The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan, has condemned social media as a "the worst menace to society" following a weekend of anti-government demonstrations across his country. He singled out the "scourge" of Twitter in particular, since protestors have been using that platform to share information and vent anger at the government. Small-scale riots started over plans to build a shopping mall or mosque (depending on who you believe) on the grounds of a popular park in central Istanbul, but they quickly spread to other areas and to a broader set of grievances about Erdogan's increasingly authoritarian stance. None of these disturbances were especially visible on national TV stations, however, as there have recently been heavy crackdowns on press freedom within Turkey. From the sound of it, Erdogan would prefer a more tightly controlled internet too -- or perhaps none at all.

[Image courtesy of Adem Altan/Getty Images]

Filed under: Internet, Mobile

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Source: The Times (paywall)

Facebook updated its Android app today, with a flurry of new features. The cutesy / creepy stickers that recently hit its messenger platform are now a part of its core application, along with the ability to delete unwanted comments from posts. The highlight of this new software push is a redesigned layout for business pages, which rolled out on iOS and its mobile web UI last month. Under this retooled interface Like, Directions, Check In and Call buttons at the top aid discovery in the style of Google Maps, Foursquare or Yelp. If you'd like to take closer at Facebook's refined setup for Android, feel free to socialize with the source link below.

Update: Although it wasn't noted in the changelog, we've noticed a new "ongoing notification" that appears after updating, and judging by the comments, so have some of you. It can be switched off in the app's settings, but it's on by default and drops a Facebook icon in your notification bar with shortcuts to areas like messages, friend requests and service notifications. You can get a peek at the surprise addition in the pic above -- let us know if you're feeling appreciative or angered in the comments.

Update 2: Without warning, the ongoing notification setting and accompanying icon / notification widget has disappeared from our Android devices, and from those of several readers. There was no update to the app, but the menu item is nowhere to be found and the bar disappeared after a device restart. Was this an accidental leak or just an early test by Facebook? We've contacted the company to find out more information, but for now all we have are these screengrabs.

Filed under: Software, Mobile, Facebook

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Via: CNET

Source: Google Play

To share or not to share was never a question for the creation of the PS4 -- it was always more about the how. Right from the start, Sony's upcoming, next-gen console had been planned with a social networking bent, but as Shuhei Yoshida, the company's head of Worldwide Studios, revealed to Edge, the decision to build a Share button into the DualShock 4 was the result of one first-party developer's eureka moment, not a cross-SCEI compromise. All credit is due Nathan Gary, creative director at Santa Monica Studio (best known for its God of War series), who successfully pitched the concept of a dedicated controller button to the PS4 team; an idea that was not only quickly met with unanimous praise, but also immediately implemented into the final product. It's yet further proof that Sony's learned from its past PS3 fumbling and has crafted a machine for developers, by developers.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Source: Edge

We're searching for a very special social- and community-savvy individual to lead the charge setting social strategy for the top consumer tech blog on the planet. Your role would focus on bringing the Engadget voice to life on new channels, leveraging an arsenal of measurement and analysis tools to identify best practices and broadly develop new audiences while interacting more directly with our existing fanbase.

You will need to be highly detail-oriented, unflaggingly personable, have a passion for technology and a deep understanding of how to leverage learnings from metrics to drive brand growth. Preference will be given to candidates in the San Francisco Bay area, but location is not a strict requirement and we are willing to work with the right person anywhere you live.

Read on for requirements and how to apply!

Filed under: Announcements, Meta

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It was a good ride while it lasted, but the browser wars haven't been kind to Rockmelt, which has announced that it'll cease supporting its socially-inclined desktop browser sometime in the next few months. The decision was made because keeping up with the steady stream of updates for Chromium, the code upon which the Rockmelt browser was based, was simply too costly.

In its place, the company has announced Rockmelt for Web, a portal that may serve to alleviate some of the Reader rage many of us are experiencing. It aggregates content from "your favorite sites, your favorite people, and a dash of crazy stuff you never would have discovered," so it's like a combination of RSS, social networks and StumbleUpon. It's an invite-only beta for now, though users of the browser and iOS app have already been invited to the party. The rest of you lot can get on the list by hitting the source and signing up.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Rockmelt Blog (1), (2), Rockmelt for Web

Now that the SEC has given companies its blessing to share business data over social media, Bloomberg has begun to pull live Twitter feeds into its market terminals, known as the Bloomberg Professional service. According to the firm, that makes it the first financial information platform to integrate real-time tweets into investment workflows. Within the service, tweets are classified by company, asset class, people and topics, and stock buffs can even search messages, create filters and set alerts to notify them when a certain subject gets a flurry of mentions. The outfit hopes the inclusion of 140-character missives will let financial-minded folks keep their fingers on the market's pulse without switching to another system (read: being distracted by Tweetdeck) to get the big picture. Hit the jump for the full skinny in the press release.

