Facebook increases Fab's Thanksgiving sales by 20 percent

(Credit:Fab)

Fab can put another notch on its trendy Facebook belt -- the quirky e-commerce site said it's made at least 20 percent of its Thanksgiving revenue from shoppers who joined Fab through Facebook.

Overall, Fab saw at least 25 percent of its revenue betweenBlack Friday and Cyber Monday come from social media sites. Facebook led the way during the four-day period, now one of the biggest shopping times of the year.

While Fab didn't say how other social media contributed to its revenue overall, CEO Jason Goldberg did post the traffic breakdown in his blog betashop:

• 65 percent Facebook

• 20 percent Pinterest

• 5 percent Twitter

• 1 percent Coolhunting

• 0.5 percent svvply

• 0.3 percent Apartment Therapy

• 0.3 percent Reddit

• 0.3 percent betashop

(The remaining 7.6 percent came from other sources.)

Related storiesLivingSocial promotes Fab for the holidaysFab continues push for customers with free shippingFab reaches 9 million users, opens up holiday shops

It's no surprise that Facebook is a major contributor to this traffic. In addition to the social network's shear size, the two companies have been closely intertwined. In September, Goldberg said the company had a good relationship with Facebook, adding that social media contributed to 50 percent of Fab's signups. Earlier this month, Facebook added Fab to its list of retail partners on its gifting service, Facebook Gifts.

Fab made a big push to cash in on holiday traffic this year. The company launched its holiday stores shortly after reaching 9 million member sign-ups earlier this month and then added free shipping to boot.

View the Original article

Commenters push Facebook policy changes to public vote

Facebook is about to take its policy changes to an official vote among its users. And if history is any guide, turnout will be low and Facebook will proceed to make the changes it wants. That includes how it collects data from Instagram users, which has privacy advocates protesting and urging CEO Mark Zuckerberg to reverse course.

Facebook last week proposed a series of policy changes that, along with changes to how it handles your data, would abolish the social network's practice of allowing users to vote on policy changes.

That's right. Facebook wants to do away with your right to vote -- a right most members clearly don't realize they have. In April 2009, Facebook instituted its own democracy of sorts through a vote that was put before but largely ignored by Facebook's 200 million users at the time (665,654 votes were cast). But the company now argues that the system no longer makes sense because Facebook has become so large and is a publicly traded company.

That 2009 policy says that site governance changes automatically go to a broader vote once a post about the proposal receives 7,000 "substantive comments," which is easy to achieve now that Facebook has roughly a seventh of the world's population as users. For the people's vote to become binding, however, Facebook requires "more than 30 percent of all active registered users" to participate -- and that is far harder to achieve.

Users have until tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT to comment on the post, so it's not official yet. But it will happen, considering that as of now the post is approaching 19,000 comments, and voting will go on for a week. Facebook's vice president of public policy and marketing, Elliot Schrage, wrote the post, Proposed Updates to our Governing Documents, which is now crammed with thousands of comments asking that Facebook maintain its policy of putting site changes to a user vote.

View the Original article

Copyright scare spreads on Facebook

BridgetCarey

Tuesday's CNET Update has a cyber-shopping hangover:

Today's tech news roundup looks at the Cyber Monday shopping surge and how Amazon's Kindle Fire was a hot seller.

Also, don't be fooled by the status updates spreading on Facebook about copyright. It's a hoax. Nothing that you put in your status message will change the policies you agree to when you sign up for an online service.

In Apple news, iPhone owners can use Siri in some Chevy cars next year, with Chevy MyLink. And the new iMac all-in-one desktops will be on sale Friday.

And change is coming for Android users: If you want to write a review about an app or product in the Google Play store, you'll have to use your real name with a Google

View the Original article

Sex offender's Facebook challenge

A convicted sex offender has launched a legal bid to force Facebook to remove a page set up to monitor paedophiles in Northern Ireland.

The man, who cannot be identified, is also seeking an injunction to stop his photograph and details from appearing on the social networking site.

He claims the case is urgent because he is at real and immediate risk.

