24/03/2010 by 0iD.

Facebook secures patent for News Feed

According to All Facebook, the social networking giant has finally secured a patent for “Dynamically providing a news feed about a user of a social network” (i.e. news feed) , first filed with the US Patent Office in 2006. The full approved application ac be viewed online at patft.uspto.gov, and will undoubtedly have far-reaching consequences for sites such as Twitter and Google Buzz, and many others. Other sites using anything remotely resembling the techniques outlined in the patent document could see themselves embroiled in lengthy and costly legal wrangling if they wish to use the technology without agreement.

The patent credits Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, along with other top Facebook executives with the invention. To what ends this will affect the social networking community is unknown as yet, and can only be speculated at, at this time, as the details contained therein read as being general and ambivalent.

The resultant fallout ensuing from the publicizing of this document will no doubt play out over the coming weeks and months.

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24/03/2010 by 0iD.

BBC plans cuts to many services.

In the draft of a strategic review by the director General of the BBC Trust, Mark Thompson, there are proposed sweeping reductions in BBC services the Financial Times has reported.

The cuts could see many seemingly “unpopular” services such as 6 Music & The Asian Network digital radio stations go to the wall, along with a 50 per cent reduction in the BBCs online services, along with 25 per cent of the staff. Also on the media side, the BBC’s commercial publishing arm, Worldwide, is indicated to take a hit, along with the annual budget of £100 million reserved for primarily US and foreign TV imports.

The report is seen as a direct reaction to increasing pressure of criticism from politicians and rivals alike about the BBCs far reaching media operations, which have been slated for being uncompetitive and a overly expensive.

Already, according to The Times, the former Virgin Radio, now rebranded as Absolute Radio will be putting a bid in for popular teen digital radio station 6 Music.

Most of the cuts media-wise seem to be aimed at the younger/teenage area of BBC operations with BBC Switch and Blast also indicated in the proposals, in an area where C4 & ITV are traditionally seen as market leaders. BBC Three however, will remain untouched, and £25million will be re-directed to BBC Two in an attempt to raise standards.

A full synopsis of the report was posted by The Times online here.

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