Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /usability/

Facebook to fix email contacts bug

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 07:25:00 GMT

Facebook have blamed a software bug for deleting user email contacts and replacing them with @facebook. com domains, and have promised to fix it.

The social network said the issue was linked to the application programming interface for a tool which was designed to ensure that when a user's contact details were updated, the changes would also be applied to their friends' mobile phone address books.

However, this did not go to plan. Facebook said in a statement: "For people on certain devices, a bug meant that the device was pulling the last email address added to the account rather than the primary address, resulting in @facebook. com addresses being pulled."

Because Facebook's synchronisation tool only synchronised email addresses visible on the site with third party addresses made invisible by default, pre-existing email contacts were removed.

Many Facebook users are already annoyed Facebook had already deliberately changed contact listings on the site, making its own addresses visible by default.

"The gravity of changing personal data on users' phones is much greater than just changing them on a cloud-based service or a website," said Anthony Mullen, senior analyst at tech consultants Forrester, in an interview with the BBC.

"The lesson here is Facebook should have offered a simple wizard walking people through the change showing what impact it would have rather than just letting it happen automatically.

"However, despite talk of a backlash it doesn't seem these problems have been grave enough to have motivated users to quit the network."

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Facebook email change angers users

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:12:00 GMT

Facebook have changed the displayed email address of every user to that of '@facebook. com'. The change was made over the weekend without any notice.

The move has already provoked criticism from users and privacy advocates as it is not the only time site has made major changes without informing users first.

Until now, users were able to display their own peronsal email address, no matter what service they used. The social networking giant told Reuters in an email the addresses were changed to "make them consistent across our site."

"In addition to everyone receiving an address, we're also rolling out a new setting that gives people the choice to decide which addresses they want to show on their timelines," it said.

Facebook's email service was launched in 2010 to compete with Google's Gmail, but has not set the world alight so far. Members can change their address back to their contact details by visiting the 'about' section of their profile settings.

The change to the email addresses was originally spotted by blogger Gervase Markam: "I happened to visit my Facebook profile, and noticed that they had changed the displayed email address to gerv. markham@facebook. com!

"The old one was still in the database, but it had been hidden. Email to the Facebook address is forwarded by Facebook to the other one, so it ends up in the same place.

"What on earth do they think they are playing at?"

Last year Facebook introduced the timeline feature as default, displaying much more historical data on profiles. It was met in much the same way, to a chorus of disapproval by critics.

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IE10 to have default 'Do not track' setting

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:12:00 GMT

The new touchscreen-optimised Internet Explorer 10 is to have the 'Do not track' setting switched on as a default, giving users the option whether or not to accept cookies.

Microsoft is supportive of the idea of 'privacy as the default state,' putting the user in charge of their privacy.

"Consumers should be empowered to make an informed choice and, for these reasons, we believe that for IE10 in Windows 8, a privacy-by-default state for online behavioural advertising is the right approach," said Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch in a Microsoft blog post.

"Our decision to turn on DNT by default in IE10 for Windows 8... helps to provide clarity on one side of the discussion - when and how browsers send the DNT signal - and because it advances the idea of privacy as the default state."

With the exception of Chrome, most browsers have 'Do not track' as a feature built-in, but without it automatically switched on. IE10 is the first browser to have DNT as a default option.

However, not all websites go along with the DNT setting. There is no legal requirement for them to honour this preference at the moment.

Microsoft's DNT decision has raised concerns within the advertising industry.

The Digital Advertising Alliance told the BBC that Microsoft's move risks "limiting the availability and diversity of internet content and services for consumers."

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Spotify announces 12 new applications

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:37:00 GMT

Spotify have announced 12 new applications which will provide further channels upon which users can discover music.

Boasting some of the music industries major labels like Matador Records or Sony, some of the apps give Spotify the ability to link with social media platforms. Users can personalise playlists according to their Facebook 'likes' and explore the most popular artists and songs on Twitter.

"Today we're excited to present the latest, greatest batch of hot new apps. A total of 12 fantastic apps, brought to you from music labels including Universal, Sony, Warner LEGACY, Def Jam, Domino, Matador, PIAS and X5," Spotify's Diego Planas Rego wrote on the company blog.

"Want to check out complete album booklets? Personalise playlists based on your Facebook likes? Delve more deeply into the history of legendary artists? Listen to the most popular songs being talked about on Twitter? All this and much, much more is coming to Spotify."

