EE had been named the Facebook phone’s initial exclusive partner in the UK, with sales expected to start within a few months of the First arriving on US shelves. In the intervening period, however, Facebook released the Home launcher – which the First comes preloaded with – as a free download (for select devices) in the Google Play store.

It’s that software availability – along with middling first-impressions of Home – which is said to have doused expectations around HTC’s device. As we discovered in our review, the hardware isn’t bad, but users will need to be significantly – and pretty much solely – invested in Facebook for their social lives in order to get the best out of Home.

Unofficially, insiders have claimed that HTC was surprised by Facebook’s release decision for the Home launcher, the original plan having been to stagger the availability. That would have left the First with a period of market exclusivity, as the only way for Facebook fans to get their hands – officially, anyway – on the system.

We’re waiting to hear back from HTC and EE as to what’s happening in the UK, but the assumption is that the cost of launching a region-specific First variant with EE LTE support was deemed too much given the predicted demand. Whether HTC recycles the design (which was met more positively than the software) for a Home-free version remains to be seen.

The news is the latest in a spate of generally pessimistic chatter around HTC, which has seen several high-profile executives – including the CEO of HTC Asia – leave the company in recent weeks. One high point has been HTC One sales, which according to an unnamed executive at the company have now reached 5m units.

Update: An EE spokesperson gave us the following statement:

“Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customisation features to Facebook Home over the coming months. While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK, and so we will shortly be contacting those who registered their interest with us to let them know of this decision.

Rest assured, we remain committed to bringing our customers the latest mobile experiences, and we will continue to build on our strong relationship with Facebook so as to offer customers new opportunities in the future.”

VIA: Mobile News Online; Engadget

The issue concerns many companies’ use of two-step verification, something Dotcom alleges he created and holds the patent for, which was filed in 1997. He goes on to link to his patent, which details the kind of two-step verification process mostly any Internet user will be familiar with. The information comes from Dotcom himself, who said in one tweet: “Twitter introduces Two-Step-Authentication. Using my invention. But they won’t even verify my Twitter account?!”

This tweet was followed by another two tweets that hour, the next saying that Google, Twitter, Citibank, Facebook, and more all utilize two-step verification that infringes on his patent. The following tweet then offers the “big reveal,” saying that in excess of 1 billion two-step authentications take place online every week.

All was silent for an hour, then another tweet popped up, this one stating that Dotcom has been aware of the mass violations of his patent but “never sued them” due to a belief in the mutual sharing of ideas and knowledge that better society in some way. He then insinuates that a lawsuit against one – or all – companies could take place, however, over “what the U.S. did to me,” regarding the legal turmoil resulting from the Megaupload debacle.

This is rounded out by a tweet telling Facebook, Google, and Twitter that they can continue to use his patent for free. He implores them to help fund his legal defense, saying they “are all in the same DMCA boat.” He goes on to explain that his defense case is looking to have a price tag of at least $50 million, linking to a whitepaper on the matter. At the end of it all came a tweet asking if anyone wants to buy a world-wide license to use his patent.

SOURCE: The Verge

Kodera and Gordon are the latest in a number of staff leaving HTC. Global retail marketing manager Rebecca Rowland left the company in April after more than four and a half years, joining Microsoft as the company’s new visual merchandizing manager; similarly, Eric Lin, who had been product manager at HTC, jumped ship to Microsoft and the Skype team. Worldwide director of digital marketing John Starkweather is another recent departure, now responsible for social and digital marketing at AT&T.

A reshuffle in how HTC makes its strategy decisions could be part of the reason behind the shake-up, it’s suggested, with the company shifting product planning to the Taipei HQ and potentially leaving the Seattle office out of the loop. CEO Peter Chou – who has bet his job on the success of the One – is also said to be a source of frustration, deeply immersed in strategy and product design, and making over-arching decisions with little consultation with the executive team.

However, for whatever internal issues HTC might have, problems with partners also shoulder some share of the blame. According to The Verge’s sources, Facebook had previously intended to release its Home Android launcher at a later date, giving the the HTC-made First smartphone exclusivity in the market. That has led – in part – to reportedly underwhelming sales, with AT&T increasing its subsidy in an apparent attempt to stimulate some demand.

Nonetheless, HTC’s future is about more than just a few high-profile staff looking elsewhere for their next challenge. The company has apparently pushed through its HTC One production issues, with output said to double this month alone, and the unaudited sales figures from April indicated that demand for the flagship was certainly there. HTC has been pushing ahead with cost-cutting, too, axing little-used services like HTC Watch in less popular locations.

The overarching problem remains how HTC can compete with its key Android rival, Samsung, which has a vast marketing budget and a range of phones that appears to grow with new variants every week. Samsung’s tightly integrated supply chain and brand recognition – not to mention its hardware, software, and services ecosystem, which it can afford to highlight with schemes like the media-sharing App Challenge with its $800,000 bounty – make it the company to beat in Android, and HTC’s current strategy of pinpointing key areas with targeted One promotion is yet to demonstrate convincing results.

Update: HTC gave us the following statements, and confirmed that Scott Croyle, VP of Design, will be taking over Kouji Kodera’s duties:

“HTC can confirm that Jason Gordon has left the company. We appreciate his contributions in the past several years and wish him well on his future endeavors. HTC continues to invest in talent and recruitment as part of our broader human resources strategy to ensure the continued strength of our company’s organizational structure.”

“Kouji Kodera has left HTC to pursue other interests. We appreciate his contributions and wish him all the best. Scott Croyle will take over his duties.”

