Facebook, has announced today, during a special event, the launch of Graph Search, the most interesting change of the popular service.
   Unlike a Web search engine that scans pages and provides results in the form of links, Graph Search is a semantic search engine within the giant Facebook's database.
   Based on the multitude of interconnections the Facebook internal search engine future will not provide links, it gives answers.
   Graph Search , currently in beta stage,  can be used for to perform searches which can be simple structures like "my friends who lived in X" or "my friends who visited Y" or complex searches such as "People called X wh are friends with Y and went to college  "or" the Z ethnic restaurants appreciated by my friends with the Z nationality".
   With a history not so favorable when it comes to protecting the personal information, the company wanted to clarify that these searches will take into account the user settings, the results are limited to the type of content made public.

by byetech

   Facebook app for Android devices has been updated to the 2.0 version, winning a significant performance increase.
   Available from yesterday through Google Play store, the Facebook 2.0 is a major revision to the famous social network dedicated client.
   Largely rewritten using the native code of the Google Android platform, the new Facebook 2.0 starts significantly faster and promises to double the performance in terms of speed, the displaying of the information from the Timeline and the images uploading.
   Among other things, the upgrade allows us to quickly move from one picture to another, without moving the focus off the main feed of informations.
   The Facebook 2.0 application compatible with Android smartphones and tablets, is available for free download on Google Play store.

   Facebook has presented the 25 top-rated games of 2012, realized considering the involvement and the feedback coming from the users of the social networking throughout the year.
   The list was prepared following the same method used for the classification of the applications from Facebook App Center, taking into account the stars given by users, the positive or negative feedback and the level of involvement measured during January-November 2012.
   The ranking result include the games released in 2012 on Facebook.com, and the games for mobile phones and tablets that offers integration with Facebook's services. For maximum relevance were included in the list only games that enjoy at least 100,000 active users each month, members of the social network.

1. SongPop ( available on Facebook.com, iOS and Android , made by FreshPlanet )
2. Dragon City (available on Facebook.com, made by Social Point)
3. Bike Race  (available on iOS, made by Top Free Games)
4. Subway Surfers (available on iOS and Android, made by Kiloo)
5. Angry Birds Friends  (available on Facebook.com, made by Rovio)
6. FarmVille 2 (available on Facebook.com, made by Zynga)
7. Scramble with Friends  (available on iOS, made by Zynga)
8. Clash of Clans (available on iOS, made by Supercell)
9. Marvel: Avengers Alliance (available on Facebook.com, made by Playdom)
10. Draw Something  (on available iOS and Android, made by Zynga)
11. Hay Day  (available on iOS, made by Supercell)
12. Baseball Heroes (available on Facebook.com, made by Syntasia)
13. ChefVille  ( available on Facebook.com, made by Zynga)
14. CSR Racing (available on iOS, made by NaturalMotion Games)
15. Candy Crush Saga (available on Facebook.com and iOS, made by King.com)
16. Matching With Friends (available on Facebook.com, made by Zynga)
17. Legend Online (available on Facebook.com, made by Oasis Games)
18. Jurassic Park Builder (available on Facebook.com, made by Ludia)
19. Dungeon Rampage (available on Facebook.com, made by Rebel Entertainment)
20. Pockie Ninja II Social (available on Facebook.com, made by NGames Ltd.)
21. Jetpack Joyride (available on Facebook.com, made by Halfbrick)
22. Social Empires  (available on Facebook.com and iOS, made by Social Point)
23. Bil ve Fethet (available on Facebook.com, made by Peak Games)
24. Ruby Blast Adventures (available on Facebook.com and iOS, made by Zynga)
25. Pyramid Solitaire Saga  (available on Facebook.com, made by King.com)

   Surprisingly, the first 5 games, except for the game Dragon City, created by Social Point,  don't belong to one of the producers present in the top 25 Facebook AppData leaderboard.
   The leader of this year is SongPop, the game produced by FreshPlanet, a company based in Ney York, thad  has won over many fans who enjoy the tests with musical themes.
by byetech 
image credits facebook.com/SongPopGame

