Facebook testing real-time update feature

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook said it is dabbling with a Twitter-like feature that alerts members in real time to what their friends are up to on the social network.

The feature, reportedly called "Happening Now," is being tried by a "fraction of a percent" of Facebook's more than 600 million members, according to the world's leading online social network.

"We are currently testing a feature within News Feed that gives people the ability to see what their friends are commenting on and 'liking,' as these actions are being taken on Facebook," the California company said in an email reply to an AFP inquiry.

"In the coming weeks, as we learn more from this test, we'll keep making improvements and may expand it to more people."

The feature was seen by some as a potential challenge to global microblogging service Twitter, which lets people share what they are thinking, doing, or seeing instantly in messages of 140 or fewer characters.

The new Facebook feature for now apparently alerts people to what friends are doing at the social network.

Google Acquires Ad-Optimization Firm AdMeld

Google Acquires Ad-Optimization Firm AdMeld for $400 Million
Deal Ads Key Piece to DoubleClick Publisher Platform

Google has acquired online ad optimization company Admeld for $400 million, according to a source close to the deal. The deal ads a missing piece to Google's online ad infrastructure that powers much of online display advertising today, but could bring more regulatory scrutiny.

AdMeld is one of several companies that help publishers decide which ad to accept from a host of buyers such as ad networks or buyers participating in exchanges. Others in the space include the L.A.-based Rubicon Project and Palo Alto-based Pubmatic.


Admeld CEO Michael Barrett Observers have long thought that Google would add optimization functionality to its ad server, DoubleClick; the question was whether it would build it on its own or acquire an existing company, as it did with the demand-side platform Invite Media, which it acquired last year.

AdMeld is led by CEO David Barrett, former head of digital sales at News Corp. Mr. Barrett helped MySpace reach its revenue heyday, but took the fall when traffic and sales started to plummet. Google is expected to add the functionality to its suite of tools for publishers. Through DoubleClick, Google powers much of the world's online display advertising, taking a tiny cut of the buy along the way.

With the deal, Google has acquired 12 companies since the beginning of the year, according to Tolman Geffs, co-president of Jordan Edmiston Group, a media investment bank. TechCrunch's Michael Arrington first reported news of the deal.

A Google spokesperson declined to comment on "rumors."
The deal could trigger some regulatory scrutiny. Google has been through several tough reviews, including its deal to acquire DoubleClick in 2007, and its attempt to forge a search partnership with Yahoo in 2008.

How to disable facial recognition in Facebook

How to disable facial recognition in Facebook



Tagging friends in Facebook photos may be somewhat of a chore, but that doesn't mean we asked to be opted in to Facebook's new facial-recognition photo-tagging feature. As we reported yesterday, Facebook quietly rolled out facial-recognition software "that will automate photo tagging and suggest friends to tag in your photos based on what they look like."

Here's how it works: when you or a Facebook friend uploads a photo, Facebook uses facial-recognition software to match faces in that photo with previous photos on Facebook in which you've been tagged. Facebook groups similar photos together and suggests names for tagging purposes. Granted, Facebook isn't tagging photos itself, but it is certainly making the process easier for your friends to tag photos of you.
As Facebook says here, "Now if you upload pictures from your cousin's wedding, we'll group together pictures of the bride and suggest her name. Instead of typing her name 64 times, all you'll need to do is click 'Save' to tag all of your cousin's pictures at once." That's great, unless one of those 64 photos are of you at the end of the evening, slumped in a chair with your tie in your drink.
The introduction of facial recognition on Facebook has many users rightfully uneasy. Worse, Facebook has enabled it by default. Here's how to disable it:


Click on Account in the upper-right corner of your Facebook page, and from the pull-down menu choose Privacy Settings.


Next, find the small Customize settings link and click it.



On the next page, scroll down to the "Things others share" section, and click the Edit Settings button next to "Suggest photos of me to friends" header. You'll notice it's Enabled by default. Click on the button and select Disabled and then hit the Okay button to restore some of your privacy on Facebook.

Twitter Introduces Automatically Shortened URLs

Eliminates the need to use third-party services for the same.

Twitter has started offering automatic shortening of long URLs, so they can fit within the 140-character limit of the micro-blogging service. Earlier, it was required to go to a third-party URL-shortening service such as bit.ly to do the same

URL-shortening converts a long URL into a URL just a few characters long. In this shortened form, it is easy to post as a Twitter message. The new URL-shortening feature in Twitter, automatically shortens any URL you type as a tweet, into a 19-character URL starting with t.co. The difference between this service and others is that you will still view the first few characters of the original long URL instead of the shortened URL so that people can know about the site they will visit when they click on the link. But you can be sure that the URL is shortened because you can seemingly post messages longer than 140 characters, which would not be possible on Twitter.

While this service has now been built into Twitter, people may continue using any other third-party service for the same

Dell to launch 10-inch Android tablet in China

(Reuters) - Dell Inc has chosen to launch its new 10-inch Android tablet in China this summer, passing up on a U.S., Europe launch, as China emerges as a front line battle for tablets.

The tablet named "Streak 10 Pro" will target Chinese "prosumers", a term used to describe advanced-level consumers, Amit Midha, Dell's President of Greater China and South Asia, said on a corporate blog on Thursday.

Dell, which is also working on a Windows 7-based tablet for enterprise customers due later this year, will evaluate launches of the Android tablet in other regions in the second half of the year, he said.

Dell's decision to launch a 10-inch (25 cm) tablet in China is a signal of the market's growing importance to the company.

Dell's China sales grew 22 percent in the first quarter while its retail presence in China exceeds 10,000 sales points, Midha said.

"In China in particular, we're currently number 2 in the Chinese PC market and we're seeing a significant increase in the number of small- and medium-business users, who are adopting mobility products as part of their growth plans," he said.

Dell has chosen China to launch new products before. In 2009, Dell announced it will enter the smartphone market starting in China before moving into Brazil.

By launching the Android tablet in China, Dell hopes to give more time to developers to develop applications for the device as China blocks some Google applications and the Android Market is not yet available.

The tablet market is currently dominated by Apple Inc's iPads, Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility Holdings tablets.

"The end product (encompassing the hardware, software, and availability of applications, services and solutions) delivered in China will be significantly different to what would be delivered in many other countries. That's why it makes sense to start there" Midha said, adding that Dell will take what it learns in China to shape mobile products for other markets.