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You Can Now Bing Search Your Friends’ Facebook Photos
From: PC World, The Register, Search Engine Land, Boy Genius Report, VentureBeat, Mashable!

Microsoft has inked yet another search deal with Facebook that this time allows users to find photos in Bing that were uploaded to the world’s biggest social network.¹

It would seem that Redmond’s $240m stake in Mark Zuckerberg’s company back in 2007 is still proving fruitful for the software maker.¹

So Bing just added a new way to search and browse your friends’ photos without all the clutter of status updates and friend requests.²

“On Bing, your Facebook privacy settings are always respected,” said Ian Lin, a senior program manager for Bing.³

“Your Facebook friends will only be able to see the photos you have made viewable, and you will only see photos your friends have made viewable, and your photos will never be shared with the public”.³



Image courtesy of None

1. Facebook Shoves Your Face in Microsoft’s Bing Thing (The Register)
2. Bing Adds Search for Facebook’s 300 Million New Daily Photos (Updated) (VentureBeat)
3. Bing Gets Even More Social, Allows You to Search Through Your Friends’ Facebook Photos (Boy Genius Report)
4. Search Facebook Friends’ Photos on Bing (Search Engine Land)
5. You Can Now Bing Search Your Friends’ Facebook Photos (Mashable!)
6. Bing Can Now Search Through Facebook Photos (PC World)

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Facebook to Roll Out Email- and Phone Number-Based Ad Targeting Next Week
From: TechCrunch, Gizmodo, VentureBeat

Facebook will be launching new features next week that allow advertisers to target their ads to customers based on contact information that the advertiser has already collected.¹

Today, temporarily, some users with access to Facebook’s Power Editor tool got a glimpse of a new targeted ad system the social network is prepping to roll out next week.²

InsideFacebook is reporting that a powerful tool granting premium advertisers access to users’ phone numbers and email addresses, as well as their user ID, has been in development, according to sources familiar with the company’s ad plans.²

Facebook is working on new ad technology that will allow businesses you already buy from, but are not connected with on Facebook, match your email address and your Facebook identity.³



Image courtesy of VentureBeat

1. Facebook to Roll Out Email- and Phone Number-Based Ad Targeting Next Week (TechCrunch)
2. The Annoying Thing Facebook Is About to Do With Your Phone Numbers and Emails (UPDATED) [Facebook] (Gizmodo)
3. New Facebook Ad Tech Will Let Advertisers Match Your Facebook Identity With Their Customer Database (VentureBeat)

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Brain Drain: Hackers Could Dip Their Phishing Poles Into Your Mind
From: VentureBeat, Threat Level

Or at least that seems to be the lesson of a new study which found that sensitive personal information, such as PIN numbers and credit card data, can be gleaned from the brainwave data of users wearing popular consumer-grade EEG headsets.¹

The paper, titled “On the Feasibility of Side-Channel Attacks with Brain Computer Interfaces,” represents the first major attempt to uncover potential security risks in the use of the headsets.¹

Commercially sold electrode-headsets, often used in gaming, can be hacked to extract your ATM pin number, birthday month, location, and more, according to Wired.²



Image courtesy of VentureBeat

1. Researchers Hack Brainwaves to Reveal PINs, Other Personal Data (Threat Level)
2. Brain Drain: Hackers Could Dip Their Phishing Poles Into Your Mind (VentureBeat)

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Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Are Now Targeted Based on Your Interests
From: Mashable!, TechCrunch, VentureBeat

Twitter is announcing a new way for businesses to target their Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts, according to a new blog post from Product Management Director Kevin Weil.¹

Twitter has today launched interest targeting, incentivizing advertisers with 350 more reasons to pay to promote their tweets.²

Interest targeting pivots around Twitter’s real-time interest graph and offers advertisers a way to target their messages to specific audiences by selecting from more than 350 interest-related categories.²

Offered interests include everything from specific life stages, particular pets, personal finance interests, style and fashion preferences, education levels, and movie and music genres.²

The move allows those with Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts to set a list of interests that those accounts and tweets specifically target.³



Image courtesy of VentureBeat

1. Twitter Expands Ad Program With Interest Targeting and 1 Cent Minimum Bids (TechCrunch)
2. Twitter Launches Interest Targeting to Help Advertisers Reach People in 350 Categories (VentureBeat)
3. Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Are Now Targeted Based on Your Interests (Mashable!)

