Facebook has filed their IPO (initial public offering) registration and, in the process, revealed some rather astounding numbers related to users, revenues, and profit margins. Since Facebook is one of the most popular apps on iPhone and iPad, and a lot of those users are also iOS users, needless to say, they caught our attention.

Facebook saw $3.7 billion in revenues and around $1 billion in profits in 2011 — a healthy 27 percent profit margin — with significant growth each year. The jump in profits year-over-year sits at 65 percent, with revenues growing at a rate of 88 percent.

At last report, Facebook saw around 845 million active users with about half of them (483 million) checking the social network on a daily basis. In addition, Facebook processes roughly 2.7 billion ‘Likes’ and comments per day with users uploading an average of 250 million photos daily. Around 100 billion friendships were made in 2011.

Facebook also had more than 425 million monthly active users who logged into Facebook from a mobile device in December 2011. Although they weren’t specific about mobile operating systems, the Facebook for iPhone app is historically known for being the #1 app in the App Store, with mobile adoption increasing significantly after a recent update improving performance and integrating Timeline support.

Although it’s impossible to extrapolate the numbers based on Apple’s recent quarterly earnings call, assuming roughly half of those were iOS users wouldn’t be an unsafe bet.

That’s huge. And it’s also interesting given the persistent rumors that Facebook would be getting into the mobile space and going after those users. Google did it with Android. Amazon is doing it with Kindle Fire.

Given Facebook’s tensions with Apple of late, which are rumored to have resulted in the planned integration of Facebook into iOS 4 to get scrapped (leaving things open for Twitter in iOS 5), and caused a public spat over the iOS social music network, Ping, Facebook could well be next, and now they’ll have even more money and resources to put behind it.

Source: SEC

Facebook, the massive social network that counts one of the most popular iPhone apps of all time in their portfolio, is rumored to be readying a $5 billion IPO (initial public offering). Yes, Zuckerberg and co. might finally be ready to hit the stock market. The New York Times reports:

The Internet giant plans to list a preliminary fund-raising goal of about $5 billion, one of these people said. Another cautioned that any such number was largely a placeholder for determining filing fees, and that the final amount could differ significantly. And the company could still decide to delay its filing.

While huge, it narrowly misses out on being the biggest tech IPO ever — that distinction belongs to Infineon. That is, of course, unless Facebook raises the stakes to $10 billion, then they’ll own all the records. And the money.

Facebook has enjoyed enormous growth but not without growing pains, including and especially in regards to user privacy and transparency. Along with Google and Twitter — the former public, the latter still private — Facebook faces Federal privacy oversight for the foreseeable future.

Still, if Facebook does pull the trigger on this IPO, will that change anything? If any of us could buy stock and become a shareholder, does that make trusting our data to Facebook any easier, or any more difficult?

Source: New York Times

Iconic iPhone hacker George Hotz has quit Facebook and joined a new startup named Backplane. The folks over at BusinessInsider met up with Geohot recently and it looks like Backplane, funded by Lady Gaga and Google Ventures, is keeping him busy with hacking and coding.

Backplane empowers social community. We are a canvas for self-expression. We unite people around interests, affinities and movements. We are just getting started.

During a recent hackathon, Hotz was working on coding a program that would find all your friends on Facebook and put them on a map. Even though their project didn’t win, it’s good to see Hotz back to doing what he appears to be best at. Anyone besides me hoping he’ll become involved in the iOS jailbreak community again?

Source: BusinessInsider

Google has officially launched its Orkut app for iPhone, letting users of Brazil and India’s favorite social network access the service on-the-go.

The official Orkut app for iOS connects you to your friends and family. Now you can send scraps, see your friends updates, upload photos and browse your friends albums anywhere you go. Never miss a conversation again because you are not in front of your computer: get the free Orkut app and stay connected.

• Update your status
• Check your scraps and messages
• Reply to your friends birthdays
• Check your friends updates
• Browse your friends profiles, scraps and photos
• Take new photos and upload them directly to your Orkut albums
• Share your life anywhere, anytime with the people you care about

Although Orkut isn’t as popular as Facebook in most parts of the world, the Google-owned social network that’s not Google+ has gained popularity in Brazil and India, where roughly 80 percent of its active user base resides.

Orkut is available now in the App Store and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch.

• Free — App Store Link

Have an app you’d love to see featured on iMore? Email us at iosapps@imore.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

The TomTom App for iPhone and iPad will be the first to use social networks as a source for turn-by-turn navigation. It can automatically plan routes based on information from Facebook events, places and friends. Drivers can also use the App to share their destination and arrival time on Twitter, Facebook, by email and SMS text.

Source: TomTom PR

Instagram has made a change that shares your photos to your Facebook albums instead of just sticking a link on your wall. Now when you select Facebook as an option when uploading a photo to Instagram, the image will be uploaded full-sized into a Facebook album named “Instagram Photos”, along with your caption. As a result, your Instagram photos will appear nice and large on your timeline and it will be easy for your friends to browse past Instagram photos.

Previously, only the instagr.am link was shared to your wall and your friends needed to visit that link in order to view your photo. Additionally, you couldn’t tag people in the photos and ‘likes’ and comments were technically made to the shared link, not the photo.

I was very excited when I noticed this change as I have been wanting Instagram to work like this for a very long time. I believe my Instagram photos will now receive more comments and ‘likes’ and I’m glad I’ll be able to click through my friends’ Instagram albums, since I know I miss many of their shared photos.

This change is only for photos uploaded to Instagram from now on. If you want to add previous photos to your Facebook album, you’ll need to share it again from within the Instagram app.

Source: Instagram

What better New Year’s resolution to start with than to check out all your in-app privacy settings, especially where Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social networks are concerned? We know how it goes; you get a shiny new iPhone or iPad app and you just want to use it so you log in through Twitter of Facebook or Google because it’s easy, quickly tap through all the set up pages, granting who knows what permissions and for how long, and then forget about it the moment the next shiny app comes along.

MyPermissions.org thinks you should take a few moments to review your settings, revoke or reduce access for those apps that no longer need full, free access to your personal, sometimes private data, and get 2012 off on a saner, more socially secure start.

(I just did mine and I was startled how many old apps still had access to my stuff.)

Source: MyPermission.org

Narrowing down the list of my most used apps is a huge undertaking! There are apps that I may use intensively for long periods of time, then not use so much at all. What I tried to do was identify the apps there were used on an almost daily basis, even if they were ones that I didn’t use for a long period of time each day. This is perhaps best exemplified by my first choice…

My-Cast Weather Radar

There are a long of weather apps out there (in fact, working on reviews of a couple more!) but My-Cast seems to have the perfect mix of ease of use, simplicity, and providing enough information. It has an “iPhone-like feel” to it, in it’s layout and presentation. It has intuitive controls to change between (for example) short of verbose forecast. With My-Cast weather, I find I can get a quick, easy to understand forecast, description of severe weather events, and even radar and map displays. I have other apps that I use for more detailed information when needed, but My-Cast is the app that I check on a daily basis to find out what it going on weather wise.

• $3.99 for iPhone – App Store link

Air Sharing

I use a lot of different online storage systems and email accounts. Air Sharing lets me manage them all together. I can see what it in dropbox, and then move it to Box.net. I can check an attachment I have on my exchange email account, and open it up and read it. The versatility of the app is its strongest feature. No, I can edit documents, but I can print them with air print or email them from withing the app. Air Sharing is a great far-reaching document and storage management tool. (This was almost going to be Goodreader, but that requires a separate app for both the iPad and the iPhone, while Air Sharing is a universal binary).

• $2.99 for iPhone – App Store link
• $3.99 for iPad – App Store link
• $4.99 for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

Hanging with Friends

I wanted to choose a game to put in here. I mostly play casual games (think Angry Birds, Where’s my Water, Tower Defense, Temple Run, Doodle God, Fruit Ninja, etc), many of which I may get into a “groove” and play for days on end. I ended up choosing Hanging with Friend, by the makers of Words with Friends. Hanging with Friends is a Hangman style game that you play…well…with friends! While I also play Words with Friends, I have found that Hanging with Friends is probably the casual game I check on a regular basis – seeing if my opponent guessed my word, or trying to guess a word myself. While I enjoy Words with Friends, I find that Hanging with Friends is a little more low key – I don’t spend as much time trying to figure out the perfect word to play. It’s a great and fun way to play a word game that might be a little less stressful (for me at least!)

• $1.99 for iPhone – App Store link

MLB.com At Bat 11

I have both the iPhone and the iPad version on the app, and during the baseball season I was using these on a daily basis. As a huge baseball fan, I loved the local radio broadcast feature, and following the game live with Gameday was almost as good as watching it on TV. Even in the off season, I have found that the app gets checked on a regular basis – for news, transaction updates, and anything that might be going on during the Hot Stove season. Unfortunately you have to purchase the app each season, AND they don’t make a universal binary, but for any baseball fan it is a must have. And the good news is that each year it has been released, it has had new and improved features, so I hope to see even more improvements in 2012!

• $0.99 for iPhone – App Store link
• $0.99 for iPad – App Store link

Facebook

Yes, I use Twitter (and Tweetbot is my go-to app). Yes, I use Google+, and use the app for that. But Facebook is the “social network” that I probably check, and make updates too, most frequently. As such, the Facebook app for the iPhone is the app that gets the most use. And now with the Facebook app for the iPad available, I will probably start using that one as well. This may change in 2012, I may start using Twitter or Google+ more, but for now, for me, Facebook is still the king (although I do sometime use Quick Status to update both my Twitter and Facebook accounts at the same time!).

• Free for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

9to5 Mac has word that Facebook for iPad will be getting the new Timeline feature in late January.

Timeline was supposed to come to the iPad in December, but the release has been pushed back due to last minute bugs found during advanced testing. Facebook is now planning to launch the update between mid-January and late January.

Facebook recently updated their iPhone app to include the new Timeline profile layout, but the iPad app was noticeably lacking in that respect.

The Timeline feature is said to work very well on the iPad’s larger, multi-touch screen, and will be a “fusion of the web and iPhone/iPod touch version”. I’m personally looking forward to this, and it couldn’t come any quicker.

Source: 9to5Mac

Facebook has updated their iPhone app to version 4.1, bringing Timeline to the mobile app as well as access to friends lists and subscriptions. Here’s the full update log:

• Access to Mobile Timeline on iPhone (if you already have Timeline). iPad support coming soon.
• Access to friend lists, subscribers and subscriptions.
• Faster, better performance.
• Photos are easier to view, upload and comment on.

We’re hoping these performance updates actually do what they suggest. I’ve run into so much frustration lately when using the Facebook for iPhone app that’s it’s essentially become unusable in some scenarios. Instead, I’ve opted to just use the mobile version in Safari.

You can grab the update now from the App Store or via iTunes app updates.

• Free – App Store Link

Facebook have begun to roll out their new profile design: Timeline, to iPhone through the mobile optimized version of their website. The redesign features most of the important features of Timeline.

• Viewing and changing Cover Images.
• Scrolling back through time – from birth to the present day

Other features are missing, like the ability to add ‘life events’, or change the date of photos to have them listed accurately in your timeline, but overall the interface is really nice.

The new timeline interface is only viewable on profiles that have enabled them on the normal website. Timeline hasn’t rolled out on the iPad, or the native app, but no doubt it will be soon.

Source: m.facebook.com

According to iPhoneiTalia, Facebook is working on an update to its Messenger app that will deliver Facebook video calls across multiple platforms. Facebook currently offers a video calling service between users on desktop web browsers using its agreement with Skype. According to sources, the update to the Facebook messenger app is already being tested in the wild and should be revealed in the not too distant future.

This update appears to be a natural progression for the Facebook Messenger app. The idea of being able to video chat with another Facebook user on an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch would be extremely appealing to many. The app should be compatible with any iOS device with a front facing camera. We will let you know as soon as we hear any more information!

Source: iPhoneItalia via Cult of Mac

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Georgia, Rene, Seth, and Engadget’s Richard Lai talk iPad 3 on LTE, iOS code names, Facebook buying Gowalla, Infinity Blade II, Apple vs Samsung and Motorola, and Office for iPad. This is iPad Live!

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Facebook has released an update for their iPhone and iPad app that fixes the bug that caused the wrong comments to show on some photos.

Fixes an issue that caused incorrect comments to be displayed for certain photos

This was by far the most annoying Facebook bug and it pleases me to see it fixed. Surprisingly, the fix seems to have worked, too! Is it working for you? What bug would you like to see fixed next?

Facebook is available on the iPhone and iPad for free.

[App Store link]

Did you or someone you know just get a brand new iPhone or iPod touch, and are wondering which are the top 10 very best, most must-have apps and games you absolutely need to jump into the App Store and download now, now, now? Well, you’re in luck — whether you want to show off the beautiful Retina display, test the power of the dual-core Apple A5 processor, need to get things done, or just want to have some fun, TiPb’s top 10 have got your back! As part of our ongoing iPhone new users guide, here are our top 10 favorite, most highly recommended iPhone apps to get you started!

Note: App prices are current as of the time of this writing but can and do change frequently over time, including going up, down, and going on sale. Some free apps also sell additional content via in-app-purchase, or require a subscription. Always read app descriptions thoroughly before purchasing or downloading.

Social apps: Facebook for iPhone

Facebook is one of the most popular sites on the web, and not surprisingly, it’s also one of the most popular apps on iPhone. While Facebook for iPhone has a well earned reputation for general bugginess, it’s also been steadily improving as of late. Sure, you can visit Facebook.com on Safari, but the app gives you much, much more functionality, not the least of which is photo uploads. You also get Places, Messages, Chat, and many of your other favorite Facebook features.

