feed

Facebook has announced it will step up the amount of advertising displayed to users. It plans to include ads within news feeds and, for the first time, on mobile devices. Advertising makes up the vast majority of Facebook's revenue, the remainder ... coming from revenue associated with applications, like Farmville. However, to date Facebook has not followed the traditional model of offering advertisers a variety of different ad sizes and spaces at different prices. Instead, it has concentrated on its ability to target ads at users who meet a specific description set by the advertiser. That's ... (view more)

Facebook changed its News Feed a few weeks ago (for what feels like the fiftieth time this year), and has once again drastically altered the user experience. While the company says it believes the new design will help users navigate status updates ... and photographs better, most members thus far appear unimpressed with the new changes. Facebook fanatics would have noticed the change to their favorite social networking site sometime around September 20th. It essentially does away with the dual News Feed, which had previously divided status updates, photo updates, recommended links, videos, etc. ... (view more)

Many Facebook users who've been signed off over the weekend will be surprised this Monday morning by a homepage makeover, including revised status updates and a revamped News Feed. Unfortunately, most users are cringing, rather than celebrating the ... changes. The News Feed has been updated so that posts and status updates with plenty of comments -- often in the form of "likes" (sadly, there's no "dislike" option) -- will get priority when the site's algorithm decides which updates to display on your home page. It means that those comments creating the biggest buzz amongst your friends won't ... (view more)

As I reminisce about the year gone by, I realize that there was a lot going on. What really stands out for me as the top tech stories of 2005 are as follows: 1. Google. Google becomes a powerhouse company, rolling out beta after beta. Some bomb (Web ... Accelerator); some are so fantastic I wonder how I lived without them (Gmail/Gmail Mobile), and some just confuse (GoogleBase). Still, Google makes it known they are a force to be reckoned with. Watch out for Google's online office suite in 2006. You know it's coming. 2. Tagging. Everyone is tagging now. Tag photos on flickr. Tag bookmarks on del. ... (view more)

A new service is available that helps you to keep track of online information as it changes. It sends you an instant message whenever any RSS or Atom feed you want to monitor changes. The URL is http://immedi.at . Get it? Immedi.at? Immediate? Cool ... domain name, huh? (".at" is Austria's country code extension). Great idea, I must say. The immedi.at website itself is a little boring. I expected something a little more web 2.0-ish, but that's okay. I don't need all that fancy AJAX stuff ... Anyway, back to the service itself. It's really easy to use - all you have to do is add a "monitor this" ... (view more)