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How to use Google Voice with two-step authentication

Setting up a two-step verification (or authentication, depending on the site) service is more or less an imperative when it comes to keeping your online information secure. Services such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Dropbox and more have rolled out two-step verification in one form or another.

During the setup process for these services, you are required to provide a phone number where you'll have the option to receive a six-digit code that is required to grant you access to your account. But, as a recent Forbes article pointed out, phones get lost, which can in turn lock you … Read more

Review: Browse your social network with Facebook Web

Facebook's default app has never won a lot of fans because of its slightly buggy performance. Facebook Web gives you another way to view your feeds, but it doesn't do much to best Facebook's default app. The only improvements it gives you aren't noticeable and aren't worth the ads.

Since this is a Facebook viewer, you'll have to log in with your Facebook account to use it. It presents a Facebook layout that closely mirrors the one you're used to with a few changes. The most noticeable change is the ads on the … Read more

Facebook users share 1 billion stories through outside apps

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Facebook highlighted its developer platform on Thursday, throwing out some big numbers around how third-party apps benefit from connecting to users through the social network.

The social network opened up its platform to independent developers six years ago Friday, Director of Product Manager Doug Purdy told journalists today at a press conference at Facebook's headquarters here. Attracting more developers means more apps for Facebook users.

More than 550 million people use third-party apps through Facebook, and those users share 1 billion stories a day, Purdy said.

He didn't forgot to spotlight mobile numbers as … Read more

Facebook halts U.K. release of HTC First as it remodels Home

Facebook Home is officially in remodel mode.

The social network said Thursday that it has decided to halt the U.K. release of the HTC First, the first smartphone to ship with Facebook Home, as well as limit support for additional Android devices until it can fix things up a bit.

"We've listened to feedback from users on their experience using Home. While many people love it, we've heard a lot of great feedback about how to make Home substantially better," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET. "As a result, we're focusing the next few … Read more

Kim Dotcom threatens to sue Twitter, others over patent

Kim Dotcom says he doesn't really want to sue Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other companies, but he really needs some help funding his defense.

The eclectic and controversial MegaUpload founder today said he invented two-factor authentication, which is being used by more and more companies to secure access to their sites. The verification steps aim to reduce the likelihood of online identity theft, phishing, and other scams because the victim's password would no longer be enough to give a thief access to their information.

Along with Twitter's recent introduction, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, PayPal, and countless other … Read more

Syrian activists' Facebook pages said to be shuttered

Just as Syria recovers from last week's countrywide Internet outage, a number of government opposition groups are reportedly saying that their Facebook pages have been shuttered, according to Al Arabiya.

One of the pages that is no longer available is the profile page of the former brigadier general of the Syrian Republican Guard, Manaf Tlass, who defected from the government last year. According to Al Arabiya, his page was visited by tens of thousands of Syrians to discuss the country's civil war.

Tlass told Al Arabiya that he reached out to Facebook to get his page back online … Read more

Review: Facebook Layouts for Mac changes the look of your Facebook page

For those looking to change Facebook's layout, Facebook Layouts for Mac adds some flexibility to the social network's design, but it didn't always work as promised and ultimately has few options that would appeal to adult users.

The application's Web site claims it is compatible with the major Web browsers. When downloading the free add-on, the file format was only readable by Firefox and would not work in other browsers, like Safari, which is a disappointment. Once in Firefox, Facebook Layouts for Mac did install properly and worked after a restart of the browser. The add-on … Read more

Pandora tunes up music sharing via Facebook

Pandora listeners can now easily share their favorite tunes with their Facebook friends.

The Pandora Web site and the iPhone and Android apps now let you automatically publish your music listening activity to your Facebook Timeline. On the Web site, simply click on the Publish button under the current tune and choose the Publish to Facebook command. Tapping on the Menu item on your iPhone or your Android device gives you the same choice.

You can set various options to determine what get's shared. Your Facebook friends can then discover which tunes you listen to and which ones get … Read more

Teens: Facebook is just, like, too much drama

When your hormones are harassing you to within an eyebrow-width of your sanity, all you want is a simple life.

You want to be able to curl up with the kind of social network that understands you and doesn't give you headaches.

That kind of social network is, increasingly, not Facebook.

At least this is what teens seem to have told the Pew Research Center during its latest study.

Indeed, the teens surveyed were disturbed by the increased presence of adults and the increased tendency of other teens to angst-ridden self-expression on Mark Zuckerberg's site.

There is, as … Read more

Facebook simplifies sharing for iOS apps

Sharing is caring -- if your Facebook and your network depends on it.

Monday, the social network simplified the process for sharing activities from third-party iOS apps to Facebook. The company rolled out something called the "Share Dialog," previously in beta, for its iOS software development kit, which means developers can now update their applications to make sharing to the social network as fast and brainless as possible.

Specifically, the developer tool gets the iOS app user from app activity to Facebook share with a single click. With the addition of the special dialog box, app users can … Read more