• Free – App Store link

Also check out:

• Facebook Messenger is for those who want a fast, focused way to stay in instant touch with friends. Free – App Store link
• LinkedIn for iPhone has a brand new, way more distinctive interface for all your business networking. Free – App Store link
• Tweetbot is a great, highly stylized alternative to the official Twitter client. $2.99 – App Store link
• Find my Friends is Apple’s answer to keeping track of who’s where, either all the time or just for special events. Free – App Store link

Casual games: Angry Birds

Angry Birds is like the Mario or Sonic of iPhone and iPod touch gaming — so synonymous with iOS that even though it’s not made by Apple, even though it’s on other platforms now, it’s still the most famous, and still one of the most fun games ever to grace the App Store. While the idea of slingshotting variously powered birds at the variously fashioned fortifications and popping variously evil green pigs might seem thin at first, excellent gameplay and a constant stream of updates keep it fresh — and continuously at or near the top of the charts. Give it a fling… and prepare to lose many an hour chasing those elusive three star ratings.

• $0.99 – App Store link

Also check out:

• Cut the Rope is just as simple, just as enjoyable, and just as addictive. $0.99 – App Store link
• Plants vs. Zombies is a charming, horrifically funny take on tower defense. $2.99 – App Store link
• Tiny Wings shows that birds don’t have to be angry to be fun; they don’t even need to fly… much. $0.99 – App Store link
• Seigecraft is a beautifully done tower defense style game… with trebuchets! $2.99 – App Store link

Communications/IM apps: Skype

The iPhone is a phone, so it makes voice calls, it has FaceTime so it makes video calls, and it has iMessage, so it can do IM. What place is there, then, for Skype for iPhone? Turns out, a lot. FaceTime and iMessage are Apple-only technologies, so they don’t play nicely with other devices and platforms, and phone calls — especially international phone calls cost a lot of money. Microsoft’s Skype runs on almost every device and operating system, is free to call other Skype users, and cheap to call phones.

• Free – App Store link link

Also check out:

• BeeJiveIM supports AIM/MobileMe, MSN/Windows Live, Yahoo!, GoogleTalk, Facebook, MySpace and Jabber for flexible, full featured chat. $9.99 – iTunes link
• Google Voice for iPhone lets you access your GV calls, texts, and voice mail. Free – iTunes link
• WhatsApp is probably the closest thing to a cross-platform BBM (BlackBerry Messenger)-style instant messenger available. $0.99 – App Store link
• Verbs doesn’t support as many protocols but for GTalk, Facebook, AIM, and Me.com, nothing looks nicer. $0.99 + in-app purchase – App Store link

Productivity apps: Numbers, Pages, and Keynote

Apple’s iWork suite, which consists of Keynote for presentations, Numbers for spreadsheets, and Pages for word processing has recently been updated to work with iCloud, so all your documents get stored and synced between your devices (including, eventually, iWork for Mac when Apple updates it). Keynote was built for Steve Jobs so it’s absolutely best in class, while Numbers and Pages are easy to use and produce great looking docs.

• $9.99 – Keynote in App Store link
• $9.99 – Numbers in App Store link
• $9.99 – Pages in App Store link

Also check out:

• Good Reader is a powerhouse for PDF annotating and file management. [$2.99 - App Store link]
• Evernote stores text, images, and audio for easy reference later. [Free - App Store link]
• Elements is a text editor that syncs with Dropbox and has Markdown support. ‘Nuff said. $4.99 – App Store link
• Todo takes task management to the next level, with sync to Dropbox or iCloud among others. $4.99 – App Store link

Action/arcade games: Infinity Blade II

Epic’s Unreal 3 engine exploded onto iPhone with Infinity Blade, an on-rails sword fighting extravaganza with some of the best visuals we’ve ever seen. Infinity Blade II takes all of that to a whole new level. You literally will not believe a game that looks this good is running on your phone.

Infinity Blade II picks up where the first left off, with you locked in a battle with the Deathless, only this time the stakes are higher, the enemies badder, and the weapons more powerful than ever. It’s still a tad repetitive at times, but it quickly becomes as addictive as it is gorgeous, and ChAIR typically has regular updates so there’s always new gear, new enemies, and new aspects to enjoy.

• $6.99 – App Store link

Also check out:

• Real Racing 2 for amazing cars, online action, and AirPlay. $9.99 – App Store link
• Street Fighter IV Volt puts the classic fighter in the palm of your hands. $0.99 – App Store link
• Extraction: Project Outbreak is a fresh take on the top-down 3D shooter. $0.99 – App Store Link
• Atari’s Greatest Hits brings the oldest of old school to your brand new advice. Free – App Store link

Music apps: Rdio

While Pandora, Slacker, and Spotify get a lot of attention, Rdio’s focus on social networking means it really excels at music discovery — you get to see what the people you’re following are listening to. You can cache music for offline listening, so you can load up on Wi-Fi and save your data, and the available selection of music is great for mainstream and alternative music lovers alike. Give it a try with the free 7-day trial.

Also check out:

• GarageBand is Apple’s iLife music making app brought to iPhone. $4.99 – App Store link
• DJay will make you the mixing star of your next party. $0.99 – App Store link
• MadPad lets you remix and make music out of all the sounds around you. $0.99 – App Store link
• Shows lets you know when and where your favorite artists are in concert. $2.99 – App Store link

Photo apps: Instagram

Instagram is the current king of iPhone photography apps, and it took the crown through a brilliant combination of easy-to-apply filters and super simple social sharing. The latest version not only adds even more filters, but all tilt-shift effects. Whether you want to quickly share great looking snap shots to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, or Posterous, Instagram has you covered. In style.

• Free – App Store link

Also check out:

• Photogene2 is a photography powerhouse, with full featured editing, sharing, and much more. $1.99 – App Store link
• Camera+ is jam packed with features and filters to make your photos shine. $0.99 – App Store link
• Hipstamatic to bring that terrific toy camera look to your shots. [$0.99 – App Store link
• Flickr for iPhone lets you store and share all the shots you take. [Free – App Store link

Video apps: Air Video

Air Video automagically transcodes on the the fly and streams your videos — almost any videos, in almost any format — from your Windows or Mac PC to your iPhone. If you have an Apple TV, you can also beam them straight to your big screen television as well. If you’ve got a ton of content on your computer and you want to watch it on your iPhone, this is the app for you.

• $2.99 – App Store link

Also check out:

• iMovie is Apple’s iLife video editor, gloriously brought to iPhone. $4.99 – App Store link
• Netflix gives you access to tons of streaming catalog titles, right on your iPhone. Free – App Store link
• IMDb includes all the movie and TV details and showtimes in handy app form. Free – App Store link
• Slingplayer Mobile works with your Slingbox to put anything from your TV on your iPhone. $29.99 – App Store link

Internet apps: Dropbox

Dropbox is an amazing cloud sync solution not just for iPhone but for iPad, Mac, Windows, Linux, and basically everything you can imagine (several of us store almost our entire home directories in Dropbox). Not only does it give you access to any and all files in your Dropbox folder — along with easy links for sharing and the ability to store favorites locally — but many, many other apps use Dropbox to handle their sync as well, from password apps to writing apps to note taking apps. You get 2GB for free and can buy more if you need it. It’s different than Apple’s iCloud, but it’s just as awesome.

• Free – App Store link

Also check out:

• 1Password lets you have security and convenience with all your logins, credit cards, and accounts available on your iPhone. $14.99 – App Store link
• Skyfire is a web browser that lets you watch some Flash videos on your iPhone. $2.99 – App Store link
• Screens is a VNC client that lets you remote desktop to your Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. $19.99 – App Store link
• Articles wraps up Wikipedia into a great looking, easy to use app. $2.99 – App Store link

Location/GPS apps: NAVIGON

Get full fledged turn-by-turn driving directions on your iPhone so you can keep your eyes where they belong — on the road. NAVIGON provides on-board maps which means it keeps working in areas where there’s no data coverage. You can buy regional, country, or continents at a time, and there are also options for live traffic updates, parking directions, and enhanced panoramic views of the surroundings.

• Varies – App Store link

Also check out:

• Foursquare lets you “check in” to locations, keep track of your and your friends’ locations, and earn points for being there. Free – App Store link
• Yelp provides restaurant, gas station, bar, and pretty much any type of business location and recommendations. Free – App Store link
• Find my iPhone is Apple’s way for iCloud to help you locate, lock, and even wipe a missing or stolen iPhone. Free – App Store link
• Waze is a free, crowd-sourced, and highly social travel and nav app. Free – App Store link

Your top apps?

So there you have them, our top 10 best iPhone apps to get you started. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPhone App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

I re-installed my iPhone the other day, re-downloaded Netflix, entered my username and password… and was promptly kicked out of the app and into Safari, and asked to login to Facebook. Something similar happened on my iPad, but because I was already logged into Facebook I was instead kicked out into Safari and asked to add some ridiculous Netflix app to Facebook.

I can’t emphasize enough how horrible a user experience this is. A first time user experience should be as darn near frictionless as possible. It should be about the app and service, helping you to use it successfully and immediately. Kicking your new users out of your app is inexcusable. Kicking them into Facebook is even worse. Despite its popularity, not everyone uses it. Some people are highly opposed to using it for various privacy reasons.

For someone like my mom, that would be a brick wall and phone call to me — something she’s never had to do on the iPad so far.

From the bungled price hike to the embarrassing Qwikster flip-flop to the perplexing release of a revamped Android tablet app before the much, much, much (much) better selling iPad, Netflix should be far more concerned about providing a great experience to the users that have stuck with them than about pushing their self-service social initiatives. Instead, this looks like just one more misstep.

What the heck is wrong with them?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Facebook might just be close to a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that would fundamentally change the way they treat their users, and their users’ personal information.

According to people familiar with the talks, the settlement would require Facebook to obtain users’ consent before making “material retroactive changes” to its privacy policies. That means that Facebook must get consent to share data in a way that is different from how the user originally agreed the data could be used.

Facebook, which makes one of the most popular apps for iPhone and iPad, has been charged with misleading users about how private information was being handled — making it public by default. Under this settlement, Facebook would switch from opt-out to opt-in, letting users decide what they want to share before sharing it, and be subject to audits for 20 years to ensure compliance (much as Google has recently agreed to, and Twitter to a lesser period).

Source: Wall Street Journal

Bloomberg has offered some details on the advice Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought from Steve Jobs on how best to build the social network.

“I had a lot of questions for him,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with Charlie Rose that’s due to air today. The topics included, “how to build a team around you that’s focused on building as high quality and good things as you are.” [...] Jobs and Zuckerberg also talked about “the aesthetics and kind of mission orientation of companies,”

Apple is well known for focusing on tight product lines in order to create a clear path for consumers. Facebook has been narrowing their focus on products and design in similar ways with features like Chat and the new Timeline. Still, it’s interesting that Jobs offered advice and Zuckerberg sought it after the obvious differences the two companies have had in recent year.

Source: Bloomberg

Facebook Messenger for iPhone has been updated and brings the ability to see when the other person is typing, shows if a person is online or mobile, and has the people you message most quickly accessible.

Despite Facebook’s claim of bringing the ability to see when the other person is typing, I haven’t seen any such indication. How about you?

Facebook Messenger is a faster way to send mobile messages to friends. With Messenger, you can send and receive messages with any of your friends around the world or anyone in your mobile contacts list. Messenger is available on iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry.

Here’s the update details:

• Ability to see who’s online and who’s mobile
• Ability to see when the other person is typing
• A faster way to compose new messages to the people you message most
• Various performance improvements
• Support for 12 additional languages
• Support for iOS 5

Facebook Messenger is available on the iPhone for free.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game.

To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

iOS 5 – @chrisoldroyd

Well a bit of a predictable “Pick of the week” this week for me, I am going for the iOS 5 update. It delivers so much in one update I really don’t know where to start. Oh yeah, I do, read this amazing walkthrough that Rene has put together. It covers every last detail of iOS 5.

My favorite parts are iMessage, Notification Center and Wi-Fi iTunes syncing. Also iOS 5 appears to have given my iPad 2 a huge speed boost, it feel so much more responsive now. If you haven’t upgraded to iOS 5 yet, go and do it now! It is the biggest iOS update ever! You are going to love it!

Gif Me! – @Alli_Flowers

This one is just flat out cool. Remember those animated gifs people used to share by email? Well now you can make your own. It’s like stop motion photography made simple. Open the app, frame your subject, tap, repeat. Got everything lined up for the perfect gif? Click next and Gif Me! puts them all together.

I started drawing stick men on a napkin, and worked my way up to stuffed animals. Eventually I’ll be brave enough to do something clever with action figures…not that I collect action figures or anything . It’s also great just for sending hand written messages.

Oh the fun you’ll have!

[Free - App Store link]

Cut the Rope: Experiments – @iMuggle

I’ve always been a huge fan of Cut the Rope. Every time I saw an update that added a new batch of levels I would immediately want to sit down and work my way through them. I’m a little late when it comes to picking up Cut the Rope this time but better late than never!

The newest iteration of Cut the Rope adds even more fun to the original. The Professor is very intrigued my Om Nom and has added all kinds of new inventions to the game. You can also find hidden photos throughout the game this time featuring Om Nom and the Professor.

There are currently 3 packs of levels with more coming soon. So if you haven’t picked it up already, make sure you check it out!

[$0.99 - App Store Link]

Rdio – @Bla1ze

Being a fan of all sorts of music, finding the best app to cater to my tastes was no easy task. There are a lot of music apps in the app store and Rdio I feel is one that is often overshadowed by bigger names like Slacker, Spotify and Pandora.

That said; I love it because it allows for a wide array of music discovery through people you follow plus, you can cache filled for offline thus no longer needing to waste precious bandwidth. The available selection of music is great for mainstream and non mainstream music lovers alike and the app itself is nicely laid out. Give it a try with the free 7-day trial.

[Free - App Store link]

iQuickTweet – @JorjLim

One of the new features in iOS5 is the ability to share photos, maps, videos and links completely integrated into iOS. However, there is no native way to simply tweet, without an attachment.

