Vin Diesel’s “Facebook owes me” claim may have startled Mark Zuckerberg, but the 45-year-old media-savvy Fast & Furious star had a twinkle in his eye when he said it.

In a free-wheeling interview with Entertainment Weekly on Friday, Van Diesel indulged in some pretty large boasts about his enormous success on Facebook, where he currently has over 41 million friends. He said at the time that he started his page in 2009, only Barack Obama had as many as one million fans — and Obama, of course, had just taken office as America’s history-making first African-American president.

Vin Diesel’s page soared to become the No. one Facebook page in the world. Though it no longer holds that title, it’s still hugely influential.

For example, many people credit the return of the Michelle Rodriguez in the role of Letty in Fast & Furious 6 to the pressure brought to bear by Vin Diesel’s millions of Letty-loving fans. “At nearly 40 million likes, it’s a community larger than most sovereign nations, and when that many people speak the studio has to listen,” noted entertainment blog Heavy.

To EW Van Diesel half-boasted, half-joked: “Facebook used to ask me to come up to their office to explain what the f*** I was doing, and why I had so many fans. What was unique was: I never let anyone do a post, I never let anyone post for me in the last four years…Facebook really owes me billions of dollars. But whatever.”

Hmm. It doesn’t sound like the meet-up actually happened. There’s a difference between saying “Facebook used to ask” and “Facebook and I sat down to share ideas.”

And the secret itself was pretty Captain Obvious. He posted everything himself, keeping it real — and the fans could tell. It’s hard to argue that you’d need a meet-up with the star himself to figure that out.

Whoever may have called him at Facebook, and whatever Vin Diesel may or may not have actually said to that person, the claim that Facebook owes him cash is just a playful joke that has gotten somewhat blown out of proportion as it traveled around the internet.

Vin Diesel will cash in the old-fashioned way, by being a big-time movie star. Fast & Furious 6 will appear in theaters on May 24.

Yes, Vin Diesel did say that Facebook owes him billions, but he’ll get it from ticket-buying fans, not Mr. Zuckerberg.

[Vin Diesel photo by RoidRanger / Shutterstock.com]

Vin Diesel: ‘Facebook Owes Me Billions Of Dollars But Whatever’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

An ad for Facebook Home shows Mark Zuckerberg boring the office.

The offices of Facebook are apparently filled with self-centered types who aren’t easily impressed. One would wonder if Tardar Sauce, the “grumpy cat,” has been there from time to time in real life. Everyone knows that cat has been everywhere else on the internet by now.

Mark Zuckerberg drones on as everyone seems to ignore him in the new ad for Facebook Home, which converts your Android phone into a Facebook phone.

The ad starts with an Oriental woman looking at a computer screen with the words “Facebook HQ Launch Day” in the bottom left. Mark Zuckerberg walks in from the right, clapping his hands for emphasis, “Guys! This is it!”

A guy with sideburns in a wheeled office chair stares at his phone as he turns toward Mark Zuckerberg and then crosses his legs and looks up.

Mark Zuckerberg continues, “After all your hard work, Facebook Home is ready to ship.”

Everybody just sits there in silence, one guy looking outright bored already, looking back at his phone with a fake smile. A woman next to him averts her gaze to the same phone as Mark Zuckerberg talks on, “This is an important moment in our journey to help…” A screaming goat cuts him off in mid-sentence. “The project began with the simple idea of putting friends at the heart of your phone.”

The office continues to fake an interest, the one guy repeatedly looking back at his phone, “So you can always see…”

A guy jumps in with a tennis racket, the sounds of tennis drowning out Mark Zuckerberg, and says, “Dude! Forget work! Come play!” The bored guy’s phone literally has the same words on it in a text message.

Mark Zuckerberg is still talking, “… and never miss out.”

The sounds of a quad drown him out again as the guy starts flipping through pictures of someone on a quad using Facebook Home. He hits “like” as two guys on quads literally race through the meeting, a stack of hay opposite where they turn.

The rest of the ad is above.

What do you think of the Facebook Home ad with Mark Zuckerberg boring the office?

Facebook Ad Shows Mark Zuckerberg Boring The Office [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced FWD.us in a Washington Post column today, an advocacy group made of Silicon Valley leaders dedicated to passing bipartisan immigration reform.

“We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants,” Zuckerberg wrote. “And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world.”

In the column, Zuckerberg recalled that his great-grandparents immigrated to America through Ellis Island, that his grandfathers served as a mailman and a police officer, that his parents are doctors, and that he, in turn, became the young founder of one of America’s largest and most successful internet companies. Well, okay, he may have worded it more humbly.

“I started a company,” Zuckerberg wrote. “None of this could have happened without a welcoming immigration policy, a great education system and the world’s leading scientific community that created the Internet.”

Facebook’s CEO called for comprehensive immigration reform that includes effective border security alongside a path to citizenship that attracts “the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born.” He wants higher standards in schools and a greater emphasis on STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and math. Lastly, he wants investments in breakthrough discoveries that benefit the public, not just a few.

“We will work with members of Congress from both parties, the administration and state and local officials,” Zuckerberg wrote. “We will use online and offline advocacy tools to build support for policy changes, and we will strongly support those willing to take the tough stands necessary to promote these policies in Washington.”

FWD.us members include such tech heavyweights as Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google; Reid Hoffman, Executive VP of PayPal and a co-founder of LinkedIn; Drew Houston, founder and CEO of Dropbox; and many others.

The Senate’s Gang of Eight senators tasked with producing a comprehensive immigration reform bill intend to do so any time now. The bill, regardless of what is in it, will spark further debate in Congress over what form a path to citizenship will take and to whom it should be extended.

The change of a bipartisan bill passing through Congress has increased since Republicans suffered a frustrating defeat in November, despite a feeling of certainty within conservative media that voters were tired of President Barack Obama. Republicans now hope to attract more Hispanic voters and other minorities before 2016 becomes a repeat of 2012.

Facebook’s CEO and other tech giants see the opening for passing real immigration reform. Lets see what comes of it.

Facebook CEO Wants Immigration Reform, And He Isn’t Alone is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook Home for Android has just been unveiled. The new integration with Android phones will allow users to get at their Facebook stuff that much easier while giving Facebook a new foothold in the smartphone market.

When the social media giant tipped the media off that there would be an announcement this week, quite a few imaginations started going wild. The announcement actually said that the company was going to show off their “new home on Android.”

It turns out that the company was being literal. Unbeknownst to those who were actually invited to the event and because they assumed it was going to be a bigger announcement, some will probably disappointed that we aren’t going to see a phone that is completely dedicated to the social media firm.

Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new UI that will be debuting on a couple of select Google Android phones in the very near future. Zuckerberg explained just how this new UI would work. Facebook Home will act like a kind of wrapper for the current Android operating system.

Zuckerberg did claim that Home would basically create a new kind of phone, without actually having to produce a brand new phone. He added that this development will allow the smartphone to focus more on people than on applications.

The new service will be rolled out on April 12 for the HTC One, HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy S III and S IV, and Samsung Galaxy Note II. AT&T and HTC are apparently also working on some new phones that will also sport this new UI.

Insiders have long been claiming that Zuckerberg has been pushing his employees to take a longer look at Android. He’s even encouraged them to move away from the iPhone in order to pick up Google’s OS. It seems there is an obvious reason why now.

Is Facebook Home enough to get you to switch to Android?

[Image by Pan Xunbin / Shutterstock.com]

‘Facebook Home’ For Android Unveiled is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will have to write a check for about $1 billion when he files his 2012 tax return.

The huge bill owed to the IRS and the state of California stems from Facebook going public last May during which Zuckerberg ,28, increased his ownership stake in the social media company. “On the day of Facebook’s initial public offering, Zuckerberg exercised a stock option and purchased 60 million Facebook shares at a “strike price” of 6 cents each.” The IRS treats those shares as ordinary income (regardless of whether they are are sold).

Zuckerberg’s overall tax rate is about 50 percent when all is said and done. While his tax return is confidential, estimates are that the amount he will have to pony up in taxes is about $1 billion. “For Zuckerberg, that means reporting income last year of nearly $2.3 billion from his stock options alone. Add together the top 2012 federal tax rate of 35% and the top California rate of 13.3% — the highest in the nation — and you get a total tax rate of 48.3%.”

During the Facebook IPO, Zuckerberg also sold off 30 million Facebook shares and will use the proceeds to pay his tax bill. This raises the question about why not just buy 30 million shares instead of 60? Celebritynetworth.com offers this explanation:

“The reason lies with the types of shares that Mark was buying. Facebook has two “classes” of shares, Class A and Class B. Every Class B share has 10 times the voting power of a Class A share. In essence, Mark traded 30 million votes for for the right to have 600 million votes. These new shares have given Mark 58% of the voting rights at Facebook, guaranteeing that he will always be in charge.”

In December, Zuckerberg and his wife donated 18 million Facebook shares (worth about $500 million) to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation which could lessen the tax bite.

As one news agency quipped, “It may be time for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ‘unfriend’ Uncle Sam.” That being said, given the magnitude of the tax liability, do you think Mark Zuckerberg would ever consider giving up his US citizenship and move to Singapore like Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin?

