Hasta La Gadget!

Earlier today it was leaked that the end of the legal war between Facebook and Yahoo was at hand – this afternoon it’s been announced that Yahoo and Facebook will officially be tying the knot, so to speak, with portfolio cross-licensing, event cross-branding, and more. This update certainly takes the cake as far as businesses finding ways out of legal damages – and what better way to do it, after all, than with a good ol’ cup of tea and a dash of patent sharing?

The battle going on between these two beasts of companies has been going on since earlier this year when one sued the other with the other responding with a suit of their own. Patents were tossed, punches were thrown, and here we are now with sharp words forgotten and both Yahoo and Facebook seeming to come out just as much ahead as the other. The official statement reads as follows, in part:

“Under the agreements, which include a patent portfolio cross-license, the parties will work together to bring consumers and advertisers premium media experiences promoted and distributed across both Yahoo! and Facebook. Yahoo! and Facebook will also work together to bring Yahoo!’s large media event coverage to Facebook users by collaborating on social integrations on the Yahoo! site.”

After Ross Levinsohn, interim CEO of Yahoo and Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook share some kind words in writing, the statement goes on to explain that this deal is an extension of a partnership the two companies worked in previously. This new deal will have the two entering into “definitive agreements” as well as a new advertising partnership.

“Since the launch of the original multi-year partnership between Yahoo! and Facebook that allows users to discover and connect news and information on Yahoo! sites and share them with their Facebook friends, Yahoo! has integrated the feature called “Social Bar” on more than 100 of its properties globally, and more than 90 million users have implemented it. As a result, Yahoo! has the largest active user base among all news sites that have integrated with Facebook’s Open Graph platform, making Social Bar the world’s leading social news application.”

Facebook and Yahoo have decided together to work on a series of collaborative tent-pole and anchor activities that will be annual, each of them set to provide “unparalleled experiences for consumers and world-class sponsorship opportunities for advertisers.”

Advertising incoming!

Facebook partners with Yahoo in surprise exit from patent battle is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Facebook and Yahoo have been reported to be settling things between one another in regards to a collection of patent suits that were being fired at one another earlier this year. According to sources close to the dealings speaking with AllThingsD, a deal will be announced later today in which no money will change hands, somehow or another. Instead it seems that a strategic deal has been met and will be working with joint online advertising sales and patent cross-licensing.

When Yahoo sued Facebook back in March, the former said that the latter had infringed on 10 patents, some of which included bits on online advertising technology. This situation prompted Yahoo to claim that Facebook was “one of the worst performing sites for advertising” before they started using Yahoo-owned ideas.

Facebook responded with a lawsuit just a month later, claiming that Yahoo was prioritizing “litigation over innovation” and that Yahoo’s claims were bogus. Now it seems that the two have shaken hands in favor of moving beyond the situation entirely! Stay tuned for more as the full extent of the situation is revealed (or so we expect) later today.

Facebook and Yahoo tipped to settle lawsuit is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Open Street Map has been helping Flickr display geotagged shots for some time. That crowdsourced map data has led to more than a few photos being located in a gray blob, however, which is why Yahoo just struck a deal to put Nokia maps into as many nooks and crevices of the world as possible. The addition will make sure that Instagram photo tour of Africa is often accurate down to the street corner, not to mention give a slightly Finland-tinged look to the maps themselves. Open Street Map isn’t going away, but it’s now being used only for those areas where regular coverage is spotty or non-existent. The images already apply to any existing and upcoming uploads — there will be no question that self-portrait was taken in Tanzania.

Flickr brings in Nokia map data for precise geotagged photos, Instagram shots just got eerily accurate originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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