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Here's why the Facebook phone flopped

The HTC First, also known as the Facebook phone, was unofficially declared a disaster after AT&T dropped its price from $99 to 99 cents on Wednesday.

Is anybody surprised?

Even in an industry known for liberal smartphone discounts, the price drop of the First -- which comes less than a month after its debut -- came relatively quickly. That suggests what many of us have suspected: that the First was dead on arrival.

Despite an army of naysayers, the First actually had a lot going for it. It had the backing of a well-known name in Facebook, which … Read more

Dud alert: 'Facebook phone' on sale for 99 cents

Less than a month after its release, the HTC First, also known as the first "Facebook phone," is selling for the clearance price of 99 cents with a two-year contract with AT&T.

The mid-range smartphone, which arrived on April 12 and was previously selling for $99, comes preloaded with Facebook Home, the social-networking software package that turns the device's home screen and lock screen into Facebook-only zones.

The dramatically reduced price point seems to confirm our earlier suspicions that Facebook wasn't proving to be much of a sales pitch.

HTC avoided sharing sales figures … Read more

How to set your Trusted Contacts on Facebook

Last week Facebook rolled out a new Trusted Contacts feature to help make your account more secure. Should you lose access to your account, either by forgetting your password or having your account "hacked," you can enlist the help of three to five friends to regain access.

Once you're locked out of your account, you'll need to reach out to those people you have added as Trusted Contacts and ask them to help you out. Here's what you'll need to do on your end to get it set up.

Log in to your Facebook … Read more

Nine tips to help you manage the BlackBerry Hub

The BlackBerry Hub holds a lot of information and provides a unique way of managing all of your communication needs from a central place. But, with so much information being presented to you at all times, you're bound to want to tailor it to meet your needs. Below you'll find some great tips aimed to help you make the Hub work for you, instead of you working for the Hub.

View messages as a conversation

One way to help eliminate clutter from your Hub is to organize e-mail messages into a conversation view. Doing so will group related … Read more

Facebook's Parse helps mobile developers build for the Web

Less than two weeks after announcing its sale to Facebook, mobile app development platform Parse has expanded its product suite to include hosting for app makers who want a Web presence, no servers required.

Parse plays host to 80,000 iOS, Android, Windows, and HTML5 apps, whose makers have entrusted their infrastructure and people management needs to the company. Facebook reportedly picked up the 2-year-old company for $85 million in cash and stock.

Today, Parse introduced a Web-hosting option geared for developers who want a painless way to port apps to the desktop. The company created AnyYolk, a sample Web-based … Read more

Woman allegedly stalks self on Facebook to frame ex's new flame

Sometimes you just have to let go.

It may well be that your ex didn't appreciate the glory that is you. It may well be that your former lover is, at heart, a sinking vessel of self-loathing and delusion.

But it really isn't worth setting up a fake Facebook account, then posting nasty messages on your real Facebook account from your fake Facebook account, then accusing your ex's lover of being the poster.

I mention this merely because that is the strategy of which Cheryl Nelson of Grand Rapids, Mich., stands accused.… Read more

Facebook's iOS Messenger app gets all sticky

Ever had the need to show what you're feeling on Facebook Messenger with an image of a cute pink critter holding a heart-shaped pillow? Well, you're in luck.

The social network updated its iOS Messenger app on Monday with a grab bag of stickers. For those people unfamiliar with stickers, they're basically emoticons that users can tack onto messages for added sentiment, gusto, or laughs. Facebook will be rolling out the stickers on its iOS Messenger app over the next few weeks; Facebook Messenger for Android already has the stickers.

Currently, Facebook's stickers are free, but … Read more

Exiting Facebook board member dumps $38 million in stock

Jim Breyer, the early Facebook investor who is leaving the company's board, has dumped roughly $38 million worth of Facebook stock, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing published Monday.

Breyer is a venture capitalist whose firm, Accel Partners, was one of the social network's first investors. The filing from Wednesday shows that he sold 1.3 million of his own shares, valued between $28.19 and $29.03. The amount is a drop in the bucket for Breyer, who is still hanging onto 7.8 million shares, which were worth roughly $223.6 million at the … Read more

Instagram sale to Facebook made Jack Dorsey 'sad'

It's been well-chronicled that when Instagram was sold to Facebook last year, it spurned similar interest from Twitter, probably leading to bad blood between the two companies and a tit-for-tat series of feature shutdowns and one-upmanship.

But a new Vanity Fair story by AllThingsD co-founder Kara Swisher spells out in detail just how disappointed Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was upon learning that he'd lost out on the opportunity not just to buy Instagram, but to acquire the talents of the photo app's co-founder, Kevin Systrom, a friend.

Dorsey says the news was [hard] for him to take, … Read more