Advertising on Facebook

Facebook makes most of its money through ads-here's a quick example to show you how it works.

1. A business creates an ad. Let's say a gym opens in your neighborhood. The owner creates an ad to get people to come in for a free workout.
2. Facebook gets paid to deliver the ad. The owner sends the ad to Facebook and describes who should see it: people who live nearby and like running.
3. The right people see the ad. Facebook only shows you the ad if you live in town and like to run. That's how advertisers reach you without knowing who you are.
   

Reference: Facebook Advertising

The Mozilla Story

We're a non-profit, fighting
to protect the web we all
LOVE

Stanford University Offers Online and Free Courses

Stanford University offered their most popular computer science courses to the public this fall, online for free. The courses were so popular that Stanford’s doing it again in January. Open to everyone, just enter your name and email address to sign up.
Each course comprises downloadable video lectures, handouts, assignments, exams, and transcripts.

This time they’re offering 7 computer science courses:

Machine Learning (Andrew Ng - January 2012)
Human-Computer Interaction(Scott Klemmer - January 2012)
Game Theory(Matthew Jackson and Yoav Shoham - January 2012)
Probabilistic Graphical ModelsDaphne Koller - January 2012
Cryptography(Dan Boneh - January 2012)
Design and Analysis of Algorithms I (Tim Roughgarden - January 2012)
Natural Language Processing(Chris Manning and Dan Jurafsky - January 23rd 2012)
Computer Science 101 (Nick Parlante – February 2012)
Software Engineering for Software as a Service (Armando Fox and David Patterson - February 2012)


Two entrepreneurship courses:
Technology Entrepreneurship (Chuck Eesley - January 2012)
The Lean Launchpad (Steve Blank - February 2012)


Medicine
Anatomy(Sakti Srivastava - January 2012)


Civil Engineering
Making Green Buildings(Martin Fischer - January 2012)


Electrical Engr.
Information Theory (Tsachy Weissman - March 2012)

Mozilla Firefox Manifesto

We Believe in You

ReMo - Mozilla Reps

One part of the sfd this year was the introduction for ReMO or the Mozilla Representative.
As a fresh grad of BS Computer Engineering, I'm interested in joining as ReMo.
I'm a Volunteer Student Assistant in our school, EARIST during college days, I'm willing to pursue my journey to contribute to my school and community.
I'm sure being a ReMO helps me a lot when organizing events.
I love to be a ReMo hopefully someday.

Anybody there who is interested can apply online at ReMo Wiki Page


ReMO - Overview
Source: ReMo Wiki Page


The program, also known by its codename ReMo, aims to empower and support volunteer Mozillians who want to become official representatives of Mozilla in their region/locale and wherever they go.

Community is the backbone of the Mozilla project. As the Mozilla project grows in scope and scale, community needs to be strengthened and empowered accordingly. This is the central aim of the Mozilla Reps program: to empower and to help push responsibility to the edges in order to help the Mozilla contributor base grow.

The Mozilla Reps program provides a simple framework and specific tools to help volunteer Mozillians become official representatives of Mozilla in their region. Anyone who is passionate and knowledgeable about Mozilla and who is ready to dive deeper into the project can sign-up to the program. The Mozilla Reps program helps push responsibility and authority further outwards, to more Mozillians, making it much easier for volunteers organize and/or attend events, recruit and mentor new contributors, and support their local communities better.

A Mozilla Rep agrees to take on the following responsibilities:

represent Mozilla in their country/region
promote the Mozilla Project and our mission
build on and support existing/future local community efforts and programs
inspire, recruit and support new contributors
support and mentor future Mozilla Reps
document clearly all his/her activities

An "open" and "structured" program

The Mozilla Reps program is open to anyone who is:

passionate about the Mozilla Project
knowledgeable of the Mozilla organization, its mission, its products and its community
willing to communicate to as many people as possible and keen to inspire people to contribute to Mozilla

Although anyone can sign-up to become a Mozilla Rep, that doesn't mean you automatically become a Mozilla Rep after submitting your application. Because Mozilla Reps are entrusted with new responsibilities and special tools to manage budgets, events and swag, each application is carefully reviewed by the Mozilla Rep council and each applicant, if shortlisted, must pass a short a short interview before officially becoming a Mozilla Rep.

SFD 2011 Countdown

Software freedom day celebration is just around the corner.

Together with my co-volunteer student assistant of our school, EARIST, we register our group to SFD Philippines, hosted by UST.

I can’t wait for this event, I look forward to get new ideas on open-source software and hopefully to share with others.
I'm excited to meet new friends, mingle with people from different places and listen to their open-source software experience especially on Linux (Ubuntu, Fedora & CentOS flavors) users, which I’ve try to use.

Software Freedom Day celebration - September 17, 2011

See you on SFD celebration,

mcompendio

Software Freedom Day 2011

SFD is a yearly celebration for Software Freedom! Every year there are thousands teams organizing Software Freedom Day in different countries and cities.

Check the map to find out the SFD event(s) around your area.

