<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>All About Gadget &#187; facebook</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.allaboutgadget.com/tag/facebook/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com</link>
	<description>All the things about technology</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:35:30 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Activist buys up stake in Yahoo, slams board 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/activist-buys-up-stake-in-yahoo-slams-board-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/activist-buys-up-stake-in-yahoo-slams-board-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:10:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bartz]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chairman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thursday]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vyomesh-joshi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/activist-buys-up-stake-in-yahoo-slams-board-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ LOS ANGELES &#8211; An activist investment fund disclosed Thursday that it has bought a 5.2 percent stake in troubled Web portal Yahoo Inc. and called for sweeping changes to the board. A public letter from Daniel Loeb, chief executive of investment adviser Third Point, comes after Yahoo's board fired CEO Carol Bartz on Tuesday after 2 1/2 years on the job, a move she bitterly criticized in an interview published Thursday. Loeb said the board made a "serious misjudgment" in hiring Bartz, and he criticized it for taking so long to fire her given her "abysmal performance." He slammed Bartz personally for alienating the company's Asian partners &#8212; Alibaba Group, Softbank and Yahoo Japan &#8212; as well as Yahoo's shareholders, analysts, bloggers, customers and employees. "While the decision to hire her alone is grounds for questioning the board's competence, its willingness to turn a blind eye to these serious problems ... is even more troubling," Loeb said. Loeb also said it is now apparent that the board made a "gross error" in turning down Microsoft Corp.'s takeover bid in 2008 for $31 a share. Microsoft raised its bid to $33 per share, or $47.5 billion, before withdrawing the offer in May 2008. Loeb believes Yahoo's intrinsic value is now around $20 per share. "This mistake is all the more frustrating given Yahoo's current depressed stock price," he said. Yahoo's stock jumped 49 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $14.10 in afternoon trading Thursday after the letter was released. Since Bartz's firing, shares are up 8 percent. Loeb calls for the resignation of Chairman Roy Bostock, who championed Bartz and "led the charge against the Microsoft deal," as well as directors Arthur Kern, Vyomesh Joshi and Susan James. Third Point's investment in Yahoo &#8212; in which it amassed 65 million shares and immediately exercisable options since Aug. 8 &#8212; makes it Yahoo's third largest outside investor. In an interview with Fortune magazine published Thursday, Bartz used profanity to describe her firing by Yahoo's board. She said Bostock read from a lawyer's prepared statement when he spoke to her by phone to dismiss her on Tuesday. Bartz also depicted her as a scapegoat for a Yahoo board trying "to show that they're not the doofuses that they are." Yahoo hired Bartz in January 2009 to engineer a turnaround, but she was criticized for cutting her way to profits while not increasing revenue as companies like Google Inc. and Facebook took off. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/activist-buys-up-stake-in-yahoo-slams-board-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Yahoo CEO Bartz fired over the phone, rocky run ends</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/yahoo-ceo-bartz-fired-over-the-phone-rocky-run-ends/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/yahoo-ceo-bartz-fired-over-the-phone-rocky-run-ends/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 20:33:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Peter Drew</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[person]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yahoo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/yahoo-ceo-bartz-fired-over-the-phone-rocky-run-ends/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Related Video Yahoo stock rises on Bartz firing 1:11pm EDT Breakingviews: New Yahoo CEO challenge - dismantle the beast Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz gestured during her speech at the American Association of Advertising Agencies annual Media and Leadership Conference in San Francisco, California March 1, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith By Alexei Oreskovic and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Wed Sep 7, 2011 3:10pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock fired CEO Carol Bartz over the phone on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure marked by stagnation and a rift with Chinese partner Alibaba. Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse will step in as interim CEO, and the company will search for a permanent leader to spearhead a battle in online advertising and content with rivals Google Inc and Facebook. Shares in Yahoo jumped 6 percent in after-hours trading to $13.7 after closing at $12.90 on the Nasdaq. They are scarcely higher than where they were when Bartz first took the reins in January 2009 with hopes of reviving stalled growth and competing with up-and-coming rivals. On Tuesday, her efforts were abruptly halted after Bostock called with the bad news. "I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward," the outspoken CEO said in a two-sentence email to employees obtained by Reuters. The turn of events surprised few Wall Street observers who had tracked a rising torrent of criticism and watched revenue growth falter and sputter out. Some analysts said Bartz's departure signaled the company had run out of options after failing to dominate the advertising and content markets and handing over its search operations to Microsoft Corp. That partnership, under which Microsoft handles search for Yahoo's websites and keeps a portion of ad revenue, appears to favor the software