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Owes $1 Billion In Taxes is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook held a special press event yesterday to unveil some major changes it’s making to user’s newsfeeds. The changes center around making the user experience more visual and less cluttered. Photos will take center stage, enlarged to take up more of the page, so they stand out, while the navigation bar on the left-hand side will disappear. CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook’s newsfeed changes will also mean larger ads, but insists they are largely meant to enhance user experience. The new look will carry over to the site’s mobile apps, bringing a consistency to the brand’s look and eliminating different layouts on different devices so that the user’s experience stays the same.

The new look will also give users more control over what they want to see in their newsfeeds. They will be able to chose feeds of just friends, photos, games, pages and more, making it easy for them to keep up with the information most important to them. Zuckerberg said he wants users to think of the newsfeed as a “personalized newspaper”.

Some will say the look mimics Google + and they wouldn’t be wrong. The look is similar, and Google’s social network has been photo centric for awhile now. Facebook says they are simply following trends, but according to the Washington Post the changes were spurred by their need to convince advertisers that they are a credible and valuable venue, which in turn will make their shareholders happy.

Facebook’s newsfeed changes will not happen without some noise. Every time the site undergoes a layout change there is always a group of users who become infuriated and start protests and call for boycotts. This time will almost assuredly be no different. Over time however, the rage melts away, the protests fade and everyone goes back to their Facebook addiction until the next layout change.

Facebook says the change will begin rolling out immediately, but like past changes, it will be a gradual transition. Interested in jumping to the head of the line? Go here and get on the waiting list. What do you think of Facebook’s changes? Do you like them? Hate them? Why or why not?

Facebook’s New Newsfeed Announced, Major Changes Revealed is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mark Zuckerberg can’t wait to get Google Glass. Facebook and Google+ may compete in the social space and will soon compete in search, but nothing brings tech competitors together like drool-worthy innovation.

Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg joined Yuri Milner, Arthur Levinson, and Sergey Brin’s wife Anne Wojcicki to announce the Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences. Each year five scientists, “who think big, take risks, and have made a significant impact on our lives” will each receive $3 million. The goal of the prizes is to give scientist doing important work more notoriety so that non-scientists become aware of discoveries that will make a difference in the quality of human life.

According to Forbes, Sergey Brin didn’t share the stage, but he was in the audience using Google Glass to take photos of his wife.

As soon as the event was finished, Zuckerberg walked over to Brin to tell him how much he was looking forward to getting his own Google Glass. Sergey showed Mark how the contextual computing gadget works and Mark talked about his desire to develop software that works with Glass. Facebook has three engineers ready to develop for Glass as soon as it ships.

Zuckerberg tried out voice commands and asked Brin several questions. Zuck wanted to know how to look through Glass without looking awkward. He also wanted to know if Glass could provide walking directions indoors. Brin told him there isn’t a way to do that yet.

Mark Zuckerberg is a geek, so it makes sense that he can’t wait for Google Glass. Will non-geeks be ready to wear a computer on their face? Joshua Topolsky was given the rare opportunity to try Glass out on the streets of New York. He wrote on The Verge:

“I walked away convinced that this wasn’t just one of Google’s weird flights of fancy. The more I used Glass the more it made sense to me; the more I wanted it. If the team had told me I could sign up to have my current glasses augmented with Glass technology, I would have put pen to paper (and money in their hands) right then and there. And it’s that kind of stuff that will make the difference between this being a niche device for geeks and a product that everyone wants to experience.

After a few hours with Glass, I’ve decided that the question is no longer ‘if,’ but ‘when?’”

What about you? Are you as excited about Google Glass as Mark Zuckerberg is?

Mark Zuckerberg Wants Google Glass is a post from: The Inquisitr

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie toured through California this past week, passing through liberal strongholds to raise money for his re-election campaign.

Christie visited Beverly Hills on Sunday, kicking off his three day campaign trip through California. He visited a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel where over 30 people from the entertainment industry attended at $3,800 per ticket. The event was hosted by former Dick Clark Productions CEO Allen Shapiro and US Digital Gaming co-founder Richard Bronson. According to the New York Post, attendees included New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, Modern Family actress Sofia Vergara, former Disney Executive Vice President Gary Wilson, and the Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Peter Guber.

Governor Chris Christie arrived in Silicon Valley on Tuesday where Mark Zuckerberg hosted a private fundraiser for Christie at his Palo Alto home. The Facebook CEO and billionaire supported President Obama during the last election. Zuckerberg, whose company was the first social media organization to receive a GLAAD award, has frustrated some Democrats by showing support for a Republican governor who struck down a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in this state.

According to BuzzFeed, some Democrats fear that Christie’s liberal northeastern state and national popularity masks his conservative record. Other Democrats appreciated Christie’s praising Obama’s leadership in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, which many saw as an endorsement of the President that helped to sway undecided voters just days before the election.

Christie has called for gun control to be a part of the national discussion in the wake of the shooting in Newton, Connecticut. In addition, Newsmax reports that New Jersey has the second toughest gun control statues in the country. Christie did not enact these statutes, but he has not championed repealing them either. He has, however, opposed creating new gun sanctions, claiming that the current laws are sufficient.

Christie has to appeal to liberals if he hopes to remain Governor Chris Christie after New Jersey’s next election. While he does not want to lose the support of his party, his state went for Obama 58 percent to 41 percent in 2012, and this is a reality he cannot ignore.

Image via L.E.MORMILE / Shutterstock.com

Governor Chris Christie Garners Liberal Support is a post from: The Inquisitr

With Facebook privacy wizards becoming more and more comfortable with sharing your information, how can you keep yourself safe?

Facebook is like an online personal vault that may contain photos of your firstborn, risky secrets and sometimes your drunken confessions. Police officers, would-be employers and marketers can get access to anything you put there. Now, with Facebook’s new graph search tool, it can give strangers access to who you are, what you like and where you go.

According to the New York Times, Facebook claims that you decide how much you want others to see. This is mostly true, but you cannot entirely opt out of Facebook searches.  Facebook does let you fine-tune who can see your “likes” and pictures, and how much you can share with marketers and advertisers.

According to Yahoo News, Facebook pioneer Mark Zuckerberg famously announced three years ago:

“The age of privacy is over.”

Scary, isn’t it?

First ask yourself how you would like to be found on Facebook.

Go to where it says “who can see my stuff” on your Facebook page’s upper right side of. Choose “see more settings.” By default, search engines can link to your timeline. You can turn that off.

Second, what do you want the world to know about you?

Navigate to your profile page and click “About me.” Decide if you would like your gender, or the name of your spouse, or whether or not you wish your relationship status to be seen, visible on your timeline. Think about whether you want your birthday to be seen on your timeline. Your date of birth is useful to hackers.

Also avoid apps like “Foursquare” and location tags if you don’t want everybody, including your neighbor, to know when you’re not home.

Third, do you want to be tracked by advertisers?

Facebook has a code which shows you ads based on the websites you have visited. It lets third-party companies place cookies on your computer when you visit an e-commerce site. It can ask Facebook to show you an ad for whatever you saw when you log in to Facebook.

Hover over the “X” next to the ad and choose “Hide the ad” from the drop-down menu. Or you can hide all ads from this advertiser. Facebook does not host the ads by itself, so in order to opt out, you have to go to the site that does.

Finally, your “friends” may be spying on you. Yes, it’s paranoia, but on Facebook, are you willing to take that chance? The apps they have installed are watching you.

If Facebook privacy makes you uneasy with everything it can share about you, you can always deactivate your account. Remember that all those pictures you uploaded aren’t going anywhere, even if you do.

Facebook is a nightmare of privacy disasters, the bathroom door swinging open again and again while you’re trying to… wired.com/gadgetlab/2013…

— Chris Krewson (@ckrewson) February 8, 2013

Facebook Privacy: How Can You Keep Safe? is a post from: The Inquisitr

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is seeking a second term, and can officially count on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vote. Word is, Zuckerberg is going to host a fundraiser for the popular-yet-acerbic Governor next month.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Zuckerberg’s fundraiser for Christie will be “part of Christie’s first out-of-state campaign trip.” The young Facebook mogul first met Christie in 2010 after making a $100 million donation to Newark’s public schools. The two have reportedly maintained regular contact ever since.

The 28-year-old social media entrepreneur and billionaire recently expressed interest in helping Christie in his re-election bid, with both camps settling on the February event, reports Mediaite.

“Mark and (his wife) Priscilla have worked closely with Governor Christie on education reform in the Newark school system,” said Facebook spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg. “They admire his leadership on education reform and other issues and look forward to continuing their important work together on behalf of Newark’s school children.”

The event will take place on February 13 at Zuckerberg’s home in Palo Alto, California. It is believed to be the first time the Facebook boss has hosted a campaign event in his own home, and the guests will be among his circle of friends and colleagues. Donations will be set for a maximum of $3,800, which is New Jersey’s legal limit per election.

Facebook has slowly become more political in recent years, but Zuckerberg’s registration, according to Santa Clara County’s registrar of voters, indicates no party preference.

What do you think of Mark Zuckerberg’s support for Chris Christie? Are you a fan of the New Jersey governor?

Mark Zuckerberg To Host Fundraiser For Chris Christie is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg has just announced a $500 million donation to charity. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla revealed on Facebook that they have donated 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

With Facebook shares currently valued at $27.71, the donation equals $498.78 million.

