On Thursday this week, Facebook (s fb) is holding a press event focused on its mobile efforts. The “see our new Home on Android” tagline on the press invite is a not-so-subtle reference for what to expect, which should be two specific items: One focused on hardware and one on software. After months of Facebook phone rumors, some will focus on the actual hardware, but that’s not the big picture: Facebook’s software on other phones will have the larger impact.

The only way I can see being proved wrong on that is if Facebook reserves some must-have, “killer feature” for a Facebook-branded phone. The chances of that, however, are somewhere between slim and none.

Why? Because it really doesn’t benefit Facebook much to have a dedicated phone that offers a marginally better social networking experience; it won’t be enough to sell the phone. That’s why any phone unveiled at Thursday’s event…

One has to keep some skepticism on April Fool’s Day, but a software teardown of a reportedly leaked version of Facebook’s(s fb) software has the smell of legitimacy. Android Police claims to have the software that will run on Facebook’s own phone, as well as on other Android(s goog) devices. Facebook has a planned press event to show off its new “home on Android” later this week.

Why does the software leak seem like it could be the real deal to me? Because it fits exactly what I expect to hear out of the Facebook mobile event: A new homescreen dedicated to Facebook apps as well as a low-end to mid-range piece of hardware from HTC to showcase the software. And that’s exactly what Android Police has found through close examination of the software leak.

First the actual phone itself, specifications of which are found in the software. The HTC…

Remember Famo.us, the San Francisco-based start-up that wowed us with its ultra-brisk HTML5 and javascript demo at the Disrupt conference last year? Yeah, the same one that was co-founded by Steve Newcomb, one of the technology guys behind Powerset (now part of Microsoft’s (s MSFT) Bing) and the same person who got me excited about the possibilities of Famo.us technology in a data-rich world.

Imagine what Famo.us can do to an Amazon.com experience or even Walmart.com? Hermes could create a new, unique shopping experience, and Warby Parker can use data and design to create a personalized virtual store. Yup, I know I am getting ahead of myself … but hell, it is better than getting excited about yet-another calender app.

Now Famo.us is all set to show off its HTML5 development platform, which at least in demos, removes any advantages of the mobile-native operating environments. The native operating systems such…

It seems he’s at it again. Biz Stone, one of the co-founders of Twitter and the Obvious Corp., tweeted on Monday that he’s venturing back into new startup territory with his latest project called Jelly. (Of the fish variety, not the peanut butter one.)

In a blog post titled, “What is Jelly?” Stone didn’t actually explain much what Jelly is, but did hint at a mobile-oriented startup. And yes, the company is based in San Francisco and it’s hiring.

“People are basically good—when provided a tool that helps them do good in the world, they prove it.

Jelly is a new company and product named after the jellyfish. We are inspired by this particular animal because neurologically, its brain is more “we”…

Facebook’s (s fb) approach to advertising can feel incoherent, especially when it flings random marketing messages all over a user’s page. In recent months, however, the social network has introduced tools that make its ad operation more sophisticated — and are likely to net it much more money.

News of the latest tune-up came on Tuesday as Facebook(s fb) announced it will let marketers buy “sponsored stories” in a user’s News Feed on the basis of websites that the user has previously visited. Until now, Facebook only let brands buy stories based on a user’s profile — which is created from information the user told Facebook (age, location, “Likes” and so on).

The opportunity to use so-called “retargeting” is likely to be a hit with advertisers who regard ads based on a person’s browsing history to be especially effective and who consider Facebook’s news feed to be prime real estate. One industry executive 

This Thursday, Samsung will introduce its Galaxy S 4 smartphone in New York City. I’ll be there to cover the event and see the handset. But there may be little in the way of surprises at this point: On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported on several of the phone’s specifications provided to them by “two people familiar with the product.” And if you were hoping for something vastly different in the Galaxy S 4 compared to previous reports, you might want to reset your expectations.

Over the weekend, I wrote up what I features and functions I though the Galaxy S 4 will have and if Bloomberg’s sources are correct, I wasn’t far off. Per Bloomberg:

“The phone will sport a 5-inch screen, slightly larger than the one on last year’s S3, according to two people familiar with the product. The U.S. version will use Qualcomm Inc.’s quad-core chip, giving the phone…

For all of their emphasis on smartphones and data plans, carriers are still mainly in the business of talk. Ever since the first analog brick phone, operators have made their money and built their profits on voice and later SMS. This year, however, the balance will shift.