company at Yahoo's expense. STRATEGIC REVIEW Yahoo is still one of the most popular destinations on the Internet but faces increasing competition from social networking service Facebook and from Google, which has a market value of $170 billion, 10 times more than Yahoo. Yahoo said a new executive leadership council would help Morse in managing day-to-day operations as well as supporting "a comprehensive strategic review" to position the company for growth. The decision to oust Bartz was reached by an unanimous vote of Yahoo's eight independent directors late last week, according to a person close to the company. Bartz, and co-founder Jerry Yang, who are also on the board, did not participate in the vote, the person said. Yahoo has not hired investment banking advisors, but was likely to meet with various firms in the coming weeks, according to the person close to the company. "It's hard to say what direction they are going to head. What is the next step for Yahoo? They went down the road of search, they went down the road of media, becoming a content company, they went down the road of advertising," said YCMNet Advisors CEO Michael Yoshikami. "I'm not sure where they go right now. One wonders if this means that they might be ripe for a takeover." At least three private equity firms had reached out to at least one media firm to gauge acquisition interest two weeks ago, said a second source with direct knowledge of the approaches who declined to be identified because the talks were preliminary. CROWN JEWELS Yahoo is worth about $16 billion, with much of that ascribed to its roughly 40 percent stake in China's Alibaba, the parent company of websites including Alibaba.com and Taobao. Yahoo also owns a stake in Yahoo Japan, along with Japanese mobile company Softbank. Analysts estimate Yahoo's Asian assets are worth about $7-$9 of Yahoo's roughly $13 share price, based on a sum-of-the-parts valuation. Relations between Yahoo and Alibaba have soured since Bartz took over, with Alibaba founder Jack Ma failing in an attempt to buy out its U.S. partner's stake. A senior official at Alibaba Group said Bartz's departure was unlikely to solve the ownership issues. "There won't be much of an impact in the relationship to be honest," the official said on the condition of anonymity. "We have to wait and see till we are working together with the new CEO." The rocky relationship between the companies came to a head in May when it was revealed that Alibaba had abruptly handed Alipay -- one of Alibaba's crown jewels -- to a company controlled by Ma, apparently without Yahoo's knowledge. "The immediate impact will not be much because I don't think Yahoo wants to sell its stake although Alibaba wants to buy it. It really depends on how Tim handles this, as in the past Carol has had a strong stance on this," said Hong Kong-based CLSA analyst Elinor Leung. FALL FROM GRACE Bostock voiced his public support in June for Bartz, a lightning rod for criticism from Wall Street, and known for her tough attitude and salty language. Bartz's ouster capped a decade-long fall from grace for a company whose shares traded at more than $125 in January 2000 during the dotcom bubble -- but now languishes at about a 10th of that level. Bartz arrived at Yahoo in January 2009 after a strong showing at software giant Autodesk with high hopes of turning around Yahoo, after Yang was widely thought to have botched a $47.5 billion proposed takeover by Microsoft, rebuffing that advance as too low. Yahoo reported a slight decline in net revenue in the second quarter, as efforts to restructure its sales force caused disruptions. Research firm eMarketer has projected that Facebook would overtake Yahoo this year to collect the biggest slice of online display advertising dollars in the United States. Bartz, who had more than a year left on her four-year contract with Yahoo, was slated to host a Q&#038;A at the Citi Technology Conference at 1250 pm ET in New York on Wednesday. Bartz had reserved a room at the St. Regis hotel in Manhattan for Tuesday evening, but a hotel receptionist reached over the phone said the booking had been canceled. (Additional reporting by Melanie Lee in SHANGHAI; Poornima Gupta and Sarah McBride in SAN FRANCISCO, Jennifer Saba in NEW YORK and Bill Rigby in SEATTLE; Writing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Anshuman Daga ) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/yahoo-ceo-bartz-fired-over-the-phone-rocky-run-ends/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How to Disable Facebook Places</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/how-to-disable-facebook-places/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/how-to-disable-facebook-places/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:05:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[checkin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[howto]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[places]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/how-to-disable-facebook-places/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Learn how to disable places on Facebook altogether or just change your settings for better privacy. For more details, see lifehacker.com]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/how-to-disable-facebook-places/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Chinese general&#039;s spy talk leaked onto YouTube 
