Mevio Tech

Beware, all ye Facebook-friendly fans of free social networking!  Just when you thought you’d mastered your News Feed and harnessed your favorite friends into one, easy-to-view filter, Facebook is here to keep you on your toes yet again…

Behold! The New Facebook Redesign!:

Mashable (among many) reports that the redesign has not officially been announce and that a “confidential” document was leaked earlier this morning.  Gotta love the power of the Internet, eh?

The big features that Facebook is unveiling have mostly to do with it’s recent acquistion of FriendFeed.  They wasted no time in putting their talent to work…and it shows.

Facebook users will now have the option of quickly switching back and forth between Top News items and a Recent Activity view.  It’s meant to personalize the experience of the Facebook Home Page further by filtering out the less “important” or popular news items.

But how will Facebook calculate which posts are more important than others?  When Facebook starts using AI to judge what I want to see in my News Feed, things are starting to get a little scary.  And if you’re a Facebook addict like me, I will generally sift through the entire News Feed until I see a post that I recognize from the last time I logged on (which, admittedly, doesn’t take very long).

Another feature of the new Facebook is the reintegration of certain personal information that users complained about losing in the last update.

From Facebook’s document:

“Facebook has also put information back into the stream that people have asked for, including photo tags, friend acceptances, relationships, Event RSVPs and group memberships. In addition, birthdays are now viewable above the fold.”

I’d actually forgotten that some of those things had gone missing, so I’m curious to see how well they are able to integrate them back into the system.

Groups and Pages are also getting a refresh.  Check out the so-called “confidential” redesign document below for all the gory details.

Facebook Document on Homepage Redesign

So when I set out to write a blog post today,  I couldn’t really figure out what exactly it was I wanted to talk about.  A few things caught my eye this morning, but nothing jumped off the page.  And then Noon rolled around and I was up to my eyeballs in fun things to talk about.

Follow me as I attempt to explain why this might be one of the best days in tech…ever.

Reason #1:  Umm, hello Snow Leopard!

Okay, so I have to admit.  I have been behind on my Snow Leopard research.  As an Apple fanboy, I completely blame myself.  As such, I haven’t fallen prey to all the hype surrounding it.  As far as I could tell, the “new OS” provided only a few minor tweaks and speed improvements.

But upon further investigation (at the insistence of my fellow fanboys), I began to see what all the fuss was about.  Snow Leopard is using new multicore processing software called Grand Central Dispatch to accelerate the pre-existing hardware up to 2x the speed of that of Leopard.  Some would compare that to getting a new computer that’s twice as fast.

It would also be a total fail not to mention the sleek and speedy new Quicktime X.  Favorite feature?  Instant, in-house editing.  A new generation of filmmakers is born, yet again.

At $29 a pop, I’d say it’s definitely worth it.  And don’t let them fool you.  According to NYT Tech Journalist Walt Mossberg, it’s confirmed that the $29 version of the OS is an entire OS DVD…not just an upgrade.  So save yourself $140 and do a full install from the cheaper version.

Reason #2:  Facebook 3.0!!!

Finally!  The long-awaited 3.0 version of the Facebook iPhone app is here and I have to say…it’s killer.  Facebook really did a great job, as far as I can tell, of hitting the mark on this one.

The interface is much smoother and much more useful than before.  Some key features include a search bar on top; a notification bar on bottom; a new “grid” page which lists your news feed, friends, chat, events, and photos, among other things; greater support for photo manipulation; and, for the 3Gs owners out there, the ability to upload video directly to Facebook.  As a Facebook junkie, I’ve died and gone to heaven.  (*As a mental note to all of my friends reading this, beware…)

Reason #3:  Augmented Reality

In other iPhone-related goodness, Yelp! released the most amazing update to its popular app to date.  It includes an Easter egg feature, discovered by Robert Scoble, that I can only begin to describe as remarkable.  It’s called Augmented Reality and wasn’t technically supposed to be released until iPhone OS 3.1.  Either Apple’s App Store dropped the ball on approving this app or they have faith in the buzz that Yelp!’s little wonder will do for them.

Oh, right.  What does it do?  I’ll let the video speak for itself.

I downloaded the update immediately and went outside to see how it worked locally and I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed.

Not only was I impressed by this application’s features, but I immediately started thinking about the amazing possibilities that this “reality” could hold in the future.  It’s truly something out of a sci-fi movie.

Reason #4:  The Ballad of Gay Tony

The thought of playing GTA IV as a hot tranny, running around Liberty City in a pair of Manolos, whacking hookers with my Prada bag and hopping on a motorcycle to make it in time to turn tricks at the corner of Jade and Columbus amazes me.  Cross me and I *will* stab you with my stiletto.

‘Nuff said.

Watch Press Pause for updates on ‘The Ballad of Gay Tony’ as we get closer to the October 29th release date.  And, as always, keep it tuned to Mevio Tech for all the latest in gadgets and gizmo news.

On the Tech 5 Top Five countdown John C Dvorak reports on keeping it in the family at Twitter, asks why Palm are keeping tabs on their users and why women are the key to the ebooks success. He also reveals who are friends with Facebook this week and who Nokia are connecting with.

Squarespace: Tech 5 is brought to you by Squarespace – use the Squarespace coupon code TECH and enjoy 12% off at Squarespace.

Godaddy coupon codes: Use the codes tech55 for 10% off, tech56 to get $5 off orders worth $30 or more and tech57 to buy $7.49 .com domains when you check out at Godaddy.com.

Budget Rent-a-car: rent like a genius! Need to rent a car? Go to www.budget.com/tech to get 10% off car rental or $30 off weekly car rental.

Okay, so I love Facebook just as much as the next guy…perhaps some would say even moreso than the next guy.  Ok.  Fine.  I’m addicted to Facebook.  Deal with it.  But as much as I love the darned thing, do I really want to sit down for two hours in a dark theatre and watch a movie based on its origins?  Hell no.

Okay, well maybe I do.  When you look at the talent that’s signed up behind this movie, you gotta start scratching your head in wonderment:  Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing), Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects), Michael Cera (Superbad), Shia LeBeouf (Transformers), and…David Fincher directing?!  W.T.F.?  You mean the same guy who directed “Se7en”, “Fight Club”, “Panic Room”, and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”?!  The movie is based on the Silicon Valley Facebook tell-all “The Accidental Billionaires,” which tauts itself as a “tale of sex, money, genius, and betrayal.”

Sounds juicy, right?

Well, how juicy could it be?!  Will I have nightmares about Mark Zuckerberg’s head in a box?  Or perhaps Eduardo Saverin will gracefully age backwards throughout the movie, only to make an ill-timed fart joke as he heads into retirement…?  With an all-star lineup like this one, it sounds like they’re going for Oscar gold, which means the inevitable sequel must be just around the corner…  Let’s hope titles like “The Son of Facebook” or “Facebook vs. Twitter: The Battle For Earth” aren’t already taken.

Facebook FAIL.

Sumi Das is talking tech today and getting you caught up on some big time stories. In case you’ve been living under a tech rock lately Facebook has been busy lately, and the launching of their vanity URLs is top of the list. Nintendo is even talking Facebook integration. DTV transition is finally upon us as well so better get to the store and pickup that antenna. Just no rabbit ears.