Due to a string of acquisitions and other business distractions, Facebook’s multi-billion dollar initial public offering that was rumored to be set for May 17th may be delayed until early or mid-June, according to CNBC. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has not been preparing for the IPO, but instead has been more focused on running the business and making acquisitions. As a result, the social networking giant’s IPO date will reportedly be pushed back so the company has time to make the appropriate preparations. Facebook filed with the SEC in February, and could raise as much as $10 billion at a $100 billion valuation when it goes public in the coming months. Facebook’s IPO is expected to top Google’s $1.9 billion offering by a wide margin, making it the largest Internet IPO in history. Facebook’s shares will be listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the “FB” ticker symbol.

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Google brings better YouTube integration to Orkut, hopes you haven't forgotten originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AOL and Microsoft on Monday announced an agreement in which the software giant will purchase 800 patents from AOL in a $1.056 billion cash deal. Microsoft will also license more than 300 additional patents from AOL as part of the agreement. “The agreement with Microsoft represents the culmination of a robust auction process for our patent portfolio,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chairman and CEO. “We continue to hold a valuable patent portfolio as highlighted by the license we entered into with Microsoft. The combined sale and licensing arrangement unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value.” The portfolio sold relates to advertising, search, content generation and management, social networking, mapping, multimedia/streaming and security. The sale is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, pending regulatory approval. Read on for AOL’s press release.

AOL and Microsoft Announce $1.056 Billion Patent Deal

AOL to sell more than 800 patents to Microsoft; Microsoft to license more than 300 additional patents and patent applications from AOL

Transaction is tax-efficient for AOL

Upon closing, AOL expects to return a significant portion of the proceeds to shareholders

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) (the “Company�) today announced that the Company has entered into a definitive agreement to sell over 800 of its patents and their related patent applications to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) (“Microsoft�) and to grant Microsoft a non-exclusive license to its retained patent portfolio for aggregate proceeds of $1.056 billion in cash.

“The agreement with Microsoft represents the culmination of a robust auction process for our patent portfolio�

Following the sale, AOL will continue to hold a significant patent portfolio of over 300 patents and patent applications spanning core and strategic technologies, including advertising, search, content generation/management, social networking, mapping, multimedia/streaming, and security among others. AOL also received a license to the patents being sold to Microsoft.

The patent sale includes the sale of the stock of an AOL subsidiary upon which AOL expects to record a capital loss for tax purposes and as a result, cash taxes in connection with the sale should be immaterial. Additionally, AOL expects to utilize approximately $40 million of its existing deferred tax assets, representing approximately 20 percent of its total deferred tax assets, to offset any ordinary income taxes resulting from the license of its remaining patent portfolio.

AOL management and its Board of Directors intend to return a significant portion of the sale proceeds to shareholders and will determine the most efficient and effective method to do so prior to the closing of the transaction. Pro forma for the sale and license, as of December 31, 2011, AOL would have had approximately $15 per share of cash on hand.

“The agreement with Microsoft represents the culmination of a robust auction process for our patent portfolio,� said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s Chairman and CEO. “We continue to hold a valuable patent portfolio as highlighted by the license we entered into with Microsoft. The combined sale and licensing arrangement unlocks current dollar value for our shareholders and enables AOL to continue to aggressively execute on our strategy to create long-term shareholder value.�

“This is a valuable portfolio that we have been following for years and analyzing in detail for several months,� said Brad Smith, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft. “AOL ran a competitive auction and by participating, Microsoft was able to achieve our two primary goals: obtaining a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio.�

The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2012, upon the satisfaction of customary conditions and regulatory approvals, including expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended.

Evercore Partners and Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisors and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner acted as legal counsel to AOL in connection with the transaction.

Instagram, the increasingly popular photo-sharing platform for Apple’s iPhone, has always allowed users to export photos taken within the app to other social networks. The service has never allowed users to upload non-Instagram photos onto its platform, however — until now. Hipstamatic, a similar photo app that takes vintage-looking photos, is set to unveil a partnership that will allow Instagram photos to be uploaded to its service, Fast Company reported on Wednesday. ”When we launched, it was all about Facebook and Flickr and Twitter, and now we’re seeing a huge shift in our user base toward Instagram,” Hipstamatic co-founder and CEO Lucas Buick said. “We’ve never been a social networking company, but we clearly benefit from social networks. So this will be the first app outside of Instagram that lets you into their network. That’s pretty cool for us.” Hipstamatic is slated to issue an update on Wednesday evening that will bring Instagram integration to iOS devices. The app is available for $1.99 in Apple’s iOS App Store.

