Facebook Announces Desktop Video Ads

Facebook announced today its new desktop video ads to attract more users to Facebook’s games. 

This will allow developers to increase driving installs and engagement by encouraging people to install and play Facebook desktop games. Recently, Facebook announced that over 130,000 new Facebook-connected games debuted in 2014.

The game ad in the Facebook videos highlight the world’s largest social media network’s dedication to its game platform which reaches over four hundred million mobile and desktop players. Facebook recently said that over four billion native videos are viewed daily by its users.

Facebook is looking for consistency across between its mobile and desktop versions. Last year, Facebook launched mobile-app install ads for its Power Editor advertising tool, which play automatically in feeds like the new desktop launch. This feature increases user investment by allowing easier access.

Currently the video for desktop ads is limited, but will become broadly available in a short period of time.
While Facebook’s first quarter revenue were slightly subpar to Wall Street expectations, user engagement and mobile advertising saw a boost.

Mobile usage drove Facebook’s business in the first quarter with about 87% of monthly active users visiting from mobile devices. This is an increase from last year’s 24%. That means that 1.25 billion monthly active users used Facebook through their phones.

Mobile advertising also saw an increase from making up 59% of total advertising revenue at the end of 2014 to 73% in the first quarter. Daily active users is also increasing from 63% last year to 65% in the first three months of this year of Facebook’s total active monthly users.

With more people accessing Facebook on a more frequent basis and more often on their phones, Facebook’s ad strategies are balancing both spectrums.

In a liveblog about an earnings call on April 22, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg said that the format of ads should be formatted towards how people use for Facebook. She pointed out that video ads only happened after people started to use video and that video ad revenue is still small. Sandberg noted that Live Rail helped to anonymized Facebook data so as to make ads even more relevant to users. 

She noted that there was room for improvement, though, in attracting users. Sandberg noted that conversion tracking has increased and that Facebook measures scientifically the success of its ads.

David Wehner, CFO of Facebook, noted that mobile remains the driver of growth. Wehner said that the ad-revenue increase was coming primarily from mobile news feeds. He noted relevance and high quality as the top two elements that deliver the best results for attracting users.

Mobile ad revenue increased in the first quarter from 1.3 billion last year to 2.4 billion, but that revenue from desktop and game ads are falling. The average price per ad increased significantly because of an ad redesign on the mobile platform

First Draft - Bernard Sanders to Announce Presidential Bid

Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont, in Washington last week.Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

Senator Bernard Sanders, the independent from Vermont, plans to run for president as a Democrat, becoming the only official party challenger so far to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

According to people familiar with the senator’s plans, he will release a statement on Thursday and make a more formal announcement of candidacy later next month in Vermont. That event will likely take place at City Hall in Burlington, where he was mayor. 

Mr. Sanders, who considers himself a “Democratic Socialist,” has been traveling recently in early nominating states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to gauge interest in his candidacy. 

While considered a long-shot for the Democratic nomination, Mr. Sanders could be another voice drawing Mrs. Clinton to the left because of his progressive views on trade, health care and corporate lobbying. 

“Are we prepared to take on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class, or do we continue to slide into economic and political oligarchy?” Mr. Sanders said on his website.

Mr. Sanders’ plans were first reported by VPR News, Vermont’s public radio station. 

According to a Federal Election Commission filing, Mr. Sanders has $4.63 million on hand for his 2018 Senate re-election campaign. That money can be transferred to his coffers for a presidential race.

Charlotte McKinney’s Nude Photos: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ Contestant Reportedly Hacked, Naked Pictures Released

Charlotte McKinney was hit with a nude photo leak this week, with hacked pictures of the Dancing With The Stars contestant reportedly spreading online.  

Reports of the photos came via MSN, which did not have details on exactly when or where they were released. The report speculated that McKinney’s naked photos may have been connected to a larger leak that took place last year including pictures of Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, and dozens of others.

The report noted as follows.