In 2010, Zuckerberg signed” The Giving Pledge,” which asks America’s richest earners to donate the majority of their wealth to charity while still alive.

You might recall that, just months earlier, Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million the Newark City Public School System. Zuckerberg’s first education involvement was announced during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

In his new Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg writes:

“Two Years ago, Priscilla and I signed The Giving Pledge committing to donate the majority of the money we earn to charity.

“Our first major project has been around education reform with Startup: Education in Newark, NJ. I’m raelly proud of the work we’ve done there, helping leaders like Governor Chris Christie and Mayor Cory Booker sign the most progressive teachers contract in our country, opening four new district high schools, 11 new charter schools and more.

“Today, in order to lay the foundation for new projects, we’ve made a contribution of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Together, we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next. I’m hopeful we’ll be able to have as positive an impact in our next set of projects.”

The Giving Pledge is not a contract but rather a promise, and so far Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla are living up to the spirit of the pledge:

Mark Zuckerberg Donates $500 Million In Facebook Shares To Charity is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would have worked at Microsoft had his hugely successful social network failed to take off and eventually attract more than 1 billion users around the world.

Zuck was speaking at Stanford University, and, during his speech, he was dispelling rumors about what he would have done had Facebook failed.

The social network CEO said he “always respected Microsoft” and probably would have been an engineer for the tech firm.

In putting another rumor to rest, Zuckerberg said he was all for placing ads on Facebook during the site’s early days. In fact, it was those ads that allowed the company to buy more servers in order to expand the social company. Facebook in its infancy didn’t spend money on other expenses when possible, but Zuckerberg was obsessed with expanding the site’s infrastructure to make sure it never crashed.

Zuckerberg even revealed that Facebook programmers had toyed with the idea of releasing course catalogs to help explain the social networking platform. These days, many users would probably appreciate course catalogs to navigate private profile features on the social media website.

Zuckerberg’s speech wasn’t just about Microsoft and Facebook. Speaking about an art history course he was taking, Zuckerberg explained how he hacked together a website with 200 images and used the “study tool” to crowdsource his classmates opinions about famous pieces of art work.

Speaking during his open discussion with Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, Zuckerberg said of Facebook:

“Humans have the capacity to maintain empathetic relationships with about 150 people. Facebook extends that.”

If Facebook Failed, Zuckerberg Would Have Worked At Microsoft is a post from: The Inquisitr

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a show dedicated to finding the brightest mind in the world? Well that is an idea that The X Factor judge, Simon Cowell wants to bring to life.

According to TechCrunch.com, Simon Cowell is currently on the hunt for the next Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. The former American Idol judge is teaming up with Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am to find the next technical genius. The two show-biz giants appeared to have discussed the show idea during a hush-hush dinner in Los Angeles last month.

There are limited details on when the show will debut and the exact format of the show, but if the technology focused show is anything like The X Factor, it sounds as though millions of wannabe technical entrepreneurs will be pitching their own ideas to an all-star panel of judges. The show appears to be set in the UK though, so those genius minds in the U.S. will have to wait a bit.

Will.i.am revealed his collaboration with Cowell when he spoke at a technology conference in London.

Will.iam explained why he was passionate about the prospective show and told The Sun:

 “Singing and performance create a couple of jobs. But this will create lots…It’s about getting in touch with youth and giving them a platform to express themselves — whether that’s in science or mathematics.”

Right now, the show sounds similar to the entrepreneur-focused reality show Shark Tank, except that it would be focused on technology.

The entertainment business wants to bring reality TV formats to the world of technology. Bravo’s Silicon Valley Start-Ups reality show is an example of such a show and is set to debut in a few weeks. Consumer tech culture seems to becoming the new mainstream culture.

Cowell and Will.i.am’s tech show is more proof of the changing mainstream culture.

Simon Cowell And Will.i.am Want To Create Show To Find Next Technical Genius is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Forbes 400 list was good for Mark Zuckerberg, on the surface at least.

The Facebook founder made the list of the world’s richest people at No. 36 with a total net worth of $9.4 billion — still good for a person who less than a decade ago was a college student with a brilliant idea for a new website.

But a closer look shows the downward trend Zuckerberg has been on in the past few months. Just last year he took the No. 14 spot on the Forbes 400 list, PCMag.com noted, where he had $17.5 billion. The $8.1 billion of net worth Zuckerberg lost in one year is more than nearly everyone on the list has in total, and comes at a bad time for Facebook, which has seen a disappointing debut for its stock.

Earlier this month Zuckerberg spoke at a tech conference in California and addressed the company’s disappointing stock performance. But he appeared to take it as a challenge for the ever-growing company to improve, Slate reported.

Zuckerberg told the conference:

“I would rather be in a cycle where people underestimate us. I think it gives us the latitude to go out and make some big bets. Facebook has not been an uncontroversial company. It’s not like this is the first up and down we have ever had. We have a pretty good compass. I always like to think that when folks are being too nice, we aren’t as good as they say they are. And when the media is being too critical, we are not as bad as they say we are.”

Forbes 400 Highlights Downward Trend For Mark Zuckerberg is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Facebook Phone is just a rumor. Mark Zuckerberg once again told attendees at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference that his social network is not planning to create and release a mobile OS.

In his first interview since the Facebook IPO the social network founder sat down with Michael Arrington who proclaimed:

“I’ve been bugging you about Facebook phone for months. You say there’s nothing, but I don’t believe you.”

He might not believe him but Zuckerberg did not back down from his stance, telling Arrington:

“That’s always been the wrong strategy for us. It’s a juicy thing to say we’re building a phone, which is why people want to write about it. But it’s so clearly the wrong strategy for us.”

Mark Zuckerberg then admitted that building a Facebook phone probably wouldn’t create the type of smartphone sales needed to justify the platform.

“But if we did, we could get maybe 10 or 15 million people to use it,” Zuckerberg said. “The strategy we have is different from every other tech company that’s building their own hardware system, like Apple. We’re going in the opposite direction.”

In the meantime Zuck did mention that the mobile web is “huge” for Facebook and that the company needs to focus on creating programs that work more seamlessly with smartphones. According to Zuckerberg:

“No one is more integrated than [Facebook] on mobile web.”

The company’s strategy moving forwards seems simple enough, integrate further with iOS 6 to make developer programs work more flawlessly with Facebook mobile apps and then create programs that integrate with Google Android “hooks” to create a top notch platform for the world’s top selling mobile platform.

This begs the question … would you buy a Facebook phone?

Mark Zuckerberg: Nope Still No Facebook Phone is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of the social networking giant Facebook, discussed his company’s disappointing stock performance, among other topics at a California tech conference.  He also discussed his fighting spirit and how lower expectations will benefit the company as he proves critics wrong.

Zuckerberg told the conference on Tuesday:

“I would rather be in a cycle where people underestimate us. I think it gives us the latitude to go out and make some big bets. Facebook has not been an uncontroversial company. It’s not like this is the first up and down we have ever had. We have a pretty good compass. I always like to think that when folks are being too nice, we aren’t as good as they say they are. And when the media is being too critical, we are not as bad as they say we are.”

Zuckerberg took the opportunity to speak to the standing room only crowd in San Francisco which is the first time he has spoken publicly since Facebook went public back in May. Since May, Facebook has lost almost half of its value.

Zuckerberg had to admit that the stock price drop was “obviously disappointing,” indicating it was times like these where there is a great opportunity to “double down” on Facebook.

Investors are worried that Facebook will continue to face struggles in an attempt to expand profits from the site at a time where mobile use is sharply on the rise. Mobile use produces a fraction of the revenue from the actual site.

Zuckerberg said it was “really easy for folks to underestimate how really fundamentally good mobile is for us.”

It was also one of the first time’s Zuckerberg acknowledged that making money was a big part of the company as well as the social connectivity it provides.

Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Stock Had Been Disappointing is a post from: The Inquisitr

Sure, Mark Zuckerberg has gotten a lot wrong this year, but his wisest move in Facebook’s first year as a public company was his acquisition of Instagram for $1 billion. Seems like a pretty steep price tag for the popular image sharing site, but business experts are saying that when all is said and done, Facebook got the better end of the deal.

These shocking statistics from AppData (the social network industry’s most trusted source of mobile and Facebook application user numbers) show incredible growth since Facebook closed its deal to acquire Instagram. The photo-sharing app for Android and iPhone boasted some 860,000 daily active users when the deal was finalized. Since then,that number has grown dramatically – to 11 million.

To put that in perspective, that is 1179% growth in six months, notes Business Insider.

Though the deal is a definite home-run for Facebook, there is a bit of a downside. It is estimated that more people will access the internet through mobile devices than home computers or laptops by the end of this decade. Facebook and Instagram boast a high number of mobile users (Twitter holds second place between the two), but it’s hard to make money with ads placed next to pictures.

A promising solution is Facebook’s sale of ad units called “Sponsored Stories.” These go right into the News Feed in Facebook’s mobile app, and could easily fit into the Instagram home screen. These units bring in about $500,000 for Facebook each day.

So, way to go Zuckerberg. That Facebook/Instagram deal paid some seriously dramatic dividends.