The advertisement, which you can watch in the video below, was replaced shortly after the allegation arose with a different video, which ended up being the ad shown on television and elsewhere. Eight Mile Style contacted the ad agency Wieden+Kennedy that made the advertisement in April, and received a response back via an attorney working with the company on April 29, according to the Detroit Free Press. In the response, the publisher was reportedly told it couldn’t “assert copyright” because Eminem’s song had been copied from Michael Jackson’s “Give In To Me,” released back in 1991.

Wieden+Kennedy is no stranger to using Eminem’s music in advertisements, having done so (with permission) in 2011 during a Chrysler commercial. Rather than denying the accusations that it ripped its beat from the rapper’s song, the company instead says that copyright infringement can’t be claimed because the song that was infringed was itself an infringement of another song.

Eight Mile Style’s Joel Martin said in response to the attorney’s statement: “I find it so arrogant, after they did so well with the Chrysler-Eminem campaign, that they would say Dr. Dre stole this from Michael Jackson.” That’s not the only claim the attorney made, however, saying that steps have been taken to make “Airplane” no longer available to the public, which is strange considering that it is still available on the social network’s YouTube account (we have it attached above, after all).

The advertisement agency is also claiming that the Facebook Home advertisement’s soundtrack “simply is not substantially similar” to the song cited in the lawsuit. Facebook isn’t the first company to offer an advertisement that used the artist’s music without permission: Audi and Apple have both done the same. Thus far, Facebook hasn’t made a statement regarding the allegations.

SOURCE: Detroit Free Press

Each of these apps will have their own unique twist in order to seamlessly work for Google Glass. For instance, Twitter will allow users to tweet to their account, and every tweet you send through Glass will be automatically tagged with the #throughglass hashtag. You can also receive notifications for mentions, messages, and replies.

As for the Facebook app, it too will feature so Glass-centric abilities, including the ability to take and upload a photo using Glass straight to your Timeline, and even add a description to the photo using Glass’s voice dictation feature. Tumblr will also let you do the same thing, by posting a photo to your blog right through Glass.

Evernote’s Glass app focuses on two main actions that you can perform. You’ll be able to take a photo or video and send it to your Evernote account from Google Glass. You’ll also be able to choose specific notes from your Evernote account and send them directly to Glass, so that you can bring it up on the HUD when needed. A great example of this is a grocery shopping list — no having to fish your phone out of your pocket to see what the grab next off the shelves.

CNN’s app is a little self-explanatory, but it goes a little further than just being able to swipe through headlines. You’ll be able to pick the types of alerts you want, such as sports scores or breaking news at certain times. You can also have articles be read aloud to you, as well as the ability to watch video.

Of course, it’ll be a while before Google Glass will be in the hands of the mainstream public, but it’s nice to know that Google is already building up a repertoire of apps that people will be able to take advantage of right away.

VIA: The New York Times

The app was created by the New Zealand Amnesty International, and takes place outside of Facebook on its own website. After a brief introduction detailing the freedoms many of us enjoy and the lack of said freedoms in many places across this world, the app then requests permission to access your Facebook. After granting it, your social account will be analyzed, with your friends being “interrogated” and the things you’ve said in statuses, have liked, participated in, and listed potentially being used against you.

Once the “investigation” is over, a list of your crimes begin to scroll across the screen, followed by a list of your punishment and the various countries where you would be guilty. This is done alongside eye-catching graphics and a slowly scrolling animation. At the end of it all, you’re presented with a map of your sentencing, which displays in graph form the different types of punishments you would have received and for which statuses.

For example, I was personally found guilty – based on my Facebook information – of 4 crimes totaling 85 convictions in 67 different countries. For my crimes, my punishment graph shows 44 beatings, 24 instances of imprisonment, one lashing, a couple dozen spats of torture, and being killed nine times over again by extremists.

The purpose of the app is to draw attention to human rights issues across the world and bring attention to the lack of freedom in many locations (let’s hope you didn’t pop up with a violation or two in your own country). It has the added effect of bringing the dose of perspective we all need at times about the things we take for granted, and perhaps a small reminder to be careful what we post for the world the see.

Note: The app fails partway through when using Google Chrome, but is tested as working with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

SOURCE: Trial by Timeline

I’ve known more than a few people that were really on the fence when it came to keeping their Facebook account or deleting it. You probably know a few people like this, they are the sort who have an account but never post anything and only rarely check to see what’s going on. Over the weekend, a new app for Facebook turned up called Social Roulette.

The intention of this app was to take control out of the hands of the user when it came to deleting the account. The game was a spin on the deadly game of Russian Roulette. Rather than risking your life, The simply risked your Facebook account. The design of the app was that one in six people who used it would have their complete Facebook profile deleted.

According to the developers of the app, we can completely remove all your posts, friends, apps, likes, photos, and games before completely deactivating it [your account].” If this sounds like an interesting app, Facebook has blocked the application and it no longer functions. While this sort of app is said to not violate Facebook’s terms and conditions, it obviously isn’t something that Facebook would want out there.

The last thing Facebook wants is for users to delete their account. Facebook is working incredibly hard to figure out a way to generate money from the millions and millions of users the social network has. Honestly, the developers of the application had to know Facebook would eventually block them, even the logo for the app used Facebook’s logo, which the social network doesn’t take kindly to. The developers of the app said Facebook blocked their API key and restricted their ability to create Facebook applications. The developer say that the Facebook automated system flagged their app for “creating a negative user experience.”

SOURCE: TechCrunch

So far, Facebook uses 16 of 50 new emoticons that were created of a character they call Finch, with the potential to roll out more of them in the future being possible. The character’s creation was spurred by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, a book published by Charles Darwin in the late 1800s, as well as research into user issues. Said Bejar, “This all began we were looking at the kind of issues people were reporting to Facebook. The reports had to do with things Facebook didn’t need to act on, but things people should address – what should happen when you say something that’s upsetting to me or put up a photo I didn’t like?”

