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Massive Facebook outage caused by improper error handling, not improper Facebook flirting as previously feared
This has not been a good week for social networking. First there was that security hole on Twitter's site, and yesterday time stood still (and unsightly error messages popped up all over the web) when Facebook experienced its worst outage in four years. According to the company, the problem stemmed from an automated system that checks for invalid configuration values and replaces them with correct values from a database. A great system, to be sure -- as long as the database itself is error-free. If it isn't? Incorrect values beget incorrect values, until the database cluster enters a feedback cycle that can only be remedied by shutting down the entire site. Which is exactly what happened -- for something like two and a half hours (or the total running time of The Social Network, plus an additional 30 minutes to get some popcorn and find a seat). On the other hand, The Atlasphere -- the world's first social networking and dating site for "admirers of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged" reported zero downtime whatsoever yesterday.
Sanyo launches Xacti VPC-GH4 full HD camcorder with YouTube, Facebook integration
Sanyo has announced another one of them there Xacti digicams, this time geared for the social media crowd. The VPC-GH4, like its sibling the VPC-GH2, features Full HD 1080 video recording; and unlike the aforementioned GH2, integrates YouTube, Facebook, and Picasa uploads -- as well as Twitter notifications. But at what cost? Well, the newer model sees still photos dumbed down to 10 megapixels (the precursor featured 14 megapixel stills), but then again it's set to retail at $200 -- so it's, like, $50 cheaper. Want a closer look? Want the full scoop straight from the PR itself? Can't wait until it hits store shelves later this month? All your wishes will be granted after the break. But you should probably get some better wishes.
New iTunes features Ping social media network
Steve Jobs announced iTunes 10 today, complete with a new logo. The core interface does not receive much tweaking, however in the list view there is a hybrid view where if you have more than 5 songs from the same album, it will show you the album artwork. Most of the new release's focus is on Ping, a social network for music. "It's like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes," Jobs said. Jobs is right; it looks almost, but not quite Facebook. It's much like that service where you can follow friends, have a circle of friends and share what music you're listening to through the network. When following an artist, you can be alerted to their concert listings. Ping will be available for 160 million iTunes users in 23 countries right off the bat. It will also be available in the iTunes Store on the iPhone and iPod Touch. iTunes 10 will be available for download today.
Shocker! Most tweets pointless babble, existential angst a strong motivator
University College London's Jeremy Dean has compiled a handy guide to current research into the social media phenom (and conduit of @justinbieber fever) that is Twitter. Among the highlights: Most tweets (some 41%) can be characterized as "pointless babble," while only 4% can be considered actual news. Twitter trends rarely last longer than a week and almost always trend one time only The average (median) lifetime number of tweets for a single user is 1, while 10% of the users contribute 90% of the traffic A 2010 study ("Understanding the psychological motives behind microblogging") found that highly extroverted participants use Twitter "to relieve their existential anxiety" Pointless babble? Really? We would like to state for the record that we have derived hours of entertainment -- and education -- from our Twitter addiction. Which reminds us: it's been almost an hour since @JENNIWOWW has tried to sell us a diet formula supplement. We sure hope she's OK.
Facebook: Actually, there are 44 million active monthly users of our iPhone app, not 104 million
Yesterday, the internet collective noticed that Facebook was claiming some astonishing monthly active user figures on its respective app fan pages. At the time, Facebook was showing just over 100 million users of its Facebook for iPhone app, nearly 60 million BlackBerry users, and a bit more than 12 million using the Android client. These numbers have continued to rise in the face of contrarian evidence -- for example, how could there possibly be over 100M users of the iPhone app when only 100M iOS devices (a number that includes the iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad) have been sold as of June 2010? Easy, it all comes down to how you define "active." Here's the official word we just received from a Facebook spokesman: "There are currently 44 million monthly active users of the Facebook for iPhone app. We recently changed the definition of mobile active users to exclude those who have only liked or commented on stream stories. Instead we are counting "active" users as people who have taken explicit actions within an application. This practice is more aligned with how we count overall active users for the site." So yeah, not 104 million, but that revised number is still a significant proportion of all iPhones (59M iPhones as of last quarter by our calculations) and iPod touch devices (Apple doesn't break these numbers out) to have ever sold, let alone currently in use globally. Any wonder why Google and Foursquare are worried?
