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Facebook struggles with monetizing search, kills sponsored results

Facebook is removing sponsored results from search less than a year after the ad unit's introduction.

"In keeping with the goal of streamlining our ad products, starting in July advertisers will no longer be able to buy sponsored results," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET.

The failed unit, which let marketers target users during the search process, suggests that the company is still struggling to understand how best to monetize search attention, something that competitor Google mastered long ago. Sponsored results seemed to be modeled after Google's sponsored search ads. As a user typed in a query … Read more

Google Search brings nutrition data to more than 1,000 foods

Ever wondered how many calories are in a burrito? How about grams of fat in a donut? Or, carbs in a potato?

All of these food and nutrition stats, and more, can now be found on Google Search. The Web giant announced Thursday that it was introducing detailed nutrition information for more than 1,000 fruits, vegetables, meats, and meals in both its desktop and mobile search.

"From the basics of potatoes and carrots to more complex dishes like burritos and chow mein, you can simply ask, 'How much protein is in a banana?' or 'How many calories are … Read more

Twitter #Music off to a glitchy start

CNET Update is not a Belieber:

Twitter #Music launched, but it hasn't quite found the beat. Bridget Carey explains the new music-discovery tool and its bugs -- and how to avoid embarrassing judgements about your music taste.

Also in this tech rundown:

- Facebook's latest changes include icons in status updates and Open Graph on mobile.

- Google bans early Glass owners from selling or loaning out units. If that happens, Google will deactivate the Glass unit. Harsh.

- Adding to previous reports, an image of a plastic iPhone has been posted online.

- In a survey of … Read more

Facebook launches new tools for mobile, including Open Graph

Facebook on Thursday announced three new products, including Open Graph for mobile, to boost its presence in the fast-growing smartphone and tablet markets.

The company said in a blog post and at its mobile developer conference in New York that along with making it easier to implement Open Graph on mobile, Facebook also is improving Facebook Login and is releasing a new SDK 3.5 for iOS.

In addition, Facebook also announced a new partner program to help developers integrate Facebook on a variety of mobile platforms. Some early partners include C# SDK for Windows 8 by Microsoft, Corona SDK … Read more

Facebook wrestles Google for control of your phone

Facebook doesn't want anything to come between you and your friends, not even Google or Android.

Facebook today unveiled a new downloadable user interface that takes over your smartphone's home screen, lock screen, and wallpaper. Instead of the regular Android features, you're treated to a slideshow of updates, photos, and shared links.

Facebook wants to take direct control of its user base, and it's going about it in a smart way. Home, which will be available for download on April 12 on select Android phones, isn't a new phone or operating system, or even a … Read more

Facebook reveals new Social Graph data

Facebook continues to pull back the curtain on some of the technical details behind its search products, this time with a new look at the Social Graph.

The social network's latest reveal is about LinkBench, a new database benchmark for the Social Graph, which is being released this week on GitHub.

(For reference, according to Facebook engineers, the Social Graph is a graph data structure involving an "immense map" of people, places, and things and the connections between them.)

Touted as a tool for developers who need to benchmark and fine-tune database systems, LinkBench was designed to … Read more

The 404 1,232: Where we see through your Subreddit (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- How Facebook knew a man was gay before anyone else did .

- NYC subways deploy a touch-screen network, complete with apps and Wi-Fi.

- Man who got porn site logos tattooed on his face now somehow regrets his decision.

- Lululemon pulls popular yoga pants for revealing too much.… Read more

Facebook Graph Search to add posts, comments to search

Facebook posted a deep dive of the tech behind its Graph Search ranking system today and buried at the bottom was a promise of new features: posts and comments search.

Sriram Sankar, an engineering manager on Facebook's search infrastructure team, wrote in the post that Facebook next steps include a better search on mobile and new content.

"We are also extending our search capabilities to do better text processing and ranking and have better mobile and internationalization support. Finally, we are also working on building a completely new vertical to handle searching posts and comments," he wrote. … Read more

Facebook reminds you that Graph Search is too cool for you

Hey, remember that next-generation search product Facebook launched over a month ago that you still don't have access to?

Well, there's good news.

No, you're not getting Graph Search yet, but Facebook wants you to know that other people really love it.

The social network today published a blog post to remind people of all the fantastic ways they can use can the shiny new search engine to find people, places, photos, and interests.

"We are still hard at work on building Graph Search, but want to share some of our favorite ways people are using … Read more

Yelp: We compete with print -- not Google or Facebook

Google, who? Facebook, huh? Yeah, that's right. The Internet behemoths don't pose any threat to business-reviews site Yelp and its still-blossoming local advertising business. Well, that's Yelp's attitude anyhow.

"Today, we're really competing with print, radio, and television," Geoff Donaker, Yelp's chief operating officer, said Tuesday when speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom conference.

But what about Internet businesses like Google and Facebook? Donaker is sure the pair will compete with Yelp in the local advertising arena eventually -- emphasis on eventually. Yelp will let that battle "play … Read more