   Google changes the display mode for the comments left on applications from the Play Store , eliminating the ability to leave anonymous posts.
   Now, all users, who wish to leave comments or share opinions about applications listed in the Play Store, will have to login first with the Google+ user profile.
   Once completed this step, all comments will be associated  to the actual name of the user with access to user 's Google+ profile .
   The change is part of the initiatives taken by Google to integrate Google+ social network with many services of the company.
   In this case the measure has also some benefits, such as more credibility for comments and reviews of the applications listed in the Play Store.
by byetech

   For more than a year rumors about Facebook's intention to bring a phone on the market under its own brand never cease. Well, it looks like we have some proofs of the social network phone.
   HTC might be the first manufacturer of  the first Facebook phone.A source confirms that already a smartphone codenamed Opera UL is in tests. Information about the device have appeared in NenaMark2 results.
   HTC codenamed Opera UL has an 1.4 GHz Krait processor, probably dual core, an Adreno 305 GPU and a HD display.
by byetech

   StumbleUpon has launched the biggest update in its history of 10 years. The service gets a facelift that combines new design elements with an  improved functionality, with more pronounced focus on social discovery.
   StumbleUpon's new design was launched in beta last month and attracted 100,000 users. The Beta version is over and now all users can the new function "Add to List", with special pages for the friends activity.
   With a combination of social elements from Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter, StumbleUpon has a new homepage which provides a richer viewing experience.
   The changes include  "Activity" and "Recent Activity" pages, which allow a more intuitive exploration of news found by friends, with new types of activities added in StumbleUpon extensions for your browser.

Rivio, the producers of the Angry Birds franchise , has announced that they have partnered with the rock band Green Day.
Thus, Rovio Entertainment will launch in this fall a special version of the game, on Facebook.
The new version of Angry Birds will be conducted on 10 levels and three new characters will appear in scene, Billie Joe, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool. Also, Green Day will provide the soundtrack, with their latest single, "Oh Love".
The american band will appear as green pigs and will have to face the fury of the birds.
Angry Birds manufacturers says that the project isn't the last one of this kind.
by byetech

Finally, when we delete an embarrassing image from our Facebook lives, it will be wiped from Facebook's servers in a "reasonable amount of time", Facebook told Ars Technica's Jacqui Cheng, who has been following the saga since 2009. Before now, the photos sat on Facebook's servers, latent, yet still available, which is the exact opposite of what the action of deletion should mean.
Now, because of new servers the company has built, however, the term has taken back its true meaning. Following deletion, photos will exist for no longer than a month, according to a spokesperson. "As a result of work on our policies and infrastructure, we have instituted a 'max-age' of 30 days for our CDN links," Frederic Wolens told Cheng. "However, in some cases the content will expire on the CDN much more quickly, based on a number of factors." When Cheng tried it out herself, her photos were deleted from the Internet forever in two days, which isn't quite the immediacy we want when erasing an illicit image, but it is better than never.
Facebook has also extended this good policy to Instagram's images; it bought the company earlier this year. Deleted photos from the app will remain on the servers no longer than 24 hours. Though we rejoice this update, let us not forget that this is what the company should have been doing all along. When we say delete, we really mean it. At the same time, it's always good to be careful of what you're posting in the first place.
By Rebecca Greenfield | The Atlantic Wire

Google introduces specific addresses for the social network profiles, available directly from Google.com. First, a few celebrities and companies have access to specific URLs, but is expected that the option to be extend for all the Google+ users.
Replacing numerical code associated with each profile with + sign followed by name, the celebrities and corporate accounts on Google + become more easy to access.
For example, to visit the Google Plus page of Britney Spears , the URL can be shortened to "google.com/+britneyspears". Besides celebrities like David Beckham and Hugh Jackman, the first companies to benefit from special URL include Hugo Boss and Toyota.
The users were delighted with the novelty of Google +, but company representatives have no estimated date for when the option will be available for a greater number of users.
(by byetech staff)

