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Facebook settles with Timelines Inc.

Facebook has finally put to bed a 19-month legal battle with Timelines Inc., the Chicago company that was suing the social network for trademark infringement.

Facebook said Thursday in its 10-Q quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had reached agreement with Timelines Inc. to settle the dispute. The social network did not disclose the terms of the settlement, but indicated that the cost was not material to its business.

Timelines Inc. filed suit against Facebook in September 2011 after the social network unveiled that its new member profiles would be called Timelines. Facebook sought to … Read more

Avast targets Facebook and VPN

Yesterday, Avast Software made news with its acquisition of privacy company Secure.Me, a small developer best known for its Facebook apps of the same name. Secure.Me protects users' Facebook accounts, monitoring all activity and photos, detecting malware links, and identifying content that is questionable or unsuitable for children.

Today, Avast makes news again with a minor update to its complete suite of Windows security applications--Avast Free Antivirus; Avast Pro Antivirus, Avast Internet Security, and the full monty, Avast Premier.

Avast version 8.0.1488.286 fixes some bugs in the interface, adds a progress bar to the … Read more

Hate Facebook mobile ads? Now you can hide them

Facebook is letting mobile users hide ads in their News Feeds, the company confirmed today.

This applies to the ads that Facebook Pages share featuring photos or links, and is available on iOS, Android, and the mobile Web (Pages are Facebook profiles for brands or public figures). The feature, which was already available on the desktop, has been live for about six months now, according to a representative. Just click the "x" button in the top right of the advertisement.

The Atlantic noted this change after writing an article about how annoying the Facebook mobile ads were.

Additionally, … Read more

With 'Photos of You,' Instagram embraces people and brand tags

Following the lead of its social-network owner, Instagram today introduced a new photo-tagging feature to let members add people, things, and brands to the photos they upload and share on the service.

The new feature, called "Photos of You," is essentially the photo-sharing service's colorful interpretation on tagging.

App users can tag any Instagram account in their shots -- be it a friend, cat, or burger joint -- during the photo upload process. Those tagged in photos receive notifications and can choose whether to publicly display the images on their own Instagram profiles in a new section … Read more

Facebook puts account security in the hands of your friends

The next time you're locked of your Facebook account, one of your besties can loan you the key.

Facebook today released a security feature called "Trusted Contacts" as an optional way for people to recover their passwords with the help of their closest friends. Thursday marks the global rollout of the redesigned feature, previously named Trusted Friends, which the company first started testing back in 2011.

With Trusted Contacts, you can pick three to five friends you trust to help you get back into your account the next time you're having trouble logging in. Should a … Read more

Zuckerberg's steady hand paying dividends in latest Facebook earnings

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his top lieutenants talked with Wall Street analysts Wednesday perhaps the only real surprise was that there were no surprises.

Facebook, it would appear, has blossomed into your average public company with a steadily growing business. Its formidable captain, who has been able to right a ship that was all but upside down just one year ago, now looks the only man for the job.

The social network had a solid quarter with revenue of $1.46 billion, good enough to beat analyst estimates. It posted acceptable, though not great, earnings per share of … Read more

Facebook's Q1 by the numbers

Facebook's Q1 results are in and there's food for both bulls and bears to chew over. One bullet point in particular stands out: The number of people using the social network via smartphones and tablets soared 54 percent from a year earlier. Here's the year-over-year comparison to the same quarter in 2012. (We'll update the stats after Facebook's conference call gets underway this afternoon.)

Daily active users: 665 million, up 26 percent Monthly active users: 1.11 billion up 23 percent Mobile monthly active users: 751 million, up 54 percent Instagram: 100 million monthly active … Read more

Facebook's Q1 rides mobile surge, with slight earnings miss

Facebook reported first-quarter 2013 earnings that were close to Wall Street's expectations.

The social network came in with earnings per share of 12 cents, excluding one-time items, and revenue that grew 38 percent to $1.46 billion compared to the same quarter one year ago. The company said mobile advertising accounted for around 30 percent -- which amounts to about $375 million -- of its advertising revenue for the quarter. Revenue from advertising in the quarter totaled $1.25 billion, or 85 percent of total revenue.

Facebook had 1.11 billion monthly active users as of March 31. The … Read more

Facebook wins millions in case against typo squatters

Time to rethink that get-rich-quick strategy of buying up Facebook-like domain names.

Tuesday, the United States District Court of Northern California ruled in favor of Facebook in its case against typo squatters, aka parties that were squatting on various misspellings of Facebook's trademarked domain name.

The 11 named defendants in the case were ordered to pay the social network damages ranging form $5,000 to $25,000 per domain, with additional fees tacked on for bad behavior like redirecting visitors to other sites. Each was also ordered to transfer the rights to their domains to the company.

In total, … Read more