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Latest by Francis Bea

Facebook is – finally – unveiling the Facebook Phone April 4

Finally Facebook is reportedly unveiling the mysterious Android forked Facebook phone, built on a HTC smartphone, on April 4.
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What does the future of Facebook look like?

While the secret network keeps its roadmap cards close to the chest, recent actions and insiders help us get an idea where Facebook is heading.
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FireMe! keeps you from tweeting your way to the unemployment line

FireMe! finds people on Twitter who hate their jobs or bosses and warns them of their indiscretions.

Allow us to introduce the world’s first Vine movie trailer

The first Vine movie trailer for The Wolverine takes over the video sharing app.
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Everything you need to know about Facebook’s new Timeline

We get an early in-depth look at Facebook's new Timeline. Here's what you need to know.

Get your brand online with easy site builder Tribeca Cloud

Tribeca Cloud is an all-in-one website hosting solution for the non-technical people and resource strapped businesses.

Report: Spotify to move beyond music into video streaming

Spotify is known for its music streaming service, but the company might be considering expanding into video on-demand.

Blind and deaf users take e-retailers and streaming sites to court

Associations representing the deaf and blind are legally pressing retailers and other sites to offer disabled-accessible features.
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Fake tweet site LetMeTweetThatForYou could have real implications for Web journalism

LetMeTweetThatForYou is a quick and dirty solution to fake tweets and play it off as the real thing.
facebook shores up events pages with weather forecasts url

Facebook enhances Events pages with weather forecasts

Facebook has started rolling out a small feature that displays the weather forecast in Events pages for both attendees and admins.
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888 Holdings becomes the first online gambling company to win an online poker license

Online poker players have a reason to celebrate. 888 Holdings has been granted the first online gambling license since 2006 and will set up shop in Vegas.

Check out Facebook’s March Madness bracket

Facebook's March Madness bracket, based on Facebook buzz, has Duke winning it all this year.
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All this week’s Facebook news that’s fit to print

Here's all the major news and updates surrounding the social network you may have missed this week.
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Are messaging apps the biggest threat to Facebook?

Messaging apps that act like social networks could be the biggest danger to Facebook's social network dominance.

Nielsen and SocialGuide study finds Twitter closely tied to TV ratings

A Nielsen study has found evidence that tweets do influence TV ratings, and in some instances more so than advertising.
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Thank you, Quora, for finally introducing full-text search

Searching on Quora was a chore, so the team has rethought how users searched for topics with the introduction of full-text searches and search results.
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Twitter turns 7, and celebrates 200 million active users

Twitter has two reasons to celebrate today. Today is Twiter's 7th birthday, and has also hit the 200 million active user mark.

Missing March Madness? Get quick video recaps on Twitter

With March Madness starting today, you might not have time to watch every game but you can catch the highlights on @MarchMadness.

MessageMe picks up 1 million users in 12 days, no thanks to Facebook

MessageMe reveals that despite Facebook revoking its privileges to Facebook's social graph, the app has managed to amass 1 million users within 12 days.

Flattr relaunches and asks the age-old questions, ‘how much is a like worth?’

Flattr's button fell flat, so to encourage donations it turned to the social actions, including likes and favorites, that everyone is using already.
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SXSW 2013’s trends by Twitter numbers

Here is this year's boiled down look at SXSW 2013 seen through Salorix's Twitter data, and a look at how you can prep for next year's festival.

Flickr for iOS jumps on the hashtag #bandwagon with new update

Flickr is following the hashtag trend by finally supporting hashtags, in its recent iOS update.
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Pinterest rolls out anticipated redesign with bigger images and discovery features

Pinterest's redesigned site, now with bigger photos and new discovery features, is finally rolling out to all users starting today.
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Reuters social media editor may face jail time for colluding with Anonymous to deface Tribune site

Reuters' social media editor, Matthew Keys, is facing potential jail time for divulging to Anonmyous the Tribune Company's server's log-in credentials.

Facebook for Android push updates directly, bypasses Google Play

Facebook's latest build for Android works around the Google Play store and pushes all updates, if you're on a Wi-Fi connection, directly to the app.

Whew! Digg is building a replacement for Google Reader

Google Reader will be put to rest by July 1, but Digg plans to pick up where Google left off and build a reader fit for 2013.
facebook users five times more likely to land a job talking employment

Facebook users more likely to land a job through close friends, study shows

New Facebook study shows that keeping in touch with "strong ties" will boost your chances of landing a job five-fold compared to "weak ties."
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Twitter rolls out line breaks, which is good and bad news

Twitter introduced line breaks. The good news is that it opens up the doors to creative tweets, the bad news is the abuse that may follow from spammers.

Pinterest unveils Web Analytics, but third-party analytics aren’t worried

Pinterest announced its own analytics, Web Analytics, but will existing third-party Pinterest analytic services get crowded out? Probably not.
soundcloud three tier subscription

SoundCloud has a better plan for cash-strapped subscribers and brands

At SXSW, SoundCloud announced updates to its subscription plans, sharing features, and new engaging features for paying brands.
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How Facebook’s Graph Search works…sort of

Facebook engineers recently shared a little insight into how the site's Graph Search works. Here's a at what we've learned, and what remains a mystery.

Just in time for SXSW, TheHub.fm lets you skip the lines and grab the merch

You can avoid the inevitably long lines to buy a band's merch with a new e-commerce mobile app for bands and fans called TheHub.fm.
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Forget social influence, Prollie scores your skills and passions

Klout, Kred, Peerindex track influence and reach, but SXSW newcomer Prollie scores your skills and passions.
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Facebook news you may have missed this week

Five Facebook stories from this week that you might have missed, with the News Feed announcement and all.