Facebook for iPad released! Sort of

Jul 282011
 

The iPad has come a long way from it’s origin, an oversized iPod touch. Even the naysayers, predicting that this tablet was Apple’s downfall have quietly submitted to Steve Job’s will, starting to review iPad related gadgets, such as portable speakers, cases, and so on. Even Mark Zuckerberg has been converted, if these screens above are true. His comments that the iPad wasn’t connected enough to justify a Facebook app seem to have been redacted, with Facebook for iPad looming around the corner.

From data extracted in the iPhone app, it seems that the groundwork has already been laid for a update to come shortly. The interface has changed drastically, from the stale, iPhone inspired interface, with the four underlying interfaces. The iPad app features a side bar, rather than the group of icons underneath. Accessing different parts of Facebook can be done with a touch of a button, or with a flick of one’s wrist. Flipping the iPad horizontally results in Facebook chat activating, and enabling you to communicate with them easily. The photo section has become 150% more stalkerish, with the photo interface resembling the iPad’s own photo viewer.

Facebook is also updating the iPhone app, with the latest incarnation bringing back the ‘send’ button, after unintelligent people probably posted some things they shouldn’t have… ‘accidentally’. Skype for the iPad app hasn’t been commented on yet, perhaps that will be yet another ace that Mike Zuckerberg holds in his sleeve. Most of the coding is done in HTML 5, a small nod towards Steve Jobs, a proponent of the whole ‘HTML 5′ thing.

At the moment, you can have Facebook for iPad now, all you need is a jailbroken iPad, and to find a guide on how to do it, obviously. To find a guide on how to use Facebook for iPad, there’s a guide here.

HTC Status Quick Review with Specs and Info

Jul 192011
 

Facebook Phone called HTC Status

Facebook, twice the juggernaut that Myspace once was, creator of fortunes, invader of privacy. The Social Networking website has continued to grow from its humble origins, a pissed off college kid’s method of taking revenge. Today, even smart phones have been outright designed for the ever addictive social networking site, with Android producer, HTC tapping into this lucrative market.

Platform Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread) + HTC Sense™
Display HVGA 2.6-inch touch screen
with 480 x 320 resolution
Network Quad-band GSM/GPRS/
EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900
Memory 512 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM
Processor MSM7227, 800 MHz
Battery Rechargeable lithium-ion battery, 1250 mAh
Camera 5 MP main camera with autofocus, VGA
front-facing camera

The HTC Status uses the Android 2.3 OS, Gingerbread. The relatively fast operating system is aided with excess proccessing power and memory to boot for a smartphone. A 2.6″ screen is a bit lacking however, with the smaller statuses and updates on sites such as Twitter and Facebook becoming near unreadable. On the plus side however, there are quite a few features which will advantage the typical Social Networking addict. Firstly, the QWERTY keyboard, while a slight curve in the device ensures that it can be held for longer periods, without causing hand or eyestrain.

While still being a solid phone, the limitations of the 2.6″ touchscreen really begin to show when playing touch dependent games, such as Fruit Slice, among others. This problem is exasperated with some applications being required to be used in portrait mode. Considering that the phone is permanently locked into a landscape orientation, it is likely that frustration will when trying to use certain applications that require a portrait orientation to be used. The phone features a tiny ‘F’ button, representing Facebook (obviously), and allows easy access to the application. Due to the convenient location of the button, generally users are more inclined to use this button, rather than actually tapping on the application, saving a few seconds here and there.

Two cameras, being front and back facing are slightly handy, when you need a new profile picture for example. However, unlike the iPhone 4, and not being an Apple product, the use of a front facing camera can’t be used to emulate Facetime yet. The last criticism is of the phone’s inability to play Facebook videos, something which hopefully should be rectified by Facebook themselves, or by HTC soon.

Being tiny, while featuring a maxi-keyboard favoring thumb-typers, and an ergonomic body that your artsy friends will appreciate, perhaps after the Facebook Video issue is fixed, the HTC Status might become a good secondary phone, or replacement for your aging iPhone.

 

iPhone 4 Facebook: Your Photo Could Not Be Uploaded At This Time

Feb 272011
 

I got an iPhone 4 just recently with Verizon. Facebook game me alert saying:

Your Photo Could Not Be Uploaded At This Time

Asking me if I want to Save it for later? Hell I tried few times and nothing worked until….

Well I had to reinstall the Facebook iPhone 4 application in order to get it to start sending pix. Personally I think it has something to do with the permissions but that’s what fixed it for me, hope it will fix it for you too.

Btw since we talk about Facebook and iPhone! Don’t forget to Like this Smile

Mark Zuckerberg’s Fan Page Hacked #hackercup2011

Jan 252011
 

Upsy! Looks like Mark Zuckerberg’s fan page was hacked just a while ago. Did not take long for Facebook team to take the whole page down but thanks to friends at techcrunch who took a snapshot of it.

hmf

It says:

Let the hacking begin. If facebook needs money, instead of going to the banks, why doesn’t Facebook let its users invest in Facebook in a social way? Why not transform Facebook into a ‘social business’ the way Nobel Price winner Muhammad Yunus described it? http://bit.ly/fs6rT3 What do you think? #hackercup2011

Facebook Might Share your Address and Mobile Phone Number With Other Apps

Jan 162011
 

Remember all the dilemma about the Facebook Privacy and stuff about half a year ago? Well it to quite after Facebook re-designed their code so you can straighten your privacy, but is your private information really private?

