Facebook’s iPad App Is Hidden Inside Of Their iPhone App

There are things out there all around us that we often miss because we’re just not looking. This is perhaps most true in the tech world, where thousands of secrets are out there in the wild, hidden in code. If you know where to look, or if you can read the code, you can find those secrets. It’s how so many features of iOS get revealed early by sites like 9to5 Mac, who are great at parsing the code (and confirming our non-code-digging scoops). It’s how we knew basically everything about Chrome OS before it actually launched. It’s how we knew Facebook Places was coming before it was announced. And now we’ve just uncovered a new massive find this way.

Hidden in the code of Facebook’s iPhone app is the code for something else. Something everyone has been waiting over a year for. The iPad app.

Yes, it’s real, and it’s spectacular (well, very good, at the very least). And yes, it really is right there within the code. Even better, it’s executable. (Update: a lot of pictures here.)

For the past couple hours, I’ve been using Facebook’s iPad app. Well, I should qualify this. I can’t be sure if this is the version they’ll actually ship, but based on everything I’ve seen, I’m going to assume it’s at least very close to the version they’re going to ship. While much of it is written with HTML5 (as you might expect from Facebook), the native iPad work is very good too.

In particular, the navigation system is great. Unlike the iPhone app — which even its creator is complaining about now as being stale — the Facebook iPad app uses a left-side menu system that can be accessed by the touch of a button or the flick of the iPad screen. The app also makes great use of the pop-overs (overlay menus) found in other iPad apps. When you flip the iPad horizontally, the list of your online friends appears and you can chat with them as you do other things on Facebook. The photo-viewer aspect looks great — similar to the iPad’s own native Photos app. Places exists with a nice big map to show you all your friends around you. Etc.

It’s all good. I’m going to put up a post after this one with a ton of screenshots of the entire app.

All of this is possible apparently thanks to a seemingly tiny update Facebook pushed yesterday to their iPhone app. Version 3.4.4 seemed like a small version that restored the “Send” button for comments and chat among a few other little things. Facebook may have even pushed it out in response to some backlash they had been getting about the app, as Financial Times covered a few days ago. Perhaps it was the rush to fix some of those issues that caused Facebook to push this version — which will clearly eventually be Universal Binary (meaning it will house both the iPhone and iPad versions of the app) — with the iPad elements inside. Whatever the case, the app is carrying a payload of much greater importance than some bug fixes.

So, I’m using it. Can you? Well, yes — if you don’t mind doing some things you’re technically not supposed to do to your iPad. We obviously don’t recommend it, but if you catch my drift, I’m sure you can figure out a way to access Facebook for iPad. Related, it must be noted that a Canadian engineering student, Marvin Bernal, who calls himself an “iOS Enthusiast” actually noticed this Facebook mistake almost immediately and tweeted about it.

So, after over a year of complaints, Facebook now appears to truly be on the verge of releasing the iPad app. It has now been well over a month since the New York Times’ Nick Bilton reported about the app’s existence and said it should launch in the “coming weeks”. At the time, we further verified its existence , but did not hear a timetable for the launch. Once source now says that based on the HTML changes rolling out on an hourly basis, it looks like work is still underway. But much of that work appears to be smaller tweaks at this point. We’re close — just in case the code being attached to the iPhone app didn’t give that away.

During the launch of the Skype video chatting integration a few weeks ago, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that the company was gearing up for a full slate of launches in the coming weeks. The iPad app will be one of them. And based on what I’ve seen tonight, I’d be even less surprised if Project Spartan ties in with it as well eventually. The one thing the iPad app (like all the other Facebook mobile apps) is missing is gaming (and all other third-party apps). Spartan could bring that down the line.

We’ll be doing a post with a ton of images shortly. Below, a quick taste.

Update: And all the images. Enjoy.

Update 2: I’ve confirmed with a source who had previously seen the Facebook iPad app that this is in fact the very app that they were planning to launch with. We’ll see if that timetable gets sped up now.

iPhone 4 Review

http://mobiletechupdatenews.blogspot.com/2011/07/iphone-4-review.html

Apple iPad 2 (16GB, Wi-Fi, black) Review

http://mobiletechupdatenews.blogspot.com/2011/07/apple-ipad-2-16gb-wi-fi-black-review.html

Thank you :
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/25/facebooks-hidden-ipad-app/

More than 50% of Parents Use Facebook to Spy On Their Kids

• onion news network
• ONN
• facebook
• CIA

The fears of a generation have been confirmed, as a new survey reveals that more than 50% of parents use social media as a way of spying on their children—and that even more would do so if they knew how.