According to a new report from Chetan Sharma Consulting, data accounted for 44 percent of all U.S. operators’ service revenue in the 4^th quarter, and the rapid transition from dumb phones to smartphones is driving that number upwards. Meanwhile, unlimited talk plans are proliferating even as voice plan pricing is falling. That’s causing average voice revenue per subscriber to drop.

Eventually the rising data line and falling voice line will intersect on the industry’s revenue graph. Sharma plots that meeting point in the 4^th quarter of 2013, at which point operators will start to look more like ISPs than phone…

Less than a week after rolling out a brand new news feed design that emphasizes recommended content and a cleaner layout, Facebook (s fb) announced similar tweaks to its Timeline product on Wednesday, involving a simplified layout and sections for users to note their favorites books and movies.

The updated Timeline, originally launched in September 2011, will allow users to designate their favorite books, movies, and music, which makes sense as the updated news feed has specific tabs where users can view recommendations and news related to categories like music (Om wrote last week that he thought adding an emphasis on music was a smart element to the re-design). Clearly, Facebook needs more users thinking of the site as a place to talk about music, and emphasizing this on Timeline could help.

If users see a book or movie that a friend has marked as a favorite, Facebook will make it easier…

As anyone who has missed an important email knows by now, modern communications etiquette is a minefield of unspoken expectations and potential anxiety-inducing behavior. If you need further proof, all you have to do is look at some of the responses to a recent blog post by New York Times writer Nick Bilton about his approach to email, voice mail and texting: some reacted with distaste bordering on horror, while others cheered his take on the topic. Part of the problem is that different users look at these tools differently — and in some cases have wildly different views of what is appropriate and what isn’t.

For example, Bilton says his father insists on leaving him voice-mail messages but the NYT writer never listens to them, so his frustrated parent eventually called his sister to complain, and she told their father to text him instead — and Bilton adds that…

Owners of the $249 Samsung Chromebook have lived without Netflix since the device launched in October. That changes today as Google has announced support for Netflix on the device, with content delivered via HTML5. There’s no need to update the Chromebook(s goog); users can simply navigate to the Netflix(s nflx) website, login and start watching movies or television shows.

When I had first reviewed this Chromebook model, the lack of Netflix was a disappointment because all prior Chromebook models had Netflix support. One key difference in this particular netbook from Samsung was the chip architecture: It uses a Samsung Exynos chip, which is based on ARM(s armh). The other Chromebooks all use x86-based Intel(s intc) chips.

It’s interesting that Netflix now just works. A Google spokesperson says the solution is the result of collaboration with Netflix and Microsoft(s msft). That’s surprising as the initial reason Google provided for…

Looking for digital inspiration, or staring at an empty computer screen? Even at the tech nerd mecca that is SXSW in Austin, designer Von Glitschka has some radical advice for you: Close your laptop, shut off your iPad, and pick up a pencil. Open a paper notebook. And give doodling a shot.

“The computer is great, but it’s become a crutch for creative people,” he said. “My computer makes me more efficient … but that said, it’s just a tool. What designers need to do more today than ever before is bring a balance between analog and their digital skills. Because the methods that worked in the past can only benefit and enhance your work going forward.”

As a doodler and casual artist myself, I’m a huge fan of iPad apps like Paper that let you turn your tablet into a digital drawing and painting device. Even if you don’t…

“By the end of 2013, more than 50% of phone shipments will be smartphones, driven by more affordable models,” said Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg, who was speaking at a press conference at Mobile World Congress 2013 currently under progress in Barcelona. “As we have the internet in our pockets, our virtual and real worlds are coming together. Online interaction enriches our living, working and entertainment and breaks down barriers of time and place. By the end of 2013, there will be more mobile internet users than fixed internet users.”

Hotmail (s MSFT) and Outlook.com e-mail services are down again for many customers and have been for several hours, according to Twitter reports and Microsoft’s own Twitter Support account.

This is just more bad news for the popular Hotmail email service that suffered a big snafu on January 8, and folks don’t have much of a sense of humor about it.  Indeed some GigaOM commenters say the problems have persisted for them since that time — all the while the Microsoft status page registering no issue.  The UK’s IT Pro reported on the latest issue here, laying the blame on the snafu on the ongoing migration of Hotmail users over to Outlook.com.

An outage is definitely not good but  what’s really…

Apple(s AAPL) has about 400 stores in 14 countries, and they are at peak traffic — 370 million people walked through their doors last year.  But as the data below shows, while Apple is selling more iPhones, iPads and Macs than ever, it’s having a hard time keeping up on the retail store front. Horace Dediu at Asymco pulled together the data in a chart that shows how Apple isn’t building new stores fast enough relative to its expanding sales.