[Image credit: Jared Keller, Twitter]

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Via: AllThingsD

Source: Bloomberg

When Netflix CEO Reed Hastings took to Facebook last year to announce that the service had exceeded one billion viewing hours in a month for the first time, the financial world was in uproar. After all, there are rules and regulations concerning when sensitive data about a company's successes and failures can be made public. Since then, however, the Securities and Exchange Commission has done some thinking, and in trying to keep up with social savvy CEOs like Hastings and compulsive tweeter Elon Musk, has ruled that such disclosures can be made, as long as shareholders are notified about which sites will be used. If nothing else, it'd be a great way to see your follower count explode.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: Reuters

Source: SEC

Starting today, Facebook is launching a new threaded Replies commenting system for users with more than 10,000 followers as well as Pages linked to brands and businesses. By placing the most "liked" conversation logs at the top of its related post, the social network hopes this new addition will improve interactions between groups and their readers. Qualified profiles should be able to opt-in to the feature today, but the company advises that it will be activated for all Pages and profiles with more than 10,000 followers on July 10th. As of now Replies is only supported on the site's desktop version, but Facebook plans to add this feature to its Graph API and mobile applications. While it's great to see the popular social network finally pulling its commenting system out of the Dark Ages, we can only imagine the flame wars that will ensue between followers. Moderators, start your engines.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Facebook

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Facebook

Your imaginary (and seemingly arbitrary) social media score just got that much more credible -- by the same company calculating it. Klout's launching an offshoot of its influencer index to target businesses, turning individual social media data into metrics companies can use to better their brands. The service, which will continue to rollout into April, will arm big business with info culled from its Perks program (brand feedback provided by Klout's user base), highlighting hot topics, relevant social networks and other intangible "buzz" data so highly sought after by marketers. The sign-up page is live now on Klout's site, so any companies eager to abuse benefit from willfully divulged social data should do so with haste.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: Fortune

Source: Klout

We worship money. It can be exchanged for life-sustaining stuff, makes us powerful and drives us to make new things. It also drives us to do some very strange stuff, but that's a subject for another day and place. You may not bow to the altar of the dollar, but you certainly recognize the need to have some in order to survive.

While we adore money as a society, its time may be limited as a currency, and the internet may be to blame. Money wasn't always king. Before we traded cash, we exchanged gold, cows, clamshells, rice, copper, tea leaves and even bat guano. At some point in those currencies' lives, people determined that there were other things worth more and moved on to trade those.

Filed under: Internet

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You've seen the videos -- thousands of starlings flocking in the sky to swirl and surge across wide, cloudless backdrops. The beauty of their coordinated motion is stunning. The phenomenon is expressively called murmuration.

There might be purpose to starling choreographies, but if so, it is movement without destination. The flock shapes and re-shapes itself continuously. Doing so makes preying on the flock difficult, but beyond that, the motivation of these group flights is ineffable. If ornithologists told us that starlings were imitating the group behavior endemic to tech-adoption culture, it would be easy to see the similarity. The science behind murmuration extends the analogy even further.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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We've already had one major Facebook press event this year for the launch of Open Graph personalized search features but according to TechCrunch, another one later this week will herald the arrival of a revamped news feed. The new main page will filter content by type to pull out photos, music, with larger images overall and larger images for advertisements. The mockup shown above is based on information distilled from various sources that indicates the social network's plan is to put currently buried feeds like Pages users have liked in a more central and easier to access area, along with information pulled in by the ever expanding number of services linked to one's Facebook ID. What isn't confirmed however, according to the TechCrunch rumor are revamp views for the mobile apps, despite the company's stated plan to go "mobile best" in 2013. Hit the source link for more details on how your mother will be keeping tabs on you in the near future.

Filed under: Internet, Facebook

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Source: TechCrunch

After landing itself in hot water with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) and Hamburg's Data Protection Authority (DPA), Facebook has deleted all of its European photo tagging facial recognition data. After reviewing the company's source code and deletion process, DPC spokesperson Ciara O'Sullivan confirmed today that the regulatory agency was satisfied with the social network's compliance. Additional removal confirmation came from Hamburg's DPC's technical department, which also reviewed the firm's software to ensure that its standards were met. In a recent comment to CFO World, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the data had been deleted and that the social network has no plans to reinstate facial recognition software in Europe anytime soon. No word on whether Facebook will now purchase sadface.com for... oh, $80 million or so.

Filed under: Software, Facebook

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Source: CFO World

We thought App.net had eyes only for Twitter when the project was funded and garnered its first 20,000 customers. Today, a post on the company blog reveals that its sights are set much higher than mere messaging. Rather than provide just an ad-free alternative to Twitter, it turns out App.net plans to become a social app platform through its new File API and cloud storage services. The API gives devs the tools needed to build any and all social applications they can dream up -- from photo sharing apps to collaboration tools.