The survey of 2,000 British parents, carried out by OnePoll, found that 55% of respondents use social media to track their kids' online activities, with a further 5% admitting that, if they knew how to do the same thing, they would.

Furthermore, 11% of those polled admit they created a Facebook profile purely to track their children, with 13% saying that they have logged onto friends' accounts to check up on their children, some doing so after attempting to friend their offspring and being rejected—15% of those polled have tried to friend their kids on Facebook, with 4% of them getting rejected.

The results of the survey are likely depressing to the youth of the U.K., but can't be that surprising; social media has long been considered an easy way of keeping track of people, after all—so much so that the Onion has already revealed the true origins of Facebook:

See Video
CIA's "Facebook" Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs

Thank you :

http://techland.time.com/2011/07/18/more-than-50-of-parents-use-facebook-to-spy-on-their-kids/#ixzz1STHTWojA

Google+ Ad On Facebook Is Banned

What happens on Google+, stays on Google+. At least that’s the way Facebook would like to see things. Web developer Michael Lee Johnson found that out the hard way. He was trolling for Google+ friends on Facebook by running a Facebook ad asking people to add him to their Circles on Google+. Facebook, apparently, did not like him using its site to build his own social network somewhere else. So it pulled his ads.

He writes on Google+:

I recently ran a Google+ advertisement on Facebook that got all of my campaigns suspended. – Great.

Yeah, Facebook frowns on people promoting competing products with Facebook ads. It’s even in its Terms of Service. But seriously, where else is he going to find friends for Google+?

Thank you : http://networkedblogs.com/kxj7m

Facebook Is Getting Into the News Business

Facebook has a war on its hands, and Mark Zuckerbergknows it. Practically overnight,Google+ has gone from a rumor to a thriving community with over 10 million members. With some 700 million members of its own, Facebook is thinking less and less about how to grow that number and more about how to get current users to live more of their lives within its virtual walls. One answer it has come up with: asking a select number of news outlets to produce “Facebook editions” — basically, app versions of themselves that can be read and consumed right there on Facebook.

About a dozen news outlets are currently participating, including CNN, the Washington Post and The Daily, according to sources familiar with the project. The first Facebook editions are expected to arrive later this year, perhaps in September. The New York Times was also asked to participate, according to one source, but opted to hold back for now, apparently because of reservations over how having a Facebook edition might fit into its new paywall strategy. (It’s for similar reasons that the Times isn’t even giving all of its content to the digital news aggregation service Ongo even though it’s a financial partner in the startup.)

I don’t know any details of the financial arrangements involved, but if it’s similar to the deals Facebook is making with TV and movie studios and networks, the social network is likely asking for a cut of revenues generated by subscription and advertising sales generated by the app editions. (Mostly recently, Facebook made it possible for users to rent episodes of the BBC’s series “Doctor Who.”) I’ve contacted Facebook and the four news companies mentioned above but have yet to receive any comment. Update: A Facebook spokeswoman says, “We have nothing new to announce. The top media sites around the world are integrated with Facebook and we’re constantly talking to our partners about ways to improve these integrations.”

I also understand that Google is working on, or at least has recently explored, a similar idea. An executive from a leading online news company was summoned to a meeting at the search giant’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters last fall for partnership talks. “They gave us a presentation on how Google’s going to be rethinking the news,” says the executive. The plan called for partnering with “selected publishers that would offer up the choicest stories they were working on.”

This executive’s company demurred: “We looked at it as Google creating this powerful news portal that was going to compete with us.” (Again, no comment yet from Google.)

Now that Facebook is known to be at work on a parallel initiative, however, it could change the dynamic for publishers, who may find playing one against the other gives them leverage they lacked until now.

Thank you : http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffbercovici/2011/07/15/facebook-working-with-top-news-brands-on-facebook-editions/

Report: Facebook Like Button Most Used, Google +1 Button Surging

Today BrightEdge, an enterprise SEO platform, released a report on the adoption of social sharing plugins on websites and links to those sites. The findings show that about half of the top 10,000 websites have a link to their Facebook pages from their home page, 40% link to their Twitter pages and when it comes to like buttons, Google+ is now second place to Facebook.

Homepage Links To Social Sites

An interesting finding of the report was the overall number of links out to the various social sites. The following chart showcases the percentages of sites that have a link to a social destination on their home pages and compares July 2011 numbers vs. June 2011:

Facebook leads the way with 47.4% of the top 10,000 websites including a link to Facebook directly on their homepage. The only social destination that dropped in July was YouTube, which was only slightly down by 0.02 points.

