Facebook ads use your face for free

Facebook is rolling out a new type of ad that uses your Likes in ads for Starbucks, Levi's, and Coke. Don't "Like" it? Too bad.
Want to work for Facebook? Seeking fame (if not fortune) in the exciting world of online advertising? You may have already won.


Yesterday, Facebook introduced a handful of new ad units that combine your “Likes,” Facebook Places check ins, and your use of certain apps with advertisements for things like Starbucks, Coke, Levi’s jeans and Budweiser.


In other words, if you happen to click “Like” on the Starbucks page, check into your local faux Italian coffee bar, or use your Starbucks Greek iPhone app, your Facebook avatar could appear in an ad paid for by Starbucks and appearing on your friends’ pages.

…if Starbucks buys a "sponsored story" ad, the status of a user's friends who check into or "like" Starbucks will run twice: once in the user's news feed, and again as a paid ad for Starbucks. Though clearly marked with the words "sponsored story," the ad -- which will includes a user's name, just like the news feed -- is not optional for Facebook users.
Your pay for lending your mugshot and endorsement in the service of mass marketing? Exactly bupkis. Want to opt out? Sorry, no can do. Your only choice is to studiously avoid clicking “Like” or checking into any place that has a six- or seven-figure ad budget.
The good news? The Facebook Places ads will also pick up any text you enter along with your check-in. So if you say “Just checked into the Starbucks around the corner and this doppio mocha latte tastes like goat urine” – that would appear in the ad.

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Nokia X2-01 available at T-Mobile USA @ $79.9

Feb 20: World's largest mobile maker, Nokia launched its social networking phone Nokia X2-01 in the United States through T-Mobile USA. Users can buy this QWERTY Nokia X2-01 for $79.99.

Nokia X2-01 has a 2.4-inch QVGA display and runs on Symbian 40 OS. It offers a full QWERTY keypad for fast typing and easy messaging. The full keypad helps for faster connectivity on social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter etc.

Nokia X2-01 also has a VGA camera at rear and boasts 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth and EDGE data features. This new mobile phone also supports 8 GB micro SD memory expansion. Other unique feature on this phone is its Communities application, that integrates Facebook to bring updates directly on the home-screen.

Nokia X2-01 specifications:
* 2.4-inch QVGA screen
* Full QWERTY keypad
* VGA camera at rear
* Symbian 40 OS
* GPRS/EDGE
* FM radio
* Micro SD support upto 8 GB
* Communities application feature
* Ovi Music service
* Ovi Store
* Measures -119.4 x 59.8 x 14.3mm
* Weighs - 107.5g

Nokia X2-01 is an affordable mobile with all features of a Facebook phone. It's clear that widespread of social networking websites will leads to launch of many low-cost social networking mobiles. T-Mobile USA offers Nokia X2-01 in black colour at a price of $79.9.

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Microsoft downplays Windows vulnerability

Microsoft Vulnerability could allow remote code execution but it's not likely.
Microsoft has downplayed a Windows vulnerability affecting its Windows operating systems that could allow remote code execution.
Earlier this week, a proof-of-concept exploit was released but Microsoft suggested it was unlikely that the flaw could be used for remote code execution.
The bug was discovered on the Browser protocol, which runs on top of the server message block (SMB) protocol on Windows.
“This vulnerability affects Windows machines that have been configured to use the browser network protocol and then become master browser on the local network,” blogged Mark Wodrich, from the Microsoft Security Response Centre.
“The browser protocol uses an election process to determine which system will act as the master in terms of data collection and response handling.”
Wodrich said it was more likely to affect servers running as the primary domain controller.
"The primary domain controller will become master browser, but depending on the network configuration, other computers on the network can become master browser, and therefore be vulnerable," he explained.
Wodrich said remote code execution would be possible “if the corrupted memory is used by a thread running on another processor before the RtlCopyMemory triggers a bugcheck, and in a way that can be used to change code execution.”
“We feel that triggering any such timing condition reliably will be very difficult,” he added.
Wodrich said that businesses following best practices should block the browser protocol at the edge of firewalls to limit attacks on the local network.

