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On Wednesday night, Facebook previewed the next version of its popular iPhone application, which has retained one of the top spots in Apple's App Store since its launch in early July.

The new mobile version is a complete overhaul that shares much in common with the redesign of Facebook's Web version--a move that could be paving the way for mobile advertising and applications later on down the road.

The biggest addition in version 2.0 is support for real-time status updates, including integration with the service's messaging and live chat. At the time of launch, users will … Read more

This post was updated at 8:02 a.m. PT with comment from Facebook.

Facebook is making the advertisements on its site "smarter" and more interactive, Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang wrote on his blog Thursday. Owyang had been briefed by Facebook monetization director Tim Kendall on a Facebook initiative called "Engagement Ads" that is slated to launch later on Thursday.

Facebook confirmed the program to CNET News later on Thursday morning. "Facebook is conducting a trial of Engagement Ads over the next few months as part of its continual development of additional advertising concepts,&… Read more

Facebook has announced modifications to its developer application programming interface so that the creators of third-party applications can restrict their reach by demographic--more specifically, by age or location.

The update is designed to help developers who may run into legal issues if they make their applications available to all Facebook users, regardless of how old they are or what countries they live in.

This could apply, for example, to promotional applications created by liquor companies that need to restrict access to those over 21 in the United States, or to game makers that have only been licensed in certain countries. … Read more

Two of the biggest names in tech are teaming up on a cloud computing project that they plan to announce at a special event next week.

Facebook amasses billions of photos, friend connections, and status updates and stores them up in "the cloud," and Dell is working on being one of the main providers of the infrastructure--servers--that makes the cloud possible.

So what, exactly, are they doing together? Well, we already know Dell provides servers for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook, but what other plans the two have hatched together beyond that is unclear. The event is scheduled … Read more

Three Massachusetts Institute of Technology students who have been barred by a court order from discussing subway card vulnerabilities are now free to say what they want.

The University of Michigan released its annual ACSI scores for the PC industry, and Apple took top honors for the fifth straight year.

Plus, it isn't your usual Nokia jingle, but a campaign to promote condom use in India sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is off to a strong start.

Today's stories:

U.S. mobile-phone sales take a hit

Android security team appeals to bug hunters… Read more

Facebook has simply gotten too big for downtown Palo Alto, Calif., where it has been headquartered since founder Mark Zuckerberg uprooted the company from dorm rooms at Harvard. With over 600 employees now on its payroll, Facebook will be moving to a bigger facility at the Stanford Research Park outside town--a former Hewlett-Packard building.

"This new space is the next step in our growth and positions us well to continue looking for a long term campus solution while also allowing employees to work together as much as possible," a statement from Facebook read. The company plans to complete … Read more

Updated 6:50 p.m. PT with Facebook saying no hole in Free Gifts app.

MySpace was working to fix a security hole on Monday that allows people to see private comments friends have written on members' pages.

"MySpace is committed to keeping all users as safe and secure as possible. Today, MySpace was alerted to an issue within the MySpace Mobile WAP site and is working to roll out an immediate fix," a MySpace spokesperson wrote in an e-mail.

With the MySpace hole, people have to go through the company's mobile page and know the user … Read more

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing are over for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of would-be Facebook rival ConnectU who earned spots on the U.S. rowing team. The identical twins ended up placing sixth overall in the men's pair event; they don't take home any medals, but it's still a more than respectable finish. To get there, the pair had to make it through two rounds of heats, a semifinal, and then the grand final; just making it to the last round is a big accomplishment.

The Winklevosses placed sixth out of the six boats in … Read more

The world is swelling and it appears to be Facebook's fault.

A far-reaching survey in the UK has shown quite conclusively that Prince Charles's subjects are stuffing themselves with 'chocolate and crisps' (the latter might be known to you as potato chips) while eagerly following their friends online.

According to these figures, 33% of those surveyed said they had put on seven pounds in the last three months.

But here is the real kick in the gut for the social networking industry. Almost half of those surveyed claimed that they would rather eat the leftover grease from the … Read more