Tech PIVI

Days after releasing a site redesign, professional networking website LinkedIn has now added a new notification feature which keeps users notified in real-time, similar to Facebook notifications. Users can see the notification when someone in your LinkedIn contact likes what you have shared on the network, views your profile, accepts your invitations and more. A notification flag will appear at the top of your homepage, and a new inbox envelope icon. If you receive something new, such as new comments or likes on your content or new in-mails, a red circle will appear. With the new notification feature, LinkedIn aims to make it easier for users to keep engaging discussions going with the platform. “We’ve been working hard to bring you new ways to access the most relevant professional information and insights to help you be even better at your job, everyday,” says the company in a blog  post . LinkedIn will be soon rolling out notifications to mobile device, includi...

Bing has introduced a new feature that allows users to search Facebook photos within the search engine. Users can access this via Bing social sidebar or by visiting www.bing.com/friendsphotos. When you use Bing search engine to browse photos, you will get results arranged in Pinterest-style waterfall layout, as in the image below: The new feature also enables users to look for photos by keywords (matching texts in photo captions or album titles). It may be noted here this feature isn't available on Facebook right now. “With more than 300 million photos uploaded to Facebook per day, photo viewing is one of the most popular things people do on Facebook,” Bing wrote in a  blog post . “Bing now lets you quickly find that special photo (out of your friends’ thousands) on Facebook with the new Friends’ Photo feature.” Bing has also taken care of users' privacy, as it only lists photos that have been made public or viewable to friends by a user. Once users a...

Facebook Inc is weeding out fake "Likes" on its social network that are being caused by spammers, malware and black marketeers as it strives to maintain credibility as an advertising platform. Facebook said the number of Likes, or endorsements by users, on corporate pages is likely to drop by less than 1 percent, on average, after the crackdown. "Newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes," Facebook said in a post on its official blog on Friday. "While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes," the post continued. Thanks to a growing black market, companies can instantly raise their profile on Facebook by purchasing thousands of Likes at a time a practice that is forbidden by the No. 1 social net...

Following the footsteps of Facebook, Google has also added birthday reminders on its social networking website, Google+. The reminder will appear on the right hand side of the main Google search page when someone in your contacts is celebrating his/her birth anniversary. Google's birthday reminder also allows users to share a message, photo or video to wish the person a happy birthday. It may be noted here that Facebook's birthday reminder shows up a notification on the right hand side pane and lets you send a birthday greeting. "Everyone deserves a little love on their birthday, so we're making it easier for you and your friends to celebrate on Google," software engineer Irene Chung, said in a Google+  post  on Wednesday. "Starting today, you'll see a reminder on Google.com when someone in your circles has a birthday!" Google allows users to control who will see their birthday notifications on Google+. To activate the Google+ birthday...

Facebook has announced it will be rolling out a new and cleaner version of Messages, which will now have a dual-pane layout. The new Messages inbox has a list of the recent messages on the left side, and a reading pane on the right. The two pane format is said to make the Facebook Messages platform look closer to the professional emails, such as Microsoft Outlook. The previous Message design had a single-column view, while users needed to visit another page for viewing any conversation. The new layout will be rolled out for global users over the next few weeks. Facebook in a blog post  says  the new format “brings conversations to life”, as it features the option of adding multiple pictures and emoticons to their messages. Facebook has also added keyboard commands for easier navigation. The shortcut commands enable users to compose, reply and navigate through the messages. To see the full list of available shortcuts, type Alt Q on a PC or Control Q on ...

The Indian government has come down hard on social networking websites and asked them to remove provocative and objectionable content in the wake of the exodus of the North East Indians from various states. Google and Facebook have already extended co-operation to the Indian government in removing the content that could incite violence. Twitter has also followed the suit by removing as many as six accounts having resemblance to the Prime Minister Office's official account. The accounts have been closed after finding objectionable content on these. According to reports, the PMO had asked the Cyber Security Cell of the Department of Information and Technology to block these accounts. Earlier, the Indian government had warned Twitter of legal actions if it did not comply with the government demand to remove/censor objectionable content. It was speculated that the micro blogging site may fail to comply with the demand due to the huge number of tweets and retweets taking pla...

Moreover, Facebook users can also include details who is other parent, location and a story about the birth. There is also an option to add photos. Your announcements will appear in the Celebrations section, located in the upper-right corner where birthdays appear.Facebook has introduced a new Timeline feature called 'Expecting a Baby”, which enables users to share time when they are going to become a mother or father. The new life event for Timeline allows expectant parents to share their baby's due date and also choose gender, whether it is a boy or a girl. “Life Events are easy and expressive ways to mark significant moments in your life such as getting married, buying a house or traveling to new places. If you choose to, you can now share that you are expecting a baby with your friends on Facebook,” says the social networking website in a blog  post . To use the new Timeline feature, go to your  Timeline . Click Life Event from the sharing tool. Cho...

Facebook last week announced its first set of numbers as a public company, and with it came the news that the number of users who access the site is inching closer to 1 billion. The company said it had 955 million active monthly users as of June 30, up 29 percent from a year earlier. Facebook also released some interesting statistics about "fake accounts". The company estimates that as many as 8.7 percent of those accounts, or a tad over 83 million, are fake. Facebook further breaks these accounts into what it calls "duplicate" accounts and "false" accounts. Duplicate accounts are the ones that users maintain in addition to their principal account. False accounts are further  categorized  into two - user-misclassified accounts and undesirable accounts. User-misclassified accounts are ones where users have created personal profiles for a business, organisation, or non-human entity such as a pet. These entities are allowed to exist on Facebo...

In a move to make photo viewing more enjoyable on Facebook,the website has announced launching a re-designed version of its photos section In a move to make photo viewing more enjoyable on Facebook, the social networking giant has announced launching a re-designed version of its photos section.  "We are announcing improvements to the photos section that make viewing photos more enjoyable," Facebook Product Manager Emily Grewal announced on the company's website yesterday.  With this move, users would be able to access photos all at one place above the timeline. Earlier Facebook's users could view photos segregated into albums.  "Now when you click photos at the top of your timeline, you'll see larger pictures that fill up the page. You can use the menu to find shots you are tagged in, pictures you have shared and albums you have created...With your Facebook photos all in one section, it's simple to show friends your favourites. Click th...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has denied rumours that the company is working with HTC to produce self-branded smartphone with an exclusive operating system. At the company's first-ever earnings call, Zuckerberg said that “it would not really make much sense” to build a Facebook phone. He further pointed out that Facebook is most used app on all platforms, therefore every phone out there is a Facebook phone. Zuckerberg's comments are likely to put an end to all sorts of speculations related to Facbeook developing self-branded phone. Recently, Bloomberg reported that Facebook and HTC were working closely on the Facebook phone, slated to launch mid-2013. The report further said the phone was supposed to launch this year but then the release was pushed back to give HTC more time to work on other phones. Back in April, HTC was rumoured to be working on a Facebook phone with an 'exclusive operating system'. Another rumour surfaced in May saying the ...