The idea is that text alone presents issues when communicating due to its inherent lack of any sort of emotional context. Words alone can be ambiguous, and so users naturally began creating text-based emoticons to express the intention behind the words, such as the ever-popular :) smiley face. While text-based emoticons are better than nothing, they still lack the kind of emotional expression individuals are presented with when holding an in-person conversation, hence the eventual creation of image-based emoticons.

Keltner wasn’t satisfied with your average everyday emoticon, however, stating that he personally felt they were still lacking compared to what they could be. Because of this, Darwin’s work was partly used in the project to create richer, more expressive emoticons that tap into what the person behind the screen is feeling and helping the individual on the other side of the screen understand it better. One example given was sympathy: “It’s an under-appreciated emotion in Western culture. We now know what it looks like and sounds like because of science. They created this dynamic emoticon that when you see it, it’s really powerful.”

Because of this, the Finch emoticons are currently the most scientific set of stickers on Facebook, according to Bejar. He also hinted that perhaps one day audio will be added to the dynamic little character.

SOURCE: Popsci

IMAGE: Matt Jones

According to a “trusted source” speaking with BGR, the HTC First has already been scheduled for an “end of life” date. This means that the device will no longer be sold in stores, its support date will be shorter than expected, and the carrier will no longer be advertising for it (of course).

This news comes soon after the device started its pricing at $199 several weeks ago and just last week started a sale for less than a dollar. This pricing indicates that either Facebook, HTC, and AT&T decided they’d sell as many phones as possible to get the word out about how great it was, or they simply haven’t had as many sales as they’d liked – so few that they’re getting rid of what they’ve got before they axe the program.

If such a tip were true, this would be a bad sign for Facebook. That’s needless to say, but it should be said nonetheless. With suggestions out in the wild this week that the crew creating Facebook Home were actually a bunch of landlubbers – or iPhone users working on Android software, that is – it should come as no surprise that pitting the HTC First up against the iPhone would have had little chance at success.

“Factor in things like the complete lack of support for widgets and the inability to tailor who gets included in Cover Feed, and Facebook Home stumbles out of the gate. As a result, it’s difficult to recommend it to anybody other than those solely committed to Facebook (and even those most fervent users of the site were mixed when we showed them Facebook Home and explained what it offered), and if you’re also a Twitter user, or a Google+ user, or rely on other messaging apps like WhatsApp, LINE, or others, for every advantage Facebook Home provides, there’s a compromise to be made elsewhere.” – Vincent Nguyen, Facebook Home Review

Of course because of this perfect storm scenario, SlashGear encourages you to take it all with a spoon full of salt – and make sure you wait until AT&T and Facebook release more official numbers to their investors before you break out the torches and tinfoil hats!

The information comes from the folks at AllThingsD, which received a statement from Elon Musk stating: “I agreed to support Fwd.us because there is a genuine need to reform immigration. However, this should not be done at the expense of other important causes. I have spent a lot of time fighting far larger lobbying organizations in D.C. and believe that the right way to win on a cause is to argue the merits of that cause. This statement may surprise some people, but my experience is that most (not all) politicians and their staffs want to do the right thing and eventually do.”

As it turns out, the political action committee is focused on more than just immigration reform and seeing Congress “focus on policies that maximize the potential of our country’s workforce to contribute to the knowledge economy,” if its actions are of any merit. The group has come under fire for backing conservative politicians’ political commercials that focus on things like endorsing the Alaska pipeline and fighting against the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform efforts.

Not everyone believes such funding is against the purpose of the group, however.

One FWD.Us supported, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, told the New York Times earlier this month in a statement: “Our advertising decisions are being made by a very smart team of political operatives who know that passing major reform will require some different and innovative tactics. I’m proud to support Fwd.Us as they work to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Regardless of whether the purpose of the group truly is immigration reform or whether it has multiple areas of interest, it is not hard to see why Musk would abandon it. Tesla Motors, for which he is the CEO, is a major player in the electric vehicles industry, as well as other environment and green-oriented areas. Financially backing a group that, in part, spends his contributions on supporting politicians seeking to drill oil in Alaska would be damaging on the personal level and contrary to many of his efforts. As for David Sacks, the information is purely the by-product of sources, with no statement or official word being given either way.

SOURCE: AllThingsD

After you log in with your Microsoft account and connect your Facebook account to Bing, you will discover that you can view comments on Facebook posts in the sidebar inside of the search engine. From there, you can comment and “like” posts without having to visit the Facebook homepage. Whenever you search for something, Bing will automatically bring up any relevant Facebook posts from friends, whether or not they’re recent.

The social sidebar that’s included in Bing has been a feature for a while now, allowing users to connect their Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, or Klout accounts to receive relevant posts from friends on social networks regarding search queries that you make to Bing. Google has a similar sidebar, known as Knowledge Graph, that brings up any third-party relevant info during a search.

This is just another example of the close relationship between Microsoft and Facebook. The social network’s new Graph Search tool, for example, includes results from Bing search on top of Facebook’s own results, so the relationship and integration between the two services goes both ways.

VIA: PC World

SOURCE: Microsoft Bing Blog

Imagine for a second that you’re out shopping, perhaps for a major holiday or to facilitate the demise of your latest paycheck. Perhaps, in this scenario, you’ve a tech item or two in mind, a camera maybe, and so you spend the day driving from one electronics store to the next in a spree of window shopping.

If you’re like a lot of Facebook users, you’ll probably pull out your smartphone at least a couple times to check up on the digital half of your social world. Imagine, in this scenario, that you notice something interesting – the sponsored ads are specific to your gadget-hunting activities of the day. They’re pointing you to nearby electronics stores and deals for items you might find at them.

