Home is the launcher that’ll work right on top of current Android devices. As stated by Mark Zuckerberg,  it makes more sense for the company to simply develop a custom user interface for Android devices throuh which Home could be used by a lot more Android device owners, right on their existing handsets.

The new user interface is certainly a breath of fresh air, the users will have access to new lock and home screen, go through Facebook contentg, engage in SMS and Facebook conversation in a whole new way. check out the following pics to have a loot at what the new interface looks like.

Whereas the supported devcies for Facebook’s new launcher is concerned, unfortunately the list isn’g big. Initially only a bunch of Samsung and HTC devices will be supported by Facebook Home including the Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, HTC One and HTC One X. Also, the social media giant has announced the Home will release on April 23.

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A new 9to5 Google report reveals the Facebook Home name:

Facebook’s invitation to its Android-related media event next week is much less cryptic than it would seem. The invitation reads “Come See Our New Home on Android.” While, based on these words, Facebook seems to be teasing at a new Android-related Facebook experience, our sources say that the tagline reveals the actual product name: “Facebook Home…”

The same product name seems to be confirmed by a new @evleaks tweet:

“The version of Facebook for Android currently on this device needs to be upgraded to support Facebook Home.”

It’s not clear what hardwre manufacturer would actually incorperate with Facebook and release such a device or whether it would just change the home screen or will it deliver a forked Android user experience, kind of like what Amazon did with it’s tablet. Facebook will make everything official on April 4, let’s see what the Social media giant has in store for us.

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The researcher observed how users interact with News feed topic by giving a group of testers a stack of printed stories from their existing News feed, and asked them to select what they found interesting. With the skimmed down stories, they were then asked to reorganise in terms of what they liked about it.

This exercise led to the filtered and simplified approach towards the News Feed that Facebook is rolling out now in phases. Instead of looking at piles of information, users would now be able to stick with relevant categories such as close friends, photos and direct interests.

(More at: Facebook)

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Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg :-

It’s always been the wrong strategy for us.

Let’s say we build a phone, We’re not, but if we did, we could maybe get 10 to 20 million people to use it … It doesn’t move the needle for us.

The strategy we have is different from every other tech company [like Apple] that’s building their own hardware system — we’re going in the opposite direction.

Instead, Facebook’s CEO is aiming to deeply integrate world’s biggest Social platform on every device.

We want to build a system, which is as deeply as possible integrated into every major device people want to use.

It’s easy for people to underestimate how good mobile is for us. We’ve transitioned, and now we’re a mobile company.

On the software side, Zuckerberg added that the biggest mistake he feels Facebook has made was it focusing on creating app on HTML5 rather than native apps for iOS and Android, a move that Zuckerberg said he feels may have held back the company’s apps. Well there you have it, no more Facebook for you!.

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However, that all has changed now since the CEO of Facebook has stated that there’s no such plans to develop a smartphone device. During Facebook first earnings call after going public back in May, Zuckerberg was bombarded with questions and one of the query that arose was : what is the future of Facebook’s mobile strategy?. In reply to that, following is what Zukerberg had to say :-

We want to not just have apps that people use, but also be as deeply integrated into these systems as possible. We want to support a development ecosystem where other apps can build on top of Facebook, so that’s why you’ll see us do things like support Apple in the iOS integration they wanted to do.

There are lots of things that you can build in other operating systems as well that aren’t really like building out a whole phone, which I think wouldn’t really make much sense for us to do.

Even though Zuckerberg made it clear regarding them not interested in making Facebook smartphone, they did hint towards making an OS which might eventually lead to be used in a smartphone made by other vendors such as HTC. We’ll keep you posted when we hear something more concrete.

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DigiTimes reports :-

Given that Google is expected to continue to cooperate with Samsung Electronics for the development of the next-generation Nexus smartphone, HTC reportedly has decided to move forward in its own way and is currently developing a customized smartphone in cooperation with Facebook slated to be launched in the third quarter of 2012 at the earliest, according to industry sources.

When it comes to comes to competition, HTC growth has been going downwards over the previous year as compared to the huge success of iOS smartphone Apple’s iPhone and Android smartphones by Samsung.

If the Facebook smartphone venture is somewhat appealing to the masses, HTC might get a huge surge in terms of sale and success. However, if this turns out to be a wasted trip, HTC will surely get wasted big time.

The only problem with HTC is inconsistency, it doesn’t have a specific lineup which could be included in the flagship series. With Facebook arriving in the scene, let’s hope HTC gets a boost some how!.

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Instagram is one of the most popular apps for smartphones (iOS and Android) which has over 30 million registered users and was named “iPhone App of The Year” in 2011. Yup, even though it is available on both Android and iOS, it was exclusively made for iOS

For those who might think if Instagram is going away, well the CEO of Instagram has a message :-

It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’ll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.

Getty Images

Well there you have it, while Facebook’s CEO plans on combining features of Instagram into Facebook, he still wants to keep Instagram an independent company, leading to believe that Instagram will remain a standalone app and its users will still be able to use the popular Photo-Sharing app on their iOS or Android  based smartphones.

At least that’s what the plan by Facebook, most probably this decision would change at one point in the near future. Anyways, congrats to the Instagram team for getting such a huge/successful deal.

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One such case is regarding a person named Noah Kravitz, who left his former employer PhoneDog in October 2010  on good terms but still had to face the music after sometime. Apparently he got sued by his former employer on accounts of him using a Twitter account having 17,000 followers for $340,000 ($2.50 per follower).

Kravtiz told the New York Times that he had permission from PhoneDog to keep the twitter account, as long as he tweeted about the company every now and then. On that Kravtis happily agreed and moved on but eight months later he got sued for using that account.

While working for the company, he used the Twitter account under the name Phonedog_Noah and after leaving the company he started to use the account under his name NoahKravitz on which Phonedog sued their former employee claiming that the list of the followers were all customers which it deemed it to be confidential.

PhoneDog :-

The costs and resources invested by PhoneDog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of PhoneDog Media L.L.C. We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands.

This all seems very confusing, where you first allow the person to use the account and then you sue the person for it.

Kravtiz :-

They’re suing me for over a quarter of a million dollars. From where I’m sitting I held up my end of the bargain.

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However, for Apple’s iOS platform this update wasn’t made available the same day due to demanding requirements which have to fulfilled for the App Store’s screening process but now there is a Facebook version update to fill up the void.

The latest Facebook Version 4.1 for iPhone adds the ability to view the new timeline feature on your iPhone and along with other new features it claims to be faster and efficient.

CHANGELOG FOR FACEBOOK VERSION 4.1 For iPhone :-

• Access to Mobile Timeline on iPhone (if you already have a timeline).

• Access to friend lists, subscribers and subscriptions

• Faster, better performance

• Photos are easier to view, upload and comment on

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Well, a new study in an infographic style shows that might not be the case after all as only a little piece of your gpa is affected int the end.  Following is the infographic that we were talking about :-

So the study suggests that by taking time from your precious life and wasting it on checking out your friend’s profile updates would actually be very useful. It would be a good indicator of how well the student will do in college.

These studies though sound very odd but still is worth showing to teachers and concerned parents who worry about the usage of Facebook distracting students. They guy from TNW says, if a student doesn’t study he will continue to do so with or without Facebook ! .

It would be interesting to see studies for other Social networks like Twitter etc and by seeing this study, lets see how much tweets it would take to drop down grade points ! .

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