Facebook to go public in May

The world's largest social network celebrated its eighth birthday in February, and now the company is getting ready to become the largest-ever U.S. Internet offering.

Facebook is halting trading its shares on secondary markets this week, as a previous step for its initial public offering in May, people familiar with the matter said, Bloomberg reported.

The final sales figures have not been announced yet, nor the exact date in May, as it all depends on potential investors and discussions with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to El Mundo. Facebook also expects to file one more amendment to its S1 registration statement.

On Feb. 1, Facebook filed its paperwork for an IPO, seeking to raise US$5 billion, which provides the company a valuation estimated at $100 billion, according to Mashable.


The Facebook IPO filing also revealed important details, which were kept private before. The company made $1 billion in 2011 on $3.71 billion in revenue and has 845 million active users globally. The salaries of executives were also included: founder Mark Zuckerberg ($500,000), COO Sheryl Sandberg ($300,000) and CFO David Ebersman ($300,000).

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Kindle Touch to hit shelves in Europe

Amazon’s Kindle Touch e-reader is on its way to Europe, where it will go on sale April 27, the BBC reported yesterday.

The device will be available in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, as Amazon has a Kindle store in each of these countries. The wi-fi version will be priced at £109, and the device with both wi-fi and 3G connectivity will be sold for £160. Amazon began taking orders for the device today.

However, Amazon is not offering a cheaper ad-supported version in Europe, All Things D noted. The version it is offering will not support the Kindle lending library either.

The Kindle Touch 3G is now also available in seven languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and American or British English, Amazon stated in a press release.

The Kindle Touch launched in the United States five months ago.

Image: The eBook Reader

NY Times strengthens its paywall

After celebrating its paywall’s one year birthday, The New York Times will cut free articles from 20 to 10 per month in order to lure more digital subscribers amid declining print sales, Bloomberg reported.

The change will take effect in April.

“This change will strengthen our ability to continue providing the world’s most insightful journalism today. It will also support the ongoing development of digital innovations and apps that make The Times an experience you won’t find anywhere else,” The Times said in a statement.

The New York Times stated that “the change provides us with an opportunity to convince another segment of our audience that what The Times has to offer is worth paying for." Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said the change will affect “a relatively small number of people,” The Associated Press reported.

However, readers can still view The New York Times’ articles from links of Facebook, Twitter, search engines, blogs and social media without paying as usual, or they can try to beat The New York Times paywall.

According to The State of the News Media 2012 report, conducted by The Pew Research Center and released this month, U.S. newspapers lost US$10 in print-advertising sales for every $1 gained online last year. The harsh environment has been great incentive for The New York Times Company to fortify its paywall.

The New York Times's digital gains have not been enough to counterbalance its print losses, according to The WRAP News. Last year, The New York Times revenue decreased 2.8 percent to $643 million thanks to a 7.1 drop in advertising revenues, while its operating profit fell 4 percent to $106.7 million.

With approximately 454,000 paid online subscribers to The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune (IHT), Ken Doctor, Outsell Inc. senior analyst, told MarketWatch last month that the company’s success has taught the industry that its fear towards forcing people to pay for subscribing news is unnecessary: “I think what’s happened is that papers have learned that if you do a pay system wisely, you can do it without losing digital advertising.”

“Whether the paywall is the savior of the Times, or of journalism — or if it’s sufficient compensation for the secular decline in print media generally,” James Poniewozik, TIME’s Tuned In columnist wrote, “the new policy suggests they at least have enough confidence in the paywall to tighten its restrictions without fear it will isolate the paper or drive away too many readers, if they weren’t driven away already.”

More and more notable news publishers are planning to impose similar policies, including The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Providence Journal, the AP and The WRAP News noted.

Image: New York News & Features

Murdoch: Phone hacking investigation close to an end

The News International phone hacking scandal hit a new note last Tuesday, with media mogul Rupert Murdoch writing an e-mail to Sun journalists saying the investigation of alleged illegal police payments is likely coming to an end, MediaGuardian reported.

