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Features

• Study: Facebook relies on good design to retain users

  What is Facebook's secret to keeping the world's largest user base content? Sticking to well-proven software design principles, one study has concluded.

• Location-based services: Are they there yet?

  Mobile users are more connected to the Internet than ever. As of December 2011, ComScore estimated that there are 97.9 million smartphone users in the US - nearly a third of the total population.

• Expert to IT pros: Adopt IPv6 soon or be sorry later

  A dozen of the world's largest Internet companies - including Facebook, Google and Comcast - have committed to June 6, as the start date for their production deployments of IPv6, an upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol.

• Gartner: The top 10 strategic technology trends for 2012

  ORLANDO -- The technology that makes up many of the systems in the ITworld today is at a critical juncture and in the next five years everything from mobile devices and applications to servers and social networking will impact IT in ways companies need to prepare for now, Gartner Vice President David Cearley says.

• How to prepare your business for Google+

  Google+ just opened its doors to the world by enabling open signups and moving to the beta, testing phase. The nascent social network is still thin on features and ways for businesses to properly use it, but its minimalist approach has gained Google+ millions of users in a very short period.

• Video chatting for newbies

  Video chat is all the rage these days, thanks to new services such as Google+ Hangouts and Skype/Facebook integrated video chat. Video chatting is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends--seeing loved ones' faces on a computer screen is almost like actually being there.

• First Look: Facebook Single Sign-on

  Facebook is getting serious about on-the-go social networking with a suite of new features announced during the Facebook Mobile event on Wednesday.

• The five pros and cons of a Facebook phone

  Is Facebook building a phone? The company won't say for sure, but for some the idea of a Facebook phone is social networking overkill. To social butterflies, a Facebook phone is a dream come true. Here is a look at the pros and cons.

• Diaspora could open new social scene for business

  The code was released to the public for a new social network designed to deliver the benefits of Facebook without the privacy concerns. The project--called Diaspora--also has potential as a tool for businesses to create their own social networks, but its value depends on how businesses intend to use social networking.

• Google's Realtime Search update does what Twitter won't

  Searching for status updates is not Twitter's forte, so leave it to Google to make its own Realtime Search engine more powerful instead.

• Facebook Places vs. Foursquare: Who has the business edge?

  Facebook's unveiling of Facebook Places is an obvious banshee cry to Foursquare and other location-based check-in services. As with those services, Facebook Places allows users to share their location and discover new hot spots by following the stops of people in their network.

• Can you trust Facebook Places?

  Facebook, the company many people don't trust to protect their status updates and personal information, is now in the business of collecting location information, thanks to the introduction of its Foursquare/Gowalla killer, Facebook Places.

• Facebook places will crush foursquare

  One of the odd aspects of the Facebook event launching the new Facebook Places service was the participation, support, and partnership of competing location-based check-in services.

• Google and Zynga: 5 burning questions

  Popular social games like Farmville, Mafia Wars and Fishville may soon be available to Google users, if recent rumors turn out to be accurate. Google has reportedly invested between US$100 and $200 million in the social gaming company Zynga, and the search giant plans to make Zynga a major part of a Google-branded gaming platform called Google Games.  

• Who really runs Facebook?

  Quick: Who's the CEO of Facebook?