rumors

The Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka reported Thursday morning that he heard MySpace will be announcing a partnership with Google's new social-networking project, OpenSocial--potentially before the end of the day.

MySpace, which already has its search and advertising functions powered by Google, has not yet responded to requests for comment.

If true, this would probably be a good thing for MySpace, which has lost its place in the social media spotlight to Facebook (though it still leads in traffic and membership) and is struggling to play catch-up by working on a developer platform strategy that may not see … Read more

The LG Rumor is one of LG's more popular fall offerings, and there's a reason why. The Rumor is one of those rare phones that has a built-in QWERTY keyboard but is most definitely not a smartphone. This messaging-centric device has a hidden slide-out QWERTY keyboard that is vaguely reminiscent of the LG F9200, plus it comes with a few multimedia extras like a 1.3-megapixel camera and a music player. Another nice touch is the instant access to Facebook right from the Messaging menu. Don't get your hopes up about the Rumor being a good Web … Read more

Following rumors that MySpace co-founder and "everybody's friend" Tom Anderson was lying about his age on his profile, Newsweek did a little digging. According to "professional license information, voter registration and utility and telephone service applications," Anderson is actually 36, not 32.

Which means that he was 31, not 27, when he co-founded MySpace, and apparently he was either self-conscious or sketched out (or both) about being in his 30s when he founded a youth-oriented social network.

TechCrunch's Michael Arrington expressed concern, saying that "the fact that MySpace and News Corp. had knowledge … Read more

When Facebook confirmed widespread blog rumors that it would be making a major advertising announcement on November 6, a few people pointed out that this date may have been a strategic one. The previous day, November 5, had been widely rumored as the day when Google would leverage its Orkut social network along with a host of other software properties (Google Reader, perhaps, or new acquisition Jaiku) into a powerful social networking tool to rival Facebook's.

But now Google has allegedly delayed its own announcement by several days, according to reports. A TechCrunch source claims that the project "… Read more

The fireworks have faded, the champagne has been uncorked and drunk, and now it's time to get down to business: Now that Microsoft has acquired a $240 million stake in Facebook to expand its advertising partnership, how is either company going to profit from the deal?

"That's the question that has surrounded social networks for the past few years," said Debbie Williamson, an analyst at eMarketer. "Right now, a lot of (the revenue) is from old-fashioned banner advertising that's not very targeted, it's inexpensive, and very plentiful."

The common wisdom is that … Read more

Looks like the "$240 million poke"--also known as the high-profile stake in Facebook that Microsoft acquired on Wednesday--may not have been the only deal-making. Forbes' Elizabeth Corcoran posted a quick blog entry saying that she'd heard two New York-based hedge funds had each handed over about $250 million to the cash-fueled social network. The Silicon Alley Insider notes that this makes sense, as rumors had pointed to a $750 million goal for the financing round in the first place.

Facebook representatives declined to comment on the matter.

Additionally, Fake Steve Jobs (who is really a Forbes reporter … Read more

Looks like every social-media-obsessed blogger's predictions have been correct: the Facebook news just won't stop flowing out of Palo Alto, Calif. And it's still coming.

On Wednesday morning, some inconvenient blogger leaks led the company to admit that it will be making a major, advertising-related announcement in New York on November 6. Then, at the CTIA Wireless conference, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz not only announced a BlackBerry-friendly version of Facebook's mobile platform, he also said that developers using the Facebook Platform are now welcome to extend their applications to the mobile realm.

Now, some dirt-digging by … Read more

Answer: Most likely.

Valleywag first heard the news when a keynote speaker at a Vancouver-area "Facebook Developer Garage" event on Tuesday had to cancel in advance because he learned that he had to be present for a company all-hands meeting that day. The gossip blog promptly speculated that something rather big might be on the way very soon.

To do some investigation, I promptly checked my Facebook friends list to see if any company employees who have kindly "friended" me had anything incriminating in their "status" messages. I won't quote them directly, nor … Read more

It hasn't been a rumor for a couple weeks now, but today the announcement came from Sprint on the release of the LG Rumor. (There's one name we really don't get).

Based vaguely on the earlier LG F9200, the Rumor has a slider design that hides a full QWERTY keyboard. You can get it in an eye-catching blue-and-black color scheme, pictured here, or a more pedestrian silver. The feature set isn't too shabby. It includes Bluetooth, a media player, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Sprint Navigation, integrated access to Facebook and Xanga, a 4GB capacity MicroSD card … Read more