Such could become the reality for many mobile users if Facebook acquires Waze.

Ads are only a small part of the larger picture, however, with the access to such data presenting opportunities for improved local searches, something Facebook has been working towards for a while now. Likewise, data from your Facebook could be used to provide recommendations when using the navigational elements, such as notifications of nearby deals around lunch time for restaurants you’ve liked on the social network.

As analyst Michael Boland told AdWeek: “It fits the paradigm of the real-time status, which is the lifeblood of the News Feed. [With a Waze acquisition], you add an additional dimension to not just what you’re doing or thinking but where you are and where you’re going.”

So the question is, then: is this good or bad? The answer to that will largely depend on who you’re talking to, and many will have an initial knee-jerk reaction that is negative to the idea of Facebook knowing even more than it already knows about you. When looked at in the grander scheme of our increasingly digital lives, however, it has some nice possibilities.

These are services many of us already use, albeit independent of each other. By merging them together, our habits, locations, friends, likes and more all become centralized in a single location, with the data working among a variety of services to tailor our digital lives as closely as possible to our real-world lives. Searches become more precise. Ads become eerily relevant. The information we need starts appearing just when we need it, a la Google Now.

Rather than having information thrown at us by advertisers who hope something will stick, the information will be more of the curated sort: carefully sorted and tailored and presented at the times we’re most likely to want it, helping us save money when we’re ready to spend it, find places when we’re ready to shop – all of it based on our own likes, preferences, habits, schedules, and routes.

Knowing that, perhaps the real question is: what happens when our physical and digital worlds become part of each other? Only time will tell, but the prospect is exciting.

Download the latest version of Facebook from the Google Play store, and you can now set Facebook Home as the default launcher on the HTC One, just as you could on previous devices. On the Galaxy S 4, however, there’s an error message thrown up first – telling you that “Your device is not supported yet” and that users “may not get the best experience” if they use Home.

However, tap the “Use Home Anyway” button and the launcher springs up as usual. The same option, warning non-ideal performance but still allowing for us, has also been tested on the Sony Xperia ZL.

Expanding its userbase for Home across more devices is just what Facebook is hoping to see, and so offering a potentially less-than-perfect experience but still getting Home switched on is probably better for the social network than waiting until everybody can get the exact same experience. It’s too early to say just what the potential glitches might be on the Galaxy S 4.

Meanwhile, Facebook has also acknowledged that there is an unofficial APK of Facebook Home which some users are circulating, claiming to be aware of around 10,000 installs. The company is going to make no move to block that, it seems.

Among the other changes in the recent Facebook app update is a new, persistent bar in the notification area, which Facebook calls the “dash bar.” More on Facebook Home in our review.

[via Android Central]

Along with the download statistics, Facebook is also rolling out a minor update for Facebook Home as a part of the company’s efforts to release monthly updates for the app launcher. Today’s update isn’t anything special, however — merely just a handful of bug fixes and general performance improvements.

However, Facebook will be issuing more updates over the next few months that will add to the user experience, including the addition of a dock and what’s called a dash bar, which will be similar to an IM buddy list that will be used for Chat Heads. As for more supported devices for Facebook Home in the future, the company says that they’re working on it, but as it stands, only four devices officially support Facebook Home.

However, the company is aware that an unofficial APK of Facebook Home is roaming around on the internet, and they confirmed that over 10,000 users have installed the APK onto their phones, but it seems like the social network is okay with that, as they don’t seem to be doing anything to block or get rid of the hacked APK.

As for how Facebook Home changes the way people use Facebook, the company says that users are logging onto Facebook 25% more often than before, thanks to the quick and easy access that Home provides on enabled devices. Facebook also noticed also an increase in the number of daily comments and Likes someone leaves on their news feed, which is up by 25% as well. Furthermore, Chat Heads has increased use of Facebook messaging by 10%. Check out our review of Facebook Home to learn more about the new platform.

[via TechCrunch]

According to TechCrunch, the current hold up to closing the deal is where Waze will subsequently be based. Currently, the firm is predominantly located in Israel, though there have apparently been suggestions that it could move to the US, as per previous Facebook acquisitions of Israeli companies.

Waze was the subject of Apple acquisition rumors earlier this year, though if the reported Facebook timescales are true, that speculation was flourishing while Zuckerberg & Co. were already at the negotiating table. No Apple buy-out eventually occurred, though Waze functionality did end up baked into Apple Maps, the Cupertino firm’s homegrown alternative to Google Maps.

Neither Facebook nor Waze will comment on the deal rumors, though the two would make for a reasonable pairing. Waze offers turn-by-turn navigation on smartphones, using crowdsourced traffic and hold-up information to guide users around blocks and delays. Meanwhile, maps are updated by the community, and users share information like gas prices.

Waze already integrates with Facebook to help people find nearby friends, and given Facebook’s recent push – including Facebook Home – into making the most of its growing mobile audience, cementing that by baking Waze into its platform seems a realistic strategy. The social mapping service currently has more than 47m active users, it claims, more than doubling its userbase in less than a year.

Be aware that this isn’t a permanent price drop, but basically just a limited-time sale that will most likely only last a few days or possibly a couple of weeks. Frankly, we’re surprised to see such a new and popular phone be put on the price-chopping block so soon, but it hints to the possibility that AT&T isn’t selling them like hotcakes, and the price drop could be a strategy to get more of these devices out the door.

The phone is your typical mid-range device that comes packing with the latest chipset. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor leads the show, clocked at 1.4MHz, with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The 5MP camera on the back certainly works, but we wouldn’t use as our dedicated mobile snapper by any means.

However, the First does sports 4G LTE and has a smaller 4.3-inch display that has a 720p resolution. Some users may not like the smaller screen compared to the larger displays of today’s phones (and could be one of the reasons behind potential poor sales), but it’s certainly nice to see a smaller device make its way into the limelight for those who want a more compact phone.