Additionally, App.net is giving annual and dev accounts a 10GB cloud locker. That storage can, in turn, be leveraged for simple file sharing by users and as a repository for social data that can be accessed by apps built with the API. So, photos, messages and other info from an App.net account can be fully controlled by users and can be accessed by any social app they choose. This is a stark contrast to Facebook or Google+, where access to such data is controlled by those companies. Of course, the new platform's only as good as its apps, so interested devs should head on down to the source, grab the API, and get started building the next-gen social network.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Verge

Source: App.net API Documentation, App.net Blog, Github

If Google+ wants any chance of beating the social media juggernaut that is Facebook -- especially after the latter's latest efforts in the search arena -- it needs to reach a far wider audience than it does now. The Mountain View company has just made a small but significant step in that direction with the availability of its G+ iOS app to 48 more countries and territories, according to a G+ post by engineer Frank Petterson. The countries listed -- Bermuda, Cambodia, Malawi and Nepal, just to name a few -- aren't necessarily known for their large populations, but we're sure Google will accept anything that'll help Larry Page make his case against Zuckerberg and crew. To find out which new areas will let you download that G+ app from the App Store, check out the source below.

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Source: Google+

Social media giant Facebook just announced that its new Graph Search tool will also incorporate results from the wider web thanks to a partnership with Microsoft and Bing. Obviously, people won't flock to Graph Search if it's capabilities are limited to where your friends live and the restaurants they like. Zuckerberg and crew will have to provide some way to find information that Facebook simply can't provide (for now...). That's where Bing comes in, with its ability to pull data like current weather conditions -- something your old frat buddies are probably useless to provide. This is hardly the first time Redmond has gotten cozy with Facebook. The social network is integrated rather closely with the search engine and Bing has been providing web search results on Facebook for sometime. Now there's just less of a wall between the two when looking at results. With Graph Search, Bing results are put front and center, with some social context. For a bit more information from Microsoft's perspective hit up the more coverage link.

Gallery: Facebook partners with Bing to deliver web results in Graph Search

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft, Facebook

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Facebook this morning announced "Graph Search," a way to search all of Facebook's content for queries tailored to your profile. CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained the search by saying, "Graph Search is meant to answer very specific questions like 'Who are my friends in San Francisco?" In a video released by Facebook just after the announcement, project lead Lars Rasmussen (formerly of Google Maps / Waves fame) related a story about needing a dentist in a town he'd just moved to, and being able to search through which dentists his friends used for a tailored result. Worry not, privacy protectors: we're told Graph Search is "privacy aware;" Facebook's even dedicated 10 percent of its computing power just to the goal of ensuring privacy. And no, none of your privacy settings will automatically change as a result of signing up or using Graph Search.

It's being touted as a return to Facebook's roots, when the company's main goal was forging connections between people (rather than, say, a gaming portal, or a means for companies to advertise). Graph Search is essentially a relaunch of Facebook's internal search engine, allowing its already existing users to forge new relationships with folks they may not otherwise meet, and to find content that's hyper-specific. The beta -- albeit in a limited, English-only capacity -- kicks off today. During that period only a "subset of content" is available through search, with four primary areas of focus: people, photos, places, and interests. Facebooks says Graph Search will expand, "over the coming months," with additions like searchable wall posts and song listens (only if your privacy settings allow those things to be searchable, that is).

You can head right here to get whitelisted for the beta, which is apparently rolling out "very slowly." Or you could head past the break right now for the full PR from Facebook and a walkthrough video, as well as a slew of updates from our liveblog.

Gallery: Facebook Graph Search

Gallery: Facebook Graph Search press shots

Filed under: Internet, Software, Facebook

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Sure, Magisto's automatic video editing algorithms are great for social media mashup clips, but what if you want to use the service's robotic sense of cinema to tell a story? CEO Oren Boiman says it's just what social video is missing, and has tweaked the service to fill the gap. Users now have access to a collection of themes to change how their footage is handled. The idea is to tip the algorithm in on the emotion the user is trying to convey, selecting "so cute" or "street beat" to cue it to select appropriately adorable or aggressive song suggestions, special effects or title treatments. The service also added a new video album feature, making it easier to organize and share videos with friends and family, and hopes to implement a collaborative editing system soon -- complete with post-production tools to tweak the computer's direction. Of course, you could always do things the old fashioned way.