News Corp's management and standards committee (MSC) has been providing information to Operation Elveden, the British police investigation into inappropriate payments to police, "to ensure that legitimate journalism is vigorously pursued in both the public interest and in full compliance with the law," said the media conglomerate.


Operation Elveden was launched as the phone hacking scandal broke out last July. Tabloid News of the World, closed due to the scandal, was owned by News International, News Corp's British newspaper arm.

Until the beginning of this month, 11 Sun journalists have been arrested in ongoing inquiry over corruptions allegations and other two former Sun reporters have been hospitalised after apparent suicide attempts, digital spy noted.

Concerned about the difficult times the newspaper is going through, Murdoch wrote that he is "doing everything I can to see that our colleagues are looked after and that they get the very best care and help."

Amid these investigations, Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International and Rupert Murdoch's right hand woman, was arrested by Scotland Yard along with other five people on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, according to MediaGuardian.

Last Monday, Rupert Murdoch attended in Long Island the funeral of Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times war correspondent killed last month on assignment in Syria. Four days after, Murdoch flew back to the UK to reassure Sun staff that he has no intention to close the paper, The Huffington Post reported.

Image: guardian.co.uk

Mashable would give CNN social media cred

Technology and social media news website Mashable may be bought by CNN for more than US$200 million, Reuters blogger Felix Salmon reported last week.

Founded in 2005 by young Scottish entrepreneur Pete Cashmore, the site is now one of the most influential websites dedicated to digital and has expanded to covering entertainment and business, The Wall Street Journal noted. In addition, Mashable is a global news syndication partner with networks including CNN and ABC.

One thing that makes Mashable's reporting different than other outlets is that, for example, its journalists do not just cover social media, they are immersed in it, Steve Rubel, an executive vice president at Edelman public relation firm who studies the digital media industry, told The New York Times.


“If [CNN buys] Mashable and ingest[s] their social smarts, they will ensure their content finds news consumers rather than vice versa,” he said. Should CNN buy Mashable, it would be to increase "their social DNA as more news finds us via social networks.” Rubel said.

Mashable has "become a 'legit' news source, regardless of what old scruffy newspaper copy editors think," wrote Don Martelli, executive editor of Technorati. CNN, meanwhile, validates Mashable's content, reporting style and marketing of their brand.

CNN can also benefit from Mashable’s huge user base for expanding its Internet advertising, making ads appear on TV and Internet, the Wall Street Journal noted. Mashable drew 5.6 million visitors last month, according to comScore figures, while competing tech news site TechCrunch had 3.2 million visitors.

CNN showed its ambition to dominate across media channels last autumn when it bought Zite, a news application for the iPad, designed to offer users a personalised magazine-like experience, Globalpost noted.

The Independent, meanwhile, pointed out that some media analysts think $200 million is too excessive of a pricetag, others said the two provided a compatible fit by syndicating their platforms.

No one at either CNN or Mashable have confirmed the acquisition. “We do not engage in speculation about our business and we aren't commenting on these reports,” CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson told Reuters. The New York Times pointed out that Cashmore wrote to his staff from SXSW to clarify that “rumor going around on Twitter that Mashable will be acquired this week” was untrue.

“Which, of course, doesn’t mean an acquisition isn’t happening.” Staci Kramer wrote for paidContent.

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Telegraph to launch personalised apps

The Daily Telegraph will soon launch apps for the iPhone and Android devices that users can personalise, the UK newspaper has announced.

The new apps will enable users to read and share breaking news as well as check live financial data and stocks, photo galleries and videos. They can personalise their app with favourite topics and even download articles to be read offline.

Thanks to a deal with the global sports news network ESPN, subscribers will also have access to live football scores, results, tables and fixtures, and video highlights. However, ESPN Goals app is already offered free of charge for Android and iPhone users.

The Telegraph apps will be free to download for existing Telegraph print subscribers (£7 per week) and iPad subscribers (£9.99 per month), while new customers will get a one-month free trial when they register with the newspaper, paidContent explained.