The first of the adverts inserted into the news stream will automatically begin playback without the user having to click the play button, it’s said. However, if they choose to click to turn on audio, the clip will restart from the beginning.

Facebook will supposedly feature trial commercials from members of its advisory client council board, which also includes Unilver, Nestlé, and Diago. The social site established the group in mid-2011, with around twelve sitting members with which it experiments with potential monetization strategies.

In addition to defaulting to a volume-free experience, Facebook will also test the waters with a limited portfolio of ads. At least initially, the site will only show commercial video content from one advertiser in any one day; it will be charging brands “low $20s” per thousand views, whether or not audio was started, the insiders claim.

Although users may well be turned off by the new advertising content, the potential for strong returns may well prove too great for Facebook to resist. The company could see a $1.5m uptick in revenues each day when the system is rolled out, based on initial inventory, it’s said, on top of the existing income from standard image-based adverts.

[via The Inquirer]

Greenspan has long claimed that Zuckerberg stole many of his ideas during their days at Harvard, using them to create what is now Facebook. He later went after the Facebook trademark, eventually leading to a settlement of which its terms are not known. And this, not surprisingly, is just a small list of the man’s lawsuits, which have even included the state of California. Despite the years of badgering, Greenspan still isn’t finished, and has once again targeted the social network in addition to companies referred to as Money Services Businesses.

Among these other companies are Airbnb, Y Combinator, Dwolla, Square, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, A-Grade, Sequoia Capital, DST Global, and more. In addition, several individuals were also named in the suit, including Reddit’s CEO Yishan Wong and PayPal’s Max Levchin. In essence, just about every company you can think of dealing in categories akin to digital payments located in Silicon Valley.

The lawsuit alleges that the aforementioned companies and individuals have violated California’s Bank Secrecy and Money Transmission acts, as well as “various other statutes.” It goes on to accuse in long verbose mode the companies of knowingly working under the radar instead of complying with the acts, and says that their investors are guilty by association. Greenspan declined commenting on the matter.

[via The Next Web]

Given the nature of Google Glass and the pervasive reality of Facebook in our daily lives, a Facebook app is a much-needed (if not much-wanted) addition to the device. Those who shelled out $1500 for an Explorer pair of the frames didn’t have to wait too long, with this third-party offering filling the gap until Facebook rolls out its own official app. You can get Glass to Facebook here.

Setup is very easy, with step-by-step instructions being provided. Users simply need to log-in to their Facebook account from the Glass to Facebook page, then enable under Sharing Contacts via MyGlass. From there, the Glass owner then takes a photograph with their device and shares that image with Glass to Facebook, which automatically shuttles it off to the attached Facebook account.

Much in the same way images taken and uploaded from a smartphone are added to a Mobile album, images taken and sent to Facebook with Glass are added to their own album called Glass to Facebook, with default text that says the device was used to post the image. Other than that, the photos show up the same way any other image shows up on Facebook through other uploading means.

[via Tech Crunch]

At the moment it seems (according to PC Mag) that Branded3 has been contacted by Path and that his social life has been repaired, so to speak. But the resulting clash between Path and Facebook is still in a bit of a battle heat. Facebook’s current dealing with the situation includes blocking Path from using its full contact search abilities – this having never been true for Path up until this point.

At the moment it appears that Facebook is either limited or completely blocked from Path depending on the build you’ve got on your device. If you’d like to retain access to Facebook on Path, you may want to stick with the version you’ve got. We’re currently awaiting word from Path on the subject to confirm their side of the story while this situation remains in flux.

Dave Morin, CEO of Path also spoke with AllThingsD this week about the app ecosystem.

“Invites on Path are never sent without a user’s consent — any allegations to the contrary are false. … We certainly hope that Facebook allows users to connect with their friends on Path and with any other partner applications in the future.” – Morin for Path

If you’ve used Path in the past with Facebook onboard, please feel free to send in your comments and/or suggestions on how the two might live in harmony from this point on. As Facebook is not in the business of wanting to be associated with Spam in any way at all, it’s not like the big blue social network to bend over easily when it comes to negative press such as this. Path may be in for a big cut-off for the time being.

Earlier this week, Path was in boiling water after many users complained that the app was spamming text messages to all of their friends. The text messages were sent around 6:00A.M. last week, disrupting a lot of people’s sleep. After a series of complaints, Facebook decided that it’s in everyone’s best interest if the service no longer had access to their friend’s personal information.

Unfortunately for Path, losing access to Facebook’s social graph will be detrimental to its growing user base. It was just last week when Path announced that over 10 million users have registered for its service. It may have trouble reaching its next milestone if it doesn’t find another way to entice users fast (without the need of spam of course). It can still let people invite others through their Gmail accounts, contact books, and Twitter accounts, but even then, it still may not generate nearly as many new additions as when it was able to let users “Find Friends” on Facebook.

Path isn’t the only service to be banned from Twitter. Facebook has also blocked MessageMe’s access to its social graph, as well as Voxers. It’s speculated that Facebook blocked MessageMe because it poses a threat to Facebook’s own Messenger service, however Facebook stated that it was because the service copied Messenger’s core functionalities. Facebook’s social graph is important in helping these apps obtain a huge user base, so being forbidden access to it can spell danger for their futures.

[via TechCrunch]

Despite the outcry of many users and non-profit groups, Facebook had continued to allow the videos of decapitation on its network, saying that they didn’t violate the policy because they weren’t celebrating the act. According to the BBC, referring to one video of a decapitation, Facebook responded in a statement: “While this video is shocking, our approach is designed to preserve people’s rights to describe, depict and comment on the world in which we live.”