Proceedings were brought before the High Court over the Facebook page, 'Keeping our kids safe from predators'.

The man, known only as XY, as he was granted anonymity in court, is currently out on licence after serving a prison sentence for sexual offences.

Following his release he discovered his photo and threatening comments had been posted online.

The judge hearing the case, Mr Justice McCloskey, said: "He deposes to fear and anxiety. He avers that there is a marked change of attitude on the part of his neighbours."

The man, who said he was in poor health, wants Facebook Ireland Ltd to terminate the accounts of anyone operating the page.

His lawyers argue that the company should also be restrained from permitting those responsible from publishing, distributing, broadcasting or disseminating any further information about him on the site.

Monitor

Human rights legislation dealing with privacy and inhumane and degrading treatment is intrinsic to the case.

Facebook has already removed the man's photograph and comments made about him. A lawyer for the company argued that the further relief being sought was neither necessary nor proportionate.

But counsel for the plaintiff confirmed he still wanted the entire page removed. She said the litigation would also try to identify the "mischief makers" before deciding how to proceed against them.

"The case we are making is that Facebook should undertake to monitor," she said.

"The plaintiff recognises that is somewhat onerous, but we would seek a final injunction with regard to that."

Mr Justice McCloskey will hear full arguments from both sides in court in Belfast later this week.

"The court, in consideration and determination of a case of this kind, will obviously have at the forefront of its mind the operation of well-established laws including the law of defamation and the provisions of the Human Rights Act," he said.

View the Original article

Facebook adds iTunes to Facebook Gifts

The social network's move to add Apple to its retail partner list for Facebook Gifts comes shortly after it announced the inclusion of more than a dozen new partners at a media event earlier this month.

The Apple partnership is an important one for Facebook. Although the social network is reportedly pushing for its employees to use Android phones in hopes of improving itsAndroid apps, Facebook and Apple have close ties; For example, Apple has integrated the social network's sharing feature into iOS 6.

Facebook Gifts already features digital gifts from companies like Hulu, Pandora, and Rdio, but Apple's iTunes gives Facebook a big mainstream tech/media brand to tout as the social network tries to get members to use the new service.

Related storiesFacebook uses posters to push employees to switch to AndroidIrish regulators seek 'urgent' clarity on Facebook data changesThe Onion's joyous crucifixion of social media gurus

Launched at the end of September with about 100 merchants, the gifting service lets users buy and send gifts right off friends' Timelines and Facebook takes a cut.

Although Facebook won't say how big of a cut it gets from these sales, including the deal with Apple, the new service lets Facebook make money on something other than advertising.

View the Original article

Firefox 17 Gets Friendly With Facebook, Wary of iFrames

By John P. Mello Jr.
TechNewsWorld

Firefox just got a lot more social and a little more secure with its latest release, the 17th version of Mozilla's browser. "Social is huge for people," said Eric Vishria, CEO of Rockmelt. "It's one of the largest activities that people do on the Web, so by building it into the browser directly, you make it much more convenient for people."Mozilla has made its Web browser more social -- and more secure -- with the release of Firefox 17.

The latest version of the foundation's popular browser includes a plug-in that displays notifications and instant messages from Facebook in a sidebar.

The plug-in is the first implementation of the Social API introduced by Mozilla in July. The feature, must be activated through Facebook.

In addition to the Facebook plug-in, Mozilla made more than a score of changes in Firefox 17, including an update of the Awesome Bar, the end of support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, and improved security with click-to-play blocklisting and iFrame sandboxing.

Smart Implementation

Web browsers need to support what people do on the Web, observed Eric Vishria, CEO and cofounder of browser competitor Rockmelt.

"Social is huge for people," he told TechNewsWorld. "It's one of the largest activities that people do on the Web, so by building it into the browser directly, you make it much more convenient for people to do that along with their general Web browsing."

While integration with the social networks is baked into Rockmelt, Mozilla uses an API that allows the networks to plug into Firefox. "There are plenty of differences in the implementation, but the core concept is very smart," Vishria said.