    (AP)</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/chinese-generals-spy-talk-leaked-onto-youtube-ap/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/chinese-generals-spy-talk-leaked-onto-youtube-ap/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:50:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chinese]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[communist-party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[knowledge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[north]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[south-korea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yahoo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/chinese-generals-spy-talk-leaked-onto-youtube-ap/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ BEIJING &#8211; Footage of a Chinese general discussing sensitive spying cases has been leaked onto video sharing site YouTube, in what appears to be an embarrassing failure of secrecy for the usually tightlipped military. It wasn't clear when or where Maj. Gen. Jin Yinan made the comments and China's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond Monday to faxed questions about the video. Calls to the National Defense University where Jin is a lecturer rang unanswered. While some of the cases had been announced before, few details had been released, while others involving the military had been entirely secret. Among those Jin discussed was that of former Ambassador to South Korea Li Bin, who was sentenced to seven years for corruption. Jin said Li had actually been discovered passing secrets to South Korea that compromised China's position in North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, but the allegations were too embarrassing to make public and graft charges were brought instead. "In all the world, what nation's ambassador serves as another country's spy?" Jin said. Similar treatment was handed out to the former head of China's nuclear power program, Kang Rixin, who was sentenced to life in prison last November on charges of corruption. Jin said Kang had in fact peddled secrets about China's civilian nuclear program to a foreign nation that he did not identify, but that was considered too sensitive to bring up in court. Kang, a member of the ruling Communist Party's powerful Central Committee as well as its disciplinary arm, was one of the highest-ranking officials ever to be involved in spying, Jin said. His arrest dealt a major shock to the party leadership, Jin said. "The party center was extremely nervous. They ordered top-to-bottom inspections and spared no individual," he said. Jin also talked about Tong Daning, an official from China's social security fund, who was executed in 2006 after being convicted on charges of spying for rival Taiwan. Jin said Tong had passed information to the island's leaders about China's currency regime, allowing them to avoid massive losses due to exchange rate changes. Among the cases involving military personnel, Jin said that of Col. Xu Junping, who defected to the United States in 2000, did not involve the loss of any technical secrets. Instead, Xu relayed to the Americans his knowledge of the military leaderships' personalities, attitudes and habits gleaned from many years accompanying the top brass on trips abroad, Jin said. The video was also posted on Chinese websites, and while it was removed from most locations, screen shots, audio files and transcripts of Jin's comments could still be found on sites such as Sina Weibo's popular microblogging service. Jin's presentation, complete with explanatory slides, was typical of how such cases are discussed at private sessions as a warning to Communist Party cadres not to be lured into espionage or corruption. The leaked video appeared to have been from an official recording rather than filmed by a member of the audience. Authorities heavily police the Chinese Internet but can only remove objectionable content after it is posted and have no control over what appears elsewhere. While Chinese are enthusiastic users of social media, YouTube and Facebook are blocked inside China and their Chinese equivalents are required to inspect all content and remove politically sensitive material before being ordered to do so. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/chinese-generals-spy-talk-leaked-onto-youtube-ap/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Google TV to launch in Europe next year</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-tv-to-launch-in-europe-next-year/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-tv-to-launch-in-europe-next-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:28:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[british]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologynews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[television]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[united-states]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-tv-to-launch-in-europe-next-year/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Google's Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt poses during an interview with Reuters at Google's headquarters in Buenos Aires March 4, 2011. Credit: Reuters/Enrique Marcarian By Georgina Prodhan EDINBURGH, Scotland &#124; Fri Aug 26, 2011 7:34pm EDT EDINBURGH, Scotland (Reuters) - Google Inc will launch its TV service in Europe early next year, Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said on Friday, despite teething problems that had led some observers to question how committed the company would remain to the project. Google TV, which allows viewers to mix Web and television content on a TV screen via a browser, was launched in the United States in October but received mixed reviews and was swiftly blocked by three of the top U.S. broadcast networks. Large parts of the television industry, like the news and telecoms industries, view Google with suspicion and accuse it of stealing their advertising revenues without contributing to the costs of making programs. Schmidt sought to allay the fears of Britain's broadcasting elite in a speech to the Edinburgh television festival, the first time a non-TV executive had been invited to give the keynote MacTaggart lecture at Britain's premier industry event. "Some in the US feared we aimed to compete with broadcasters or content creators. Actually our intent is the opposite," he told an audience who quickly warmed to his friendly style and liberal compliments to the quality of British television. "We seek to support the content industry by providing an open platform for the next generation of TV to evolve, the same way Android is an open platform for the next generation of mobile," he said. "We expect Google TV to launch in Europe early next year, and of course the UK will be among the top priorities." Google TV has gained little traction so far in the United States, and its set top box provider Logitech International SA slashed prices to $99 in July from an initial price of $299. Schmidt also included a warning to British television regulators, who he said were far more stringent than their U.S. counterparts and