. While logged into Facebook, head to facebook.com/celebratepride to superimpose a rainbow banner over your profile picture. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and plenty of other tech executives are celebrating the legalization of gay marriage today on social media: Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted, "Today marks a victory for equality, perseverance and love," and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella similarly wrote on Twitter, "A historic moment and step forward for equality in America. #LoveWins." In a speech this morning, President Barack Obama characterized the Supreme Court decision as "justice that arrives like a thunderbolt."
Mark Zuckerberg defends free Facebook, fires back at Apple and Ello
When Tim Cook published an open letter in September to address iCloud privacy and security concerns, he said free online services treat you, the consumers, as product. Even newcomer Ello, which is dubbed the anti-Facebook, has a manifesto that ends with: "You are not a product." Well, those sharp words have found their mark in Zuckerberg (pun totally intended), and it sounds like they hit him where it hurts -- so much so that he's just unleashed some biting commentary of his own, despite previously declaring his respect for Cook as a leader. In an interview with Time magazine about his plans to get the world online with Internet.org, the social media mogul irritably defended Facebook's free / ad-supported model, against what he sees as charges that an advertising business model is fundamentally misaligned with customer's interests. The way he sees it, if Apple were truly aligned with customers then it would charge less for all of those iThings it's selling.
Internet.org is taking its free internet services to Kenya
Facebook, Nokia, Samsung, Qualcomm and others created Internet.org in hopes of bringing web connectivity to underserved areas around the globe. Since the start of the collaboration between these tech companies, Internet.org has launched in Zambia and Tanzania, the latter being one of Africa's most populated countries. Next week, Internet.org's app, which provides free access to a variety of different services, is also becoming available in Kenya. As TechCrunch points out, Airtel customers in that area can start using AccuWeather, BBCNews, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Wikipedia, as well as other sites and communication tools, at no cost to them. And let's not forget Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia are only the first three countries to benefit from this initiative -- ultimately, Internet.org aims to blanket roughly 5 billion people altogether.
Next Thursday you can ask Mark Zuckerberg anything
"When so many other features of the site have changed, why is Poking still a thing?" That's the question I'd ask Mark Zuckerberg if I ever had the chance. And next week, I might get an answer. Just about anyone could get a query answered by the Facebook CEO, actually, when he holds the first community question and answer session on the site. Writing on his profile (naturally), he says that this is an extension of weekly Q&As that let employees pick his brain about everything from current events to the company's direction. Zuck says he'll try to get through as many questions as possible in an hour, and the whole shebang will even be livestreamed on its Event page sometime next Thursday.
Made it: Mark Zuckerberg joins Madame Tussauds
A net worth of $27 billion. Doesn't wear socks. [Image: Mashable/Kurt Wagner]
Facebook is buying Oculus VR for $2 billion, plans to 'unlock new worlds for all of us'
Mark Zuckerberg is following up his Whatsapp buy with another big acquisition: virtual reality company Oculus VR for $2 billion in stock and cash (curiously, news of the talks may have leaked on Reddit a month ago). In a post on Facebook, Zuckerberg talks at length about how Facebook plans to make Oculus a platform for "completely new kinds of experiences," and gaming is only the first one. Examples he suggests include sitting courtside at a big game, studying in a classroom with other students virtually or getting a face to face doctor consultation from anywhere. The idea that virtual reality may be the next big thing gained more credibility last week when Sony showed off a prototype VR headset for developers, Project Morpheus. That also means Oculus is suddenly staring down a massive competitor -- with others likely on the way -- and now it has the resources of the social network to rely on.
