Why bother with a Facebook phone? Facebook’s app is already on 86% of iPhones and iPads

Rumors suggesting Facebook (FB) is working on a smartphone have resurfaced a number of times over the past year. Each time, Facebook denied the various claims. Facebook may indeed still be working on its own phone but as a new report from market research firm NPD Group shows, it probably doesn’t need to.

[More from BGR: Is Samsung the new Apple?]

Facebook makes money by gathering information about its users and serving targeted ads based on that data. Allowing users to update Facebook with fresh data as often as possible is obviously beneficial to the company, and smartphones present a terrific opportunity to give users access to their Facebook accounts from anywhere. The more people using Facebook’s mobile apps, the better, and Facebook’s smartphone penetration is absolutely staggering right now.

[More from BGR: iPhone 5 now available with unlimited service, no contract on Walmart’s $ 45 Straight Talk plan]

According to data published by NPD Group on Tuesday, Facebook’s iOS application was used by 86% of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners as of November 2012. On the Android platform, 70% of smartphone and tablet owners used Facebook’s mobile app in November.

No other third-party app even comes close to approaching Facebook’s mobile penetration. Google’s (GOOG) YouTube app is the next most popular third-party app on iOS with 40% penetration and Amazon’s (AMZN) mobile application is the second most popular third-party Android app with just 28% penetration.

So why would Facebook bother making its own phone?

One answer — perhaps the obvious one — is that an own-brand smartphone with custom software would give Facebook access to far more personal data than it can reach using third-party applications. Considering Facebook’s track record with matters relating to privacy, however, users may be reluctant to buy a Facebook phone.

In any case, a Facebook phone certainly doesn’t seem like a necessity for the time being. Instead, focusing on ways to effectively monetize the hundreds of millions of users who interact with Facebook from a smartphone or tablet each month might be a wiser use of resources.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Robin Roberts Speaks About Returning to 'Good Morning America'

For the first time since beginning her medical leave of absence from Good Morning America in September, Robin Roberts has addressed her much anticipated return to the ABC morning show.

In a message posted on her Facebook page, the GMA co-host also gave a positive health update to her fans. "Wonderful Wednesday... I received very encouraging news from my doctors. They are extremely pleased with my recovery. I am getting stronger every day," she wrote. "I'm humbled by the speculation of my return to GMA."

RELATED: Robin Roberts Reveals Hospital Stay for Virus

The 52-year-old Roberts added: "My family and I are grateful that GMA/ABC's only concern is my full recovery. It's a great comfort not to feel pressured and a BLESSING to know I have a job waiting for me. Unfortunately not everyone in my situation can say that. Let's keep them in our thoughts and prayers."

Her message states that details of her return to the show will be revealed on the air in the coming days. "I'm so excited! Thank you for your patience and continued prayers," she wrote.

RELATED: Robin Roberts Health Update: 'Doing Great'

Roberts took a leave of absence from GMA to undergo a bone marrow transplant on September 20 in an attempt to combat
Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disorder that she
contracted after undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Read More..

Brooklyn cops reunited scared Virginia tourist with husband

A Virginia tourist was left in dire straits after being separated from her husband -- and feared for his life until two quick-thinking Brooklyn cops reunited the couple, authorities said.

She then sent them a heartfelt letter thanking them for their compassion.

The woman, identified just as Patricia P., planned to meet up with her husband at the Carroll Gardens apartment they had been staying at on Dec. 23. But when she got there, she began to fear the worst as she kept knocking and no one answered the door, authorities said.

Her phone was dead, and it was raining.

Facebook

Officers Wilson and Serpani

“I was a bit shaken and afraid something tragic had occurred,” she said, in a letter posted on the NYPD Facebook page.

A good Samaritan called police, and Officers Wilson and Serpani from the 76th precinct, which covers Carroll Gardens, Red Hook and Cobble Hill, rushed to her rescue.

They urged her to stand under a small overhang to avoid the rain and checked to see if there were lights on anywhere in the home, cops said. They were able to open the exterior door and knocked repeatedly on the inside door, offering to force it open if the woman wanted.

“I didn’t want them to do that,” she wrote. “So they offered to take me back to the police precinct where I could dry off and get warm.”

She left a note on the apartment door with the phone number for the precinct. She warmed up at the Union Avenue stationhouse and charged her cell phone, cops said.

When her husband called the precinct, the couple quickly realized they had had a misunderstanding about meeting up. The police drove Patricia back to Smith Street, where the two reunited.

She wrote that many people believe New Yorkers are tough and uncaring-- and that the experience changed her view of the city.

“In this case, nothing could be further from the truth,” she said. “I write this e-mail with much thanks for the caring attitude these officers displayed toward my situation, even though it wasn’t an emergency (thought it might have been) and their kindness and compassion towards me.”

Read More..