Zuckerberg FTW: Facebook Instagram Deal Was A Steal At $1 Billion is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mark Zuckerberg has lost more than half of his IPO fortune over the last several months; now Facebook has announced that the famed CEO will not be pawning off any of his shares in the near future to earn a quick buck. With Facebook shares closing at $17.73 in yesterday’s trading, Facebook executives told the Wall Street Journal that Zuck plans to hold onto his shares for at least one year.

Executives then went on to showcase a new plan of action meant to protect the company’s share price after restricted shares are allowed to be sold later in the year.

Speaking about the need for Mark Zuckerberg to take the reigns and instill investor confidence, a crisis management consultant tells the Los Angeles Times:

“Clearly, he has to do something, having spent the last few years in flip-flops and a hoodie, pontificating about how Facebook is going to change the world.”

That same consultant notes:

“I think what people are going to need now is a road map that, among other things, answers the question: What is a reasonable expectation for this company’s future?”

Facebook has taken great strides to turn around its sinking ship. Recently, the company released its much improved mobile OS for Apple devices. Facebook has said on numerous occasions that its greatest earning potential is in the mobile sector, a fact it will now get to prove to investors. Facebook has also began to roll out new types of sponsored ads meant to target a users news feed rather than low performing sidebar locations.

Mark Zuckerberg Won’t Sell Facebook Share For At Least One Year is a post from: The Inquisitr

The top 25 web moguls live in some of the most stunning mansions in the world. The vast fortunes amassed via online gaming experiences, search engine development, and social networking websites have allowed internet tech billionaires the ability to buy some of the most prestigious pieces of real estate around the globe, the Daily Mail reports.

Individuals who became billionaires through online endeavors have purchased call everything from “modern castles” to entire islands home. Zynga co-founder and CEO Mark Pincus recently purchased a $16 million San Francisco luxury residence. Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO purchased 98 percent of the Hawaiian Island of Lanai for $600 million. Ellison’s Lanai Island consists of 141 square miles of beautiful tropical views.

Sales of real estate with a $1 million or higher price tag have doubled during 2012, according to Business Insider. The sales in the Silicon Valley topped the usual luxury real estate leaders, Miami and Beverly Hills, this year.

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg lives in one of the most modest media billionaire residences. Zuckerberg bought a $7 million estate near the Facebook headquarters in 2011.

Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, lives in a $5.2 million property in Palo Alto. The house was once the site of a $30,000 per plate fundraising dinner for President Barack Obama.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ Xanadu 2.0 mansion is reportedly worth $121 million. The luxurious complex is located in Medina, Washington and encompasses 66,000 square-feet. Bill Gate’s swimming pool boasts an underwater stereo system and heated floors and driveways.

Google senior adviser Omid Kordestani purchased an apartment on Central Park West in New York City for $29.5 million. Kordesttani’s spacious apartment encompasses 5,416 square-feet. The Google executive’s luscious digs are reportedly now worth $70 million.

Broadcast.com co-founder and Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, made billions of dollars when he sold Yahoo in 1999. Cuban built his own Texas 24,000 square foot estate for approximately $17.6 million. The mansion of one of the first “dot.com” billionaires is the currently the ninth most expensive house in Dallas.

How The Web Moguls Live: Incredible Mansions Of The Top Tech Billionaires is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook’s oldest user, Florence Detlor, 101, spent the day with social network website’s creator Mark Zuckerberg on Monday. Detlor lives in Menlo Park, California near the Facebook campus. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebooks COO Sheryl Sanberg gave Florence Detlor a VIP tour of the facility on Monday, according to the New York Daily News.

Florence Detlor joined Facebook in 2009 so she could stay in touch with her loved ones. Detlor is reportedly enjoying her recent celebrity status and the multitude of new online friend requests which occurred as a result. Detlor’s centenarian Facebook status gained her nationwide attention after USA Today and Jay Leno shared her Internet social networking story.

Facebook’s oldest user graduated from Occidental College in California in 1932. Fans and new online friends often refer to Florence Detlor as the “grandmother of Facebook.” On Detlor’s Facebook profile, she noted she enjoys looking for a good book to read and has titles shared with her regularly from her new internet pals.

Florence Detlor posted on Facebook after gaining throngs of new friends from around the world:

“I like to think of new friends. Good night everyone. Sleep well.”

Detlor regularly browses photos of her family and friends to keep track of what is going on in their lives. She found the concept of Facebook “intriguing,” gave it a try, and decided she could indeed easily learn how to use the social network platform, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Florence Detlor may be the oldest known Facebook user but is just one of many senior citizens joining the website to reconnect with old friends and stay in touch with family, grandchildren in particular. Facebook classes to help senior citizens learn how to use the social sharing website are becoming commonplace in libraries across the country.

Facebook’s Oldest User, Florence Detlor, 101, Spends The Day With Mark Zuckerberg is a post from: The Inquisitr

The team at mobile grilling app iGrill watched as their company servers crashed for two hours on Monday after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg praised the foodie app and it’s integration with recent integration platform based around Facebook.

The company’s services went down immediately after Mark Zuckerberg uploaded a post that read:

“I updated my grilling app, iGrill, today and it now has Facebook integration that lets you see what other people are grilling right now around the world. Awesome. I’m making a Fred’s steak.”

According to iDevice CEO Chris Allen, the company had “quietly released this update for our users earlier this month” and the company was “waiting for it to gain traction.”

Now that the company has received that traction faster than they had ever imagined, they were forced to scale their servers, allowing for a lot more bandwidth.

Allen then added:

“We are excited to see how this unfolds, but I would like to dispel the rumors that iGrill or iDevices received any investment from Mr. Zuckerberg to date, although we would welcome the opportunity to work with him, this is not something that has occurred yet.”

If you haven’t had the chance to use iGrill yet, it is a wireless cooking thermometer that works with iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad devices with the help of Bluetooth technology at ranges up to 200 feet away from the thermometer.

The new part of the iGrill software allows users around the world to see what other people are grilling through a Facebook embedded map. Users can than share information with their friends and subscribers.

The grilling app and thermometer can be picked up for $79.99 at igrillinc.com. Use the code “ZUCK,” and you will receive free standard domestic shipping.

Here’s a screenshot of the Mark Zuckberg iGrill post and the company’s server crashing response:

Mark Zuckerberg Endorses iGrill App, Company Servers Immediately Crash is a post from: The Inquisitr

In director David Fincher’s award-winning 2010 movie The Social Network, Zombieland co-star Jesse Eisenberg famously portrayed Facebook founder Mark Zuckberg. Although the two men do share a few physical similarities, telling them apart isn’t really all that difficult. However, during the Olympic basketball game between the United States and Spain, one announcer had a tough time telling one from the other.

So, if you thought Facebook CEO Mark Zuckberg had taken some time out of his busy scheduled to enjoy an Olympic event, I’m sorry to report that you, too, are mistaken. According to Yahoo! Sports, Bob Fitzgerald was giving the play-by-play when the camera happened upon Jesse Eisenberg sitting in the stands.

“I know I’m gonna put that picture on Facebook. We’ve got every executive of note worldwide, it seems, attending these games,” Fitzgerald said. Whoops. Apparently the announcer doesn’t watch a lot of movies.

According to Business Insider, this Eisenberg/Zuckerberg debacle was one of many issues viewers had with NBC’s handling of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In addition to complaining about Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira’s running commentary during the opening ceremony, audiences were also annoyed by the network’s use of tape delays, the commentators seemingly obsessive focus on American athletes, and some technical problems with the official NBC Olympics website.

NBC also ran into trouble when they ruined the outcome of Missy Franklin’s 100-meter backstroke victory by airing a promotional spot for the TODAY Show which featured the swimmer holding a gold medal. After angry viewers complained about the unintentional spoiler, NBC quickly addressed the mistake.

“Clearly that promo should not have aired at that time,” NBC Sports explained in a statement. “We have a process in place and this will not happen again. We apologize to viewers who were watching and didn’t know the result of the race.”

What do you think? Is it easy to mistake Jesse Eisenberg for Mark Zuckerberg?

NBC Announcer Mistakes Jesse Eisenberg For Mark Zuckerberg is a post from: The Inquisitr

It may not be as titillating as the leaked nude photos we’ve seen of Miranda Kerr, Snooki, and Heather Morris, but Mark Zuckerberg’s shirtless photo is still something to see.

According to Gawker, the photo was accidentally posted to Facebook by Facebook Director of Engineering Andrew Bosworth. The photo was deleted within seconds but someone was able to take a screen shot before it was removed. And now, well, it will be on the internet forever.

It’s hard to pick out the best part about the photo. Some people will revel in the fact that Zuckerberg, who is constantly being accused of invading the privacy of millions everyday Facebook, had his own privacy invaded when someone accidentally hit publish. While others will try to make up stories about what’s going on in the photo. (Are they at a pool party? Do billionaires hang out without their shirts on? Is that a topless woman lurking in the back?) And others, of course, will giggle at the fact that they’ve seen Mark Zuckerberg’s nipple.

However you want to view it, here’s the leaked photo of Mark Zuckerberg without his shirt on.

Go ahead, share it on Facebook. I’m sure he won’t mind.

