GM Said To Be In Talks With Facebook About Resuming Ads

General Motors Co. (GM), which said it would stop advertising on Facebook Inc. (FB) on the eve of the social network’s initial public offering in May, is talking with the site about resuming the ads, two people familiar with the talks said.

Those efforts have included Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg talking with GM Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson, said one of those people who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.

GM said in May it decided to stop advertising on Facebook mid-year after a regular spending review. The Detroit-based automaker spent $10 million on paid ads on Facebook last year, a person familiar with the spending has said. That’s a fraction of the about $1.8 billion GM spent in 2011 on advertising in the U.S., according to Kantar Media.

The automaker is willing to reconsider Facebook if it concludes there’s a proper return on the investment, a person familiar with the discussions said.

GM also decided not to advertise during the National Football League’s Super Bowl championship game next year on CBS. Joel Ewanick, GM chief marketing officer, said the automaker couldn’t justify the expense. GM wants to revamp marketing and save $2 billion over five years. Some of the changes have also included spending in new areas, such as sponsoring the Manchester United Ltd. soccer club.

Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing solutions at Facebook, also has met with Ewanick, according to the person familiar with the talks.

Tom Henderson, a GM spokesman, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment after business hours in Detroit. Annie Ta, a spokeswoman for Facebook, declined to comment. The talks were reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

Investor Concern

GM’s move to end Facebook advertising highlighted investor concern about the social network.

Facebook, which has fallen 19 percent since its May 18 IPO through yesterday, makes more than 80 percent of its revenue from advertising targeted to members who access the site on computers. In a filing ahead of its IPO, the company said advertising sales growth wasn’t keeping pace with user growth as more people access the site from mobile devices. Facebook didn’t introduce a mobile ad service until this year.

GM rose 5.6 percent, the most since Feb. 16, to $20.67 at the close in New York. Facebook gained 1.4 percent to $31.20.

Malware may knock thousands off Internet on Monday

WASHINGTON (AP) — The warnings about the Internet problem have been splashed across Facebook and Google. Internet service providers have sent notices, and the FBI set up a special website.

But tens of thousands of Americans may still lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware that could have taken over their machines more than a year ago.

Despite repeated alerts, the number of computers that probably are infected is more than 277,000 worldwide, down from about 360,000 in April. Of those still infected, the FBI believes that about 64,000 are in the United States.

Users whose computers are still infected Monday will lose their ability to go online, and they will have to call their service providers for help deleting the malware and reconnecting to the Internet.

The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world. When the FBI went in to take down the hackers late last year, agents realized that if they turned off the malicious servers being used to control the computers, all the victims would lose their Internet service.

In a highly unusual move, the FBI set up a safety net. They brought in a private company to install two clean Internet servers to take over for the malicious servers so that people would not suddenly lose their Internet.

But that temporary system will be shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, July 9.

Most victims don't even know their computers have been infected, although the malicious software probably has slowed their Web surfing and disabled their antivirus software, making their machines more vulnerable to other problems.

But popular social networking sites and Internet providers have gotten more involved, reaching out to computer users to warn of the problem.

According to Tom Grasso, an FBI supervisory special agent, many Internet providers are ready for the problem and have plans to try to help their customers. Some, such as Comcast, already have reached out.

The company sent out notices and posted information on its website. Because the company can tell whether there is a problem with a customer's Internet server, Comcast sent an email, letter or Internet notice to customers whose computers appeared to be affected.

Grasso said other Internet providers may come up with technical solutions that they will put in place Monday that will either correct the problem or provide information to customers when they call to say their Internet isn't working. If the Internet providers correct the server problem, the Internet will work, but the malware will remain on victims' computers and could pose future problems.

In addition to individual computer owners, about 50 Fortune 500 companies are still infected, Grasso said.

Both Facebook and Google created their own warning messages that showed up if someone using either site appeared to have an infected computer. Facebook users would get a message that says, "Your computer or network might be infected," along with a link that users can click for more information.