“The launch of these two new apps is a significant step forward in our strategy of delivering our award-winning journalism on all the key digital devices,” said Edward Roussel, executive editor of digital at Telegraph Media Group.

Image: the Telegraph

Yahoo vs. Facebook: Likely the first major patent suit among tech giants

Yahoo filed a patent suit against Facebook this week at the San Jose federal court, making waves in Silicon Valley.

Yahoo claims Facebook has infringed 10 patents that it obtained over the past decade for software used to create and sell online ads, as well as for technology used in online messaging, customising content for individual website visitors and protecting visitors’ privacy, the Mercury News reported.

The covering technology areas are really “foundation of Yahoo’s business,” according to Yahoo’s statement in court documents. For example, Yahoo’s attorneys state that “ Facebook’s entire social network model, which allows users to create profiles for and connect with, among other things, persons and businesses, is based on Yahoo's patented social networking technology.”

Yahoo is also claiming that Facebook's targeting ads to users is based on their ideas. It alleges that in 2008, before Facebook started using Yahoo's patented technology, it was "considered one of the worst-performing Internet sites for advertising."

Facebook has built a solid relationship with Yahoo in the past and had not imagined a day when they would meet at the court, the social network stated.

“We’re disappointed that Yahoo, a longtime business partner of Facebook and a company that has substantially benefited from its association with Facebook, has decided to resort to litigation," Facebook said in a statement, according to the Washington Post. “We will defend ourselves vigorously against these puzzling actions.”

Yahoo is likely wanting a piece of Facebook’s booming online advertising business, which earned US$3.15 billion in revenue last year, the Mercury News reported. Yahoo’s new CEO, Scott Thompson, is seeking every opportunity to increase profits.

According to some industry executives interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo’s movement could be taken as a sign of weakness and recklessness, while also “stifling innovation." Scott Kessler, an S&P Capital IQ analyst, said he believes Yahoo will lose its reputation.

“Pathetic and heartbreaking last stand for Yahoo. It's all over, I loved you very much,” Eric Hippeau, a former Yahoo board member, tweeted. Meanwhile, Yahoo’s former engineer Andy Baio castigated Yahoo for having “weaponized” his work.

But not everyone agrees.

“I think Yahoo is doing the right thing. The company has to protect its intellectual property,” Trip Chowdhry, managing director of equity research at Global Equities Research, told Benzinga. “Facebook come and cop[ied] 10 years of innovation at Yahoo and [got] a free ride. It's just not right.”

“Yahoo had every right to go after Facebook this way,” Peter Vogel, a partner and patent expert at Gardere Wynne Sewell, told Forbes. “From its own shareholders’ point of view that is good strategic planning.”

Yahoo will not be the only firm to declare a patent war. The San Jose Mercury News noted that legal experts predict more and more technology companies will stand out and start high-stake battles of patents in the future.

Image: CNET News

Google grows its travel business

For most people, Google is all about online searches and accessing content. But this month the online giant is making inroads into the travel industry with its software for airlines.

Google and U.S. airline company Cape Air have signed an agreement to purchase flight tickets using Google's ITA Software, the airline announced in a press release.

Google acquired ITA (Innovative Travel Technology), a flight information software company, in 2010. Now Google is introducing its new airline platform, ITA's Passenger Service System.

The service allows consumers to find and book flights via websites for both Cape Air and its sister airline Nantucket Airlines to 39 destination cities across the United States and Caribbean.

The system may also eventually allow the airline to use passengers’ smartphones to track whether they are running late - or early - and rebook flights. It could even be used to deliver luggage directly to a traveler’s destination, Wolf added.

"Our team at ITA has been working to build a modern airline platform from scratch on open systems technology," Jeremy Wertheimer, vice president of Google Travel, wrote in the Google Blog. "Cape Air has been the perfect partner in helping this effort."

Google Flights, launched in September 2011, is used to search for U.S. round-trip flights, but does not have purchase capabilities. However, "Google Flights still can be useful for doing some preliminary air travel research," Jill Duffy wrote for PCMAG.com

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Highlight: The app making users comfortable with strangers

The popular app Highlight released its latest version Thursday. It is going to dominate and surprise everybody in this year’s SXSW music, film and interactive media festival in Austin, Texas.

