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Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018

Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. It also averages 1.52 billion daily active users as of December 2018.

Facebook was launched in February of 2004 (as The Facebook) for college students and then rapidly grew as it opened the service to more than those with a .edu email address. It was the subject of the 2010 movie called “The Social Network“.

In 2012, the social media giant offered its IPO and Facebook earned the title of the fastest company to grow to $250 billion market capitalization in the S&P 500.

In recent years, the company has been at the center of attention related to its role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, it’s been a continual stream of negative news for the company. They recently had all of their enterprise certificates for iOS revoked after it was discovered they had repackaged Onavo VPN as a ‘Research’ app and were paying teens $20/month to sneakily sideload it.

In early 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a “privacy shift” for the company. He outlined a detailed vision for the future of the social media platform, specifically its messaging services. Notably, in contrast to how the company operates today, he says the future of the platform will be privacy-focused with features like end-to-end encryption, interoperability between its various apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reducing how long it holds data, secure storage of personal data, and more.

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iBooks 3.0 now available to download, adds iCloud purchase history and new scrolling theme

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As promised by Apple during its media event this afternoon, iBooks 3.0 is now available for users to download from the iTunes App Store. Haven’t heard? The updated app offers better integration with iCloud, and it now shows purchased books across your iTunes account on one shelf for more seamless reading. Furthermore, the folks in Cupertino have added a new scroll theme that allows users to “scroll vertically through books with the flick of a finger”—infinite scrolling. It’s a feature iPad mini users are sure to love.

Competing with a similar Kindle feature, Apple also made its iBooks platform a bit more social with this update. Users can now share their favorite quote over Facebook and Twitter—a much-requested feature among the more hardcore readers.

Lastly, in the 3.0 update, iBooks grabbed 40 more languages, including: Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. You can grab the update right on your iOS device from the App Store. For you book junkies, Apple also updated its iBooks Author software with new features this afternoon.

Full feature list below:

Amazon making moves to displace iPads in schools

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We know Apple has had a lot of success pushing iPads in education, and during Apple’s Q3 conference call, CEO Tim Cook said the company would continue to be “very aggressive”. Apple’s iPad 2 sales in the K-12 market doubled y-o-y in Q3 thanks to a price drop to $399. In Q2, Apple said it sold about a million iPad units to the United States education market. With Apple’s upcoming iPad mini announcement possibly bringing an even lower price point for iPads in education, Amazon is announcing its plans today to get Kindle tablets into schools.

Reuters reported today that Amazon is launching a service, called “Whispercast”, aimed at allowing schools to easily deploy and manage multiple kindle devices:


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Facebook passes 1B active monthly users [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7SjvLceXgU&feature=plcp

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the service he started in his Harvard dorm room roughly eight years ago now has over 1 billion monthly users (or over one-seventh of the world’s population).

“Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life,” wrote Zuckerberg. “I am committed to working every day to make Facebook better for you, and hopefully together one day we will be able to connect the rest of the world too.”

The … video above was made for the occasion. Apple is obviously a huge partner with Facebook due to deep integration on both iOS 6 and Mountain Lion, and Zuckerberg talked with Matt Laurer on the “Today Show” about his relationship and admiration for the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs:

Zuckerberg also mentioned that current Apple CEO Tim Cook sent him an iPhone 5 and most people actually access Facebook on the mobile web rather than an app.

More big numbers, including 1.13 trillion likes, 140.3 billion friend connections, 219 billion photo uploads, 62.6 million songs played, 600 million mobile users, 17 billion location-tagged posts, were revealed in the data sheet (DOCX).


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Apps and updates: Clucks by AOL, Netflix, Camera+ for iPad, The Dark Knight Rises, Real Racing 2 HD and more

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Many apps updated, went on sale, or made announcements recently, and 9to5Mac gathered the most noteworthy ones in our regular round up below. Today’s crop includes new games by AOL and Rovio, updates for popular video services and social networks, more notable apps adding support for iOS 6, and huge price drops and daily deals. Per usual, we will continue to update this list throughout the day.

Check them out:


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Google snaps up iPad app of the year

Google just bought the brainchild behind popular iOS app Snapseed, Nik Software.

Snapseed, which has some features of the hit iOS app Instagram in terms of jazzy vintage filters, is just one of many desktop and mobile photography apps that Nik Software develops. Snapseed launched on Apple’s iPad in June 2011, winning “iPad App of the Year” soon after, and then it landed on the iPhone in August 2011 and Mac OS just four months later. The app also boasts a Windows counterpart.

Today’s announced buyout could notably help Google’s budding social network, Google+, better combat direct rival Facebook, which recently acquired Instagram and its 100+ million users.