The new apps give users the opportunity to browse lyrics and rich images, create music charts from twitter, browse classical composers, read biographies and assemble playlists, among other things. It is yet to be seen how Spotify compare to Apple and Facebook, who have thousands of applications across many platforms.

Currently a 10-million-user strong organisation, Spotify launched in 2008 and is accessible using a number of devices including desktop computers, as well as iPhone, Android and Blackberry mobile devices.

Users can browse by album, artist, song, genre and other keywords, and are given a listening limit of ten hours per month once the free trial period ends with the option to purchase Spotify Premium. The Premium service cuts out advertisements and gives the user access to a higher streaming data rate.

There is also the facility to integrate Spotify accounts with social media sites so users can share what they are listening to and access their friend's playlists too. The music streaming service believes these newly revealed apps will bring them into line with competitors.

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Twitter can now tweet from right-to-left

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:12:00 GMT

Twitter has made another step forward in its quest for world domination of 140-character thoughts, launching right-to-left-hand language versions of its site.

Twitter officially announced this week that its micro-blogging services would now be available in Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu.

The company put out a call for translators on its Twitter Translation Centre in January, and ultimately used a group of 13,000 international volunteers to help make the site more accessible worldwide. The translators dedicated their time to translate menu options and support pages.

"These 13,000 volunteers are a vibrant and diverse group," Twitter wrote in an official blog post.

"Among those who donated their time and translation skills to make right-to-left languages a reality on Twitter: a Saudi blogger, Egyptian college students, a journalist at the BBC, IT professionals in Iran and Pakistan, and Israeli schoolteacher, the co-founders of the grassroots LetsTweetInArabic hashtag campaign, academics specializing in linguistics, and teenagers in Lebanon.

"Some of these volunteers live in regions where Twitter is officially blocked. Their efforts speak volumes about the lengths people will go to make Twitter accessible and understandable in their communities."

The little blue bird now tweets in 28 different languages, but getting there was not without its technical difficulties. Multilingualism was a unique challenge to overcome, particularly in posts that included both right-to-left and left-to-right content.

Twitter added: "To solve this, our engineering team built a new set of special tools to ensure these Tweets, hashtags and numbers all look and behave correctly."

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Google pays users to give up their privacy

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:36:00 GMT

Google will pay you to give up your online privacy.

In a new project called Screenwise, Google is offering to pay users up to $25 (£15) to share their search history.

People who sign up to be Screenwise panellists will receive a $5 (£3) Amazon voucher for installing the Google Screenwise browser extension. Participants will then earn an additional $5 (£3) for every three months of participation up to one year.

Though, the fine print on the Screenwise landing page states that gift amounts for participating longer than a year will be reviewed.

The search giant hasn't been overly specific about the details that members of the panel will share, but did state: "As a panellist, you'll add a browser extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them."

The company also said of its goals, "What we learn from you, and others like you, will help us improve Google products and services and make a better online experience for everyone.

In an official statement about the programme, a Google spokesperson stated: "Like many other web and media companies, we do panel research to help better serve our users by learning more about people's media use, on the web and elsewhere.

"This panel is one such small project that started near the beginning of the year. Of course, this is completely optional to join.

"People can choose to participate if it's of interest (or if the gift appeals) and everyone who does participate has complete transparency and control over what Internet use is being included in the panel. People can stay on the panel as long as they'd like, or leave at any time."

For those interested in joining the Screenwise panel, they must be 13 years or older, have a Google Account (or sign up for one) and be willing to use the Google Chrome browser.

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Google introduces Chrome for Android

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:01:00 GMT

Google has introduced two of its most successful products to one another - Chrome and Android - releasing its Chrome Browser App for Android users.

Available in the Android Market for smartphones fitted with Ice Cream Sandwich, the new Chrome app is 'focused on speed and simplicity' and features many of the same features as the desktop version.

"Today, we're introducing Chrome for Android Beta, which brings many of the things you've come to love about Chrome to your Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phone or tablet," Chrome and Apps Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai wrote on the Google blog.

"Like the desktop version, Chrome for Android Beta is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign in and sync so you can take your personalised web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices."

The new mobile Chrome features 'reimagined tabs' designed specifically to fit on a mobile browser, and makes use of gesture-based controls to move across tabs.

"You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you're holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web," Pichai said.

