What is the next Facebook (or is there one)?

Facebook is trying to be the "network provided".

When the company Hooded resistant CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a new feature called Timeline in September, Facebook announced that he would be the site - or social network or application or whatever - to catalog life from birth to death. The site even created a place for users to upload their photos of baby to signify the beginning of their lives on Facebook.

This, of course, has happened before in the history of the Internet. There was a time when technology experts thought MySpace, Friendster and AltaVista would be around (and relevant) forever, too. But what is strange bold Facebook from birth until death claim is that, for many people, it seemed so strange.Maybe Facebook can last forever. Perhaps, after 901 million users, is really something different.

As Facebook becomes public, the crowd is not a question you should ask Wall Street is: Is there anything ever replace Facebook? And if so, what could be the plan? If not, you could even compete with Facebook right now?Some writers, including Alexis Madrigal in the Atlantic,
have argued that it is time for the post to facebook emerging. Many people seem to agree with that. A recent survey by the Associated Press and CNBC found half of Americans think that Facebook is a "fad", according to technology blog Time.They are all good wishes, though. Chances are that we are reaching a time when applications and micro-social networks-Facebook does not dislodge, but at least compete with him in some ways - or even increase their capabilities. The rudimentary photo sharing application Instagram did. So did Glancee, a "social discovery" mobile application. But obviously, Facebook bought both.CNNMoney: 7 startups should buy FacebookHere is a list of 9 sites and applications that somewhat-sorta-maybe they could challenge the dominance of Facebook. Or at least offer a partial alternative. Become a look and do not hesitate to fight us on the list for comments. (Note: The number of users vary by location and application, is somewhat apples to oranges).Highlight (users not published): This "social discovery" application was the buzz in the South by Southwest Interactive this year, a conference in Austin, Texas, that makes or breaks many high-tech start-ups. In essence, the application aims to give people real time information about the people around him. "San Francisco is a city of 800,000 foreigners," said the prominent founder Paul Davison time. "You sit on the bus next to each other. We stop in a line next to each other. You and meetings where the bars are. You walk to the other street. And you do not know anything about anyone you see. "Highlights offers users a" sixth sense "of what these people around you like and dislike, and if possible to be friends.Path (3 million users) Founded by former Facebook Dave Morin, Way has a few things in your favor that Facebook does not: It is mobile in the first place, which is important in a world where people tend to network on their phones more than ever on their desktops, and that is intimate. Friend caps Route users shows 50 people, ensuring that you're actually communicating your true self with people who really know in real life. "Path is really focused on close friends and family, and the development of deeper and more intimate relations between the 50 closest people in your life," Morin said on CNN last year. A redesign of application Way won a new wave of support from the public begins at the start-l'adopció technology, but a lousy statement in February, during which it was revealed that the list of users stored route phone contact, may have eroded the confidence of some people. Morin apologized for the error data, saying it was accidental and had been amended.Pinterest (11.5 million active users a month online via Facebook, according to AppData) A recent report from marketing firm Experian said Pinterest "the best social media implementation from Facebook and YouTube. " The site allows users to "fix" the photos of your favorite Internet findings to staff tables, which can be shared with friends or keep private. Pinterest actually launched in March 2010 without much notice from the creators of the taste of high technology in Silicon Valley. It grew in popularity in late 2011 and early this year, according to Experian's report is the third most visited social networking site in the United States, excluding the use of mobile. The site is especially popular among people who are designing and the art of mind, or are trying to plan events or decorate a new home. Also: President Obama uses it. But there have been questions lately about whether the site's popularity is declining.Viddy (36 million active users a month connected to Facebook, according to AppData) Posted by Paris Hilton as "like Instagram, but the video is all," Viddy allows users to record and upload 15 second clips video, and then with the stylized retro-hipster-looking filters. Viddy is not the first to test the short video-app. An application calls of 12 seconds was a pioneer in this space a few years back, and then quenched. However, the launch looks set to capitalize on the success of Instagram as an application that anyone can take pictures of interesting and fun to watch. Maybe Viddy can do the same for short video messages.Tumblr (56 million blogs) is a Tumblr blog network a social network, but is an increasingly popular platform for creative types to share stories and videos about their lives. Founder David Karp describes it thus: "Tumblr is the best place on earth for some of the most creative people in the world, so we are trying to build basically the best tools for self-expression."Google + (90 million accounts) In terms of format, the social network Google is more like Facebook. But not so successful. The network, launched last summer and immediately seen as a newcomer to tracking Facebook is the target of the ongoing jokes in the world of technology. Want to put a picture in which no one sees it? Submit to Google +. The funny thing is that the network still has some steam and relevance long after that that I thought I would hate to die. In part this is due to the large hand control Google has on internet searches. Because articles are published on Google and give them a degree of priority (there is a big fight about how much) through another type of content, some people use Google and just because their digital lives are for public search.Twitter (140 million active users) I mean, you know what Twitter is by now, right? Six years have passed. The micro-blogging site has become more of a news service that a social network these days, though still used as a chat program for a public company a lot of people. As Rebecca Rosen says the Atlantic, there are websites (and a lot of applications of the tablet) to treat aggregates and links shared via Twitter screen. It is "Twitter without Twitter feed," as she says, and it may well be the future of this network, which was a pioneer in real-time communication online.LinkedIn (161 million accounts) LinkedIn generally missed in the debate on the online "social networking" sites. Especially because it's fun to socialize when you're wearing a tie and pushing your resume in the face of all you know. However, the site 10 years of age (that is two years older than Facebook) has proved to be the primary destination for a special type of network - and business-type. And there are some signals that are loose. The cleverly designed iPad and iPhone applications LinkedIn receives rave reviews from the series of high technology. And, as an anecdote, which most people seem to be writing about his personal life in a network that was designed primarily for professional connections.Bono edition: airtime (0 users) An application without users? Why is the list? Remember that guy who played Justin Timberlake "The Social Network?" The name of this type is Sean Parker and he is the long awaited release of this application on 5 June. The creator of Napster is considered a leading Silicon Valley makers of taste - or at least one of the richest. It is therefore possible that this video could increase social start to the point that casts doubt on Facebook, which is a Parker also invested in. Who knows? But it is worth seeing.