threatened to throttle the development of British television companies in an increasingly global market. "Stifling the Internet -- whether by filtering or blocking or just plain turning the 'off' switch -- appeals to policy makers the world over," he said. "Instead, policy makers should work with the grain of the Internet rather than against it." OPPORTUNISTIC Google has long held ambitions in the television arena, hoping to extend its online advertising business, which made $28 billion for the company last year, to the big screens that still command the lion's share of global advertising budgets. "If his ambition was to go there and convince the TV people he wasn't a big threat, I don't think he achieved it," said Keith McMahon, an analyst at research firm Telco 2.0/STL Partners. "The message I got was that TV is such a big market that Google can't ignore it. They're never going to give it up." So far, Google has had little success breaking into the TV market, despite its ownership of the world's most popular online video site, YouTube. Last week, however, Google agreed a deal to buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion, handing it the world's leading set top box business which delivers content for many of the top cable TV companies in the United States. The headline attraction of the deal was Motorola's huge portfolio of wireless patents but the set top box business could help Google transform its TV project by giving it insights into pay-TV. Google has not spelled out its plans for the set top box business, and many analysts expect it to divest the unit at the first opportunity, having no experience or previous interest in running a hardware business. Others believe Google could change tack under CEO Larry Page, Google's co-founder who took back the reins from Schmidt in April and has already started a social network to compete with Facebook while ditching other projects. "Google describes itself as an opportunistic company. So while it may not have wanted to buy Motorola's operations, it may now assess whether retaining these assets can compensate for the risk of owning them," New York-based Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey wrote in a note this week. Schmidt made no mention of the Motorola acquisition or its implications on Friday, but will hold a question and answer session in Edinburgh on Saturday. (Additional reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; editing by David Cowell, Tim Dobbyn and Andre Grenon ) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/google-tv-to-launch-in-europe-next-year/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Electronic Arts upbeat about holiday season sales</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/electronic-arts-upbeat-about-holiday-season-sales/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/electronic-arts-upbeat-about-holiday-season-sales/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:30:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[christmas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nintendo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online-game]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/electronic-arts-upbeat-about-holiday-season-sales/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ Visitors walk past the exhibition stand of Electronic Arts (EA) at the Gamescom 2010 fair in Cologne August 18, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Ina Fassbender By Michelle Martin FRANKFURT &#124; Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:02am EDT FRANKFURT Aug 15 (Reuters) - Video games publisher Electronic Arts (EA) is upbeat about Christmas holiday sales as it expects to release top titles and prepares its most high profile launch ever: "Star Wars: The Old Republic". "We think it should be a very attractive season for Electronic Arts as we have quite a few blockbusters in the pipeline," Jens Uwe Intat, the head of sales and distribution for Europe, told Reuters ahead of Gamescom, Europe's biggest video games trade fair. The company, which develops games for the consoles of Sony Corp, Nintendo and Microsoft, also said it was optimistic about the launch of the widely anticipated online game "Star Wars: The Old Republic," The launch date for the new game has not yet been named, but Intat said he hoped it would be announced before the holiday season. "We have lots of people who have been subscribing to newsletters and webpages so we are actually feeling very bullish about the game," Intat said. He added that the company was "still in the process of fine-tuning" services for the game. EA hopes the online game will rival Activision Blizzard "World of Warcraft", which has more than 12 million subscribers. EA is said to be spending more than $100 million to develop "Star Wars". Other big games in EA's Christmas line-up include the shooter game "Battlefield 3", racing game "Need for Speed" and "Sims Pet". The company's soccer game, "FIFA", which is due to launch at the end of September, has already taken record-breaking pre-orders, Intat said. PLAY BEFORE YOU PAY Another strand of EA's strategy is to focus on Facebook games, which are free to play. The games make money from players who buy so-called microtransactions in games such as costumes or tools which enhance game experience, Intat said. This business model, which is a departure from how video games have traditionally made money, is in the spotlight as social gamemaker Zynga has filed with US regulators for an initial public offering on the stock market worth up to $1 billion. Advertising in the free-to-play games has the potential to be a revenue-driver in the future, Intat said, adding that "more and more consumer goods companies understand that and embrace that type of advertising opportunity". The company is striving to improve on its current position in the social gaming space by introducing some of its franchises like "The Sims Social" on Facebook. EA acquired Playfish, a leading maker of social network games, in November 2009 in a bid to make headway with its diversification strategy and in August it closed the acquisition of PopCap games, the maker of "Bejeweled." [nN1E76B1O4] (Additional reporting by Liana B. Baker ; editing by Patrick Graham) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/electronic-arts-upbeat-about-holiday-season-sales/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A religious court official in Indonesia has blamed social networking ...