“The alleged shots would make McKinney the latest celebrity to have her private images stolen and posted on the Internet. Last year, a massive hack dubbed ‘The Fappening’ struck Hollywood, with hackers distributing nude pictures stolen from dozens of actresses.
Jennifer Lawrence became the face of the scandal, but she was just one of many high-profile targets. Hayden Panettiere, Gabrielle Union, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst were also among the victims. The saga led to debates over Internet security, criticism of Apple’s iCloud, and a dialogue about what constitutes sexual crimes and violations in the digital age.”

While there is no word yet on whether the Charlotte McKinney nude photos are legitimate, it would not be the first time the actress and model has been seen in a revealing manner. She rose to fame thanks in large part to her appearance in a Carl’s Jr. ad during Super Bowl XLIX. In the ad, McKinney appeared to be walking around a farmer’s market in the nude, with strategically placed items covering her up.
The ad led many to call McKinney “the next Kate Upton.”
Oddly enough, before her own nude photos were released, Charlotte McKinney publicly sympathized with Kate Upton over her photo leak last year.
McKinney told FOX411 the following.

“My heart went out to her. It’s happened to so many girls. In high school it was always around. I mean your phone is your privacy, you don’t really think the world’s going to see this. You have a boyfriend. We’re models, we travel. We need to communicate with our boyfriends – sometimes it’s a little, you know. I think we all in the world have, you know, have done that for a relationship or anything like that. But if anything, to me, it’s more sad. It’s tough, and going out in public after something like that would be awful. It definitely makes you go through your phone, and delete some things. Hopefully, it’s all taken care of now but it’s heartbreaking. It’s tough, especially for a woman, you feel violated.”

Charlotte McKinney has not responded to her own nude photo leak, but it’s likely she feels quite violated herself.

Glasgow vigil for murdered student Karen Buckley

17 April 2015 Last updated at 21:08 BST

Hundreds of people have attended a candelit vigil in Glasgow for murdered student Karen Buckley. 

The 24-year-old's parents and two of her three brothers were among those who brought candles and flowers.

Miss Buckley's body was found on a farm to the north of Glasgow, four days after she went missing following a night out in the city's west end.

Alexander Pacteau, 21, has appeared in court charged with the Cork woman's murder and was remanded in custody.
 

Emma Watson 'raging' after nude photos hack threat

'I knew it was a hoax. I knew the pictures didn't exist,' Emma Watson said. Credit: Doug Peters/Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment

Emma Watson has revealed she was "raging" after a website threatened to release nude pictures of her online.

The UN Ambassador for Women said she had been targeted after she spoke out about gender equality

"After I gave my speech [at the UN] there was a website threatening to release naked pictures of me," the actress said.

• Read: Hackers threaten to release nude photos of Emma Watson

Watson said she had been targeted after she spoke out about gender equality Credit: Jon Furniss/Facebook/PA Wire

I knew it was a hoax, I knew the pictures didn't exist, but I think a lot of people that were close to me knew gender equality was an issue but didn't think it was that urgent, that it was a thing of the past.
And then when they saw that the minute I stood up talking about women's rights I was immediately threatened, I think they were really shocked, my brother was particularly upset.
This is a real thing that's happening now, women are receiving threats.

– Emma Watson

Jennifer Lawrence called the posting online of hacked photos 'a sex crime.' Credit: Chase Rollins/AFF/EMPICS Entertainment

"I was raging, it made me so angry, I was like, 'This is why I have to be doing this'. If anything, if they were trying to put me off it, it did the opposite," Watson told a Facebook event for International Women's Day.

In September a website titled "Emma You Are Next", featuring an image of the Harry Potter star next to a countdown clock, appeared to have been created by a user of image-sharing website 4chan.

The threat followed the release of lewd images of celebrities including actress Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton, which Lawrence described as "a sex crime".

Devil is in the detail of deal shrinking Iran's nuclear programme

Tehran's nuclear programme will shrink significantly under a framework deal to make any Iranian moves towards building an atom bomb virtually impossible for years - but the devil is in the detail.

