LITTLE ROCK — Facebook tests revamped Timeline
LOS ANGELES - Facebook didn’t wait long after its initial public offering of stock to begin shaking things up again and messing with its layout.
The social network giant is trying out redesigns of its Timeline feature in a small test, the company confirmed last week. Facebook did not say how many users are being included in the test or whether the redesign will be adopted universally.
The layout change condenses the top of users’ Facebook Timelines into a smaller area by moving their names and other basic information to the right of their profile pictures.
The information lays on top of users’ cover photos, which is overlayed by a black shadow that fades into the picture, similar to the style used for people’s names in the “Friends” box located under the top section of current Timeline profiles.
The new Timeline look also adds a “Summary” button that shows a list of users’ “Life Events” and changes the “Likes” section to read “Favorites.” The redesign also drops the thumbnails for the “Friends,” “Photos” and “Map” sections, fitting the buttons into a smaller space, according to TPM.
And as is expected with every Facebook redesign, already the complaints are coming in.
“OK, I love Timeline and all, but this redesign looks awful,” a user said on Twitter.
ICANN again takes domain-name bids
NEW YORK - The organization overseeing a major expansion of Internet addresses last week reopened its system for letting companies and organizations submit proposals.
The Web-based system had been shut down since April 12 because of a software glitch that exposed some private data. At the time, the system was supposed to reopen within four business days. But it took longer to fix the problem and to notify affected applicants.
Up to 1,000 domain name suffixes - the “.com” part of an Internet address - could be added each year in the most sweeping change to the domain-name system since its creation in the 1980s.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, has extended the deadline for submitting proposals to Wednesday.
Each application costs $185,000.
Amazon opens Test Drive for Android
LOS ANGELES - Amazon.com Inc. last week began rolling out a mobile version of its Appstore’s Test Drive feature, which lets users try apps before they buy them.
The beta - or test - version of the new feature is available to certain types of Android phones, the company announced on a blog. Test Drive will let users try out more than 5,000 Android apps before deciding whether they’d like to purchase them right from their phones.
Test Drive has been a staple of Amazon’s Appstore since last year, but it was previously confined to users’ desktops. Adding the feature to mobile, Amazon is putting it where most app purchases occur, according to the post.
“The more we remove friction for customers who want to try apps, the more apps they will try,” Jerry Heinz, Test Drive’s general manager, said in the blog post. “Those customers are more likely to find apps they are excited to download. In this way, Test Drive helps customers understand the value of premium apps and helps drive downloads of ‘freemium’ apps.”
For now, the feature will also be confined to select apps, which are those using the touch-screen and accelerator inputs. Test Drive will also make it onto more Android phones in the future, according to the post.
Apple again world’s brand champ
LOS ANGELES - For the second year in a row, Apple is the most valuable brand in the world, according to a study released last week.
Apple took top honors by increasing its brand value 19 percent to $182.9 billion, according to the Millward Brown’s annual BrandZ study.
The Cupertino, Calif., company edged out IBM by nearly $30 billion, but in general, technology companies fared well in the study. Google traded spots with IBM and came in at third place while Microsoft landed in fifth place, with McDonald’s as the only non-tech brand in the top five spots.
The study ranks brands based on their value, an analysis of their financial data, market intelligence and consumer measures of brand equity.
“Apple continues to innovate and maintain its ‘luxury’ brand status, but faces future competition from Samsung,” a news release for the study said. “Samsung is successfully outpacing Apple in a significant number of markets by positioning as a cool, well-priced alternative to the ubiquitous iPhone.”
Another brand that performed well in the study was Facebook, which rose 74 percent in brand value - making it the fastest brand-value riser in the study and moving up from 35th to 19th place.
The rest of the brands in the top 10 were Coca-Cola, Marlboro, AT&T, Verizon and China Mobile.
Business, Pages 24 on 05/28/2012