Zuckerberg responds to 'frustrating' reports of NSA spoofing Facebook, while the agency denies them
Yesterday a report from The Intercept exposed NSA documents apparently showing how it could infect "millions" of computers with malware and even masquerade as a Facebook server. Now, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the NSA have both published responses, with decidedly different takes on the situation. Zuckerberg took to the site to discuss how important trust is on the internet, calling the reports confusing and frustrating, and said he called President Obama directly (pictured above speaking to President Francois Hollande of France last week) to express those feelings. While he waits for "true full reform," he says Facebook is working on making its services more secure with encryption, secure protocols for traffic, and helping others resolve issues in their services. Meanwhile, or perhaps in response to Zuck's direct call, the NSA's Public Affairs office posted a statement (PDF) calling the reports inaccurate. According to the agency: "NSA does not use its technical capabilities to impersonate U.S. company websites. Nor does NSA target any user of global Internet services without appropriate legal authority." Check out the full statement and see how it compares to the documents published yesterday for yourself, but after the last year or so of leaks, it's pretty tough to just take the NSA's words at face value. [Image credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza]
Facebook shutters its unpopular @facebook.com email service
After three years, Facebook is killing its @facebook.com email service. When it launched in late 2010, Zuckerberg and Co. touted the system's basic approach to messaging (think: no attachment or CC/BCC features). However, in a statement given to The Verge, the outfit confirmed that barely anyone was using the service. If you did use it, though, don't fret: any incoming mail will now be forwarded to your primary email address. [Image credit: Marco Paköeningrat/Flickr]
Live at Mark Zuckerberg's MWC 2014 keynote
Given Facebook's recent $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp, Mark Zuckerberg's Mobile World Congress keynote just got a lot more interesting. Hopefully he'll illuminate us more about how the chat app will fit into the social network's plans, since that'll be top of mind. Either way, we'll no doubt hear more about Highlights, Paper and Trending Topics. To get his take on all that and catch anything juicy, tune in right here at the time below. February 24, 2014 12:00:00 PM EST
Everything Mark Zuckerberg has said in public is available online, but only for your PhD
If you're worried that Facebook knows too much about you, you'll be glad to know that a University of Wisconsin team is returning the favor; it just launched The Zuckerberg Files, an attempt to collect everything that Mark Zuckerberg has said in public. The archive currently offers nearly 50 videos as well as 100-plus articles that include interviews, official messages and transcripts. Don't expect easy access, however. At present, the files are limited to academics -- unless you're writing a thesis on the intricacies of Silicon Valley politics, you'll have to find Zuck quotes the hard way.
Zuckerberg's Internet.org plan includes more efficient apps, starting with Facebook
Facebook and several other companies announced the Internet.org initiative tonight to bring connectivity to 5 billion people, but how are Zuckerberg and friends going to do it? As laid out in the Facebook founder's "Is Connectivity A Human Right?" plan, part of the process includes making technological changes. A big part of that is delivering data more efficiently, and making sure apps use less of it. First on the chopping block is Facebook's own app, which used an average of 12MB of data earlier this year but the company thinks it can cut to 1MB per day "simply by improving data usage." Beyond that, more savings are possible if Facebook offers a variant with fewer photos in developing countries. Other methods for using less data include caching and data compression, with the former already in use on its featurephone app, and the latter something partners like Opera have a lot of experience in. In the future, Zuckerberg speculates users could even download stories or photos from nearby friends using technology like WiFi Direct. All of this is done with the aim of reducing the bandwidth needed for basic internet services, thereby making access "affordable and available" to more people. Hit the source link for more details on the hows and whys, we'll be expecting our more efficient social network any day now.
Facebook and others form Internet.org to foster global internet adoption (video)
Google's strategy for bringing internet access to underserved areas involves giant balloons, but Facebook's leans more on collaboration. The social network has founded Internet.org along with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Samsung and Qualcomm, and is setting the partnership's sights on making sure the two-thirds of the world that doesn't have internet access gets the proper hookup. Zuckerberg and friends aren't ready for a complete show-and-tell of their plans just yet, but they've outlined some of their goals: making access affordable, using data more efficiently and lending businesses a hand so they can increase access. When it comes to cost cutting, the group aims to develop and use tech that allows for cheaper connectivity, such as affordable high-quality smartphones. As for data efficiency, the team may investigate compression tools and caching systems to help ease the load on fledgling networks. In fact, Facebook is already working on reducing its Android app's daily data usage from 12MB a day to just 1MB. Lastly, the organization intends to look into sustainable business models that sweeten the pot for everyone from developers to mobile operators to pitch in for the cause. Connecting roughly 5 billion people to the web is a tall order by any standard, but Facebook and Co. are drawing inspiration from their successful Open Compute Project to give themselves a fighting chance. Zuck's scheduled to talk up the alliance on CNN tomorrow morning, but you can head past the break for a video from Internet.org that tugs at the heart strings.
