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Facebook in Talks to Purchase Mobile Navigation Startup

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May 13, 2013

Social giant Facebook is in discussions to acquire mobile navigation service Waze, according to people familiar with the matter. The purchase price has been reported by some outlets as high as $1 billion, which would rival the amount Facebook paid last year to purchase mobile photo-sharing service Instagram. The Waze acquisition would provide Facebook with the opportunity to efficiently deliver local ads and content to its 1.1 billion users. Continue reading Facebook in Talks to Purchase Mobile Navigation Startup

Pixtr App Uses Facial Recognition to Make You Look Better

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May 7, 2013

Pixtr is a new iPhone app that creates subtle changes to facial features of people in photographs, serving almost like an airbrush tool to manipulate mild imperfections. “It uses facial recognition software to scan the photo and make minor adjustments like slimming a nose or a jawline, trimming eyebrows, correcting camera distortion,” reports Business Insider. “It takes into account things like sex, hair color, age.” Continue reading Pixtr App Uses Facial Recognition to Make You Look Better

Is Carrier IQ, Samsung and HTC Violating the Federal Wiretap Act?

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December 5, 2011
  • After an Android security researcher discovered that CarrierIQ was capable of collecting personal information from SMS, emails, photos, keystrokes and URLs, the company has been the target of severe criticism.
  • Now, CarrierIQ faces a class action lawsuit — as do Samsung and HTC — for violating the Federal Wiretap Act.
  • Plaintiffs are demanding millions of dollars in penalties paid to users with the logging software on their devices.
  • The company vehemently denies the charges, restating that the software is used solely to help wireless operators provide optimal service by logging information concerning dropped calls and failed messages.
  • TechCrunch notes that no carriers face charges as of yet, but are likely to in the near future.

Photo Sharing on Upswing: Facebook Touts 140 Billion Uploaded Images

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September 26, 2011
  • Recent estimates from the 1000Memories photo-services blog suggest Facebook now houses more than 140 billion uploaded photos.
  • This figure is roughly 10,000 times larger than the number of photos currently housed by the Library of Congress.
  • Based on recent figures provided by a Facebook engineer, “the social network oversees more than 200 million photos uploaded per day, approximately 6 billion per month,” reports Digital Trends. “TechCrunch also reported that Facebook users uploaded an estimated 750 million photos over the New Year’s holiday earlier this year. 1000Memories estimates that the typical digital camera owner takes about 150 digital images per year and potentially uploads 20 percent of all pictures to Facebook over the course of a year.”
  • The 1000Memories post calculates that approximately 3.5 trillion photos (analog and digital) have been captured since the invention of the camera, of which 10 percent were taken in the last 12 months.

Instagram iPhone Photo App Developing a Following: Brands Take Notice

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September 16, 2011
  • Instagram, an iPhone-only photo app, has become a darling of the fashion world.
  • Started only 11 months ago, Instagram already has nine million users who take photos on their iPhone and apply effects from 15 filters. They can then share their photos in a stream.
  • Some professional photographers feel the app is “cheapening the art,” but the results can be quite striking and have already been used in magazines.
  • Kevin Systrom, chief executive and co-founder of Instagram, says the company is not yet profitable. However, the app is starting to draw attention outside the realm of amateur photo enthusiasts and social networkers.
  • “The top request Instagram gets from corporate users is for custom filters,” reports The Wall Street Journal. “Brands want to create filters specific to their own aesthetic, so that Instagram users can echo a brand’s look — seeing the world as designer Kate Spade does, or Vanity Fair magazine. Mr. Systrom says the company has had other priorities but hinted new filters are coming soon.”

Twitter Goes Live with New Photo Sharing Feature

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August 12, 2011
  • Twitter has made uploading photos possible for its users with a feature that shares images (up to 3MB).
  • Users can access the new feature on the Web version of Twitter by clicking on the camera icon (support for the mobile version is still in the works). Images are hosted by Photobucket and appear as links within the Twitter feed.
  • Hashtags can be added to the tweet to include images in Twitter’s search function. Users will also have the ability to comment on images.
  • “The founder of TwitPic, who turned down a $10 million dollar offer for the company in 2009, can’t be too happy about today’s feature launch from Twitter,” comments Digital Trends.

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