Like Buttons On Homepage

While the adoption of links on pages is rather high, the adoption of social plugins is a bit behind. The two most popular social plugins belong to Facebook with the plugin types being the “like button” and the “like box” respectively. Surprisingly, the stats show that Google’s +1 is more widely used than Twitter’s “share button” and is implemented at almost twice the rate.

Websites with Google +1 plugin integration are at 4.5%, beating the combined numbers of the “Twitter share” (2.1%) and “Twitter instant follow” (1.3%) buttons:


Overall, Facebook is still the most prominent in terms of social links and social plugins, but Google’s +1 is gaining. The most captivating stat of the report was just how little the Twitter plugins are being utilized currently even though over 40% of sites had a link to their Twitter profile.

Thank you : http://searchengineland.com/report-facebook-has-the-most-implemented-social-plugins-googles-1-surging-84926

Google's Schmidt sees room for several social networks

(Reuters) - Google Inc is leaving open the door to more co-operation with social-media giants Facebook and Twitter, and believes there is room for multiple social networks as it rolls out its own, executive chairman Eric Schmidt said.

He also said the company will cooperate fully with U.S. antitrust regulators but will not let the formal probe launched last month distract or disrupt its strategy. He was speaking to journalists at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Schmidt, who vacated his CEO seat to co-founder Larry Page in April and now oversees government affairs, said it was too early to say how its new social network, Google Plus, was faring -- but one key indication of success is the number of people clamoring to be part of the limited group currently using Plus, which launched in trial mode last week.

One of the more popular features on Plus, especially with younger users, was online video chat, he said.

Singling out two services where Google Plus can now be viewed as a competitor, Schmidt said he would "love to have deeper integration with Twitter and Facebook."

Google's search deal with Twitter recently expired, and despite "a substantive and lengthy discussion," the companies couldn't agree on terms, he said.

And Google's overtures to Facebook to discuss letting Plus users import Facebook friends also went nowhere, Schmidt said.

Schmidt laid out a future with multiple sources of online identity and multiple social networks, even as detractors say Facebook's service, with millions of users around the world, is too entrenched to allow for serious competition.

Schmidt also said Google executives -- though not he himself -- had discussed the recent hacking of email accounts with Chinese officials.

Google last month revealed a major hacker attack that it said originated within China. It said hackers tried to steal the passwords of hundreds of Google email account-holders, including those of senior government officials, Chinese activists and journalists.

"We tell the Chinese what we know ... and then they publicly deny their role. That's all I have to say about that," Schmidt said.

Closer to home, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has started a formal review of Google's business, raising concerns among investors about a lengthy, distracting probe and potential legal action.

The FTC is expected to address complaints from Google's rivals that its search results favor the company's own services. Google, which runs an estimated 69 percent of Web searches worldwide, can make or break a company depending on its search ranking.

Some worry that Google's desire to stand firm against government intrusion -- as with its protests against Chinese censorship of search results -- will trigger a long battle that ultimately does more damage than a quick settlement.

"We've had some meetings internally, (but) we haven't changed anything," Schmidt said.

Thank you : http://networkedblogs.com/kc0vP

Facebook Offers Video Chat in Arrangement With Skype

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Hoping to give its users a more intimate way to stay in touch, Facebook on Wednesday introduced video chatting inside its online social network through a deal with Skype, the Internet calling service.

The new feature allows users a way to connect with friends other than just posting messages, said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, said at a news conference here at the company’s headquarters. “It’s so easy, so minimal to use,” he said.

Last week, Google introduced Google+, its latest and most serious challenge yet in social networking, which includes video chatting for up to 10 people in an area of the site called Hangouts. So far, Google has limited the number of people who can sign up for the networking service.

To a certain extent, Facebook is playing catch-up — an unfamiliar position for a company that has grown to 750 million users worldwide, a figure Mr. Zuckerberg disclosed at the news conference. He has spent the last few years lifting Facebook past its rivals — it had 500 million users a year ago — but now faces questions about why he is following their lead.

The new Facebook service does not allow for group video chats, for example. It is also not available on mobile phones, unlike Skype’s smartphone apps.

Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land, an industry blog, said Facebook’s new service at least lets the company counter Google’s move with its video chat. But in the end, he said, video chatting has been widely available for years in a variety of ways, like through instant messaging services, Skype and Apple’s FaceTime.

“I didn’t get the impression that people were finding it difficult to find one-to-one video chatting if they wanted to,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This potentially makes it easier for more people to get going, but I don’t see it as that hard to begin with.”

To start a video chat on Facebook, users click a button on their Facebook chat list or on a friend’s profile page. A box will then appear on the computer screen of that friend to either accept or decline the call.

Conversations take place inside a window that pops up within the browser. Downloading a plug-in is required to make and receive calls.

