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Facebook's Plan B: New Ads in News Feed

Facebook announced that advertisers would be able to pitch members directly from the News Feed with less holistic messages that direct people outside of the social network's walled garden. The launch, which Facebook is calling a "small alpha test," brings Facebook Exchange-targeted (FBX) ads, which are special ad units served to members based on their online browsing behavior, to the desktop version of News Feed for the first time.

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Facebook Rolls Out VoIP Calling To U.S. iOS Users

Facebook originally started testing a new free (minus and data usage fees you incur from your carrier) calling feature for users of its Facebook Messenger app for iPhone in Canada early this year, and now the service is available to U.S. users as well. The free call button app now shows up in the app for U.S. users, in any conversation where both parties are using the Facebook Messenger app.

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Facebook Takes on Google with Graph Search

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Graph Search at a press event yesterday at the company's Menlo Park headquarters, billing it as a new way find people, photos, places and interests that are most relevant to Facebook users. Graph Search is the social network's newest way for users to make sense of its massive base of 1 billion users, 240 billion photos, and 1 trillion connections. The tool is meant to provide people the answers to their questions about people, photos, places, and interests. Zuckerberg said Graph Search is launching to a small number of people and is available only on the desktop and in English for the time being.

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Microsoft Updates Skype for Windows

Microsoft's Skype division rolled out a new version of Skype for Windows (version 6.1). The updated version is for PCs running 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. (This is not an update for Skype for Windows 8, but since users can run Skype in the Desktop on Windows 8, they can run this update that way if they want.) The 6.1 update allows users to call and chat with contacts directly from Microsoft Outlook; search and add contacts more easily; and manage accounts from a new profile page, according to officials.

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Social Networking

Facebook Adds Voice Messaging To Messenger

Facebook’s next messaging move is all about voice. Yesterday it released an update for its standalone Messenger for iOS and Android apps that lets users send up to one-minute voice messages. It’s also testing open source VoIP calling between Canadian iOS Messenger users that runs over a user’s existing data plan. Both power hands-free communication between friends, which helps drivers and reduces mobile typing.

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Skype Update for Android Adds Tablet UI

Yesterday version 3.0 of Skype for Android was released. As long-standing Skype enthusiasts know, the company committed to making the Skype experience the best it can be, wherever you are and with whatever device you're using. With so many now using tablets to make video and voice calls with Skype, this latest version is optimized to scale to your tablet's bigger screen, so you can experience Skype on a larger display wherever you go.

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Social Networking

For Windows 8, Skype Gets a Full Makeover

Acquired by Microsoft in October 2011, Skype has been hard at work for several months integrating the communication software with the latest version of Windows. Yesterday the company announced that Skype for Windows 8 will be available Friday and on new Windows 8 devices; you can download it from the Windows store. Skype has received a complete makeover, with features that take advantage of both the Windows 8 Start menu and the use of a touch screen.

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Facebook Opens Engineering Office in London

Facebook announced today that they have opened a London engineering office, adding to their Menlo Park, New York and Seattle engineering offices. The company has 22 open positions at the new office. Facebook says it has engineers scattered at its other numerous U.S. and foreign offices, but this is the first official international engineering office.

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Facebook Hopes to Release Smartphone

Facebook is expanding its efforts to create a smartphone and aims to release one by next year, The New York Times reports. According to the Times, Facebook employees, engineers, and others familiar with the matter say that the company has added to the group working on the project, codenamed "Buffy," and that it has hired "more than half a dozen former Apple software and hardware engineers who worked on the iPhone, and one who worked on the iPad."

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Social Networking

LinkedIn Unveils Windows Phone App

LinkedIn added a new mobile app to its repertoire today: the Windows Phone 7.5 application. The job-based social network already has apps for iPhone and Android, but the company is saying that the Windows Phone app is the most sophisticated app it's developed yet.

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