Facebook files $5 billion IPO… $5 BILLION!
Facebook announces $5 billion IPO: So how will the filing change the social network? (NYDN) Facebook announced its $5 billion IPO late Wednesday afternoon. But what is all the hype about? What is an IPO, how does it work, and will a publicly traded Facebook affect how we use the social network on a daily basis? Here’s a quick guide. WHAT EXACTLY IS AN IPO? When a privately owned company makes an Initial Public Offering, it means they’re moving to be publicly traded on the stock market for the first time. That means that anyone can buy stock in the company and own a portion of it. Going public can help a company raise significant capital…
Wikipedia blackout 101: What are SOPA and PIPA?
A rundown of the basics on the controversial anti-piracy bills (NYDN) So where did Wikipedia go? That’s a question millions of people are asking this morning as they find the popular online encyclopedia has gone dark. Wikipedia, Craigslist, Reddit and other websites have blacked out in protest against two anti-piracy bills in Congress — the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA) — that are pitting the entertainment industry against the tech world. PHOTOS: WEBSITES GO BLACK IN PROTEST The bills were designed to stop piracy of copyrighted music, movies, and television shows. But critics including Google, Twitter, and some of the original architects of the Internet itself, say the legislation could…
Burger King tests delivery service
Burger King rolls out delivery service in Virginia & Maryland; no word yet on New York (NYDN) Got a whopper of a craving for Burger King? A new delivery service can satisfy it. The fast-food chain has been quietly rolling out delivery services at select stores in Maryland and Virginia, the company confirmed. “Now that Burger King is testing out home delivery, you can tell your neighbors that, last night, you were served dinner by royalty,” one Twitter user quipped. The news of the new delivery service was first reported by Bloomberg News. The delivery service is available at nine stores in Maryland and three in Virginia, with six more to be added in the Old…
Google adds more personal touch to search
(AP) SAN FRANCISCO – Google is sifting through the photos and commentary on its blossoming social network so its Internet search results can include more personal information. The additional personal touches coming out Tuesday mark another step toward one of Google’s most ambitious goals. The Internet search leader eventually hopes to know enough about each of its users so it can tailor its results to fit the unique interests of each person looking for something. Different people should start seeing different search results more frequently now that Google Inc. is importing content from its 6-month-old Plus service, a product that the company introduced in an attempt to counter the popularity of Facebook’s online hangout and…
Jihad Against White Coca-Cola Cans Succeeds
(Gawker) Our long national nightmare of coke cans looking different than usual has ended: Coca Cola has announced that it will scrap this year’s white holiday-designed cans, and return to “time-honored red” next week. Why? “Sacrilege.” The Wall Street Journal explains, While the company has frequently rung in the holiday with special can designs, this was the first time it put regular Coke in a white can. Some consumers complained that it looked confusingly similar to Diet Coke’s silver cans. Others felt that regular Coke tasted different in the white cans. Still others argued that messing with red bordered on sacrilege. Coke said it became aware of consumer complaints through Internet postings and some telephone calls to…
Facebook Likes Keeping Tabs on Users: Report
Facebook keeps tabs on users even after they sign off: report (NYDN) Facebook likes to watch its users even after they sign off. A new report released in USA Today shows the social media giant uses cookies to track data on its 800 million users around the world. “Tracking data can be used to figure out your political bent, religious beliefs, sexuality preferences, health issues or the fact that you’re looking for a new job,” said Peter Eckersley, projects director at Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights organization. “There are all sorts of ways to form wrong judgments about people.” A 90-day log is created through two different kinds of cookies that allow this social networking site to…
Facebook Is Drowning in a Flood of Hardcore Porn
(Gawker) If you walked by your coworker today and saw hardcore porn filling her screen, there may be an innocent explanation. Some sort of hack is currently spewing porn and gore all over Facebook. It’s a porn flood! For the last couple days, Facebook has been “inundated with pornographic images and links,” reader Adam Sank tells us. They appear as updates on your news feed, but they’re attributed to users who have nothing to do with their being posted. The pictures are REALLY graphic — a closeup of a woman fingering herself, an erect d*ck, etc. Facebook seems to be at a loss as to how to stop this from happening. It’s kind of funny, but…
Wal-Mart Turns Black Friday to Black Thanksgiving
(Gawker) Glorious American capitalism has advanced so much in the past year that the traditional “Black Friday” day of shopping hell has now become “Black Midnight,” in which major big box retailers open their doors on the first, dark minute of the day after Thanksgiving, so that your time in pre-Christmas retail torment may be prolonged as much as possible. Target’s doing it. Best Buy’s doing it. But… but what about Wal-Mart? Naturally, Wal-Mart, the actual physical manifestation of hell, has devised a plan that undermines the idea of “family time” even more. Stephanie Clifford reports: [Wal-Mart] is expected to announce Thursday that it will start deals at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day nationwide. At 10 p.m., Wal-Mart will offer specials…
The Recipe for a Perfect LinkedIn Profile Photo
(Gawker) Today the Wall Street Journal chatted with Nicole Williams, who is a “connection director.” No, that’s not what Heidi Fleiss got put in jail for. Williams works at LinkedIn, the social media equivalent of a “networking event” in a hotel conference room except without the sweaty cold cuts that bald guys are eating with their fingers. Well, Nicole has some advice for just what your LinkedIn profile photo should look like, and I bet it’s things you would never think of. Here are her points boiled down: Have a picture. Don’t include your dog, husband, or baby, unless you are selling one of them (or all three). Wear clothes. Wear clothes that don’t make you look like a slob….
iPhone’s New App Busts Man’s Cheating Wife
Did iPhone’s ‘Find My Friends’ Just Break Up Its First Marriage? (Gawker) If you set aside the five or so hours it took to download Apple’s iOS 5 this weekend, you were richly rewarded with a suite of new functions for your favorite brain-cancer-hastening communications device. And none were niftier than “Find My Friends” — appointed in the finest iNaugahyde, it’s an app that allows you to plot your friends on a map as if they were enemy ships on a blinking radar screen. Here’s an example of how you might use it: Friend 1: “Where’s Bob? My birthday dinner started 45 minutes ago!” Friend 2: “He just called. He said he’s in a cab on…
