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What's on Facebook's mind? Mobile event set for November 3rd
Facebook's made no official push into the smartphone universe -- to date, we've been left using various mobile apps to connect with J. Timberlake, Marky Z. and the rest of the crew, but it looks as if the preeminent social networking site of our generation (ahem) is just about ready to clear the air on at least one issue. The invite above recently landed in our inbox, requesting our presence at "a mobile event at Facebook HQ" in Palo Alto, California. Naturally, we'll be on hand from NorCal bringing you the blow-by-blow, and we're interested to know what you think will be on deck. Will we finally see the Facebook phone that it quickly shot down? The Nexus Two with a borderline-criminal amount of Facebook integration? The resurgence of using pastel colored tin cans to connect Jane and Joe? Whatever the case, we're sure It's Complicated.
Target rolls out 'social network connectivity' at its Kodak kiosks, Sorkin furiously prepping script
Target's just announced that, effective immediately, most of its stores nationwide now offer social network connectivity at its Kodak Picture Kiosks. What does this mean for you, dear Target consumer? Well, it means you can now head over to Target and log into Facebook (or your Kodak Gallery account) and print photos directly from there -- if you can find anything worth actually printing, of course. Can you imagine anything better than casually printing out a few years' worth of photos of yourself making the KISS face on New Years' Eve while shopping for Michael Graves-designed tchotchkes? We can't. Press release (which you could print out if you really wanted to) is below.
Raptr releases free iPhone app
Raptr is one of the gaming social networks that seems to have some staying power -- the idea is that you can broadcast and track what and when you're playing, and the network will share all of that information with your friends as it happens. Raptr has just introduced an iPhone app that allows you to check in on all your friends and their gaming habits from anywhere, and even send messages across to Xbox Live with just one inbox. The app is free on the App Store, but if you're brand new to Raptr, you'll want to head over to their site and create an account first (and probably pick up the desktop client, too, although it's Windows-only at the moment). If you're already a Raptr user, then there's no reason not to have this app. That said, a few recent App Store reviews say the app has a problem with friends list loading. I didn't see any issues, but be warned. I'm sure the Raptr team is hard at work on fixing any issues that come up.
Dick Costolo named new Twitter CEO, Evan Williams to focus on product strategy
To say Evan Williams has had a stellar run at Twitter would be understating things tremendously, but he apparently couldn't take the pressure after watching The Social Network this weekend. All kidding aside, Mr. Williams has decided to step aside and let COO Dick Costolo take over as CEO, while he focuses entirely on "product strategy." It's unclear what exactly Evan will be doing at his new post, nor why he decided to step away from the ultimate limelight, but then again, it's hard to sum up a corner office job description in just 140 characters.
Facebook 'very confident' it can work with Ping
Last we heard, Facebook and the new iTunes-based social network Ping were at odds with each other, with Facebook providing "onerous terms" and Apple trying to hook into the bigger network anyway. But maybe they can still heal the rift. Facebook CTO Bret Taylor told Silicon Alley Insider that he's "very confident" that the two networks can find some common ground. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything other than that, so as for what kind of common ground they'll find, that's still up in the air. But Apple would do well to enlist Facebook's help in their fledgling network, "onerous" as the terms may be. Ping is an interesting network, as we've said, but given the lack of action that I've seen in my own little slice of Ping lately, bringing in some links and eyeballs from a more active and veteran social network seems like it would be worth the compromise. [via Cult of Mac]
Facebook starts rolling out high resolution photo sharing to users
Facebook is already a popular way to share photo with your 'friends,' but the quality leaves a little something to be desired, to say the least. Well, that's all about to change, as the company has announced that it'll be rolling out high resolution photo uploading to all of its users over the coming weeks. Users will be able to upload and store photos that are eight times larger than what the service now allows (720 pixels). At the same time, the photo viewer will be upgraded to have a lightbox feel -- black background -- for better viewing. Great news, no doubt, for those of us who just couldn't stand another low res shot of someone's baby doing something silly.
