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Facebook Y-A-N-K-S Scrabulous
 Facebook
 Y-A-N-K-S
 Scrabulous
Jul 29, 2008 10:52 AM CDT

Facebook Y-A-N-K-S Scrabulous

Popular Scrabble clone unable to withstand legal pressure

(Newser) - Facebook took down the wildly popular ‘Scrabulous’ this morning, PC Magazine reports, following a legal attack against the game's creators by the rights holders of Scrabble. The site finally folded to pressure after receiving a takedown notice from Hasbro, as well as Mattel, which owns international rights to the...

Hasbro Sues Scrabulous, Warns Facebook

Game maker says unsanctioned online version must go

(Newser) - The makers of Scrabble say Scrabulous must go. Hasbro today sued the creators of the online knockoff, which is wildly popular on Facebook, and warned the social networking site to dtich the game, ABC News reports. No word yet on whether that will happen. Hasbro recently released its own online...

Booming Facebook Closing Gap on MySpace

Social networking websites are busy places—especially in the summer months

(Newser) - Facebook may be No. 2 in the social networking industry, but its 40% growth from June 2007 to the same month this year is closing the gap between it and market leader MySpace. MySpace—which has 72% of the market—showed negative growth in visits for the year, says BizReport....

Facebook Cleans Up With New Design
Facebook Cleans Up With New Design
NEW RELEASE
Jul 21, 2008 6:28 PM CDT

Facebook Cleans Up With New Design

Social network cuts down clutter, adds 'Publisher' feature

(Newser) - Facebook has launched a redesign with subtle new features that improve usability, Rafe Needleman writes in Webware. The revamped site eliminates a lot of the clutter caused by its 16-month-old applications platform, and spotlights the most important aspect of Facebook—the Wall—pushing it to the front and making it...

Facebook, MySpace Offer Prime Evidence

Profiles, photos can haunt defendants, help prosecutors

(Newser) - Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have offered crime-solving help to detectives and become a resource for employers vetting job applicants. Now the sites are proving fruitful for prosecutors, who have used damaging Internet photos of defendants to cast doubt on their character during sentencing hearings and argue for...

End of Scrabulous Finally Near?

Facebook's official Scrabble application could oust popular game

(Newser) - Facebook users anticipating a goodbye to the site’s popular unofficial Scrabble game may finally see it happen when an official one comes out later this month. Hasbro and Electronic Arts are preparing the alternative to Scrabulous, which Hasbro says infringes on its copyrights. “We are keeping our legal...

Online Spaces Snub Free Speech That Offends

'Good corporate citizens' send blogs, photos, videos to the trashbin

(Newser) - A variety of websites are deleting postings that could offend, and with full legal protection—sparking debate about whether free speech exists online. Case in point: an image of a young smoker posted on Yahoo's photo service. It was cut for promoting underage smoking, but the photographer calls it a...

In the Facebook Era, Colleges Are Dropping Yearbooks

Schools shut down tradition as online networks take over

(Newser) - The next generation of college graduates will have to rely on MySpace and Facebook to recall the good times and look up old friends, for the era of the yearbook is drawing to a close. With hardbound copies costing up to $75, the Economist cites Purdue University and nearby DePauw...

The (Middle) Name Is Hussein
The (Middle) Name Is Hussein
Jun 29, 2008 4:55 PM CDT

The (Middle) Name Is Hussein

More Obama fans adopt his name, angry that foes use it as a 'cuss word'

(Newser) - A growing group of Barack Obama fans are adopting his middle name, even as conservative pundits use it to label him a Muslim or terrorist, the New York Times reports. The trend of using "Hussein" has picked up speed since February and exists mostly online, in blogs and on...

Facebook to Ask Users to Specify Gender

But site remains sensitive to those who find gender limiting

(Newser) - Facebook announced a seemingly minor change today: Users will soon be prompted to specify a gender for their “mini-feed” updates. The site has been using the awkward “themself” to avoid gender specificity, but Facebook managers say that doesn’t work so well when the site is translated into...

When Is A Facebook Friend Just A Friend?

Social sites clash over letting users share info between services

(Newser) - There’s a movement among some social Web services, from MySpace and Yahoo to Plaxo, to let users share data, the MIT Technology Review reports. Take Google’s new Friend Connect, a service that lets users transport profiles and connections among sites. But Facebook, for one, is swimming against the...

Facebook Just 'Flavor of the Month': Murdoch

Rival that's overtaken his MySpace merely 'directory,' not network

(Newser) - Rupert Murdoch today insulted the rival of his popular MySpace, calling Facebook the “flavor of the month” and a mere “directory”—on the occasion of his social networking sinking to the No. 2 spot in worldwide traffic. The media mogul said Facebook was not a real social...

LinkedIn Scores $53M in Capital, $1B Value

All-business networking site plans European foray, acquisitions

(Newser) - LinkedIn—the buttoned-down, anti-Facebook social networking site for professionals—is about to up its profile with a $53 million infusion of private equity that will allow it to make acquisitions and expand its reach overseas, reports the New York Times. The new financing values the company at a hefty $1...

EBay Will Open Doors to Outside Programmers

Openness move won't take off until 2009

(Newser) - EBay has revealed a plan to let third-party software programs work within its Selling Manager, a tool used by 700,000 large merchants. Project Echo is the latest landmark in an openness movement that helped Facebook hit its stride, Reuters reports, as independent developers will soon have their software promoted...

Networks Social Indeed, But Ad Dollars Remain Elusive

MySpace's marketing-friendly makeover part of sites' evolving drive to cash in

(Newser) - A makeover planned to begin Wednesday for MySpace is the latest sign of the continued struggle to make social networking the cash cow many thought it would be when News Corp. bought the site three years ago, the New York Times reports. MySpace's user base has grown from 16 million...

'Lifestreaming' Challenges Traditional Social Networking

FriendFeed leads new aggregation services

(Newser) - A new kind of open social networking is gaining a foothold with online leaders. “Lifestreaming” services like FriendFeed—launched in February by ex-Google employees—let users bring online social activities from various sources together in one feed. Leader FriendFeed is logging 150,000 visitors a month, but the big...

Making Web More Social Has Google, Facebook Less So

Friend Connect threatens social-networking business model

(Newser) - Though Facebook cited privacy concerns in pulling the plug on a partnership with Google aimed at making the Web more social, dollar signs are more likely behind its withdrawal from Friend Connect, the Washington Post reports. "What Facebook is after really is control over their users," one analyst...

Facebook, MySpace Derail Alumni Magazines

New generations of grads find keeping in touch easier over web

(Newser) - Once upon a time, the college alumni magazine was an invaluable resource. Keeping up on old friends and enemies was as easy as flipping to the “class notes” section. But that once-mighty column now looks antiquated next to the constant updates offered on Facebook or MySpace, and it’s...

Facebook Readies User-Friendly Makeover

Site wants to offer easier access to other applications

(Newser) - Social-networking stalwart Facebook is redesigning its site to allow users easier access to an array of applications that might include search options, Forbes reports, and give advertisers more ways to reach the Facebook community. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the All Things Digital conference, said the company hoped to work...

Online Social Networks Redefine 'Friends'
Online Social Networks Redefine
'Friends'
OPINION
May 23, 2008 11:00 AM CDT

Online Social Networks Redefine 'Friends'

Isn't 5,000 too many? Even spuds do well

(Newser) - Online social networks such as Facebook and MySpace have altered the meaning of friendship, writes Steven Levy in The Washington Post. Instead of genuine chums, people are collecting hundreds and even thousands of friends without any real-world contact. When it comes to rejecting friend requests, "it's socially awkward, and...

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