Filed under: Internet, Software

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Many of us enjoy looking through our social network history to reflect on shared memories, and Path is helping users do just that with its latest 2.9 update. Adding a comprehensive search feature that uses metadata in addition to user-defined tags, searching "Photos from Thanksgiving" pulls relevant images even if they didn't have those words in the post. The same concept applies to different days and times, like "sunset" or "weekend brunch." Other contextual categories include friends, places, seasons and the weather. There's also a "Nearby" function that taps into your phone's GPS for moments captured in your immediate vicinity.

One particular search that impressed us during a hands-on briefing is the ability to search for "emotions." Similar to the "like" feature in Facebook, Path lets users mark a post with one of five emoticons (smile, frown, laugh, gasp or heart). With the 2.9 update, you can search for all the posts that received a particular emoticon ("funny" searches all the laugh-tagged posts for example). As a little easter egg, if you search for "royal flush," you'll bring up the posts that have received at least one of each emoticon. It's more amusing than useful, but we found it cute nonetheless. The search feature is only in English to start, but the company is planning on additional language support in the future. Check after the break for more screens, or hit the links below to grab the latest version of Path from Google Play and iTunes.

Filed under: Software

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Source: Path, Path (iTunes), Path (Google Play)

The house that Zuck built is reportedly in the process of bringing its desktop site's share feature to mobile, which will allow Facebook users to retweet repost and comment on content from within their news feeds. Currently available on Facebook's mobile website, this Twitteresque option will soon make its way to the company's iOS and Android apps. Whenever a person shares something, it will credit the source of the information by attaching the original poster's name to the status update. It's too early to tell how the addition of a share button will affect how people "like" posts; however, once this feature becomes widely available to Facebook's 604 million-plus mobile users, news feeds are likely to be flooded with even more pictures of cats, food and grandchildren than ever before. Bet you didn't think that was possible, but rest assured it's a comin'.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: TechCrunch

We've all heard stories about people losing jobs over their Facebook activity, but the Social Jobs Partnership is an initiative aimed at achieving the reverse. The project sees the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies working with Facebook to launch the Social Jobs Application today. The app helps recruiters reach Facebook's considerable audience, while also introducing a professional stream to the site. Prospective employers can list vacancies by industry, location, and skill, and there's already a bunch of recruitment sites on board, including BranchOut, DirectEmployers Association, Work4Labs, Jobvite and Monster.com. At launch, there are 1.7 million jobs up for grabs. A NACE survey recently highlighted that many recruiters are already leveraging the social platform to find staff, so a partnership to further facilitate the process seemed a natural progression. Missing the daily challenge of a 9-to-5, or just fancy a different one? Head down to the source, and update that resumé (but be sure to check your photo privacy settings first).

Filed under: Internet, Facebook

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Social Jobs Partnership (Facebook)

Android users of generation "Hey Look at Me!" can now add another tool to their arsenal of lifestyle sharing. The Livestream for Producers Android application received an update on Monday that introduces "single touch" sign up and logins through Facebook, a new app icon and some unnamed bug fixes. However, the most noteworthy addition here is the ability to run live ad-free videos over 3G and 4G data connections. Requiring Android 2.2 or higher, this free media streaming app might be an ideal companion for folks looking to incriminate co-workers at this year's Halloween costume party -- all in good fun of course. Just be sure to remember who signs your paycheck before you decide to take a broadcast live.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Source: Google Play

While you might use Firefox to access your social media of choice already, preliminary support for a new API has been introduced that could integrate key features into the browser itself. The aptly named Social API, will allow developers to embed services into the browser directly, letting you interact with friends and stay updated without having to open new windows, or keep hopping into different tabs. There's no solid info just yet on how this will manifest itself, or how issues such as security and privacy might be addressed, but with testing beginning soon, we're expecting the curtain to lift on the finer details soon. Interested developers can head to the source, for the other billion, you'll just have to wait.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile

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Source: Mozilla (Blog), Mozilla (Dev Blog)

Active accounts have become one of the hottest currencies online, especially for social networks. Previous boasts by Facebook have been quickly shot down, but this latest number is pretty hard to ignore. According to Zuckerberg himself the site now has 1 billion active monthly users. That's right, one in seven people on the planet logs on to the social network at least once a full moon cycle. The announcement comes via the site's official news blog, which if the numbers are true, could mean most of you have read this already. Zuckerberg broke the news originally in a Q&A with Bloomberg Businessweek, also claiming that the site now has 600 million mobile users.

Filed under: Internet, Facebook

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Facebook

Yes, seriously. NASA announced on Wednesday that its Curiosity rover had "checked in" on Mars via Foursquare. Marking the first check in from another world, the robotic rover will utilize the location-minded social network to share updates and pictures while visiting the Red Planet. While Curiosity will continue to explore the possibilities of Mars being able to sustain life, it would appear that the fourth planet from the sun just got a brand new mayor. Something tells us the universe's rarest badge is about to be bestowed.

Filed under: Science

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Via: Foursquare

Source: NASA