iPhone 3G left out of the Game Center fun, 2nd gen iPod touch gets picked last
Thought that every iOS 4.1 device would be compatible with Apple's Game Center mobile and social gaming platform? We're sorry to say that's not the case. Initially it was looking like both the iPhone 3G and second-generation iPod touch would be left out, having to take their copies of Kickety-Kick Ball Bounce Out and go home. But, Apple is now confirming that second-gen touch models will be included after all, however the iPhone 3G is still not invited, nor are first-gen iPhones and iPod touches. That means the final compatibility list includes the iPhone 3GS and 4, along with second, third, and fourth generation iPod touch models. Everybody else: you're out.
Ping reaches a million, attacked by spam
Apple's new social network, Ping, has been around for about a week now, and all of the pundits have had their chance at weighing in on what Apple got wrong and right. And what's the result? Not bad, but not great -- more than a million people joined the network in just 48 hours. That's not terrible at all, but it's a far cry from the millions of people who actually use iTunes, presumably every day. Apple's success in this area, in other words, isn't going to come easy. The company has already had to put in a little more work. In addition to all of those members, the network was also hit by spam early on, with fake accounts for people like Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive, plus links that led off to contact-stealing scripts and other trouble like that. Apple has already cracked down on most of the offenders, but clearly it was an issue early on that they didn't foresee. The interface has already been updated a bit -- Apple has added "back" and "forward" buttons to the service, to match the rest of the in-app browsers in iTunes. I still maintain that Ping won't reach its full potential until you can actually "like" songs and albums in your personal library, so hopefully a few more updates and tweaks are on the way.
Apple's Ping gains a million users in first two days
We're still trying to figure out exactly what Apple's new Ping social network is good for, but apparently quite a few people are curious about it: it's already racked up a million users in its first two days. That's just a third of the people who've downloaded iTunes 10, so we're sure the numbers are will grow even faster as more people snag iTunes and the network effect starts to kick in -- and things will get really crazy if Apple and Facebook ever work out their little tiff. Just remember: it's a social network... for music.
Steve Jobs: Facebook had "onerous terms" for Ping
Steve Jobs was surprisingly candid with All Things Digital's Kara Swisher yesterday -- he reportedly told her that both Facebook and Apple had spoken about integrating more closely with the new iTunes social network Ping, but Facebook asked for "onerous terms that we could not agree to" regarding Facebook friends connecting on Ping. He didn't elaborate, obviously, but you can see in Facebook's public documentation that Apple probably wouldn't have appreciated handing any more of its network over to Facebook than it did. All Ping seems to be at this point is a system of "liking" certain content (specifically on the iTunes Store, to the frustration of many of us who want to do it directly from our personal library of music), and if Facebook required that all of the "like" buttons went their way, you can see why Jobs wouldn't agree. Turns out that even after Ping's launch, things got even more fractious between the two companies -- Apple did kick off Ping with the option to add friends with Facebook Connect, but Facebook blocked access when it was discovered that Apple wasn't playing by the rules. It's actually an open service, unless Facebook decides that it isn't, and apparently Apple's Ping network was an unwelcome guest with a lot of traffic since Apple didn't come to terms with FB ahead of time. Apple removed the service from Ping, but you'll still see some notes around suggesting you can bring in friends from Facebook. So. Looks like Ping is already making a splash with much larger social networks. If Apple can build up its network without using Facebook's services, it seems much less likely that they'll find a way to share users in the future. As you can see above, Facebook is still implemented on iTunes, in the form of sharing albums and songs that you like, but it's completely separate from what's been built for Ping. Despite the sour start to the social mixup between Ping and FB, Engadget suggests that conversations between the two companies are still ongoing. It may not be long before all this is a hearty laugh between friends.