</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/a-religious-court-official-in-indonesia-has-blamed-social-networking/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/a-religious-court-official-in-indonesia-has-blamed-social-networking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:40:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Photo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[afp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[indonesia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religious-court]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[teenage-pregnancies]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/a-religious-court-official-in-indonesia-has-blamed-social-networking/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ (AFP/File) - A religious court official in Indonesia has blamed social networking site Facebook for a rise in teenage pregnancies and under-age marriages.(AFP/File/Leon Neal) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/a-religious-court-official-in-indonesia-has-blamed-social-networking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>AOL posts surprise loss as ad growth disappoints</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/aol-posts-surprise-loss-as-ad-growth-disappoints/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/aol-posts-surprise-loss-as-ad-growth-disappoints/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Aug 2011 15:52:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[advertising]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[editing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[huffington]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[still-armstrong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stocks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologynews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/aol-posts-surprise-loss-as-ad-growth-disappoints/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ A woman walks out of AOL offices in New York, November 19, 2009. Credit: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton By Jennifer Saba NEW YORK &#124; Tue Aug 9, 2011 11:27am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - AOL Inc reported a surprise second-quarter loss on Tuesday, citing weaker-than-expected advertising growth that sent shares of the company plummeting as much as 20 percent on Tuesday. The company, which Time Warner spun off after a disastrous decade-long merger, is trying to regain its former status as one of the world's most popular online destinations by investing heavily in efforts such as hyperlocal news network Patch and by blockbuster purchases like the Huffington Post. Advertising revenue rose 5 percent to $319 million. Sales of display ads -- big splashy units that appear on Web pages -- gained 14 percent, but Evercore Partners analyst Ken Sena was expecting a 25 percent increase. While AOL has finally made progress turning its advertising revenue around after several quarters of declines, Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong said display growth should have been stronger. "We had the ability to capture more than we did," Armstrong said during a call with analysts. Integration of the Huffington Post into AOL's properties had to do partly with the slowdown in June display ad sales with July trending the same, said Arthur Minson, chief financial officer of AOL. Investors punished AOL shares, causing a halt in trading twice during the morning because of volatility. AOL recently reorganized its sales force at the end of July as a part of an effort to boost lagging advertising demand. At that time, its head of advertising -- former Google executive Jeff Levick -- left the company. "From an investor standpoint, didn't we go through this last year?" Sena said. "To be honest, you have so many buying opportunities out there where the stocks have strong fundamental stories." Still Armstrong insisted on the call that the shake-up was not another reorganization -- one of several that AOL has been through over the past couple of years -- and that the sales force remained intact. "It's about us improving the operations of our advertising business globally," he said. The company is still waiting for sales at Patch -- an ambitious project consisting of 800 local community Websites-- to kick in. Armstrong said AOL could do a better job growing revenue at Patch and monetizing traffic and revenue at some of the Huffington Post media properties. AOL is up against Google as well as newer rivals like Facebook and Twitter. Its share of online U.S. ad revenue is expected to decline 2.7 percent this year, down from 3.4 percent in 2010, according to research firm eMarketer. Revenue fell 8 percent to $542.2 million, on a 23 percent drop in subscription revenue. Analysts were expecting revenue of $530.4 million. The company said its second-quarter loss had narrowed to $11.8 million, or 11 cents per share, from $1.06 billion, or $9.89 per share, a year earlier, when it took a goodwill impairment charge of $1.41 billion. Analysts on average were looking for a profit of 4 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. (Additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Lisa Von Ahn and Gunna Dickson) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/aol-posts-surprise-loss-as-ad-growth-disappoints/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, ...</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/randi-zuckerberg-the-sister-of-facebook-co-founder-mark-zuckerberg/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/randi-zuckerberg-the-sister-of-facebook-co-founder-mark-zuckerberg/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:15:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Brad Selers</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Photo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[director]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sister]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sullivan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[the-social]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/randi-zuckerberg-the-sister-of-facebook-co-founder-mark-zuckerberg/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ (AFP/Getty Images/File) - Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, pictured in July 2011, and the director of marketing for the social network, is leaving to start her own company, Facebook said Wednesday.(AFP/Getty Images/File/Justin Sullivan) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/randi-zuckerberg-the-sister-of-facebook-co-founder-mark-zuckerberg/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Groupon doubles users, will drop controversial metric</title>