Get Nik Software’s statement at 9to5Google.


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Apps and updates: Kingdom Rush, UPAD, Any.DO, CoPilot Live (promo codes) and more

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A few apps updated, went on sale, or made announcements recently, and 9to5Mac gathered the most noteworthy ones in our regular round up below. Today’s crop includes game and productivity app updates, an Angry Birds game sale, and promo codes for an iPhone 5-optimized GPS app. Per usual, we will continue to update this list throughout the day.

Check them out:


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Lumify: an Instagram-like app for 20 sec video montages

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Lumify, a new app launching today for the iPhone, is an Instagram-like social experience for video that allows users to share 20-second montages set to music. The free app analyzes video clips from your device’s camera roll, allows you to select soundtrack music from your iPod library, and then automatically creates a “lumified” montage for you. According to one of the developers, former Senior Product Manager at Google and YouTube Kuan Yong, “Lumify is the first mobile app capable of analyzing and editing 1080p HD videos in real-time, entirely on the iPhone.”

Technically, we are ridiculously fast and easy video editing…We use advanced algorithms to mash up your videos in real-time. We highlight the most interesting parts and pair them with music for a 20-second montage…In the end, we want to help you take video in a new way. Just point and capture each moment as it happens. We take care of the rest.

Get it here.

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Chrome for iOS updated with social and email sharing features, bugfixes and optimizations

For those of you who enjoy a little Chrome in your iOS experience, Google updated Chrome today with some nice social-sharing features. Posting to Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are all included with the ability to push pages to the email application. The additions start to bring Chrome up to par with Apple’s Mobile Safari, which still benefits from speed due to an optimized Nitro engine that sandboxed apps do not have access to.

It would not be a Chrome update without a few “stability and security improvements” and “bug fixes addressing user feedback” either.


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Spotify expanding into Canada soon, with further plans for Asia and South America. Hulu gets a facelift

Spotify made a huge stride when it launched in the United States in July 2011, which opened a partnership with Facebook that has paid off. The music streaming company looks to be expanding even further, as the Wall Street Journal reported this morning that Spotify is expected to launch in Canada soon. Furthermore, Spotify may also expand into Asia and South America. Spotify’s latest annual accounts tipped WSJ off on the news:

Last year, Spotify established subsidiaries in Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong, all places where its service isn’t yet available. Spotify is currently available in 15 countries, including the U.S., the U.K. and Germany, and recently launched in Australia and New Zealand. Company spokeswoman Sofie Grant declined to elaborate on the details of the company’s expansion plans, but said Spotify “of course plans to launch in new countries.”

Many ditched Apple’s iTunes and services like Pandora for Spotify, including me, because the ease of building playlists and finding new music on Spotify is certainly impressive. The only downfall is that the premium plan costs $10 a month, which offers unlimited music without ads, but I find the money to be worth it. Spotify recently introduced a free unlimited radio — launched on its Android — in July.

In other media news, Hulu, which just recently came to Apple TV, got a bit of a facelift on the web.


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AAPL hits all time high, market cap again passes $600B (update closes at: 648)

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Some good news for those who did not sell their AAPL shares to buy plummeting Facebook stock:

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Apple passed its all-time high of 644 and its market cap is once again over $600 billion. Apple last hit both milestones on April 10. The news follows yesterday’s first dividend disbursement in 17 years that paid $2.65 per share of the company’s common stock. The stock price closed over 648.

Also today, Jeffries Analyst Peter Misek reported that Apple’s HDTV production was a go with early 2013 set as a target shipping date.

Investors are also looking forward to what appears to be a huge product launch in September which should include a new iPhone, an iPad Mini and other products for the holiday season.

Apps & updates: Angry Birds Seasons, Amazon Instant Video, Dunkin’ Donuts, Shazam, more

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As always, we will update our list of new apps and updates hitting the App Store and Mac App Store throughout the day:

Angry Birds Seasons version 2.5.0: New content for Rovio’s “Seasons” edition of Angry Birds rolled out today (including the HD version). The update includes 20 new schoolyard levels, bonus levels, a new pink bird, and new theme music for the playground levels.

Amazon Instant Video version 1.1: Amazon’s iPad app provides access to over 120,000 videos from the Amazon Instant Video store and thousands more Prime Instant Video titles, and it was updated today with a couple notable features. First—a new search function has been added to find specific titles from Prime. Also included in the update are an improved navigation bar and a number of bug fixes.

Shazam version 5.0.6: All of the versions of the song recognition app Shazam were updated today with an improved recognition rate and faster application startup time. The update also went to the $5.99 RED edition.