Users can also sync their mobile and desktop bookmarks, making it easy to access sites across different devices. Syncing also extends to autocomplete suggestions - for example, a site visited or searched regularly at home will also appear as an autocomplete suggestion on the mobile browser.

This, according to Pichai, allows users to 'bring your personalised Chrome experience with you'.
"When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly," he said. "And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chrome omnibox."

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Deleted photos live on in Facebook servers

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:24:00 GMT

Old Facebook photos may still be accessible for months - or even years - after being deleted, living on in the depths of the social network's servers.

First revealed in 2009 by Ars Technica, the firm recently queried Facebook again after discovering backup copies - that could potentially be accessed by users - still existed some three years later.

"Users who might have had second thoughts about posting a photo could certainly remove the image from Facebook's main user interface, but as long as someone had a direct link to the JPEG file in question, the photo would remain accessible for an indefinite amount of time," the company said in a blog post.

According to Facebook, a poorly-functioning legacy system is the culprit, but a new system is on its way to ensure deleted photos can no longer be accessed.

"We are in the process of migrating these photos to the newer system to ensure proper deletion, but until this migration is complete, CDN URLs from deleted photos stored on this legacy system may still be accessible," Facebook spokesman Frederic Wolens told CNET.

Under the new system, Facebook photos that have been removed from the social networking site will be deleted - permanently - within 45 days, and according to Facebook, only a very small percentage of photos are still accessible on the company's old servers.

"The process is nearly complete and there is only a very small percentage of user photos (fewer than 3 per cent) still on the old system awaiting migration," Wolens said.

"We expect this process to be completed within the next month or two, at which point we will verify the migration is complete and we will disable all the old content."

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Apple warns appayola-using app-makers

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:37:00 GMT

App Store competition can be tough, but Apple has warned the consequences of trying to game the system are tougher.

Apple is reminding app-makers that using appayola services - paying to artificially inflate an app's chart ranking - will lead to them being stripped of their ability to release apps in the App Store.

In a post on Apple's Developer website, the company said: "Once you build a great app, you want everyone to know about it. However, when you promote your app, you should avoid using services that advertise or guarantee top placement in App Store charts.

"Even if you are not personally engaged in manipulating App Store chart rankings or user reviews, employing services that do so on your behalf may result in the loss of your Apple Developer Program membership."

The reminder appears to have come in response to a recent conversation on the forum for the mobile games site Touch Arcade. In the forum posting, an independent developer claimed to have been contacted by an ad network charging $5,000 (£3,200) for a guaranteed spot in the App Store's Top 25 placement listing for free apps.

The developer also alleged that the company claimed to use a bot farm to automatically download apps and drive up their rankings, as well as implicating eight free apps currently in the Top 25 listing as using the unnamed bot farm's services.

Making the Top 25 is a coveted position in the App Store, and the potential revenue rewards for download popularity are certainly alluring. However, analysts are quick to point out that long-term business models cannot be built on the artificial use of bot farms.

For example, a really bad game in the App Store may just make it into the Top 25 by using appayola firms, but once "real human" users start playing, the rankings can sink very quickly.

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Apple co-founder wishes iPhones were like Androids

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:24:00 GMT

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has admitted his Android-powered smartphone out muscles his iPhone much of the time.

"My primary phone is the iPhone," Wozniak said. "I love the beauty of it. But I wish it did all the things my Android does, I really do."

Though still a big fan of the iPhone, Wozniak argues Android has a better built-in navigation, and that voice commands work better on the Google-made operating system than its Cupertino counterpart.

"I used to ask Siri, 'What are the five biggest lakes in California?' and it would come back with the answer," he said.

"Now it just misses. It gives me real estate listing. I used to ask, 'What are the prime numbers greater than 87?' and it would answer. Now instead of getting prime numbers, I get listings for prime rib, or prime real estate."

Android and Apple have been going head to head for smartphone supremacy - Apple visionary Steve Jobs famously vowed to destroy Android. In contrast, Wozniak bears no ill-will towards Android, and is a long-time friend of Android project head Andy Rubin.

Still, even though Wozniak likes his Android, he still believes the iPhone is the better smartphone overall.

"The people I recommend for the iPhone 4S are the ones who are already in the Mac world, because it's so compatible, and people who are just scared of computers altogether and don't want to use them," he said.

"The iPhone is the least frightening thing. For that kind of person who is scared of complexity, well, here's a phone that is simple to use and does what you need it to do," he said.

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