Mark Zuckerberg Shirtless Photo Leaked On Facebook is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and Chairman of Facebook, Inc., has not had a good week.  First is was the report that his sister, Ariella, was now an employee of Facebook’s largest competitor Google when the search company bought Wildfire Interactive.  Ariella is a junior product manager with Wildfire.

Then on Thursday Facebook’s stock took a nosedive and fell to its lowest point yet of $20.04 dollars per share. This was to be somewhat expected after Facebook reported weak second quarter earnings and that some 83 million Facebook pages might be complete fakes.  Investors are afraid the combination of the two might lead to additional lost advertising revenue in the future.

Then, on Friday, Zuckerberg lost his place among the 10 richest technology billionaires according to Bloomberg News

Thursday Zuckerberg watched his personal fortune shrink by $423 million dollars.  It isn’t like it was cash that disappeared form a bank.  Almost all of Zuckerberg’s wealth is concentrated in Facebook stock.  Friday the stock gained enough that he made all his money back, but that is beside the point.

The real question is how much Zuckerberg actually cares.  While it may hit him in the ego, he is notoriously disinterested in money.

Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for the Wells Fargo Private Bank, told Bloomberg,

“From an emotional standpoint, he might care. He’s much more worried about maintaining Facebook’s market share in the social-media space than the day-to-day valuation swings of his company stock. He’s not worried about going broke.”

Add this news to the fact that one of Facebook’s biggest partners, Zynga,  shedding profits while publicly disavowing Facebook itself, in addition to facing a lawsuit for allegedly shady business practices and you have one bad week for Mark Zuckerberg.

Mark Zuckerberg Drops Off Top 10 Tech Billionaires List is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rumors abound that Facebook is designing its own phone, causing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to settle the discussion once and for all by saying that there are no plans for a Facebook phone.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company isn’t planning on creating a Facebook version of a smartphone in a conference call with financial analysts and reporters earlier this week. He said that making a phone or smartphone “wouldn’t really make much sense for us to do,” reports ComputerWorld. However, Zuckerberg said that the company wants to focus on increasing “the depth of the experience in addition to just growing users,” and that as of the now, Facebook would rather focus more on integrating itself into other phones rather than making its own device, reports the LA Times.

“You’ll see us do things like support Apple in the iOS integration that they wanted to do,” the Facebook CEO said. “There are lots of things that you can build in other operating systems as well that aren’t really building out a whole phone, which I think really wouldn’t make much sense for us to do.”

Though Facebook is looking to integrate itself into iOS, it might not want to take it’s mind completely off of making its own phone, notes Forbes. “Selling its own phone would offer Facebook a way to monetize mobile users in a new way,” writes Tomio Geron. “Currently all app purchases and in-app virtual goods transactions on iOS are done through Apple’s App Store. The same holds for Google’s Android platform. While Facebook noted in its call that it is rolling out more ad products on mobile such as ‘sponsored stories,’ it can’t right now monetize the transactions on mobile. With its own phone, it could.”

What do you think? Should Facebook make its own phone?

Mark Zuckerberg: No, Facebook Isn’t Making A Phone is a post from: The Inquisitr

Six years ago Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg filed his first patent and now the US Patent Trademark Office has approved his request. Filed in July 2006 the patent regards the ability to dynamically generate a privacy summary.

It’s ironic that Facebook’s first submitted patent involves user privacy, a sore spot for the newly public company.

Here is the patent request summary known as the Dynamically generate privacy summary:

A system and method for dynamically generating a privacy summary is provided. The present invention provides a system and method for dynamically generating a privacy summary. A profile for a user is generated. One or more privacy setting selections are received from the user associated with the profile. The profile associated with the user is updated to incorporate the one or more privacy setting selections. A privacy summary is then generated for the profile based on the one or more privacy setting selections.

By inserting certain privacy features on their own users would have their information appear onscreen only as request and their privacy statement would reflect their option.

The US Patent office originally rejected the patent because it appeared to be an “obvious” option but they later revisited the request and ultimately approved it for use.

Since 2006 Facebook has had various other patents approved by the US Patent Office and while a patent from 2006 may seem out of date in an ever-growing patent war fueled tech sector Facebook needs all the protection it can get as competitors including Microsoft, Yahoo and Google heat up their patent battle machines.

Mark Zuckerberg Patent Arrives After Six Year Wait is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mark Zuckerberg is richer than you, but you already knew that. Just how many perks the Facebook founder gets for being so filthy rich might surprise you though.

Zuckerberg was able to refinance the $5.95 million mortgage on his Palo Alto home with a 30-year adjustable-rate loan that starts at 1.05 percent, Bloomberg News reported. Though mortgage rates reached historic lows this year, high net-worth individuals can access rates far lower than the average person, Greg McBride, a senior consultant with Bankrate Inc., told Bloomberg.

“When you can borrow at a rate below inflation, you’re borrowing for free,” McBride wrote in an e-mail. “This is the concept of using other people’s money and it preserves financial flexibility for the borrower.”

Though Mark Zuckerberg’s rate is adjustable, it isn’t likely to change anytime soon as the Federal Reserve has made it clear that interest rates will stay near zero for the next two years.

For homeowners without billions of dollars in the bank, the average for a one-year adjustable-rate mortgage was 2.69 last week, down from a record 2.68 the week before.

With a net worth of $15.7 billion, Mark Zuckerberg is the 40th richest person in the world, though his net worth is falling along with Facebook’s stock. Since going public in a $16 billion initial offering in May, shares of the company’s stock have fallen close to 20 percent.

Mark Zuckerberg’s five-bedroom, 5-1/2 bath home was built in 1903 and takes up 9,011 square feet. The two-floor home, listed at $7 million,  is enclosed by a gated driveway and surrounded by thick shrubbery. The home’s one-fifth of an acre also contains a saltwater pool, and the backyard played host to Zuckerberg’s wedding with longtime girlfriend Priscilla.

Homes in his neighborhood sell for an average of $1.875 million, and neighbors include Google co-founder Larry Page and late Apple founded Steve Jobs.

Zuckerberg will now be able to save 1,981 per month on his mortgage, Time reported.

Mark Zuckerberg Is The 1 Percent: So Rich He Doesn’t Even Pay Interest On His Mortgage is a post from: The Inquisitr

Though it was previously hypothesized that Bret Taylor could replace Mark Zuckerberg as the face of Facebook, recent developments prove dramatically otherwise. The top Facebook executive is “unfriending” the company to work on his own start-up.

Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, supervisor of platform and mobile products, announced that he will be leaving the social media giant this summer to pursue his own as-yet-unrevealed start-up. This news comes as a bit of a blow to Facebook; the newly-public company is already in trouble with the media and investors over its mediocre IPO last month. Taylor’s departure could cause some to infer that Facebook has trouble hanging onto its entrepreneurial leaders.

Oh, and here’s a fun detail – Taylor announced his departure on his Facebook page. Yup.

Taylor admitted in an interview with Allthingsd today that his departure might look bad for Facebook, but assured the media that the company still had a great and talented team, and that Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership is beyond scrutiny. “I had always been upfront with Mark that I eventually wanted to do another start-up,” he said. “And we felt now is the best time after the IPO and the launch of some recent things for me to do that.”

Taylor continued that his time with Facebook “has been the among the most fulfilling times of my career,” and that his leaving is business-as-usual in the Silicon Valley. “Cross-pollination among companies is what drives so much of innovation, so I would not project a lot onto this event,” he said. “I am really confident that the mobile and platform leaders at Facebook can deliver what needs to be done.”

When asked if he had any personal worries about Facebook, he admitted the challenges of taking a company public. “We are dealing with the cultural change of increasing attention, from going from a private company with a lot of scrutiny to a public company with a lot more scrutiny,” he said.

As for the future? Taylor is looking for an opportunity to break into a part of the market he doesn’t understand very well as consumer, much like when he worked with Google’s mapping effort. “People said we had no sense of direction, so making maps better made sense,” he joked. “That turned out pretty well.”

Bret Taylor Leaves Facebook For Unknown Start-Up is a post from: The Inquisitr

Microsoft on Monday released a high-priority Windows update and a security advisory after it was discovered that part of the Flame malware infecting computers throughout the Middle East were signed with trusted digital certificates that have been linked to the Microsoft Root Authority.

By improperly using Microsoft certificates the Flame malware could mislead a user into thinking they are installing a safe program while at the same time bypassing operating system safeguards. By bypassing safeguards the malware is then installed.

By updating per Microsoft’s request users will revoke two intermediate certificate authorities used in the malwares coding.

While Microsoft officially confirmed the use of the certificates the company did not reveal who had access to the certificates or discuss the possibility that the certificates may have been misused by authorized personnel.

The official Microsoft Security Research and Defense blog simply stated:

“What we found is that certificates issued by our Terminal Services licensing certification authority, which are intended to only be used for license server verification, could also be used to sign code as Microsoft.”

Microsoft also pointed out that Flame is not a traditional computer virus that will propagate easily to other computers and that most anti-virus programs will now pick up on the malware.

Computers infected with Flame are susceptible to network traffic sniffing, screenshot grabs, audio recordings and keystroke logging among other potential security threats. Flame is only capable of infecting Microsoft Windows based machines which is why Microsoft is urging all users to update their software as soon as possible.

