Facebook reaches 500 million users
Facebook will announce this week that the social networking giant has reached 500 million members, a gigantic milestone projected for 2010 earlier in the year.
As a way to celebrate the achievement, the company will launch “Facebook Stories,” a “visual memorial” to the ways that the site has changed people’s lives for the better.
The figures come from Facebook marketing boss Randi Zuckerberg last week, who says while past announcements have just been about the numbers, this announcement will be “about the users.”
Facebook Stories will sort user-submitted stories by location and theme.
A few of the themes are “finding love” and “natural disasters,” and the stories will be capped at 420 characters, the same as a status update.
You can already submit stories here: Facebook Stories
Verizon returns all unsold Kins to Microsoft
In late June, Microsoft confirmed they were pulling the plug on the Kin One and Kin Two smartphones, after sales fell well below expectations.
Additionally, the Kin phones will not make it to Europe as promised, and the entire Kin team has been moved over to the company’s Windows Phone 7 division.
Today, the devices have seen the last nail in their respective coffins, as Verizon has opted to return all unsold devices to Microsoft, with online and in-store sales suspended as of this weekend.
Although it is still unclear how many Kin devices were sold, but nearly all estimates put units sold between 503 and 9000, an incredibly low number for a device sold on the nation’s most popular network.
Verizon is now only selling some accessories for the phones.
Gawker will cooperate with authorities over lost iPhone 4
Gawker, the parent company behind tech site Gizmodo, has said this weekend that they have reached an agreement with authorities in California where they will give all material relevant to the investigation, in exchange for receiving back items seized from editor Jason Chen’s home.
In April, Gizmodo leaked a prototype iPhone 4 model to the world, and within the month, California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team had seized Chen’s computers, working on a warrant from the Superior Court of San Mateo.
The iPhone 4 model was dropped in a bar by Apple developer Gray Powell, and eventually purchased by Gizmodo for $5000 USD.
On request from Apple, the district attorney’s office had opened an investigation into whether Gawker had done anything illegal in the matter.
The warrant has been withdrawn now, with Chen’s belongings returned to him.
“Mr. Chen and Gizmodo have agreed to cooperate with our investigation,” adds Chris Feasel, deputy district attorney for San Mateo County.
HP to name upcoming WebOS tablet ‘PalmPad’?
HP has filed for a trademark application for the term PalmPad, which has led many observers to suggest that the company will name their upcoming WebOS tablet by the name.
Even on the simplest level, the name implies use of WebOS, which was created by Palm on a tablet, although everything is speculation at this point.
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P applied for the trademark.
In April, HP purchased Palm for $1.2 billion, after outbidding RIM, Apple and Lenovo.
With the acquisition, the company also acquired all of Palm’s patents and its WebOS mobile operating system.
HP has promised to use the operating system on tablets, printers and other non-computing devices, as well.
Apple confirms iPad launch in new nations
Apple has confirmed today that the popular iPad will be launched in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore starting this Friday.
All 3G and Wi-Fi models of the tablet will be available in each nation.
As of today, the tablet is available in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and Switzerland.
In the United States, the device retails for between $499 and $829, depending on the model.
Apple announced in late June that they had sold 3 million units of the iPad, in just 80 days.
June U.S. video game industry sales continue long term downtrend
Although hardware saw a nice jump for the month, NPD has reported that June U.S. video game industry sales continued the long term downtrend, with overall sales falling 6 percent year-on-year (YoY), to $1.1 billion USD.
Hardware sales saw a nice five percent pop, to $401.7 million, and accessories saw a similar jump to $169.6 million.
Software dragged the entire industry down, falling 15 percent YoY to $531.3 million.
On the hardware side, the DS series led the way, at 510,700 units sold. The Xbox 360 saw a nice boost, moving to 451,700 units sold, beating out the Wii, which sold 422,500 units for the period.
Following behind were the Sony consoles, with the PS3 at 304,800 and the dying PSP handheld at 121,000.
On the software side, Red Dead Redemption continues to be a blockbuster, selling almost a million more units in June.
Full figures via GameSpot:
OVERALL DOLLAR SALES
Games: $1.1 billion (-6%)
Hardware: $401.7 million (+5%%)
Software: $531.3 million (-15%%)
Accessories: $169.6 million (+6%)
[More]>>
Jobs rekindles rumors after Verizon iPhone comment
During his Q&A session yesterday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revived the iPhone on Verizon rumors for the United States.
When asked about how the Apple headquarters in Cupertino has such good cell and data reception, Jobs said: “We’ve got strong signal here. We have AT&T and Verizon cell sites on campus.”
While the comment could be innocent given the fact that Verizon is the most popular carrier in the United States, the flames of Verizon iPhone rumors over the years have been rekindled thanks to the comment.
Apple could be in development of a Verizon iPhone, and needs the cell site, no one outside of Apple knows.
Last month, Bloomberg cited sources that claimed Apple will make a Verizon iPhone 4 available starting in January. That rumor is of course still unconfirmed.
rosoft co-founder pledges $7 billion to philanthropy
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who left the company as an executive in the 80s while fighting cancer, has pledged $7 billion of his $13.5 billion fortune to philanthropy after he dies.
The decision follows the footsteps of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who have both pledged billions to philanthropy.
Allen and Gates founded Microsoft in 1975, and the company was long the largest tech company in the world, only recently overtaken by Apple in terms of market cap.
Over the last twenty years, through his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, the billionaire has handed out $1 billion in grants.
“Today I also want to announce that my philanthropic efforts will continue after my lifetime,” said Allen. “I’ve planned for many years now that the majority of my estate will be left to philanthropy to continue the work of the Foundation and to fund nonprofit scientific research.”
There was no word on how the money would be directed after his death.
Video Daily: Whoopi Goldberg ‘murders’ her iPhone 4
If you have been following AfterDawn over the past two weeks, you have undoubtedly read about “antennagate,” Apple’s ongoing iPhone 4 situation.
The iPhone 4, due to flawed hardware engineering, drops phone calls when held in the left hand, as your hand covers the antenna.
Yesterday, CEO Steve Jobs announced the company would be providing free cases to iPhone 4 buyers, as the bumpers would eliminate the antenna issues.
Jobs says the number of dropped calls per dials is tiny, but so far the problem has been a PR disaster for Apple.
Whoopi Goldberg, of the popular TV show “The View,” went on a rant yesterday about the iPhone and its dropped calls, saying it made her so angry that she threw the phone out of her car, “murdering” it.
Boxee Box ready for mass production
Boxee CPO Zach Klein has released a video today showing off a production model of the highly anticipated Boxee Box.
The video implies that Boxee will begin mass production on the box now, with a release date not too far in the future.
Boxee’s “sinking box” design is still intact, but it has been given a slightly more refined look and a more fingerprint-resistant finish.
The Box is a media hub, as well as a set-top box, whose primary purpose is to stream music, photos and video from within a local network or use streaming services such as Pandora and video sites.
Boxee Box uses a fast NVIDIA Tegra chipset, which will allow for 1080p video playback and hardware-accelerated Flash 10.1.
The hardware is expected to sell for $180.