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Tracking Facebook is under scrutiny

In recent weeks, Facebook has been a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission about the site of the social environment violates users' privacy by disclosing too much of their personal information.

Facebook officials now admit that the social media giant was able to create a working log of web pages that each of its 800 million or so members visited during the previous 90 days. Facebook also keeps close track of where millions of people who are not members of social networks are going to the Internet, visiting web pages,To do this, the company relies on technology like tracking cookies on the controversial system used by Google, Adobe, Microsoft, Yahoo and others in the industry of online advertising, said Arturo Bejar, technical director of Facebook.
Facebook effort to track the browsing habits of visitors to your web site made the company a player in the "Do Not Track" debate, which focuses on whether consumers should be able to prevent websites from tracking consumers' online activity.
For business on the Internet and social media sites, such information may be particularly valuable in helping them to tailor online advertising to specific users. But privacy advocates worry about how more information can be used, and whether it could be sold to third parties.

If privacy advocates get their way, consumers may soon have the right to suspend or restrict technology companies and advertising networks to track them wherever they go online. But the online advertising industry has dug its heels in, trying to keep the current system of self-regulation.


Includes internet tracking technology, technology companies and advertising networks use over ten years to help advertisers over relevant ads to each viewer. So far, Facebook, which makes most of its revenue from advertising, was ambiguous in his public statements about the extent to which it collects data tracking.
It argues that it does not belong in the same camp as Google, Microsoft and other major players in the industry of online classifieds. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it a point to interviewer Charlie Rose on national television last week.
In the past few weeks, Zuckerberg and Facebook and other officials tried to allocate as Facebook and others use the tracking data. Facebook uses such information only to improve safety and as a "Like" button, and the like Facebook plug-ins to perform, Bejart told USA TODAY. Plug-ubiquitous web applications that allow you to connect to the service Facebook from millions of third-party Web pages.
Facebook representative Andrew Noyes said the company "has no plans to change the way we use these data." He also said that the company's intentions, "in sharp contrast to many advertising networks and data brokers who knowingly and in many cases secretly track people to create profiles of their behavior, to sell that content to the highest bidder, or to use this content targeted advertising . "