Flame Virus Signed With Microsoft Root Authority Certificates is a post from: The Inquisitr

Troubles at Facebook continue this time as a new lawsuit has been filed in which Facebook investors claim Mark Zuckerberg sold more than $1 billion worth of the social networks stock just before prices started tumbling.

The class action lawsuit was filed by disgruntled Facebook shareholders who claim that the 28-year-old CEO and mega-billionaire knew the stock was grossly overvalued, at which point Zuckerberg unloaded his own shares to avoid furthering his own massive losses.

At the heart of the lawsuit is the argument that Facebook knew there was not enough advertising revenue to support a $38 stock valuation but hid that revenue information in order to push up the share price for the social networks initial public offering.

The lawsuit also claims that Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley all pointed out the foundational flaw in Facebook’s IPO but that the social network only bothered to share that information with its largest investors through “selective disclosure” methods.

If Zuckerberg used information at his disposal and shared that information only with select groups of investors he could be found guilty of insider trading, although specifics about those details are not yet known.

Mark Zuckerberg has not been in the clear since selling off his shares, he has lost more than 25% of his wealth, although it is hard to feel sorry for a guy who has $15 billion in the bank.

I stand behind my previous comments that anyone who was valuing Facebook at Net 40-50 years was insane.

Do you think Facebook stock is still overvalued given the company’s flaws in revenue reporting?

Mark Zuckerberg Sued For Unloading Facebook Stock Before Price Collapse is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook does not seem so invincible at the moment.  Shareholders in the Social Networking giant announced they are filing a lawsuit against the company, majority shareholder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and various banks including Morgan Stanley. They are claiming that Facebook hid weakened growth forecasts ahead of its $16 billion dollar IPO.

Shareholders are accusing the company and Zuckerberg of concealing from investors during the IPO marketing process “a severe and pronounced reduction” in revenue growth forecasts.  The reduction in revenue is a result of increased use of its mobile app or its website on mobile devices.  This was concealed during their IPO last week.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday, according to a law firm for the plaintiffs. On Tuesday a different investor filed his own similar lawsuit against the company in a California court.

In the New York case, shareholders said that research analysts at various banks involved with the underwriting process knew of the reduced growth forecasts, but that these changes were “selectively disclosed by defendants to certain preferred investors” rather than to the public generally.

The complaint said that,

“The value of Facebook common stock has declined substantially and plaintiffs and the class have sustained damages as a result,”

Representatives of Facebook, Morgan Stanley, Zuckerberg and the other banks were contacted but did not wish to comment.

Facebook shares fell 18.4 percent from their $38 IPO price in the first three days of trading, reducing the value of stock sold in the IPO by more than $2.9 billion.

Investors Sue Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and Banks Over IPO is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, this Saturday.

The now 28 year old Zuckerberg  posted the news on his Facebook timeline, adding the life event “Married Priscilla Chan” reports the Los Angeles Times.

The very small unpublicized wedding was held in the backyard of Zuckerberg’s home in Palo Alto, California. Guests arrived at the event under the impression that they were there in order to celebrate Chan’s recent graduation from medical school at UC San Franciso, according to a tweet from Huffington Post editor Ethan Klapper.

A company spokeswoman told Associated Press that Zuckerberg’s new blushing bride’s wedding ring featured only  ”a very simple ruby” that he designed himself.

According to reports from the Associated Press, the newly betrothed couple have been dating since the early days of Facebook. They met as Harvard students and they have been together more than nine years. Based on the photo he posted on his Facebook page, Mr. Zuckerberg wore a suit jacket at the wedding rather than his usual less than formal hoodie for the ceremony.

The event caps off a remarkably busy week for the young entrepreneur. He turned 28 and she graduated from medical school on Monday. On Friday, he rang the Nasdaq Stock Market’s bell from Facebook headquarters in California on his company’s first day of trading on the public market.

Facebook’s shares were priced at $38 Thursday and got off to a hot start Friday, opening at $42.05. They briefly shot up to $45 but traded around the $40 mark for most of the day before closing at $38.23.

The Zuckerberg wedding broke world records on facebook with over 150,000 likes in less than half an hour….

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Gets Married To Longtime Girlfriend Priscilla Chan is a post from: The Inquisitr

So True Hillary!

Hillary and Zuckerberg Sharing a Text is a post from: The Inquisitr

As we reported earlier, Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodie has created a fairly large debate after the youthful billionaire was criticized by Wall Street bigwigs for his casual attire.

The Zuckerberg hoodie controversy is kind of surprising in that if this era has any modern icon with a signature look, it’s Zuckerberg and his hoodie. The look is as much symbolic as it is ubiquitous, and was even oft-referenced when the Trayvon Martin tragedy became huge news nationwide- many who sought to defend Zimmerman pointed to the slain teen’s hoodie as an element of suspicious behavior that could have precipitated his killing, while naysayers rightly pointed out that one of the most successful and iconic billionaires in America rocked a hoodie for years straight without incident or even critique.

But it seems Zuckerberg’s hoodie has found its detractors, with the Wall Street big shots who kicked off the controversy loudly grumbling that the disruptive entrepreneur’s choice of attire was disrespectful to investors as it fell out of line with traditional financial industry garb.

The debate seems almost as much youth-ist as it is contrary to the point- for those of Zuckerberg’s age, a hoodie is the most basic and versatile of twenty and thirtysomething fashion, available in pricey fabrics and cuts and the undeniable staple of the business casual office everywhere.

The other point made quite throughly by the Atlantic, of course, is that Zuckerberg’s hoodie and all it represents typify a larger, more valuable part of Facebook’s culture. Before noting that when Zuckerberg’s hoodie comes off, he falters, the site explains:

“Zuckerberg didn’t get where he is today by trading in his signature look for something that looks more CEO friendly. He built the Facebook magic wearing a hoodie — at least according to The Social Network. At the very least he did it in a place where hoodies are fashion-appropriate. Since then he has worn the hoodie. And also since then, Facebook has grown and he’s made lots of money. Coincidence?”

Indeed, it seems to be no coincidence that Zuckerberg’s hoodie is omnipresent, as it sends a specific message to Facebook employees, users and yes, investors- that the company is young, evolving, friendly. A move away from Zuckerberg’s hoodie would damage the vibe that the blockbuster company has worked so hard to cultivate with its millions of users worldwide and possibly precipitate a change in user perception- which is something you’d think investors would fully understand.

Is Zuckerberg’s Hoodie the Essence of Facebook? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Let us be clear about something, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t care about investors and quite frankly he doesn’t have to. Zuckerberg has made it clear from day one that his main focus in creating the best possible product his company can develop and he has only used investor money to create liquidity for his employees. If Facebook wants to maintain the most elite programmers in the industry it needs to incentive them, which is the only reason Zuckerberg with his 57% control of the social networking giant is allowing the IPO to move forward in the first place.

If Zuckerberg could find several hundred top notch programmers who could care less about living in mansions and driving around in Ferrari’s he would happily cover server and basic salary costs with the company’s already impressive profits and carry-on his way. This is after all the man who as a teenager turned down millions of dollars from Microsoft for a prediction algorithm he created, only to later release it for free on the internet and then turn down a job offer from Microsoft’s top brass.

More importantly, Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t need to be associated with “suits” as they are often referred to. Remember what happened to MySpace when it went corporate? Nearly $600 million was flushed down the drain as its employees became nothing more than the corporate drones music and comedy fans and million of internet users despise. Facebook has most certainly surpassed the “cool” stage and has become ingrained in our everyday lives, but that doesn’t mean it can give up its laid back, we are here to create cool products feel for a suit and a tie. The moment Zuckerberg puts on a tie and stands on stage is the moment he might as well publicly admit to Facebook users he has commoditized them. Sure we know we have been sold out, the open graph proved that point by collecting heaps of user data, but admitting to that fact might be worse than the illusion of creating a more “open” web.

Most important however is the fact that Mark Zuckerberg isn’t going to have a hard time finding investors, Facebook has done very well on the secondary market, partially because even with all of his control over Facebook and his seemingly quick decision to buy Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg has a well rounded team working under his control. Not only does Facebook’s board of directors include some of the biggest names in the tech industry, it also has the support of the biggest, most well known tech investors in the world. Its hard to argue the reach of a tech firm when its board of directors includes Marc Andreessen, James W. Breyer, Peter A. Thiel and even Netflix chairman and CEO Reed Hastings.

What is likely irking investors isn’t the hoodie, it is the fact that Zuckerberg has always made one thing clear, he care about his product, earnings, return on investment and other matters simply are not important to him, at least not on the surface.

Remember when investors said five years ago that Mark Zuckerberg would drive Facebook into the ground? I wonder what they think now that the company is nearing 1 billion users, now owns one of the most popular photo sharing applications in the world and has become synonymous with website sharing thanks to like/share buttons and the Facebook Open Graph?

Could Zuckerberg have thrown on a nice button down shirt, sure he could have, but let’s be honest there are not many company’s serving one billion users these days and none of them are as engaged with their client base as Facebook.

Lest we forget, Zuckerberg is famous for creating hackathons, late night programming marathons littered with booze and for relentlessly pushing his vision of the open web onto hundreds of millions of people, the moment he fails to be Mark Zuckerberg is the moment Facebook loses the intensity it has used to grow.

