Microsoft ‘retiring’ Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps

Microsoft 'retiring' Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps

Eagle-eyed gamers may have already noticed that the Xbox 360’s dedicated Twitter and Facebook apps have gone missing after the latest Dashboard update, and now Redmond has confirmed it’s put the applications out to pasture. According to a Microsoft representative that spoke to IGN, the firm is “retiring the Facebook and Twitter apps” as it works to streamline functionality. When asked if the pair of apps will ever make a comeback, Ballmer and Co. didn’t comment. Still crave to update your friends on your latest gaming exploits through the console? Spreading the news on the digital grapevine is still possible, but you’ll have to access the social networks through the freshly added Internet Explorer app — an experience we hope Xbox SmartGlass will improve.

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Microsoft ‘retiring’ Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook begins phasing out “Questions”

Facebook has begun phasing out Questions from users, a move that’s not particularly surprising considering that it removed the product from the homepage sidebar earlier this year. According to CNET, a Facebook representative stated that the social media company is pulling Questions in order to “focus on other things.” It will still be available for Groups and Pages.

Questions was launched back in 2010, and allows Facebook users to create a poll asking their friends and other Facebook users anything they want. Unlike Quora, which Questions was expected to crush when it was launched, users simply choose a pre-defined answer. While the occasional poll appears on Facebook asking some inane question, the product was never particularly popular.

While Questions for general users is being taken away, the product will still be available to Groups and Pages, since it provides a constructive tool that’s specifically useful to those kinds of Facebook activity. In addition, users will still have access to old Questions they’ve asked via the Activity Feed. The Questions option still currently shows up on normal user accounts, but expect it to disappear in the next couple of days.

So what’s Facebook concentrating on now? The company won’t say. Rumors abound that the social networking giant is shifting its focus onto developing a substantial search feature, something Mark Zuckerberg has discussed in the recent past, having said, “[Facebook is] pretty uniquely positioned to answer a lot of questions people have.”

[via CNET]


Facebook begins phasing out “Questions” is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Slapping someone for looking at Facebook is officially the best job

Here’s good work if you can find it–eight bucks an hour to slap another human being. Repeatedly. Writer Maneesh Sethi was disappointed with how much time he wasted looking at social media instead of doing work, and posted a Craiglist ad looking for a dedicated slapper. Every time he logged onto Facebook, he wanted someone to hit him. Considering there are lots of people who would slap me for free, it’s no surprise that his ad received 20 inquiries in the first hour. His ad, in full: (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Rockstar launches official Grand Theft Auto 5 Facebook page, Facebook tracks down alleged rapist who got beaten up by furious husband of ‘victim’,

Rockstar launches official Grand Theft Auto 5 Facebook page

Whether Rockstar’s highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 5 will see a release before March 2013 remains to be seen, but for those who can’t wait to get their hands on the game, Rockstar has since launched the official Grand Theft Auto 5 Facebook page. At the moment the page is kind of barren, although we expect that updates regarding the game’s status, screenshots, announcements and the like will populate the page in due time. However according to Just Push Start, it seems that the Game Informer magazine will be revealing more about Grand Theft Auto 5 in their next issue, which had them speculating that perhaps Rockstar could be close to finishing the game and will have some new material in which they can share with their fans. In any case we’ll keep our eyes and ears peeled, so do check back with us from time to time for updates on the game, or you can head on over to the official Grand Theft Auto 5 Facebook where Rockstar will hopefully have some material to share soon.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Grand Theft Auto V Confirmed by Gilbert Gottfried, But For What Consoles?, GameStop UK pegs Grand Theft Auto 5 release for 1st March 2013,

Facebook tracks down alleged rapist who got beaten up by furious husband of ‘victim’

The world is a strange place these days, and with the advent of social networks like Facebook, things have definitely gotten stranger. A court recently heard testimony of a husband who claims that he managed to track down the man who allegedly raped his wife as a schoolgirl using the most popular social networking site in the world today, Facebook. Andrew Marsh, 27, claims that through the organization of a surprise party for his wife on Facebook, he knew of Mr. Marsh, a greengrocer, and subsequently gave him quite a hiding after convincing his wife to make a police report concerning an alleged rape in 2001.

Mr. Marsh was subsequently arrested and charged with raping the lady in an alleyway when she was still a schoolgirl. The alleged victim’s name has been withheld for legal reasons, did mention to her husband that she was raped in one of their previous talks concerning relationship difficulties, as heard by the Maidstone Crown Court. She did have a relationship with Mr. Marsh in preceding years, where she claimed he raped her against a wall.

Mr Marsh of Rochester, Kent, who is married, has denied all counts of rape and indecent assault. Well, at least this didn’t end up in a double Facebook murder as reported in February this year.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Rockstar launches official Grand Theft Auto 5 Facebook page, No plans for Instagram for Blackberry 10 according to Facebook [Updated],

Why Facebook Is Turning Purple Tomorrow

If you see a lot of purple on Facebook tomorrow, don’t worry, it’s not because Facebook got hacked by Barneynonymous. Instead, Facebook and sites like Yahoo and Tumblr are turning purple tomorrow to take a stand against bullying. More »

Facebook opens mobile ads for apps to all developers, keeps them on the money train

Facebook opens mobile ads for apps to all developers, keeps them on the money train

It’s no secret that Facebook saw FarmVille for iOS as writing on the wall: it had to either tap into mobile app revenue or risk losing income (and marketing-savvy developers) whenever someone left the web. Following a beta this summer, the company’s solution to its dilemma is now open to everyone. All developers on the social network can build ads that link from Facebook’s Android and iOS apps to either Google Play or the App Store — offering both an easy plug for their native apps and that all-important ad revenue for Facebook. The system currently takes a shotgun approach and may pitch social networkers for apps they already have or don’t want, but it should be refined in the next few months to where some curious purchasers won’t even have to leave Facebook to load that hot new title. Hopefully the increased recognition for mobile developers is worth sullying our once pristine news feeds.