All Things D: Facebook blocked Apple's Ping service for unauthorized use
We'd already heard whispers that Apple had to yank Facebook Connect integration from its new Ping music network because the connection was being denied by Facebook, and now Kara Swisher at All Things D is confirming it -- and she's saying Facebook shut down access on purpose after Apple used the find-your-friends API without permission. Juicy! Here's the deal: Facebook's friend-finding API is generally open access, but anyone that wants to hit it an extreme number of times has to sign a deal agreeing to protect Facebook user data and limit network impact. Given the sheer size of the iTunes customer base, it's no surprise that Facebook wanted such a deal, but apparently negotiations broke down -- possibly over what Steve Jobs referred to as "onerous terms" -- and Apple decided to just go ahead and use the API anyway. (Which, truth be told, is pretty in character for Apple.) Facebook then blocked access, Apple had to scramble to clean up all the Facebook references, and here we are. Only possibly not for long: Swisher also says Apple and Facebook are still negotiating, and Facebook Connect might eventually reappear in Ping. There is no word when Ping might actually be useful or interesting, however.
Follow Engadget on the new and improved Digg... you know you want to
You may have noticed that Digg got a pretty major overhaul yesterday. One of the nice aspects of the improved site is that it's a little more social than its previous incarnation. So if you're in the market for someone new to follow on Digg... well, you could always hit up Engadget on Digg. You probably won't regret it. You can also follow Engadget on Twitter and Facebook, too!
CE-Oh no he didn't!: Foursquare's Crowley calls Places 'boring,' becomes mayor of Bittersville
You don't have to make a physical product to be a snippy CEO, and Foursquare co-founder and chief officer Dennis Crowley is proving that. He's been playing with the recently launched Facebook Places, saying "it's not that great or interesting," and that it offers "barely any incentives for users to keep coming back and telling their friends where they are." We're going to go ahead and figure that's because Facebook isn't in the business of making games, rather in creating APIs that let others create games that capture the minds and the clicks of its teeming masses of users. In other words, don't be surprised if mafiosos start competing to become Dons of this or that Italian joint, virtual farmers rush to plant their crops in the most verdant fields in your neighborhood, and your Feed gets way more annoying than you ever thought possible.
Breakfast Topic: Casualties of casual gaming
The other day over dinner, my wife and I were talking about a new game on Facebook and how easy it would be for us to game the system. My brother-in-law stopped us mid-conversation and asked, "What the hell happened to you two? You used to be hardcore raiders! Now you're talking about min-maxing a Facebook game!" My wife and I looked sheepishly at each other and hung our heads in shame. This is what it had come to. While we're committed to playing together come Cataclysm, we had now been reduced to the most casual of casual gamers -- playing browser-based games with no real, complex story or engaging gameplay. At least, nothing as complex or engaging as the World of Warcraft. But the reality is that casual gaming is a bigger phenomenon than we can imagine. Zynga's Farmville has over 61.6 million active users -- that's almost six times WoW's 11.5 million subscriber base. Never mind that World of Warcraft is subscription-based and that not all of Farmville's players are paying customers. Forget about revenue for a moment. That's 61.6 million gamers playing one game.
100 million Facebook pages leaked to a torrent site, creating the world's least exciting torrent
Hacker Ron Bowes from Skull Security has created a 2.8GB torrent file which contains the Facebook account details of roughly 100 million users. That's about 1 in 5 of the half billion accounts the social networking site has, and the torrent contains URLs for each account, with other personal details contained in the profiles such as phone numbers and email addresses. Bowes created a crawler to troll Facebook's open access directory, where all the information is kept. There's nothing illegal about any of this, of course -- we put our information out there into the public forum that Facebook is, after all -- but there's still something creepy about the idea of someone torrenting our profile. Then again, we have some pretty amazing shots from the Bronx Zoo in there, so we can't really blame them.
Facebook testing 'delete account' option for some users
Not interested in managing your Facebook privacy settings and simply want a way out? While that's of course been possible, it hasn't exactly been the easiest option for those looking to make a clean break with the site. That seems like it might now be changing, however -- Facebook has rolled out a new "delete account" option for some users which will simply let you click and "permanently delete your account and all information you have shared." If you still don't see the option, however, you're far from alone. Facebook says that it's currently just testing the option with a "very small percentage of people," and it's not saying when or if it will eventually roll out to more users.