Google users got a similar message, displayed at the top of a Google search results page. It also provides information on correcting the problem.

To check whether a computer is infected, users can visit a website run by the group brought in by the FBI: http://www.dcwg.org .

The site includes links to respected commercial sites that will run a quick check on the computer, and it also lays out detailed instructions if users want to actually check the computer themselves.

‘Xbox 8′ tipped as name of next-gen Microsoft gaming console

Forget the Xbox 720 or Durango or any of the other names the rumor mill has given Microsoft's next game machine. Word on the street today is that the next Xbox will be called Xbox 8 -- or perhaps more likely: Xbox Infinity.

The Xbox rumor mill lit up Tuesday as word made the rounds that Microsoft received the rights to the domains Xbox8.org and Xbox8.us.

It all started when Fusible.com reported that the domains, held by a Chinese cybersquatter, had been turned over to Microsoft by the National Arbitration Forum, which handles international domain disputes. The organization ruled against the cybersquatter in two separate decisions (check them out here and here ). In addition to the Xbox8 domains, it also handed over to Microsoft xboxcompanion.com, xboxlivetv.com, xboxphone.com, and xboxtablet.com.

 (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBCUniversal.)

While Microsoft has yet to confirm that a successor to the Xbox 360 is in the works (it is), Tuesday morning's rumor explosion says something about the high interest in this mystical machine.


The next-generation console will reportedly be six times more powerful than the current Xbox 360, and may support Blu-ray, true 1080p and native 3D output. The system will supposedly feature six to eight 2GHz ARM/x86 cores, with two additional ARM/x86 cores that would power the console’s operating system and three PowerPC cores for backward-compatibility.

The games press and the Twitterati spent Tuesday morning rabidly guessing what "Xbox 8" might mean.

Though I like to think that Microsoft is just preparing for the decades ahead when it finally gets around to making the 8th installment of the Xbox (should be around the year 2053 right?), others have more wisely pointed out that the number 8 could represent the infinity symbol -- hence Xbox Infinity (which does have a nice ring to it). Still others thought maybe it had something to do with the 8th anniversary of the Xbox 360 -- which is coming up next year.

Then again, probably the most likely scenario has to do with the forthcoming Windows 8 (not to mention Windows Phone 8) and how these products might be used in conjunction with the next Xbox.

Still, this is the second time in a matter of weeks that Xbox Next rumors have sent gamers into a guessing game fever. Two weeks ago secret documents were reportedly released outlining Microsoft's plans for a new Xbox (called the Xbox 720 in this case) -- one that is six to eight times more powerful than the Xbox 360 and supports virtual reality glasses.

For its part, Microsoft has remained mostly mum on the topic. A company spokesperson told game site Kotaku , "Microsoft often acquires various domain names as part of its ongoing business strategy, but beyond that we have no comment."

One thing is for certain, Microsoft must be enjoying all the free advance publicity for their next game machine ... which doesn't even, technically, exist.

Kaz Hirai "Retires" from Sony Computer Entertainment

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai "retired" from his role as "representative director and chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment" on Wednesday, ending his chapter with the PlayStation division, one he just about built from the ground up.

But he's not done at Sony yet.  Hirai will take over for Howard Stringer as Sony's new chief executive officer, giving him more responsibility over all of Sony's branches, not just PlayStation.

Twitter Ends Relationship with LinkedIn

Twitter's relationship with LinkedIn, which was supposed to be a promising one, ends (ironically) the same weekend Tom and Katie do.

Twitter announced on Friday that it's ending its tweet syndication partnership with the professional network site LinkedIn.

Twitter's partnership with LinkedIn allowed a syndication of users tweets inside LinkedIn's flowing stream, meaning what you tweeted could be copied onto your LinkedIn page.  However, this feature wasn't being fully used, thus ending the partnership.

A LinkedIn spokeswoman said that "Tweets have not been powering LinkedIn for some time."    She included that LinkedIn's "already begun to more thoroughly enforce our Developer Rules of the Road with partners, for example with branding, and in the coming weeks, we will be introducing stricter guidelines around how the Twitter API is used."