Approach Validation

Mozilla's move to tighten Firefox's integration with social networks is a natural progression. "We said two years ago when we launched the company that we expected every browser developer to build social capabilities into their browser," Vishria said.

If the other major browser makers follow Firefox in adding social to their repertoires, would a small player like Rockmelt be squeezed out of the market? Vishria doesn't think so.

"I don't think it will squeeze us out because we have a two-year head start," he maintained. "What it does, more than anything, is validate our approach. The only question is, is it too late for Firefox?"

Mozilla did not respond to our request to comment for this story.

Better Security

As well as better social integration, Mozilla made Firefox 17 more secure by adding support for iFrame sandboxing and click-to-play blocklisting.

An iFrame is a window to the Internet inserted on a Web page. They're invisible to users, and they allow content from other places on the Net to be displayed in an area of a page.

By placing what's going on in an iFrame in a sandbox -- a segregated area where the content's access to a system's workings can be limited -- devices can be protected from some malicious threats.

"It allows developers to protect their users from untrusted content," Chester Wisniewski, senior security advisor at Sophos.

"It's there for website developers," he added. "iFrames aren't automatically sandboxed. Consumers are protected only when a developer chooses to use the feature."

Naughty iFrames

Sandboxing iFrames is a feature of HTML 5.0, explained Trend Micro. Research Manager Jamz Xaneza. "It gives Firefox developers more secure control over the sources of their content," he told TechNewsWorld.

Xaneza, though, isn't a big fan of iFrames. "iFrames have been used time and time again by bad guys to inject malicious content into websites and to cause users to click on pages with malicious ads," he said.

Nevertheless, the sandboxing feature does add to the browser's security, he observed. "Every security feature that prevents automatic execution of content is definitely a plus," he said.

Click-to-play blocklisting will also improve Firefox's security profile, according to Randy Abrams, research director atNSS Labs.

That feature will warn a user if they're using a plug-in, like Adobe Flash, that's subject to an update. Often plug-ins are updated to address security problems, so using the latest version of a plug-in is a best practice for the security conscious.

Since the feature only issues a warning, its protection for users is less than absolute, Abrams noted. "You can still choose to do the less than prudent thing if you want to," he said.

View the Original article

Facebook arrest woman 'shocked'

Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan were arrested on Monday Continue reading the main storyRelated StoriesOutrage at India Facebook arrests Mumbai arrests over Facebook postWhy was an Indian man held for sending a tweet? An Indian woman who was arrested on Monday over a comment on Facebook has said she was "shocked" by the incident.

Shaheen Dhada was arrested for criticising the shutdown of Mumbai after the death on Saturday of controversial politician Bal Thackeray.

Her friend, Renu Srinivasan, who had "liked" the comment was also arrested. The two were later freed on bail.

Recently, police have arrested a number of people in cases which campaigners call a breach of freedom of speech.

Apology

On Tuesday, Ms Dhada spoke to the BBC Hindi service by telephone from the town of Palghar, near Mumbai.

"I'm not angry, I'm not sad, but I'm just shocked. It was just my point of view, I'm shocked that it was my post because of which all this happened," she said.

Ms Dhada also apologised for the post because, she said, she did not want to "hurt anyone's sentiments".

Her friend, Renu Srinivasan, apologised too.

"We are apologising just to keep everything in place. We don't want any violence. We want ourselves and our families to be safe," she told the CNN-IBN television channel.

The women were charged with "creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes". They were also charged under the Information Technology Act.

After Ms Dhada's comment appeared on Facebook, a mob attacked and vandalised her uncle Abdul Dhada's clinic in Palghar on Sunday.

Police said on Tuesday that they had arrested nine people in connection with the attack and were "looking for some more people".

The death of Bal Thackeray, the Hindu nationalist politician who founded the Shiv Sena party, brought Mumbai to a halt for most of the weekend.

In her Facebook comment on Sunday, 21-year-old Shaheen Dhada wrote: "People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a 'bandh' 

View the Original article