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Walmart’s Homegrown Search Engine Already Paying Dividends
From: All Things Digital, Reuters, TechCrunch, GigaOM, Fast Company

Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s U.S. website got a boost in recent months from a new search engine developed by the world’s largest retailer, a company executive said on Thursday.¹

The technology, built by the company’s San Bruno, Calif., office, was designed over the past 10 months by 15 engineers, and is replacing Endeca, a third-party search engine acquired by Oracle.²

Walmart’s move to managing its own search in-house mimics the behavior of other online retailers, like eBay and Amazon, rather than its conventional brick-and-mortar peers.²

Walmart is today unveiling a new search engine named “Polaris” which now powers Walmart.com, as well as the company’s mobile web and mobile apps, and offers a 10%-15% increased likelihood that a customer will complete their purchase, the company claims.³



Image courtesy of All Things Digital

1. Wal-Mart Sees Online Boost From New Search Engine (Reuters)
2. Walmart’s Homegrown Search Engine Already Paying Dividends (All Things Digital)
3. In Battle With Amazon, Walmart Unveils Polaris, a Semantic Search Engine for Products (TechCrunch)
4. The Walmart Version of Search (Fast Company)
5. Walmart Builds Its Own Shopping Search Engine (GigaOM)

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Lift Launches Habit-tracking App for iPhone to Simplify Self-improvement
From: All Things Digital, VentureBeat

Startup Lift hopes to find itself in that category with the public release of an iPhone application that aims to make the process of developing good habits absolutely elementary.¹

If you had to break down motivation to its simplest bits, what would they be? According to the new iPhone app Lift, they are: setting goals, recording activity, getting support and seeing progress.²

Lift allows you to join or create a “habit,” click a big button once a day if you have met your goal, and give and receive props to other users.²



Image courtesy of VentureBeat

1. Lift Launches Habit-tracking App for iPhone to Simplify Self-improvement (VentureBeat)
2. Lift Launches Incredibly Simple Personal Motivation App (All Things Digital)

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LiftPort Hits Kickstarter Seeking Funds for Space Elevator Experiment
From: Engadget, SlashGear

LiftPort, a group that already holds the record for tallest elevator, is taking a second stab at the technology after going into “hibernation” in 2007.¹

Founder Michael Laine has resurrected the company and taken to Kickstarter to drum up interest (as well as a little cash) in his latest project — a lunar elevator.¹

We have seen all sorts of projects hit Kickstarter over the years from video games to iPhone docks and all sorts of stuff in between.²

What may be the strangest Kickstarter project I have ever seen is now seeking funding on the service from a company called LiftPort Group.²



Image courtesy of Engadget

1. Liftport Turns to Kickstarter for Space Elevator Experiment (Video) (Engadget)
2. LiftPort Hits Kickstarter Seeking Funds for Space Elevator Experiment (SlashGear)

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Kindle-Exclusive Books Have Been Downloaded Over 100 Million Times
From: Digits, Amazon, TechCrunch, VentureBeat

Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle-exclusive books have been purchased, downloaded, or borrowed from the Kindle library more than 100 million times, the company said Tuesday.¹

The books, which belong to a catalog of over 180,000, are nearly all available for Kindle owners with a Prime membership to borrow for free, as frequently as once a month, with no due dates.¹

Online retail giant Amazon is reporting that its exclusive ebooks have been downloaded over 100 million times, the company announced today.²

Apparently, Amazon has been crunching its own internal data this week in order to tout the traction surrounding its various products.³

More than 180,000 Kindle-exclusive titles are available in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library - Prime members can borrow them for free with no due dates.⁴



Image courtesy of VentureBeat

1. Amazon’s Kindle-Exclusive Books Surge Past 100 Million Mark (Digits)
2. With the Next-gen Kindle Event Looming, Amazon Sees 100M Exclusive Ebook Downloads (VentureBeat)
3. Amazon’s Kindle-Only Titles Downloaded Over 100M Times (TechCrunch)
4. Kindle-Exclusive Books Have Been Downloaded Over 100 Million Times (Amazon)

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John Hopkins Researchers Make Stem Cells From Blood Cells
From: PC World, Gizmodo

A team of Harvard University have developed a cyborg tissue material that is a literal mesh of nanoscale electronics and cells, able to support cell growth while at the same time monitoring biological activities at the cellular level.¹

The above image depicts smarts cells: “Alginate (white), a seaweed-derived material used in conventional cell scaffolds, is deposited around nanoscale metal wires (false-colored in brown) to form a three-dimensional electronic scaffold”.¹

Credit: Wikimedia Commons Stem cells are a miraculous cellular material that can be used to repair nerve damage, or even grow brand new organs.²



Image courtesy of Gizmodo

1. Cyborg Tissue Acts as Smart Scaffolding at a Cellular Level [Biotechnology] (Gizmodo)
2. John Hopkins Researchers Make Stem Cells From Blood Cells (PC World)

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Big Years for Instagram and Pinterest Bust Up the Social Networking Charts
From: Search Engine Watch, All Things Digital

Pinterest and Instagram have taken over in the race among niche social networks, both experiencing astronomical growth rates around the world.¹

While Facebook and Twitter should be expected to continue their reign as leaders in social, these alternative networks are growing in popularity, according to a new data from Experian.¹

“Instead, they both identified a gap in the market and used the scale of Facebook to reach consumers”.¹

Where the world market for social networks might have seemed boringly static a year ago, much has changed since then.²

Specifically, some relatively young sites are making a serious dent, according to research and analysis by Experian Marketing Services.²

Based on the habits of early adopters, Experian research head Bill Tancer predicted that the window is still open for additional niche social networks.²



Image courtesy of All Things Digital

1. Pinterest, Instagram, Niche Social Networks Global Market Share Grows (Search Engine Watch)
2. Big Years for Instagram and Pinterest Bust Up the Social Networking Charts (All Things Digital)

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