While Facebook’s official policy has allowed for them, at least one member of the social network’s Safety Advisory Board had disagreed with allowing decapitation videos to remain, and was vocal about it with the BBC. Shortly after statements he made was published, Facebook backtracked on its stance and said that it will remove all decapitation videos from the network that are reported, and that it will reevalute its policy on them.

Some charities have decried the social network’s lax policy on them, saying that graphic displays of such violence cause psychological harm and must be banned. In recent times, a video has been circulated of two Mexican cartel members being decapitated, and another of a woman being decapitated by a man wearing a mask.

[via BBC]

When you upload a photo to Instagram, you’re now able to tag the people that are in the photo, and Instagram says its as easy as adding hashtags. Plus, only you can add people to your photos, which we’re guessing means that other people won’t even be able to request permission to add themselves in a photo like Facebook does.

However, you can only tag people that also have an Instagram account, so it’s definitely a bit limited on who you can tag, especially since you can’t tag Facebook friends, but the service gives you the ability to tag previously-uploaded images to give your collection a bit of uniformity at least.

As for the “Photos of You” section, this is where you can view all photos on Instagram that you’re tagged in, and it appears as a dedicated section on your Instagram profile. For privacy’s sake, Instagram allows you to approve each photo you’re tagged in so that you have control over what shows up in that section. The update is available now on both iOS and Android.

[via Android Community]

Of course, it’s rare when you get locked out of your account and need to resort to your friends to help you back in, but it’s certainly not unheard of, so it seems Facebook is wanting to cover there bases as far as account security is concerned. However, it’s up to you to pick friends that you trust.

As a baseline to go off of, Facebook suggests choosing friends that you would trust with your house key, so most likely your best friend since elementary school, siblings, or even your parents. Facebook also suggest choosing people that you can easily reach outside of Facebook, like their phone number or mailing address.

We haven’t seen the feature roll into our accounts yet, but it should be just a matter of time before we get access to the new feature. The feature will be located in Security Settings, where you’ll then simply enter in the friends that you trust. Facebook says this method is a lot easier than filling out forms to prove your identity or trying to remember log-in codes.

Over 100 different variations of Facebook.com were registered, and each of them were hit with a lawsuit from the social network giant. Although it is common practice, domain squatting is in violation of 1999′s U.S. Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal for someone to piggyback off a successful trademark, which domains like Dacebook.com were doing.

Facebook was awarded $3 million in damages by the District Court for Northern California, a figure that will probably never be paid and that the social network, in all likelihood, won’t go after. Nonetheless, it is a victory for Facebook, and a quick look shows that many of the domains have already either pulled their content or such completely down.

The folks over at TechCrunch got a statement from the social network’s Associate General Counsel Craig Clark: “We are pleased with the court’s recommendation. We will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to enforce against those who attempt to take advantage of the people who use our service.” Facebook is not the only big-name company that has gone after domain squatters, with Google having taken the legal hammer to its myriad of trademark leeches, as well.

[via Business Week]

As for the social network’s user base, the latest figures show that mobile usage on Facebook is continuing to rise. The company boasts that 751 million users are accessing the social networking site via mobile devices, while only 665 daily users are visiting through the desktop. This is the second quarter in a row where mobile users have trumped desktop users.

As for advertising, Facebook says that $375 million of its advertising revenue came from mobile alone, while 30% of the company’s revenue this quarter came from advertising, proving that putting ads on their service is one of the most lucrative things that they’re doing, which means that users won’t see a slow down in the number of ads they see anytime soon.

As for the number of monthly active users on Facebook, the company has updated that number to 1.11 billion users, which is a 23% increase from the same time last year. As for Facebook’s 665 million daily active users, that’s up from 26% from the same quarter last year. It’s been interesting to see Facebook’s usage grow and grow, but we have to be approaching a point when they’ll hit a plateau. When will that be, exactly?

Microsoft says this new beta program is targeted to those who like to mess around with experimental software, so folks that hate when apps crash or don’t perform smoothly most likely don’t need to apply. However, anyone can join in, as it’s not just limited to developers, and Microsoft is encouraging anyone to try it out.

The beta app for Facebook underwent major redesign, and it comes a lot of new features, including support for high-resolution photos, improved post sharing, and Facebook’s Timeline. If you spot a bug or just want to give your overall feedback about the app, you can head to Settings > About in the app to report information.

If you didn’t know Microsoft actually develops the Facebook app for Windows Phone, and it’s the same way with BlackBerry, so essentially, Facebook only actively develops mobile apps for iOS and Android. However, with the social network’s permission, Microsoft can develop their own Facebook app for Windows Phone users.

The recent data comes from analytics firm SocialBakers, which also says that the UK saw a drop of 1.4 million Facebook users last month. Between the US and UK, the average percentage drop within the last month was 4.25%, which isn’t bad at all, but that obviously doesn’t make up a majority of Facebook users.

Furthermore, however, the last six months have seen a total drop of nine million users in the US and two million in the UK. Other countries are reporting similar results as well, including Canada, Spain, France, Germany, and Japan. The average time spent on Facebook has also fallen to six minutes since December.

However, usage continues to grow. Developing countries are getting in on Facebook, with Facebook usage in Brazil rising by 6%, up to a monthly total of 70 million users. India also has seen growth of 4%, up to 64 million monthly users. Of course, though, we still can’t help but feel that this will affect advertising for the social network, but it may not be a huge hit for them at all.

[via The Guardian]

Inside the cup is a chip of some sort, likely of the NFC variety. The chip will be linked to the cupholders Facebook profile somehow and when they think they’re glass together with someone else’s a bar or party, it would make them instant Facebook friends.