You have probably seen popup like the one in the picture below , when an application is requesting access to post stuff to your Facebook wall. Now you might see some extra text like:

“Current Address and Mobile Phone Number”

facebook app allow

That means that your address and mobile phone number will be shared with third party apps and some might not need that info but still can obtain if you click on “Allow” button.

So next time when you are about to hit Allow for some Facebook App consider reading the popup window bit more closely, and ask your self: Why does this app need my address and phone number?

Anyway, for more detailed info visit our friends at Naked Security.

So What is it: Fecebook Fqcebook Fzcebook Facebook or Fscebook

Jan 072011
 

Can you imagine how many people mistype Facebook in Google for: Fecebook Fqcebook Fzcebook Facebok or Fscebook if not here is your answer!

image

 

Reason I am writing this is because I noticed the other day that many people started visiting this article: Fecebook  Redesing… by typing FEcebook in Google and other search engines.

So I thought started wondering how many people mistype words like Facebok or Fzcebook etc..? As you can see 5 Million people worldwide type Fecebook  and 33.100 in the US alone. Facebok is even more popular with 11.100.000 worldwide monthly searches and 673.000 in the US alone.

WOW!

The good news is thateven if people make those typos in Google, they still will end up at facebook.com:

facebok - Google Search_1294432568886

RSS is Dead? Says Who?

Jan 042011
 

MG Siegler known as Paris Lemon on Twitter posted an article yesterday about RSS being dead, that article made lots of debate around the social media and blogosphere, but MG is known for writing such articles that’s why he is one of the top writers at TC.

Anyway, I left him a comment saying that RSS feeds can not be compared to Facebook and Twitter traffic and therefore RSS feeds are not dead.

Thing is that regular people that are not into technology  love to read two or three tech blogs and most likely don’t even know what RSS means or what the official Icon for RSS is, therefore they subscribe via

  • Email Newsletter
  • Facebook (Fan Page)
  • Twitter (follow accounts)

But then you have geeks like me who has over 300 tech blogs in RSS feeds (Google Reader) and they are all sub-categorized in folders  (Phone Blogs, Android Blogs, Windows Blogs, Apple Blogs …etc)

RSS feeds is never going to be dead unless Google shuts down Feedburner and even then, I could subscribe to blog.com/feed

To be honest, you can’t compare RSS feed to any social media website service because 140 or 350 characters for me at least is not enough to know exactly what am I about to click or read.

 Fred from AVC wrote also some good points which you can read here, he also put out some graphical information which you might like.

Anyway, what do you think? Is RSS dead? If so , why? (Leave your responses in the commenting section below)

Facebook Profile Maker Makes Your FB Profile Pretty

Dec 292010
 

Facebook profile maker I think it’s really cool Facebook application just because you can do so many things with it. Well this morning I tested it and I must say that it was very easy to use and only took me few minutes to make my Facebook Profile pretty.

Here is the outcome:

JoeHobot FB Profile

 

You can do this only with the new Facebook profile, which you can read more about it here.To make your Facebook profile pretty head over to Profile Maker it will take you probably under one second to setup your new FB profile.

Facebook launched Facebook Auto Tagging Feature

Dec 162010
 

Facebook today released new feature that will make your Facebook Tagging feature much easier. In their blog today Facebook announced face recognition tagging which basically will try to tag you or your friends in photos that were published.

This isn’t really something new , Facebook back in October launched pretty much similar feature that allowed you to tag person in group of photos instead of just one by one, this time Facebook tagging recognition software will try to recognize your face in photos that your friends posted and let’s hope that it will do good job. Some of my friends told me I look like James Dean so if somebody adds picture of James Dean am I going to get tagged? Weird huh?

facebook recognition tagging software picture

Currently this Facebook tagging recognition software is only distributed to 5% of the Facebook accounts but if all turns out to be good, many will get it by end of this year.

We’ll be debuting tag suggestions to users in the United States over the next few weeks. Look for tags suggestions when you upload groups of photos that feature the same friends, and see how they can help you share life’s occasions—large and small—every day.

Well if you are interested more about this feature I would suggest to head over to Facebook Blog and read more about it, and don’t forget to share this article on Facebook with the blue button above. (Thanks)

Facebook, Twitter Taking Up Your Time?

Dec 062010
 

Are you like the rest of the world right now?  Caught up in the fascination with Twitter and Facebook? You have tons of games to play or you get breaking news you can read before it even hits the reporters desk.  A new study from Travelodge shows that 72 percent of 6,000 people check their social networking before they hit the hay for the night.

Does this come as any surprise to you at all?  The study showed that British folk are all about their social networking as a way to end the day.  Unlike a good TV show or reading a book like you might have done 10 years ago.  The peak time for this activity seems to be falling around the 9:45pm mark.