Attractive, non-existent woman on internet easily makes inroads in military, intel, and hacker circles
Thomas Ryan of Provide Security's making it public knowledge that social networking sites aren't just annoying: they're also potentially major security threats. Ryan set up a fake Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter account for "Robin Sage," a person who doesn't exist and never has -- but we can assure you she's really, really hot. Robin billed herself as a graduate of MIT and a prestigious New Hampshire prep school, and quickly made hundreds of connections across all three sites, without ever offering any proof of her existence or the connections she espoused. Even more stunning, "Robin" was befriending military, government and intel people on Facebook and Linked In (where she dubbed herself a "hacker"), and hackers on Twitter. Ryan's findings state that the military and intel "friends" Robin made freely share information and documents with her, as well as inviting her to various conferences. Interestingly, it turns out the only group that was in anyway resistant to Robin were the MIT-associated people... but we knew they were all whip-smart already. Moral? Next time you accept the request of a beautiful, intelligent hacker who wants to come over and view your secret dossiers, you should probably think twice.
Facebook officially has 500 million users, most of whom think Zuckerberg is a creep
That's right, Mark Zuckerberg's just announced via the official Facebook blog that the site now has 500 million users. The social networking site -- which has been reuniting girls with their long lost best friends from third grade since February of 2004 -- also simultaneously announced something called Facebook Stories, which is, well totally uninteresting. Regardless, that's an insane and impressive number, so kudos! Now, back to your fake lawn mowing or whatever it is you do (cue the children's choir singing Radiohead songs).
Flipboard turns social network content into a virtual magazine
The latest hotness wandering around the blogs is this iPad app called Flipboard, which turns your favorite social network content into an easy-to-read magazine-styled layout. It does look good -- the idea is that pictures and text are all pulled in from various social feeds, and then assembled together by the app to make a full-color, full-featured magazine that you can flip through instead of pulling up various feeds and/or running a bunch of different clients. We saw a similar app at WWDC this year that pulled content from RSS and styled it in a magazine fashion. Personally, I'm not entirely sold -- I have the same problem with this app as I did with RSS readers for a long time, which is that I like to see content in the format it's generated for. If someone likes something or posts a link on Facebook, I'd rather see what it looks like in the same space they created it for, not crammed into an app's magazine-style formatting. You may make the argument that information is increasingly growing context in-sensitive, and you'd be right -- I do use an RSS reader now, after many years of trying to read blog items on their own blogs, and social networks are growing more interchangeable as they fight to find their own spots in your attention. Flipboard may work well (and at the low, low price of free, it's hard to argue against at least trying it out, though word is that the servers are hammered at launch), but I think there's still something to be said for seeing your tweets in your Twitter client and your friends' pictures on Flickr. I'm not quite ready to completely separate all of my social network content from its original form quite yet.
Google Me to be the Googlish answer to Facebook?
Kevin Rose, the dude who started Digg, got the Twitterverse all aflutter yesterday by suggesting that Google is working on a bona fide Facebook competitor -- to be called Google Me, according to his "very credible source." All such rumors ought to be treated with a healthy dose of skepticism, but today there's been some corroboration from one Adam D'Angelo, Facebook's former CTO. Adam, again citing reliable sources, tells us Google Me is a real project, with significant resources invested in it, and an indication that "Buzz wasn't enough" to counter the social site's growing presence. Another former Facebook exec, Richard Cooperstein, makes the astute observation that what Google's really trying to do is reclaim time that the ''book has stolen away; he notes that time spent on Facebook relative to Google search and YouTube continues to grow, and the Mountain View outfit has to retaliate to keep itself ahead. You'll find the K-Rose tweet after the break -- he deleted the original, but Google Cache can be a cruel mistress.
