Category: Internet

Analysis, Finance, Internet, Mobile

Facebook Stock (NASDAQ:FB) : Impact of Slingshot Launch and New iPad App on Facebook Financial News

Facebook wants to break the “1% Rule” of Internet culture that says a tiny fraction of users create the content for everyone else. So after a momentary leak last week, today Facebook officially launches Slingshot for iOS and Android in the US, an app where friends send you photos and videos, but you have to reply with your own before you can see them. “Slingshot” has all the same basic functions as “Snapchat,” but with a few minor tweaks here and there. Everyone is a creator and no one is a spectator”, says Product Manager Will Reuben, and that makes it different from Snapchat
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Facebook Paper’s New Trending Section Makes It A Better Real-Time News Reader

Facebook Paper is pretty, but sluggish when it comes to news. It’s human curated sections take awhile to ingest the latest world events. But today it added a “Trending” section that highlights news stories and photos that capture the essence of most mentioned topics on Facebook. The update also lets you tap any hashtag to see a Paper-style cards of public and friends’ mentions. Paper also got a long list of other updates that Facebook says are a bunch of features you’ve asked us for”. Facebook’s IPad App Becomes An Entertainment Hub With New Games And Trending Videos Sidebar.

Facebook Targets Gamers With New iPad-Only Update

Facebook introduces a new feature specific to iPad: a right hand sidebar dedicated to trending topics, gaming, and overall discovery within the app. Over 70 percent of people who use Facebook for iPad played a Facebook-connected game in the past 90 days, so the company is helping them discover or re-engage with games through a new home page sidebar it starts testing today on its iPad app. It includes social notifications for native mobile and Facebook web games you already play, video trailers for games you don’t plus Trending videos popular with your demographic.

Alibaba Gives Details Ahead Of IPO Bigger than Facebook

Alibaba is pulling back the curtain a little bit, providing more information about its partnership structure and financials ahead of its planned initial public offering of stock. China’s biggest e-commerce company filed in May for an initial public offering in the U.S. that could top the $16 billion that Facebook and its early investors raised in the social networking company’s IPO two years ago.

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Harvey Dyer
YHOO NASDAQ YHOO Yahoo
Finance, Internet

Market Movers: Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD), SINA Corp (NASDAQ:SINA), Trulia Inc (NYSE:TRLA), YY Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:YY)

LinkedIn must face a lawsuit claiming the company violated customers’ privacy rights for marketing purposes by accessing their external email accounts and downloading their contacts’ addresses. The lawsuits against LinkedIn and Google, as well as one before Koh against Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), have raised novel questions about how wiretap laws enacted before the Internet apply to the companies’ use of troves of data generated when … Continue reading Market Movers: Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), United Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:UNTD), SINA Corp (NASDAQ:SINA), Trulia Inc (NYSE:TRLA), YY Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:YY)

John Bellich
Finance, Internet

5 Stocks to Watch Next Week : Intel, Priceline, Intel, Finisar, Univision

Our selection of Technology stocks to watch for next week with Intel, Priceline, Intel, Finisar and, Univision.

WSJ’s Emma Moody outlines three stocks to watch on Friday, June 13: Priceline, Intel and Finisar.

Univision, the biggest Spanish-language broadcaster in the U.S., is in early talks with several media companies about a possible sale. The big question is just how high that price tag will ultimately go. WSJ’s Shalini Ramachandran joins Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Photo: AP

The European Union’s second-highest court on Thursday upheld a record €1.06 billion ($1.43 billion) fine against Intel Corp. for abusing its dominant position in the microprocessor market, marking the latest in a long line of victories for EU antitrust authorities at the European courts.



Continue reading “5 Stocks to Watch Next Week : Intel, Priceline, Intel, Finisar, Univision”

Harvey Dyer
business, Finance, Internet, Mobile, Software

BlackBerry’s Mega Deal (NASDAQ:BBRY) , New Product for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple in Trouble in Europe (NASDAQ:AAPL)

BlackBerry Ltd said on Thursday it has signed a agreement with EnStream LP, a mobile payments joint venture owned by Canada’s three large wireless carriers, to provide a secure platform for transactions between banks and consumers. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry has been trying to reinvent itself under new Chief Executive Officer John Chen as its phones have lost ground to Apple Inc’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s Galaxy devices.