Nexus 7 Teardown: Harder to Repair Than Kindle Fire, Easier Than iPad

The Nexus 7′s components sprawled out. Photo: iFixit

The expert hardware hackers at iFixit are at it again, this time with Google’s and Asus’ new Nexus 7 tablet in hand. Less than a week after Google announced its flagship 7-inch tablet at Google I/O, the iFixit team disassembled the device. And what they found is a tablet that’s a breeze to open up and repair, but not quite as easy as Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

With the help of retaining clips along the edge of the tablet, the Nexus 7 pops open with ease. It is much more repair-friendly than Apple’s iPad, which is a glued-together device. And according to the iFixit folk, it only took the Nexus 7 one extra millimeter of thickness to make it significantly easier to repair.

“That’s the negligible difference between extending the life of your device through repair, as opposed to tossing it in a landfill,” iFixit wrote in its teardown. “And most of all, nobody will complain about that one millimeter difference in day-to-day use, but the user-serviceability it brings will make all the difference when the device breaks.”

Inside, the tablet features a large 4,326 mAh, 16 Wh battery held in place by a small amount of adhesive. And again, unlike the iPad, the battery is easy to take out and replace, when needed. You won’t need to solder or screw anything in when your battery gets fried and you need put in new one.

After taking off the rear case, you can see the Nexus 7′s large battery. Photo: iFixit

The Nexus 7 also features an L-shaped motherboard with standard Phillips #00 screws for its interior fasteners. It doesn’t require any special tools to take the tablet apart — just a Philips #00 screwdriver and a spudger does the trick.

The iFixit team found 1 GB of Hynix H5TC2G83CFR DDR3 RAM, the same model found in the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, on the motherboard. Other components include the tablet’s Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, an AzureWave AW-NH665 wireless module, Kingston KE44B-26BN/8GB 8GB flash, and more.

Overall, the Nexus 7 is an easy-to-repair device. You’ll be able to replace components, like the I/O cable, without having to replace the motherboard. And as mentioned it’s “like butter” to pop open the rear case, and battery replacement is simple.

Up to this point, the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 are on equal playing field. The real kicker between the two is the display. The Kindle Fire’s glass and display materials are not fused together, making the cost of repairing a shattered display much lower. The Nexus 7, on the other hand, features an LCD that is fused to the tablet’s Corning glass. If you drop your tablet and break the glass, you’ll have to replace both the glass and the LCD in order to fix it.

Unfortunately, the LCD is fused with the tablet’s Corning glass. Photo: iFixit

Beyond that, the only drawback is that the thin copper alloy sheets that shield the Nexus 7′s display could tear. The iFixit team gave the Nexus 7 a 7 out of 10 repairability rating, compared to the 8 out of 10 for the Kindle fire and the 2 out of 10 for the iPad.

For more on why it’s important for company’s to make repairable gadgets, make sure to read iFixit co-founder Kyle Wiens’s opinion pieces.

Report: iPad Mini to Feature Sharp IGZO Display, Cost $250

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The iPad Mini is the Apple rumor that refuses to die.

The latest in the long, twisted history of the fabled miniature tablet is that it will feature a 330ppi, 7.85-inch IGZO display made by Sharp. Today’s news comes by way of “various analysts” at a Chinese language site called MyDrivers.com.

IGZO is a new fabrication technique that makes displays thinner, higher in contrast, and less power-hungry than current display technology. The third-generation iPad was also rumored to be spec’d with an IGZO display before it debuted. When the tablet eventually shipped, IGZO was off the table.

In addition to utilizing Sharp’s latest display technology, the 7.85-inch tablet is expected to be priced at $250 — comparable with the $200 Kindle Fire or Nexus 7 — with a higher-end Apple model at $300.

These rumors jibe with what we’ve been hearing for a while now. If the iPad Mini is on Apple’s roadmap, we could be seeing it as soon as the end of this year. But again, that’s what we’ve been hearing since before the first iPad debuted.