Facebook: Hey, we used to be a site for college students

As Facebook broadens its user base, competing sites have tried to claim the student audience that was once the social network’s strength. But Facebook hasn’t forgotten the college crowd — witness today’s launch of a new page called Universities on Facebook.

Facebook describes the page as a place where students and student organizations can figure out how to best use the site. There’s a “Deals” tab where students can find back-to-school bargains from retailers including … Continue Reading

Nissan to take orders for its Leaf electric car starting tomorrow

Word on the street is that Nissan will start taking orders tomorrow for the hotly anticipated Leaf, the world’s first mass-produced electric vehicle priced low enough for the general consumer.

The automaker has been accepting reservations for a refundable fee of $99, and already has 18,000 pre-orders, according to John Schilling, Nissan spokesman – with a goal of reaching 20,000 by December. More than half of the reservations are from people in the five states … Continue Reading

Microsoft launches Bing Android app for Verizon, but will anyone care?

After releasing an iPhone app for its Bing search engine last December, Microsoft announced an equivalent Android Bing app today for Verizon users.

But since Android is much more deeply integrated into Google’s search and navigation offerings than the iPhone, the release of the Bing app honestly strikes me as curious. Who would actually use this thing? And is Microsoft doing anything with it to entice Android users to choose Bing over Google’s myriad services?… Continue Reading

Intel's CEO explains his multibillion-dollar acquisition spree

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini just appeared on the Fox Business TV Network. In the interview with Fox’s Liz Claman, he explained why Intel is buying the wireless business of Infineon for $1.4 billion and McAfee for $7.68 billion, as well as the cable modem business of Texas Instruments for an undisclosed price. Here’s a link to the Intel video, and the highlights are excerpted below. I have also embedded the videos, part 1 and … Continue Reading

Google pushes further into social networking, buys SocialDeck

In its effort to challenge Facebook, Google has become a social butterfly. The latest proof of that is Google’s acquisition today of SocialDeck, a maker of social games for mobile phones.

SocialDeck has made games such as Shake & Spell, Color Connect, and Pet Hero. Its games were downloaded about a million times in 2009. The company is based in Waterloo, Ontario. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

SocialDeck also makes a cross-platform tool for integrating … Continue Reading

Microsoft ups XBox Live subscription price by $10 a year

The cost of streaming Netflix, accessing social networks and playing games online on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console will go up beginning Nov. 1, just as Sony begins rolling out its premium $50-a-year Playstation Plus service.

The monthly Xbox Live “gold” service will now cost $9.99, while the three-month service will cost $24.99, and the annual price will be $59.99 a year. The previous prices were $7.99 a month, $19.99 a month, or $49.99 a … Continue Reading

Glu Mobile raises $13.5M in private placement as it expands to smartphone games

Mobile game publisher Glu Mobile has raised $13.5 million in a private placement as it aims to expand its position in smartphone games.

The money will be used to fully implement the company’s cross-platform expansion plans, said Niccolo de Masi, chief executive of San Mateo, Calif.-based Glu in statement. “We have an exciting roadmap which will roll out beginning in October of this year,” he said.

In an interview last week, de Masi (pictured, at … Continue Reading

BlackBerry has 60 days to prove itself before India enforces ban

Research in Motion avoided a ban today on its BlackBerry services in India by beginning a 60-day security test to see whether Indian officials can tap its BlackBerry Messenger and enterprise email services.

Indian BlackBerry users make up about 2 percent of the company’s 46 million users, according to the Bloomberg report, so a ban in India might not place that large of a monetary dent in the company that raked in $768 million in … Continue Reading

Loopt hires mobile veteran to reclaim the location crown

Loopt, an early leader in location-based social services, just announced that mobile industry veteran Steve Boom (pictured left) is joining the company as its first president. Boom will lead the Mountain View, Calif. startup with cofounder Sam Altman (pictured right), who continues to serve as chief executive.

Check-in services like Gowalla and especially Foursquare have stolen some of Loopt’s early buzz, and the location market is getting even more competitive with Facebook launching its own … Continue Reading

Digg freezes manual story submissions as user anger mounts

Popular social news aggregator Digg prevented individual users and publishers alike from manually submitting new content Monday morning.

The site’s block on manual submissions has since been lifted, but Digg users I’ve spoken to speculated that the move might be part of the company’s ongoing efforts to fix problems that have angered the site’s community. (I’m a frequent Digg user myself.)

On his Twitter account, Digg chief executive Kevin Rose didn’t confirm whether the submission … Continue Reading

The three people you need to hear from at DEMO, September 13-15

If you’re a player in technology, you’ll want to come to DEMO, our big technology conference scheduled to hit Silicon Valley on September 13-15.

I’ll be executive producer and host again. But it’s everyone else that you really need to meet — from our speakers to your fellow attendees. Just about every major technology company and media outlet will be in the room. It’s the perfect setting for feasting on the industry’s intellectual riches, striking … Continue Reading

GreenBeat news roundup: Nissan starts taking orders for electric car tomorrow

Here’s a roundup of the cleantech news we’re staying on top of this morning:

Nissan reportedly delayed taking orders until tomorrow for the Leaf, the first electric car designed for mass-market consumer use. The suggested retail price is $32,780, though a tax credit of up to $7,500 could mean you pay something closer to $25,280. You can also look at the optional equipment Nissan is offering at the link above. But if you don’t already … Continue Reading

Samsung Galaxy S Android phones sexier than expected — sell 1M in the US

Samsung’s multi-carrier stab with its high-end Galaxy S Android phones appears to be a smashing success. The carrier announced today that it has sold 1 million phones in the U.S. since they began shipping on July 15 on AT&T and T-Mobile.

Each of the Galaxy S phones goes by different names on their carriers. AT&T has the Samsung Captivate, and T-Mobile has the Vibrant. On August 31, the Epic 4G (the only 4G-equipped Galaxy S … Continue Reading

Email marketer iContact snags $40M to help small businesses fill inboxes

iContact, a provider of email marketing services like newsletter creation and distribution, just raised $40 million in its second round of funding spearheaded by JMI Equity.

The email marketing technology is designed for small businesses to help them track email marketing effectiveness — including opens and clicks — as well as offering an automatic way to create and distribute newsletters and the like. The company provides the software to about 65,000 companies.

The Durham, N.C.-based … Continue Reading

Apple: iOS 4.1 still doesn't fix problem with iPhone 4 proximity sensor (updated)

Update: The issue is listed as fixed in Steve Jobs’ iOS 4.1 presentation. It looks like we’ll have to wait and see just how well it’s fixed.
—

Along with the iPhone 4′s widely reported antenna issues (a situation the tech press has dubbed “antennagate”), there were also complaints of an issue with its proximity sensor, which led to accidental button presses when the phone was held up to your face during a call.… Continue Reading

Nintendo cutting prices on its older DS handhelds on Sept. 12

Nintendo is cutting the prices of its older handheld game systems, the Nintendo DSi and the Nintendo DSi XL, on Sept. 12 as it clears the way for the introduction of its new 3DS game system later this year.

The Japanese video game company is cutting $20 off the price of both units. The DSi will sell for $149, down from $169, and the DSi XL (which has a larger screen) will be $169, down … Continue Reading

Web 2.0 Summit to focus on "points of control" in technology battles

The Web 2.0 Summit is unveiling its theme of “Points of Control” today, and the map depicting the theme is a pretty handy way to look at the competition among the powers that be in the technology world.

Headed by John Battelle and Tim O’Reilly, this year’s summit will take place Nov. 15 to 17 in San Francisco. The conference theme depicts the competition as a global battle on a faux map, with various technology … Continue Reading