Apple’s net sales have taken off since the dawning of the iPhone era. New store ribbon cuttings were at their highest in 2008 — 47 opened that year — when net sales were at about $10 billion. But since then, Apple’s net sales per year have reached $40 billion and store openings haven’t been opening at the same rate.

Also during that time, Apple’s revenue from sales in its own stores…

Just as Apple(s AAPL) has come under increased pressure from shareholders for more product innovation, more details are leaking out about a new device the company is said to be working on.

Following reports earlier this week that Apple is working on a smart watch that runs iOS, Bloomberg reports it has heard a few more details about the project. Apple has 100 people working on the device, according to sources who are not named. Those people include marketing, software and hardware people within the company.

Specifically, Bloomberg names James Foster, who is senior director of engineering, and Achim Pantfoerder, a program manager, as two people who are working on making a wearable device.

Bloomberg’s report tracks with what the New York Times and Wall Street Journal wrote earlier this week. Those stories referenced a “watch-like” device made of curved glass that would run iOS. But Bloomberg’s story reporting the…

Just got the iPhone 5, and don’t know what to do with your perfectly fine iPhone 4? (Jerk). Well, there’s a growing amount of cell phone recycling kiosks coming to malls near you that will pay you cash for your discarded gadgets. ecoATM, a startup that is building out these networks, has just raised $41 million in debt financing from private equity firm Falcon Investment Advisors, according to a filing, which could help it start pushing out a much higher volume of these kiosks.

Five-year-old ecoATM’s kiosks use technology to identify the recycled item (like your basically new iPhone), quantify its condition and worth, and offer you compensation in cash or coupons. The company has about 300 kiosks across 20 states as of now, spokeswoman Anita Giani tells me, which is up from the 50 kiosks they had installed about a year ago.

That’s steady growth, though a…

Pinterest is raising a funding round that would put the company’s valuation between $2 billion and $2.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, noting that the talks aren’t yet finalized.

Pinterest allows users to bookmark images across the web and post them to personal boards, then share and like people’s photos to create virtual pinboards. The company was a stealthy startup success, and most recently raised a funding round of $100 million in May 2012 that put its valuation at $1.5 billion. That round was led by the Japanese site Rakuten, along with Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital.

A Pinterest spokeswoman said the company has no comment on “speculation or rumors.”

Speaking at GigaOM’s Roadmap conference in November, Pinterest CEO Ben Silberman talked about how the company has appealed to a variety of people who aren’t necessarily early tech adopters in New York and San Francisco, although…

With news the this morning that Dell’s board has agreed to a buyout that will make the company private again, the speculation about how the company will capitalize on its newfound freedom can officially begin. Divesting its flailing consumer PC business seems like a wise decision — if not a foregone conclusion — but I think Dell also needs to make some investments in order to really position itself as a leader in the enterprise IT space.

Some of these suggestions are bold, but it’s hard to see how Dell can continue to compete against IBM (s ibm), HP (s hpq) and Cisco (s csco) on one end and cloud services on the other without taking some risks. I actually think Dell is well positioned to be a big part of the future of IT if it just embraces a future that’s all about software and next-generation applications. Hardware…

Twitter put out a blog post on Tuesday confirming what was reported on Monday — that the company has officially acquired Bluefin Labs, the social TV analytics company, and will be folding the group into Twitter as part of the company’s partnership with Nielsen to understand how social activity interacts with TV.

Social media has grown to change how we experience live events, particularly those broadcast on television, and it’s understandable that Twitter would want to understand exactly how people are engaging with that content on its platform.

Twitter wrote that it thinks “Bluefin’s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences,” and builds on their work with Nielsen to come up with a Twitter TV rating system. The company wrote that it would honor existing Bluefin customer contracts but would not be establishing new ones:

“We plan to collaborate closely with…

A friend who is a Google engineer once thought of a great idea for a browser extension. So he set to work and over the next few weeks he had built a prototype. It then occurred to him to check whether anyone had already made a similar product.  Sure enough, a quick search turned up pages and pages of results for existing implementations of his concept – there was even a wiki to track the various incarnations!

It turns out this situation is common. Spend even a little time creating products and you quickly learn that every idea has been done before in some form or another. So to find success with your product, you need to rely on superior execution to make your product stand out and succeed. How do you execute on delivering the best engineering implementation?  Here are a few tips for each phase of software development.

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