NBBJ Designing Samsung's new silicon valley campus

As Apple and Facebook have proven, corporate complexes are all the rage these days in Silicon Valley. Samsung (Apple’s phone nemesis) is the latest tech titan to add to the roster of architectural Bay Area campuses, rivaling Apple’s planned circular headquarters and Facebook’s Gehry-designed West Campus. The company plans to build a 1.1 million square foot sales and R&D headquarters on its current North San Jose site. Designed NBBJ, it will include a 10-story tower, an amenity pavilion, and a parking garage. RENDERING OF SAMSUNG’S NEW SAN JOSE CAMPUS. (COURTESY NBBJ) Based on renderings released to the Silicon Valley Business Journal last month, the tower will contain three distinct volumes wrapping around an open courtyard;...

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Posted in: IT,Silicon Valley

Facebook revamps site, tweaks mobile apps

Facebook wants to cut clutter. The social media site, which has more than 1 billion users, on Thursday announced a newly redesigned news feed that blows up photos and visual content, and adds categories that focus on specific types of content. The Web version of the social network now looks much more like the mobile apps, which are also getting a revamping. Facebook announced the changes during a media event at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The new Web version will roll out slowly to users starting Thursday, and updated iOS and Android apps will be available in the coming weeks. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg compared the revamped feed to a local newspaper and the new channels to the traditional sections, such as sports...

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Posted in: SNS

Facebook Tips very Useful about Privacy

1. Limit Sharing to Friends Only This suggestion is diametrically opposed to Zuckerberg's famous "the age of privacy is over" declaration in 2009 in which he decided that everyone should share everything they posted on Facebook with everyone else. Later he retreated on this statement. The FTC stepped in, especially as the Timeline era approached. Facebook users can set the default to "friends only," and that's exactly what Downey suggests. "If you're sharing with 'friends of friends,' you're exposing your info to an average of 150,000 people," says Downey. "When your data is open to the public, it can - and does - end up anywhere: the Girls Around Me app or Spokeo.com are two creepy examples." To change the settings to friends-only,...

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Why Facebook is making people sad

As Facebook becomes a more powerful influence in our digital lives, researchers are looking into how the social network changes our perception of the lives of friends and family members. According to a new study conducted by sociologists Hui-Tzu Grace Chou and Nicholas Edge at Utah Valley University, research showed a correlation between a Facebook user’s disposition about their life and the amount of time spent on the social network. Approximately 425 students were asked to identify how much they agreed or disagreed with statements like “Life is fair” and “Many of my friends have a better life than me.” In addition, the students were asked about how much time they spent on Facebook, their number of Facebook friends as well...

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Posted in: SNS