Hide Facebook Adds With A Simple X Button

Facebook Ad

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It is a no-brainer that a number of Facebook users want to hide Facebook ads whenever they access their accounts, and it appears that the social network itself is giving its members the option to do just this.

Facebook has reportedly confirmed that it will allow mobile users to hide advertisements in their respective news feeds. These ads include Facebook Pages that feature links or images, and will be available on Android, iOS and the mobile Web. A representative from the company revealed that the feature went live around six months ago. Users will simply click on the “x button to hide Facebook ads.

Aside from being able to hide Facebook ads, a number of other options may also be released by the company. The “x” button aimed at ads that induce users to install apps or ads that are displayed whenever a page is “liked” by Facebook friends is expected to be released by the company.

The features will initially be released for the iOS, while the Android version will not be far behind.  The feature will give users more control over the content displayed on their accounts. It will also give advertisers the opportunity to reach their intended target market. Getting the target market is essential on Facebook, which makes the feature useful for the social network itself. The ability to hide Facebook ads will bring down the number of non-essential audience of the ads themselves by around 15 percent, Facebook revealed.

HTC One Release Coming Soon

HTC One

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It appears that it will be a busy month for HTC as it will reportedly launch its long-rumored Facebook Phone and the latest model of their flagship phone, the HTC One.

Although the supposed Facebook Phone of HTC will probably remain what it has been for the past few months, a rumor, AT&T has announced that the HTC One, with its 4.7-inch screen display, will become a part of its lineup by April 19. It will reportedly be offered at around $200 and pre-orders will be accepted by the mobile service provider soon.

The flagship smartphone of HTC will be available in 32GB and 64GB models. While other mobile service providers have indicated that they will support the smartphone, the 64GB model will be exclusively distributed by AT&T.

The standard model of the HTC One will cost $50 lesser than the Samsung Galaxy S4, which will also be offered by AT&T by April 16. The HTC smartphone will also have the same price as the basic model of the Apple iPhone 5.

Early adopters of the HTC One smartphone will have the opportunity to take advantage of a special offer by the smartphone manufacturer. Reports have indicated that buyers who acquire the smartphone before April 4 will receive a pre-paid visa card worth $100 or they can also opt to trade-in the value of an old phone.

The HTC One was unveiled on February 19, and it will feature a full HD 1080p screen display, a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor from Qualcomm and the HTC Sense customized Android OS. The smartphone also offers Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connectivity as well as DLNA for wireless streaming into a computer or television. It can also be used as a remote control for supported devices and has a microUSB 2.0 port that offers a HD video link for HDMI or USB linkup.

The HTC One also features the latest UltraPixel camera, which is touted to be better than a camera with a Megapixel resolution.

Work On Facebook Phone Denied

Facebook Smartphone

Bloomberg recently hinted at the possibility that a Facebook phone is already being developed and is scheduled to be available in the middle of next year. Earlier reports had already hinted at the possibility that Facebook will be releasing its own handset.

The supposed Facebook phone will reportedly be produced in collaboration with HTC although no other information was released by the news agency.

However this was denied by Mark Zuckerberg in a conference call where the earnings of the company for previous quarter were released. He said that producing a Facebook phone does not make sense for the company, which is focused on enhance the experience of its increasing number of users.

Zuckerberg indicated that Facebook is currently the most-used application on practically all mobile platforms and the company aims to offer applications that are well-integrated into the systems. He added that the company intends to support an ecosystem which allows other apps to be built on top of Facebook.

There are numerous things that the company has to work on and it does not include the production of a Facebook phone.

Despite this, reports on the possibility that a Facebook phone is already on its way have continued to emerge. Bloomberg indicated that the Facebook phone will feature a modified operating system and will be launched into the market next year.

However the interest in entering the hardware market is quite strong with Google being one of the tech companies to introduce their own smartphone and tablet offerings. Microsoft and Amazon have also developed their own products that compete with their own hardware partners.

But Zuckerberg appears to be firm in saying that the Facebook phone is not in the plans of the company. In spite of this, speculations continue to emerge on the possibility that the company will release their own handset into the market.

Facebook Smartphone May Be Unveiled Next Year

Facebook Smartphone

The so-so performance of Facebook in the stock exchange did not seem to affect the company as recent reports have hinted at the possibility that the company will be releasing a smartphone by next year. According to anonymous sources, a Facebook smartphone is reportedly is in the future plans of the social networking company.

