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Hey haters, 'Home' is the right amount of Facebook on your phone

Toss aside the remarks about making people more prominent than apps. Throw out the blurb about changing our relationship with technology. You don't need the warm-and-fuzzy spiel to get Facebook Home, you just need to see it.

Thursday, the social-networking company unveiled Facebook Home, a family of apps that takes up residence at the center of your Android smartphone.

Facebook will be unavoidable to those who opt to download Home. And yet the company has tactfully pushed its way further inside the smartphone with a technique that's neither too obtrusive nor too bland. In fact, Facebook Home is … Read more

Facebook wants to rule the phone with Home

CNET Update can't stop saying Chat Head:

Facebook didn't want to make its own phone. Instead, it made Home, a skin for Android that changes the phone's interface. Today's Update explains what Home does and which phones can download it.

For more on Facebook Home:

- Details on the HTC First, the AT&T phone with Home pre-installed

- Overview of the Facebook Home interface

- Facebook uses Chat Heads for messaging

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links below.

Subscribe:

iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | … Read more

Facebook Home: Bold experiment or extreme bloatware?

Hard-core Facebook devotees may find Home to be the smartphone experience they've been looking for.

For everyone else, Facebook's new Android skin may be little better than bloatware (although, to be fair, it's not forced on people). In particular, Android purists will want to stay clear.

Facebook took a major step today toward staking its claim in the mobile field with Home, which is a family of apps wrapped up in a custom user interface. It's an ambitious step, and likely a smart one, given that the alternative would have been the boneheaded move of building … Read more

Facebook touts Home's benefits for developers

Facebook launched Home to put a user's friends at the center of the phone. But for developers, it means a new way to help people discover their apps and reengage with existing users, the company said.

Facebook today launched Home, a family of apps and a skin that runs over Android. The company said users will be able to download the user interface in the Google Play store, and that links would be found in its Facebook and messenger apps. Facebook said that there would be monthly updates to add features and broader availability, and it also will expand … Read more

Facebook's Zuckerberg: Home is actually good for Android

Facebook's new Home family of apps might seem like a threat to Google, but Facebook says that actually the opposite is true.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, speaking during an event today in Menlo Park, Calif., said that "this is really good for Android."

"Most app developers put most of their efforts on iPhones," he said. "In a way this can start to bring some of these high quality experiences to Android and that could be good for Android."

He added that while there are not yet ads on Home, there will be, … Read more

Facebook Home launches April 12 on HTC, Samsung phones

Facebook Home will be available for download on April 12, but only on select phones to start with.

Facebook today launched Home, a family of apps and a skin that runs over Android. The company said users will be able to download the user interface from the Google Play store, and that links would be found in its Facebook and messenger apps.

The HTC phones that will initially get access to the app are the upcoming HTC One and the One X and One X+.

On the Samsung side, the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, and upcoming Galaxy S4 will … Read more

Facebook Home: Tablet users will need to wait

If you want to take a gander at Facebook Home on your tablet computer, get ready to wait.

Facebook, which today announced a family of apps for Android phones, said a tablet version will not be ready for several months.

Smartphone users will be able to start downloading the apps April 12. In his brief appearance on stage during the announcement, Facebook's director of mobile engineering, Cory Ondrejka, did not offer more specifics about the company's timetable.

Does Facebook's new 'Home' put too much Facebook in your face? (podcast)

If you're one of the people who get Facebook's new Home software, your social-media life will be front and center whenever you pick up your phone. It's literally putting Facebook in your face.

While that may have appeal to heavy-duty Facebook users who want to be in constant touch with their social graph, it raises some issues about "presence." People have their phones with them almost all the time, including when they're interacting with friends, family, and work colleagues, and many of us (myself included) have a habit of paying attention to our phones … Read more

Episode 32: Unboxing the hotly anticipated HTC One

After weeks of clawing and scratching, we were finally able to get the perpetually delayed HTC One to "unbox" here in San Francisco (with a ding in the back, no less!). Fresh out of the envelope from our guys in New York, it only took a matter of seconds for Jeff to start with the Matrix jokes. The One...

As corny as Jeff's jokes are, we think HTC's Neo might have indeed taken the red pill and left our humble dream world, because we've been begging for it for months and it's still not … Read more

Get an Optoma HD20 or HD180 projector for $549.99

Sorry this is so late, folks. I was the victim of flaky hotel Wi-Fi this morning. Anyway, this is an update of a deal I posted almost two years ago. It's been that long since I"ve seen a better one on a projector!

And projectors rock. For my money, nothing beats wall-size movies, TV shows, Xbox games, photo slideshows, and so on. I've also been known to haul a projector outside for a little backyard theater action.

Of course, a 1080p model is all but essential. Alas, most models still sell for $1,000 or more … Read more