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Facebook opens mobile ads for apps to all developers, keeps them on the money train originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 23:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 17, 2012

It’s time to begin counting down to the weekend once again, because we’ve hit Wednesday evening. Today we heard that the iPad Mini could launch on November 2, which makes sense considering that date is just over a week after Apple’s October 23 press event. Later in the day, more sources were mentioning a November 2 release date for the iPad Mini, as well as spilling a few more details about the long-rumored device. The Isis NFC mobile payment system will apparently be launching on October 22, and Microsoft said that Internet Explorer 10 will be coming to Windows 7 in mid-November.


We found out today iOS app size is on the rise, and that the FCC will allow AT&T to take advantage of unused airwaves for mobile broadband. Google is allowing third-party developers to use its plethora of Maps information with a set of new APIs, and Facebook’s new promoted posts feature is undergoing and expansion in Europe. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins had something to say about a recent (and rather negative) write-up about BlackBerry in The New York Times today, and a series of leaked AT&T training videos revealed that the Lumia 920 will be exclusive to the carrier for six months after its release.

Call of Duty Elite won’t be featured in the Wii U version of Black Ops II, and Apple has been granted a patent for an alternative NFC technology. Speaking of Apple, the company will be holding a meeting with the MFI group next month to talk about the future of the Lightning connector, and Foxconn is saying that the iPhone 5 is a difficult device to make, but assures that it’s getting better. Consumers are reporting a decline in overall Internet usage, but Forrester (the company that did the study) has a good explination for that, while V-MODA was busy pulling the veil off its Crossfade M-100 headphones today.

A new video called “Star Trails” shows time-lapse footage captured by the International Space Station, and the Color app that has been gracing Verizon phones lately may be going dark soon. Just a little while ago, Google sent out invites to an Android event that will take place in New York in a couple of weeks, and we got a high-definition look inside the company’s data centers today. The Pirate Bay told us this afternoon that it has switched its servers to the cloud, eBay posted some strong Q3 financial results, and Project Eternity from Obsidian reached its funding goal on Kickstarter (and then some).

Finally tonight, Chris Davies asks why we care about the iPad Mini, and Craig Lloyd brings us his review of the Loop Mummy iPhone case. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!


SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: October 17, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Facebook Promoted Posts expanding across europe

A couple of weeks ago, Facebook began testing Promoted Posts for regular users, not just businesses and brands. This would allow you or I to “promote” one of our status updates to show up at the top of everyone else’s news feed. The features has slowly been rolling out across the US and other countries like New Zealand, but the company is now introducing the new feature to European users.

Users who pay $7 per post will be able to have their status updates show up towards the top of their friends’ news feeds in order to gain more exposure, and thus receiving more comments and/or likes. Users can pick and choose which status updates they want to promote, rather than having to pay for all of their status updates to be promoted.

The roll-out of Promoted Posts to Europe could mean that Facebook will be making this a permanent feature in the near future. The company is notorious for testing potential new features on a select group of users before they officially roll it out to the public. Since the social network is continuing its roll out for Promoted Posts, we could see this being a permanent thing fairly soon.

There’s no word on what the pricing is for users in other countries, but we assume it’s close to the same $7 that US users have to pay in order to promote one of their posts. Of course, a lot of users don’t like handing over their money if they don’t have to, but we could see this being useful for updates like important announcements or wishing someone a happy birthday.


Facebook expands AV Marketplace with 7 new partners

Nearly six months ago, Facebook launched the AV Marketplace, offering users access to antivirus applications. This morning, the company announced a deal with seven new partners: avast!, AVG, Avira, Panda, Kaspersky, Webroot, and Total Defense. In addition, Facebook’s existing partners McAfree, Norton, TrendMicro, Microsoft, and Sophos, are also now providing antivirus apps for mobile devices.

For PC users, the AV Marketplace offers Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2013 (free), avast! Free Edition, Avira (free), a 6-month subscription to McAfee Internet Security, a free trial of Norton AntiVirus, Total Defense Free with Free Cloud-Based Security Assessment, AVG Free 2013, Microsoft Security Essentials, a free 6-month subscription to Webroot SecureAnywhere 2013, a free subscription to Kaspersky PURE Total Security, and a 6-month subscription for Panda Internet Security 2013. Mac users can download Kaspersky Security for Mac, avast! Free Edition, Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2013, a free trial of Norton, Avira (free), and Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition (free). Android users can grab either McAfee Mobile Security or Norton Mobile Security Lite for Android.

This is the latest move from Facebook on increasing user security. The company recently implemented a series of phishing protection mechanisms, as well as the launch of phish@fb.com, where users can report phishing attempts. In July, the company also launched malware checkpoints, and is using a URL blacklist system, which scans links and compares them with their partners’ databases to verify that they aren’t malicious.

According to Facebook’s announcement, “Effective security must be a cooperative effort; by adding these new partners to the Facebook Security family we are sure we can keep our community even better protected from threats both on Facebook and elsewhere on the web.” The company plans to announce new tools in the future. The products from these seven new partners, plus the new mobile apps, are available for download now.

[via Facebook]


Facebook expands AV Marketplace with 7 new partners is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.