Enter iQuickTweet. It opens up the same ‘tweet’ UI as the attachment sharing feature, just without the attachment. It also integrates with the same twitter settings, so there is no need to add your details again.

Once you send a tweet, just tap on the bird to send another. Its a very simple app, but extremely useful if you just want to send a quick tweet, without having to load up a full twitter app.

[$0.99 - App Store link]

The Amazing Typewriter – @reneritchie

I’m at the Çingleton conference right now so apologies for the brevity. John Gruber from Daring Fireball was just showing this off and I took an immediate like to the finely rendered, varied type.

[$1.99 - App Store link]

Facebook for iPad – @llofte

Facebook has finally released an iPad app and it surprising work pretty well. It is so nice to browse Facebook with all the unnecessary and distracting things stripped away. And of course, now that Facebook is on the iPad, it is finally possible to upload pictures. Thank you Facebook – it only took nearly a year and half.

[Free - App Store link]

Your pick?

You’re part of the team as well, so we will be choosing one reader to make a submission each week! Just look for the announcement on twitter or our Facebook page each weekend for a chance to be picked! In the meantime, jump into the comments and let us know your pick of the week!

Facebook Photo Importer is an app that lets you import your photos from Picasa (Google+), Instagram, Flickr, and Photobucket to Facebook. It’s fast, easy, and doesn’t use up your data because you’re not uploading the photos from your device.

Facebook Photo Importer lets you import 100 photos in less than a minute, straight to your Facebook profile from Picasa (Google+), Instagram, Flickr and Photobucket.

• Access your Picasa, Flickr, Instagram and Photobucket photo albums.
• Copy 100 photos in less than a minute.
• Imports your photo’s Metadata – Titles, Descriptions.
• Built on Cloud to Cloud technology: Easily import dozens of photos in seconds.
• Does not affect bandwidth or data usage “Cloud based transfers”.
• Select multiple or all photos in your albums – transfer with a single tap.
• Save a lot of time and hassle.

Facebook Photo Importer is available on the iPhone for $1.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

The waiting is over, folks, as Facebook has let us know that Facebook for iPad is set to hit the App Store today! It appears as though it will be available as an update to the Facebook for iPhone app.

In addition to an interface designed for the iPad, some of the app’s great advantages over the web is that you can chat and play Facebook games.

I complained nearly a year ago about Facebook not having an iPad app, and it’s great to see them finally release one. I sure as heck can’t wait to get my hands on it!

• Enjoy bigger, better photos – Your photos take on new life on the iPad. They’re big, high-res and easy to flip through—like a real photo album.
• Focus on what matters – With less on the screen, it’s easier to zoom in on your friends’ photos, updates and stories.
• Navigate anywhere, fast – Just tap, slide or pinch to get from one screen to another and back again in no time.
• Never lose your place – Use simplified navigation to send a message, see your notifications or browse your bookmarks without switching screens.
• Play games on the go – Play your favorite Facebook games wherever you are, and on a bigger screen.
• Tap to send messages – A simple dropdown menu makes it easy to scan and send messages without visiting your inbox.

UPDATE: It’s out! Go get it!

Source: Facebook

Facebook has reportedly had their iPad app ready to go for some time and may have been planning its announcement around Apple’s Lets Talk iPhone event this past Tuesday. Same goes for their iOS web platform Project Spartan. Robert Scoble suggested last night that Steve Jobs passing may have had something to do with Facebook’s non-announcement.

Today a guy I know at Facebook told me that Apple just “went dark” this weekend and stopped answering emails and phone calls (they had amazing new iPhone and iPad apps and a new developer platform all ready for announcing). Folks inside Facebook thought they had done something massively wrong. No, they hadn’t. Truth is you had something deeper to deal with.

If that’s the case, and Facebook really does have a new Facebook for iPhone, Facebook for iPad, and web platform for iOS ready to go, could we still see it soon?

Source: Robert Scoble

To make a long story short, it sounds like iOS 4 was supposed to include the type of Facebook integration that iOS 5 will enjoy with Twitter but Apple and Facebook couldn’t get the deal done. Subsequent squabbles over Ping, and a tempestuous visit by Steve Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg — including a blow up over HP and their TouchPad — only fanned the flames of discontent. According to Jennifer Van Grove at Mashable:

When Jobs learned of the webOS Facebook app during his summer visit to Facebook, he was livid. Zuckerberg vowed to get the app pulled. But Jon Rubinstein, the former CEO of Palm and then the GM of HP’s webOS division, refused to halt the release of the app. Facebook responded by restricting HP’s access to its APIs — just as it had done with Apple’s Ping, a year earlier.

Apple wanted Facebook on iPad first, HP wanted Facebook on TouchPad first, and Facebook played both sides to the apparent benefit of… nobody. Well done.

For the whole, long, sordid version of the tale, hit the source link below. Meanwhile let’s hope Apple and Facebook really have unburned their bridges and we get Facebook for iPad on or around this Tuesday as rumored.

Source: Mashable

According to Mashable, Facebook will finally launch the official Facebook for iPad app next to an update to its iPhone counterpart at Apple’s iPhone 5 event next week. Former Facebook developer Jeff Verkoeyen recently spoke out against Facebook yesterday for dragging their feet on releasing the long rumored iPad app. Apparently “a combination of timing and a strained relationship with Apple” was at the heart of the issue, but the two have finally come to an agreement. Why?

thanks to the shared goal of beating Google — and the simple fact that Facebook and Apple may need each other. The former doesn’t have a mobile platform while Apple doesn’t have a social platform. The culmination of this renewed friendship: the launch of Facebook for iPad at Apple’s iPhone 5 media event.

To be honest, at this point I’m not holding my breath and will believe it when I see it in the App Store. In the meantime, check out our Top 5 Facebook for iPad apps to help you with the wait.

Source: Mashable

Jeff Verkoeyen, an ex-Facebook developer who was the lead engineer on the Facebook for iPad project, wrote on his personal blog about the internal battle that took place between him and Facebook, and goes a long way to explaining why we still haven’t seen the app.

It is now nearly 5 months since the app was feature complete and I haven’t seen it released except for when the project was leaked on Techcrunch. Needless to say this was a frustrating experience for me. The experience of working on this app was a large contribution to the reasons why I left Facebook, though that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a difficult decision.

MG Siegler at TechCrunch suspects the delay may be tied to negotiation issues between Apple and Facebook, even though Apple would do well in having an official Facebook for iPad app in the App Store. As you may recall, they were in talks for upwards of 18 months on the Ping deal that ultimately fell through at the last minute because Facebook demanded too much in terms of user information.

But Apple has always wanted Facebook to release an iPad app. The Facebook iPhone app is the most downloaded app of all time. And there are countless third-party Facebook iPad apps that are amongst the top downloads all time, even though most aren’t very good. At first, Facebook wasn’t going to focus on the iPad. Then they decided to, but they also realized the app could be used as leverage in their dealings with Apple. That’s what we believe has been going on over the past several months.

It’s also possible that the delayed iPad app has something to do with Facebook’s Project Spartan, an app store that will offer games and news apps that run inside Safari, or as Web Clips on the home screen. Facebook and Apple could be working together on the HTML5 project, prompting continuous delays for the iPad app as deals are hammered out.

Robert Scoble also chimed in last week (on Google+ of all places) noting that Facebook may be holding off until Apple’s iPhone 5 announcement on October 4th.

By the way, I heard a rumor from a usually credible source that Facebook may not announce an iPad app tomorrow, but will save it for October 4th instead. Now THAT will be very interesting news, since I know Apple really hates Facebook.

Either way, our patience is wearing thin… In the meantime, check out our Top 5 Facebook Apps for iPad to hold you over until the official app is released.

Source: Jeff Verkoeyen via TechCrunch, Robert Scoble

During Facebook’s annual f8 conference today CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed an all-new, completely redesigned profile including the “Timeline” to better describe who you are and what you’re interested in. Facebook will also introduce better app integration across the platform and we’ll be seeing changes to the “Like” button as well.

So what are these changes all about and how soon can we expect to see them hit the iPhone app?

Timeline

Currently, each profile contains status updates and user activity in a static timeline with an “endless scroll” effect, requiring users who view your profile to scroll down continuously to see what you’ve been up to recently and in the past. This process can be time consuming if you’re looking for an older post or want to show friends interesting events from your past.

The profile changes include a new “Timeline” feature going back through your entire history on Facebook, even reaching back in time to before Facebook existed by letting you add information from the day you were born. Users can fill their backstory from before Facebook was created so friends can see when you’ve moved in the past, ended a relationship or got your first car from way back in the day.

Facebook describes the new Timeline as “The story of your life”.

• All your stories
• All your apps
• A new way to express who you are

Timeline essentially makes it easier for users to focus in on a specific window of time to get a good snapshot of your activity during that period in your life. Users will have more fluid control over their profiles and the ability to customize their own Timelines to reflect their personalities and lifestyles. You can determine how prominent or subtle any past story is displayed on your Timeline by adding a star to it, formatting the post in widescreen for more prominence within your profile.

To be honest, I have mixed feelings about the Timeline feature as I like to have full control and ownership over my profile and what my friends can see. It will be up to Facebook to make sure there’s enough customization available to users before I can pass judgement, but Timeline is definitely one of the biggest changes Facebook has made since it launched and was one of the focus areas in today’s f8 announcement.

Apps will play a larger role

Facebook apps in general will be getting Timeline integration too, letting users drop apps directly into their Timeline for display on the main profile. Apps will also be more socially integrated and hold a larger presence throughout Facebook, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how developers use the new app resources.

App “Reports” will also let you dive into the Timeline of any app so you can see the different ways you’ve been using apps at any point in the past. Want to see how many crops you harvested last summer, or how many Vampires you’ve slain this month? I think you get the point…

It will be interesting to see how the Facebook platform grows with the added benefits to app developers and the overall larger role that apps will play going forward. I could see this as more of a distraction than an added benefit, but you may think otherwise depending on the different ways you use Facebook.

“Like” is now a verb

Facebook’s well-known “Like” button that we’ve all grown to love (or hate) will also be getting an upgrade, where instead of just “liking” a book or a movie you can now say you’ve “read” a book or “watched” a movie.

The Like button will be evolving over time and adding additional verbs to open up a wide-range of possibilities. Facebook apps will also be able to tap into this new “Like as a Verb” functionality to help users better express their interests.

Open Graph

Facebook has partnered up with the likes of Spotify, Rhapsody, MOG and Rdio to integrate music directly into your profile page through Open Graph. Anything you Like or add to your profile can be played when your friends visit your page or check out your interests right from within the profile, fully integrated, and it’s completely free. Spotify currently touts 15 million tracks available, which Facebook users will have full access to just by Liking a song.

They’ve also teamed up with Netflix, Hulu, Blockbuster (wha?!) and a number of other video content providers to fill your profile with your favorite shows and videos. Netflix will not be available to Facebook users in the US initially, giving all the goods to Canada and Latin America until a certain US law that “creates some confusion over our ability to allow U.S. members to share what they watch” is sorted out.

So what about the iPhone app?

That’s a quick rundown of some of the bigger changes announced today with most of the updates being rolled out over the next couple of months. But where does the iPhone come in?

The added functionality to the “Like” button relies on HTML5 technology, so a simple backend update to the Facebook for iPhone app could easily include the new features across the service from within the app. Same goes for the Timeline, which could be displayed in a similar layout to the desktop thanks to the Retina Display on the iPhone 4 — at least in landscape orientation.

Open Graph is a different story, where complications like contracts and complex agreements come into place from music and content owners preventing users from fully enjoying what they love. There also may be technical limitations that prevent playback features from crossing over to the native iPhone app, especially with video from partners who don’t have their content setup in the right format.

We’ll have to wait and see exactly which changes ultimately make it to the Facebook for iPhone app, since recent changes like Top Stories have already been pushed while other features like the new activity ticker are still (and thankfully so) tied to the desktop browser.

There’s just one thing I’m still left wondering about after today’s f8 announcement — when the heck is Facebook going to release that long-rumored iPad app?!

[Facebook]

Let’s be blunt — if you’re not in the TiPb Forums you’re missing out on the best darn discussion in iPhone and iPad today, so head on over and register now!

• iOS 5 beta 8 to be released this Friday?

• If you’d like to connect with some TiPb forum members on Twitter, Google+, and/or Facebook hit up the links and share your user names.

• iPhone 5 pricing

• iPhone 5 not seeing a redesign?

See you in the forums!

Facebook for iPhone, which previously took heat for making their Places icon a little too 4-squared, is now being called out by mobile designer Bryan Haggerty for copying Twitter‘s photo sharing UI.

Seriously Facebook? http://pic.twitter.com/0ifNsdY

Ok Facebook, enough with the flattery. http://pic.twitter.com/vSyHdpH

Though TechCrunch points out Haggerty was at LinkedIn when LinkedIn’s mobile app looked a lot like Facebook. Twitter for iPhone is no stranger to flattery, however, as back when it was still Tweetie, it’s “pull to refresh” feature was so intuitive it quickly spread to other apps and even web frameworks.

At a certain point, a “best” way of doing something gets discovered and for the sake of consistency and user friendliness, it makes more sense for that “best” way to become a standard. (See Lotus vs. Excel). Whether or not the Twitter photo sharing UI qualifies as something so good it should become a standard, we’ll have to wait and see.

[@bhaggs via TechCrunch]

Facebook for iPhone has been updated and brings a few new features and many improvements including the ability to tag friends and places in posts.

• Added the ability to tag friends and places in posts
• Added the ability to share external links from a web view
• Added new design for Profile and Group Walls
• Improved the sharing tool to add privacy controls on posts and match your settings on the web site.
• Improved Notifications Speed
• Fixed a number of Chat bugs
• Made it easier to select filters in News Feed
• Fixed a bug with the notifications bar disappearing
• Fixed a number of Photos bugs
• Improved performance and stability overall

Facebook for iPhone is available for free.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

Google Plus Photo Importer is a new iPhone app that allows you to import photos from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, and Photobucket directly into your Google+ profile.