Fedora 16 Alpha Release

Get the next Fedora , right now.
Fedora is 100% free for you to enjoy and share.



Free your desktop with Fedora.
Fedora is a fast, stable, and powerful operating system for everyday use built by a worldwide community of friends. It's completely free to use, study, and share.

Source:
Fedoraproject

Skype 5.5 With Facebook Integration

We are pleased to announce that Skype 5.5 for Windows is now available for download.

Based on user feedback, we have made some updates from the beta version of Skype 5.5 for Windows, which launched in June, and recommend that you update now.



The Skype 5.5 for Windows update comes with a deeper Facebook integration. Without having to leave Skype, you can check out when your Facebook friends are online and instant message with them from the new Facebook Contacts Tab (located in between the Skype and Recent Contacts tabs). You can also view and update your Facebook status and even view comments or 'like' posts from your Facebook Wall, directly from Skype Home.

We have also made a number of updates to make your Skype calls on Windows even better. We've improved the controls for video and group video calls for Windows, enhanced video call reliability and made several design changes to improve your overall Skype experience.



Plus for all you emoticon fanatics, the Skype emoticons have received an update, with smoother animations that stand out. We are also introducing a few new Skype emoticons to use when words fail you.

Download Skype 5.5 for Windows now. Hit us up on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and let us know which emoticon is your favorite. You can also leave us feedback on the Skype 5.5 for Windows update below in the comments section.

Source:
Skype Blog

Google Buys Motorola Mobility For $12.5B

“Android Will Stay Open”

Google found a way to solve the problem of Android patents and it's only three times more expensive than acquiring the Nortel patents: buying Motorola for $12.5 billion.

"Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology and products, and in the development of intellectual property, which have helped drive the remarkable revolution in mobile computing we are all enjoying today. (...) In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we're thrilled at the success they've achieved so far," says Google's CEO, Larry Page.

A few days ago, Motorola's CEO said that the company owns "one of the strongest and most respected patent portfolios in the industry. We have over 17,000 patents granted and over 7,000 patents pending with particular strength in 2G and 3G essential, non-essential patents important to the delivery of competitive products in the marketplace, video particularly compression, decompression and security technologies and finally, a leading position in 4G LTE essential." Sanjay Jha also said that IP was important to differentiate from other Android vendors. It's clear that Motorola didn't want to license its technology to other Android OEMs, so Google's solution was to buy Motorola.

Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson and LG had a unanimous reaction. "We welcome Google's commitment to defending Android and its partners." After all, it's Google who created the software, so Google has to spend $12.5 billion to solve the mess.

Google promises that Android will continue to be an open platform, but the other Android OEMs will have their reasons to doubt. Google's biggest acquisition to date could be an answer to Android's problems, but also the beginning of the end for Android as an open-source mobile operating system. Motorola released two of the most important Android devices (the original Droid and the XOOM tablet) and Android smartphones saved it from bankruptcy, but Motorola is a US company that can't compete outside of US and it doesn't have a good track record when it comes to releasing the latest software updates. Buying this company to save the Android ecosystem will only work if Motorola disappears.

Source:
Google OS

Google Cloud Print

Google Cloud Print has a new homepage with more information about the service, a helpful video and a list of products that work with Cloud Print.

"Using Google Cloud Print, you can make your home and work printers available to you and anyone you choose, from the applications you use every day. Google Cloud Print works on your phone, tablet, Chromebook, PC, and any other web-connected device you want to print from," explains Google.

It's interesting to notice that not many Google products integrate with Cloud Print. By default, you can only print documents and Web pages in Chrome using Cloud Print if you have a Chromebook. There's an unofficial extension that adds support for Cloud Print in Gmail, Google Docs and for some local documents. If you have an Android or iOS device, you can use Cloud Print in the Gmail and Google Docs mobile apps. For Android, there's an unofficial app that lets you print files from your phone using Cloud Print. For iOS, there's an advanced app that offers a lot of print-related features, including Cloud Print support, but it costs $9. Google needs to add native support for Cloud Print in Android and to develop an iPhone app for Cloud Print.

For more information about Cloud Print, watch this video:



Source:
Google OS

Call Phones From Gmail to over 150 Destinations

Calling from Gmail now in 38 languages, with lower rates to over 150 destinations.
We're always trying to make it easier for people to connect-whether that means sending an email, chatting or video chatting, you can reach the people you care about from right inside Gmail. Last year, we made it possible for those of you in the U.S. to call any mobile phone or landline directly from Gmail and starting today, we are making this available to many more of you who use Gmail outside the U.S. by offering calling in 38 new languages.



You can now buy calling credit in your choice of four currencies (Euros, British pounds, Canadian dollars or U.S. dollars) and there are no connection fees, so you only pay for the time you talk.

To help reduce the cost of staying connected, we're also lowering our calling rates to over 150 destinations around the world. For example, it's now only $0.10 (or €0.08) per minute to call mobile phones in the U.K., France or Germany (landlines are $0.02/min), $0.15/minute to call mobile phones in Mexico and $0.02/min to call any phone number in China and India. The complete list is available on our rates page.

Source:
Google Blog