The company’s QNX software already is a mainstay in the automobile industry, powering electronic and other systems in a wide range of cars.



Amazon’s newly announced music streaming service is yet another attempt by the company to move beyond e-commerce and infuse itself into the daily lives of Americans with an increasing number of offerings, including grocery delivery and streaming TV. The announcement comes just days ahead of the expected unveiling of the company’s first smartphone.

Starting Thursday, Amazon.com Inc. will offer more than a million tracks for ad-free streaming and download to Kindle Fire tablets as well as to computers and the Amazon Music app for Apple and Android devices.



The European Commission will launch a formal investigation on Wednesday into Apple’s tax arrangements in Ireland, Irish state broadcaster RTE reported, without naming its source. The EU’s competition authority said last year that it was looking into corporate tax arrangements in several member states and had requested information from Ireland.



Continue reading “BlackBerry’s Mega Deal (NASDAQ:BBRY) , New Product for Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple in Trouble in Europe (NASDAQ:AAPL)”

Harvey Dyer
Analysis, Finance, Internet, Mobile

(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook Stock News : Impact of Messenger For IOS and Mobile Ads Network

(NASDAQ:FB) Facebook has updated its Messenger app for iOS devices, giving users the ability to record and send 15-second video messages. Version 6.0 of the app also adds a feature called “Big Likes” — when you really like something, press and hold to send an even bigger “thumbs up” sign. The new version of Messenger comes after Facebook’s odd, accidental rollout of messaging app Slingshot earlier this week. That app, which was quickly pulled from Apple’s App Store, also had the ability to send short video messages to friends.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has announced it will track browsing activity to better serve ads on the site. The company will also give users more control over said ads. Facebook says it’s bringing more data into its interest-based ad targeting — specifically data from non-Facebook websites and mobile apps.

So even if your profile doesn’t say anything about your love of (say) soccer during the World Cup 2014, and even if you haven’t Liked any soccer-related Pages on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), the social network can still see that you’ve visited soccer-related websites and target ads accordingly. In a blog post, the company describes this as “a type of interest-based advertising” that’s already practiced by many other Internet companies in Silicon Valley.

Facebook will now use personal information gathered from your activities elsewhere on the Web to more precisely target advertisements on the social network. Given Facebook’s extensive reach around the globe, the development has alarmed privacy advocates who are asking federal regulators review the matter. Democratic Media vowed to press Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez today on the agency’s failure to raise objections to Facebook’s new data-grabbing plan.

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Harvey Dyer
Finance, Internet

Twitter stock (NYSE:TWTR) to Benefit from Soccer World Cup Fever

This year’s World Cup will play out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and messaging apps like WhatsApp just as it progresses in stadiums from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. Nearly 40 percent of Facebook’s 1.28 billion users are football fans. On Tuesday, the world’s biggest online social network is adding new features to help fans follow the World Cup — the world’s most widely viewed sporting event — which takes place in Brazil from June 12th to July 13th.

Largely ignored during much of last year’s 30 percent rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, the stocks leading the U.S. market this year rank among its usually sleepiest components. The best sector in 2014 is utilities, including Consolidated Edison. They’re up 14.5 percent on a total return basis this year, compared with 6.4 percent for the S&P 500 as a whole.

The Soccer World Cup in Brazil will be the most tweeted global event ever, according to a report from Twitter (NYSE:TWTR). Brazil’s Twitter director Guilherme Ribenboim said the volume of messages sent during the month-long competition starting on June 12 will dwarf the 150 million tweets sent about the 2012 London Olympic Games. “We have been showing them how they should use the Twitter platform, how to use hashtags, how to engage with their fans.”

Twitter is also bringing back the “hashflags” it introduced in the 2010 World Cup. Users who tweet three-letter country codes for participating nations — such as BRA for Brazil or ESP for Spain — will see the country’s flag appear in their tweet. Twitter says it will then tally the mentions in its “World Cup of tweets.”

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Harvey Dyer