I tried this out real quick with my Instagram photos and it worked like a charm! Importing 60 photos took approximately 30 seconds.

Google Plus Photo Importer lets you Import 100 photos in less than a minute, straight to your Google+ profile from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Photobucket.

• Access your Facebook, Flickr, Instagram and Photobucket photo albums.
• Copy 100 photos in less than a minute.
• Built on Cloud to Cloud technology: Easily import dozens of photos in seconds.
• Does not affect bandwidth or data usage “Cloud based transfers”.
• Select multiple or all photos in your albums – transfer with a single tap.
• Imports your photo’s Metadata – Titles, Descriptions.
• Save a lot of time and hassle.

Google Plus Photo Importer is available on the iPhone for $0.99.

[App Store link]

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

If this casting notice is accurate, Facebook is looking to throw some marketing muscle behind their upcoming Facebook for iPad app.

Lily . Lead. Female / 25 to 40 / All Ethnicities. Lead actor in a web commercial showing the benefits of a Facebook app by using an iPad. The character is stylish, moderately tech savvy, and sociable.

Quite the turnaround from Mark Zuckerberg saying iPad just wasn’t mobile enough to warrant it’s own app, isn’t it?

[CastingNetworks.com, Thanks AE!]

Every day, TiPb gets flooded with announcements for new and updated iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps and games. So every day we pick just a few of the most interesting, the most notable, and simply the most awesome to share with you!

• HeyCrowd: Poll the crowd, vote on an endless stream of questions and discover what people think. [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

• Angry Birds: It’s the epic conclusion to Mine and Dine with 15 new levels! [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• Facebook Messenger: Now with links to phone numbers and addresses and an improved ability to copy and paste text. [Free for iPhone - App Store link]

• PhotoGrid: Browse pictures from your Facebook friends in a timeline based grid layout. Add a comment or like a photograph if you want! [$0.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

• Star Walk – 5 Stars Astronomy Guide: Now with a multi-wavelength view of the Sky: lets you explore our Galaxy and the distant Universe in a range of wavelengths from X-rays to the longest radio waves. [$2.99 for iPhone - App Store link]

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

If you’ve synced your contacts with Facebook for iPhone, it’s possible that all the information from your iPhone Contacts.app are now copied over to Facebook’s servers. While that means you get Facebook profile pics when your Facebook using friends call you, it also may mean Facebook now has the personal numbers of your non-Facebook using friends, and that may not be okay with them, or with you. Luckily there’s a way to take back what’s yours (and theirs). Instructions after the break.

[BGR]

1. Visit facebook.com from a PC and log in
2. in the top-right corner of the screen, click on Account and then Edit Friends
3. In the menu on the left side of the screen, click on Contacts
4. Here, you will see that each and every one of your contacts in Address Book are listed along with their phone numbers… wipe the look of shock and disgust from your face
5. On the right side of the screen, click on the “this page” link
6. Follow the instructions on this page — you’ll have to disable contact-sync in Facebook’s mobile app if it’s enabled — and click the Remove button

I don’t buy the shock and disgust part — at some point you hit the sync button, after all — but it is disturbing how quickly and opaquely big online companies can suck in other people’s personal info. And if you know any other cases of Facebook, or any social network, holding information you’d rather they not hold, let us know and tell us how to remove it!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Facebook has introduced a second app for iPhone, a dedicated Facebook Messenger client to help you get your IM on. Sadly, it’s not a universal binary so you’re limited to chunky double fuzzy on iPad (same as the regular Facebook app… until they finally launch Facebook for iPad). For hardcore Facebook Message users on the go, this will no doubt be appreciated.

Details and screenshots after the break.

[Free - App Store link]

Facebook Messenger is a faster way to message. Reach friends right on their phones, get and send messages fast, message everyone at once and more.

Top Features:

• Message friends, groups of friends or anyone in your mobile contacts
• Map your location, find your friends and make plans on the go
• Get mobile notifications so you never miss a message
• Include photos so friends can see what you’re doing

Facebook is the most popular app on the iPhone and we’ve often said Twitter and iOS go together like chocolate and peanut butter. But social networks rise and fall. Remember MySpace, Jaiku, Buzz… Friendster? And hey, how about Google+ now that it’s expanding beyond the techie early adopters, or LinkedIn which seems to always hover neither here nor there.

Which social networks do you use regularly? Let us know in the poll up top and give us the details, including which one(s) you prefer, how often you use them, — and your profile link(s) if you feel especially social about it — in the comments below.

Facebook for iPad has been uncovered in the recently updated Facebook for iPhone. A twitter user discovered a hack to make it visible — editing a file on your iPad to change the UIDeviceFamily ID in the apps plist file to get the iPad interface up and running app, but you do need to have a jailbroken iPad to be able to do this.

It is not just the iPhone version blown up to fill the iPad’s screen either. This is a totally different interface with slide out navigation menus and a separate chat menu too. Techcrunch has spoken with one of its sources who claim that this is the actual Facebook app for iPad and it will be officially launched soon.

I have tested the app with my iPad and it does seem to work very well. It looks and feels totally different to the iPhone version of the app and navigation is very well done. I also tested uploading photographs and it is seamless and offers access to your photo library as well as the camera on the iPad 2. It does have a few little rough edges that will need to be ironed out but that, sadly, won’t come as a shock to users of the beleaguered Facebook for iPhone app!

It will be interesting to see if Facebook expedite the launch of its iPad app now that this has leaked out.

[@AeroEchelon via Techcrunch]

Facebook for iPhone has been updated.

• Restored the Send button for Comments, Chat and Messages
• Restored friend lists to the News Feed filter
• Fixed a number of bugs that caused the app to crash

A Facebook update isn’t complete without the cryptic “bug fixes” claim. What bugs have you experienced to be fixed? More interestingly, what new bugs have been introduced?

[iTunes link]

While there’s no word yet on whether these new features will come to the existing Facebook for iPhone app, or the upcoming Facebook for iPad app, Facebook announced new ways to keep in touch with your friends today.

• You get a new chat design that shows you the friends you message the most.
• Easy to launch group chat
• Skype-powered video calling

The video calling competes with both Apple’s FaceTime, and Google+’s Huddle, now on the web and perhaps coming soon in the Google+ iPhone app. Whether or not Facebook can get all this new junk into the mobile app’s trunk is the question…

[Facebook]

Facebook for iPhone received an update today, and despite being absent from the release notes, profile pages have received a UI change. The change brings uniformity to the app in that you will find Share Photo and Write Post buttons across the top of profile pages. These are similar to the Photo, Status, and Check-in buttons on the news feed.

Here are the traditionally cryptic release notes that Facebook did include with the update:

• Various bug fixes
• Improved security

I am always bothered when Facebook doesn’t inform us exactly which of the many bugs have been fixed, so if you’ve discovered what some of them are, please let us know!

What do you think about the new profile pages?

UPDATE: @SohrobN has let us know that you can now save photos with the Facebook app! Just tap the arrow while viewing a photo and tap Save Photo.

UPDATE: Yet another hidden feature has been discovered: the ability to turn HD VIdeo Recording on or off. You can do this within Settings.

[Free - iTunes link]

George Hotz, the jailbreak ninja that brought us LimeRa1n for iOS devices as well as the Sony PS3 jailbreak, might just be working at Facebook now.

In a video interview yesterday, Joshua Hill (P0sixninja) a member of the Chronic-Dev Team, confirmed that Geohot had a day job working at Facebook; that is why he declined the offer to help with the iPad 2 jailbreak. Apparently he does not want the attention after being recently sued by Sony.

Also Gabe Rivera of Techmeme, discovered Geohot’s Facebook page and confirmed that the first post at the top of the page said “Facebook is really an amazing place to work…first hackathon over.” The page has now been removed and throws up a message that the content is currently unavailable.

If true, this is an interesting development to say the least . Could it be linked somehow to the three recent Facebook stories which broke last week? We know Facebook is set to release a new photo sharing service, that Facebook was working on an iPad app, and also an  HTML 5 web app store.

Geohot’s efforts to date seem to be in a different area than app development, but even with his experience in breaking security we are sure he would be a great asset!

Video after the break. Do you think Geohot’s at Facebook and if so, what could he be working on?

[MyGreatFest, @gaberivera via Techunwrapped]

Trying to figure out how to post status updates and upload photos as the admin of a Facebook page? If you’ve recently created or become the admin of a Facebook Page it can be a frustrating task using Facebook for iPhone. Luckily, all you need to do is change a few settings on the web. To find out how, follow along after the break!

Before we jump into the details, let’s quickly clarify how a Page is different from a Profile. A Facebook Profile is for the “everyday person” and what everyone in the world (except Georgia) uses. A Facebook Page is for organizations, businesses, celebrities, and bands and can by “liked”. Check out TiPb’s Facebook Page for a fabulous example!

How to switch to admin on Facebook

1. Login into Facebook on the web.
2. Click Account in the upper right corner.

3. Click Use Facebook as Page from the drop down menu.

4. Select the Page you wish to post from with your iPhone.

5. Click Edit Page in the upper right corner.

6. Click Your Settings from the left column

7. Check the first box that says “Always comment and post on your page as…”

8. Click Save Changes.

Now you’re all set to post from your Facebook Page with Facebook for iPhone! Now when visiting the Page’s profile with Facebook for iPhone, all uploaded photos and status updates will be posted as from that Page and show up on the news feeds of all your fans.

Bonus tip: Gain quick access to your Facebook Page by adding it to the Facebook for iPhone menu screen with the + sign.

Let us know how this works for you. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments below!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

After being glaringly absent from the App Store since the original iPad was released last year, The New York Times reports that Facebook is finally readying an official app for the iPad

The app has been in production at Facebook for almost a year, going through several design iterations, and is now in the final stages of testing, according to these people, who declined to be named because they were discussing confidential product plans.

An official Facebook for iPhone app has been available since Apple launched the App Store back in 2008. The iPad app, now rumored to be on the verge of release, should deliver a photo and video experience that’s “amazing, offering full resolution and full-screen images”. It’s said to be a much better experience than browsing Facebook from iPad Safari and other, 3rd party iPad Facebook apps. According to the report, Facebook has put a lot of work towards overhauling and integrating Facebook’s Chat and Groups features, and they’re also said to be working on a unique iPad-specific version of the website.

Previously, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had gone on the record stating he didn’t believe they should put efforts into making an official iPad app because the iPad “wasn’t a mobile device”. We wonder what could possibly have changed his mind?

[NYT]

TechCrunch has uncovered that Facebook is looking to launch an HTML5 based app store under the name of Project Spartan. The app store will offer games and news apps that run inside Safari, or as Web Clips on the home screen. Over 80 outside developers are currently working with Facebook on apps for the platform.

As of right now, there are believed to be 80 or so outside developers working with Facebook on Project Spartan. These teams are working on apps for the platform that range from games to news-reading apps. Some of the names should be familiar: Zynga and Huffington Post for example. The goal is to have these apps ready to roll in the next few weeks for a formal unveiling shortly thereafter.

This comes hot on the heels of yesterday’s news that Facebook would soon be releasing a photo sharing application for iOS devices.

Currently most Facebook apps on the web are based around Flash; this new project could purely be aimed at making them available to the huge iOS market. Obviously Facebook would like to make some money from the arrangement and this appears to be the focus. Facebook would become the distribution channel in this case and not the App Store.

What do you think? Would you be happy to pay for apps from Facebook that would only be usable in the mobile Safari browser? Let us know in the comments!

[TechCrunch]

It looks like Facebook is working on a massive photo sharing application for the iPhone. TechCrunch got their hands on documents, photos, and screenshots outlining the features: location elements, likes, comments, multi-picture mode, filters, multi-user albums, face-tagging, and more. They say it’s almost like a mashup of Instagram, Color, Path, and Path’s upcoming With. And though it might seem to be a reaction to iOS 5‘s new Twitter integration, they say it’s been in development for a while now.

Since Facebook has nearly 1 billion photos stored to their service, it is reasonable for them to create an app with a focus on photos. It’s unclear whether this new app will be separate from the current Facebook app, a complete overhaul of the current app, or some combination of the two. What we do know is that Facebook is working on a photo sharing app – and it’s huge.

Check out all the pictures via the link below. All I ask is that this new app be a lot less buggy than what Facebook currently has available. What about you? Excited?

[TechCrunch]

Not a fan of the official Facebook for iPhone app, desperate for an alternative, but still need to get notifications? Join the club. I’ve never been a fan. Their cryptic “bug fix” updates never seem to improve anything and notifications are always so finicky. More often than not, I open my Facebook app to find several notifications that were never pushed to my iPhone. On top of that, the timeline can be choppy or jump randomly. And the whole “liking comments” just seems to decide on its own whether or not it’s going to work that specific day.

If you feel the same way, hit the jump for some workarounds and alternative solutions to using the Facebook for iPhone application.

There’s a few ways you can ditch the Facebook for iPhone application (and still receive notifications). Unfortunately, unlike Twitter there aren’t any real alternative apps. However, these are the two solutions I found to be the best alternatives to using the official iPhone app.

Facebook web app + Boxcar

This is one thing I use as a fall back method when Facebook for iPhone app decides it doesn’t want to push notifications to my device anymore. It works rather well. You can even route the Boxcar notifications to open the mobile site for Facebook. I actually prefer the layout and functionality of the mobile site. I’m not quite sure why Facebook has not just implemented a lot of this into the native app. They recently integrated liking comments but it hardly ever works or shows up. It always works in the mobile web version.

