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Sonos 4.1 update improves Spotify, playlist support

Now that Logitech's Squeezebox is out of the picture, Sonos is one of the best streaming devices you can buy, but it hasn't been without its niggles. One of the previous criticisms of the Sonos software was that playlist support was limited and couldn't incorporate songs from Spotify; the newest software update promises to remedy this.

The Sonos 4.1 update allows users to not only manage their Spotify playlists and playlist folders but also to create new Sonos playlists from multiple music sources.

Sonos says you can now select tracks from any music source and add … Read more

Facebook verifying celebrities, journalists, and brands

Facebook said Wednesday that it has begun to verify the Facebook Pages and profiles of public figures.

"Today we're launching verified Pages to help people find the authentic accounts of celebrities and other high-profile people and businesses on Facebook," the company wrote in its announcement. "Verified Pages belong to a small group of prominent public figures (celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brands and businesses) with large audiences."

Just as on Twitter, Facebook's verified accounts will feature a little blue check mark. You'll find the mark next to verified accounts on Timelines, in search … Read more

Sheryl Sandberg: Teens not abandoning Facebook

RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. -- Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg isn't overly concerned that teenagers will abandon the giant social network, as a Pew study reported. "We're the leaders in a growing market," she said during an onstage interview at the D: All Things Digital conference here. She acknowledged, though, that teens are using sites such as Tumblr and Twitter more. "We are watching that very carefully," she said.

Sandberg also noted that social networking and other Internet activities still trail TV in terms of time spent. Users on average watch 34 hours … Read more

SEC fines Nasdaq $10M over Facebook IPO

Analysts might attribute more blame with the Nasdaq now over Facebook's bungled initial public offering last year thanks to a new decision from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC is charging the American stock exchange with a $10 million penalty over poor decisions made as well as systems set up during the IPO and secondary trading scheme for shares of the world's largest social network.

According to the government agency itself, this is the largest penalty ever slapped against an exchange.

The SEC issued a memo on Wednesday detailing the rationale behind the decision. Here'… Read more

The Internet is becoming more mobile by the day

The worldwide Internet population is growing rapidly -- and that growth might have something to do with mobile devices.

Speaking today at the AllThingsD D11 Conference, Mary Meeker, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Meeker, reported that 2.4 billion people around the world are on the Internet -- an 8 percent year-over-year gain. Still, only 34 percent of the world's population is online. In the U.S., the Internet population penetration sits at 78 percent, according to Meeker.

Perhaps the biggest news from Meeker's presentation was the staggering growth in … Read more

Dish Network dishes out social app for its subscribers

Dish subscribers can now combine a bit of social networking with their TV viewing.

Available starting Wednesday, Social is the name of a new app for Dish's Hopper Whole-Home DVR that lets people watch a show and follow relevant posts or comment about it at the same time.

The app taps into both Twitter and Facebook.

Dish subscribers can follow a Twitter feed related to the show or channel currently being watched. They can access their own Twitter feed to tweet, reply to a tweet, favorite a tweet, or retweet someone else's post. They can also log into … Read more

Facebook, Waze reportedly call off acquisition deal

Mobile app maker Waze apparently won't be joining the ranks of Facebook.

After months of chatting about a potential acquisition of Waze by Facebook, the two companies have put an end to the discussion, according to AllThingsD. Facebook had reportedly been ready to spend as much as $1 billion to pick up the navigation app maker. But the two apparently couldn't reach an agreement.

Sources told AllThingsD that talks fell apart recently due in part to disagreements over whether the Israel-based Waze team would move to the U.S. and integrate itself into Facebook's California headquarters. Other … Read more

Review: Photo Zoom for Facebook for Chrome helps users view Facebook images

Photo Zoom for Facebook lets you zoom in on profile photos and images in photo albums whenever you hover over them, which makes the process of viewing larger images on Facebook much easier. This browser extension is easy to use and functions well.

After installing Photo Zoom for Facebook as a Google Chrome extension, the free program offers no additional window, but operates in the background during browsing. A preferences menu does allow some appearance options to be changed such as show or hide captions where possible, zoomed opacity, delays, etc., but little else, although the shortcut features were useful. … Read more

#Hashtags: Facebook's missing link to pop culture

Scan Twitter, Instagram, or Tumblr. Watch your favorite television show, or even listen to the radio, and you might notice that the biggest social network of them all is disconnected from pop culture -- at least when it comes to hash tags.

Hash tags are a form of expression that Facebook, like your grandparents, just can't understand. The social network appears motivated to change that, although a spokesperson wouldn't share details on when and how it will roll out hash tags.

However it shakes out, hash tags on Facebook are long overdue. Their presence could help Facebook lure … Read more