Skype 6.0 lands with Microsoft and Facebook account integration, Retina support

You're probably saying to yourself, "didn't Skype just get a Windows 8-friendly refresh?" Why yes, yes it did. But Skype 6.0 here isn't limited to Windows RT slates, instead it's designed for more traditional Windows systems and even has a similarly numbered OS X counter part. There's a number of notable changes here, including the ability to sign in directly with your Facebook or Microsoft account. (If you've got a Live Messenger, Hotmail or Outlook.com account, then you've got a Microsoft account.) The most visible changes, however, will be the "flattened" Don't-call-it-Metro-friendly UI on Windows and the addition of Retina display support on OS X. There's a few other minor changes, including some additional localizations, which you can read about at the source. And heck, since you're already there, might as well download Skype too.

[Source: Engadget]

Microsoft 'retiring' Facebook and Twitter Xbox 360 Dashboard apps

Eagle-eyed gamers may have already noticed that the Xbox 360's dedicated Twitter and Facebook appshave gone missing after the latest Dashboard update, and now Redmond has confirmed it's put the applications out to pasture. According to a Microsoft representative that spoke to IGN, the firm is "retiring the Facebook and Twitter apps" as it works to streamline functionality. When asked if the pair of apps will ever make a comeback, Ballmer and Co. didn't comment. Still crave to update your friends on your latest gaming exploits through the console? Spreading the news on the digital grapevine is still possible, but you'll have to access the social networks through the freshly added Internet Explorer app -- an experience we hope Xbox SmartGlass will improve.

[Source: Engadget]

Facebook testing Pinterest-style 'Collections' to get brand pages more sales opportunities

It looks like Facebook is pulling a page directly from Pinterest's playbook. According to All Things D, the company is testing a new "Collections" feature that lets users collate product images from brand pages however they best see fit and share that collection with their friends. The feature is being tested today, but the company should be releasing it widely to the Facebook userbase later this afternoon; it doesn't appear to be live on our end yet. For starters, Facebook is testing Collections with seven retailers only, including Pottery Barn and Victoria's Secret — you won't be able to make collections from any random friend's images or even any brand page, at first. While other brands can't yet participate, Facebook will open the program up to all brand pages if they decide to keep Collections around beyond the test phase.

These new collecting features could certainly drive a lot more attention to brand pages, and Facebook is hoping to help make these pages more valuable — along with the photo is a price and purchase link. For starters, the company isn't charging a referral fee, but this could certainly turn into a new revenue stream for Facebook once the program matures. As for the end user, images won't show up in your new feed unless you're following the company or one of your friends interacts with and shares it — still, if this takes off like Pinterest has, there's a chance you could get bombarded with your friends' wishlists before too long.

[Source: The Verge]

Native Facebook app for Android is in the final phases of internal testing

Remember when Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook's HTML5 Android app was a mistake? Well, one of our tipsters, embedded deep inside the Social Network, has let us know that the native version for Google's mobile OS has entered final testing. As such, it won't be long before the software is ready for consumption by the public at large, give or take an angry Winklevii or two.

[Source: Engadget]

Zuckerberg: more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month

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.

[Source: Engadget]

Facebook Messenger for BlackBerry reaches App World, sates compulsive chatters

If you own a BlackBerry, it might not have been immediately apparent that Facebook Messenger has been an option since October; unlike with Android or iOS, you had to track down the download on Facebook's website. We don't know why it's been kept out of a more accessible channel, but that ends today with Facebook's chat-focused app arriving on BlackBerry App World like most any other title. There don't appear to be any new tricks included with the expanded availability, although we'd say that the wider exposure is enough of a highlight for an audience that just needs to get by until BlackBerry 10. Those who don't use BBM for all their instant messaging can find what they need at the source link.

[Source: Engadget]

Myspace and Geocities Yourself take your Facebook page back in time

Pining for the days when you could be social on the internet without running into troubling Facebook updates or worrying about which Twitter client you'll be allowed to use in future? Buzzfeed has you covered with its new Myspace Yourself and Geocities Yourself tools. They take information from your Facebook account and extrapolate that into a frame-perfect Myspace page reanimation complete with Tom on your friends list, or a gloriously ugly Geocities site adorned with flaming GIFs and Comic Sans.