conflicting pressures    
Instead, to appease his critics, Facebook, public explanation of how it tracks and how it uses the tracking data has caused a flurry of questions from technologists, privacy advocates, regulators and lawmakers around the world.
"Facebook may be tracking users without the knowledge or permission, which may be unfair or deceptive business practices," said Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., co-authored with Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, a bill aimed at limiting the online tracking of children.
The company "should be covered by strong guarantees of privacy," says Mark. "The massive treasure the personal information that is stored on its Facebook users can have a significant impact on them - now and in the future."
After Zuckerberg appeared on the Charlie Rose TV show last week, Mark and Barton sent a letter to the 27-year-old general manager asked him to explain why Facebook recently filed a U.S. patent for technology that includes a method to correlate the tracking data from the ads. They gave Zuckerberg December 1 deadline for a response.
"We have patented a lot of things, and future products should not be inferred from our patent application," Facebook representative Barry Schnitt corporate says.
He has to prove its global financial backers that he is worthy of hundreds of millions of dollars they poured into the company's financial and technical analysts say. Those investors include Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Russia investment company Digital Sky Technologies, Hong Kong financier Sir Ka-Shing Lee and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Andreas.
The success of the company's initial public stock offering is expected next year, hinges, in particular the ability of Facebook, to go beyond bread and butter of text ads that appear in the pages of members of the house and become a key player in the graphical display ads and corporate brand marketing campaigns said Rebecca Lieb, advertising media analyst group Altimeter.
To meet the growing expectations, Facebook has increased its annual income, currently estimated at approximately $ 4 billion, on double-digit percentage points in the coming years, Gluck says. The company strives to keep their options open, to do so. In this case it bumping into pressure from critics who worry that leaving the online privacy standards entirely in the hands of corporations may not be a bad idea.


Facebook is a storehouse of data


Facebook for the first time revealed details about how it compiles its data tracking treasure in a series of telephone and email interviews with USA TODAY Bejart, Noyes, and Schnitt, as well as technical manager Gregg Stefancik and corporate spokesperson Jaime Schopflin. That's what they revealed:
-Company compiles tracking data in different ways for members who have signed in and use their accounts for members who are logged-off and for non-members. Tracking process begins when you initially visit facebook.com page. If you want to subscribe to the new account, Facebook inserts of two different types of tracking cookies in your browser "cookies" and "browser cookies". If you do not want to become a member, and move on, you only get a browser cookie.
From now on, every time you visit the third-party Web page that Facebook Like button or other Facebook plug-in, plug-in works in conjunction with cookies to notify Facebook of the date, time, and the web address of the web page you clicked on. The unique characteristics of your computer and browser, such as your IP-address, screen resolution, operating system and browser versions are also recorded.
If you are logged on to Facebook your account and surf the web, your session cookie holds this posting. Extra session cookie records your name, email address, friends and all the data associated with your profile on Facebook. If you are logged-off, or if you are not a member, browser cookies conducts registration, it is further reports of a unique identifier for alphanumeric, but not personal information.
Bejart acknowledged that Facebook can find out where specific members go on the web, when they came out of the system by comparing the unique characteristics of computer and browser are registered as a session cookie and browser cookies.
Bejar also acknowledged that "technical similarity" in a cookie based tracking technology used by Facebook and the wider online industry advertising. "But we do not like advertising network, all of our leadership in the data, how we use it, and we were all out," said Bejart. "We have a very clear and transparent approach to how to do advertising that I am very proud."
Nevertheless, Facebook, social descriptions of its tracking system did not satisfy some critics - particularly the European governing confidentiality. Ilse Aigner, Germany's Minister for Consumer Protection, last month banned the Facebook plug-ins from government websites and advised private companies to do the same.
And Thilo Weichert, data protection commissioner in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, expressed concern about how the technology Facebook, can potentially be used to create extensive profiles of individual Internet users.
"Anyone who visits or uses the Facebook plug-in must be expected that he or she will be followed by a period of two years", Weichert said in a statement. "Such profiling violates German and European data protection law."
Adding fuel to these issues, Arnold Roosendaal, doctoral student at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands, and Nick Cubrilovic, an independent Australian researcher, separately documented, as a web page containing the Facebook plug-in by tracking more extensive than Facebook publicly confessed.
Noyes said Germany did not understand how tracking technology of the company. And he accuses the "software bugs" to track indiscriminate found Roosendaal and Cubrilovic.
Nevertheless, the researcher says Roosendaal Facebook, tracking cookies retain the ability to track well, are not members and registered with the members, so. "They faced the same problem now several times and each time they call it a mistake. It really is not conducive to winning the trust."
Some corporate executives have become concerned about cyber security to get track data is transferred as a button, you can use this intelligence to steal intellectual property. They asked the firewall vendor Palo Alto Networks to identify and block traffic from Facebook tracking cookies, allowing its employees to continue to use other services Facebook.
"The idea is that Facebook has a rich personal information that Google does not have," says Nir Beetle, founder and CTO of Palo Alto Networks. "The combination of that personal information from Web browsing patterns can be a revelation."