Facebook rolling out Graph Search to US users this week
Remember that profile-specific social network search tool Mark Zuckerberg announced back in January? It's finally ready for the general public. According to the New York Times and ABC News, Facebook Graph Search will start rolling out to US users this Monday. The update is more than a simple search bar revamp, however -- it allows users to mine their social circle for very specific information, asking questions like "Who are my friends in San Francisco," or searching for "people who went to Stanford who like the 49ers." The tool is designed to harken back to the company's original goal of connecting people, and aims to help users draw lines between their friends and interests. Graph Search will also pull select data from Bing, allowing users to peek at the weather from the comfort of their timeline. Despite launching on a wider scale, the service isn't perfect -- the New York Times reports that it still has trouble juggling synonymous phrases (something we experienced in our own hands-on), returning discrepant results for searches like "people who like to surf" and "people who like surfing." The tool also works within the confines of a user's privacy settings and public activity, meaning that you won't accidentally uncover your cousin's secret My Little Pony fan-group if its privacy settings are locked down. The feature is set to debut for a few hundred million users this week, and will continue to become available to the all US users in the coming weeks.
Facebook reportedly building Flipboard-style mobile reading app
There have been murmurs of Facebook building a mobile reading app; tonight, that talk is getting a little louder. The Wall Street Journal claims that the social network has spent the past year working on a dedicated story browser, codenamed Reader, that would curate articles in a Flipboard-like interface. While most other details of the rumored project aren't available, it's reportedly important enough that Mark Zuckerberg is closely involved. The company isn't commenting on its plans, but there's reason to believe that Reader is more than just idle speculation: Facebook recently added hashtag support as a "first step" toward helping users track topics. Accordingly, the company's Graph API includes some unused RSS code that could prove relevant for browsing story feeds. There's no guarantee that we'll see the app soon, if at all. When mobile is becoming the cornerstone of Facebook's business, however, we wouldn't completely rule out Reader's existence.
ATD: Gates, Ballmer and Sean Parker join Zuckerberg's FWD.us lobby group
Mark Zuckerberg showed he's more than just a social butterfly earlier this month, forming the tech-focused political lobby group FWD.us alongside some other big names in the industry. Now, according to AllThingsD, a few more heavy-hitters have signed up to offer their expertise, including Sean Parker (Napster co-founder) and Microsoft's Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and Brad Smith. Not a bad crew to have on your side when technology issues are up for discussion, especially Ballmer -- he's notoriously good at getting his point across. Update: This post has been corrected to reflect that the Brad Smith involved is General Counsel and EVP at Microsoft, and not Intuit CEO Brad Smith.
Zuckerberg, Schmidt, Mayer and others back FWD.us tech political lobby group
If you thought that Mark Zuckerberg's aspirations ended at commanding your smartphone, then think again. The Facebook chief has teamed up with a raft of other tech heavyweights including Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer and Elon Musk to form FWD.us, a political lobby group designed to promote tech-friendly causes. The first issue it wants to tackle is immigration reform to make it easier to woo foreign engineering talent, but it also has designs on scientific research, education reform and job creation. Evidently, these people still have spare time even after their stressful day jobs.
Mark Zuckerberg loves Apple and his iPhone, but isn't optimistic Facebook Home is iOS bound
Facebook this past Thursday took the wraps off of its highly anticipated Facebook Phone. Calling it a phone, however, is a bit of a misnomer because it's more of a Facebook layer -- dubbed Facebook Home -- that sits atop of Android and effectively drapes the user experience with all things Facebook. For instance, when a user installs Facebook Home (which will be available from the Google Play store), the user's homescreen and lockscreen become home to his/her Facebook newsfeed. Put simply, it's Facebook 24/7. In addition to being available as a download from Google, Facebook announced that it will come pre-installed on various devices as well, including the HTC First. Facebook also partnered up with handset manufacturers like Samsung and Sony to release Facebook Home enabled smartphones in the future. All that said, can we expect to see Facebook Home show up in the iOS App Store anytime soon? Well, given that Apple exerts stringent control over the look and feel of its iPhone user experience, smart money is that the answer to that question is a resounding no. Naturally, Zuckerberg was asked about the prospects of Facebook Home coming to iOS during Thursday's media event. He was rather diplomatic with his response. "We have a great relationship with Apple," Zuckerberg answered. "We have integration into iOS, we've worked with them before. With Apple, everything you want to do goes through them. With Android, it doesn't have to." In a