Highlight is a part of new category of apps called “ambient social networking,” Businessweek reported. Its main feature: making users more familiar with their environment, especially the people around them.

The new genre of people discovery services is right around the corner, Highlight's creator, Paul Davison, told Businessweek.

“I’m completely convinced that in five or 10 years you’ll be able to walk into a room and know everyone’s name, where everyone works, and what people you know in common,” he said.

For example, when logging into your Facebook account and activating the GPS, you can see who is in the same area with you, including people you don't know. Using Highlight, you can view things they want to share via the app, such as their backgrounds or habits.

For some, Highlight makes the dream come true - they can know more about others around while jogging in the park, at parties, or at conferences without the embarrassing “I can’t remember his name” moment. The new version of Highlight also gives users a way of “Hightlighting” people; press the “Highlight” button on the person you are interested in, which is a way to publicly bookmark people.

But Highlight isn't a relationship builder; it's an information provider, Davison said in a separate interview.

“There’s no friend model, there’s no way to remember people, there’s no social currency, and that’s really weird for a social app,” he told VentureBeat. “But it makes sense because it’s not an app to stay in touch with each other.”

Highlight is still only available for iOS, and has been known to drain batteries. However, users can pause the app to save battery power or to halt the app when they are getting too many notifications. "This one is going to be a hit at South by Southwest this weekend,” Eric Eldon wrote for TechCrunch.

Image: Highlight

Axel Springer's digital results lead to record earnings

Axel Springer today announced posted record results, with group sales of about €3.19 billion for 2011, thanks to growth in its digital operations and international print media. The German publisher's digital media revenue increased 35 percent to €962.1 million, MarketWatch reported.


Its 2012 Ebitda is expected to rise, thanks to another digital earnings increase. Print earnings, however, are expected to decline, the company stated.


The publisher is also spinning of its online classifieds into a new company, called Axel Springer Digital Classifieds GmbH, valued at €1.25 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic is paying €237 million for its stake, Reuters noted.


Axel Springer was one of the main publishers to push for paid digital content in 2009, when it began charging for mobile apps. Today it has 35 paid mobile apps, 24 paid tablet apps and other various fees for its digital content from news and magazine titles, paidContent explained. However, the company's annual report notes that increasing popularity of paid digital content means increased competition in the space.


“Therefore, it is entirely possible that future revenues could be offset by higher costs to win and retain customers,” the report states.


Image: Axel Springer

Storify, or how to do social storytelling

The Internet has long been a source of information overload, and companies that help sort that information bring almost as much value as the information itself. Enter Storify, which aims to do just that, but with a social twist.

The online storytelling platform enables users to create stories by combining content that is already published in different social media networks.

Beginning Feb. 22, the Storify app became available on the iPad, making the drag-and-drop system easier. However, the system is limited and has some bugs that need to be worked out, a review by Appolicious stated. Users are also unable to browse stories on the Storify system unless they use the in-app browser, which crashed a lot, stripped content or added it multiple times, according to the review.

Storify was created as a place to embed feeds for all types of social media. Starting with a blank page, users can then embed tweets, Facebook updates, Instagram and Flickr photos, YouTube videos, or any other link related to the story, along with their own words. Storify also helps them do a Google search right away. Aiming to be an all-in-one tool, Storify's sorting technique means all the content can be found on a single web page.

It is a handy way to narrate stories in real time, without even having "to go outside" to catch the information. In other words, Storify helps users to put information in order and develop a contextualised and coherent story, rtve.es explains. Users can also check out the featured topics on the front page to see which are the top stories from social media, Mashable noted.

Storify's public beta was launched in late April 2011. Prior to that date it was mainly used by professional journalists and major news organisations.

Google's new privacy policy sparks controversy around the world

Google’s official blog yesterday posted a controversial announcement about its new privacy policy that takes effect immediately.

