Users of Facebook know and have most likely used the tagging feature that Facebook has to offer. Tagging faces and people in photos is what set Facebook apart and was truly Facebook's first push of innovation (beyond the platform itself). Facebook has been battling for almost five years to gain the patent rights to tagging photos and the features along with it, and has finally won.

According to Inside Facebook, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Facebook a patent for selecting a piece of media (e.g. photo/video) and having the ability to reference a person or entity in it. Mark Zuckerberg, Aaron Sittig, and Scott Marlette were credited as the inventors during the case. The premise of "tagging people" in photos was one of the factors that convinced the founders to start a platform like Facebook Zuckerberg says. 

Due to the success of photo tagging, Facebook opened up opportunities for developers to create and design other features that are now prominent to Facebook's interface. Because of this, Facebook also won a patent for "gifting" or the giving of gifts in a social network environment. Facebook applied for four other search-related patents in the last month and they regard social proximity and information of that nature. Because of the growing popularity and status of Facebook, it would not be a surprise if Facebook was to continue to gain patents and other trademarks as the social-network boom has in no way hit the ceiling.


[via Inside Facebook]

Over the past few weeks and months, Apple has been slowly releasing new previews in regards to upcoming Mac OSX updates. Today Apple released its second beta of 10.6.8 to developers. According to developers and numerous sources, there has been no known issues. The Combo Update and Delta Update for the build are approximately 1 GB to download. From those familiar with the build and developers, the build focuses on features such as the MacApp Store, Networking, Drivers, and other components that were recently released to the latest Mac OS X. The first beta to Mac OSX 10.6.8 was released around a week ago. Identified as 10K521, this current beta, 10K524 was a quick follow-up to meet minor issues and bug fixes in the previous version. Not to mention it incorporated more advanced features to the parts listed up.

In height of all this, Apple is preparing this summer for their release of Mac OS X Lion. From what was expressed, this upcoming OS is supposed to "redefine the Mac OS" for the future ahead. One major update that has been spoken of is that Lion will be incorporating iPhone and iOS-like features. Between June 6-10, Apple will be showcasing Mac OS X Lion at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.


[via AppleInsider]

Apple is widely believed to have altered the algorithm used to determine app ranking in the company's App Store. Although Apple is not commenting on the supposed revision, developers and other observers - including the analysts at Flurry - say that changes are apparent, particularly with regard to criteria used to elevate app rankings.

Based on the apparent revisions, it now seems as though the number of downloads an app sees exerts less influence than before on its ranking in the App Store. In the Top Free app category, for example, evidence suggests that Apple is giving more weight to applications that are "actively used."

“We’ve been noticing changes in the Top Free rankings for at least three days now,” says Peter Farago, vice president of marketing at Flurry. “From our point of view, Apple is absolutely considering more than just downloads, which we believe is the right direction to go in to measure the true popularity of an app.”

On the positive side of this change would be a more accurate and telling reflection of the apps that are truly the most popular and most widely used. On the other hand, this method of considering active use in app ranking favors longstanding popular apps, which makes it exponentially more cumbersome for a "new guy" to gain traction and ascend the App Store's ranking ladder. For example, huge apps like Facebook and Netflix have already benefited in their respective rankings from the suspected algorithm modification.

[via Into Mobile Apps]

Tinhte, the people who have previously shown off many Apple prototypes, including a test iPhone 4, a MacBook prior to refresh, and a pic of an iPod touch with a camera, well before any of these were announced officially by Apple, are at it again, this time sporting a white iPhone that they say is running a "test version" of iOS.

If this is in fact the iPhone 5, it sure it looks a lot like the iPhone 4, which if you've been keeping up with the latest rumors, should not be a surprise. It's expected that a majority of the upgrades are happening on the inside of this flashy white phone. The same source has released a second video that shows off the phone's hardware, and lo and behold this thing's sporting a 64 GB hard drive. 

The short videos show off the new interface for a bit, particularly highlighting a brand new multitasking interface. The current multitasking of iOS 4 has allegedly been replaced by an expose-like (and similar to the multifl0w cydia tweak) interface that reveals all of your open applications. A tap brings you back to that app, and a long hold brings up the typical wiggling icons and allows you to close the app in the background. Also in the multitasking expose is the familiar spotlight search, which seems to be gone from its usual spot to the left of the home screen.

