Facebook is in negotiations to acquire to the GPS technology company Waze in what could amount to a $1 billion deal, according to reports. So what is Waze anyway? The Israeli company (which also has offices in California and Europe) offers an app that uses GPS and crowd sourcing to help drivers avoid traffic and find the quickest route.

The community-based traffic and navigation app connects drivers based on their location and lets them share real-time traffic and road information. Users can get real time alerts about hiccups along their route and find alternative routes to help them avoid police, accidents, road hazards or traffic jams. “It’s like a personal heads-up from a few million of your friends on the road,” says the company’s website.

The free app, which is available in both iOS and Android formats, is already integrated with Facebook letting users coordinate their whereabouts with their Facebook friends. Want to know if your friend is running late for dinner? Just check out the traffic along their route in Waze. According to the The Telegraph UK, the company has about 44 million users, about a quarter of which are in the US.

Facebook has acquired the mobile development company Parse. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, though TechCrunch is reporting that the transaction cost the social network $85 million, part of which will be paid in cash, part in stock.

Facebook explained the acquisition on the blog: “By making Parse a part of Facebook Platform, we want to enable developers to rapidly build apps that span mobile platforms and devices. Parse makes this possible by allowing developers to work with native objects that provide backend services for data storage, notifications, user management, and more.”

Parse explained their side of the story on their blog: “Parse has come a long way. In just under two years, we’ve gone from a rough prototype to powering tens of thousands of apps for a very broad spectrum of customers. Some of the world’s best brands trust us with their entire mobile presence, and a growing number of the world’s brightest independent developers trust us with their next big thing. We couldn’t be happier.”

Facebook has updated its iOS app bringing a new way to chat within the app. Using a new tool called “Chat heads,” Facebook iOS users can continue chatting while they are looking at other parts of the app, like their news feed. These profile pictures will pop up when friends send the user a message no matter where they are in the app.

Earlier this month, Facebook introduced “Facebook Home” for select Android devices, which was where they first debuted the “Chat heads” feature. On Android phones these chats can happen anywhere on the phone, whereas on iOS devices, users can only chat within the Facebook app.

The iOS app update also includes a new feature called stickers, a suite of emoticons and characters that users can add to chat messages. The company is also rolling out improvements to the news feed on the iPad.

According to the company  blog, “chat heads and stickers on the Facebook app for iPhone will roll out fully over the next few weeks.”

Facebook had an official announcement to introduce their latest foray into mobile domination, but there were also others on the internet with their own interpretation of the social network’s new “phone.” Naturally, it appeared on You Tube:

Not to be outdone, Facebook also released an ad demonstrating its new benevolent operating system: Read more

Facebook is hosting a press conference on Thursday in which they are rumored to reveal and new Facebook phone, along with a new mobile operating software which is reportedly called “Home.”

Android Police reported today that the new phone will be an HTC phone and is currently has the code name, “Myst.” Here is more from the blog: “The hardware is not very exciting, especially considering the long and winding road this project has been on (since at least late 2011, when it was known as ‘”Buffy”). It sounds a lot like the previously-leaked HTC Opera from last November, too, which was also billed as the alleged ‘Facebook phone.’”

While a Facebook-exclusive phone may have a limited market, speculation is going on that the new Facebook “Home” operating system will also be available on any Android phone. Read more

Facebook is redesigning its news feed in a move to make your stream more visual.

The redesign makes the experience on apps and the web more consistent. Here is more from Facebook’s blog:

With the new design, now Facebook has the same look and feel on mobile, tablet and web. For example, the left-hand menu is accessible anywhere you go on Facebook. You also have a way to jump right to the top of News Feed whenever new stories come in.

AllFacebook has more details about how the redesign will work: “Facebook announced that with this news feed, users can sort based on what they want to see: all posts from friends only, all posts from pages only, and all posts from people they’ve subscribed to.”

After a company audit of its Facebook Page Insights Reporting tool, the social network discovered “bugs that impacted impression and reach reporting. We have confirmed that these issues impacted reporting only and not delivery” of statistics about Facebook pages.

While ad insights were not impacted by these problems, the company is fixing the bugs–possibly increasing your page statistics. Although Facebook “won’t be able to backfill Page Insights with historical data,” you will have a better idea of how many readers visit your page. Here’s more from Facebook:

Overall, we expect most Pages to see: Total reach to stay the same or increase for most Pages. An increase in paid reach if you ran News Feed ads. An increase or decrease in organic reach, depending on many factors such as the composition of your fan base, when and how often you post and your spending patterns. A change in metrics computed from reach and impressions, such as engagement rate and virality.

Azimo’s latest Facebook integration allows Facebook users to send money to over 150,000 location in over 100 countries. Unlike Western Union or Moneygram, the money app has low overheads as an online company so it can charge users a smaller fee. Azimo transfers up to £500 are charged a flat rate of £5. Larger sums are charged a commission of 1% (not to exceed £15).

To send cash via Facebook, download the app or go to Azimo.com.  From there, you can choose a recipient, select the cash amount, and complete a transaction using your preferred method of payment. Recipients receive a Facebook message notifying them of the cash transfer. Each recipient can select a location or bank account from which to accept the payment.

Azimo also believes in giving back. The company aims to donate 10% of its profits to charity. They encourage users to do the same:

Azimo believes in offering great rates for our customers and saving them money. We are the cheapest in the market by a long way. We offer all our customers the chance to donate a portion of the money they have saved to charity.

Via Financial Times

February 14 is a day for singles – to commiserate. In fact, it has become synonymous with single awareness and relationship loathing events. This year, mobile apps like Killswitch are also getting into the act.

Are you still friends with your ex on Facebook? The makers of the Killswitch app want to help you with your recent heartbreak by removing any remnants of unwanted relations from Facebook.

Relationships ending and moving on is an essential, healthy part of life. And while Social Media intends to reflect many aspects of the human experience, it doesn’t yet easily reflect that key element–the end of relationships. With KillSwitch, we’re trying to fill that gap, bridge online with offline. To help people to move on in their digital lives as much as they want and need to in their personal lives.

Let’s say you don’t have an ex on Facebook, the app will discreetly remove photos, messages and shared links with any arch nemesis you are friends with. Read more

Let’s face it, Facebook can be fun, but it’s also kind of a headache. It’s been years since it was a place for hanging out with your real life friends online, as it is mainly being used by your parents and your friend from elementary school who you barely remember.

And with privacy rules that are always changing and Facebook selling you out to advertisers all the time, is it really worth spending hours a day with?

One teenager in Boston has decided to temporarily quit the social network and her father is rewarding her idea. Energy consultant Paul Baier is paying his fourteen year-old daughter $200 to quit using Facebook for five months. According to their, “Facebook Deactivation Agreement” (pictured left), Baier paid his daughter $50 as a down payment to stop using Facebook through June, when he will pay her $150 if she makes good on the contract. The contract was her idea. According to the terms, she plans to use the money for “stuff.”