Dunkin’ Donuts version 1.0: Dunkin’ Donuts officially announced the release of its first mobile app today that allows customers to pay from the app using a virtual barcode-based DD card scanned by the cashier. Other features include a store locator, nutritional information for items on the menu, the ability to send virtual DD cards, and Facebook and Twitter integration.


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Apps & updates: Google+, PhotoMagic, Amazon Cloud Player, Vintagio, more

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Google+ version 3.1: The universal Google+ iOS app was updated today with a couple of notable features including the ability to open web links within posts in the Chrome iOS app, fixes for an Instant Upload issue, performance enhancements, and access for teens to join and create Hangouts.

PhotoMagic version 1.0: Recently released on the App Store, PhotoMagic is an Instagram-like app for your Mac, allowing you to apply one-click filters, lighting effects, frame styles, and share photos through Facebook, Flickr, and elsewhere. Unlike the Instagram experience, PhotoMagic isn’t limited to only a few filters and packs in 70+ photo effects, 90+ lighting effects, and 90+ frames. The app is currently half off for a limited time.

Silent Film Director/Vintagio: Silent FIlm Director is free starting this Thursday until August 19 in order to celebrate the app’s upcoming update and name change. Silent Film Director will soon turn into “Vintagio”, and users of the old Silent Film Director app will get an update to the new and improved vintage video app for free.

Amazon Cloud Player version 1.2.1: A small update goes to Amazon’s Cloud Player iOS app that will please users experiencing a bug requiring a network connection for library playback.

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Apps & updates: Sing!, FlightTrack Free, Zillow, more

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ax1gMhKvMo]

Sing! version 1.0.1: The developers of popular iOS music apps “AutoRap”,”Ocarina”, and “I Am T-Pain have just released its latest social sing-along experience with the new Sing! app. Smule described the app as a “global karaoke party.” The app allows you to select from a large collection of songs, record your karaoke version, and share the results with friends and other users in a format similar to Ocarina and the developer’s other apps.

Features:
-Connect with your friends by giving & receiving comments and likes.
-Share your performances with the community through the globe.
-Join other songs for free and make it a duet or group song!
-Enhance your voice with special voice effects: Pop, Vintage, or SupaTune.
-Easy sharing to the outside community via Facebook.
-And much more!

FlightTrack Free: The developers of FlighTrack, the top-grossing travel app for the last four years, announced today that it would make a free version available to all users starting tomorrow. The free version will also be accompanied by a huge update that includes a redesigned UI with integrated flight maps and details, zoomable maps, and full international coverage for over 1400 airlines. In terms of what is different in the free version, you will not be able to sync with TripIt. However, a full comparison of FlightTrack features is below. The new app will be available for free starting tomorrow in the following languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Russian, and Spanish.


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AppleSeed and Mac Developers to get Mac OS 10.8.1 in coming days

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We’ve received word from AppleSeed testers that the first 10.8.1 Betas are on the way.

There has been some concern over excessive battery drain in recent days as well as Apple’s curious new “Save as” behavior which also overwrites the current version which will hopefully be addressed in upcoming releases.

[tweet https://twitter.com/9to5mac/status/233282559855976448]


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Facebook releases SDK 3.0 for iOS, will maintain beta version with iOS 6 integration

We told you a few weeks ago that Facebook was rolling out the beta of its SDK 3.0 for iOS that included iOS 6 integration for native Facebook login, modern Objective-C language features support, pre-built UI components, and a new iOS Dev Center. Version 3.0 of the Facebook iOS SDK is coming out of beta today, and it is ready for developers to download and use in their apps. However, Facebook will continue to maintain a beta version that includes iOS 6 FB integration features. It will ultimately merge the two versions when iOS is released to the public. We already went through much of what you can find in the Facebook SDK for iOS, but a blog post on the Facebook Developers blog announcing its release explained some of the new improvements and updates since the beta release:

This release enables several new features: ready-to-use native UI controls, better session management, improved support for calling Facebook APIs and support for modern Objective-C language features…The SDK also includes a variety of pre-built user interface (UI) components for common functions, such as Login, Friend Picker and Place Picker. Simply drop them into your apps for a fast, native and consistent way to build common features.

