Hasta La Gadget!

LinkedIn is now rolling out a new feature very similar to a feature already offered by Facebook. When you begin typing out a person’s name or a company’s name in your status update, a drop-down menu will pop up that will allow you to “mention” the person or company you’re discussing. The other party will be notified about your mention in real-time, providing much more engaging conversations.

LinkedIn states that its starting to roll out the new feature to English-speaking users at first, however, it plans on rolling out the feature to its global members soon. You can also utilize the new “mentions” feature in the comments section on your LinkedIn pages as well. You will be able to hold much more organized conversations with individuals in a community, enabling convenient one-on-one conversations.

This new rollout works seamlessly with Twitter as well, despite the two companies severing ties with each other back in July of 2012. If your Twitter account is linked with your LinkedIn account, the mentions in your status updates will transfer over to Twitter seamlessly. The mentions, while appaering as a full name on your LinkedIn status update, will change itself to the mentioned person’s Twitter username.

LinkedIn provides professionals with an easy way to connect to other professionals in their fields, as well as search for new and better jobs. Speaking of jobs, LinkedIn also rolled out a revamp to its jobs page back in February that made it even easier for people to find jobs relevant to their interests and work experience. LinkedIn says that “there’s more to come”, but we should expect no less from a network whose members “are some of the most engaged professionals online.”

[via LinkedIn]

LinkedIn begins rolling out Facebook-like mentions feature is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Civil Rights Defenders have issued their first batch of GPS bracelets that will alert the CRDs’ headquarters, other nearby activists, and the entirety of the CRDs’ social media following if the bracelet’s owner is ever kidnapped. The first 5 bracelets were issued from April 2nd through April 5th during the Civil Rights Defenders’ conference, Defenders’ Days. The CRD plans on issuing 55 of these bracelets over the next year and a half.

The bracelets are described as a personal alarm, and the product is called the “Natalia Project”. It was named after Natalia Estemirova, a human rights defender who, in 2009, was murdered within 24 hours of being kidnapped. The CRD believed that if the authorities were alerted sooner of Natalia’s kidnapping, the tragedy could have been prevented. Robert Hårdh, the Executive Director of Civil Rights Defenders, stated that these bracelets “gives us an opportunity to react faster and extend our hands-on protection further.”

The GPS bracelet can be activated manually, or if an attacker forcefully removes it from the activist’s wrist. A signal with the activist’s GPS location will be sent to the CRD headquarters in Stockholm. Alerts will also be sent out to other CRD activists within the vicinity, and an automatic notification will be sent out throughout the Natalia Project’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The Civil Rights Defenders state that these bracelets could potentially alert hundreds of thousands of people instantly. It would also put pressure on the attacker, because having the entire world become aware of the attack “creates virtual protection around civil rights defenders at risk.” Unfortunately, the CRD requires additional money to get these bracelets to more activists. Its asking anyone who can help to support the Natalia Project with any donation amount they can afford. You can find out more about the Natalia Project here.

GPS bracelet uses social media to protect Civil Rights Activists is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook just announced Facebook Home, an all-new start screen/home screen of sorts for Android devices. The company took some time to demo the new software, and show us all the cool goodies, but what people really want to know is when Android users will be able to grab Facebook Home and use it for themselves.

Facebook Home will be available as a free download in the Google Play store starting on April 12, which is just next week, so it seems users won’t have to wait long to get a hold of it. Off the bat, Facebook Home will only be available for Android phones, while tablet support is in the works and will become available in the future.

Once you have Facebook Home installed, the company says that you’ll have the choice of trying it out once, or you can set it up so it’s always in use instead of the standard launcher that comes with your Android handset. Facebook says that Home will be available for tablets “in the coming months.”

As for devices that Facebook Home will work best on, Facebook as partnered with a handful of companies, both phone makers and carriers, including HTC, Samsung, EE, Qualcomm, Sony, Huawei, Alcatel One Touch, Lenovo, ZTE, AT&T, and Orange. Plus, Home will have more features and will be offered on more devices as time goes on. Facebook says it plans to release these kinds of updates once a month on average.

Facebook Home available April 12th, updates each month is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Man, we were all fooled. We’re being told today, YouTube was launched in
2005 with one sole goal in mind — to surface the best video of all time. It’s
taken 8 short years, but the panel of judges are now ready to get down to
brass tacks and start the hard work, which according to Google will take
10 long years hence.

Facebook has just received the “go-ahead” to build a second campus in Menlo Park. Menlo Park’s city council, minus one member, voted 4-0 to allow Facebook to build its second campus. The new campus will be a 433,555 square foot building located on the other side of Facebook’s headquarters. It will be located on 312 and 313 Constitution Drive, just west of Bayfront Expressway.

The campus will be span across 22-acres of land. It will be designed by Frank Gehry, a renowned architect known for his work on the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and his work on the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California. However, unlike the flashy designs Gehry made for both the Guggenheim and Walt Disney Concert Hall, the design of the Facebook campus will be much more low-key.

Gehry’s creative partner, Craig Webb, stated, “They felt some of those things were too flashy and not in keep with the kind of culture of Facebook, so they asked us to make it more anonymous.” Surprisingly, Gehry was comfortable with designing a more low-key building. Facebook’s new campus will follow an eco-friendly design. It will have a rooftop garden, be hidden by the landscape, feature a park-like entrance accessible by the public, and will have an underground tunnel that connects it to Facebook’s other campus.

Webb stated, “Our intent is that it almost becomes like a hillside.” Many of the city council members were enthusiastic about the campus’s new design. One of the members, Kirsten Keith, stated that it’s very lucky for Menlo Park to have a building designed by Frank Gehry. Another member, Rich Cline, stated that he was impressed that Facebook’s rooftop park will also have oak trees. Construction for the campus is expected to start right away, and upon completion, the campus be able to accommodate up to 3,400 Facebook staff members.

[via Mercury News]

Facebook gets approval to build a low-key second campus is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.