The Buddy Cup was created by Agencia Africa in partnership with a digital advertising studio in Brazil called Bolha. The cup can be used to help improve the social aspects of drinking for consumers attending Budweiser sponsored parties, concerts, and festivals. There might be a downside to this sort of product though.

I can see this Buddy Cup be particularly hazardous for attractive women. I can only imagine the never-ending stream of drunk guys begging to toast the pretty ladies at a party. I can also see some sneaky drinkers tapping glasses with a pretty girl without her knowing it. A cup like this likely means lots of weird creepers showing up on your Facebook account.

[via TheDrum]

Parse developer user base sits at around 60,000 at the moment, and heads at both Facebook and Parse has been adamant thus far about making sure they know the full extent of Facebook’s influence in the near future. A statement has been released making it relatively clear that Facebook has no intent on changing the way that Parse-developed app data is used. Parse competitors are using this situation as an opportunity to drain the company of disloyal developers.

One example of a competing service looking to capitalize on the Facebook acquisition of Parse is StackMob. This company has created a set of import tools made to make the move between Parse and themselves as simple as possible, and Parse developers have suggested they’ve been contacted by other services since the announcement as well.

“Q: Will my Parse app be affected in any way? No.
Q: Will Parse apps have to use Facebook functionality? No.
Q: Will Parse honor my contract? Yes, of course.” – Ilya Sukhar, Parse CEO

In the acquisition of Parse, Facebook has claimed it will bring several next-generation tools to the fold, making Parse’s draw more powerful under the rule of the social network. Advertisement-selling features will be added for developers to make use of, and new Facebook login tools will be made much easier to work with, of course. Parse developers will also be able to work with Facebook’s Open Graph for mobile as well.

[via TechCrunch]

Last year, Zuckerberg made about half a million dollars, and with his bonus, he made about 3/4 of a million dollars. But Zuckerberg isn’t working pretty much for free for no reason. He has an incentive to do so. He currently holds 60 million stock options that are currently worth 6 cents a piece. By only being paid a buck, he has more incentive to work and build up Facebook’s financial value.

Many other CEOs have reduced their salaries to a single dollar before. While they only get a dollar in the form of a salary, they are rewarded in other ways, including bonuses and stock options. Steve Jobs reduced his salary to a dollar back when he rejoined Apple in 1998, but he received stock grants in return (which he stopped taking after 2003). Google’s Larry page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt all reduced their salaries to $1 back in 2005.

Other notable figures include Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Capital One’s Richard Fairbank, Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca, Zynga’s Mark Pincus, and HP’s Meg Whitman. Most of these CEOs obtain bonuses or stock options (which could be exempt from a portion of payroll taxes). By being paid through stock options, its believed that these CEOs would increase their work performance, because how much they get paid is equal to how well their companies do.

[via Business Insider]

The change joins existing prohibitions on apps that secretly download other software from outside of the Play store, but has the impact of specifically blocking Facebook’s tests with unofficial updates. The social site had been trialling a system whereby some Facebook Home users would be prompted to install a beta version for limited testing, with that beta delivered to the device directly rather than via Play.

Users would have to agree to the update, which was not downloaded automatically, and it was apparently only loaded to a device over a WiFi connection, not cellular data. Although not contrary to Google’s rules at the time, the idea of developers bypassing the market unsurprisingly didn’t go down well with the search company.

“An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism” Google Play Developer Content Policy

Facebook is yet to comment on the changes, which are part of Google’s “Dangerous Products” section of the policy. There’s more on Facebook Home in our full review.

Update: Google tells us that the following explanation was added to the Android Developers Console with regards to the policy update:

“Google Play Program Policies have been updated. See “Content Policies” section, which clarifies that “An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play’s update mechanism.” Google Play is a trusted source for Android application downloads, and we are committed to providing a secure and consistent experience”

[via The Verge]

The big advantage to developers here will be the ability to utilize native objects with certain backend services, such as storage and notifications, reducing the overall complexity and management requirements of the project. Facebook draws on its past experience with Parse, and says that the latter company’s services and products will still be available after the acquisition goes through.

Parse had its own things to say about the pending acquisition, talking about its origins and where it has gone since then. It boasts a diverse customer base, as well as providing services to “some of the world’s best brands.” The company says that Facebook’s soon-to-be acquisition is the next step in its evolution, and that it will take Parse to a new level.

Neither Parse nor Facebook provided any particulars about the deal struck betwixt them, although Parse did say that it expects everything to be wrapped up shortly. And lest customers worry, the company has jumped on the three biggest questions it anticipates receiving: No, Parse apps will be not affected, they won’t have to use Facebook functionality, and contracts will continue to be honored.

[via Facebook]

The updated app also includes the ability to save blog posts for later using read-it-later services like Instapaper and Pocket. Users can also email blog posts to friends and family using Tumblr’s all-new template. There’s also some new navigation tweaks, like swiping up or down to close photos, as well as added support for animated GIFs on the dashboard.

Overall, it’s not a huge update, but avid Tumblr users who take advantage of the app while on the go will appreciate some of the new features, especially if they’re all about sharing blog posts with friends. However, users will begin to be bombarded with mobile ads, so be prepared to see sponsored content show up in your feed.

The Tumblr apps for Android and Windows Phone 8 already allow for easy sharing of blog posts, but iOS users are now honored with the feature. Tumblr released a dedicated app for Windows Phone 8 yesterday, bringing lock screen and live tile support along with it, giving Tumblr users on Microsoft’s mobile platform a unique experience unlike iOS or Android.

The new redesign also conveniently places action buttons, like the “like”, check-in, and call button all at the top of the Facebook Mobile page for easy access. Before, Facebook’s business pages were a jumbled mess. A business’s address, and description were all displayed in a small, easy-to-miss font, and information was all over the place. Users would have to dig around to find important business information, like the business’s hours.