Updates since the beta release, according to Facebook:

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Apps & updates: Sparrow, Spotify, The New Yorker, Cloud, Bank of America, more

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Other than the notable apps and updates below, developers of Shazam, the “9th most downloaded app of all time,” announced today its song recognition service has been used to identify over 5 billion songs. The five billionth tagged song on Shazam was “Blow Me One Last Kiss” by Pink. Head below for our full list of new apps and updates hitting the App Store today:

Sparrow for Mac version 1.6.3: Sparrow’s Mac App Store app was updated today with a number of performance enhancements and fixes. A full list of what’s new in version 1.6.3 is below:

– improved performance when loading huge conversations
– URL in subject can be clicked
– date and subject in headers can be selected
– improved avatar in message cells
– improved IMAP compatibility
– brazilian localization
– fixed progress indicator in message view
– fixed crash when loading some HTML messages
– fixed crash with POP accounts fixed

Spotify version 0.5.4: Spotify received a decent update today that brings the ability to show more stations for iPad users, fixes login issues for Facebook users, and adds stability improvements.

The New Yorker Magazine: Previously only available as an iPad app, The New Yorker is now bringing all of its magazine content to the iPhone with a new universal app available on the App Store now. To celebrate the release of the iPhone version, you will be able to get the Aug. 13 and Aug. 20 issues completely free (old issues are not accessible on the iPhone app).
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Facebook iOS app adds ‘save it for later’ feature

As pointed out by iMore, the Facebook iOS app added functionality allowing you to save posts to a new “Saved” folder. Others are not notified when you save posts, and posts must be unsaved to be removed from the folder. The new feature does not require an update from the App Store (it is also rolling out on Facebook.com), but Facebook will notify you in the timeline.

To access your Saved folder, you must first scroll to the bottom of the sidebar menu and tap on Edit Favorites. Next, tap the + sign and select Saved from your list of Apps. Then tap Done. Now, you should see your Saved folder in the Favorites section of your sidebar menu!

Mountain Lion is live at the Mac App Store for $19.99

As Apple previously announced during its Q3 2012 earnings call yesterday, Mountain Lion is officially available for download in the Mac App Store for $19.99. The download is exclusive to the Mac App Store this year, as we mentioned before, because Apple will not sell the OS via USB sticks or optical discs. The $20 price tag is a $10 drop from Lion, however, and the single purchase will is good for up to five macs via the Mac App Stores purchased apps feature.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnJrkai6Eek]

Unfortunately, for those planning to try Mountain Lion in an Apple retail store before upgrading, we reported last night that some Apple Stores had issues getting the OS on in-store demo Macs. There are also many users reporting error messages when trying to download from Apple’s servers. Before you make the switch to 10.8, you might want to check out the list of compatible Mountain Lion apps to make sure you will not run into any problems.

Apple’s full press release is below:


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Reminder: QuickBooks 2011 not supported on Mountain Lion

We received a tip today that may be of interest to QuickBooks users planning to upgrade to Mountain Lion this week. The email below was sent to a reader from Intuit’s QuickBooks for Mac team. It informed them QuickBooks 2011 would not be supported on Mountain Lion. While the email notes “you may find that most things in your QuickBooks for Mac work for you” after upgrading to Mountain Lion, the company will only officially support QuickBooks 2012 on 10.8. The full email is below:

Let’s talk about Mountain Lion!

Like a lot of Mac users, everyone on the QuickBooks for Mac team is excited about the upcoming release of OS X 10.8: Mountain Lion. You may be wondering how Mountain Lion will affect your version of QuickBooks for Mac.

QuickBooks 2011 and prior are not supported on Mountain Lion. (Note that QuickBooks 2012 is supported on Mountain Lion.) Read more about this on Little Square.

If you decide to upgrade your OS, you may find that most things in your QuickBooks for Mac work for you, but if you run into a problem, we may not be able to help you. To minimize the chances of running into issues, you should make sure you’ve installed the latest update for your software. To find and install an update, click QuickBooks > Check for QuickBooks Updates.

If the new features in the Mountain Lion OS aren’t a big deal for you and you don’t want to upgrade either your OS or your current version of QuickBooks, then just stay with your current OS and QuickBooks versions. We can continue to help you with any problems you may run into.

If you must upgrade your OS, but don’t want to upgrade QuickBooks, you can continue safely running QuickBooks for Mac and any other software that may not be compatible with Mountain Lion on a partition. (Note: it’s important that you check all your software on the Mac you use for your business to be sure that it’s all compatible with Mountain Lion.) You can learn more about setting up a partition at this article by Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH5845

If you want to run QuickBooks for Mac on Mountain Lion, you should upgrade to QuickBooks 2012 for Mac. That way if you do run into any problems, we can help you. You can find QuickBooks 2012 for Mac on our website at http://quickbooks.com/mac and at most major retailers.

We really appreciate your business and wish you happy accounting whether you choose to upgrade to Mountain Lion or stay with your current version of OS X.

You’ll find great answers to your questions and advice on our Community. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. And Little Square will keep you up-to-date with new developments about QuickBooks for Mac on Mountain Lion.