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A new iPhone app called Highlight is poised to be this year's breakout hit at South by Southwest, the Austin tech and media conference that has become known as a web service kingmaker after launching services like Twitter and Foursquare to a wide audience in years past. In the context of a major tech conference, Highlight makes an appealing promise: let it run in the background of your phone, persistently collecting your location data, and it will notify you when your friends, their friends, or people with shared interests are nearby. Highlight is only the most prominent in a collection of apps offering this sort of "ambient social networking." More »

Facebook already built its own data center and its own servers. And now the social-networking giant is building its own storage hardware - hardware for housing all the digital stuff uploaded by its more than 845 million users. More »

Facebook already built its own data center and its own servers. And now the social-networking giant is building its own storage hardware - hardware for housing all the digital stuff uploaded by its more than 845 million users. More »

Rumors surrounding a possible Facebook phone have been swirling for years, and the social networking giant has repeatedly denied reports that it is planning to launch an own-brand handset. While a number of industry watchers thought the company would fare well with a Facebook phone, a recent survey suggests that consumers are largely uninterested in a Facebook-branded smartphone. Baird Equity recently surveyed 875 consumers and found that just 12% said they were “very interested” or at least “interested” in a Facebook phone while 73% said they were “probably not interested” or “not interested.” Meanwhile more than 40% of those polled said they were either “very interested” or “interested” in a smartphone from retail giant Amazon, and 29% weren’t interested. Amazon has been rumored on several occasions to have a smartphone in the works. With consumer interest in an Amazon smartphone at a seemingly healthy level and Kindle Fire adoption having exploded last quarter, 2012 could be a good year for the retailer to enter the smartphone space. A table showing Baird’s findings follows below.

Is there such a thing as revolutionary technology? Many Egyptians believe there is. A year ago, they used mobile phones, social networking and banned TV channels to spread word of the protests in Tahrir Square. Hearing the news, thousands of young people risked their lives to join in and overthrow the dictator Hosni Mubarak. To mark the revolution's anniversary, Engadget caught up with five Caireans of different ages and backgrounds to find out about the gadgets they use to keep in touch with their world. For the love of freedom, democracy and at least one bar of mobile reception, please read on.

Continue reading Game changers: Egyptians and their gadgets in 2012

Game changers: Egyptians and their gadgets in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new study suggests that social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter are more difficult to resist than cigarettes or alcohol. A team from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business recently conducted an experiment involving 205 people in Wurtzburg, Germany to analyze the addictive properties of social media and other vices. Participants in the week-long study were polled via BlackBerry smartphones seven times per day and asked to report when they experienced a desire within the past 30 minutes, and whether or not the succumbed to that desire. They were also asked to gauge each desire on a scale from mild to “irresistible.”

In total, 10,558 responses were recorded and a total of 7,827 “desire episodes” were reported by participants. The results of the team’s study will soon be published in the Psychological Science journal, however preliminary data provided to The Guardian suggests the highest rate of “self-control failures” were tied to social media services.

“Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success,” said Wilhelm Hofmann, the leader of team conducting the study. Hofmann suggests people may fail to resist social media so much because there is no obvious or immediate downside to checking services like Twitter or Facebook. He does warn that these services can ultimately be a huge drain on users’ time, however.

“Desires for media may be comparatively harder to resist because of their high availability and also because it feels like it does not ‘cost much’ to engage in these activities, even though one wants to resist,” Hofmann said. ”With cigarettes and alcohol there are more costs – long-term as well as monetary – and the opportunity may not always be the right one. So, even though giving in to media desires is certainly less consequential, the frequent use may still ‘steal’ a lot of people’s time.”

Nokia announced on Wednesday that it has officially sold its 1.5 billionth S40-powered cell phone since the first S40 device — the Nokia 7110 — was released in 1999. A 21-year old Brazilian woman made the historic purchase in São Paulo, the company said, noting that the woman purchased a Nokia Asha 303 from a Magazine Luiza store. “We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone,” said Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President for Mobile Phones at Nokia. “Having 1.5 billion Series 40 devices sold is a hard-to-reach mark, let alone one attainable in a single line of products. At a time when we are maintaining our commitment to connecting the next billion customers around the world – it is gratifying to consider how Series 40 devices have made mobile technology accessible and help continue to change people’s lives for the better.” Nokia is set to announce its earnings on Thursday after the market closes. The company’s full press release follows after the break. 