The policy indicates that Google will put all its products under a unified privacy umbrella, and user information will be shared among Google’s products once the user has signed into a Google account. Due to the implementation of the new policy, for example, videos people watch on YouTube will help decide which kinds of ads appear in their Gmail.

Google will likely have more run-ins outside the United States, as its new privacy policy doesn’t meet the standard of France's privacy watchdog CNIL. The group wrote to Google earlier this week, asking it to revise the policy. Japan's trade and industrial ministry also warned that Google must obey Japanese privacy law while putting its privacy policy into use, Reuters reported.

The online giant has explained that it does not view the changes as cause for concern.

“We aren’t collecting any new or additional information about users. We won’t be selling your personal data. And we will continue to employ industry-leading security to keep your information safe.” Alma Whitten, Google’s director of Privacy, Product and Engineering wrote for the Official Google Blog.

Despite Google’s explanation, “the new policy links all of the company’s platforms together to create user profiles it can use to sell targeted advertisements and customize search results.” Emily Parkhurst wrote for TechFlash.

Big Brother Watch also pointed out that nine in 10 people haven’t read Google’s new privacy policy. “Google is putting advertiser’s interests before user privacy and should not be rushing ahead before the public understand what the changes will mean,” the website stated.

The Christian Science Monitor offered methods for avoiding Google tracking users’ information. Logging out before using Google’s search engine or completing tasks with different providers is one way, the article stated.

Although logging out of a Google account may affect Google monitoring personal information, the search engine can still collect anonymous data from users’ activities. Logging in and out is also inconvenient.

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Locating Story: Art performance through Twitter

Reporting using Twitter and maps is relatively new, but one artist in Paris is using these new technologies to combine storytelling with art.

The scene takes place on the streets of Paris, but the real-time performance can be followed only via Twitter, El Pais reported. The story does not have a script, and everything that happens depends on the performer, who sends messages and photos on Twitter via his mobile phone. The person plays a detective, discreetly observing a person he does not know, in order to relate to the person's daily routine.

“Locating Story” is an innovative art performance that combines Twitter, geo-location software and performance to explore the concepts of surveillance, anonymity and identity. The project, by Spanish artist Dora García, is the last part of a series of exhibitions called “Blow-up,” curated by Christophe Bruno Daniele Balit for the virtual space of Jeu de Paume. The performance began Feb. 20 and runs until March 15.

To follow along, follow the Twitter account @locatingstory and visit Blow-Up’s website.

Image: Twitter account @locatingstory

iPad 3 may be launching soon

Apple’s iPad 3 is apparently headed to the United States right now – at least that’s what several Apple-watching news sites are reporting.

Apple.pro has obtained a shipping document showing that the new tablets have already shipped. Security and secrecy surrounding new Apple products is always high, but the document shows that the iPad 3 is on its way to the U.S. now from Foxconn factories in China. If the photo isn’t a hoax, the iPad 3’s arrival would likely put the new device on shelves around mid to late March.

Some reports predict that the iPad3 will modify its shape and functions in several dimensions. For example, they say the new iPad will be smaller, lighter and more easily portable due to its eight inch size. Also, it is expected to work more smoothly, thanks to a quad-core processor and retina display. The dock connector is also rumored to be getting smaller, and becoming a “micro dock” connector, according to ZDNet.

Overall, the shape of the iPad 3 will be in line with that of the iPad 2. “In other words, what will sell millions of new iPads is the same thing that sold all of the iPad and iPad 2 – apps,” the technology observer James Kendrick wrote for ZDNet. 

The most important part of the iPad 3 is downloading apps at a faster speed, likely making them even more ubiquitous.

With all the rumored new features, there is still one that isn’t expected in the new version: the iPad 3 will not be waterproof, Cult of Mac reported. Apple has been exploring and developing new technologies that can make their inventions resist water for a long time, but that technology isn’t quite there yet. Although the iPad still needs more time to be waterproof, the iPhone 5 at the end of the year may achieve the goal, making water damage a thing of the past.

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