Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr is certainly big news, but they have promised that the blogging site will remain the same as it is now. But much needed changes have arrived for Flickr, which was acquired by Yahoo back in 2005 (and then neglected until now).

The changes that have arrived include updates to the Flickr web experience, a new Android app, and a new business model which is meant to attract new users to the site.

Via the new look, the focus is on the photos. Users will now be able to enjoy big thumbnails, full-screen pictures by default, and an image’s metadata is below the fold. Your photostream will display a big tiled view of your pictures, and there’s an easy share button for sharing pictures to the social network of your choice. The Android app is also making photos the focus. The screenshot of the app below shows photostream on the left hand side and Explore section on the right hand side.

So, big changes to how the site looks. But even bigger is what’s available to free account holders. From now on, free users have access to 1TB of storage. Earlier it was limited to 300MB of photos and two videos per month. And back then there was just one paid version: unlimited photos and videos per month, no ads, and detailed statistics for $24.95 a year. From now on, there are two paid options: $49.99 a year with no ads but everything else is the same as the free version, and for $499.99 you will get 2TB of storage. Only those who are having paid accounts at the moment can renew subscriptions. This pricing strategy has just one goal, which is attracting new users to its free service and discouraging subscriptions.

According to Adam Cahan, SVP of Mobile and Emerging products at Yahoo, Flickr has 89 million users at present who have uploaded more than 8 billion photos. But that’s nothing compared to Facebook’s more than 1 billion users and 240 billion pictures. Maybe Yahoo is a bit too late with this Flickr update, though it’s better late than never.

But the new look is not being accepted by Flickr’s current users, although we think that it’s a good update. The site certainly looks and feels way better and could attract many new users with their new strategy. The current users will certainly adapt, at least Yahoo could be hoping so. And everything appears to have come at the right time; an awesome update and an acquisition of one of the biggest blogging platforms.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer says, “We have a nice set of the creator brands. Photographers and writers. With that, there is natural set of opportunities that arise between Flickr and Tumblr and we’ll deal with that as it comes”.

Maybe things are starting to get better for Yahoo. What do you think? Do you have plans to start using Flickr? Do let us know in the box below.

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Although Matias Duarte earlier said that Facebook Home is impressive, even he would agree that there’s more work to be done on the app which still has only managed just 2.2 average rating at Google Play. But Facebook seems to have big plans for Home for the future, according to Vice President of Mobile Engineering Cory Ondrejka and Director of Product Adam Mosseri.

There is good news for those who are worried about the disappearance of Docks and Folders in Home. A future update will bring those features into Home’s application launcher. Mosseri says, “We want to ease the transition from your old launcher to the new launcher“. But support for widgets will take more time to arrive. Home users will also get to play with a new Buddy List feature which will allow Chat Head conversations to be started directly from Cover Feed.

Furthermore, they will also introduce the so called “Blues Clues” which will guide users through the application via directions and clues, not unlike the pop ups received by Facebook’s web users.

Other developments for the future include support for Home on more devices including tablets, although they are currently just focussed on improving the app than introducing it on more hardware. And as for an iOS version, Ondrejka says, “If there are hooks available, we’ll take advantage of them—I don’t think we see a way to do something like Cover Feed just yet“.

And you can also look forward to seeing advertisements, after the app is improved a great deal. But they are promising that the ads will go well with the Cover Feed.

So far, Facebook Home has been downloaded almost a million times. They have just released an update that will fix a few bugs, but no hints regarding when the above said features will arrive.

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The Facebook Home was downloaded 500k times within nine days of its release, but most of the people had only complaints to post about the new app. But Matias Duarte, the man behind Android’s transformation, has only praises for the Home.

Duarte has commended the Facebook team and he seems to be impressed by the app’s “incredible amount of polish and attention to design detail”. He is not “threatened” by Home, and of course he shouldn’t be, and he is reminding us that the app shows the openness, choice, creativity and innovation available to everyone via Android.

As you know, the app takes over your Android smartphone in a way that won’t be appealing to most fans of the Android experience. But Facebook Home is just what its makers said it would be. Hardcore Facebook users seem to be enjoying it, though some became bored by the app due to the lack of options and features, and it’s also a battery killer. But updates will fix those, hopefully, after which the average rating will probably go up from the current 2.2.

Are you using Facebook Home now? You can share your thoughts on it below.

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Facebook Home, which was announced at the beginning of this month, hit Google Play on the 12th of April. Now, after nine days it has surpassed 500k downloads. But it will be interesting to know how many people hang on to it.

That number, although it sounds awesome, is not so big especially when we think about the number of Facebook users around the world. And in comparison, when Instagram was launched on Android it hit over 5 million downloads in just six days. Of course Home is just available on few devices including the Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, HTC One X and One X+, and the HTC First. The numbers are expected to increase after Facebook expands compatibility in the future.

As you probably know, Google Play does not show the number of uninstalls. So far reviews about the new app have been mostly bad, with complaints about battery life getting killed faster, constant freezing of the home screen, and questions such as why anyone would be “on Facebook all of the time”? It seems many have already uninstalled it.

We do think that the new app will be a great experience, but for only those who are VERY dedicated to Facebook. Features such as the Chat Heads are very convenient, though the lack of folders and widget support is a bit disappointing.

Of course Facebook will be listening to feedback and reply with updates, but it seems that they should start work ASAP. What do you think about Facebook Home? Did you install it? And are you still using it? We wonder what the guys over at Apple are thinking right now.

The post Facebook Home Installed 500k Times, But How Many Times Has it Been Uninstalled? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Facebook introduced their “Home” app which converts Android handsets into a Facebook phone, replacing the Android homescreen with a Facebook experience which includes images, status updates, and notifications. If you think that this is just good for Facebook, think again. Let’s take a look why this new app is good for both Facebook and Google, and why Apple comes into the picture.

