Hasta La Gadget!

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.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook

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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In a move that may surprise those of you reading reviews of Verizon-housed smartphones of late, the app known as Color has been tipped to be “winding down” starting immediately, with a complete shutdown preparing to take place rather rapidly. This news comes from Venture Beat where they’ve gotten hold of an email sent to employees of the company that notes how the board in charge of the app ecosystem have voted to close it all down. With shareholders and the board agreeing to this move, it’s certainly not what the $40 million in investment funds from last year appeared to be aimed at.

If you’ve picked up a Verizon phone inside the last few weeks, you’ve noticed that Color is an app that sits on your phone right out of the box. It would appear now that this sign of greatness might be all for nothing as the note today has the whole company closing its doors sooner than later. The email sent to employees – so it’s tipped – goes as follows.

“I hope is all well with you. As you may or may not have heard, Color is going through a number of changes. Last week, the Board and major shareholders voted to wind down the company.

We ask that you politely cancel any existing commitments stating we are closing our [redacted] program.”

This company started business with a bang back a year ago with a $40 million investment, switched over to a Facebook-connected app more recently, and included video as well. None of this seemed to have helped if the email above proves to be entirely legitimate. Co-founder and CEO Bill Nguyen recently stepped down from the company as well, and there’s been no further comment from Color at this time.

Verizon has also not had anything to say about this situation as of yet. With Color’s recent connection with Facebook and more recent deal with Verizon taking place, it seems as though things must have gone downhill quickly for action such as this to have gone through. Stay tuned to see how “confirmed” all of this becomes.

Color app tipped to shut doors imminently is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

One of Facebook‘s biggest strategies is on apps. The company introduced App Center and Open Graph a while ago to push more users towards using various apps, and today Facebook is improving on that system once again, but they’re actually making changes that will benefit the user this time around.

First, Facebook is changing how open graph stories display on a user’s feed. The company’s research indicates that stories with an image and location are among the most popular and most engaging, so Facebook is giving the apps that provide this information more priority over other apps. Facebook says that these kinds of stories generate 70% more clicks.

The other major change (and probably the best change) has to do with custom actions. All apps must now use Facebook-approved built-in actions, since in the past, stories would publish automatically to a user’s feed without the user even knowing. However, with the new change, automatically-published stories will be done in a way that helps “set user expectations.”

Facebook is also getting rid of two features that users have loathed for a while now. The first feature getting the ax is authenticated referrals, which were only there to annoy users by asking for permissions without very much context. The second feature going bye-bye is the “Post to Friend’s Wall” option. It turns out that a lot of users were responding to apps being posted on their wall by clicking “Hide” or “Mark as spam.”

Obviously, developers will now have to go back into their apps and make the appropriate changes to bring them up to Facebook’s new code. They’ll have 90 days to do so, or their app will be removed until the changes are made.

Facebook looks to improve apps with stricter Open Graph policies is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Remember RockMelt The “social web browser”? The name doesn’t come up often, especially when we talk about conventional browsers like Firefox, Chrome, IE and Safari. Well, rest assured, the startup is still alive and kicking: after releasing an iPhone app earlier this year, it’s introducing an iPad version as well. As ever, the browser is built around social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but instead of emphasizing chat and status updates, it’s all about using your social network to help curate a newsfeed that matches your interests. In other words, you could do a traditional web search and sift though the results, but if you sign in with your Facebook or Twitter handle what you’ll actually see are stories that RockMelt thinks might appeal to you. In theory, the browser will learn, over time, what you like and what you don’t, and at any point you can add specific news sources as you would with an RSS feed. As an added bonus, the experience of reading articles from within the app is actually quite smooth, but that’s neither here nor there.

And, of course, what would a social browser be without the ability to share cat videos? In addition to sharing things with people directly (i.e., through email), you can use so-called emoticodes like “lol,” “want,” and “aww” to comment on a story without actually commenting on it. (Think of it as the equivalent of liking something on Facebook: it’s less intrusive than posting random links on your friend’s wall.) The app is available for download today, and we’re told versions for other platforms are in development. In the meantime, check out the screenshots after the break to get a basic for the layout.

Continue reading RockMelt social browser comes to the iPad, offers up news stories tailored to your interests

Filed under: Tablets, Software

RockMelt social browser comes to the iPad, offers up news stories tailored to your interests originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter has pretty much nailed text-based interaction, so it looks like it’s time to diversify into video. According to AllThingsD, the blue birdie has snapped up a three-man outfit called Vine, a video-sharing startup intended specifically for bite-sized clips. You’d be forgiven for not knowing it — the service hasn’t actually launched yet — and there’s no word on whether it’ll operate independently or be assimilated by the social network. There are bound to be more details revealed soon, and it might not be too long before you’re sharing less in 140 characters and more in five-second clips.

Filed under: Internet

Twitter said to have acquired fledgling video-sharing service Vine originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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