Nokia hits 1.5 billion sales of revolutionary Series 40 mobile phones

The landmark Nokia Asha 303 device has been purchased by a 21-year-old Brazilian woman

Espoo, Finland РNokia today announced one of the most significant milestones in its history with the sale of its 1.5 billionth Series 40 mobile phone. The device was sold to a female consumer in the Brazilian city of Ṣo Paulo and represents a historic moment as Nokia continues its strategy of connecting the next billion.

The 1.5 billionth phone was a Nokia Asha 303, a stunning touch screen handset with QWERTY keypad designed for web browsing, social networking and gaming, that features pre-installed entertainment and applications such as Angry Birds Lite.

The device was purchased from a Magazine Luiza store in São Paulo by Mayara Rodrigues, a 21-year-old who loves staying in touch with friends and family through social networks.

The first Series 40 phone was the Nokia 7110 developed in 1999.  Since then this family of phones has evolved to such an extent that they are considered ‘Smartphone Lite’ thanks to the innovations of the new Nokia Asha range.

Series 40 phones now blur the line between feature phones and smartphones.  With recent innovations including Nokia Maps for Series 40, Nokia Browser and Web Apps, Nokia Money and Nokia Life Tools, millions of consumers have enjoyed easy and affordable access to the Internet and information for the first time, with locally relevant apps and content.

Mary McDowell, Executive Vice President for Mobile Phones at Nokia, said: “We are incredibly proud to reach this milestone. Having 1.5 billion Series 40 devices sold is a hard-to-reach mark, let alone one attainable in a single line of products. At a time when we are maintaining our commitment to connecting the next billion customers around the world – it is gratifying to consider how Series 40 devices have made mobile technology accessible and help continue to change people’s lives for the better.”

Acer has officially announced the newest addition to the company’s Iconia Tab lineup, the A200. The 10.1-inch device runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb with an Ice Cream Sandwich update slated for mid-February. The A200 features NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 processor with a 1280 x 800-pixel display and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Additionally, the device features a microSD slot, 1GB RAM, a full sized USB 2.0 port and eight hours of battery life. Perhaps the most attractive feature is the price tag — the 8GB model will be available for $329 and the 16GB model for $349. An attractive price for a tablet that will have Ice Cream Sandwich next month is definitely appealing, so be sure to checkout our Consumer Electronics Show coverage, where this tablet is set to debut. Acer’s full press release can be found after the break.

Acer Expands Popular Tablet Lineup with Iconia Tab A200, A Full-Featured HD Tablet at an Attractive $329 Price

SAN JOSE, Calif., January 5, 2012 – Acer America today announced availability of the Iconiaâ„¢ Tab A200, the latest addition to Acer’s line of full-featured Android tablets. The new 10.1-inch Iconia Tab A200 is a portable activity hub for gaming, e-books, movies, music, photography, social networking and more. Offered at the attractive price of $329.99, the Iconia Tab A200 will be available to U.S. customers on January 15.

The new Acer Iconia Tab A200 tablet enables customers to interact with and enjoy technology in ways that are both truly natural and exciting. Loaded with the latest edition of Androidâ„¢ Honeycombâ„¢ 3.2 operating system, the Iconia Tab A200 is user-friendly and extremely interactive with resizable app widgets and fun features the whole family can enjoy. The Iconia Tab A200 also comes with a free upgrade to Android 4.0 (known as Ice Cream Sandwich), which will be available in mid-February.

“The Acer Iconia Tab family of tablets is an excellent example of Acer’s ability to deliver high-performance, full-function mobile devices at unbeatable values,” said Eric Ackerson, senior product marketing manager for Acer America. “Acer brings the Iconia Tab A200 to consumers at an affordable price, without making sacrifices on key tablet features such as expansion, connectivity to other devices, HD displays and cameras.”

High-Quality Performance for Hours of Fun
Sleek and easy to hold, the Iconia Tab A200 weighs 1.5 pounds. The tablet is wrapped in a slim, titanium gray-colored casing, with an eye-catching patterned back side, which is soft to the touch. On the front, the A200 showcases a beautiful HD multi-touch display featuring crystal-clear 1280 x 800 resolution for an outstanding viewing experience.