Facebook Places location check-in with Foursquare, Yelp, and Gowalla support arrives on iPhone
If you're the type who's addicted to Foursquare and Gowalla location check-ins then we expect that you're also using Facebook as the quintessential user of social media. Now iPhone users can get a similar fix in a single app with the new Facebook 3.2 update just released on the iTunes App Store. In addition to offering bug fixes and background photo and video uploads, the biggest change is the addition of Facebook Places, a Foursquare- and Gowalla-like method of sharing your location with friends. Fortunately, unlike many of Facebook's features, Places defaults to sharing your location, complete with maps and comments, with friends only, not the world. You can always open it up to the world if you want and even opt-in to a "People Here Now" feature that shows other nearby Facebook users, "friend" or not. You can also tag friends who are with you at the time of check-in. Direct integration with Gowalla, Yelp, and Foursquare is possible with a new Places API for developers. Gowalla's already pitching syndicated check-ins to Facebook (but not the other way around, at least initially) while Foursquare promises to integrate its game mechanics and merchant rewards. Yelp, meanwhile, plans to pull friends' check-ins into Yelp reviews. So how does it work? Well, Walt Mossberg took the app for a spin already and says that in general, it works pretty well. While he feels that the privacy controls (not exactly Facebook's strong suit) are surprisingly "decent," there's no way to opt out of Facebook pages operated by businesses who can incorporate your check-ins into their pages. At the moment, Places is limited to the US only and only when using the iPhone Facebook app -- Android and Blackberry users in The States can navigate over to touch.facebook.com in their browser for an HTML 5 version if they want to play along. Facebook plans to bring Places to other countries and mobile platforms "soon." [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Google launches social networking initiative, more Farmville than Facebook
It looks like there is a social networking initiative in the works at Google, which will presumably start with social gaming (think Farmville) and move outward from there. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company's been in talks with game developers, including Playdom, EA's Playfish, and Zynga (which Google's recently invested in). While sure to incorporate Buzz (remember that?), one thing Google does not want to do is come across as just another Facebook, with Schmidt addressing the possibility thusly: "the world doesn't need a copy of the same thing." OK, then. How about Google Match? We already have an idea for your homepage design. One thing is certain, however: expect the service to be in beta until early 2037.
Sharing Flickr photos and video on Facebook just got easier
Flickr users have been putting up with half-baked solutions for sharing their photo streams on Facebook for a long, long time. That appears to have finally been corrected now that Flickr is using Yahoo! Updates to bridge the way to Facebook. After taking the two minutes to connect your Facebook and Flickr accounts, any photo or video marked as "public" will automatically be shared on Facebook. A process that took a lengthy (in social networking terms) 15 minutes on our first try. If nothing else, at least this explains what Yahoo is doing these days. See an example of a Flickr update on Facebook after the break.
Comcast's Tunerfish adds social media check-ins to your TV watching
Comcast's Plaxo acquisition has borne fruit beyond its social media address book roots with Tunerfish, aimed at pulling social networking features and TV into one website. Currently in closed alpha, it lets TV watchers note what they're watching and share with others, Foursquare style. No word on what being "mayor" of Chuck gets you (if it's not a discount at Subway we'll be disappointed) but the idea is to be able to keep an eye on what's trending amongst the larger pool of viewers or just your friends (who, presumably, have similar tastes. Of course there's Facebook and Twitter integration, and an iPhone app will be available when the beta launches in the next few weeks. Notably absent at this time is any Comcast branding, so it should be wide open no matter where you get your TV broadcasts from, but given the company's interests in bringing together internet and TV we wouldn't be surprised to see some Xfinity labeling work its way in sooner or later. Check out an epic 35-minute video interview with Robert Scoble (embedded after the break, demo starts about 10 minutes in) for more info, or just go ahead and sign up for the latest updates on the official site. It's like we always say -- if your followers & friends didn't want to know what you were doing every second of every day, then why did they add you in the first place?