4 smartphones with standout features

These days, smartphones are almost all drawing from the same bag of tricks, and it can be hard to tell one from the next. If the average smartphone will do all the basic things you want it to, what does it take to be special? Here are four smartphones with unusual features that really make them stand out.

Nokia Lumia 920

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This phone forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless-charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.

The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone’s overhyped camera doesn’t have enough settings.

The cost: $99.99

The bottom line: Nokia’s Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows Phone smartphone available, this is it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: Oodles of screen real estate make this terrific for videos, games, and reading, and its improved stylus aids productivity. A blazing quad-core processor, a great camera and strong battery life round out the advantages of this Android 4.1 phone.

The bad: The huge display makes it unwieldy to carry, and hiccups in the S Pen stylus and apps can slow you down. The pricey Note 2 isn’t a suitable tablet replacement across all categories.

The cost: $149.99 to $309.99

The bottom line: Samsung delivers a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This Droid (Verizon) offers fast performance, a big, eye-popping screen and luxurious design. It also has great call quality, lots of storage, 4G data speeds, and unbeatable battery life.

The bad: The major weakness is a camera that produces subpar images. The phone is filled with Verizon bloatware as well.

The cost: $149.99 to $299.99

The bottom line: Motorola’s fast, stylish Droid Razr Maxx HD offers outstanding battery life, but its camera captures unimpressive images.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)

The good: An integrated pico projector, as well as a dual-core processor, 720p video capture and a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The bad: The projection software needs some work, the 5-megapixel camera sometimes blurs indoor shots, and the Beam is thicker and heavier than many phones.

The cost: $474.49 to $839.99

The bottom line: Despite weak software, the Galaxy Beam’s bright projector pushes boundaries, and strong smartphone features make it a worthy standalone device.

Read More..

Scott Israel is sworn in as Broward sheriff

As several thousand people looked on inside the Faith Center of Sunrise, new Broward Sheriff Scott Israel was introduced at Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony to a standing ovation.

It’s one of the most powerful elected post in the county, overseeing about 5,500 employees and a $670 million budget.

The BSO Honor Guard and a pipe and drum corps led the procession on stage. Israel’s triplets, 16-year-old Blair, Blake and Brett, led the “Pledge of Allegiance.’’

Israel, a Democrat, takes the reins from form Sheriff Al Lamberti, a Republican, who served in the post since first being appointed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007. Lambert won over challenger Israel in 2008, but in the most recent election, Israel handily ousted the incumbent. Lamberti has not said what his future plans include.

Even before taking office, Israel set to work changing things at BSO. In December, his transition team sent emails to 28 high-ranking employees telling them they would be out once Israel took over. Many top officials had already announced they would be leaving, including BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal, attorney Judith Levine and Undersheriff Tom Wheeler. Emails from Israel’s transition team to BSO show that Israel has sought information about every aspect of the agency, including budget forecasts, contracts for everything from garbage collection to lobbying, statistics about the race of employees and even about the protocol for military casket arrivals.

Beyond staff changes, it is not yet clear how Israel, a 56-year-old former Fort Lauderdale police captain and North Bay Village police chief — will change BSO.

But Israel’s senior command staff includes many who played key roles in his campaign, including his new general counsel, Ron Gunzburger, son of County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger, and Lisa Castillo, who worked on Israel’s campaign. The name of her husband, Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo, is also being bandied about as having a role in the Israel administration.

Israel, his wife Susan and their teenage triplets live in Parkland.

Miami Herald staff writer Amy Sherman contributed to this report.

Read More..

Target to match some rivals’ online prices year-round

(Reuters) – Target Corp said on Tuesday it will match on a year-round basis the prices found on the websites of key rivals Amazon.com Inc, Best Buy Co Inc, Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Toys R Us, its latest tactic to hold onto shoppers focused on price.

The move extends an online price-matching program that Target introduced over the holiday season and which was supposed to last only from November 1 to December 16. It also comes after Target last week reported flat sales growth in December at stores open at least a year.

In November Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel said the retailer was not seeing a lot of price-match activity in its stores.

While shopping online has grown rapidly in recent years, it still represents a small fraction of overall shopping in the United States. Target’s policy of matching online prices differs from policies at several chains, which match only printed advertised prices for items sold at stores.

Target said that throughout the year it will match the price when a customer buys an eligible item at one of its stores and finds the same item at a lower price in the following week’s Target circular or in a local competitor’s printed ad. It will also match the price if the customer finds the same item at a lower price within a week on Target’s website or the websites of Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy and Toys R Us.

Amazon says it offers competitive prices and does not offer price matching when an item’s price drops after a customer buys it, with the exception of televisions. Walmart matches the prices of print ads from competitors. Walmart also says it checks the prices of 30,000 items at competing chains each week to make sure it has the lowest prices.

Best Buy matches the price from a local competitor’s store, a local Best Buy store or its own web site. Toys R Us matches in-store prices and certain online prices.