Simply download Boxcar from the app store, create a login and customize your Facebook notifications how you’d like them. And you can have a different sound other than tri-tone which may be a plus for those of you like me that have tons of friends that use tri-tone. I like my sounds to be unique so I know whether or not my iPhone is going off.

Facebook web app + Facebook native app

Another route is to keep the Facebook native app installed but use the web app. If notifications aren’t a huge issue to you and you just want a more steady user experience, simply keep notifications active but use the mobile site instead. I simply turned off badges and hid the app in a folder. That way, I still get notifications for Facebook but I can choose to use the mobile web version instead.

The only downside to this method is if you open a Facebook notification, it will still bring it up in the native Facebook for iPhone app. I simply tap close and then launch the mobile web version. All the notifications will be right at the top of the web version. Not the best workaround but it’s definitely a more stable user experience than the native app in my opinion.

Do any of you have a better way to use Facebook on your iPhone? Let us know in the comments!

Boxcar – Free

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerburg has famously said that “The iPad is not Mobile” and so Facebook has no plans to develop an official iPad app. Luckily there are plenty third party Facebook apps in the App Store. We’ve already given you our top 10 apps and games for iPad but this time we’re going more specific, and more social! So read on for TiPb’s Top 5 Facebook apps for your iPad!

(And hey, don’t forget to friend TiPb while you’re at it!)

MyPad+

MyPad+ is a great Facebook client that looks and feels like Twitter for iPad. If youre used to the official Twitter app, you will feel right at home. MyPad supports multiple logins, and implements Facebook, in a really sleek fashion. The app also includes completely native chat and a built-in browser for any of those external links.

[Free, $0.99 - iTunes]

Friended

Friended displays lots of data in its unique column view, including the live feed, your friend’s recent pictures and your recent friends. It has full native support for chat. Friended sports lots of popups as you navigate through the app, so you never lose the info in a background. You can view any external links within the app as well.

[Free, $0.99 - iTunes]

Friendly

Friendly for iPad offers lots of features that you’d expect in a facebook app, and then adds even more. The app has support for multiple logins if you share an iPad with anyone else. You can upload pictures to facebook and Friendly even offers 16 fun photo effects, like Black and White and Sepia. It also supports facebook’s “New Messages”. Friendly is the only iPad app that allows you to edit profile details, through its built in browser. There’s also an option for push notifications for birthdays.

[Free, $0.99 - iTunes]

FacelyHD

FacelyHD is basic app with a large UI for easy navigation. Despite this, the app includes full support for chat, with saved history within the app, as well as facebook’s ‘New Messages’. FacelyHD also offers push notifications for messages, pokes, friend requests and chat, which you can turn off individually.

[$0.99 - iTunes]

Facebook.com

Although its not strictly an app, Facebook.com is a great free alternative way to view facebook on your iPad. There is no need for any additional downloads and it works just as it would on a Mac or PC, with the exception of chat functionality, and apps.

[Facebook.com]

Your favorite?

So there you have them, our top 5 best ways to Facebook on your iPad. Be sure to check out our Picks of the Week and iPad App and Games Forum for more recommendations, and if we missed any of your favorites leave them in the comments below!

You know who they are — the person you kinda sorta know, acquaintance of an acquaintance type of thing — and they keep inviting you to events in other countries, adding you to groups you couldn’t care any less about, and spamming your wall with their virus links, and you’re just dying to know how to unfriend them.

Well, rest easy. It’s not rude. It’s not anti-social. It’s not you — it’s them. They’re unfriendable. And it’s Facebook, with their “invite all”, “add to group”, and other easy-to-abuse buttons. You’re not breaking any covenants that ought not be broken. You’re simply restoring your Facebook sanity. And we’re going to help you… after the break.

Luckily you can unfriend just such a person using the Facebook for iPhone app, or on the web. Since we’re an iPhone blog, we’ll stick with the iPhone app for now.

1. Launch Facebook for iPhone
2. Tap on Friends
3. Scroll down to find the person in need of an unfriending
4. Tap on their name
5. Tap on the action button at the top right
6. Tap the red Unfriend button
7. Tap to confirm the unfriending

That’s it! The guilty party has been right and properly unfriended and you can go on with a cleaner, less stressful Facebook experience. (Or at least as much as is possible.)

Have any other Facebook tips for us? Drop them in the comments!

Note: No Seth Cliffords were actually unfriended during the making of this tip.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

TiPb nation, as you may or may not be aware, a couple of weeks ago the TiPb Facebook page (along with a few other prominent tech sites) was torn down and it took Facebook the better part of a day to figure out how they were gamed and get it back online. And frankly, we’re not sure all our TiPb Facebook friends made it through the ordeal with us.

So, we’re calling all iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV lovers, we’re asking all gadget enthusiasts and techies — we’re counting on each and every one of you to head on over to TiPb’s newly restored Facebook page and become our friend. (i.e. go to the page and hit the “Like” button!)

In return we’ll give you the very best in iOS coverage on Facebook… and we’ll give one of you (old friend or new!) one of these gorgeous Jabra STONE2 Bluetooth headsets courtesy of the TiPb Accessory Store! (W00t!)

Details after the break, but really… you’ve friended us already, right?!

Yes, one of our Facebook friends, whether you’ve liked us from the start or just started liking us today, will win a shiny new Jabra STONE 2. Don’t even use an iPhone? No problem, we like you anyway, so Like us back because it will work not just with iPhone but with Android, BlackBerry, HP, Windows Phone… anything that supports Bluetooth. Here are the highlights, so tell your friends and get with the Likes!

- Voice Control allows users to answer or reject calls by the use of the voice - Voice Guidance – Tells who is calling, battery status, set-up and more - Noise Blackout Extreme – Dual microphone technology for excellent sound - Four ergo-designed Ear gels(tm) for all-day comfort - Portable Jabra STONE2 Charger enables charging on the go - Stream multimedia from your phone (A2DP) - Connect up to 2 bluetooth devices at the same time - Comes with its own portable charging unit for easy charging at home or on the go - Designed with soft rubber padding making it so comfortable you don’t even realize you’re wearing it - Last number redialing - An elegant design with a completely new, ground-breaking shape

Head on over to the TiPb Facebook page and Like us now!

We’d like to know that as well. Late last night we were sent a very brief notice by Facebook saying they were removing the TiPb page. Nothing by way of specific explanation, no attempt to address any concerns, nothing. Just whoosh, another page annihilated.

We say “another” because it looks like we’re not alone. Ars Technica‘s page is gone to, as are the pages for several other technology and gadget sites.

Interestingly, Facebook has given ReadWriteWeb an official statement on the matter (we continue to wait for any update on our situation and have not received any sort of statement). “When we do this, we notify the person who shared the content so he or she can take appropriate action, which may include contacting the reporting party or following up with Facebook,” a Facebook spokesperson told ReadWriteWeb. The only problem with this is that Facebook didn’t tell us which content was allegedly infringing—as you can see from our notice above, Facebook’s notification told us that “Ars Technica” was the infringing content. How dare we post our own content to our own Facebook page!

Likewise. We all put a lot of trust into Facebook — trust in their keeping our personal information safe and our content online. Hopefully they’ll get back to us, to Ars, and to everyone else affected as quickly as possible.

In the meantime, please continue to follow us on @TiPb and via RSS, and check out the link below as Ars tracks the ongoing problem.

Update: Facebook has been in touch with us and have now restored our page. Thanks FB and everyone who worked hard on getting this done today.

Update 2: Facebook gave TiPb (and others) the following statements:

We have investigated a number of recent intellectual property cases and have restored four pages as a result. We apologize for any inconvenience. Abuse of DMCA and other intellectual property notice procedures is a challenge for every major Internet service and we take it seriously. We have invested significant resources into creating a dedicated team that uses specialized tools, systems and technology to review and properly handle intellectual property notices. This system evaluates a number of factors when deciding how to respond and, in many cases, we require the reporter to provide additional information before we can take action. As a result of these efforts, the vast majority of intellectual property notices that we receive are handled without incident. Of course, no system is perfect and we are always striving to improve our practices. As such, we will be considering the results of our investigation into this matter as we continue to refine our systems and procedures.

Which unfortunately does not address the system that led to this failure, nor provide any assurances content owners will be contacted and given an opportunity to address any concerns, especially erroneous and or malicious complaints, before Facebook pulls down pages again. Hopefully a more comprehensive response and revised procedure and policy will follow.

Read Write Web has more on the issues still surrounding this. [Read Write Web]

[Ars Technica]

RockMelt has released a free iPhone version of its popular desktop app, a social-network, orientated web browser, that integrates with your Facebook/Twitter accounts, to share sites with your friends/followers as you surf, or you can update your social network statuses directly from the app. RockMelt for iPhone, brings all of these to the iPhone.

Since RockMelt uses your Facebook login, the iPhone App offers real-time syncing for your bookmarks, RSS feeds or social networks, between your iPhone and other computer. As well as offering their new “View Later” feature, which allows you bookmark specific items, like sites or tweets which you can read on your computer.

Unfortunately, there is no iPad app, as of yet.

Are you a RockMelt user? Will the iPhone app be replacing your current iPhone browser? Check out screenshots and a video after the break.

[FREE - iTunes Link]

Facebook for iPhone has been updated with the ability to stalk find your friends.

• Find your Friends on Facebook using your phone
• Add your phone to your profile
• Bug fixes

Apple was rumored to have been working on Find my Friends, did Facebook just beat them to the punch? Also, anyone else wish Facebook would explicitly list which bugs have been fixed? If you’ve noticed any fixed bugs (or the arrival of new ones) let us know in the comments below!

[Free - iTunes link]

Facebook has made some backend changes that allow users to ‘like’ comments from stories in their news feed. This has been a much-requested feature from Facebook users and, unfortunately, Facebook has only half-delivered.

As you can see from the screenshots above, comments are only “likeable” when viewing from the news feed. If you access comments from anywhere else, say notifications or a friend’s profile page, you cannot ‘like’ them.

Who’s excited about this feature and can’t wait for it to be app wide?

Facebook for iPhone has been updated with map view and event check-in.

• Added Map View for Places
• Added the ability to Check in to Events that you’re attending
• Added the ability to unfriend from the phone
• Improved News Feed
• Improved notifications UI

The update notes do not include bug fixes, but the Facebook for iPhone Facebook page claims that they’ve “fixed a ton of bugs”. Peronsally, I’ve experienced a couple bugs within a few minutes of installing the update. Specifically, after tapping a notification about a comment on my photo, the comment was non-existant, and two of my friend’s photos had a grayed-out comment box even though they had comments and I had permission to comment on them.

Anyone download the update? What do you think of the new features? Are you still experiencing any bugs?

[Free - iTunes link]

TiPb brings you a glossary of common iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Apple TV social networking terms for Twitter, Facebook and more

Reading up on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or Apple TV and wondering what all those social networking terms are? From follower to friend, RT to like, we’ve got you — and every term we can think of — covered below!

For even more iOS and Apple-related terms see our complete iPhone and iPad glossary and our guide to common Internet, SMS Text, and iMessage slang. And as always, if we’re missing anything, add additions and corrections in the comments below!

• @: Used to target specific Twitter users. See Mention.
• #: Used to create clickable search terms in Twitter. Clicking on #iPhone would show a timeline of all other tweets with #iPhone in it.
• +1: A way to “like” something so it shows up in your Google account
• Check in: Submitting your location to Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, or similar location-based app.
• Circle: A way to organize people you want to follow on Google+
• DM: A “Direct Message” or private communication sent from you to another Twitter user who follows you. (You can only DM people who follow you.)
• Follow: A uni-directional relationship in Twitter where you see another user’s updates but they don’t see yours, and they can DM you but you can’t DM them back. (Unless you both choose to follow each other.)
• Follower: Someone who Follows you on Twitter.
• Friend: A bi-directional relationship in Facebook where you connect with another user and they’re granted a connection back to you.
• **Game Center:
• Google+: Google’s social network
• Group: A way to connect Facebook friends into a small community with shared interest (e.g. you could create a Facebook group for your book club.)
• iMessage: Apple’s new SMS/MMS like instant messenger service
• Instagram: A popular photo sharing network
• Like: A way to share content on Facebook. When you “Like” a link (such as a TiPb story) it appears in your Facebook feed and your Friends have a chance of seeing it.
• Mention: A way to make sure a specific Twitter user will get your post in their timeline. Requires you to put an @[username] into the tweet (e.g. @TiPb will make sure we see your tweet). If a tweet begins with an @mention only the specific user mentioned and people who follow both you and the specific user will see the message. If the @mention isn’t at the beginning, anyone following you will also see it. (Previously called @replies.)
• Messages: Facebook’s new hybrid email, SMS, IM platform used to privately communicate with Facebook friends.
• Page: A non-personal profile on Facebook or Google+, typically for clubs, businesses, etc.
• Ping: Apple’s social music network integrated into iTunes
• RLRT: Real life re-tweet, or posting something you hear on the real world.
• RT: A “Re-Tweet” or republishing another user’s tweet to your own followers. Previously you had to copy/paste the tweet and manually add RT: [@username] in front of it. Now Twitter provides an automatic API for doing it (though some users still prefer “old style” manual re-tweets). – Share: Post something you like, such as a link or picture or video, to your social network
• Timeline: A list of a user’s Twitter status updates in reverse chronological order.
• Tweeps: Slang term for Twitter Peeps (People), aka your Followers.
• Tweet: A Twitter posting, limited to 140 characters (so that the entire message and up to 30 character username can fit in a 160 character SMS text message).
• Twoosh: A tweet of exactly 140 characters.
• Via: an alternate form of re-publishing a tweet where, instead of prefacing with RT, a /via @[username] is placed at the end.

Just get a new Verizon iPhone, or a new iPhone on any network, and curious how to get to your Facebook account? If so, we’re going to show you how dive into the mobile-social wave with grace using the official Facebook for iPhone app. And although Facebook doesn’t currently support an official app for the iPad, we’ll show you a few alternatives to help you get started after the break!

