From Ars Technica

All of the recent flirting between Facebook and Microsoft has turned into hot equity action, as the two companies have announced that Microsoft will make a $240 million investment in the social networking site. In addition, Microsoft will begin selling ads for Facebook outside of the US and will become the site’s exclusive ad provider in the US.

From ComputerWorld

Facebook Inc. will sell a $240 million minority stake to Microsoft Corp., which as part of the deal will also expand the advertising services it provides to the social networking Web site, the companies said today.

The size of the ownership stake Microsoft will take during Facebook’s next round of financing puts Facebook’s valuation at $15 billion. Google Inc. had reportedly been courting Facebook as well.

From NY Times

Microsoft has won a high-profile technology industry battle with Google and Yahoo to invest in the social networking upstart Facebook.The two companies said on Wednesday that Microsoft would invest $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook. The investment values the three-year-old Facebook, which will bring in about $150 million in revenue this year, at $15 billion.

I have to say that I was expecting something like this. I’ve always known that a large company would eventually try and buy part or all of Facebook. However, I am quite surprised that Microsoft bought part of Facebook. I guess I’ll have to wait a little while for it to really register. I’ve always believe that Facebook would ‘belong’ to Google. Ah well.

Lets see if Facebook’s popularity changes due to this. I doubt it will, but you never know.

Read the complete articles here, here, and here

Well the new Eye of Judgment game for the PS3 is going to make them look like someone just stuck a piece of paper into the printer and that was the game. Yeah it seems impossible that any card game is better then Pokemon but things happen.

This new game is extremely interactive ; the concept is that the cards you play in real life are summoned onto your television screen for the ultimate duel. However, in order to enjoy the pleasures of defeating your friends on the big screen, you need to own the $69.99 game, a PS3, a PlayStation Eye, and a deck of special cards. Seems expensive, but from what I’ve seen this is incredible. Not only is this a great way to play card games, but it’s also one of the first steps to ‘dueling’ as you see it on TV. Pretty soon there will be 3D monsters for you to summon. Imagine the fun in that.

From the Official PS3 Site:

KEY FEATURES

• A revolutionary new way to use the PS3 system, based on traditional trading card games and given a new dimension in 3D by next-generation technology.
• Developed in collaboration with Hasbro and its Wizards of the Coast subsidiary that produces MAGIC: THE GATHERING.
• Four ways to play - player vs. PS3, player vs. player offline, player vs. player online, PS3 vs. PS3 using players own deck.
• High Definition 3D animated characters and vehicles come to life seamlessly into the on camera view of your tabletop.
• THE EYE OF JUDGMENT will be bundled with PLAYSTATION Eye, 9 Fields mat, stand, a starter deck of 30 cards, and a booster pack of 8 cards. More than 100 different characters and spells will be offered via additional booster packs and pre-constructed decks, available at major retail chains.
• THE EYE OF JUDGMENT is a socially engaging title that will appeal to gamers of all ages and abilities.

If only Pokemon was like this…

This is the official game site. The three videos give you an idea of what the game is like.

Read reviews of the Eye of Judgment here and here

This is old news, but I was just reminded of it by a post on TechNewsWorld, and I think I’d share this information with you all. As I’m sure you all know, Virtual Machines are a craze at the moment due to their flexibility. It is a great security measure because if your ‘Virtual’ computer gets infected, you can just uninstall and reinstall the Virtual Machine. Now, a new idea has come out. A “Virtual Web Browser” would make it easy for the average person to get rid of Malware. Instead of having to clean it out himself, he could simply get rid of his browser and replace it. This is a very interesting idea. If things work out; this could really decrease the number of infections each month.

This idea was demonstrated last month at the DEMOFall in San Diego. Currently, there seems to be two companies working on Virtual Browsers; Qumranet and Check Point Software. Both companies are planning to release their products by the first quarter of next year.

More info here 

I guess not all of Microsoft is bad. Microsoft’s new ‘Listas’ from its Live Labs allows users to save and share their bookmarks with other people. With Listas, you can clip off links or even entire Web pages, and save them into your own Listas page. You need a Windows Live ID to sign in, and some of the functions haven’t been ‘perfected’ yet, but I think it’s a fun things to use. Check it out when you have some free time.

Listas homepage

[tags]Listas, Microsoft, Social Bookmarking[/tags]

Ever wonder what it’s like to be ’shot’ at? Well here is your chance. A new gaming vest known as ‘3rd Space’ will give you a feeling of being ’shot’ at. Armed with 8 air pouches, this vest will really give those hard-core gamers a “nudge” whenever they get damaged in game. Talk about “serious gaming”. Lets just hope it doesn’t hurt too much. I think this vest will begin the dawn of a new gaming technology; using air pouches to stimulate gaming sensations. Plans for the release of a vest designed for Flight Simulators are on the way.