		<link>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/groupon-doubles-users-will-drop-controversial-metric/</link>
		<comments>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/groupon-doubles-users-will-drop-controversial-metric/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 06 Aug 2011 19:23:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[groupon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[industry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[online marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[street]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologynews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.allaboutgadget.com/groupon-doubles-users-will-drop-controversial-metric/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ An online coupon sent via email from Groupon is pictured on a laptop screen November 29, 2010 in Los Angeles. Credit: Reuters/Fred Prouser By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO &#124; Fri Aug 5, 2011 9:08pm EDT SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Groupon Inc, which more than doubled subscribers this year to 115 million, plans to abandon the use of a controversial financial measure it once touted as a good indicator of performance, two sources with knowledge of the situation said. The No. 1 daily deals website, which now dwarfs closest rival LivingSocial's membership base, caved to pressure from investors and will stop referring to a metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income (ACSOI) that excludes marketing costs, one of the sources told Reuters. Groupon, speeding toward one of 2011's most highly anticipated IPOs, plans to file amended S-1 IPO documents next week giving an update of its performance, both sources said. The phenomenal pace of growth will be unveiled in that filing and likely give its IPO a boost, despite fears about its need to spend heavily to lure new users and worries of another dotcom bubble brewing reminiscent of the late 1990s. "There are few growth opportunities on the scale of companies like Groupon," said Lou Kerner, vice president in equity research at Wedbush Securities. "That's really what a lot of investors are seeking today." Founded by Northwestern music major Andrew Mason in 2008, Groupon filed to raise $750 million in an IPO this year. In April, a source said Groupon could raise $1 billion, valuing it at $15 billion to $20 billion. Social media firms like LinkedIn Corp have had spectacular debuts, stoking interest for offerings by the likes of Facebook and Twitter. But doubt is growing on Wall Street about whether the buzz surrounding the new Web generation is justified, with the hype recalling the atmosphere prior to the dotcom collapse of 2001. That caution may have led some to question Groupon's use of "ACSOI", which excludes not just online marketing expenses but also stock-based compensation and acquisition-related items. Other investors question whether Groupon will be able to cut marketing spending in future. In the first quarter of 2011, Groupon reported a $117 million operating loss, but ACSOI was almost $82 million. That's because some $180 million of online marketing spending -- plus more than $18 million of stock-based employee compensation -- had been stripped out. Tech blog All Things D first reported that Groupon would drop all references to ACSOI in future IPO filings. The news comes after reports the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was taking a closer look at Groupon's IPO -- and ACSOI. A spokesman for the company declined to comment. DOUBTS GROWING Groupon offers discounts on everything from dining to sky-diving excursions. The "group" in its name refers to the fact that many deals are activated only when a certain number of people sign up. Discounts often run from 50 to 70 percent. It had 50.58 million subscribers at end-2010. That jumped 64 percent to 83.1 million at the end of the first quarter. Since March 31, that number of subscribers climbed about 38 percent to 115 million -- several times LivingSocial's. Revenue surged to $713 million last year from $30 million in 2009. In the first quarter of this year alone, revenue topped $644 million. Most of the recent growth came organically rather than through acquisitions, a second source added, noting that Groupon has not bought many companies lately. Despite a sizzling pace of growth, some critics remain wary about piling into a business -- essentially a coupon service -- that can be easily replicated both by startups and existing Web powerhouses. Google has already begun such a service. And while it shares the spotlight trained on social media companies such as Zynga, it needs resources others don't: a huge sales staff to enlist merchants and handle customer service. Groupon has spent a lot to lure subscribers and generate revenue growth. It shelled out $208 million on marketing alone during the first quarter of this year, up from $4 million in the same period a year earlier. "The key question is how much money are they spending per new subscriber, and how much revenue are they generating per existing subscriber?" asked David Sinsky of Yipit, which aggregates daily deals and tracks the industry. "If you assume that revenue per subscriber has held flat and costs for new subscribers were also the same, then profitability may look better." (Additional reporting by Edwin Chan ; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Bernard Orr ) ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.allaboutgadget.com/groupon-doubles-users-will-drop-controversial-metric/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
