Hasta La Gadget!

Back in 2010, when the mobile industry was rapidly rising in innovation and technology, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg decided to create a mobile app for its social networking service that could work universally on all mobile operating systems. At the time, it seemed like a great idea, however, it was “probably one of the biggest mistakes we’ve ever made,” Zuckerberg tells CNN. Initially, Zuckerberg believed that standalone mobile apps was just a fad that would disappear, and that people would primarily just surf the web via their smartphones.

Unfortunately for Zuckerberg and Facebook, the complete opposite happened. People preferred using standalone apps, and because Facebook put the least amount of effort into its mobile app, it garnered terrible ratings in the Apple App store, as well as the Android Market. This was a wake-up call for Zuckerberg, who restructured his company to be more of a mobile-centric company. He placed mobile developers in each product team, and in order for Facebook teams to make their product appeal to Facebook managers, they had to make their products mobile-friendly.

Facebook ended up throwing out its iOS app completely, much to the reluctance of Zuckerberg. Cory Ondrejka, a mobile engineer for Facebook, told Zuckerberg that the company needed to spend a whole year to build the iOS app from the ground up. The app would retain the same design as the old app, however, unlike the old app, the new one would actually be usable. While Zuckerberg was initially hesitant of the idea, he was pleasantly surprised when the app released in 2012 and gained many 4-5 star ratings.

It was then when Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives knew that they had to primarily focus on the mobile aspect of the tech industry. Zuckerberg thought about creating a Facebook phone, however, he believed that the product would only reach 3% of Facebook users. That’s when he decided to create Facebook Home. He wanted to integrate Facebook more deeply with both Android and Apple. However, because Apple’s platform isn’t very open, he decided to focus on Android.

He had designers and engineers find out all possible things on Android that Facebook could be integrated with. It started off with SMS text notifications, and then it expanded further and further. Zuckerberg said,

“We wanted to start off trying to rethink some of those core things and say, ‘How could these be better if, instead of the current system you have, they were people-centric in all the themes that Facebook stands for?’”

Facebook Home integrates itself almost entirely over the Android OS. It takes over the lockscreen, launcher, and even the messaging features. According to CNN, Home is not just “another product release”, but is “Facebook’s opening salvo in the battle for dominance on the mobile web”. Facebook plans on bringing Facebook-Home enabled phones to developing worlds where people are just now getting access to the internet. It plans on allowing people who purchase Facebook Home-enabled phones to have free data access for a set-period of time.

Zuckerberg wants to bring Facebook Home to the iPhone as well, however, he says, “We just can’t today…” Zuckerberg also says that in the future, mobile ads will be coming to Facebook Home to help the company generate more revenue. Facebook Home is a giant step forward for the social network, however, so far it’s still standing at a 2.5 star rating in the Google Play store, not what the company was hoping for. We’ll see soon how Facebook will respond to the negative feedback its receiving for its new product, and if it will introduce updates to make it more appealing. Until then, be sure to check out our review of Facebook Home here.

[via CNN]

Facebook Home is Facebook’s second chance at wowing the mobile industry is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We reported back in January that Facebook was testing out a new messaging system which would allow its users to send messages directly to another user’s inbox, one who is not in their connections, for $1, $5 or $15. The price was exorbitantly high for some celebrities. Those wishing to send a message directly to Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg’s inbox had to part with $100 per single message. At the time Facebook said that they were testing various price points so as to figure out what works best to filter out spam. As of now the $100 fee option has been pulled.

(more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Mentions Added To LinkedIn For Striking Up Conversations, Anonymous Hacks North Korean Social Networks As Part Of ‘Operation Free Korea’,

A link to a very 90s-looking Angelfire website surfaced over at Hacker News, with the poster claiming that it belongs to Mark Zuckerberg, who would have created it when he was just 15-years-old. The website is full of all sorts of interesting things, ranging from a GPA calculator for “all you psychos, myself included, who obsess over grades,” to a blinking yellow eyeball welcoming visitors to “the only site where a yellow eye blinks at you.”

The webpage is both comical and a very interesting look into the mind of a teenage Mark Zuckerberg, who was at the time promoting his Vader Fader tool and introduced himself as Slim Shady: “Hi, my name is…Slim Shady. No, really, my name is Slim Shady. Just kidding, my name is Mark.” On the Angelfire page, he invited comments via the AOL email address “Themarke51@aol.com”.

The Angelfire site is full of Java applets, and contains several pages, including one dedicated to Vader Fader, a pong game, Magnetic Poetry, a base converter, something he calls the CyberMonkey, inviting users to test the “famous monkey problem” and email him asap if they “spot a soliloquy of Hamlet”. While all of this, presented in a fairly clean manner above a solid gray background, is interesting, it is his page on “The Web” that catches the most attention.

Says young Zuckerberg on his page “The Web,”: “As of now, the web is pretty small. Hopefully, it will grow into a larger web.” And speaking of the applet, “If your name is already on The Web because someone else has chosen to be linked to you, then you may choose two additional people to be linked with.” He has certainly come a long way since that small applet, and has connected far, far more people.

Of course, there’s no guarantee this is Zuckerberg’s Angelfire site, but all signs point to the affirmative.

[via Hacker News]

Angelfire site may be Mark Zuckerberg’s first website is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

OK, nobody actually beat up Mark Zuckerberg but someone did plaster a series of posters that make it seem as though the Facebook founder had been beaten up. When in actuality it’s the latest work of famed NYC graffiti artist KATSU. You might have seen his signature skulls around the city or his app. More »

If you’ve heard about the Facebook event this week surrounding changes to the social network’s main feed, you’ve likely felt a little tinge of annoyance. It’s not as if we’ve not seen drastic changes to one of the most visited websites in the history of the world before, but as it’s been made clear several times before: people don’t like change in the tools they use every single day. So what can we expect over the next few months now that the Facebook crew is letting loose a brand new collection of features?

Down at Facebook central Mark Zuckerberg himself stood in front of a live audience to speak on what’s worked for the massively popular social environment in the past and what would be coming up in the near future for you, I, and everyone around us – Facebook users all. With a commanding lead in the social networking universe – and such an honor on the head of Facebook for several years running – Zuckerberg is no stranger to speaking as a leader in the industry: that much was clear at this week’s event.

According to Zuckerberg, Facebook stands alone: “There’s no other social service like this at scale.” With Facebook’s News Feed, Zuckerberg made it clear that the company’s aim is “to give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper available.”

The redesign for News Feed is simple – it doesn’t change an extreme amount, instead opting to bridge the gap between mobile and desktop web browser editions. Zuckerberg noted that “this design reflects the evolving face of your News Feed.” The three things that are coming to the newest version of Facebook as focuses are:

• Rich Stories
• Choice of Feeds
• Mobile Consistency

You’ll find these changes detailed further here on SlashGear throughout the day – stay tuned for features on each! Meanwhile the short story is this: it’s the same Facebook you’re dealing with here: this change is, basically, just a series of tweaks.

Below you’ll find a timeline of Facebook announcements that’ve gone live this week – have a peek at know the full truth! Be sure to let us know what you think of the changes that are coming down with Facebook in the near future too – are you all about change, or would you rather stick with what works? Or is that all too simple?

Facebook News Feed Update: it’s all changing – again is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.