Hasta La Gadget!

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.

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,

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 »

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.

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.