(Reporting By Jessica Wohl in Chicago and Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Alden Bentley and John Wallace)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Target to match some rivals’ online prices year-round
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/target-to-match-some-rivals-online-prices-year-round/
Link To Post : Target to match some rivals’ online prices year-round
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Ben Affleck Nominated for Highest Director's Honor

Warner Bros.

The nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2012 have been announced by the Director's Guild of America, and Argo helmer Ben Affleck has found himself amid some very distinguished company. Read on to see who else was nominated…

Video: Ben Affleck Calls the Success of 'Argo' a 'Dream'

In addition to Affleck's first-ever DGA affirmation for his third directorial outing, Steven Spielberg was nominated for Lincoln (his eleventh nomination; he won the DGA Award three times for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler's List (1993) and 1985's The Color Purple), Kathryn Bigelow was nominated for Zero Dark Thirty (her second nom; she won in 2009 for The Hurt Locker), Tom Hooper was nominated for Les Misérables (also his second nom; he won for The King's Speech in 2010), and Ang Lee earned his fourth nom for Life of Pi (he in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000).

Of the nominations, Guild President Taylor Hackford said, "DGA members have chosen an incredibly rich and varied group of filmmakers to nominate for this year's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award. These directors represent the highest standard of filmmaking, and their films are a testament to artistic achievement, innovative storytelling and the passion that filmmakers share with their audiences. Being nominated by their peers is what makes this award particularly meaningful for directors, and I congratulate all of the nominees for their outstanding work."

Pics: A Closer Look at Spielberg's 'Lincoln'

The top director will be named at the 65th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

Read More..

Off-duty corrections officer opens fire on man in East Flatbush

An off-duty corrections officer opened fire on a man in East Flatbush, police sources said.

Detectives are investigating the shooting at the corner of Utica Avenue and Clarendon Road around 1:10 p.m., today.

The unidentified victim, who is in his mid-30s, was struck in the left side of his chest and rushed to Kings County Hospital, sources said. His condition was not immediately known.

It was not clear what made the 32-year-old correction officer fire his weapon, source said.

kconley@nypost.com

Read More..

Jobs grow, wages dip

Wages in South Florida took a dip last summer, despite a spike in hiring.

New federal data show that while employment continues to grow in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the average weekly wage dropped during the second quarter of 2012. In Broward, the weekly wage dropped .7 percent to $830 and in Miami-Dade it inched down .5 percent to $876, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The shift is tiny, and bucks an overall trend of rising wages in South Florida since the end of the 2007-09 recession. But the statistics also show South Florida underperforming most of the nation as the recovery gains traction. Of the ten largest counties in the country, only Miami-Dade saw wages decrease between the second quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012.

Taking the broader pool of the 329 largest counties in the United States, Broward have 276th worse record in terms of wage gains for the second quarter of 2012, and Miami-Dade the 269th.

Both counties fared far better in terms of adding jobs, with employment up 2 percent in Broward and 2.3 percent in Miami-Dade. That put Broward in 122nd place in terms of employment growth among the large counties, and Miami-Dade in 98th place.

Read More..

Live at the BCS: Crashes delaying I-95 traffic in Broward; rain chance 20 percent for game

THE WEATHER: Now that Big Game Day is here, will the weather cooperate? Forecasters think so. Rain chance is 20 percent chance Monday night, with partly cloudy skies and a possibility of isolated showers, according to the National Weather Service. Highs of 80 during the day will cool to 72 at night. Kickoff for the BCS championship is 8:30 p.m. at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens. The forecast will be similar through the workweek, with highs in the low-80s and lows in the low-70s. Winds will pick up Tuesday night, with gusts 18-25 mph.

THE TRAFFIC: Several crashes are delaying traffic in Broward County. Delays are reported on the northbound I-95 ramp to Sunrise Boulevard, and the southbound ramp at Sample Road. In Miami-Dade, a crash is reported on eastbound State Road 112 at Northwest 22nd Avenue.

THE STORES: Fans are hungry. And they’re doing something about it. A Publix north of downtown Miami was packed during the lunch hour with Alabama and Notre Dame fans buying sandwiches, chips and beer for their tailgating pleasure. It wasn’t hard to spot them: Alabama fans wore red, Notre Dame fans were in blue.

THE ALABAMA BAR: Mike “Dawg” Arnold, general manager at Alabama Jacks near the Keys, said not much of the staff is from Alabama, but the original owner of the restaurant was. His nickname was "Alabama Jack." Said Arnold: “It’s been a blast. I think [the Alabama fans are] coming here for good luck. In the last three days, I’ll say it’s been for every one Irish fan, we had 100 Alabama fans. We’ve had a blast with it. All the fans have had a great time." The bar won't be hosting a watch party because the hours are 11 to 7 p.m. The games starts at 8:30. Instead, there will be a party offsite for the staff.

This article will be updated as more information is available.

Read More..