It’s a hoodie, he’s comfortable in it and his business decisions have been good for Facebook for years now, get over it and move on, perhaps if you hate the hoodie an investment in a Exxon Mobil would be more up your alley.

I would love to be the PR person at Facebook just for one day so I could respond to crazy complaints over non-issues.

[Op-Ed] Who Cares If Mark Zuckerberg Wears A Hoodie To Investor Meetings is a post from: The Inquisitr

With a name borrowed from a Yoga sitting posture, Asana, the work-collaboration startup founded by two Facebook brainiacs,  is putting its first software product on sale today that is designed to help remote teams operate together more effectively and easily.

The Asana product offering is described as a collaborative information manager Web 2.0 application designed for workplace efficiency.

Asana was co-founded by Facebook billionaires Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein who apparently are out to “change the world” with their new work productivity software package for boosting project management.

Moskovitz and others helped Mark Zuckerberg launch Facebook in 2004. Rosenstein came to Facebook from Google in 2007, and the duo left Facebook in 2008 to form Asana with $9 million of venture capital. Dustin and Justin apparently got the idea for Asana while  developing applications to improve Facebook’s internal workstream.

Asana, according to the San Jose Mercury News, is about “boosting and speeding communication among team members. Using a simple, word processor-like interface, the software gives people working together on a given task a central place to discuss the project, share files and keep track of to-dos in real-time. ”

The Asana software has been available in a free beta version since November 2011. Today, a premium version (suitable for 30 or more users) enters the marketplace for a sliding fee of $300.

The software is already being used by “biotechnology researchers, software developers at Foursquare, professional sports teams and church groups” among others. The founders, who obviously don’t need the money,  say they anticipate big profits ahead for the company especially given that employees and contractors in the contemporary workplace are seldom in one centralized office.

Asana is based in San Francisco’s mission district and currently has about 23 employees.

Asana Startup Founded By Facebook Vets To Release Web Collaboration Software Today is a post from: The Inquisitr

Did you know that Bloomberg ranks the world’s billionaires on a daily basis (no pressure!) and Carlos Slim has beaten out Bill Gates as the world’s richest man.

Rankings weigh each billionaire’s fortune accounting for market fluctuations and other factors, reporting back a result at 5:30 PM each day, Eastern time. As markets closed on March 2nd, Slim had edged out Gates and Warren Buffett, who came in at two and three, respectively. Eike Batista of Brazil is 10th, and when the March 2 rankings were announced, he reaffirmed his desire to be number one by 2015. Batista said:

“I’m competitive… It’s Brazil’s time to be No. 1. Brazilians have always admired the American dream. What’s happening in Brazil is the Brazilian dream and I happen to be the example.”

Based on a roughly $100 billion valuation the Menlo Park, California-based company has been trading at in the private market, Zuckerberg’s stake may be worth $21 billion, or about 25 percent less than previous estimates, once Facebook holds its initial public offering.

Carlos Slim Beats Bill Gates as World’s Wealthiest Dude is a post from: The Inquisitr

Though Facebook still holds a fairly comfortable lead on social networking giant Twitter, one new social network is sneaking into the picture, picking up users left and right. No, I’m not talking about Google+, I’m talking about Pinterest. Now we’re hearing that a new noteworthy user has joined the fold: Facebook CEO and developer Mark Zuckerberg.

The invite-only social media darling Pinterest has been getting all the right nods lately, starting with the mainstream press adoption and integration of the platform in 2011 over rivals Facebook and Twitter. All Facebook reports that Zuck has signed his digital life away to the new networking site, but what does this mean? Is he being a gentleman? A philosopher dedicated to the idea of social media rather than a cunning businessman who seeks to root out and destroy the competition? Is he just checking it out? Keeping tabs on his competition?

Well for starters, Zuckerberg also has accounts on Twitter and Google+, though his accounts are fairly inactive. His Pinterest account http://pinterest.com/zuck/ isn’t exactly humming either, and about all you can get out of it right now is, “Oh hey, he liked Moneyball too”. He’s following more than 100 users, but doesn’t have much content posted. His Pinterest is, of course, linked to his Facebook.

Pinterest is arguably the hottest startup of 2012, with 10 million signed on right away, 2 million connected through Facebook, and use by more than 100 brands. It’s up-and-coming, the sky is the limit, insert third cliche here, and maybe Zuckerberg is just curious to see what all the hubbub is about.

Do you follow Zuckerberg on Twitter or Google+? Will you follow him on Pinterest?

Traitor! Mark Zuckerberg Joins Pinterest is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mark Zuckerberg will face taxes of around $1.67 billion when he inevitably exercises options to buy 120 million shares in Facebook. What’s a mere multi-millionnaire to do?

Well, many pundits expect the 27-year-old CEO to sell back about $1.67 billion of Facebook Inc. stock in the company’s initial public offering to cover his tax liabilities. And even then, such a figure will be a drop in the ocean compared to the value of Zuckerberg’s overall stake in the social network, which could be worth as much as $28.4 billion.

Facebook’s IPO filing, first made on February 1, proposes a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion, though the company attracted a valuation of at least $94 billion (about $40 a share) when it auctioned its shares on the private market this week.

The IPO filing goes on to address Zuckerberg’s tasty tax bill:

“We expect that substantially all of the net proceeds Mr. Zuckerberg will receive upon such sale will be used to satisfy taxes that he will incur upon his exercise of an outstanding stock option to purchase 120,000,000 shares.”

Incidentally, as tax rates are a hot topic right now, Zuckerberg’s tax rate will be 35 percent, according to Victor Fleischer, associate professor of law at the University of Colorado.

Businessweek got a ‘no comment’ when it approached Larry Yu, a spokesman for Facebook, yesterday.

[Via Businessweek]

Mark Zuckerberg May Cover Taxes By Selling $1.67 Billion in Facebook Stock is a post from: The Inquisitr

Everyone is talking about the recent S-1 form that Facebook just filled out on the road to being a publicly traded company.  There has been much talk about the billions of dollars that everyone is going to make off the company.  Everyone is talking about the star studded list of investors that are going to be made even richer by their investment in Facebook.

The one thing that has been overlooked on the form is a little section known as “Risks Related to Our Business and Industry.”. There are 38 listed risks to the company and a few of them are actually really comical.

One of the biggest risks to the Company is Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder who invented Facebook in his Harvard dorm room when he was 19.

Why is Zuckerberg such a threat?

The S-1 says,

That Mark Zuckerberg’s bad decision-making could lead to a decline in company value. Along with “users fleeing” and “decline in advertising revenue,” the following was listed as a major risk factor:

Our CEO has control over key decision making as a result of his control of a majority of our voting stock.

Zuckerberg owns 58 percent of Facebook stock, which means that he “has the ability to control the outcome of matters” that come before stockholders. Furthermore:

“As a stockholder, even a controlling stockholder, Mr. Zuckerberg is entitled to vote his shares, and shares over which he has voting control as a result of voting agreements, in his own interests, which may not always be in the interests of our stockholders generally.”

Should stockholders fear the man who controls the company they hold stock in?

Major Facebook Risk: Mark Zuckerberg is a post from: The Inquisitr

Question: who is Sheryl Sandberg? Answer: she’s the person many people might expect to be Mark Zuckerberg – Facebook’s highest paid employee.

The Facebook IPO has made Zuckerberg an overnight multi-millionaire, but it also revealed the fact that chief operating officer Sandberg, a 42-year-old working mother who describes herself as the ‘grown-up’ at the company, makes the most money at the social network.

In financial year 2011, Sandberg’s income was a $300,000 base salary plus $30,491,613 in Facebook shares. In addition, she has 38,122,000 restricted stock units (worth approx. $1.15 billion at $30/share) that will be completely vested by October 2020, subject to her continued employment through the vesting date. Such figures dwarf even Zuckerberg’s fortune. When the company goes public, Sandberg will be one of the wealthiest self-made women in the world.

She was lured from Google by Zuckerberg in 2008, after the entrepreneur took her to dinner twice a week for six weeks running. When finally at Facebook, her mission was simple: make Facebook profitable.

Before Sandberg’s arrival, the company was “primarily interested in building a really cool site; profits, they assumed, would follow.” Sandberg pioneered the discreet presentation of Facebook adverts and oversaw the firm’s business operations. By 2010, Facebook was turning profits in the millions.

She’s been ranked one of the 50 ‘Most Powerful Women in Business’ by Fortune magazine since 2008, became a member of the Walt Disney Company board in 2009, and joined the Board of Directors of Starbucks in 2010, a role that comes with a tidy $280,000 annual salary.

So, Mark Zuckerberg: not Facebook’s highest paid employee by a long shot. Surprised?

Meet Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Highest Paid Employee is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook has been around for almost 8 years now and what an amazing 8 years it has been. Growth has skyrocketed and the social network is very quickly approaching 1 Billion users, half of which who login daily.

The site launched in February 2004 and thanks to its growth out of the gate, it got the attention of companies and investors. In fact, as early as 2004, the same year Mark Zuckerberg launched the social network, he had offers to buy.

With news of the IPO happening this year and a potential $100 Billion valuation, it’s a good thing he stuck to his guns and didn’t sell. The social networking space would look vastly different from what it is today and has been a driver of innovation across other platforms.

