Friday, October 29, 2010

Top 3 Stories in Social Media, Tech and Business BY CHRISTIANA WARREN

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.
Facebook is Testing a Places-Powered Deals Service?
According to Nick O’Neill at All Facebook, Facebook is testing a new “Facebook Deals” service that is integrated into Facebook Places.
This would give businesses the ability to provide discounts and specials when a customer checks in to a physical store. Facebook () has declined to comment on the purported e-mail from one of the companies testing the service, and there are some inconsistencies in the e-mail’s wording that make us less than 100% sure that this is entirely accurate. However, the idea makes an enormous amount of sense.
For more than a year, we’ve been talking about how the real potential of location-based services is at the hyper-local level. The success of companies like Groupon and the growing number of deals and sponsorships adopted by companies like Foursquare (), Gowalla () and Loopt makes it even more clear that this is a trend that is becoming more enticing by the day.
It only seems natural that Facebook would assert its social graph to offer businesses and users a synergistic experience to incentivize checkins.
NOOKcolor Processor Revealed
When the NOOKcolor was unveiled earlier this week, Barnes & Noble did a pretty solid job of laying out the technical specifications of the device, with one exception — the processor.
Engadget has confirmed that the NOOKcolor features a Texas Instruments ARM Cortex A8-based chip running at 800MHz. We still don’t know how much RAM the unit has, but coupled with an IPS-backlit capacitive touchscren and the underpinnings of Android 2.1, this $250 device just might turn out to be the Android () tablet hackers and modders have dreamed of.
YouTube CEO to Step Down
WebProNews reports that YouTube () co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley will be stepping down from his post and assuming an advisory role at the company. Hurley made the announcement at the F.ounders conference in Ireland.
As WebProNews notes, Hurley was the last of the YouTube co-founders to retain close ties with the company after selling it to Google () for $1.65 billion. At F.ounders, Hurley said, “Right now I am in the process of transitioning into the role of adviser, stepping down, still being involved in the company but it’s given me an opportunity to work on new projects.”
Google’s Salar Kamngar has been handling much of the day-to-day business for YouTube for the past several years and he is the most likely person to assume Hurley’s position (assuming Google decides to keep the CEO spot).
Further News

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