There are umpteen millions of Facebook users and Facebook for iPhone is probably the most download app in mobile. Still, if you’re new to social networking and don’t yet have a Facebook profile, that’s where you ned to start. Just head on over to Facebook.com and register an account before getting started.

Now on to some basic tasks using the Facebook for iPhone app…

Facebook for iPhone

Fortunately Facebook provides an official app in the App Store alongside their mobile touch version in Safari. The native app allows iOS users to view the news feed, upload photos and video, check in to places, view upcoming events and birthdays, chat with your friends and a lot more. Here are a few quick tips to help you get started using Facebook on your iPhone.

News Feed

The News Feed where you’ll find all of your friend’s status updates in one place. If your friends upload any photos or videos you’ll be able to see them in a stream of aggregated updates. From the news feed you’ll be able to comment on a status, jump into a photo or ‘like’ a status update you find interesting or compelling. If you see an interesting link in the news feed the app has a built-in web browser so you don’t get kicked out of the app if you want to continue reading. You can also filter down the news feed to only show photos, notes, status updates etc if you want to cut down on the noise and get to specific updates.

Update your status, photos or location

To get started with the first tip you’ll want to go back into the news feed. Here you will be given three options along the top: Photo, Status and Check In. You’ll be able to post a quick status update, pull a photo or video from the iOS photo-picker to upload or check yourself into the nearest location and broadcast it to your network of friends. The process is easy and straightforward. If you’re uploading a picture of a friend, you’ll also be able to tag that friend from directly within the app!

Chat

Most of my friends use Facebook chat, so if I’m looking to communicate with one of my friends on-the-fly I’ll usually jump into the chat instead of posting something on their wall. To use Facebook Chat on the iPhone just tap the Chat icon in the main section. Next you’ll be taken to an alphabetical list of friends that are online, and from here you can tap a friend to begin chatting. If you don’t want to be seen online whenever getting into Facebook for iPhone, just tap ‘Go Offline’ in the upper-right corner of the chat. The latest update to Facebook for iPhone fixed issues with inconsistencies in the chat, so don’t worry about always having to go offline every time you launch the app if you want to appear offline most of the time.

Search

If you’re quickly trying to find one of your friends all you have to do is tap the search field at the top in the main section of the app. From here you’ll be able to filter down your list of friends and jump to any friend’s profile. From the profile viewer, you can comment or ‘like’ your friends status updates and photos just as you can from the news feed. You can also search the entire Facebook user directory by selecting ‘Everyone’ below the search field, or ‘Pages’ to filter through different Facebook pages.

Notifications

With the latest update to Facebook for iPhone, Facebook has also redesigned the notifications section allowing for a much more aesthetically pleasing interface making it easier to sort through your latest notifications. Using the Notifications section is also a very easy process, as you simply tap your desired notification to be taken to the corresponding update. You’ll be able to view any new comments or changes since the last time you were online from the notifications section.

Facebook apps for iPad

Unfortunately Facebook has yet to release an official app for the iPad – they apparently don’t view the iPad as a mobile device (say what?) – so we’ve rounded up a few great alternatives to use until Facebook comes to their senses.

1. Friendly for Facebook is an app that recently went free, making it a great way to get started if your not looking to spend any money. This app is all around a great full featured way to engage with friends on Facebook and allows you to upload photos which is something you don’t get in Safari. You can even get into limited profile editing and customize the color of the layout in the settings. Also look for its counterpart Friendly Plus for Facebook ($.99) which takes out the ads. [iTunes -- free]

2. FacePad was released last week and combines the look and feel of the official Twitter app for iPad, but it’s for Facebook. It really doesn’t get more simple than that. If you’ve ever used Twitter on your iPad then you’ll probably be able to pick up the layout right off the bat. One thing you’re not getting is the ability to upload photos or video and there are a few bugs that need to be worked out, but the app has definitely made a stir in the iPad community and has room to grow. If you like the Twitter app for iPad, check out FacePad today! [iTunes -- $.99]

3. Facebook Browser for iPad isn’t one I’d personally recommend, but it does offer some nice features. I’m not a fan of the layout and design, but others might like it. You can do all the regular things like check your messages, view the live stream and comment on status updates. There are a couple of themes to choose from, but transitions are slow and the app feels more like a webpage than a native app, however it has some promise. Check it out! [iTunes -- $.99]

4. Facebook Touch HD has similar aesthetic qualities to that of Friendly for Facebook, but doesn’t quite pull it off with as much grace. Although you can do things like upload photos and even save your friend’s photos to your camera roll, the app doesn’t have as much polish as I feel it should and crashed more than once while I was playing with it. There are a few things they need to work on given the price, but if all you care about is accessing Facebook outside of the browser then maybe this one is for you! [iTunes -- $2.99]

Remember that you can always get back to the familiar Facebook layout by using Safari, but you’ll lose some abilities (uploading photos). Then again, you’re also gaining other abilities (‘liking’ someone’s comment within a status update), so it’s really a give-and-take game until Facebook officially comes out with a killer way to use the service on the iPad.

As always, let us know if you have any questions or run into any issues and we’ll do our best to help out in the comments. Also let us know what your favorite apps are for browsing Facebook on the iPad below!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Some Facebook for iPhone users are experiencing two rather annoying bugs — Facebook does not send their status updates to their friends’ live feeds, and Facebook for iPhone seems to be missing from all users’ privacy settings. Details after the break!

Facebook for iPhone status update bug

When a use who is experiencing this bug updates their status with the Facebook for iPhone app, the status only appears on their wall and not on their friends’ live feeds. Meaning, in order for one of the user’s friends to see the status, they must go directly to the user’s wall – which most people don’t do. An irritating bug to say the least.

Workaround

• Facebook’s mobile site and touch site work just fine. So you can use them until Facebook fixes this problem.
• Use a different app to post Facebook status updates

Facebook for iPhone missing privacy settings

The other issue with the Facebook for iPhone app has to do with privacy. When you add an app to your Facebook account, it gets added to the list of apps you use in your privacy settings. It is here that you can see what information any given app has access to, as well as remove any ability that you do not approve of. The problem is that the Facebook for iPhone app is not included in the list. This means that no one knows for certain what permissions Facebook for iPhone has.

Workaround

• Stop using Facebook for iPhone (not an acceptable solution, Facebook needs to fix this!)

Are you experiencing either of these bugs? If so, have you discovered any other fixes or workarounds? Are you using the mobile or touch site, or have you installed a different app to post status updates? What are your thoughts on Facebook for iPhone being non-existent in your privacy settings? Sound off below!

[Facebook discussions, thanks Bob for sending this in!]

If you use MobileMe, Windows Live, Yahoo!, or AOL for email, then you can have Ping search your contacts for friends who are also using Ping as well as send annoying invites to those friends who are not using ping. Here’s how:

1. Go to Ping in iTunes and in the “Find People” box in the right column, click “email” in “invite friends by email”
2. A box will pop up asking you to list out the email address of those you would like to invite. Ignore this and notice the logos for MobileMe, Windows Live, Yahoo, and AOL at the bottom of the box.
3. Click the appropriate logo.
4. Sign in.
5. The window will divide into two sections: the top will list your contacts who use Ping but whom you don’t follow, complete with avatars, and the bottom will list the names and email of your contacts who do not use ping.
6. Use the checkboxes and deselect/select all links to send follow requests to those you’d like to follow and email invites to those you’d like to invite.

Ping has been off to a rocky start and this may help, but probably not enough. Personally, I only found 8 more friends using this search feature. Ping is also integrated with Twitter, but I don’t see Ping even having a chance to take off until Facebook jumps on board.

What do you think? Does the email search help make Ping more relevant?

[Apple]

Facepad for iPad is a a brand new Facebook application that just recently hit the app store. It may be the Facebook app most iPad users have been longing for. Facebook has made it apparent they don’t think an iPad specific app is necessary. I strongly disagree. Browsing Facebook through Safari isn’t painful but how do I upload photos or videos? I can’t. Apps like Friendly for Facebook step in to fill this gap but they aren’t perfect.

Facepad is definitely a step in the right direction but it still leaves room for improvement. As of now there isn’t currently a way to upload photos and video. Friendly for Facebook does offer this. The reason I say I think this app may be the one iPad users are drawn to is the interface. It’s absolutely gorgeous. It reminds me a lot of a default iOS app or Twitter for iPad.

For a 1.0 release, you can already tell it has potential. I did experience a bug when viewing photos. Sometimes while scrolling through pictures, the photo window would just disappear and I’d have to reload it. Hopefully this will be something that’s fixed in an update. I’m excited to see what the developers can do with this app. Facebook hasn’t been too great at supporting their own native iPhone app so I’m definitely willing to see if someone else can do better. What about you guys? What features would you like to see implemented in an update?

Hit the jump for a couple more images!

via TechCrunch

How many iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads were opened on Christmas? Check out the Facebook for iPhone download spike above for one datapoint. A second datapoint comes from Tap Tap Revenge 4:

Tapulous tells us that peak Christmas downloads reached 45,000 per hour, and that holiday download traffic is twice the levels of last year.

Facebook is probably the most popular iPhone app of all time and TTR4 is among the most popular right now, but the mapping is probably still not be one-to-one. Either way, that’s a lot of iOS devices under the tree this year.

[allfacebook.com, Business Insider, via Daring Fireball x2]

Facebook has yet again released an update for their iPhone and iPod touch application, this time with some long overdue UI improvements as well as bug fixes.

• Improved reliability in chat and messages
• Improved notifications UI
• Fixed memory usage
• Fixed some crashes
• Walls you cannot post on no longer show the text field at the top
• Restore ability to post as a page that you admin
• Fixed group photos
• Various Places improvements

Having just downloaded this update and played around with it for a few minutes I will say the new notifications UI is long overdue and provides a much cleaner and easier to use interface. Hopefully this update will also fix many of the issues users have been hoping to see fixed for a while now.

So go ahead and grab your updated Facebook app and let us know what you think of the improvements and as always if you have any issues we want to hear about those as well.

Flipboard for iPad just received a fairly big update, including the ability to add feeds from Google Reader, Flickr and more! One new feature of note is the option to post photos and status updates to Twitter, Facebook and other real-time social networks.

Flipboard was initially released back in July and received a lot of early buzz. The app offers a dynamic and unique interface for browsing your social media feeds in a magazine-like format, flipping through “pages” of real-time content from your friends on Twitter and Facebook — a first of its kind.

Now that they’ve added more streams of content, the app has far more reach and usefulness for users. Take a look at the full update list after the break, and let us know what you think of the update in the comments below!

[iTunes - free]

• Be informed. Sync with Google Reader to read your feeds, folders and friends’ shared items. Star, share and comment on stories.
• Be amazed. Browse all Flickr has to offer, including photostream, favorites, groups, your contacts’ photos and interesting photos of the day .
• Be fulfilled. Read full content right away with more beautiful layout. Flip through gorgeous Flipboard Pages from Washington Post, Bon Appetit and more.
• Be social. Flip through your Facebook groups, fan pages, and photos from your feed. Browse your tweets, Twitter favorites, @mentions and lists.
• Be expressive. Post photos, status updates and even Flipboard pages across Twitter, Facebook and Google Reader.
• Be faster. Switch between sections faster using our instant section selector. Enjoy faster performance throughout your Flipboard.

WeeMee Avatar Creator [iTunes], the quick, easy way to make a fabulous looking new profile pic for Facebook, Twitter, or just to spice up your contacts, is back with an even more fabulous update filled with Christmas and Hanukkah items to really deck yourself out for the holidays. What could be better than that?

Getting it for free!

Well, the kind folks at WeeMee have given us a ton of promo codes to give away for the update and now they’re international!!! You can win in Canada, the UK, Australia, and pretty much everywhere there’s an App Store with WeeMee in it!

If you want one, here’s all you have to do:

• Follow @weemeeapp and @TiPb on Twitter
• Re-Tweet this on Twitter:
  • Follow @TiPb and @WeeMeeApp for great holiday give-aways! Details here: http://bit.ly/eCVX2g

Now some of our writers have the codes (we’re not saying which!) so make sure you follow them as well to double, triple, quadruple your chances of winning! If they can’t DM you, they can’t give you free stuff! (Yeah, there might be other stuff as well!)

• @reneritchie (Rene)
• @GeorgiaTiPb (Georgia)
• @iChadman (Chad)
• @JFSikora (Jeremy)
• @llofte (Leanna)
• @iMuggle (Ally)
• @andrewwray (Andrew)
• @Brian_Tufo (Brian)
• @chrisoldroyd (Chris)
• @farbod_21 (Farbod)
• @jorjlim (George)

Give away starts now and we’ll be DM’ing the codes throughout the week.

Ready, set, Tweet!

Facebook still hasn’t bothered to release a version of their app for iPad, so it’s good news that third-party app, Friendly for Facebook, has just gone free.

Friendly for Facebook is now ad supported, but users have the ability to dismiss ads that pop up at the bottom of the screen (and they’re few and far between to begin with). I’ve been using their paid version for a while now, and I really enjoy the features available in Friendly for Facebook that simply aren’t available on the Facebook website. Uploading photos, for example, is a feature I use quite a bit that wouldn’t be available without Friendly for Facebook.

You can also grab the $.99 version without ads if you’d like. If you’re using Friendly for Facebook, let us know what you think of it in the comments below!

[Free - iTunes]

Facebook’s new-style messages service — an abstraction of email, IM, and SMS — is already working in the latest version of Facebook for iPhone… once you’ve had the feature rolled out to your account. Facebook isn’t the first to try and redefine the ways we communicate online. Google has done it twice already, once successfully with the eccentric but reserved Gmail and again unsuccessfully with the wikichat that was Wave. Facebook is a social network however — the social network — so their take is decidedly different and whether or not it catches on remains to be seen.