Via ZDNet:

“Facebook has had countless offers for being bought out: an unnamed investor offered $10 million in June 2004, Friendster was interested in a purchase, Google offered to buy or partner in the summer of 2004, Viacom offered $75 million in March 2005, Myspace wanted to buy in spring 2005, News Corp (Myspace’s parent company) wanted to in January 2006, Viacom came back in 2005, NBC was also interested soon after, Viacom again made an offer of $1.5 billion in 2006, Yahoo offered $1 billion in June 2006, AOL also considered $1 billion soon after, Yahoo came back again at the end of 2006, and finally Google offered $15 billion in 2007. Instead, Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for about $240 million, giving the social network a valuation of $15 billion, in October 2007.”

As Justin Timberlake said in the movie ‘The Social Network’, “You know what’s better than a Million dollars? A Billion dollars”. Well, you know what’s even better than that? 100 Billion dollars.

If you were in the same situation as Mark Zuckerberg, would you have sold Facebook at the time?

Mark Zuckerberg Had The Chance To Sell Facebook As Early As 2004 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Today is the day that many sites across the globe are protesting SOPA and PIPA and raising awareness for people to contact their congressmen, and have them vote against the two disastrous bills. Wikipedia is one site that is taking the threat quite seriously with an entire blackout of their site.

While Facebook isn’t blacking out their social network or anything of that nature, they are raising awareness. Mark Zuckerberg posted on his personal account letting people know about the two bills, his, and Facebook’s stance on them.

Here’s what he had to say:

“The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet’s development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet.”

“The world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals. I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet.”

“You can read more about our views here: https://www.facebook.com/FacebookDC?sk=app_329139750453932.”

As I write this post, his update has been liked over 200,000 times and has been shared over 40,000 times. SOPA and PIPA could very clearly affect the World’s most popular social network and it’s good to see Mark make a statement as well as how people can help ensure the bills don’t pass.

With all the support against SOPA and PIPA, do you think they could still pass?

Facebook Comes Out Strongly Against SOPA And PIPA is a post from: The Inquisitr

An Israeli Entrepreneur is betting that Facebook would not want to sue someone with the same name as their inventor and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.  He is so confident of this that he is changing hi name to, you guessed it, Mark Zuckerberg.

A s reported by ZDNet.com, Israeli Businessman Rotem Guez was threatened with a lawsuit over allegations that his company had violated the terms of service of the social networking behemoth.

Guez’s response, “if you want to sue me you will have to sue Mark Zuckerberg!”.

Guez had formed a company which sell Facebook “likes”. He got people to like his client’s pages by offering them free content from his other sites, which is a clear violation of Facebook’s terms of service. Facebook had originally sent several “Cease and Desist letters threatening that if Guez didn’t halt his activities the company would be sues.  They served him with a lawsuit earlier this year.

Guez has counter sued saying Facebook has hurt his business and kicked him off for no apparent reason.

Do you think Facebook will sue Mark Zuckerberg?

Is Mark Zuckerberg Being Sued By Facebook? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ever wonder what the 27-year-old founder of Facebook does in his free time? Well, thanks to a recently exposed security flaw in the social networking giant’s website, fourteen private photos of Mark Zuckerberg were hijacked and posted for the world to see.

Zuck’s private photos (which can be seen below) include images of him preparing food with his girlfriend, playing with his dog “Beast,” holding an “apparently” dead chicken, and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.

The flaw, which was reportedly discovered by members of a bodybuilding forum, who went on to post step-by-step instructions on how to exploit it, allowed anyone to view a limited number of another user’s most recently uploaded photos irrespective of the privacy settings for those photos.

According to Facebook, the hole came about as a result of a recent code push, and was only live for a small period of time.

“Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm that the bug has been fixed,” Facebook said in a statement released Tuesday.

The glitch comes just one week after the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Facebook that required the social networking giant to be more transparent about its privacy policies.

While the incident is big news for privacy advocates who have been critical of Facebook, for the rest of us it’s the chance to sneak a peek at the private life of a billionaire.

Below are a few of Mark Zuckerberg’s leaked photos, the remaining can be viewed here.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Private Photos Leaked in Facebook Security Flaw is a post from: The Inquisitr

Two years ago the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Facebook of using “deceptive behavior” in an attempt to have site users accept privacy settings that benefited the company but left user accounts open to public scrutiny and now the federal organization is said to be nearing a deal with the world’s largest social network.

Under the settlement the FTC would be allowed to conduct privacy audits at Facebook for the next two decades in a move very similar to the agreement they reached with Google, Inc.

Under the agreement Facebook will be required to make all new features (material retroactive changes) available as opt-in rather than opt-out as they are current setup.

The FTC probe against Facebook started in December 2009 when the company made user information public by default instead of asking user permission ahead of time with an opt-in setup.

Final approval for the new guidelines are still awaiting FTC commissioners approval but the plan is expected to receive approval and move forward swiftly.

Are you happy to learn that Facebook privacy changes will be opt-in and that the FTC will be performing regular audits of the company’s policies to ensure site users are being protected?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

FTC May Soon Require ‘Opt-In’ Privacy Policy Setup For Facebook, Routine Company Audits is a post from: The Inquisitr

The purpose of Zuck’s visit, reports the Boston Herald, is to “poach Hub engineers for his Silicon Valley social networking giant.”

“If (Zuckerberg’s) coming to Boston to recruit, it indicates how important recruiting is for Facebook and how hard it is for them to recruit talented folks by staying focused purely on Silicon Valley resources,” Adam Marcus, managing director of Boston’s OpenView Venture Partners, told the Herald. “Boston has a very deep bench when it comes to technical talent and educational institutions that produce high-quality engineering talent.”

During his Harvard return visit, Zuckerberg – accompanied by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook vice president of engineering – will meet with 200-plus computer science students at Harvard’s Farkas Hall to promote engineering jobs and internships at Facebook. Zuckerberg also will meet with Harvard president Drew Faust.

Though it’s not technically his first time back — he made an unofficial appearance in an introductory computer science class in 2005 — it is the first that Zuck has been invited back to meet with “Harvard officials.”

In addition to Harvard, Zuckerberg, 27, is also scheduled to make stops at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University on his East Coast recruiting trip.

Mark’s Harvard-return trip comes after a meeting at Standford University last weekend where the Facebook mastermind said that in hindsight he wouldn’t have left Boston for the glitz of Silicon Valley.

“If I were starting now, I would have just stayed in Boston.’’

via BH

Mark Zuckerberg Headed Back to Harvard for Facebook Recruiting Mission is a post from: The Inquisitr

Steve Jobs died today, he was 56-years-old. Following his death several of tech’s biggest names sent out their condolences including some of Jobs’ biggest competitors.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote:

“Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend,” and ”Thanks for showing that what you build can change the world. I will miss you.”

While Microsoft founder Bill Gates released the following statement:

“Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives,” writes the former Microsoft CEO. “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come. For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”

Also chiming in on the brilliance of Jobs was Google co-founder Larry Page who wrote:

 ”He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me.”

In an almost perfectly fitting goodbye to himself Jobs said in 2005:

 ”Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

While Steve Jobs may have passed away his spirit lives on in the minds and hearts of the world’s biggest tech titans, of course Steve would likely be more interested in seeing what technologies come next over what people thought of him, that was always the Steve Jobs way.

Fellow Tech Titans Wish Steve Jobs A Final Farewell is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was announced during Thursday’s F8 Conference the crowd was greeted not by Zuckerberg but instead by Saturday Night Live’s Andy Samberg who delivered a hilarious seven and a half minute speech.

Among “fake Mark’s” biggest announcements was a “slow-poke” button that can be taken back without the other person knowing it was sent within 24 hours poking and a new list called “I’m Not Really Friends With These People” which according to Samberg is perfect for storing all of those awkward friends you never talk to from middle school along with the drunk old lady you met at a charity event.

Zuckerberg also took some jabs from Samberg in relation to his dog “Beast” which has a popular Facebook page with nearly 200,000 fans.

Here’s the video in case you missed it:

I personally like the opening remark about “changing the world” which is trademark Mark Zuckerberg.

Andy Samberg Appears As Mark Zuckerberg During F8 Conference [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

While Microsoft founder Bill Gates may still be the richest person in America with $59 billion at his disposal he has one young tech star quickly grasping at his world’s richest American title thanks to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

According to recent Forbes numbers Zuckerberg has watched his personal wealth skyrocket to $17.1 billion placing him at #14 on the world’s richest people list.

By jumping up to #14 Zuckerberg now has more money than Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page who have personal wealth of $16.7 billion each. Zuckerberg is also only slightly behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who has brought in $19.1 billion.

While Mark is worth a lot of money on paper his company has not yet went public which means much of that cash is based off Facebook’s valuation and not cold hard cash.

Other members of the Forbes list who rank close to Zuckerberg are:

Michael Dell (#18, $15 billion), Steve Ballmer (#19, $13.9 billion), Paul Allen (#23, $13.2 billion) and Steve Jobs (#39, $7 billion).

Does it surprise you that Zuckerberg is worth so much cash? Given Facebook’s near dominance of the display advertising market and a user base of almost 800 million I can’t say his wealth surprises me, I actually think it will climb higher when Facebook’s IPO finally becomes a reality.

Mark Zuckerberg Has More Money Than Google’s Founders is a post from: The Inquisitr