Tag / Facebook

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook buys Instagram for $1 billion

In a post on Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that his company has purchased Instagram for $1 billion. Read his post below.

I’m excited to share the news that we’ve agreed to acquire Instagram and that their talented team will be joining Facebook.

For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook.

That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

These and many other features are important parts of the Instagram experience and we understand that. We will try to learn from Instagram’s experience to build similar features into our other products. At the same time, we will try to help Instagram continue to grow by using Facebook’s strong engineering team and infrastructure.

This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.

We’re looking forward to working with the Instagram team and to all of the great new experiences we’re going to be able to build together.

by Luca Shepherd

How to avoid getting killed by an email

We’ve all been there. You have just gone to a certain place, at a certain time on a certain date, done a special thing and the thing you suspected would happen has indeed just happened, not to mention the fact that you’ve just seen whatever the fuck it is that lives in your mirror, been told in detail how you’re going to die, and the highly demonic and invincible thing you summoned is heading towards you. Also, everyone in your family is dead, your friends are all missing and you’re being framed by someone with access to your bedroom. What the fuck do you do now?

Well, you’ve come to the right place to find out!

These are the rules you must follow in order to not become the victim of chain emails and to come out alive and kicking if the worst does happen. With the help of this guide you too can be the catatonic, traumatised wreck as opposed to the guy currently being worn as a coat by some dude who kills you in your sleep. Just keep these simple rules in mind.

  1. Mirrors and darkness don’t mix.
  2. Mirrors are a general no in chain emails as there is nothing more sinister.
  3. There is zero chance of survival if you look at the thing that no one else can see, so don’t do that.
  4. If you are alone at night in a creepy mental institution, take some time to consider what the fuck are you doing there, then, if it is appropriate to do so, GTFO.
  5. Avoid going to places where everyone else who went there never came back or died inexplicably.
  6. If someone covered in blood stops your vehicle at night and asks to come with you, it would probably be in your best interests to politely decline.
  7. Killing is the last method of survival. Use it sparingly, but without fear.
  8. Who was on the phone is always a good thing to ponder. If you don’t know who it is, don’t fucking answer.
  9. Area 51 is simply too well guarded to let you get in. On the other hand, it is too well guarded to let any alien out.
  10. Invoking demons, speaking weird languages and performing rituals of any kind is considered dangerous. Refrain from doing that, especially around abandoned warehouses, churches, psychiatric institutions, forests and at home in front of a mirror at night.
  11. Always have a Bible next to your bed. It provides average reading material, proof of beliefs and a really heavy object to throw at enemies.
  12. Don’t count on Holy Water. Get a sturdy vial of sulphuric acid as, while water in the eyes is not nice, acid is probably be a better option.
  13. If you find 666 messages on your phone or email, consider changing the service provider. Also, don’t bother listening to or reading the messages. It’s spam. Sent by a demon, possibly, but spam nevertheless.
  14. If you need to sign it in blood, it’s bullshit. All genuine paranormal beings will accept contracts signed either digitally or in ink.
  15. Before you start swimming in the ice-cold waters of a murky lake at the centre of a dark forest at midnight, ask yourself why… just why.
  16. Watching TV static for long periods may be hazardous to your health, try Sky TV. They now install free!
  17. Get a cat. Those furry little hairballs seem to perceive unnatural phenomena better than us, and if desperate, simply throw it at whatever is about to get you.
  18. Try not to close your eyes, ever. If you must, do so only briefly.
  19. If you are too old to play with dolls, you do not need to be anywhere near one of the creepy little fuckers.
  20. If you like to plan ahead and have some money, buy your auntie and uncle a house in Bel-Air. Nothing can harm you there no matter how scared your mother is. Not even Carlton.

Carlton

Follow these simple rules and little harm will come to you. Either way, the important thing is to make sure your tale is told, copied, and pasted repeatedly.

Also, if you don’t click a share button below and post this on your Facebook page, a little girl who died by accidentally dropping a Nokia on her face will come to you at 11:00 at night and kill you in your sleep. I am deadly serious.

by James Hardy

Technophobia: Why Comic Sans should be banned

Technophobia is a column by James Hardy. Views expressed are not necessarily those of Digixav.

Comic Sans MS was deplorably brought to life in 1994, and is probably the worst thing Microsoft has ever given this world – and yes, that includes Internet Explorer.

Gwargh!

Even ironically typing this article in the font in Microsoft Word made me wretch.

I think the problem I have with Comic Sans is that it is actually used. A LOT. Comic Sans should be used on invites to kids parties.

AND NOTHING ELSE.

Normal fonts – Arial, Helvetica, Ubuntu etc. – have an air of slick sophistication about them. Comic Sans just asks you to make it multi-coloured. Please no. Please, please no. There is nothing worse than a sign written in multi-coloured Comic Sans.

Some fonts annoy me. No one uses Times New Roman unless they haven’t worked out how to change the default font. And excessively fancy swirly ones like Jokerman or Curlz MT are written by annoying people. The same people who use every single fucking entrance and exit effect possible in PowerPoint presentations.

But nothing comes close to Comic Sans. It is untouchable in its title of THE WORST FUCKING FONT IN THE WORLD. Thinking about it makes my stomach turn.

And Comic Sans is used in the most inappropriate of situations. I saw a few posters recently written in the font. One was about drug use. The other was highlighting the problem of domestic violence. It has even been used on gravestones. Fail much?

