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Facebook releases new News Feed look for iPad

Facebook is updating its News Feed for iPads, promising the bigger photos and more prominently displayed content that the social network has already launched on the desktop version of Facebook.

The update for the iPad app will be available for download in the iTunes store later today, according to Facebook.

The new News Feed means a new look for the iPad. "You'll see brighter, more beautiful stories," a Facebook blog post says.

The social network unveiled the overhaul of its most lucrative feature last month. Facebook is hoping the new News Feed equals a richer story design, … Read more

Facebook Chat Heads arriving today on iOS

Facebook Chat Heads, a messaging innovation the social network pioneered for its Facebook Home family of applications on Android, will be appearing inside the company's iOS application as soon as today, company executives said. But there is one little catch.

Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer and Vice President of Mobile Engineering Cory Ondrejka told attendees at an All Things D mobile event today that the social network is about to push an update to its iOS application that would add its quirky messaging experience to Apple devices.

Chat Heads reimagines mobile messaging by coupling Facebook Messenger and SMS updates into … Read more

Facebook Home on Android? Good stuff, says Eric Schmidt

NEW YORK -- Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt enthusiastically supports what Facebook has done on the Google Android OS with its new suite of apps called Home.

Speaking at All Things D's Dive into Mobile conference here Tuesday, Schmidt reiterated the statement Google put out after Facebook launched earlier this month, defending the company's use of its open-source software to layer a new Facebook-centric experience on Google Android smartphones.

Some people, including Microsoft's head of Windows Phone Terry Myerson, have publicly speculated that if given the choice Google would try to take the Facebook Home app suite … Read more

Facebook reportedly wants $1 million for each video ad

Would you spend $1 million for a video ad on Facebook?

That's allegedly what the popular network is aiming to squeeze out of advertisers when it starts rolling out video ads sometime this summer, says a story today in Ad Age.

Citing information from one "executive briefed on the product," Ad Age reported that the video ads would carry a price tag upwards of $1 million, run for no longer than 15 seconds, and be scheduled so that no Facebook user sees more than three such ads per day.

Facebook has been chatting up ad agencies to … Read more

Facebook beefs up its entertainment pages

Facebook is beefing up its interest pages, giving the social network a better way to surface recommendations and offering advertisers a better way to target users.

The company today announced its partnership with Rovi Corp., a metadata company that will fill out the social network's already existing entertainment interest pages -- those pages you "like" if you are a fan -- and create new ones.

Metadata is a set of data that describes other data, allowing companies to easily organize or search the data. Facebook will make some of this data available to its third-party developers, which … Read more

No, Facebook Home won't be coming to the iPhone

Don't hold your breath for Facebook Home to make an appearance on the iPhone.

A Facebook executive told Bloomberg on Monday that the social networking giant is in talks to bring its newly debuted user interface to Apple's iPhone, as well as Microsoft's Windows Phone platform.

Earlier today, The Next Web reported that Facebook isn't in talks with Apple or Microsoft about porting over Home, citing unnamed sources familiar with the discussions.

Facebook Home is the social networking giant's way of increasing its presence in the mobile world without actually building a smartphone or mobile … Read more

Facebook in talks to bring Home to iPhone, Windows Phone

Facebook is reportedly in talks with Apple and Microsoft about the possibility of creating versions of its Home launcher for the iPhone and Windows Phone.

The social network is in negotiations with the companies about expanding the platform to their smartphones, Adam Mosseri, Facebook's director of product, told Bloomberg, noting that talks are ongoing and nothing has been finalized.

"We've shown them what we've built, and we're just in an ongoing conversation," Mosseri said.

Mosseri said the skin could arrive on Apple's platform with a different name and appearance than the one that'… Read more

EA 'retires' SimCity Social, Sims Social, and more from Facebook

The Sims Social was once heralded as Electronic Arts' "most successful Facebook game," but now it's being laid to rest along with SimCity Social and Pet Society. These three social games will be extinct from Facebook as of June 14.

The game maker made the announcement today, saying that it was a hard decision but had to be done in order to "reallocate servers and resources to more popular titles," according to the FAQ section of its Web site.

"Today we are informing players of the difficult decision to retire some of our Facebook games: The Sims Social, SimCity Social, and Pet Society," EA wrote in a blog post today. "After millions of people initially logged in to play these games, the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off."… Read more

How Dish's deal could improve Sprint

CNET Update dishes the details:

Dish has made a $25.5 billion unsolicited bid to merge with Sprint. Today's video explains what this deal means for consumers and how it might improve Sprint's network.

Also in this tech roundup:

- Microsoft reportedly is considering making a smartwatch

- Windows 8 apps for news and maps get updates

- Electronic Arts will shut down Sims games on Facebook

- This 55-inch Panasonic plasma is the first television to get a 5-star rating from CNET

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links … Read more