For Google, many might say, this app is bad news. Via Android the search giant is able to pull users towards its services, such as Maps and Gmail, and its ads. But when Home comes into the picture, Facebook comes between users and Google, steering customers to the social network’s own services and ads. For hardcore users of Facebook, the Home app is certainly exciting since from now on they don’t have to get tired finding the Facebook app and opening it before being able to take a look at updates from friends.

But that excitement is available only on Android and that’s what is good for Google and that’s where Apple comes in. Google said in a statement, “The Android platform has spurred the development of hundreds of different types of devices. This latest device demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Android so popular”. “Hundreds” mean the more choices available to customers via Android, something that they don’t get from Apple. The “latest device” which is the HTC First shows the openness and flexibility of Android; here Google is reminding everyone about Apple’s restrictions. Facebook couldn’t have introduced Home if Google followed a strategy similar to that of Apple.

Google also said, “And it’s a win for users who want a customized Facebook experience from Google Play — the heart of the Android ecosystem — along with their favorite Google services like Gmail, Search, and Google Maps”. It seems that the company wants to make sure that the attention is back on its own services.

So there is no need for Facebook to come out with its own OS or phone and Google gets to fire darts at Apple. Although Apple won’t be too worried about all these, they surely will take it seriously as iPhone users could soon start asking questions such as why a feature like Home is not available on their device.

The post Home Good For Both Facebook And Google, But Not Apple appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

If a new rumor is to be believed, Facebook’s upcoming April 4th event will be focused on the social network giants first foray in the mobile operating arena. Like many before them, Facebook has opted to adapt Google’s Android OS to incorporate their own social media apps including Facebook Messenger, Photos and Contact applications.

The first phone to run the Facebook Home OS is rumoured to be running on the all new HTC Myst which sources close to the company say looks a lot like the iPhone 5 and will feature a physical home button and 4.3-inch display.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the custom Facebook Android OS is going to look like. What we are really curious about is how well it will be accepted, though. What do you think, interested in the idea of a Facebook Android fork?

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Tumblr has passed a big milestone but it appears like they are not too excited about it as there haven’t been any big celebrations so far. Tumblr is now home to over 100 million user blogs with over 44.6 billion posts. Those are certainly pretty good numbers since the number of blogs and posts have more than doubled in just a year.

In April last year, Tumblr flew past 50 million blogs, a mark which they took five years to reach. From there they have taken just a single year to repeat the feat, and 6 million of those were created this month alone. According to Tumblr’s about page, at the time of writing this there have been 80,231,645 posts to the site just today.

So, although Facebook and Twitter are still going on strong, Tumblr has managed to pull in a really nice audience. But will they be able to turn this growth into real money? These numbers will mean nothing if they can’t find a way to successfully monetize from the impressive growth.

What do you think about Tumblr? Are you one among the 100 million?

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The post Tumblr Reaches 100 Million Blogs appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Thankfully, it is an opt-in system. Only those subscribers who choose to share their viewing habits will have said viewing habits become visible to their friends (and vice versa). When you start watching another episode of Big Bang Theory, for example, that can get posted on your wall and then your friends can comment on your viewing activity. They can tell you why Sheldon is so awesome (or not).

The interesting thing is that while this Facebook integration is only rolling out this week, Netflix announced its intention to do this way back in July 2011. Then, they got hit by the US law that prevents rental companies from publicizing member rental history. They fought it and won. It’s likely that they’ll be expanding the social aspects of their service moving forward. Some GetGlue integration would make a lot of sense, don’t you think?

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The world of social networking is crowded and when we say crowded we do not mean the millions of people using social networking sites, we refer to the websites. As you can see in this list, it’s not just Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, but many more. One that is becoming popular lately is Pheed, which was launched late last year and last month topped the App Store’s social networking category.

Pheed allows its users to post text updates, photos, video and audio clips, and you can even create a live broadcast. So it’s Facebook + Twitter + Instagram + YouTube + UStream.

According to the company, 81% of Pheed users are between the age 14 and 25. This popularity among teens is most probably because Pheed got a lot of publicity on Twitter via many influential teenagers including Acacia Brinley, Pia Mia, and Garrett Backstorm.

One other attractive feature on Pheed is that it allows users to charge $1.99 to $34.99 for accessing their ‘channels’, one can choose either pay-per-view or a monthly subscription. Many celebrities including Miley Cyrus and Paris Hilton are currently on Pheed with thousands of subscribers. But the question is whether users will subscribe to a celeb if they have to pay, since they can follow him/her on Twitter for free.

Pheed is both a website and an app. It’s available via the App Store and online. So, are you already using it or not?

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Millions of people use Facebook every day, and Mark Zuckerberg and his team like to keep it that way. That’s why they have introduced a revamped news feed for making home pages cleaner and more vibrant, and thereby ensuring that users stay interested in the world’s most popular social networking site. But, it appears like it’s going to take a while before the redesigned news feed hits all users around the world.

Kate O’Neill, Facebook product marketing manager, said, “This is an update to a service hundreds of millions of people around the world use every day, so we need to make sure this experience feels as great as possible”.

The redesign will only be available to a small number of Facebook users today. As for everybody else, you guys can just wait or if you want to speed things up a bit, you can head to facebook.com/newsfeed for signing up for the waiting list. And the mobile version of the news feed will start rolling out in the next couple of weeks.

Regarding what all things are coming, the new news feed will be less cluttered and you will get bigger photos and videos, along with the ability to choose categories such as All Friends, Photos, Music and Following for sorting through posts more easily.

What do you think of the redesign, too similar to Google+?

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The post Facebook Announces Revamped News Feed, Will Slowly Rollout appeared first on Mobile Magazine.