Facebook to track its users off-site
SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook Inc. will soon start tracking what its U.S. users do not just on Facebook but also on other websites and apps to more effectively target them with ads.
The practice is common -- even for some ad networks Facebook partners with -- but the social network had previously based its ads mainly on what people did on Facebook, such as what pages they liked.
Users "want to see ads that are more relevant to their interests," Facebook said Thursday in an announcement about the changes.
For those weary of Facebook analyzing even more about their online behavior, the company offered this: "If you don't want us to use the websites and apps you use to show you more relevant ads, we won't. You can opt out."
The company noted that this kind of tracking was common at other companies. But Facebook claims it's going to do something other companies don't: allow users to see exactly why a targeted ad was displayed to them.
They can then add or remove interests that Facebook is using to select its ads. The move is aimed at boosting advertising revenue, allowing Facebook to argue that its knowledge about users is richer, and that it has buy-in from the users themselves, with a say over what kinds of products they want to be pitched.
Facebook plans to roll out the changes for U.S. users in the next few weeks and is ramping up to make similar changes around the world in the coming months.
-- Los Angeles Times
HP wading into water-cooled servers
Hewlett-Packard Co. is introducing a new cooling technology for its powerful computers that run financial models and create complex designs: water.
An exotic -- and seemingly risky -- method usually used in high-end gaming computers, Hewlett-Packard's new Apollo family of server computers will feature water cooling to reduce the amount of energy needed to power fans that stop them from overheating, said Antonio Neri, chief of the company's servers business.
"There is nothing like this on the market," Neri said last week. "It sucks the heat from computer servers in a unique way."
The innovation opens the door for Hewlett-Packard to chase orders in a $4 billion segment of the market where it hasn't had products before, said Neri. Like other mainstream computer makers, the company is searching for ways to differentiate its offerings in the face of cheaper competition from Asian manufacturers and as customers such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. turn to making their own equipment.
Unlike gamers' machines that pump water near heat-generating processors and graphics chips, Hewlett-Packard's new design keeps the water away from expensive components where a leak could damage them. Its patented exchanger pulls the heat out of the machine from a safer distance and makes the resulting warm water available for reuse elsewhere in buildings, said Neri.
Hewlett-Packard, which unveiled the new product June 8, is offering a solution to the challenge that all operators of data centers face where costs of electricity and cooling far outweigh the price of the machinery itself. Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman has been seeking to rekindle revenue growth at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer maker.
"One glass of water has more energy absorption than a room full of air," Neri said. "What our engineers did was solve that power efficiency equation."
-- Bloomberg News
Google to buy satellite maker Skybox
Adding to an aerial fleet that includes high-altitude balloons and unmanned drones, Google Inc. said it will buy startup satellite maker Skybox Imaging Inc. for $500 million, as the tech giant pursues new ways of gathering data and delivering it to Internet users around the world.
Skybox, launched five years ago by three Stanford graduate students, is among the first in a wave of new startups that are using advances in computer software and hardware to build smaller, cheaper satellites. While other companies provide high-resolution photos from orbiting satellites, Skybox claims to be the first commercial venture to provide high-resolution video.
Google said Tuesday that Skybox satellites can provide up-to-date images to help improve the accuracy of Google Maps and related services. Over time, Google also hopes to use Skybox's engineering talent and technology for disaster relief and for Google's long-term project to provide Internet service in remote parts of the world.
Skybox, which had raised $91 million from investors including Khosla Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners, has also pursued an unusual commercial project to develop a huge archive of images and other satellite data stored in a computer "cloud" that other companies can mine for useful information about geologic formations, construction projects, traffic patterns and other activities.
While Google didn't comment on that effort Tuesday, the Internet giant has been expanding its business by offering all kinds of cloud information services to individual and commercial customers.
Skybox is the latest of several aerospace ventures for Google, which has been quietly hiring satellite engineers and technical experts while eyeing companies in the sector.
-- San Jose Mercury News
Alibaba launches U.S. e-commerce site
A new shopping website site backed by Alibaba launched in the United States on Wednesday, a sign that the Chinese e-commerce giant is aiming to dominate more of the American retail market as it gears up to begin trading publicly as early as this summer on a U.S. stock exchange.
E-commerce site 11 Main offers consumers access to merchandise from small businesses in an online marketplace that aims to replicate a small town, Main Street shopping experience on the Internet. The new San Mateo, Calif., company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alibaba, a Hong Kong Internet colossus that processes about 80 percent of all China-based e-commerce. While Alibaba is king of China's retail, the company is not as well known or widely used by shoppers in the U.S., and 11 Main demonstrates Alibaba's intention to win over American shoppers.
11 Main could also help Alibaba compete with U.S. e-commerce companies including eBay and Square, which last year created Square Market to help small brick-and-mortar retailers sell their goods online.
Alibaba is set to begin trading publicly in the United States as early as August in what could be the largest tech IPO ever. Valuations put the company at an estimated $150 billion to $200 billion.
11 Main features up to 2,000 businesses that sell fashion, jewelry, home goods, children's items, antiques and collectibles. The site isn't open to just any retailer; 11 Main chooses which merchants can list -- nearly all are small businesses -- and each must meet certain standards, such as shipping from the U.S., said Mike Effle, 11 Main president and general manager.
The site is open to shoppers by invitation only for the next month or so, until the company works out any kinks. 11 Main takes a 3.5 percent cut of any sales on the site and charges retailers a monthly fee to list products.
The site was launched by employees of Vendio and Auctiva, e-commerce companies that Alibaba bought in 2010. 11 Main becomes Alibaba's third retail-related, wholly owned subsidiary in the U.S. It operates as a separate company but must report to members of Alibaba's board of directors.
-- San Jose Mercury News
Message goes rogue, re-tweets via app
NEW YORK -- A tweet containing a snippet of computer code propagated itself through Twitter on Wednesday by taking advantage of a security flaw in the company's TweetDeck application.
In response, Twitter shut down the application's access to tweets for about an hour Wednesday while fixing the problem.
The two-line message was automatically "retweeted," or sent out again, when received by TweetDeck, a computer application for Twitter's power users. Affected tweeters saw pop-up windows on their screens. The tweet was sent out tens of thousands of times, but left its victims otherwise unharmed.
Twitter initially told TweetDeck users to log out and log back in. When that proved ineffective, it shut down the application's access to tweets. Twitter was still accessible through its website and through other applications.
It's not the first time tweets containing JavaScript code have self-propagated through security holes in Twitter. The last major outbreak was in 2010. The possible damage is somewhat limited by the brevity of tweets, which are at most 140 characters long.
-- The Associated Press
Ebay starts new site for designer labels
E-commerce behemoth eBay Inc. has launched a full-priced designer shopping destination in a play to expand beyond its roots as an auction site.
Called the Designer Collective, the site announced last week offers men and women's clothing and accessories from 16 fashion labels, including True Religion and Calvin Klein.
EBay has been vying with other retailers for shoppers in areas such as same-day delivery. eBay Now, which promises delivery within a few hours, is rolling out to 25 cities. Amazon.com has added more cities to its same-day delivery service.
Devin Wenig, president of eBay Marketplaces, told Women's Wear Daily that the new designer offerings allow the company to partner instead of compete with designer labels.
He said the retailers manage their own inventories and storefronts via eBay.
"We're transaction-based," he said. "We only succeed if our partners succeed."
-- Los Angeles Times
Business on 06/16/2014