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New York Cops Want to Catch Future Mass Shooters Online—Before They Snap

The recent school shooting in Newtown, CT is proving a watershed moment for American gun control efforts—public opinion is quickly coalescing in favor of stringent regulation proposals while civic leaders scramble to respond to the outcry. But fear not New Yorkers, the NYPD has a plan—wait for potential killers to mention their murderous intentions on…

Poke: Facebook Just Cloned Snapchat (Update: Hands-on)

Facebook has a new Snapchat knockoff app that just hit iTunes (no Android version yet). Facebook Poke—yes, Poke!—wants to be your go-to app for photo and video messsaging, but will anybody want to engage in Snapchat weirdness on Facebook? And does this mean Facebook owns your sexts? Facebook response and hands-on below. Make no mistake,…

Our 2012 Tech Company Report Cards: Who Flunked?

It’s the end of the year—and that means it’s the end of the semester. Before we all go on winter break, it’s time to have a tough conversation, kiddos. Grades are in. Who misbehaved? Who shined? Who got detention? Our pupils: the world’s technology companies. We graded them in a variety of subjects. Did they…

Facebook’s New Privacy Settings Are Here: This Is What You Need To Do Right Now

We saw a preview earlier this month, but now Facebook’s simplified, slimmed down privacy tools should be arriving on your profile. Any minute. Take control and untag those gross pictures you didn’t even know existed. https://gizmodo.com/facebook-has-new-privacy-settings-heres-whats-differen-5967881 There are two big changes you should care about right now: shortcuts and a beefed up activity feed that’ll…

Facebook Might Make You Pay To Send Messages To Strangers

Today Facebook is adding a couple of new settings for messages to make sure you see the ones you need to see. And it’s also testing a system where you pay a buck to ensure someone you aren’t friends with reads a note you sent. Ugh, hopefully that test fails. Anyway, there are two new…

Foursquare now shows recommendations from Facebook friends: likes and photos will appear on its map, if you want ’em to.

Do People Really Not Know What Texting Is?

People never cease to surprise me with how brainless they can be. This American Apparel ad, which explicitly says to Text apparel to the number 23000, has actually gotten countless Facebook comments with ‘APPAREL 23000’ on the post. Um, that’s not texting people. Do people really not know what texting is? I’d give people the…

Instagram: ‘We Don’t Want To Sell Your Photos’ (Updating)

Instagram has posted a response to the concerns raised over the new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy that were announced yesterday. Instagram says that it doesn’t want to sell your photos. It admits that the new TOS is unclear and says that it will be updated. https://gizmodo.com/your-instagram-data-is-now-officially-facebook-data-5969001 In a blog post, Instagram co-founder Kevin…

Report: Automatic Video Ads (With SOUND?) Coming To Your Facebook Feed

If you think the auto-play commercials on sites like ours are annoying, get ready to have it in your face times a billion: Ad Age says video ads are hitting Facebook. The transition, which AdAge’s anonymous industry sources say will begin in the first half of 2013, will stick video commercials in your browser, tablet,…

Dear Instagram, Please Sell My Photos

Dear Instagram, I hear facebook wants to pimp you guys out in search of “profit.” Bravo! So hey, wanna sell my photos to some faceless corporation? No problem! I know you’ve gotta pay the bills. In fact, let me help. Here are some choice snaps I think you’ll be able to unload, like, tomorrow. No,…

Facebook’s Mobile App Just Got Better At Finding New Places

Facebook’s rolling out a nice little update to their iOS and Android apps today that should make it easier to use the service to find new places of interest for you to waste time and/or money at. The update packs a few new features into the app’s “Nearby” tab, including the ability peruse a list…

Your Instagram Data Is Now Officially Facebook Data

A new Instagram privacy policy goes into effect on January 16th, 2013. The service will now be sharing your data with its new owner Facebook. Get used to it. Basically, Instagram has updated a few of the subhead sections of its policy to reflect the fact that it is a part of Facebook now. Instagram…

Rumor: Facebook Will Launch Its Own Snapchat-Style App

Facebook is apparently testing its own version of an app which resembles Snapchat, the messaging software which allows users to send “disposable” photographs to each other. All Things D claims, citing “sources familiar with the matter”, that Facebook will launch the app in the coming weeks, sometime before the end of the year. ‘Things D…

Report: Twitter Tried To Buy Instagram for $525 Million

We all remember when Facebook bought Instagram for a cool billion dollars, seemingly out of nowhere. Well now another piece of the story might be coming out. According to a report from The New York Times, Twitter made an offer too, for $525 million. https://gizmodo.com/facebooks-buying-instagram-for-a-billion-dollars-5900352 The Times report cites unnamed sources who say Instagram CEO…

Facebook for Android 2.0: Completely Rebuilt for Speed

Today, Facebook is releasing an entirely new version of Facebook for Android. The biggest change you’ll notice, according to the engineering team, is that the app is way faster than it was before. Facebook 2.0 is now coded as a completely native app rather than a native/webview hybrid. The result is that the app will…

The Onion Reveals Facebook’s Secret History

The Onion’s Extremely Accurate History of the Internet rolls on, this time shining a light on social networks, YouTube, and Hitler. Yep, that sounds like the internet! https://gizmodo.com/the-onion-tackles-its-most-important-topic-ever-the-hi-5960466 Here’s one of the latest entries, which takes a look at Facebook’s creepy stalker origins. Thank goodness the site’s matured into the creepy stalker dynasty it is…

Facebook Has New Privacy Settings: Here’s What’s Different

As surely as the sun rises, Facebook will keep revising its privacy settings in an effort to keep everyone from complaining. Starting today, there’s a brand new method, and it’s simpler than ever before. But there are some catches. Easy shortcuts The first thing you’ll notice is a simple, obvious means of hitting the main…

Facebook Helped the FBI Bust an International Crime Ring

Facebook: it lets you find out way too much about your weird cousins, aids you in stalking your exes, and now, it helps the feds fight crime. In partnership with the FBI, Facebook assisted in nabbing a giant international crime ring that had been stealing the identities of people and doing $850 million in financial…

Here’s Everything You Cared About in 2012 on Facebook

Facebook just released its 2012 trend report, boiling down what all us billion idiots care about and share incessantly. What was the top meme? The top song? Which horrible TV do millions of people care about? Read on. In the US, “TBH” (to be honest, if you’re a parent) took the top meme spot. Not…

Look Back on Your Awesome Life with Facebook’s 2012 Personal Roundup

The best part of Facebook is using it as a mirror, and what a mirror they’ve made today—a Timeline that pulls together your “20 biggest moments,” life events, how many people you friended, and other crowning achievements. So what’ll you find? I was presented with a group shot I took on Election Night (significant!), a…