The basic rules are needed


Companies implement data tracking in the new business model "does not necessarily evaluate the long-term effects and the collective," says Craig Spiezle, executive director of the nonprofit Internet Alliance Trust.
Last week, the consumer reporter Ric Romero station KABC in Los Angeles showed how the insurance companies to monitor Facebook and Twitter, looking for reasons raise premiums and deny claims. Earlier, ABC News reporter Lyneka Little reported on how employers use Facebook information as part of the recruitment process.
Meanwhile, researchers at AT & T Labs and Worcester Polytechnic Institute as recorded tracking data from the internet search and browsing can be linked to personal information that Internet users reveal sites for shopping, travel, health or work. Personal information disclosure in social networks, as well as preference data collected from new applications for smartphones and tablet PCs are now being tossed into the mix, too.
Privacy advocates fear that in the near future, corporations, government agencies and political parties may take in tracking data from aggregators.
"Tracking data can be used to determine your political bent, religion, sexual preference, health, or what you are looking for a new job," said Peter Eckersley, director of technology projects Electronic Frontier Foundation,. "There are all kinds of ways to form wrong judgments about people."
So far, it does not appear that this kind of correlation data is being done, at least on a large scale. But in the absence of basic rules, technologists, regulators and privacy advocates fear that the companies involved in data collection tracking systems may be tempted to make money in.
Says Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputation.com: "We can only assume that the advertising company with a rich treasure of data will be selling more and more of that data."

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Battery fixing the new iPhone, Apple devices

Apple-has released a software update to fix the problem, which is shortening the battery on some iPhones, iPads and iPods.
Apple-has said that a small number of customers have reported lower - than - expected battery on devices running IOS 5 operating system company. This is the software that has the iPhone 4S and was available as a free update of some of the old equipment - both iPads, iPhone 3GS and 4 and the two newest models of iPod Touch.

Apple on Thursday released version 5.0.1 to fix the errors it found the program. Users can receive updates by connecting iTunes.

Other changes include better voice recognition on the Australian use of dictation.
Some users who have upgraded the software, said that they still have issues with battery life. Apple on Friday announced the resumption of the many problems, "We are continuing our investigation into the few remaining issues."

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Big asteroid close encounter with Earth

(Reuters) - Black asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier zoomed past Earth on Tuesday, delighting astronomers who trained telescopes on the ancient body, hoping to learn more about its composition and origin.

With a diameter estimated at 400 meters, or about a quarter of a mile, asteroid 2005 YU 55 is the largest asteroid to pass close to Earth since 1976.



During closest approach, which took place at 18:28 EST, was in orbit of the moon, about 200,000 miles above the planet. It poses no threat either.

Thousands of professional and amateur astronomers have been tracking the asteroid with telescopes who want to learn more about what it is, how fast it spins, and in the end, where it came from.

"It was pretty easy to find," astronomer Ronald Dantowitz, director of student Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts, told Reuters. "It moves differently than the stars are moving. It looks like a giant rock floating through space."

With automated controls for tracking the asteroid seemed fixed in position, while the background stars are blurring, Dantowitz said. The asteroid, however, moving at about 30,000 miles per hour.

Astronomers believe YU 55 is visiting Earth for thousands of years, pushed from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the gravity of Jupiter elbowing.

The computer model simulates the asteroids path for the next 100 years shows that there is no chance they will hit the earth or the moon during that time, said Don Yeomans at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Astronomers do not expect to be a threat outside of the time either, but did not run models over 100 years.

Asteroids are of interest to scientists trying to connect to the solar system formed.

"It costs millions of dollars to send a spacecraft to a close encounter with an asteroid," said Dantowitz. "Instead, this comes to us. It is literally flowing through our yard."

YU 55 is believed to be one of the more common species, carbon-rich asteroids, although large. Its ancient rocks may contain water, metal and other materials that might be useful for space explorers.

NASA's next human space venture outside the International Space Station, $ 100 billion orbital research outpost flying about 240 miles above Earth, the asteroid mission, the goal for the 2025th

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