However, one thing that Facebook’s new design doesn’t have over Yelp is its huge database of reviews. Sure, it still has the star system showing how users have rated the business, but the only reviews you will see of the business are the ones from your friends. It will take Facebook a little while to implement public comments into its system. Nonetheless, this new layout will make Facebook Pages more appealing to users, and may even be enough to steer some users away from Yelp.

The new changes isn’t just beneficial for users. Page owners also get some new perks. Page admins can pin posts that they believe are important, including posts with coupons, specials, announcements and more. Admins are also able to easily switch back and forth from public and admin view to see how changes will look and to make changes if need be. So far, the new design is only available for iOS users and through a mobile web browser, however Android users will receive the update in the near future.

The new data center will feature the same Open Compute Project server designs and outdoor-air cooling system that the other Facebook data centers boast, but the new center will also include overall improvements to the building’s design and networking architecture than the other data facilities. Facebook claims that the new Iowa facility “will be among the most advanced and energy efficient facilities of its kind.”

As far as why Facebook chose Iowa to plop down a new data center in, the social networking giant said that the state is full of wind-generated power, and has “a great talent pool that will help build and operate the facility.” Of course, there’s also plenty of flat and open land there, making it ideal for a large facility that relies on outdoor air for cooling

The company didn’t reveal any statistics on the new facility, but the Des Moines Register reports that the new data center will cost $1.5 billion to construct. There’s no official say as to how large this new data center will be, but the Des Moines Register says that the facility will be 1.4 million square feet. Facebook’s one billion users are uploading a lot of content to the social network, and it all has to go somewhere.

Facebook was said to have been scouting sites to launch its next data center. There was a location in Nebraska that Facebook was reportedly looking at, but apparently Facebook has decided to go in another direction. According to Data Center Knowledge, official’s approved the site plan for Facebook’s data center in Iowa back in June, and by November Facebook and state/local officials had a meeting to discuss the “fine details” of the data center in order to finalize the deal.

Many people had already speculated that Facebook was behind the data center in Altoona, mostly because the site plans looked very similar to Facebook’s site plans for its data centers in both Oregon and North Carolina. The entire building will be about 1.4 million square feet, with 3 separate data centers measuring 466,000 square-feet. It is said to be the “most technologically advanced data center in the world.”

Facebook is also said to be in talks with officials about tax credits for wind energy production, as well as a new payment rate on water. While there are various factors that point to Facebook as the company behind the data center, Facebook has yet to officially confirm it. But if it is, it looks like both Google and Microsoft’s data centers in Iowa will be getting a familiar neighbor pretty soon.

[via Des Moines Register]

In order to initiate a free voice call, all you have to do is choose the contact that you want to call. You have to initiate a text conversation first. Afterwards, you will see an “i” icon at the top right of the message box. Click on that and you will have access to 3 separate options, one that says “Free Call”. If you’re using Chat Heads, you can initiate a free voice call by tapping the 3 dots that appear next to your contact’s name.

Facebook Messenger really has become an all-in-one messaging service. Not only does Facebook Messenger allow you to instant message your Facebook friends, it also lets you to integrate your SMS texts into it, allowing you to consolidate your conversations. Alongside this new free calling feature, all Facebook really needs to add is a video-calling feature for Android devices and it will truly be an all-in-one service.

Facebook is trying its best to get more users to stray away from other popular messaging apps, like WhatsApp, and migrate over to its messaging platform. Just a few days ago, WhatsApp announced that it has over 200 million active users on its service, a number Facebook desperately wants. Messenger poses a good threat against WhatsApp now that it has all of these features tied into it. This new feature will also be helpful in making its Facebook Home launcher more appealing to users. If you haven’t tested out Facebook Home yet, you can check out our review of Facebook Home here to see what it’s all about.

The reason for the change is a matter of pride, according to the announcement, with a desire to show the efficiency of the data centers. In addition, by providing the information, Facebook says that the centers are demystified, and that such a move follows naturally in line with its sharing of the hardware and building designs. The public now gets a peek at what the data centers’ technicians see daily.

The public dashboards won’t change the annualized averages, which are accessible via the dashboards beneath the near-real-time information. Facebook first made PUE information for Prineville available the second quarter of 2011, eventually rolling out WUE at the same center in mid-2012. Those who follow the dashboards are advised that some “weird” numbers might pop up occasionally because the data centers are still under construction and the variables frequently shifting.

In addition, the dashboards are available for others to use, with Facebook saying that the front-end code will be made open source and available “in the coming weeks”. Those who take advantage of the code once it is made available are encouraged to make changes to it, improving what is already there and providing an overall better experience for everyone.

[via Open Compute]

If you’ll take a peek at our review of Facebook Home as it exists inside Android, you’ll find that the “appear anywhere” feature included in what Facebook calls “Chat Heads” might just be the most universally user-friendly feature of the bunch. While Facebook Home exists as a full home screen replacement app, Facebook Messenger allows you to see messages while you’re inside (or outside) any given app, even if it’s not Facebook.

Have a peek at Facebook’s Chat Heads push to iOS for your iPhone and you’ll find slightly less all-inclusive engagement. Unfortunately this iOS version will still not have the SMS integration available in the Android iteration. Speaking with The Verge, the creator of this particular hack, Adam Bell, confirmed that the process itself isn’t very power-hungry. Bell noted that only when you’re actually literally interacting with the head does it drain power in any notable way – good news!

You’ll be able to access the build that’s making this Chat Heads freedom possible through Adam Bell’s connection to GitHub over the next few days – can’t wait! Meanwhile have a peek in SlashGear’s jailbreak tag hub for more goodies for your hacked-up iPhone. Let us know what you’re into!