Don’t worry there are plenty of other stats to go with the study as well.  According to the report, 18 percent say they have tweeted in bed, 20percent of adults checking Twitter for news about a favorite celeb and a whopping 65% check their text messages before going to sleep.  Do you think your social networking usage has taken over your life?

Let’s not even talk about social networking taking our time, 1 in 5 people in the survey claimed they have even stopped making love to check a new text message.  What is that all about?  Has social networking grown to be that big of a part of our lives?  Judging by these stats one would have to agree that it has.

Not too mention the fact that you are on these sites in the morning, while at work and right before bed, 27 percent said they have been awoken in the middle of the night by a new text message alert or email.  Now we are even losing sleep over social networking, this is getting very much out of hand.

source: GadgetsandGizmos.org

Social Media Game Giant Zynga Acquires NewToy

Dec 032010
 

It appears that Zynga is not just happy creating some of the most popular online social networking games in the last year, now they are taking it to the mobile arena.  The purchase of NewToy, will surely help them gain more growth in the mobile market.

NewToy is the maker of mobile games like We Rule, Words with Friends and Chess with Friends.  Reports say that Zynga is going to keep the studio open and rename it “The Zynga With Friends Studio”.  Zynga has stated that with “the mobile industry still in its infancy” they are very excited about the future.

NewToy was founded in 2008 and has been creating mobile games for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch since then.  The “Games With Friends” series is actually the most popular on the iOS platforms.  Details on the deal haven’t been released as of today.

Zynga is steamrolling it’s way to social network gaming domination of late.  The studio has started to post games on Yahoo, struck a deal with AMEX and the sequel to FarmVille, CityVille, has just launched on Facebook recently.

Over 200 million people play Zynga games each month and that is more than 20 times the amount of gamers that play Call of Duty: Black Ops, regularly.  The list of Zynga games gets bigger every month it seems, with titles like FarmVille, FrontierVille, FishVille, PetVille, CityVille, YoVille, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, Zynga Poker and Treasure Isle, just to name a few.

Skype for Facebook Coming Soon?

Nov 292010
 

Wouldn’t it be fun to video chat with your Facebook buddy instead of just send instant chat messages on Facebook. Skype as it looks like is soon coming to Facebook, a code change that recently was reported by Tel Ater indicated that Facebook already had Skype Video chat integrated but just not turned on.

Tel Alter image Screenshot of Skype Code in Facebook recovered with Firebug:

Facebook Skype

Thing is that the screenshot could be fake, but according to Mashable article written by Vadim Lavrusik yesterday Skype already reveled some great Facebook integration already. For an example, now you can import all your Facebook friend into Skype. Well for now we can just sit and wait until more news is reveled by Skype or Facebook. Who knows maybe George W. Bush today will reveal that news on live Facebook Stream?

Facebook Reveals A New Plan For User IDs Handling

Nov 252010
 

Facebook has announced an updated plan for the way of handling the user IDs transmission. It would not need the use of the encryption. After talking to the community, an engineer of Facebook, Mike Vernal, has written in one of his blog posts that they have updated the planned solution of using a different system which would provide a better security for the Facebook users whilst reducing the impact on the existing applications along with the elimination of the need for using the encryption libraries.

The proposed solution would be embedding a user ID in the body of HTTP POST. Thus, encrypted or unencrypted, it would not be showed in any of the header of the HTTP referrer.

When the browser is loading information, sometimes it sends HTTP header that recognizes the Uniform Resource Locator of the certain page containing the information. When the user of Facebook authorizes an application, apps named iframe-based canvas, which contains the user ID of the user, are written on the Platform of Facebook.

As per what Vernal wrote in his blog, the User ID is integrated with the purpose of enabling the application for building a modified experience for the Facebook user.

It was published in an article of the Wall Street Journal of the October issue that the apps of Facebook have been sharing the information of User ID with the networks of advertising and other companies of internet tracking. According to Facebook, it would not overlook such actions and would certainly begin encrypting the strictures it has been sending to the iframe-based apps.

Vernal also mentioned that the new proposed solution would not need the encryption and would only need nominal effort for the developers and the addresses from where they have been receiving the feedback till now. They do it by making a targeted form element at the Canvas URL of application.

FB.com Email Facebook Innovation – Mark ZuckerBerg Talks About

Nov 152010
 

Checkout the livestream of FB.com Facebook Innovations. I joined the livestream bit too late but looks like they are still talking about fb.com.

Watch live streaming video from facebookinnovations at livestream.com

Why or Why Not use Fb.com as email

Fb.com is short domain name, wow! even shorter than oclue.com, but unfortunately mwd is still not as popular as fb.com is. Anyway, if Faceboo Email  is coming out shortly, would you use it as your email address and replace it for your Gmail.com account ?

I am not much convinced that people will switch over to fb.com and use it on regular basis just because gmail and hotmail as well as yahoo took over the dominance of email. But who knows, maybe 10 years later we all will be using fb.com?

I personally don’t see the need why would i need to replace my current email provider, many people know my email, many people also hate when email get changed, I know I do..

 

 

 Older Entries