And then there is this one:

I feel that behind every notice written in Comic Sans is built up anger. Behind some innocuous notice like ‘Please dispose of your cups in the bins provided!’ written in the typeface, there is someone pulsating with rage, probably thinking something along the lines of:

Why the fuck are these wankers unable to make use of the bins I have fucking put out for them‽

Yep, Comic Sans says that. With flowers on. Using Comic Sans is like coming to a funeral in a pink bikini. That’s not how the world works!

What really pisses me off are those teachers who insist on writing EVERYTHING in the font. Yes, Mr. Mulae, I’m talking about you.

As for the websites which are entirely in the typeface, they are probably the leading cause of suicides in the country. Fortunately, for Safari users, some genius has made an extension which changes all pages in Comic Sans to a font of your choice. But I can’t afford an Apple, so I’m stuck with sites like Languages Online which try to be really friendly and happy and rainbows and butterflies and IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY!

For more information on how I feel, visit bancomicsans.com and like Ban Comic Sans on Facebook.

So, next time you type something, unless it is a school fair poster, a notice on a parish church, or perhaps a souvenir beach towel from Barcelona, avoid Comic Sans at all costs.

Please, think of the kittens.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

How Draw Something became an overnight hit

Over the past few weeks, Draw Something has become massive, with over 30,000,000 downloads on iOS and Android. GigaOm‘s interview with the CEO of OMGPOP, Dan Porter, explains how it all happened.

Ryan Kim's avatarGigaom

Draw Something, the No. 1 app right now on iOS (s aapl) and Android (s goog), is listed as a game and draws a lot of comparisons to the family game Pictionary. But the funny thing is that it’s not really a game at all.

It doesn’t have scores or leaderboards, and the players in the game aren’t actually competing against each other. They’re working together in a cooperative manner, but they’re not taking on anyone else or a computer.

Instead, it’s more of a social communications app masquerading as a game, said OMGPOP CEO and Draw Something game designer Dan Porter.

I sat down with Porter Friday at OMGPOP’s New York office and asked him about how he pulled off the immense success of Draw Something, which has racked up 30 million downloads on iOS and Android in about five weeks. The app has generated about 2 billion…

View original post 1,013 more words

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook launches ad campaign across Google’s AdSense network

Not one of the 850 million? Mark Zuckerberg will keep hunting you down, as Facebook just launched an ad campaign across Google’s AdSense network. As if there aren’t enough people who waste their lives feeding the advertisers…

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Vevo redesign shifts away from YouTube towards Facebook

Vevo, the music video service that causes more problems than it solves, launched a major redesign of its site today, notably emphasising Facebook connection and shifting away from YouTube hosting. Why can’t they just hurry up fix the iOS app?

Ryan Lawler's avatarGigaom

Over the past two years, Vevo has become the default place to watch music online. But, like many other streaming video providers, it had a problem: For users, the act of watching videos tends to be a very disjointed process.

Users search for something they want to watch, find it, watch it and then have to search for something else all over again. Most sites have recommendations when the videos end, but they can be hit or miss — and they tend not to be very personal, not reflective of a user’s viewing history or his social graph.

I’ve written about this a lot in the past — about how the success of streaming video will be driven by improved discovery and through the implementation of a more TV-like playback experience where the user doesn’t have to continually search for the content he wants to watch.

Anyway, the latest update…

View original post 568 more words

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Horse_ebookmarklet turns the internet into engaging gibberish

You’ve probably heard of the @Horse_ebooks Twitter account. If you haven’t, why not? Unlike other bots on Twitter, @Horse_ebooks sends out cryptic messages that have oddly mesmerised the internet. @Fart says it best:

@Horse_ebooks is a Twitter bot designed and automated by apparently some Russian guy to sell worthless, horrible ebooks about horses. In order to avoid being detected as a spam bot, it occasionally posts a text snippet or two from one of its ebooks, chosen at random. I will never buy an ebook from it, but I will follow this Twitter account until I die or horses become extinct, whichever comes first.

Now, Ben Nyberg has developed a bookmarklet to spread the @Horse_ebooks hilarity all over the internet. When the Javascript is run, every image on a page becomes the trademark horse and all the text becomes delightful gibberish. Nyberg himself expected this to amuse people for about 20 minutes, but all I know is that I am doing it to every site I see. Here are some examples.

Carphone Warehouse

Digixav

Facebook

Google

Pinterest

So, what are you waiting for? Install the bookmarklet and try it yourself.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

Facebook IPO filing crashes the SEC website

Facebook has filed for its IPO, and crashed the website of the Securities and Exchange Commision. The filing explains that the site has over 483 million daily users and made a profit of $1bn last year. Madness? I think so. I would buy shares, but I’m not a multi-billionaire like Zuck.

by Xavier Voigt-Hill

The Poll: What should Facebook’s stock symbol be?

Facebook is expected to finally go public this week, with an expected IPO of up to $100,000,000,000. While this isn’t really news in itself, the imminence of the big day has led many people to ponder as to what the stock symbol of Zuckerberg’s baby will be. We have compiled a short list of likely candidates, but feel free to suggest your own in the poll below.

PS: FACE is already taken by Physicians Formula Holdings, Inc., but they are only valued at $40,818,000. If Zuckerberg wanted their symbol, he could just reach into his pocket and come out with a cosmetics company, so we aren’t ruling that out just yet.