Finally, the prototype iOS (which still has an iOS 4 build number) also includes long-awaited Facebook integration, which is now located in the settings menu. Although, we can't be fully sure this is the same iOS update we'll see in June, there's a good chance this is, we most likely won't know for sure until WWDC in a little over a month.

[via Tihnte, 9to5Mac]

Apple has released an iTunes update today, which "provides a number of important bug fixes." iTunes 10.2.2 is available now and, in particular, delivers the following:

• Addresses an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when syncing an iPad.
  
• Resolves an issue which may cause syncing photos with iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to take longer than necessary.
  
• Fixes a problem where video previews on the iTunes Store may skip while playing.
  
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance.

Shortly after the update was issued,  MuscleNerd turned to Twitter to share the following: "iTunes 10.2.2 confirmed safe for JBers (DFU, saved SHSHs, syncing). Safe for ultrasn0w and recent IMEI unlockers too."

The iTunes update comes on the same day that Apple asked a federal judge to dismiss a consumer antitrust lawsuit that points the finger of blame at iTunes. The assertion is that Apple is unfairly limiting consumption opportunities for digital media by linking iPod music downloading to its iTunes music store.

Robert Mittelstaedt, an attorney for Apple, defended iTunes and the Cupertino tech giant by arguing that "blocking iPod music downloads that used competitors’ software was intended to improve downloading quality for iTunes customers."

"Changes that Apple made in 2004, just days after Internet music software company RealNetworks Inc. announced a technology allowing songs from its online store to be played on iPods, weren’t anticompetitive, he said.“

Apple’s view is that iPods work better when consumers use the iTunes jukebox rather than third party software that can cause corruption or other problems,” Mittelstaedt told U.S. District Judge James Ware at a San Jose, California hearing.

[via Apple, Business Week]

News is spreading like wildfire within the jailbreak community at this hour as the Dev Team has just revised the RedSn0w jailbreak tool with iOS 4.3.2 support. All told, RedSn0w will, indeed, jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 and is now available on both Mac OS X and Windows.

With incredible speed, the Dev Team has once again worked its magic, despite the release of iOS 4.3.2 by Apple less than one week ago. To be fair, of course, i0n1c’s untether certainly deserves some major props for the expedience of the this latest jailbreak update.

“Only a few weeks after the 4.3.1 untether created by @i0n1c was released," the Dev Team posted on their blog, "Apple pushed out firmware 4.3.2. Thankfully, it appears Apple didn’t have a chance to fix the hole used by @i0n1c’s untether, so he ported his code over to 4.3.2’s kernel."

Best of all, the 4.3.2 untether works on all devices that actually support 4.3.2 (except for the iPad 2). That means: iPhone3GS, iPhone4 (GSM), iPod touch 3G, iPod touch 4G, and the first-gen iPad.

As always, the Dev Team warns, ultrasn0w unlockers "should stay away from redsn0w and only update their firmware through a custom IPSW. We’ll release a new version of PwnageTool sometime this week."

edit: not working on iphone 4, dev team is working on a fix

[via Dev Team Blog]

Phew, that was fast. Just hours after releasing iOS 4.3.2, enthusiasts have successfully jailbroke the firmware update for iPhone 4, iPad and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. RedmondPie has a handy guide up. You need to know that this is a tethered solution, meaning you’ll have to tether your device to a computer each time you reboot. You will need custom PwnageTool bundles for iPhone 4, PwnageTool version 4.3 and tetheredboot utility. A Mac OS X machine and iTunes 10.2.1 are also necessary. Do not jailbreak if you’re device is unlocked because there is no unlock for the new baseband on iOS 4.3.2 yet.

[via 9to5mac]

iOS Firmware shows some new firmware in the queue for you folks with relatively new iOS devices.


As stated earlier this week, the update fixes iPad 3G connectivity issues as well as iPad Facetime issues as well.  We’ll see how it does with battery life.  Apple states: This update contains improvements and other bug fixes including:

1. Fixes an issue that occasionally caused blank or frozen video during a FaceTime call
2. Fixes an issue that prevented some international users from connecting to 3G networks on iPad Wi-Fi + 3G
3. Contains the latest security updates