Webware

U.S. to lose lead for most Facebook users to India?

The U.S. has long been Facebook's top market, but according to analysts, that could soon change.

Speaking to CNBC in an interview published yesterday, Gartner principal research analyst Shalini Verma said that India's strong growth and expected increase in Web users over the coming years, will help the country overtake the U.S. in total Facebook users.

"India could overtake the United States in the next three years," Verma said during the interview with CNBC. "Last year, Facebook users in India doubled. Growth will be driven by mobile internet users in second- and third-tier cities."

If that more

Twitter announces support for Do Not Track

Twitter is the latest Web giant to support Do Not Track.

Ed Felten, chief technology officer at the Federal Trade Commission, announced today at an Internet Week privacy panel that Twitter will now stop tracking user data from those who opt-out. According to The New York Times, which was first to report on the news, Twitter's tracking will be nixed with help from Firefox's Do Not Track feature.

Twitter confirmed Felten's statement in a tweet today, saying that the company "now supports Do Not Track." Twitter also commended the FTC for its "leadership on Do Not Track."more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Why did Rakuten invest so much in Pinterest? Integration

Pinterest surprised Silicon Valley with the announcement overnight of a $100 million funding round led by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.

According to AllThingsDigital, more than $50 million of that sum came from Rakuten.

Why would Rakuten, which generated $4.7 billion in revenue last year, invest so much cash in Pinterest? According to TechCrunch, it may have a lot to do with Rakuten's interest in building its e-commerce business.

Rakuten offers user IDs similar to those from Amazon and Apple. Once people log in to a Rakuten or Rakuten-associated Web site, they can make purchases with the payment information more

How Facebook quickly took over the Web

Facebook is on its way to 1 billion users with an IPO around the corner. Not bad for a company with its roots in a Harvard dorm room.

But how did it achieve its grip on the global market? New findings from Nielsen offer a peek into some key milestones for the social network.

Facebook's user base currently numbers more than 900 million. But it's also one of the most visited Web sites in the world, according to Nielsen.

The site received around 152 million unique visits from people in the U.S. in March, which means that more

U.S. senators take aim at Saverin over citizenship move

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has angered two senators with his decision to renounce his U.S. citizenship -- the timing of which will allow him to avoid paying taxes on the IPO windfall.

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) announced today they will host a news conference at 8 a.m. PT to unveil a plan to stop people from renouncing their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying taxes. In addition, the plan will describe a new law that would bar "individuals like Saverin from reentering the country."

Saverin came under fire earlier this week when it more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Firefox gets a 'reset' button

Mozilla wants to cut down on the number of people who complain about Firefox not working properly, and they're giving you a one-click way to do it.

A new feature called Reset Firefox gives you the ability to "reset" the browser while keeping your personal data. Currently available in Firefox 13 beta for Windows, Mac, and Linux, the feature works by migrating your bookmarks, passwords, cookies, and form data to a new default profile. Then it kills off the old one, and you've got a clean Firefox installation without having to troubleshoot anything.

It does not save add-ons, more

Facebook's latest filing: Insiders are cashing in

Facebook today revealed that it will have more shares than expected available to investors when it goes public on Friday. But the social network won't be the one cashing in on it.

Facebook will now offer up to 484.4 million shares of class A common stock, including overallotment, when it goes public on Friday. In a filing yesterday, Facebook revealed that it was only planning to go public with a maximum of 388 million shares. The increase has pushed the maximum amount of cash potentially secured in the offering up $3.66 billion from $14.7 billion to $more

Google Music upsetting users with device-deauthorization rule

Google Music is catching some heat over at the XDA-Developers forum for reportedly limiting the number of devices that can be deauthorized from the service.

According to several forum posters, Google Music now only allows users to deauthorize four devices per year. Previously, users could deauthorize as many devices as they'd liked without worrying about hitting a limit, according to the forum posters.

In order for Google Music to work with devices, users must authorize them to work with the platform. Google limits the number of devices that can be authorized to 10. So, when users want to swap more

Despite GM's doubts, social ad spending set to soar

Although General Motors has decided that social-media advertising is not right for its business, a new study seems to indicate that few other companies agree.

Local-media consulting firm BIA/Kelsey yesterday revealed that U.S. social-media ad spending is expected to hit $9.8 billion by 2016, up from $3.8 billion last year. This year, companies are expected to spend $4.8 billion on social-network advertising.

BIA/Kelsey's findings come at a time when one of the largest companies in the world, General Motors, is calling Facebook advertising into question. In a report yesterday, The Wall Street Journal more

Facebook ups IPO again -- this time with more shares

Facebook today revealed that it will be offering more Class A common stock than initially anticipated, in a move that bulks up its breathlessly awaited IPO by almost 25 percent.

In a revised S-1 Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this morning, Facebook said that it will now offer 421.2 million shares of class A stock when it goes public on Friday. The company has also upped the amount of shares it will allow for overallotment from 50.6 million to 63.2 million. All told, the company could offer 484.4 million shares when it more