facebook

In an attempt to find out which ads lead to purchases, Facebook is partnering with Datalogix, a company that compiles consumer purchasing data from retail stores. But the move has privacy advocates asking federal regulators to scrutinize the deal.

Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told CNET today that he will ask the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the new Facebook-Datalogix deal and determine whether the business practice complies with the terms of a recent $9.5 million agreement Facebook reached with the FTC to settle privacy complaints.

"In light of the recent consent order with … Read more

A Facebook Timeline feature that rounds up old posts has people crying privacy violations, but Facebook says it's just a part of its ongoing Timeline roll-out.

A French newspaper reported today that users were seeing private messages from past years posted to their Timelines. The messages were curated in a box labeled "Friends," which was created to display all the wall posts from each year.

Media reports and user panic ensued, but Facebook swears no private messages were published.

Facebook said this is a new feature that was incorporated into Timeline, but the viewable messages are not … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- iPhone 5: Say hello to scuffgate?

- Hacker: I've ported Google Maps to iOS 6.

- Subterranean park in Manhattan to stay sunny with fiber-optic skylights (Low Line).

- Coca-cola nails social media by releasing personalized bottles, Justin included.

- Leica cameras for some reason favored by celebrities.

Bathroom break video: iPhone 5 super-glued to ground in Amsterdam.… Read more

Looks like the Facebook pessimism has returned.

Shares of Facebook, which have been on a tear since CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to calm Wall Street during an in an interview at TechCrunch Disrupt less than two weeks ago, are getting slammed today. The stock fell more than 10 percent at one point and triggered the SEC's short-sale restriction, which is designed to keep short-sellers from battering the stock even further. Shares closed down more than 9 percent at $20.75.

Why the sudden change of heart? The broader market is taking a hit, which of course doesn't help. … Read more

Facebook now supports mobile payments through carriers, thanks to a partnership with Bango.

The mobile payments company today announced its Facebook partnership, saying that folks who use the social network's mobile app can now purchase digital goods through carrier billing. Users will be asked to confirm a purchase, and then the charge will show up on their carrier bills, according to Bango.

Bango's payment service is available only in the U.S., U.K., and Germany at the moment. The company promises to make it available elsewhere in the coming months.

By going with Bango, Facebook might increase … Read more

No other company in the world holds as much personal data as Facebook, which puts it in an ideal position to cull data from your friends and friends-of-friends, and even those you don't know, to bring you answers to your deepest questions. Such as, "What sushi restaurants have my friends gone to in New York in the last six months and Liked?"

Ok, maybe that's not your deepest questions, but it's the example that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used during an interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference earlier this month when he was talking … Read more

MenuTab for Facebook eliminates the need for another tab in the browser by providing widget-like access to the popular social network. Its uncluttered interface is similar to Facebook's iOS app and will be familiar to those who own an iPhone. Its handy features such as alerts and notifications make it a useful app -- if we ignore some of the bugs -- for anyone who likes prompt reactions on social media.

Facebook for iPhone users will be greeted by a familiar interface when they log in to MenuTab for Facebook on their Mac computer. We can say that if … Read more

TweetDeck for Mac now ships with a brand-new, well-designed user interface and a Twitter-for-Mac-like look, and it has multiple additional features that power users will love. By switching to HTML5, the developers have eliminated the need to continuously update Adobe Air, and now users can enjoy a neat app for reading, tweeting, and searching for specific topics of interest.

We liked how simple to use TweetDeck is. As soon as you set up your Twitter (or Facebook) account, you are off. While Twitter for Mac does a very good job for everyday use, it can't compete with this app'… Read more

Some parties are a riot.

No really, they are. Riot police are called, because there's simply too much fun going on.

Indeed, my heart rocks to an exalted beat at hearing that such a party broke out in the small Dutch town of Haren.

As the BBC reports it, the 16-year-old girl posted an invitation to her birthday party on Facebook and wasn't quite au fait with the privacy controls.

Her little hometown became somewhat tense at the idea of thousands descending upon its leafy parts to party, for 30,000 people ended up receiving the invitation.

The … Read more