Made especially for multimedia enjoyment, the Iconia Tab A200 packs hardware and apps for loads of fun. The tablet provides an enhanced level of performance with its NVIDIA® Tegra™ 2 dual-core mobile processor and integrated GeForce™ GPU that allows users to enjoy HD gaming, 1080p video, Flash-based applications, faster browsing and multitasking.

Gamers of all ages will enjoy the preloaded Tegra Zone Android app, which allows users to search and download the best Android games that are optimized for NVIDIA Tegra powered tablets. The Iconia Tab A200′s fast gaming experience is also supported by a six-axis motion sensing gyroscope, essential for high-precision gaming so actions and animations are more correctly performed.

Users can enjoy up to eight hours of cable-free battery life , providing endless hours to surf the web, watch movies, play games and read e-books, far from the nearest electrical outlet. The Iconia Tab A200 comes pre-loaded with apps like Kindle for countless reading selections and Netflix for instant delivery of movie and entertainment titles. One tap on the Android Market allows users access to thousands of downloadable apps.

Packed with Practical and Fun Features
Offering superior expansion and connectivity, the Iconia Tab A200 has a full-size USB 2.0 port for hooking up other devices and a MicroSD slot and micro-USB port for passing data. A two megapixel front-facing web camera enables face-to-face chats or quick snaps for still photos. For an enhanced social networking experience, the Iconia Tab A200 includes Acer SocialJogger, which consolidates Facebook, Twitter and more into one spot.

The Iconia Tab A200 improves multitasking with the unique interactive Acer Ring interface, allowing users to customize their tablet experience by putting their most commonly used applications into one easy spot. Users can launch the ring by tapping the double circle located in the system bar, opening a series of key apps, settings, bookmarks or contextual menu options. The tablet also features Screenshot, which quickly captures web images, articles, Google Maps and even smiling faces from video calls. Screenshot can be used in any app for maximum convenience.

Acer clear.fi is installed on the Acer Iconia Tab A200 to connect with any other DLNA-compliant device to quickly and easily share digital medai. Clear.fi automatically connects all Acer devices on a network (smartphones, notebooks, desktops, HD media plays and storage devices) and gathers and organizes media files by type (video, music, photos, pre-recorded TV).

Affordable Pricing Starting at only $329.99
The Acer Iconia Tab A200 will be available in the U.S. on January 15 at national retail stores. The Acer Iconia Tab A200-10g16u with 16GB of memory has a manufactuerer’s suggested retail price of $349.99, while the Acer Iconia Tab A200-10g08u with 8GB of memory has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $329.99.

Verizon Wireless announced on Tuesday that it will soon offer the Samsung Illusion for $79.99 with a new two-year contract. The Illusion runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and is powered by a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor. It is equipped with a 3-megapixel camera, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, a 2GB microSD card and support for sharing its 3G connection as a mobile hotspot. The rear casing and battery cover of the phone are made from 70% post-consumer material and 35% of the front-face is made from recycled materials, too. In addition, Verizon Wireless said 60% of the phone’s box is made from recycled paper. The Illusion will be available from Verizon Wireless’s website on November 23rd and it’ll land in Verizon Wireless stores in January of next year. The full press release follows after the break.

SIMPLICITY MEETS STYLE WITH THE SAMSUNG ILLUSION^â„¢ FROM VERIZON WIRELESS

Equipped with Stylish Form Factor, the Samsung Illusion is Made from Post Consumer Material and Has Attained UL Platinum Rating 

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the Samsung Illusion^™ will be available online at www.verizonwireless.com beginning Nov. 23 for $79.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. The Illusion will be available for free with a new two-year customer agreement between Thursday, Nov. 24 and Monday, Nov. 28 as a online promotion.

The sophisticated Samsung Illusion smartphone features a sleek form factor and is powered by the nation’s most reliable 3G wireless network.  The Illusion boasts a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird Application Processor, 3.0-megapixel camera, HTML Web browser, music player and integrated contacts, calendar and social networking applications, as well as access to more than 300,000 apps available to download from Android Market^™.