This vest will be available next month; but at a hefty price of $189. Although it is shipped with a new ‘Call of Duty’ game, I think I’m going to hold off buying it until it costs a fraction of the price. Besides; I’ll probably get beat up and have bruises all over my body if I ever choose buy this…
Read more here and here.

Well. Not exactly. Microsoft isn’t planning for World Domination, although it appears that Microsoft is trying to buy a bunch of smaller companies the next few years.

Steve Ballmer Microsoft CEO at Web 2.0 Conference:

“We buy 20 companies a year within the range of 50 to 200 million. My email is steveb@microsoft.com. If you want to sell your company, write to me.”

“We’ll probably buy 20 companies a year consistently for the next five years”
Companies Microsoft is targeting include Facebook and Yahoo!(Source)

Microsoft seems to think that Google is going to take over because Google is one of the larger companies that is also currently buying some companies.

What do you think of this? How would you feel if you were leaving in a complete “Microsoft” world? I wouldn’t really care; as long as Microsoft doesn’t mess with the economy too much, or ruin any of the great websites currently available. I don’t really care who owns what; as long as the content provided the said company isn’t changed around, I’ll still buy/use it. Lets just hope Microsoft doesn’t get it’s hopes up too much because I really don’t think people are going to sell their companies to Microsoft.

Hope Apple doesn’t jump on the bandwagon or else there will only be 3 brands you can purchase things from. Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

Comments?

Read more here, here, and here.

Apparently, some Flock developers thought of the same thing, and decided to implement a sidebar in Flock which would make it possible to access Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter in it’s new 1.0 Beta version which has recently been released. Flock really is making it easier to meet new people…

For those who don’t know already; Flock is an innovative web browser for those people who love meeting new people. It is a great “Social Browser” for all those people who love communicating with others.

Some more things Flock 1.0 adds (Taken from Flock site):

• Log in to Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, or Twitter to activate Flock’s People sidebar
• Easily access the photos and videos your friends have posted to share
• Share Web content with them with simple drag and drop actions
• Communicate effortlessly with your contacts across services
• Flock politely notifies you when your friends have posted new content
• More social networks coming soon..
• Flock provides a unique filmstrip view of your favorite photo and video streams from YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Piczo, Truveo, and Facebook
• Easily drag and drop items onto friends, blogs or email for effortless sharing, publishing, and communicating
• Search for photos and videos directly from the Media Minibar
• Select your favorite feeds and media streams and Flock will bring the Web to you
• Flock informs you when your favorite friends and sources have updated content or media
• My World collects everything you care about on the Web

Read more here.

Download Flock Beta 1.0 here.

[tags]Flock, Download, Facebook, Myspace[/tags]

Ever since the dawn of the ‘Tech Era’ I’ve always been interested in the idea of carrying something in my pocket which would be used as a projector. I could show others my favortie movies; without having the awkward sensation of 10 people crowding around you just to see it on an iPod. Well, I’m happy to say that a new phone concept does exactly that.

Taken from Yanko Design

This concept by Stefano Casanova is a Windows based mobile phone that can project your desktop to an flat surface. The micro light projector is actually integrated into the LCD so in order to activate it, you have to flip the screen down. Conceptual but interesting.

Although this is only a concept, I have full faith that there will be something like this by 2010; if not earlier. I believe that this is a great innovation; and if it becomes successful, many companies will incorporate a projector into their handheld devices. What does this mean? I think it’s safe to say that if companies catch on to this; you’re going to see iPods, iPhones, MP3 players, phones, and smart phones with this technology.

I can’t wait.

Yesterday, a new Meebo Firefox add-on had been posted. This add-on is perfect for all those people who would like to chat with all their friends, but are too lazy to open up Trillian, Gaim, or even Meebo. The add-on adds a sidebar in which you can log into Meebo with. So, you can chat with all your friends when looking at Digg, reading some blogs, or playing free web games.

For those who don’t know what Meebo is; here is a small summary. Meebo is an entirely web-based chat client. Instead of having to download anything, all you need to do is to sign up at http://wwwl.meebo.com/ and you can log into AIM, Yahoo! Messanger, Google Talk, MSN, Jabber, and ICQ individually or all at the same time. It’s very useful for those people who can’t download any chat clients on the computer they are using because of work or school. This Firefox add-on will make it a lot easier to chat and browse at the same time.

Enjoy.

Get the add-on here

I also doubt that Microsoft is going to turn a deaf ear to this. They will most likely try and patch this, so if you’re going to try this out, I suggest you hurry.

Read a lot more and see some guides here and here.

[tags]Vista SP1, Windows Update, Windows, download[/tags]