Internet News

Microsoft Officially Ditching Messenger, Switching Users to Skype in March

Jan 092013

On March 15, all users will be switched over to Skype, which the software giant acquired for $8.5 billion in October 2011.

“We are retiring the existing Messenger service globally … and bringing the great features of Messenger and Skype together,” Microsoft said, adding that Messenger will continue to be available in mainland China. Last November, Skype president Tony Bates confirmed in a blog post that Messenger would be shuttered in the first quarter of 2013.

The company also encouraged users to “update to Skype,” and sign in using their Microsoft account (formerly known as a “Windows Live ID”), which includes an email address and password. All Messenger contacts will be included in Skype upon sign-in, the email said.

MORE: Microsoft Officially Ditching Messenger, Switching Users to Skype in March.

For teens, Facebook is old

Internet News 231 Responses »

Jan 092013

It seems that for teens it is Tumblr that is de rigueur for the latest information about their innermost feelings. In this survey, more teens dedicated themselves (and their selves) to Tumblr than to Facebook, even though Tumblr is fairly tiny in comparison.

There are other deep teenage loves that emerge from this data.

Teens are very partial to Instagram. They outnumber adults there almost two to one. Naturally, Snapchat has also captured their imagination like, like, you know, like, sort of, it’s so cool.

These results concur neatly with an interview performed by Branch co-founder Josh Miller on his 15-year-old sister.

MORE: For teens, Facebook is old | Technically Incorrect – CNET News.

Kickstarter has monster year with nearly $320 million pledged

Internet News, Tech News 246 Responses »

Jan 092013

2012 was a banner year for Kickstarter, the crowdfunding service.

Last year, 2.2 million people pledged nearly $320 million to projects across the service. All told, 18,109 projects were successfully funded. To put that into perspective, $99.3 million was pledged via the site in 2011.

Kickstarter also shed some light on last year’s power backers Nearly 571,000 people backed two more projects, but 50,000 backed 10 or more. And about 450 people backed 100 or more projects.

MORE: Kickstarter has monster year with nearly $320 million pledged

For Most, Supporting Older Versions of IE Remains a Necessity

Internet News, Web Design 251 Responses »

Jan 092013

Nothing gets a web developer’s hackles up quite like older versions of Internet Explorer. The web browser we all love to hate still manages to hang around after all these years — in the case of IE 6, the persistence is strong enough that even Microsoft has a website dedicated to getting rid of it.

While almost no one likes older versions of IE, most of us still need to support it to varying degrees. Mobile web expert Peter-Paul Koch recently ended an informal survey of web developers asking them which versions of IE they supported, tested in and whether or not they charged extra to support older versions of IE.

The results — from nearly 18,000 replies (1,150 for the least answered question) — are surprising in several ways, like the fact that 2 percent of web developers surveyed still support IE 5.5.

MORE: For Most, Supporting Older Versions of IE Remains a Necessity

Facebook turns off notifications users haven’t clicked in a while

interface, Internet News 276 Responses »

Jan 082013

Facebook has begun automatically turning off notifications for groups and close friends that users were not interacting with, a company spokesperson tells us.

When this happens, users will see a notice in their notifications window with the option to turn the notifications back on.

“This is part of our efforts to make sure that users are receiving the most meaningful notifications,” the spokesperson said.

MORE: Facebook turns off notifications users haven’t clicked in a while.

20 top web design and development trends for 2013

Internet News, Web Design 299 Responses »

Jan 072013

Predicting the future is tough, but with the fast-moving nature of the web, it’s good to know what lies ahead. Craig Grannell talks to top industry figures about the web design and development trends you should be mindful of over the coming 12 months

In our 15 top web design and development trends for 2012 we suggested 2012 would be a year of ongoing economic hardship and attempted internet censorship, and guessed web design and development would also be turbulent. Such predictions proved accurate, with the web industry battling censorship, native apps, and fragmented, rapidly evolving technology.

2013 won’t be any quieter. Our industry figures predict a year of design shifts, evolving device usage, and web consumption adjustments, all of which will impact on designers and developers. However, there’s also potential for an exciting year as RWD utterly takes hold, standards evolution brings more scope for layout and type, and tools wrench themselves free of print.

All these things and more are explored in our 20 must-know web design and development trends for 2013…

MORE: 20 top web design and development trends for 2013

IPO Lottery 2013: 10 Companies to Watch

Internet News 338 Responses »

Jan 072013

The Chinese calendar might have it pegged as the year of the black snake, but investors are already calling 2013 the year of the enterprise IPO. Not nearly as catchy as something reptilian, but hopefully a lot more profitable than the newly public consumer companies, Facebook chief among them, that took a beating in the public markets in 2012.

Consistent with the enterprise theme, we already know that data-center networking company Gigamon and solid-state storage business Violin Memory have filed their S-1 forms. Other enterprise plays will follow. And just because the smart money is betting on companies that get paid selling to other companies, doesn’t mean some well-known consumer outfits, including Twitter, Square, and Evernote couldn’t try their luck with an IPO in 2013.

We picked nine private companies with public market potential to watch in 2013. For each we weigh the odds of whether, market conditions permitting, of course, they have a shot or not.

MORE: IPO Lottery 2013: 10 Companies to Watch | Wired Business | Wired.com.

How Facebook’s latest monetization efforts may take shape in 2013

Internet News, Marketing 92 Responses »

Jan 032013

After eight years focused on user growth and building the foundations of its platform — News Feed, location and Open Graph, among others — Facebook went into 2012 prepared to go public and become more serious about monetization.

The social network launched several new ad types and began a number of other potential money-making ventures. Here’s a look at Facebook’s monetization efforts last year and how they might evolve in 2013.

News Feed/Mobile Ads

News Feed ads, starting with Sponsored Stories, launched in January. These same ad types came to the mobile feed in March, and over time, the social network began allowing page post units and other non-social ads. Mobile app installs came to the feed in August. Facebook previously allowed feed-based ads in 2007 but it had never shown ads on mobile devices until this year. Now, the social network is earning $4 million a day from News Feed ads, with three-fourths of that from the mobile feed.

MORE: How Facebook’s latest monetization efforts may take shape in 2013.

HTML5 Inches Closer to the Finish Line

Internet News, Tech News 232 Responses »

Jan 032013

The W3C has an early Christmas present for web developers: The standards body that oversees the lingua franca of the web has published the complete definition of the HTML5 specification.

HTML5 isn’t an official standard yet, but the move to what the W3C calls “Candidate Recommendation” CR status means that the spec is largely stable, features are frozen, and testing can begin. In other words, the W3C is on track to publish the final version of HTML5 by 2014.

While developers targeting modern web browsers are already using HTML5 and many of its accompanying APIs, the move to CR status is nevertheless important because it marks the beginning of the interoperability and testing phase.

MORE: HTML5 Inches Closer to the Finish Line | Webmonkey | Wired.com.

Facebook: Five things to watch for in 2013

Internet News, Marketing 386 Responses »

Dec 202012

While 2013 might see another big acquisition — a run at Yelp or Pinterest, say, or some hot startup that suddenly has too much traction for Zuckerberg to ignore — thats not the path the company is on. Instead, itll keep scooping up smaller companies. And given all the changes that occurred in 2012 — a range of new ad products, the rollout of Facebook Gifts, closing the Instagram deal, and, oh, that big IPO that helped set the we-need-to-make money mindset — much of what happens next year seems somewhat predictable. Here are five things to look for:

MORE: Facebook: Five things to watch for in 2013 | Internet & Media – CNET News.

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