The sources were reportedly Facebook employees, engineers and individuals who had an idea on the plans of the company. Reports have indicated that at least six former employees of Apple were hired by the company who will likely work on the reported Facebook smartphone.

These former employees of Apple were reportedly hardware and software engineers who were involved in development of the Apple iPhone as well as the iPad.

The supposed Facebook smartphone calls to mind earlier reports where the company was supposedly planning on producing a Facebook smartphone last November. Earlier reports hinted at a Facebook smartphone that will integrate the social network into the core of the device and was given the codename ‘Buffy’. HTC was supposed to produced the Facebook smartphone last November, which was supposedly going to be introduced in the third quarter of this year.

During the 2011 Mobile World Congress, two smartphones, which featured a dedicated Facebook button, were introduced by HTC, the HTC ChaCha and the HTC Salsa. The HTC ChaCha was later released as the HTC Status.

According to recent reports, the ‘Buffy’ project was expanded by the company as it created a team of engineers who have experience in developing devices. One of the engineers in the team that will supposedly produce the Facebook smartphone was a part of the team that worked on the Apple iPhone. The engineer was able to meet the head of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, who asked him questions about a smartphone.

For the moment no statements were issued by Facebook in connection to the reports of a possible launch of a Facebook smartphone since the company does not make comments on speculations and rumors.

Features Added on Draw Something

Draw Something

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A number of users of Draw Something have often found out the hard way that some of their digital sketch creations will get lost in the void as they were not able to save them into their devices. However with the recent update, these users will have the chance of keeping their artworks for a long time, may until they lose their devices or brick it somehow, but that’s another story altogether.

The creators of the games have added a number of new features including the capability of saving their works of art into the photo library of their devices.

The update for iOS devices will allow the players to save their Draw Something sketches into the photo library of their devices as well as make comments on the drawings of other players. The update also allows them to upload their Draw Something creations directly into Twitter and Facebook.

Zynga recently paid more than $200 million for the drawing and guessing game, which was considered the pervious notable event in the life of the Draw Something application. The game is basically a Pictionary where opponents have to make guesses basing on the clues that are drawn. The drawings are also animated in real-time, which makes Draw Something quite cool.

Players will also have the capability of ‘undoing’ one backstroke, which may not be much since its limited to only one stroke and it will not be necessary to use the eraser option to often. Draw Something users will also be able to write down short notes on the drawing. The short notes will be limited to 100 characters.

Pull to refresh will also be supported on iOS devices to allow users to update their game list while the number of drawings that can be rendered in Draw something was increased from 99 to 999. These are just some of the new features that are expected to give Draw Something players a better user experience.

The Android update for the Draw Something game is also still set to be made available in the future.

Reports Point To May 17 Facebook IPO Listing

Facebook

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Reports have indicated that the much-awaited Facebook IPO may make its debut on Wall Street on May 17.

The recent reports appear to verify earlier reports that the shares of Facebook will be listed on Nasdaq by the third week of the month of May.

A number of sources reportedly indicated that if the Securities and Exchange Commission or the SEC will give its approval, the Facebook IPO will be made available on Nasdaq by May 17. The company will reportedly have a value of about $100 billion with its initial public offering.

The papers for the $5 billion Facebook IPO were filed by company at SEC last February which ended previous speculations that the social networking company will go public. The filing also showed that around 845 million users have signed up with the social network and it earned $3.7 billion a year ago. The company has been making money in the last three years, which may add to the appeal for the Facebook IPO.

Following the listing of the Facebook IPO, the shares of the company will reportedly use the ‘FB’ ticker symbol. A number of technology companies are listed on Nasdaq including Google and Apple. On the other hand, Pandora and LinkedIn are listed on the NYSE, the rival of Nasdaq.

Prior to the reports on the possible listing of the Facebook IPO on May 17, the social networking company acquired Instagram for $1 billion. Instagram is a mobile photo sharing app that has attracted around 40 million users around the world.

Aside from the upcoming listing of the Facebook IPO and acquisition of Instagram, Facebook is also set in expanding its California headquarters. The City Council of Menlo Park gave its approval for the planned expansion of the 57-hectare property of the company, which will result to an increase in employment and increased revenue for the city.