Video chatting will be available to all Facebook’s users in the coming weeks. For now, however, users can access it at facebook.com/videocalling.

For Skype, the partnership with Facebook provides a chance to have more visibility beyond its 170 million users. The service is free on Facebook, but Tony Bates, Skype’s chief executive, raised the possibility of eventually making paid calls available to Facebook users.

Making calls from computer to computer through Skype is free. But people who use Skype to call a landline or a mobile phone must pay. Facebook’s alliance with Skype expands an existing partnership between the two companies. Their cooperation started last year when Skype let its users connect with their Facebook friends from Skype and to get news feeds.

Last month, the Skype added a Facebook contacts tab and let Skype users send instant messages to their Facebook friends and comment on their friends’ status — all without leaving the Skype window.

But making Skype available on Facebook is risky and may, in the short term, undermine its business, said Greg Sterling, an analyst at Opus Research.

Facebook’s users will most likely flock to the new video chatting service, he said, while avoiding visiting Skype’s branded service directly.

“Obviously this is a great feature for Facebook — it’s really simple and a lot of people will use it,” Mr. Sterling said. But he added, “I think it’s going to have an adverse impact on Skype.”

Mr. Bates said: “We’ve always wanted to be as ubiquitous as possible. The long-term partnership far outweighs users moving from Skype, or visa versa.”

Microsoft is closing in on its acquisition of Skype for $8.5 billion. The purchase, announced two months ago, would give Microsoft a bigger footprint in online communications for consumers and corporate customers.

Microsoft, through its Skype acquisition, would also strengthen its ties to Facebook. Microsoft bought a small stake in Facebook in 2007, and it continues to provide search results within Facebook.

During the news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg signaled that the Skype integration was the first of several deals that would add services to Facebook with the help of other companies.

“Independent entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurs that focus on one thing, will always do better than a company that tries to focus on a million things,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in a comment that could be interpreted either as an acknowledgment of Facebook’s limits, or as a dig at Google for its broad ambitions.

Thank you : http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/technology/facebook-introduces-video-chat-in-a-partnership-with-skype.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26

LinkedIn Surpasses Myspace For U.S. Visitors To Become No. 2 Social Network; Twitter Not Far Behind

Professional social network Linkedin surpassed Myspace in terms of traffic to become the No. 2 most visited social networking site in the U.S. in June. LinkedIn, which has seen a resurgence of traffic after its IPO in May, reached an all-time high of 33.9 million unique visitors in June compared to Myspace, which saw 33.5 million unique visitors (that’s down from 34.9 million in May). Hopefully Myspace’s new owners can recharge the troubled social network.

Twitter posted record U.S. traffic, with June as the first month the site saw over 30 million unique visitors. Twitter.com had 30.6 million unique visitors in June, compared to 27 million unique vistors in May. The increase in traffic is actually a big win for Twitter, which splits traffic between its own mobile clients and the many third-party clients that are used to access the network.

Facebook also reached an all-time high in terms of U.S. traffic in June, according to newly released comScore data. In June, Facebook saw 160.8 million unique vistors in the U.S., which is up from 157.2 million uniques in May. The company also announced that it crossed the 750 million active users mark worldwide in June as well.

Tumblr saw 11.8 million unique visitors in June, up from 10.7 million unique visitors in May. In June, we reported that Tumblr was seeing around 400 million pageviews per day, thanks in part to international growth and faster response times.

Zuckerberg Surprised That People Are Surprised He’s On Google+

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joining Google+ was at a major media event, with everyone from Forbes to The Daily Mail covering the fact that the founder established a Google+ profile, building Circles that include former Facebooker Dustin Moskovitz and current Facebook CTO Bret Taylor.

While many were doubtful that the real Zuckerberg would join a competing social service, tech blogger Robert Scoble texted Zuckerberg himself to confirm, tweeting out “Name drop moment. Zuckerberg just texted me back. Says “Why are people so surprised that I’d have a Google account?”

In case anyone is still doubting that it is the real Zuck on there, Scoble tells me that Zuckerberg indeed meant Google+ account when he referred to Google account. But the real question is, why are people so surprised that Zuckerberg would chose to be on Google+?

Perhaps the answer lies in the precedent set by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who seem to have shied away from interacting on Facebook as themselves. (According to Steven Levy, Brin is actually on Facebook as a pseudonym. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is also rumored to be on the service, independently of when Mike impersonated him).

Page’s and Brin’s behavior aside, plenty of other founders (Myspace Tom for example) have shown that it’s perfectly normal to partake and enjoy competitive services, and that it shouldn’t necessarily be considered an act of espionage. I for one just hope Zuckerberg is more prolific on Google+ than he is on Twitter.