Iran has agreed with six world powers to curb its nuclear activity in three main areas: the size and grade of its uranium stockpile, the number of centrifuges that enrich uranium, and the maximum fissile purity of the product of these machines.

"The approach outlined will effectively prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb for an extended period of time," said Robert Einhorn, senior fellow at the U.S.-based Brookings institution.

Still, some details have yet to be determined and the pact will take effect only if a final deal is agreed by June 30, a big "if" which can still scupper an agreement.

Here is an overview of the known details based on a U.S. fact sheet and their potential pitfalls:

CENTRIFUGES

At marathon talks this week in Lausanne, Iran agreed it will operate only around 5,000 centrifuges out of 6,100 installed machines, which is less than half of its current capacity.

According to the latest report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Feb. 19, Iran had around 19,500 installed centrifuges of which it was operating around 10,200.

While the number of centrifuges has been in the spotlight, enriching uranium is also a question of what kind of centrifuges are used to spin at supersonic speed to purify uranium.

Iran will not be able to enrich uranium with centrifuges that are much more efficient than the so-called IR-1 model. However, it will still be allowed to use the more modern models for research and development (R&D) purposes.

Iran is supposed to submit a detailed long-term R&D plan to the IAEA, but it is not clear how and when this will happen.

STOCKPILES AND ENRICHMENT

Since a 2013 accord with the six powers, Iran has stopped enriching uranium above 5 percent purity - no material of a higher grade than this is normally used in nuclear power plants. It has "downblended" or further processed its 20-percent enriched uranium stockpile.

Western countries see the step from 20-percent to 90-percent purity - the level needed for a bomb - as a relatively small one.

Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium is to be cut to 300 kg of 3.67-percent purification from what the United States said was now 10,000 kg. According to the IAEA, Iran had around 8,000 kg in February.
One technical detail that might be a sticky point in any final deal is the so-called tails - the byproduct of enriched uranium extracted from a centrifuge.

Setting the concentration of tails affects the separative power of a centrifuge. "Tails concentration needs to be determined," said one expert and former IAEA employee.

BREAKOUT TIME

Under the deal, Iran's "breakout" time - the time it would need to acquire enough fissile material for one weapon - would be extended to at least one year, for a duration of at least 10 years. The U.S. fact sheet said it is now thought to be two to three months.

Experts say a bomb needs at least 25 kg of 90-percent enriched uranium, or 250 kg of 20-percent enriched uranium.
Senior Western diplomats have said that the calculation of break out times can be adapted to political needs. Variables include whether facilities are assumed to be constantly online and if construction of an actual bomb and the conversion of uranium gas into metal are included.

With 6,500 IR-1 centrifuges fed with natural uranium in gas form, which has 0.7 percent of the isotope used in bombs, breakout time would be around 43 weeks, Olli Heinonen, former chief inspector at the IAEA, told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Feeding them with 3.5 percent enriched uranium gas, it would take around 12 weeks, he said.
IAEA

Crucially, all this will have to be monitored and verified by the Vienna-based IAEA. The degree to which Iran improves cooperation with the U.N. agency will be vital for measuring the success of a deal.

The agency now has around four to eight people in Iran at any one time. They inspect declared facilities, monitor video surveillance footage and can seal uranium canisters.

Under the Lausanne deal, Iran agreed to allow the agency more intrusive access to its sites - both declared and, crucially, undeclared - and inform it of its nuclear construction plans.

However, Iran has been stalling for months an IAEA investigation into "possible military dimensions" (PMD) of its nuclear programme, which mainly took place before 2003.

Two issues, related to explosives tests and neutron calculations, should have been resolved last August. Iran has also been required to come up with more practical measures to allay concerns about its past nuclear work, a demand renewed in the Lausanne deal.

The U.S. fact sheet says "Iran will be required to grant access to the IAEA to investigate suspicious sites".
This might include the Parchin site, to which the IAEA has unsuccessfully sought access to determine whether any past action related to PMD might have taken place there.

The IAEA's expanded role might need reorganising the way it is funded.