[Source: The Verge]

Facebook speaks out on the big app rebuild

We posted about the Facebook app update the other day, and if you haven't updated your app yet, you really should. The app is a prime example of why native development is almost always better than trying to do things with cross-platform web connections, and why it's so important, even for an online service like Facebook, to make sure an app performs well on a given platform. If you're interested in reading more about the process, Facebook has posted a substantial article over on its own Facebook page, walking through why this change was made and exactly how it was done.

It's very interesting to read behind the technical scenes of how this update was created. The app essentially works in the same way that the previous version does, but it was built from the ground up in iOS' native Objective-C. The changes were all core to the process of running the app rather than UI developments, and if you have any development experience, it's wild to see the giant Facebook deal with the same issues that other iOS developers face.

Of course, the drawback for all of this is that while the original HTML 5 app was relatively easy to update, this new app requires a little more code tweaking to change even basic things in the app. Facebook has done its best to build things as modular as possible (the new app even uses some of the code from the standalone Facebook Messenger app), but going forward, a more solid foundation may mean we have to wait longer for changes.

[Source: TUAW]

Chrome for iOS Now Lets You Share Pages on Facebook and Twitter

Google has announced its first update to Google Chrome for iOS, adding the ability to share pages from the browser directly on your favorite social network, including Facebook and Twitter.

Google Chrome for iOS was announced and launched at the company’s annual developer’s conference in June.

The mobile browser offers a number of features already available in its desktop version, including synched tabs; if you’re checking out a website on your iPhone, you can open it on your desktop computer, and vice versa. Users can also share saved passwords between devices, bookmarks and search history.

Wednesday’s update allows you to share webpages via email, Google+, Facebook and Twitter. It also offers a number of other bug fixes, and stability and security improvements.

The updated version of Chrome for iOS is now available in the App Store.

[Source: Mashable]

Facebook for Android updated to include faster photo uploads, easier event creation

A new Facebook for Android update is now rolling out and for those of you who like to share photos and events, this is one you'll want to ensure you get installed. The noted changes include easier event creation along with a faster photo upload flow and the capability of adding emoji and photos into messages.

That new flow they mention pertains to the fact you can upload multiple photos within messages as well as directly to your photo area on Facebook. Overall, a simple upgrade but a huge one if you share a lot of images or tend to create a lot of events.

[Source: Android Central]

Facebook Passed Yahoo To Become The Second Largest Video Site In The U.S. In July

comScore’s monthly online video data is in and it looks Facebook passed Yahoo in July to become the second largest video site in the U.S. behind Google/YouTube. According to comScore, more than 184 million U.S. Internet users watched 36.9 billion online content videos in July, while video ad views totaled 9.6 billion.

Google/YouTube still outpaced the rest of the online properties with 157 million unique viewers in July, compared to 53 million from Facebook, 48.7 million from Yahoo, 44.8 million from Vevo and 42.7 million from Microsoft. Nearly 36.9 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 19.6 billion, followed by AOL with 665 million. Google also took the top spot for engagement as well.

Facebook has passed Yahoo in terms of views in the past, but more recently the social network has been behind Google, Yahoo, and even Vevo (from May).

In terms of ads, Google ranked first with 1.5 billion ads, followed by Hulu with 1.2 billion, Adap.tv with 1.1 billion, SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace with 1 billion and TubeMogul Video Ad Platform with 830 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled 3.9 billion minutes, with Adap.tv delivering the highest duration of video ads at 627 million minutes. Video ads reached 52 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 61 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46, while ESPN delivered an average of 26 ads per viewer.

[Source: TechCrunch - Read more here]

Facebook starts really, truly deleting removed photos

For those who haven't kept track, Facebook has had a years-long history of only maybe-sort-of-more-or-less purging our photos: they could be removed from a profile, but they would sometimes float around the site's content delivery networks for months or years, just waiting for a prospective employer to spot those embarrassing frosh week snapshots by accident. As Ars Technica discovered through experiments and official remarks, that problem should now be solved. In the wake of a months-long photo storage system migration and an updated deletion policy, Facebook now won't let removed photos sit for more than 30 days in the content network stream before they're scrubbed once and for all. The improved reaction time isn't as rapid as for a service like Instagram, where photos vanish almost immediately, but it might be a lifesaver for privacy advocates -- or just anyone who's ever worn a lampshade on their head in a moment of insobriety.

[Source: Engadget]