Sincerely,

The QuickBooks for Mac Team

We’re hearing word of sporadic iMessage outages this weekend

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Although Apple’s iCloud System Status thinks all is good, clearly not all is well in Maiden. We received a load of tips over the past day or so claiming iMessages are randomly not going through, people are not able to sign in (“activation issues”), and messages are randomly deleting. Others are not having any issues (or are not aware of any). Here are just a few of our readers’ responses:


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Minor app update roundup: djay for iPad, Turntable.fm, Tweetbot for iPad, more

By far the biggest app news today is the announcement that popular Mac and iOS email client Sparrow has been acquired by Google, but below is our usual list of all the notable apps and updates hitting the App Store:

djay for iPad version 1.5.1: djay for iPad received a significant updated today that brings support for Numark’s upcoming iDJ Pro controller for iPad arriving in September. The update also improves “turntable behavior for fast spinning,” slider accuracy, and some bug fixes including one for distortion issues with Split Output.

Turntable.fm version 2.1.1: Turtable.fm’s iPhone app received a small update today that allows users to log in with their turntable account instead of Facebook or Twitter. The update also added more avatars.

Tweetbot for iPad version 2.4.2: A small update for the extremely popular Tweetbot for Twitter client for iPad brings a number of bug fixes.

Netflix version 2.2.1: Another small update today goes to the Netflix iOS app with version 2.2.1 bringing much-needed stability improvements.

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Facebook snatches up Mac and iOS developer Acrylic Software

Mac and iOS developer Acrylic Software just announced that Facebook has acquired it. Founder Dustin Mcdonald unveiled the news on Acrylic’s blog:

  • Our Next Project: Facebook
  • I’m happy to announce today that we’ve packed up our small Vancouver studio and will be making the move to San Francisco in the coming weeks to join the design team at Facebook.
  • For the past four years, we’ve worked tirelessly on creating truly awesome products with a focus on innovation and great design, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve been able to accomplish during that time. Our flagship apps, Wallet and Pulp, have been used and loved by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Building these products has been a fun and exciting ride, but the time has come to move on to newer and bigger challenges.
  • Facebook is an invaluable service that we all use daily, and a company I believe is one of the most innovative and important around today. After visiting late last year, I discovered that we shared many of the same core product design goals and principles, and it soon became obvious that it was a natural fit. Simply put, there’s an opportunity at Facebook to have a big impact in many people’s lives. More importantly, Facebook is full of extremely talented people who will be able to help realize its full potential in the years to come.
  • Our products and services have not been acquired by Facebook, and while there are no plans for further development on them, Wallet and Pulp will continue to remain available for download and purchase in their current form. We’ll certainly be the first to let you know of any updates or changes here in the future.
  • A special thanks to all of our customers and supporters who have helped us grow and build the best products possible throughout the last four years. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.
  • Dustin MacDonald
  • Acrylic Software

Acrylic Software is located in Vancouver, Canada, and its most notable products include Pulp and Wallet. Pulp presents news feeds in a clean, fresh UI for easy scanning through headlines, previews, and photos on a Mac or iPad, while Wallet allows users to track their sensitive information, such as web passwords, software license keys, credit card numbers, also on a Mac or iOS device.


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Find My Facebook Friends app forced to change name – becomes ‘Locate’

Developers of the Find My Facebook Friends app have had quite a rough time getting their app past Apple’s App Store review team. The app was originally called “Find My Friends For Facebook” until Apple rejected the app name and icon for being too similar to its own Find My Friends app, forcing the developers to resubmit the app with a new icon and name. While the app has been live in the App Store and steadily growing among users as “Find My Facebook Friends” since March, the developer told us today that it is once again being forced to change its name—but this time by Facebook.

After a few emails with Facebook’s Platform Operations team, Find My Facebook Friends has now been renamed “Locate”. Facebook also requested the developer remove the “f” logo, and then alter the white silhouette used in its icon. It appears Facebook’s platform policy and trademark rights allow iOS developers to use “for Facebook” in their app titles to clearly indicate the app is “for” Facebook and not an official app. However, there are many apps, such as Facebook Chat+, that seem to violate Facebook’s policies the same as Find My Facebook Friends, and they have been available in the App Store for almost a year. The developer noted Facebook contacted him after briefly testing its location-based Find Friends Nearby feature, which did not include the exact same functionality. However, it could easily be confused with Find My Facebook Friends by its title alone. The app still includes the same features, allowing you to locate Facebook friends on a map, receive proximity alerts, and more, but it is now available as “Locate: Real-time Location Sharing for Facebook” in the App Store.