Setup is simple on the web. You get an invitation, you accept, then you get your @facebook email address, verify your SMS number (if you want), and login to chat (also if you want). After that you’re hit with the new interface. Once that’s setup, the next time you launch Facebook on iPhone you’re alerted that new-style messages are available (same way Places alerted you when it arrived) and you’re good to go.

We’ll be testing it out over the next week or so but in the meantime check out the screenshots after the break and if you have any questions or comments, you know where to leave them!

On the second day of the Web 2.0 Summit, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made some comments on his company’s dealings with Apple over Ping.

Zuckerberg also had an explanation for why the company had not partnered with Apple to let it pull in social data for Ping. He says that Facebook has had to invest tens of millions of dollars into infrastructure to enable games from large developers like Zynga, which is why Facebook and Zynga agreed to a formal alliance. Zuckerberg says that if the company is going to make an investment like this, “we want to have an understanding that you won’t just import our data — and that you try to contribute back. We’re working through that.”

Now that we somewhat understand the basics for why Facebook is still blocking ping maybe they and Apple can come to terms and work out some sort of deal to incorporate Facebook into Ping to help make it more useable.

Recently Twitter allowed Apple to intergrate their services into Ping so it would be extremely useful and welcome for Facebook to follow suit but we will have to continue to wait through the Apple and Facebook negotiations.

Do you think Ping needs Facebook to thrive as a social network or do you think Twitter is enough for users to be more interested in utilizing the Ping services?

[ TechCrunch ]

Facebook held a press conference earlier today to announce their new messaging system. Many believed this would be an email killer to compete with the likes of Gmail and Yahoo! Instead, Facebook is launching a revamped messaging system that unifies all communication through email, IM or SMS into an aggregated messaging stream. “It’s not e-mail” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the press event this morning.

The new messaging system is composed of three parts: seamless messaging, cross-platform conversation history and the social inbox. The latter is an inbox for filtering the messages you want, organized by the people you care about. It’s designed to highlight conversations with your real friends and be spam free.

Facebook will also be assigning individual email addresses under the facebook.com email domain which correlates to the Facebook username in question. The new messaging system will be rolling out to select users over the next couple of months.

What we’re curious about is if the update to Facebook Mobile for iPhone late last night had anything to do with the announcement this morning, or will we be getting yet another update shortly to enable it? And most importantly, will you be using it?

[Facebook via Mashable]

Facebook has once again updated their iPhone and iPod touch app, this time adding access to account and privacy settings and fixing a photo upload bug. The new version (3.3.2 for those keeping track at home) lets you access the settings via the Account button at the top left of the home screen, but then simply loads the Facebook.com web page. It’s nowhere as good a user experience as if they added those settings to the app proper, but it does mean Facebook won’t have to update the app whenever they update those pages (it also means you can use it as a way to move between the app interface and the website without having to jump to Safari).

The photo upload bug fix is nice to see. The “no iPad version” bug persists, however.

If you’ve tried out the settings, and if photo uploads are finally working for you the way they should, let us know!

Facebook held a press conference the other day at which CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook does not need an iPad app because the iPad is not a mobile device. The latter part of that statement is an argument in itself, but I want to give three big reasons why Facebook does indeed need to provide their customers with an iPad app.

Media uploads

The biggest problem with using Facebook on Safari is the inability to upload photos and videos. One may argue that the iPad does not have a camera, hence there is no need to upload photos with it. This is simply not true. I may find a photo on the web that I saved to my photo library and desire to share on Facebook. Or perhaps I’m on vacation and uploaded a bunch of photos to my iPad with my camera connection kit and want to share them on Facebook. I could have even synced photos to my iPad and edited them with one of the many photo editing apps available. It’d be nice to immediately upload to Facebook without taking the intermediate step of transferring the photos to my computer first. You get the point. There are many situations in which one might desire to upload a photo to Facebook with their iPad.

Chat

Facebook is a social networking platform and, as such, the ability to chat with friends is a big part of the service. But good luck chatting while on your iPad, the ability to do so is simply impossible.

Tagging friends in status updates

When writing a status update for Facebook on a Mac or PC, if you start typing a friend’s name preceded by the @ symbol, a drop down menu appears with names of friends you can tag in your post (ex: “@Rene Ritchie”). If you try to do this on an iPad, the menu simply does not appear, making it impossible to tag friends in status updates on the iPad. This is frustrating, to say the least.

These are just three reasons why Facebook needs to design an app for the iPad. There is also the fact that Facebook on the web is designed to be a used with a mouse, not a finger. Yes, it (mostly) works with Safari on the iPad, but the fact of that matter is that the Facebook experience on the iPad could be so much greater with it’s own app. Why doesn’t Zuckerberg see this?

One of my theories is ads. It’s no secret that Facebook makes their money from ads. Most people who use Facebook on their iPhone or iPod touch also spend a lot of time using the web version and thus still see ads. But if an iPad user had an ad-free Facebook application on their iPad, they may never use the web version again. I wouldn’t. I have a feeling this is what Zuckerberg meant when he said the iPad is not mobile. iPhone users primarily use the Facebook app when the are out and about – away from a computer. But many iPad users will browse Facebook while at home sitting on their couch – 15 feet away from their desktop or laptop. That’s million of users who may potentially never encounter a Facebook ad again.

My solution? Bring the ads! Sure, it may initially upset users to see ads when using a Facebook app on their iPad, but at least the overall experience will be better than using Safari. Sometimes I wonder if Zuckerberg has forgotten who his true customers are – Facebook users.

What do you think about the lack of a Facebook app on the iPad? Do you think ads may being playing a part in its nonexistence? Do you want a separate iPad app or are you happy with using Safari?

Sound off in the comments below!

Mark Zuckerberg was asked about a Facebook app for iPad today during Facebook’s mobile event, and his response to Mashable‘s Ben Parr was that the iPad isn’t mobile. Parr countered that Apple would disagree with Zuckerberg, to which Zuckerberg said “well, sorry”. Former Android lead and current Facebook mobile head, Eric Tseng then intercepted the question and said they were still working on their strategy for tablets and that, as a new form factor, it required a new approach. Parr extrapolates:

The real hint to Facebook’s iPad plans, though, is that Tseng focused on the form factor and not iOS. This could mean that Facebook’s looking to build an HTML5 version of its website optimized for tablets. At the very least, Facebook seems intent on keeping a consistent experience across all tablet devices.

In the meantime though, Tseng points out that Facebook is accessible via the iPad through the official website (which is pretty darn functional) and through touch.facebook.com.

Whether iPad is “mobile” or “portable” is debatable. What’s not debatable is that iPad runs a mobile operating system, iOS, which doesn’t allow websites to access the Photo picker, so you can’t upload pictures or video. You need (forgive me) an app for that. And using the iPhone app on the iPad just isn’t a great user experience.

Twitter understands this. Many third party Twitter app developers understand this. Frustrated users certainly understand this. The question is, why doesn’t the 20-year old billionaire genius get it?

[Mashable]

During the livestream of Facebook’s special mobile event today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook for iPhone would be getting a major update, including support for Facebook’s new Groups feature and improvements to Places integration — making it more intuitive and easier to check your friends into a specific venue.

Facebook will also be making the inclusion of photos to a check-in within Places more simple and straight-forward, and introducing Deals for local discounts. All great news for Facebook users who use the service on their iPhone.

Zuckerberg also mentioned that their App Store app is used on the majority of all iPhones in the market today.

UPDATED: The new version is live in the App Store now, go get it and let us know what you think of it in the comments below!

Like our sibling site, Android Central, TiPb has been invited to a mobile event at Facebook HQ this Wednesday, November 3. If it had just been AC, I’d have started wondering about that Facebook phone. Just TiPb and I might have thought iPad app. Both Android and iOS at the same bash and maybe Facebook is ready to make some bigger cross-platform waves. With former Android lead Eric Tseng and former iOS developer Joe Hewitt busy in the mobile division, who knows what they have up their social little sleeves?

Speculate in the comments!

Farmville by Zynga is finally available to iPad owners, in all its HD farming goodness. First made popular on Facebook, we saw Farmville for iPhone. The iPad version is also a free download and as usual, all your normal stuff from your Facebook profile should come down just like it does on the iPhone version. I’m personally not a Farmville user, but I’m sure Leanna is jumping up and down right about now.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

[iTunes Link]

It looks like Apple’s Steve Jobs and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg recently sat down over dinner to talk Ping. The LA Times reports:

Apparently Jobs invited Zuckerberg for dinner at his house to talk about Ping two weeks ago. That’s when a tipster spotted them on a stroll in Palo Alto.

A passerby also reportedly saw the two taking a quick stroll around the block afterwards. Hopefully they were able to smooth things over a bit, and we also suspect as much, as Facebook CTO Bret Taylor recently stated that he felt “very confident” Facebook and Apple should be able to work out their relationship related to the two social/music networking services.

Ping, which launched with the release of iTunes 10, was supposed to include Facebook integration to help the new service garner quicker traction. There was speculation that the two companies had discussed a partnership up to 18 months prior to the launch of Ping. But this relationship quickly fizzled after Facebook blocked Ping’s Facebook Connect feature shortly after the service was made available to iTunes users, and Apple quickly removed it.

So do think Apple and Facebook will come to terms with an agreement? And more importantly, do you think Google’s Eric Schmidt will be upset his last coffee date is now having dinner with his arch rival?

[LA Times, image via Engadget]

by Andrew Wray

During a press event today, Facebook announced new Groups, which aim to simplify and make social interaction more communal, data portability which sounds like it takes a little of the wall off Facebook’s garden, and application control, which should let you better decide who gets your data.

Mashable‘s got the goods on all of it:

Groups are closed by default (but can be secret or open) and are designed to be spaces where small groups of friends share information, with each group controlled by the entirety of its members — an important new direction for Facebook. The group chat feature is just as it sounds; members can participate in back-and-forth IM conversations with everyone in the group at the same time.

On the data portability front, Facebook has now made it possible to download all of the content and information that you have added to Facebook. This means that you can download your photos, videos, wall posts, conversation threads and status updates.

How — and of course when — we’ll see groups implemented on the iPhone Facebook app is anyone’s guess, as is when — or if — we’ll see a Facebook app for iPad. We did get Places fairly quickly in the US and more and more countries are rolling out every week, so it could be on it’s way.

While we wait and see, what do you think of the changes in general?

[Mashable, Mashable]

Facebook CTO Bret Taylor is “very confident” Facebook and Apple will be able to come to terms on integrating Apple’s social music network with Facebook’s social people network.

Ping launched with Facebook Connect so you could more easily find your friends, but the service was blocked by Facebook and then pulled by Apple, with rumors following the two had been going back and forth over a deal for up to 18 months and Steve Jobs complaining Facebook wanted “onerous” terms.

While Apple improved Ping with iTunes 10.0.1‘s inclusion of a sidebar and the ability to Ping music you already owned from within iTunes, the service is still off to a rocky start. It remains inaccessible from a web browser when you’re away from your desktop iTunes and don’t have an iPhone with you (blasphemy, but it could happen), and otherwise still feels like a work in progress.

So here’s the question: would heavy Facebook integration make you want to use Ping more?

[Business Insider]

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Google Voice returns to the App Store and brings some Basic and some Ringtones along for the ride. We’re talking Facebook phones, Verizon rumors, Apple buying Faces and Guides, and more. Get social folks, it’s iPhone live.

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Facebook is down. Now don’t panic, the world isn’t ending, no one forgot to pay the interwebs bill, and no, it didn’t catch a bug from the Facebook for iPhone app — it’s just down.

These things happen. Luckily our iPhones can still call people for really real.

Hold to hope, it should be back soon. Let us know when you can access it again in the comments.

UPDATE: Lots of readers are saying it’s back up for them now.

Facebook 3.2.3 for iPhone and iPod touch has just hit the iTunes App Store and once again, it’s all about the bug fixes:

• Improved, more streamlined login experience for developers using the Facebook SDK
• Fixed a crash when receiving push notifications
• Fixed a crash when navigating in Messages
• Fixed inconsistent notification counts in notification bar and application badge
• Fixed a problem where people would appear twice in Here Now on a Place view
• Fixed a problem that could cause the toolbar to not be shown on a Place view

Note: Facebook Places is only available in a limited number of countries. We’re working on making this available in other countries soon.

If you’ve been having issues (like Ally!), let us know if this has fixed them. If you’re waiting on Facebook for iPad, hey, it’ll show up sometime after they get that Facebook Phone done, no doubt… Sigh.

Apple and Facebook were in discussions for 18 months before ultimately failing to come to terms on integrating the world’s most popular social network with Apple’s upstart Ping music service.

While we don’t know the details of their discussions, it makes sense that Apple may have wanted to build Ping as a music-tracking and sales service on top of Facebook’s social graph. This could have allowed Apple to get what it wanted out of the relationship — more iTunes and iPod sales — without having to build a social network from scratch.

Though they don’t say how, of course, and Facebook Connect is a far sight from a turnkey social music network, isn’t it? Either way, Steve Jobs’ previous assertion that Facebook wanted “onerous” terms doesn’t bode well for near-term reconciliation. Business Insider notes, courtesy of an industry veteran:

Working with Facebook as a large company is challenging at this stage, very similar to mid-late-90s Microsoft.”

Ouch. Bottom line, though, would Ping be more valuable to you if it could find your friends via Facebook connect? How about via Twitter or Gmail? (Or how about we forget Facebook for a minute and just add App Store apps to Ping?)

[Business Insider]

Facebook phone was the big internet flurry of the weekend — are they making one, are they not making one, what does a Facebook phone even mean?

Techcrunch, who claim the Nexus One vindicated their longstanding assertions of a Google phone, now say Facebook is also working a branded device.

Facebook is building a mobile phone, says a source who has knowledge of the project. Or rather, they’re building the software for the phone and working with a third party to actually build the hardware.