Key features:

• Android 2.3^â„¢, Gingerbread– support for Google Mobile^â„¢ Services including Gmail^â„¢, YouTube^â„¢, Google Talk^â„¢, Google Search^â„¢ and Google Maps^â„¢

·         SWYPE^™ Technology – input text faster and in a more intuitive way with one continuous finger motion across the screen keyboard

·         Unique curved-glass display

·         Corporate email support for Microsoft Office Exchange^® so customers can synchronize corporate email, contacts and calendars from their office email

·         Full suite of messaging options, including text, picture and video messaging

• Mobile Hotspot capability – share 3G connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices

·         6-axis accelerometer with compass

·         Bluetooth^® 3.0 technology – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access and object push for vCard and vCalendar

·         Wi-Fi Connectivity 802.11 a/b/g/n

• microSD^â„¢ card slot with support for up to 32 GB (2 GB pre-installed)

Additional features – Designed with the environment in mind:

·         UL Platinum Rating (Underwriters Laboratories) – the Samsung Illusion scored 84 out of 119 points to receive the “Platinumâ€� UL rating

·         Rear casing and battery cover are made from 70 percent post-consumer material and 35 percent of the front casing is post-consumer material

·         Packaging made from bleach-free paper (post-consumer waste) and printed with vegetable ink

·         Box material uses 60 percent recycled paper (post-consumer waste)

·         High-efficiency charger with full-charge alarm

Availability:

• The Samsung Illusion will be available online at www.verizonwireless.com on Nov. 23, and will be available in Verizon Communications Stores in January 2012.
• Customers that purchase a Samsung Illusion smartphone will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 for monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Add another future platform for SlingPlayer to the pile, as the company recently showed off this quick demo of streaming video through Facebook. While the old Sling.com streaming still works just fine, this one adds some new social features to the mix. That will let viewers share the shows and what they enjoy watching easily while not-so-coincidentally making sure their friends know they're watching TV via Slingbox. There's no word on when this will actually hit the OpenGraph'd streets, but so far it's already in line behind players we've seen demonstrated but not yet released for Boxee and Google TV. Press play to check out the video and think back to a world where no one knew you were watching Law & Order for the eighth time today.

[Thanks for the video, Dave Zatz]

Facebook SlingPlayer revealed, proves you can't escape social networking (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Nov 2011 03:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s latest social networking effort follows a long line of failed attempts to break into a space owned by the likes of Facebook, Twitter and (somehow) Myspace, and Google seems to finally have a hit on its hands with Google+. The service amassed more than 10 million users within two weeks of launching as an invitation-only beta, and it now reportedly has more than 40 million users following a public launch. As Facebook approaches 1 billion users, however, Google has quite a bit of ground to make up. The Internet giant apparently isn’t afraid to get dirty in its quest for social network dominance, and a new report revealed that Google recently set up shop at colleges in Israel in an attempt to lure new users to Google+. Read on for more.

As a new semester got underway at Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University in Israel, students were greeted by an unexpected surprise: a series of booths that served as recruiting stations for Google+. The manned booths offered passers-by a free gift bag packed with goodies if they were willing to sign up for the new social network on the spot, Ynet recently reported. Google’s hired hands helped users create their profiles on the spot, even offering to take playful profile pictures for the university students, which were also printed on stickers and given away for free.

“The idea is to open a Google Plus account for people, and we want them to add people to their Circles so the network will grow,” one of Google’s booth-workers told Ynet (machine-translated from Hebrew). “A lot of people do not know the network, so we tell them a little about the social network and its advantages over other networks.”

Google also set up similar booths at another college in the area, and it is unclear if the company plans to extend its recruiting efforts beyond Israel.

Google+ is a service very similar to Facebook, though it offers a unique user interface and several compelling features. Users group friends into “Circles” and may share content only with specific circles if they so desire. The social network also features instant messaging, group chat and a recently-added gaming component that allows users to play games online within the Google+ UI.

Continue reading Toyota introduces Touch Life smartphone mirroring system, your Prius and iPhone can become one

Toyota introduces Touch Life smartphone mirroring system, your Prius and iPhone can become one originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tablet adoption is exploding in the United States and a new study conducted by Pew Research Center shows that 11% of consumers in the U.S. now own tablets just 18 months after Apple redefined the category in March of 2010. According to Pew’s survey of 1,159 tablet owners in the U.S., 77% of them use their tablets daily — about 90 minutes per day on average — and 53% of tablet owners use their slates to read news each day. 67% of owners in the U.S. use their tablets for general web browsing, and other popular activities include sending and receiving email (54%), social networking (39%), gaming (30%), reading books (17%) and watching movies and videos (13%). A massive infographic highlighting key findings from Pew’s study follows below.

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