To Fight Off Airtime and Google+ Hangouts, Facebook Tests Adding Video “Call” Button To Profiles
Desperate to increase video chat usage, Facebook is testing out a “Call” button on top of people’s timeline profiles. I don’t think I’ve received a Facebook video chat since Facebook partnered with Skype to launch the feature a year ago, but now that might change. If a friend is online on the desktop version of Facebook, those in the test see a “Call” button next to that friends name on their profile , while previously a tiny videocamera icon in the text chat window was basically the only way to start a video chat.
Facebook seems to have realized it needed to highlight the feature, otherwise when people want to smile and laugh with friends face to face their first thought might be the Google+ and its Hangouts, or the newly launched Airtime from former Facebook President Sean Parker.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/14/facebook-call-button/
Microsoft to Buy Yammer
Business-software company Yammer Inc. agreed to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. MSFT +1.87% for $1.2 billion, according a person familiar with the matter, in a sign Microsoft may be trying to plug holes in its ubiquitous Office software.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702303822204577467312505454118-lMyQjAxMTAyMDEwNDExNDQyWj.html
What if the rumored ‘Microsoft tablet’ isn’t a Windows tablet?
Rumors around Microsoft’s June 18 announcement are taking a new turn towards some kind of Microsoft-branded tablet. Could this be an Amazon Kindle Fire competitor?
The guesses on Microsoft’s June 18 announcement are continuing to fly fast and furiously (if not fluidly).
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/what-if-the-rumored-microsoft-tablet-isnt-a-windows-tablet/12941
RIM to pay Lazaridis, Balsillie combined $12-million after exit
Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who built Research In Motion Ltd. into a global smartphone giant before presiding over the company’s long slide, will receive a payout of around $12-million after having stepped aside as co-chief executive officers in January, according to a company document filed on Thursday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/rim-to-pay-lazaridis-balsillie-combined-12-million-after-exit/article4258369/?service=mobile
Let them eat cake, but no cameras: British council gags 9 year old school lunch blogger [Updated]
A nine year old British school girl has had her popular blog about school food closed by a local council. Martha Payne, a primary school student in Western Scotland, began posting photos of her school dinners with commentary in May and today ‘Never Seconds‘ passed more than 2 million page views.
http://thenextweb.com/uk/2012/06/15/let-them-eat-cake-but-no-cameras-british-council-gags-9-year-old-school-lunch-blogger/
PopCap survey shows 44 percent of people play mobile games
Today, developer PopCap (maker of Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies) has released the results of its third annual survey of mobile game consumption in the United States and United Kingdom. And, no surprise, the number of people playing mobile games is growing.
Research group Information Solutions compiled the data, which shows overall increases in number of users, play time, and money spent on games and add-on content due to continuing strong sales of tablet computers like Apple iPads and Amazon Kindles bringing new people into the mobile space.
http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/14/2012-mobile-game-study/
Geofencing alerts to come to Find My Friends this fall
This fall, you can stop asking your friend “Are you here yet?”—your phone will tell you for them. According to Apple’s iOS 6 website, the company’s Find My Friends app is set to add a new geofencing notification system with iOS 6. This will let you set up an alert for any of your Find My Friends contacts; when they leave or arrive at a given location, you’ll receive an alert or banner notification.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1167267/geofencing_alerts_to_come_to_find_my_friends_this_fall.html
What The Heck Is A Grocery Store Doing Buying A Music Streaming Service?
One pint of milk, one loaf of bread, and a music streaming service. That will be £10.8 million.
Yesterday’s news that We7, which aimed to be the Pandora of Europe, has sold to the supermarket giant Tesco probably raised a few eyebrows. What’s a grocery store to do with a music streaming service? Selling to Tesco is unlikely to have been in We7’s original deck under the section titled “exit strategy.”
http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/15/what-the-heck-is-a-grocery-store-doing-buying-a-music-streaming-service/
The SEC Asked Facebook For Info On User Numbers, Succession Plan, And Secret Deals*
Prior to Facebook’s IPO, the Securities and Exchange Commission requested Facebook fork over a bunch of company secrets, our Bloomberg terminal tells us.
http://www.businessinsider.com/sec-launches-probe-into-facebook-2012-6#ixzz1xsj62nVZ
