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After two days of increasingly loud arguments, the flap over Instagram's new terms of service has started to quiet down. Amid widespread concern the Facebook-owned company was about to start selling user photos to advertisers, the company yesterday said it "has no intention" of doing so, and would change its terms of service to reflect that intention.

At this point we should probably turn our attention to more pressing worldly concerns, of which there are plenty. And yet the fracas has revealed something ugly in the way that many in the tech press blame average people for … Read more

Facebook started testing another version of its Pinterest-like Collections feature today, adding more retailers and testing out a few more buttons.

In addition to buttons for "collect" and "want," Facebook is testing the words "save," "add," and "Wishlist." Users will see different words depending on which test group they are in. A Facebook spokeswoman said the company is using the latest test -- which follows one in October that debuted the feature for businesses -- to understand how people interact with and share the items from a Collection to their … Read more

The lovely thing about advertising is that most of it is forgettable.

Which makes the task of remembering the very good and the very bad at the end of the year much, much easier.

The best, most certainly, is barely even a contest. As the spittle flew in court between Apple and Samsung, the latter had some very clever ad people produce ads that, at last, began not only to improve Samsung's own image, but also to dent Apple's.

Indeed, from the Super Bowl onward, Samsung relentlessly pressed Apple on its cultism, its allegedly sheep-like following and its, … Read more

Offensive or controversial messages posted to social networks might not lead to prosecution if users show a little remorse, the U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Service said today.

In a 14-page guide (PDF) published today on prosecuting cases related to social-media use, the CPS said that while some posters might publish "grossly offensive, obscene, or false" information on Twitter or Facebook that they could be prosecuted for, they can escape such issues if they quickly remove it from the site.

"If a message is taken down very swiftly and there is remorse, then it may not be proportionate to have a criminal prosecution," Keir Starmer, director of public prosecutions, said today in an interview with the Guardian. "It is not a defense that you have sobered up, but it is relevant that whatever the material was, it was taken down pretty quickly when the person realized it was inappropriate."… Read more

Facebook 4 Mac is an app that lets you access your Facebook account from outside a Web browser. A free download, Facebook 4 Mac installs quickly and with no issues.

Facebook 4 Mac launches with a log-in window in which you enter your Facebook account credentials. From there, you can use this app to access your friend list, browse mail and chat sessions, and perform many actions you would normally perform through a Web browser. Essentially providing the Facebook interface in an app form instead of a browser window, Facebook 4 Mac allows you to interact with Facebook without worrying … Read more

The backlash over announced changes to Instagram's terms of service has led National Geographic to suspend its posting activity on the photo-sharing app.

The Facebook-owned app ignited a storm of protest with the announcement earlier this week that it was claiming perpetual rights to sell users' photographs without payment or notification. Under the new policy, Facebook claimed the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, effectively transforming the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency.

National Geographic, a magazine long respected for presenting high-quality photographs … Read more

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he let go of nearly $500 million today by donating it to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

This nonprofit foundation focuses on grant giving to serve the community in the San Francisco peninsula. Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post today that he, his wife, Priscilla Chan, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation will work together to "look for areas in education and health to focus on."

The hefty sum of cash comes as a gift of 18 million Facebook shares, which is valued at more than $498 million, based on the social … Read more

Autoplay video ads may be coming to Facebook's news feed within the next six months, according to AdAge.

These video ads are supposedly scheduled to hit the desktop version of the social network first, then could be rolled out to mobile. According to AdAge, the ads will most likely play 15 seconds, could be targeted to certain users, and may even have an auto-audio function. On the desktop version, the ads are expected to get users' attention by expanding out of the site's news feed into the left and right columns.

Facebook's goal is to attract advertisers … Read more

Instagram apologized to its users today, saying it will "remove" language from its legal terms that would have let it sell users' photos or use them in advertisements.

In a blog post this afternoon, Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said it's "our mistake that this language is confusing" and that the company is "working on updated language."

"Since making these changes, we've heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about what the changes mean," he wrote.

Instagram's terms of use agreement announced yesterday sparked a user revolt … Read more