subsequent interview with Wired's Steven Levy, Zuckerberg was asked if he could envision Facebook Home coming to iOS in two years time. While Zuckerberg admits that Facebook has a "pretty good partnership with Apple", he is also keenly aware that Apple is adamant about controlling the entire user experience. That notwithstanding, Zuckerberg answered that he would "love for that answer to be yes" before proceeding to explain that Android's open platform gives them the flexibility they need to create unique user experiences like Facebook Home. "Of course, a lot of people also love iPhones," Zuckerberg added. "I love mine, and I would like to be able to deliver Facebook Home there as well." Bloomberg TV also posted an interview with Jon Erlichman who recalled asking Zuckerberg about how an enhanced Facebook experience sits with rivals and partners like Apple. "We love Apple," Zuckerberg told Erlichman. It's interesting to note that Apple and Facebook, while seemingly on good terms now, have butted heads in the past. You might remember that Steve Jobs a few years ago explained why Apple was never able to secure a deal to integrate Facebook with Ping, Apple's failed attempt at a social network for music. Jobs said that talks with Facebook went nowhere because Facebook wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to." Nonetheless, Steve Jobs admired Mark Zuckerberg's determination to create a long-standing company and not sell out for a quick payday when such opportunities presented themselves. What's more, Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson once recalled that when he asked Jobs who he admired most in Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg was the person Jobs mentioned. Jobs appreciated Zuckerberg's "intuitive feel" regarding Facebook's direction, his willingness to "cannibalize old things" and, according to Isaacson, "felt an odd kinship with Mark." Zuckerberg expressed a similar sentiment during a November 2011 interview with Charlie Rose. I mean, Apple is a company that is so focused on just building products that -- for their customers and their users. And -- and that's like -- it's such a deep part of their mission is build these beautiful products for their users. And I think we connected a lot on this level of, okay, Facebook has this mission that's really more than just trying to build a company, right, that has a market cap or a value. It's like we're trying to do this thing in the world. And I don't know, a lot of it I just think we connected on that level. And on a somewhat related note, Zuckerberg about a year ago uploaded a photo of his desk to Facebook. Suffice it to say, Facebook's office space seems rather Mac heavy while Zuck appears to be a fan of Apple's MacBook Air. Lastly, if I may jump back to Facebook Home for a second, Zuckerberg indicated that Facebook Home will eventually display advertisements. I wonder how users, not to mention Google, will feel about that.
Facebook gets green light to build its second campus at California headquarters
Seems as if building new, fancy properties is quickly becoming the norm within the tech sector. Following in both Apple and Google's spacious footsteps, Facebook too will be looking to amplify its California-based headquarters -- and now it's received the OK from Menlo Park authorities to commence turning Frank Gehry's design vision into a reality. The second campus itself is set to boast nearly 434,000 square feet in total and be built across 22 acres, which will be plenty of space to house anything from a rooftop park to an underground tunnel which leads to Facebook's existent abode. As for city council members, they seem to be rather pleased by Zuck's proposed construction, with one Kirsten Keith expressing how she "feels very lucky that we'll have a Frank Gehry building here." Well then, cheers all around.
Gates, Zuck and crew entice kids into programming through a short film
Kids in many parts of the world are growing up surrounded with technology, some from a very tender age. Many schools aren't teaching much if any programming, though, which has led Code.org to make a short film spurring young techies into action. We have a hunch that it might work -- the video has quite possibly the most star-studded collection of men and women explaining how they got into coding and why they like it, including Bill Gates, Gabe Newell and Mark Zuckerberg. There's even endorsements from unexpected sources, such as Miami Heat player Chris Bosh. It's true that most of them have a vested interest in creating future employees, but they collectively raise the real concern that there's a deficit of software and web developers. Catch the full feature after the break if you're looking to persuade a curious child.
Zuckerberg: Microsoft more willing to work with us, still open to a Google partnership
Facebook's "one more thing" at today's Graph Search press conference? A search partnership with Bing. Naturally, Google was the elephant in the room after such an announcement, particularly in light of the fact that Lars Rasmussen has strong ties to the company by way of his connection to Maps and Wave. Asked why he opted not to take his business to Mountain View, Zuck told the crowd, The main thing is that when people share something on Facebook, we want to give them the ability to broadcast things, but also retract them later, and have them be removed immediately. Microsoft was more willing to do things specific to Facebook. We've reached out to Google to get its side of the story. We'll let you know what we hear.
