Facebook showed us its new News Feed yesterday. It’s as pretty as anyone could have hoped, and a wonderful update to the design. But lost in the big images and new feeds was a pretty major change that actually started weeks ago: The first thing you look at on Facebook’s page has moved. More »
It’s about time we had another suggestion for a Facebook phone – it’s been about 2 months since we last spoke about the concept and we’ve only had a couple of years between the first HTC Facebook phone in the ChaCha and now. So what’s this newest concept all about? It’s all about reviving the relative failure that was the HTC Salsa for a whole new generation – but why? Why would HTC and Facebook do such a thing?
With a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (MSM8960) processor inside, this so-called HTC Myst #UL (a code name) will be popping up with the same processing power as the AT&T-bound original HTC One X. Here this leaked phone – courtesy of @evleaks is said to be the HTC Opera resurgent. But what’s the point of revealing a Facebook phone here, now, after denying the need for one several times and only being able to release said phone with mid-tier specifications?
This device is being suggested as coming with a 4.3-inch display thats 720p in resolution – that equalling out to be 320PPI. Inside you’ll find 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage with no microSD for expansion, and a couple of cameras. Up front you’ll find a 1.6-megapixel shooter while the back-facing camera is 5-megapixels strong.
According to the same set of leaked information, this device will be popping up (finally) with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and will be available with 4G LTE or HSPA connectivity. This means it’ll be available on AT&T, at least. it’s been suggested that this device may work with “Ultrapixel” technology in its camera, but we’re going to go ahead and doubt it – HTC wouldn’t trump their HTC One hero device with a Facebook phone this close to launch with the same camera and a much, much weaker display onboard.
Expect this fully mid-range device to be appearing with a big silly Facebook button some time near the start of Spring, 2013. Expect a big launch courtesy of Facebook itself, and a quick flop soon thereafter. UNLESS, of course, they find a way to offer the phone for a price that’s so extremely appealing that the public just can’t say no. We shall see!
Facebook Phone strikes again: HTC Myst leaked is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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We wouldn’t exactly call the social networking-focused HTC ChaCha (aka Status) and Salsa resounding successes in the smartphone world when they were quickly overshadowed by… just about everything with a Facebook app, really. Still, there have been murmurs of a comeback, and Unwired View‘s historically reliable evleaks has obtained specs for what’s supposedly the follow-up. The HTC Myst (Myst #UL, to be exact) wouldn’t have any special tricks on the surface beyond preloaded Facebook apps, but it could be surprisingly well-equipped for a mid-range Jelly Bean device: a 4.3-inch 720p screen, a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4, LTE and 16GB of non-expandable storage would be nothing to sneeze at. About the only sacrifices would be the 1GB of RAM and a potentially UltraPixel-free 5-megapixel rear camera. While there’s no guarantee that these details will reflect a shipping device, there’s talk of the Myst reaching the US as early as the spring — we won’t have long to learn the truth. Just don’t expect that other Myst in the box.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Facebook
Source: Unwired View
Question: How do you attract a key youth, mobile-first demographic to your social network and get them to increase engagement? Answer: Partner with an OEM handset manufacturer to create a powerful yet reasonably priced branded device with all your software already on board. Facebook looks to be readying a follow-up to the HTC Status, a mid-market smartphone it released with a dedicated Facebook button in 2011, and a new leak shows off its specs.
Over at Unwired View, noted leakster Evleaks claims to have obtained a recent list of HTC Facebook phone specs (from a source with a proven track record, unlike another recent Evleaks discovery), and they confirm earlier leaks on the same, with some improvements for the better. The HTC Facebook phone, codenamed the “Myst,” will reportedly have a 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8960 SoC processor from Qualcomm, along with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, which isn’t expandable. It’ll have a 5 megapixel rear camera, and a 1.6 megapixel front-facing shooter, if the stats are correct, and will run Jelly Bean 4.1.2.
The screen won’t be overly massive at 4.3 inches, with 720p resolution and 320PPI pixel density, but it should be a good-looking device regardless, with near-Retina resolution. That’s good for showing off Facebook’s upcoming News Feed redesign, which is hitting mobile platforms as well as the desktop over the course of the coming months.
The HTC/Facebook collab should ship in the U.S. by sometime this spring, according to Unwired View, complete with Facebook software onboard, including the app for the network itself, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. It’s not like the apps aren’t popular enough already, but a relatively inexpensive device with the software already onboard is a way for Facebook to target directly the market where it needs to start seeing more growth. The handset doesn’t seem to be too far below top-tier devices based on these specs (with the exception of that camera, which could use HTC’s Ultrapixel tech to still deliver solid photos), so if it’s priced right it could be a boon for both Facebook and HTC.
This week on the Gadget Lab Show, the gang talks Facebook’s new News Feed, and Path version 3.0.
Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study following more than 5,000 Facebook users over six years, from 2005 and 2011, and found that changes in the social network’s privacy policies caused users to share more — not less — personal data. Lest you think this means that users suddenly trusted the site more, Carnegie Mellon says that Facebookers became more and more protective of their personal details as the social network grew in membership — and that the uptick in shared information is a result of increasingly granular privacy settings. If you recall, Facebook introduced new in-depth privacy controls in 2010, and the study found that the release of these new settings corresponded to users sharing more personal data, both within their network of friends and with strangers and third-party applications.
It’s been quite some time since the new privacy policy was introduced, but the university says the sample group didn’t reduce the amount of info shared with non-friends on the network, even as of 2011. The takeaway? Well, it’s safe to say that more privacy controls doesn’t equal more vigilance in protecting personal data, and it’s certainly not a stretch to call Facebook’s settings confusing. The researchers’ comparison of the struggle for privacy to the eternal plight of Sisyphus? That might be a touch more dramatic.
Filed under: Internet, Alt, Facebook
Via: Huffington Post
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Many of us whose parents discovered the internet in the past decade are all too familiar with Incredimail, mostly through the excessively cute stationery that would come attached to virtually every message. It’s time to shake some of those old preconceptions now that an iPad version is here. The tablet port has stationery for anyone who craves it, but it’s more focused on becoming a one-stop shop for everything associated with communication: it centers on a unified inbox for IMAP-based email accounts (POP3 soon) that shows quick peeks of both mail and any included links. Users won’t have to leave the app at all for a few common non-messaging tasks. There’s both an integrated web browser as well as a photo inbox that currently shows Facebook images, with plans to support Flickr, Instagram and Picasa in the long run. Those on Android devices or the iPhone will have to wait for their eventual turns at Incredimail, but everyone using Apple’s tablet can give it a whirl today, for free — even if they have no intentions of sending messages that could be confused with greeting cards.
Filed under: Tablets, Software
Via: The Next Web
Source: App Store
The new new new new News Feed is Facebook’s latest stab at rendering your swarming, swirling online life easier to digest. According to Facebook. Yes, it’s cleaner than a German toilet. Yes, it’s beautiful. But more importantly, it’s about Facebook making more money. It’s about ads. Bigger, distracting, super-ads. More »
Facebook is rolling out an updated news feed design that puts even more emphasis on photos and friends. Secondary information (“posted x hrs ago”) fades in the background but is still available if you really want to see it. I really like the new look, which I think make a lot of the text go away (Facebook can be verbose) and improves the overall readability of the site quite a bit. What do you think? (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: KFC Offering Free Wi-Fi At All U.K. Restaurants, Internet Proxy Weddings On The Rise,
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