Twitter and MediaTek have signed a partnership to develop a Twitter phone. The microblogging network wants to produce a cheap phone that offers the same Twitter experience as on a smartphone.
Taiwanese company MediaTek has already developed the MediaTek MT6255 chipset, the feature phone, which includes native functionality for Twitter services.
While Facebook seems to work on a smartphone, the intention Twitter is to rapidly expand in the emerging markets, where up to 70% of terminals sold are feature phones, not smartphones.
 The new MediaTek SoC will offer the experience of Twitter applications for Android and iOS on a cheap phone.
(by byetech staff)

A regular survey of the "researchers from the UK", says that modern mobile phones are used very little for their main purpose: to call and send messages . The smartphones users spend more time surfing on the internet, using the socialization apps, listening music and playing games.
(by byetech staff)

The speculations about Google's decision to buy Meebo has been confirmed. The IT giant has entered into an agreement to acquire Meebo, a company that has developed chat and social sharing services, with an investment of approximately $ 100 million.
The reason why Meebo was attractive for Google is not clear, but analysts expect that the innovations used by Meebo will improve Google +.
The company has become known in 2005 with the launch of Meebo, online messaging client.In the last years it has been focused more on social aspects.
Meebo Bar, application that provides social sharing options and additional ads on any site visited, is the company's flagship product, but Meebo recently turned to the social sharing, which gives the user recommendations based on his tastes.
(by byetech staff)

After Instagram purchasing and listing , Facebook could be interested to buy Opera Software, Opera Web browser developer, which would increase the influence of Facebook in the online world.
The Facebook takeover is already circulated by several sources and could bring benefits to Facebook if they will have a browser that offers its services integrated.
So far, the only thing confirmed is that Opera Software is no longer hiring, signs that usually indicate a significant change in large companies.
(by byetech staff)

Google has been working on Google+ for more than a year now. It boasted that new features were being added all the time and changes made according to feedback. The site's recently gotten a major redesign and so have the mobile apps. But that's not to say there's not a lot more to be done.
In fact, some of the biggest things missing, an app platform for example, are still not here and won't be for a while. But that doesn't mean Google isn't working on them.
A couple of things that Google is definitely working on are an Events and a Local feature. Both were discovered in the source code of the recently updated Android app and both are major components.
When they go live, at least judging by what Google seems to be thinking at the moment, they'll take their place next to the other main sections, the profile, the stream, photos, circles and so on.
This is extracted from the app, but doubtless the same features will be available on the site. The local section is already available, in a way, as the mobile app surfaces public activity that is happening around the location of the user.
That activity is more important to users on the go, so it makes more sense in the app. Google could expand that though and create an even more personalized experience.
The Events feature is an even more obvious addition. Facebook's events section is a popular one and having the feature built into a social network makes a lot of sense.
It's not a crucial feature and since Google+ is positioned somewhere between Facebook, which focuses more on the closer personal relations, and Twitter, which focuses more asymmetrical relationships, an Events section is less important than it is for Facebook.
source (via) softpedia.com

