Hasta La Gadget!

Facebook has acquired the team behind Spool, a company that offers free iOS and Android apps that allow users to bookmark web content and view it later offline. This is just the latest in Facebook’s line of mobile and social acquisitions as it attempts to cash in on the increasing number of Facebook users who are accessing the site through smartphones and tablets. The price Facebook paid for the Spool team was not disclosed during the announcement of the acquisition.

It’s still unclear what the Spool team will be doing at Facebook, as the social giant only purchased the team and not the company or its assets. Spool announced over the weekend that its apps for Android and iOS will soon shut down, and since Facebook is leaving the company itself behind, it doesn’t sound like the apps will come to life again anytime soon. Still, the Spool team should be doing something similar while working for the world’s largest social network, with Facebook telling the Wall Street Journal that this acquisition will give the team a chance to “accelerate their vision.”

With the Spool apps going dark soon, it seems highly likely that Facebook wants the Spool team to bring their ideas (or something similar) to its own mobile apps for iOS and Android. If that ends up being the case, we’ll likely see the Facebook apps become easier to use pretty quickly. After all, making it easier to enjoy the web on a smartphone or tablet was Spool’s mission statement, so we can’t see Facebook wanting to put that to waste. Stay tuned.

Facebook acquires Spool team and shuts down legacy apps is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A lot of the discussion about the rise in social networking tends to shift toward the subject of users being divorced from real life, sitting at home instead of going out and actually meeting people. One would assume this would lead to a society where vanity and looks don’t seem as important, but in fact it’s exactly the opposite that seems to be true.

Don’t believe us? Then just take a look at a plastic surgeon in Virginia that offers a “FaceTime Facelift, a procedure that was designed because people had been coming in and saying they wanted to look more photogenic when chatting with people over FaceTime. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Profile pictures on Facebook, video calls on Skype, it’s all part of the problem. Even though you may not ever see someone in real life, you want them to know that you look good.

New York plastic surgeon Dr. Adam Schaffner summed it up in a Mashable interview: “People will come in and say, ‘I saw myself in the mirror, but I didn’t really notice it until I saw myself on Facebook or on my iPhone or iPad. When you look in the mirror you’re seeing the mirror image of yourself. But when you see yourself on social media, you’re seeing yourself the way the world sees you.”

[via Mashable]

Doctors: Facebook, Skype lead to plastic surgery rise is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Cloud-based software company Oracle is apparently serious about hitting the social media scene hard, announcing today that it has purchased Involver, a company that specializes in the development of customized social media campaigns. This marks Oracle’s third social media acquisition in the past two months, so Oracle will soon be ready to offer its customers a range of social media services alongside the cloud-based software services it already provides. The price Oracle paid to acquire Involver is still unknown.

The purchase of Involver takes place shortly after last month’s acquisition of Collective Intellect and May’s buyout of Virtue. Collective Intellect assists companies in monitoring the amount of buzz they’re generating in the social media world, while Virtue’s services help make the management of all of those different social media sites easier. When combined with Involver’s efforts, Oracle has now become something of a social media powerhouse that will be hard to ignore for companies craving a slice of that social media pie.

For its part, Oracle is confident that the deal with Involver will work out for the best. “The combination of Involver with Oracle is expected to create the most advanced and comprehensive cloud-based social platform across marketing, sales and service touchpoints,” it said today after the buyout was announced. It’s unclear whether Oracle will continue this buying frenzy, but with the company obviously itching to become the go-to source for social media marketing, it’s doubtful that we’ve heard the last of Oracle’s acquisition spree.

[via MercuryNews]

Oracle continues social media binge with Involver buyout is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

For the past few months, a lot of advertising and marketing campaigns have been targeting vending machines. There’s Coca-Cola’s vending machine that gave away free soda for a hug, and the Rugbeer vending machinethat needed to be tackled before it dispensed any beer. And then there’s the Bevmax 4-45, commonly known as ‘Bev’, that dispenses free ice tea in exchange for a tweet.

It’s as smart as vending machines get. It’s located at Wembley Square in Cape Town and encourages people to send out GPS-tagged tweets that include a specific hashtag so they can claim some free refreshments.

Once Bev notices the tweet, it’ll mechanically work to serve you up a can of tea for your enjoyment.

South African soda company BOS Ice Tea worked together with social media agency RAAK to come up with Bev. Pretty ingenious, isn’t it? And it’s great for generating publicity, too.

[via Pop Up City]

Recreate the joys of a relaxing Japanese train trip while charging your iPhone 3GS/4/4S, Galaxy S/S II, or Xperia Arc smartphone! The Train Window Smartphone Charger Stand from Genius Cell offers a choice of three miniature recreations of real Japanese train compartments, with your smartphone’s screen doubling as a picture window.