In a world where Apple, Google, Microsoft and HP/Palm have branded devices to go along with their other assorted software, hardware, and services, TC says Facebook is doing it as a competitive hedge.

Facebook issued a statement to Mashable denying the “charges”:

“The story, which originated in Techcrunch, is not accurate. Facebook is not building a phone. Our approach has always been to make phones and apps more social.

Which could be read as similar to Steve Jobs’ “no one wants to watch video on an iPod” statements, and is followed byso much marketing speak as to be rendered appropriately meaningless anyway.

Facebook has Joe Hewitt, who created the once trend-setting, now languishing, Facebook for iPhone. Facebook has Eric Tseng who used to be intimately involved in developing Android for Google.

Facebook sees the battle-lines being drawn. They’re a closed garden on their own website but they’re only one app, one site, among many on a smartphone. Apple has launched Game Center and Ping. Microsoft is bringing Xbox live to mobile. Google is stalking Farmville-makers Zynga and might be on the verge of launching their own “Google Me” Facebook competitor.

Friendster, MySpace, plenty of other networks have seen their user population migrate to newer, more appealing platforms. It’s a competition for attention, retention, and the ad an assorted other revenue that comes with captured eyeballs. Facebook, like everyone else, wants to and needs to stay competitive in an increasingly mobile world. Google’s already shown them the model – huge web presence with services on every mobile platform, and a platform of their own that no one can ever lock them out of.

Facebook is absolutely working on a branded phone with killer Facebook integration (maybe on top of Android OS?), at least in the lab, at least as a contingency plan.

Whether they ever decide to release it or not is a completely separate question.

But they’re working on it. Or they’re nuts.

Facebook Places has gone live in the UK. It lit up in Japan a few days ago as well. No love for Canada or many other countries yet. Still, even in locations where Facebook places has launched, it doesn’t seem to have slowed down FourSquare or Gowalla at all.

Is Facebook Places available where you are? Are you using it? If so, let us know how it’s been working for you, if not, tell us what’s kept you away.

[Thanks English Mike!]

Facebook connect for Ping made a very brief appearance during Steve Jobs’ iTunes 10 demo and some early users were able to catch (and use) it to find friends on Apple’s new social music network. However, a short time later the Facebook integration was missing. What happened?

As it turns out, Apple was indeed having talks with Facebook to integrate the services on an unspecified level. We have to assume the ability to search and find friends as an absolute minimum requirement for the paring of the two companies (though wouldn’t it be great if Apple created its own client that integrated with Facebook and iTunes? Hey, one can dream).

Where Steve apparently ran into trouble was with Facebook having concerns over the volume of users using Ping as Facebook feared it could cause performance issues (hmm.. see 1 million Ping users in 48 hours) and asked for, in Steve’s words:

“Onerous terms that we could not agree to.”

[via All Things D]

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Apple announces annual special music event for Sept. 1, Jobs says iOS 4 on iPhone 3G is getting fixed, More on LiquidMetal, and Facebook releases 3 updates in a week. And what does that guitar mean anyway? This is iPhone live!

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Facebook promised a fix for ailing iPhone users and here it (apparently is) — Facebook for iPhone 3.2.2.

They claim it fixes the login issue, which seems to have been primarily caused by conflicts with some Jailbreak apps.

We’ll let you be the judges of that, however. Working now?

[iTunes link]

If you read the comments on our Facebook 3.2 and Facebook 3.2.1 posts, you might see that the latest version(s) of the uber-popular social networking app is having a little trouble on Jailbroken iPhones. Looks like Facebook is aware of the problems and working on a fix:

If you have a jailbroken device, you may have experienced problems with our latest updates. We’ve identified the issue and have an update with a fix coming soon. Thank you for your patience.

BiteSMS for Jailbreak is often mentioned as a source of conflict. Until the fix is pushed out, you can uninstall it to get Facebook working, or just use touch.facebook.com to get your social on.

[Facebook, thanks Robert!]

Yesterday saw the launch of Facebook 3.2 with Places support for iPhone, and today sees Facebook 3.2.1 with bug fixes and the explanation that Places is being rolled out slowly and is currently not available outside the US.

If this update solved any problems you were having, or clarified any confusion, let us know!

[Thanks @shlov1]

Facebook has launched their own location-based check-in service called Places, and updated their iPhone app to support it, but will you be using it?

Some people maintain sharing your life, and your location, allows for “serendipitous” discovery — people who you may never otherwise know or meet see you’re nearby and take the opportunity to say hello. Others think it’s pretty much a gateway to everything from embarrassment to stalking.

What makes Facebook a little different is that even your friends can check you into Places, unless you turn them down or turn it off.

Who are you comfortable sharing your Places/location with? No one? Just friends? Friends of friends? Everyone?

Facebook Places not only lets you “check in” to various locations (a la Foursquare or Gowalla) but it allows your friends to check you in as well, which could be a little creepy. Luckily for those of us who prefer to keep where we are private, our good friend Phil Nickinson from Android Central tells us how to “just. stop. it.”:

You can disable that “feature” now by going into your privacy settings. Hit the “customize” link, scroll down to the “things other share” section, and disable the “Friends can check me into places” feature.”

Fortunately, the first time anyone tries to check you in you’ll get an email notification, but if you prefer to do your own dang checking in, thank you very much, follow Phil’s advice up top.

[Facebook via Android Central]

Facebook’s iPhone app has been updated to version 3.2 and, among other things, brings support for the new Places service that lets you see where your friends are and what location-based social activities they’re up to. (At least in the US, when I tried it it said it wasn’t yet available in my region.)

What else is new?

• You can set the privacy of individual status updates.
• See all recipients of inbox messages.
• (iOS 4) Upload photos and videos in the background.
• Fixed a delay when commenting on a post or posting a status update.
• Fixed some Notes display bugs.
• Fixed some reliability bugs in News Feed.

Places will also offer integration with existing location-based apps like Gowalla.

If you’ve tried it out, let us know how Facebook places is working for you on your iPhone…

Update 1: How to prevent your friends from checking you into Places.

Update 2: And here’s Facebook 3.2.1 with bug fixes.

Update 3: And here’s Facebook’s statement on known Jailbreak conflicts.

Update 4: And here’s Facebook 3.2.2 to fix the login issues.

[iTunes link, thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Take all your social media streams like Facebook and Twitter, flow them into a daring, dynamic iPad magazine and you have Flipboard. Billed as “everything you care about in one place” it will no doubt delight those who live for what our friends and those we follow are recommending, and annoy those who think the social web is a noisy, confusing crap-shoot. (Those deliberately without a social graph, of course, need not apply).

For me the key will be wether it gets stuck on meme-heavy, oft-repeated (or re-tweeted) content or whether it helps me better discover those little gems discovered by my more adept friends.

But why am I still typing, there’s an @lonelysandwhich video after the break!

[iTunes - Free]

Facebook for iPhone seems to be experiencing some — hopefully temporary — problems as we’re getting flooded with users saying it’s crashing for them on launch, repeatedly.

So take some solace in knowing it’s not you or your iPhone, it’s Facebook. Feel free to sound off in the comments until they get it fixed…

Update 1: As mentioned below, remember Facebook is a website and you can still go to http://www.facebook.com on your iPhone while you’re for the app to come back online.

Update 2: Seems to be working again, let us know if you still have any problems or notice any other glitches.

Facebook for iOS 4 has been updated to version 1.4. The new additions are as follows:

• Updated for iOS 4: Fast App Switching along with high resolution icons.
• Korean and Russian localizations.
• Other minor bug fixes.

Unlike the last Facebook update, there is no mention of the bugs that have been corrected.

Have you updated yet? If so let us know how it’s working for you!

Zynga’s Farmville has just sprouted its way onto the iPhone and is just waiting for you to harvest it via the iTunes App Store.

You can access your existing Facebook farm or start a new agrarian life from scratch. There’s also exclusive iPhone/iPod touch content — we’ve already seen snow leopards in honor of Apple’s current Mac OS X — and all of the same seeds, fruits, vegetables, and animals casual gamers have grown to love.

If you try it out, let us know how you like it.

[iTunes]

Facebook for iPhone has once again been updated, this time to version 3.1.3. Here’s the update list:

• You can now watch Facebook videos.
• You can now view and write on walls of events.
• Uploaded photos are now 720px wide.

And the bug-fixes:

• Could not comment on photos accessed from Notifications
• Could not upload photos smaller than a certain size
• No more than 2 notifications were highlighted as unread
• Status updates appeared out of order in News Feed
• Broken photo album links in News Feed
• Birthdays view had months in wrong order
• Last section of friend list was incomplete if you had fewer than 8 friends
• Notes with non-ASCII text were cut off at the end

Nothing on iOS 4 compatibility, still no universal binary for iPad? From the world’s biggest social network, we’re holding hope for both soon.

Did you update yet? Let us know how it’s working for you…

Patently Apple discovered a recently published Apple patent detailing an “Add Contact” workflow and “Social Networking” workflow that specifically uses Facebook as it’s main example. Now that does not mean this patent will not work with other social networks, but Facebook is the current king of the mountain and it makes sense considering that it was just last week heard Apple was looking to integrate Facebook into iPhone OS 4.

With the deep integration of social networking sites on various Android-based devices Apple does have some catching up to do. We all know, when Apple takes their time the final product usually tops all other implementations out there. Cut/Copy/Paste ring a bell? Good things come to those who wait.

[Patently Apple]

Rumor has it Apple could be increasing their Facebook integration for iPhone OS 4, perhaps to include contact sync and messaging support for end users and Facebook Connect for developers.

Apple’s relationship with social networks has been tentative at best, with Mac OS X 10.6 and iPhoto 09 offering rudimentary integration for things like photo tags. The Facebook app on the iPhone has done some contact syncing (initially with funny to off-putting results), but nothing thus far as hinted at Palm webOS or Microsoft Kin level integration.

Business Insider cites only a “source”, and coming as it does with Facebook once again in the eye of the user-privacy storm, it’s sure to be met with mixed reaction. Here’s why it might just happen:

Some 34.2 million people were “active users” of the Facebook iPhone app in the last month, according to Facebook. That’s about a little more than a third of all the iPhone OS devices — iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad — out there. And it’s almost 10% of Facebook’s 400 million users.

It’s one of the rare instances where Apple is way behind the consumer curve. They don’t “get” social media (perhaps their hyper-secretive corporate culture doesn’t allow them to) but they’re slowly and painfully realizing that if they don’t do something, they lose an element of user tie-in, and Apple certainly “gets” user tie-in.

[Business Insider]

Speaking of Facebook, it looks like they’ve joined the growing list of sites that are now providing HTML5 video for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad compatible playback. UPDATE: As noted in the comments, Facebook isn’t using HTML5, they’re pushing the video straight to the iPhone and iPad’s native H.264-compatible QuickTime player.

That list of compatible sites now includes YouTube and Vimeo, TED, Brightcove-powered sites such as New York Times and Time Magazine, CBS.com (in trial form),

Good news for us and for Apple, not great news for Adobe on the video front, as yet another reason for needing Flash bites the dust.

And boy does Hulu look like last-mover these days…

[MacStories via Redmond Pie]

Facebook recently announced some huge changes to how, where, and perhaps even why they operate — and it effects every Facebook users’ privacy. Short version: Facebook is “building the social web” by sharing your and your friends’ information with more apps, for longer, and via more places outside Facebook than ever before and they’re opting you into it by default.

If you’re the footloose and privacy-free sort who lives every moment online with little or no care about who knows what about you, then this likely doesn’t effect you one bit.

If you’re more guarded about your privacy and the privacy of your friends and families, if you’re concerned about who gets your information and where, then check out this guide to protecting your information on the new Facebook from Download Squad and get to clicking off those permissions (and no doubt cursing Facebook for not defaulting them to “OFF!” to begin with).

Facebook is obviously huge on the iPhone — one of the most popular apps of all time — so we’re curious what you think about these changes? Do you worry about your privacy online? Do these changes make you consider scaling back or removing your Facebook presence? Or do you figure the more information about more people available, the harder it will be to find anything about anyone specific?

[via @sethclifford]

The iPhone has a built in camera and with its always-on internet connectivity, it’s a great way to share your pictures with friends, families, colleagues, and the world.

• Send via mail. The classic iPhone way to send photos is through email. Just choose a picture, multi-select up to five and tap Share, or copy and paste a dozen or so right into the body of your message and send away. (Pro tip: the share button compresses your photos into smaller files for easier transport, pasting them in keeps them in full size for higher quality). This is also great if you’re sharing with someone who has a computer, since Windows, Mac, Linux, Unix — almost everything! — has an email client to receive them.
• Send via MMS. Yes, the iPhone finally has MMS so the same way you send photo via mail you can now send them via the Messages SMS/MMS app as well. This is the best option if you’re sending to another phone, especially a feature phone that doesn’t have email.
• Upload them to galleries. The iPhone will let you upload to Apple’s own (subscription required) MobileMe gallery. You can also upload to the popular Flickr site, and there are (of course) apps for that.
• Post them to a social network. If one-to-one is too few, and one-to-many sounds more like it, you can share your photos with your friends, your followers, or the whole wide world through your favorite social networks. Facebook is obviously huge here, with the app letting you upload and comment (when it works!) on photos. Thanks to integration with TwitPics and other, similar services, many popular Twitter clients like Twitterrific, Tweetie, TwitBit, etc. let you post pictures to your Twitter timeline for your followers to enjoy (and tweet back about).
• Hand them your iPhone. And for your non-computer friends, you can just launch the Photo app and pass them your iPhone. The modern equivalent of sneaker-net, after a few moments even your least tech-savvy family member will be swiping, pinching, and otherwise enjoying your camera work right into the palm of their hand.

How do you share photos on your iPhone? Have any special tips or tricks you can share? Let us know in the comments!