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Here Are the 10 New Back-at-You Patent Exhibits in Facebook Versus Yahoo

Kara Swisher in News on April 3 at 11:52 am PT

For your patently enjoyable reading pleasure!

Worst But First: Yahoo Uses Words of Facebook’s Zuckerberg to Poke Him in Patent Lawsuit

Kara Swisher in News on March 12 at 3:00 pm PT

Even if increasingly irrelevant, being there at the start apparently has to count for something, says Yahoo in its allegations against the social networking giant.

Yahoo Sues Facebook for Patent Infringement, Which Social Network Calls “Puzzling” (Including Filing)

Kara Swisher in News on March 12 at 1:15 pm PT

In what is either the boldest gamble of its history or the most boneheaded, Yahoo has filed a massive legal attack against the powerful social networking giant for intellectual property violations.

With Interest Lists, Facebook Wants to Be a Personalized Newspaper

Lauren Goode in Social on March 8 at 10:00 am PT

As numbers trend toward more “Unfriending” on Facebook, the social network is looking to tidy up your news feed with stuff that you’re actually interested in.

Did Facebook’s Redesign Just Bring Back Viral Spam?

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on August 11, 2011 at 7:29 pm PT

Facebook has launched a major redesign for games, bringing back some viral components that were turned off after users complained that random alerts were cluttering their news feeds.

Exclusive: Brandee "No Comment" Barker Finally Comments–Longtime PR Honcho Is Leaving Facebook

Kara Swisher in News on November 8, 2010 at 11:35 am PT

BoomTown usually does not get all weepy over the departure of public relations folks at Internet companies, in that cynical I’ve-seen-’em-come-and-I’ve-seen-’em-go kind of way. But the leaving of Brandee Barker from Facebook most certainly elicited a small single tear of sadness this morning, when she called into All Things Digital Global HQ to say she would no longer be tossing me her patented–and very endearing–hand-in-the-face “no comment” for the powerful social networking site. After four long and tumultuous years, she leaves Facebook Dec. 10.

The One-Year Report Card of Yahoo’s Carol Bartz–Product Innovation: D From Readers, A From Sheila and C- From BoomTown

Kara Swisher in News on January 20, 2010 at 1:05 am PT

Yesterday, BoomTown asked a question on Twitter about what grade people thought I should give Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz for product innovation, because I was torn about what the grade should be. One main reason: Bartz inherited a company that has been suffering from a serious and chronic case of product constipation, after many years of leading the Web in new and innovative offerings. With every other Web competitor innovating wildly in 2009, the lack of spark from Yahoo has become worrisome.

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App Watch: A Matchmaker in a Sea of Apps

Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 2, 2009 at 8:10 am PT

One of the frequently heard complaints about iPhone applications is that with more than 85,000 options, finding good ones can be tricky and time-consuming. Could the answer be yet another app? Envio Networks on Tuesday is launching Chorus, a free app that shows users the ones their friends are trying out and suggests ones that might interest them. The Andover, Mass.-based company, which has received funding from Matrix Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners, specializes in social-networking technology and saw the Apple device as a good showcase for what it can do.

Voices

SB Nation Launches Real-Time Updates

Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on September 10, 2009 at 7:08 am PT

SB Nation, the network of sporting sites owned by Sportsblogs Inc., is getting a makeover focused on real-time updates, a bid to increase traffic between its Web properties. The redesign went into effect late Wednesday and includes a “storystream,” similar to Facebook’s news feed, that wraps up articles, blog posts, videos and other content about hot topics like Melanie Oudin’s U.S. Open advance and Brady Quinn’s starting for the Browns on Sunday. Editors monitor news outlets, Twitter feeds and SB Nation’s sites for each storystream and keep them frequently updated, said Jim Bankoff, the company’s chief executive.