Apple cybersquatter is ousted from Twitter, but still no sign of @apple
Despite the huge number of companies and individuals that have Twitter accounts, our favorite Cupertino-based company has been strangely silent on the "social media" scene. While some conspiracy theorists out there might take that as proof that Apple is going to create their own Twitter-like notification service or, even worse, buy Twitter outright, we'd like to believe that it's just because they don't need to blast out 140-character screeds every few minutes to get attention. If Apple ever decides to join the crowd and tweet news blasts to several hundred million followers, they'll be able to pick up @apple as their Twitter handle. According to 9to5Mac, a cybersquatter had taken over the twitter.com/apple username, but just recently the message you see above started appearing. Not only does this indicate that the squatter has been forcibly removed from his/her former inhabitance in Twitter-ville, but attempts to sign up as Apple on Twitter are rebuffed. Whether this indicates that Apple will soon join the ranks of Twitterites or if it's just Twitter being nice to the coolest computer maker on the 'net, it is nice to see that we won't be seeing tweets from "Fake Apple" in the near future. [via Cult of Mac]
Make your personal iPhone app in just 10 minutes
Have you ever secretly wished that you could have your own personal iPhone app? An app that you could give to friends, relatives, and your adoring fans? Now you can have your own iPhone (or Android, if you swing that way) app featuring all of your personal feeds from sources such as Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Posterous, Tumblr, and more. The really cool thing is that it's not going to take you much time, nor will you need to learn how to program. Through a new service called iSites, you can take all of your life feeds and have an iPhone app created just for you. The cost? Only US$25. If you think that your hordes of faithful followers are going to download and use the app, you can spend another $99 to integrate AdMob ads into your personal app, meaning that you might be able to become rich (you're already famous, right?) beyond your wildest dreams by giving away your app in the App Store. Everything about the iSites app you create is customizable; the feeds that make up the content (see photo above), the colors, even your icon and store banner. Anyone using your app can easily share an article with others via Twitter, Facebook, or email, and the app has support for video, image thumbnails, and the ability to mark a post as a favorite. I'm not sure that I'm ready to bore the world with my personal iPhone app, but when I finally get to that point, I'll probably use iSites to create it. [via Mashable]
Socialite (formerly Eventbox) out of beta, into your Mac
Socialite, the Mac social networking application formerly known as "Eventbox," has been released out of beta. The application is intended as a "one stop" for Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Flickr, Digg, and any site that supports RSS. I've used Eventbox for some time now, as well as Socialite betas, and I was impressed enough to buy a license before RealMacSoftware purchased the application and changed the name. So far, I am impressed. Twitter support includes multiple accounts, and it makes it very easy to send Direct Messages as well as @replies. Socialite also includes support for Twitter's new "Lists" and "Re-tweet" features. As far as I know, Socialite is currently the only native Mac Twitter client that supports lists. The application is the only way that I ever bother to keep up with Facebook, and it can do so without all the "cruft" (ads, for instance) in the browser interface for Facebook. Socialite is also a great way to keep up with your Flickr contacts. Socialite sells for US$20.00, and a demo is available. If you previously purchased an Eventbox license, you will be contacted with instructions on getting a Socialite license within 24 hours. Without a license, Socialite is limited to three services, which will probably be plenty for some people. Download the 1.0 and check it out for yourself! Update: RealMacSoftware's website seems to be taking a dirt nap. You can download the 1.0 version directly from Amazon's S3 servers here. (MD5SUM = f06c92ce51b7f9a3db96d5e9051adbdb)
PS3 firmware 3.10 released with Facebook support, 'richer' trolling experience
If you've been lusting to indulge in all of those new social networking possibilities that the new PS3 firmware provides, today is your lucky day. And you know what that means: the firmware 3.10 update! Are you ready to post trophies to your Facebook page, signaling your gaming prowess to the world at large? Then you'll want to travel over to the System Update option in your console. But first, make sure you hit up the Sony PR after the break for all the crucial details. You're welcome.
iPhoto2Twitter 1.5 adds movie and Mobypicture support
Back in June, TUAW reported on iPhoto2Twitter, an iPhoto plugin that provides an easy way to send photos from your iPhoto library to Twitter via TwitPic. Now the developer, Blue Crowbar Software, is back with an update that adds support for sending photos and movies from your iPhone or digital camera to Mobypicture.com. Mobypicture is an online service that lets you upload a photo or movie once, then distribute the media to a number of different social sites and blogging tools. At this time, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Blogger, Vimeo, WordPress, LiveJournal, Tumblr, Vimeo, Jaiku, Hyves, and BrightKite are all supported.As before, iPhoto2Twitter is available for €4.95 (approximately US$7.03) directly from the developer's website. Blue Crowbar's Aperture2Twitter has also been updated to add various social media and blogging sites through Mobypicture, and it's now available for €5.95 (about US$8.47).