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Microsoft-Nokia Deal Behind the Scenes

Analysis: The partnership almost broke down, until Microsoft sweetened the offer just days before deadline.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop was negotiating with Microsoft and Google, finally deciding on Microsoft (Elop's former employer) after Redmond agreed to pay billions of dollars to Nokia for development and marketing costs of WP7 phones over several years.
But Microsoft almost blew it. The WSJ reports that after Elop contacted Ballmer, "his former boss, and informed him that Nokia had started evaluating its strategic options," negotiations got under way. But Microsoft had to get all high-handed:
During this time, the talks with Microsoft nearly broke down, according to a person familiar with the matter. The main issue: Nokia executives believed Microsoft was treating Nokia as it would any potential handset partner, while Nokia was making a "bet-the-company" decision on a software partner, this person said.
Apparently at this juncture someone reminded Ballmer that a Nokia deal with Google would mean the end of Microsoft in the smartphone market. Not a company-killer, maybe, but possibly a Ballmer's Job-killer. Microsoft makes a lot of money doing other stuff, but having a competitive footprint in the mobile technology space is a priority for any forward-thinking CEO these days.

So Microsoft buckled down and began sweetening the deal, coming to an agreement days before last Friday's Nokia investor conference, at which Elop had promised to unveil a new master plan for the company. The idyll soon was shattered by this Twitter indignity:
Although their conversations were supposed to be confidential, Nokia executives were shocked when Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president, on Feb. 8 posted a message on his Twitter account that said: #feb11 "Two turkeys do not make an Eagle," an apparent reference to Nokia's investor conference on Feb. 11.
Three days later, the two turkeys stood tall and proud to announce the partnership neither really wanted but both desperately needed. It's hard to believe shares of Nokia (NYSE: NOK) are down more than 15 percent and Microsoft shares (NASDAQ: MSFT) down 2 percent since the WP7 deal was unveiled. Don't investors know an eagle when they see one?

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Intel Sees Future For MeeGo System After Nokia's Microsoft Deal

Intel Corp. said the MeeGo mobile operating system developed with Nokia Oyj has a future even after the Finnish handset maker’s decision to use Microsoft Corp.’s software in some devices.
“I don’t see that Nokia changing its strategy changes the industry strategy,” Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini said in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in Barcelona today. “The operators still look for an open, operator-friendly operating system.”
Meego will be used in tablets this year, the CEO said. It will also be used in mobile phones and in embedded devices in the automotive industry, he said. Intel announced in February last year that it would work with Nokia on a joint platform.
Nokia, led by Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop, unveiled plans last week to make Microsoft’s Windows its primary software in the competition for smartphone customers. The company is competing against Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms.
Elop plans to ship one MeeGo product this year as “an opportunity to learn” before redeploying MeeGo team members and product elements to Windows Phone 7 and future platforms.
Otellini said today he “understood” why Nokia is pursuing a tie-up with Microsoft and said he would have made “the same or a similar call.”
Intel is seeking to recruit mobile-phone makers as customers for its scaled-down PC chips. Smartphones powered by its chips will be available this year, Otellini said at the conference.

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Google debuts Delicious bookmark importer to tempt away users

Google today debuted a new Delicious migration tool for Google Bookmarks, as it aims squarely at fans of Yahoo’s bookmarking service who have been worried that its retiring could lose them their carefully chosen links.
Delicious, which Yahoo acquired in 2005, provides users with a way to share Web bookmarks and discover new, interesting websites.
The new Google Bookmarks importer allows a user to login with either an existing Yahoo ID or Delicious ID to import all your bookmarks and tags. That data then lets a user instantly integrate Delicious tags with existing Google Bookmarks links.
Google’s timing seems right.
Reports surfaced in December that Yahoo was going to “sunset” the service — a fancy way of saying it will kill Delicious — after a number of leaked slides from an internal Yahoo presentation hit the Internet. The slide was posted on Twitter by Eric Marcoullier, who cofounded blog social network MyBlogLog, another service listed in the “sunset” column.
The slide says that Yahoo Picks, AltaVista, Yahoo Buzz, and other services are also targeted for shutdown.
Google’s new service will come as a relief to Delicious users who had been worried that an abrupt end to the services could see them lose all their data.
Last May Google had attempted to draw in some Delicious users by launching a rival site, Lists for Bookmarks, a more social feature for bookmarking. Lists allowed users to copy all their bookmarks into lists in order to share publicly, but it never seemed to gain the attraction Delicious did.
At the time of Yahoo’s buy-up, Delicious founder Joshua Schachter was still a Google employee, but has since moved on to found stealth startup Tasty Labs.

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