click on picture to enlarge

Google+ is about to get a major update with the first big redesign since it debuted last year. The new Google+ moves things around quite a bit and looks a lot more polished than the current site.
The biggest change is the left sidebar, or ribbon as Google calls it, which replaces the top nav buttons. The ribbon is fully customizable, giving users access to the features they use and care about the most.
The entire site has gotten a makeover though, videos and photos are a big focus and there's an easier way of engaging with the community and the activity around your posts. The Hangouts section has also gotten a major redesign.
"A critical piece of [Google's] social layer is a design that grows alongside our aspirations," Vic Gundotra, senior vice president at Google and head of the Google+ project, wrote.
"So today we’re introducing a more functional and flexible version of Google+. We think you’ll find it easier to use and nicer to look at, but most importantly, it accelerates our efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google," he announced.
Given the minimalistic look of the old site and the new one, the redesign may seem familiar at first, but there are many, many changes, mostly in the details. The new layout is a bit more intuitive, sections and apps are to the left, you can see the streams from different circles at the top and the chat widget is to the right.
The new site is just now rolling out, so you're probably not going to see it yet, but it should be going live for everyone soon, likely in the next 24 hours or the next few days.
"More than 170 million people have upgraded to Google+, enjoying new ways to share in Search, Gmail, YouTube and lots of other places. It's still early days, and there’s plenty left to do, but we're more excited than ever to build a seamless social experience, all across Google," Gundotra added, providing an update on the registered users number.
source softpedia.com

Twitter announced that it will clarify the rules and procedures for protecting private data, after admitting that he copied electronic address books containing names and addresses of the phones connected to the network and informations was stored on their servers.
Despite the announcements of improvements that will be made​​, both Twitter and Apple, of which application for mobile phones made ​​it possible to copy the information, were subject to criticism.
Two congressmen have written to Apple, asking why the iPhone practice allows that, which is contrary to the rules of application developers.
Twitter spokesman said that the "Find Friends" function will be changed and the language used will be clear. Otherwise, instead of "Scan your contacts", will be uses the "Upload your contacts" or "Import your contacts", to specify that all phone contacts will be stored on the company servers.
(by byetech staff)

The social network MySpace is going through a surprise comeback. The Justin Timberlake's bet on the social network, with its orientation to the music, seem to be a step in the right direction. MySpace won a million users in a month.
Tate new subscribers rate on MySpace Join has reached 40,000 per day, so the social network in which Justin Timberlake has invested could return in force.
MySpace now offers the largest collection of free music online. While Spotify site offered 15 million free songs at its launch, that number was reduced recently, MySpace boasts 42 million songs.
The social network bought by News Corp. in 2004 at a price of $ 580 million lost its value rapidly and was acquired by an investor group led by Justin Timberlake in 2011 for only $ 35 million.
(by byetech staff)

Sheryl Sandberg, number 2 of the social network Facebook released a study revealing that Facebook has generated until now an increase of 32 billion euro in European economies.
According to the study, only value added created by services developed around Facebook - advertising, games, media - has reached 15.3 billion euros in Europe and created 232,000 jobs in the EU and Switzerland.
"The Internet, social networks and Facebook create growth. The Internet and social networking is not just text and photos. It is a matter of jobs and growth" Sheryl Sandberg argued at the presentation of the study.
According to Le Figaro, only in France where Facebook has 25 million members, the social network has generated revenues of 1.9 billion euros and created 22,000 jobs.
( by byetech staff )

Google + has implemented an option by which you can directly record video messages that you can put as a status to be viewed by the groups of friends.
In order to have a video status, users can access the "video sharing", where they will find the "Record video" option. Clip can be added as an attachment to any post on Google +.
Until now, Google+ users were able to publish animated GIFs and music through Google Music, but adding video turns the social network into a real multimedia center.
The new Google+ option is independent of YouTube,Google + offers another video service, which use Youtube. On Google + hangouts, live video chat service, users who want to record video messages are still forced to use the YouTube.
(by byetech staff)

click on picture to enlarge

Twitter is testing a new interface that will soon be implemented for all the users of the microblogging service.
The company has confirmed the work on the new interface and added that iOS and Android Twitter application users will be among the first to see the changes.
The new Twitter interface bring changes in the elements position and functionality enhancements. "Who to Follow" and "Trends" boxes will be moved to the left of the screen.
Main navigation bar has been modified and contains new "Home", "Connect" and "Discover" icons . Search bar is now smaller and was moved to the right of the screen.
Box that allows you to write a new "tweet" is now in the left column, along with other tools apart from "stream" the content.
( by byetech staff  )