Also: Zuckerberg visits Russia, Paul Allen weighs in on Windows 8, and Sean Parker talks Airtime.
Facebook sells more access to its members [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
To amp up the effectiveness of its ads, Facebook in recent months has begun allowing marketers to target ads at users based on the email address and phone number they list on their profiles, or based on their surfing habits on other sites.
It has also started selling ads that follow Facebook members beyond the confines of the social network.
Along with executive turmoil — including the upcoming stepping back of tech lead Eric Feng and Shawn Fanning, Parker's Napster co-founder, who was the CEO and driving force behind Airtime while Parker was focused on Spotify last year — there has also been a very weak launch in getting Airtime off the ground.
Zuckerberg meets with Medvedev in a crucial market [THE NEW YORK TIMES]
Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Medvedev talked about Facebook's role in politics, though only jokingly in reference to its importance in the American presidential campaign, according to Mr. Medvedev's press office.
They also discussed copyright rules and high-tech business. Mr. Zuckerberg gave the Russian leader a T-shirt; the meeting lasted about 20 minutes.
Paul's take on Windows 8 [PAUL ALLEN]
I did encounter some puzzling aspects of Windows 8. The bimodal user experience can introduce confusion, especially when two versions of the same application – such as Internet Explorer – can be opened and run simultaneously. Files can also be opened in either of the two available modes.
Nest unveils its next device [FORTUNE]
Fadell's homage to Apple and Jobs goes beyond theatrics. The new Nest, which replaces the old Nest and still sells for $249, is thinner ("20% thinner," Fadell says), one piece of stainless steel rather than two, has more connectors than the first version, and even has a neater back side. This last bit is a nice nod to the Jobs obsession with the inside of the early Macintosh, the part consumers wouldn't see. The back of a Nest goes up against the wall. Get it?
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But can Apple (AAPL) compete with Nokia's (NOK) elevator hotties?
See Brian S Hall for why this Russian ad for the Lumia 900 wasn't broadcast on U.S. television.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 16, 2012 12:13 PM ET
But Brazil, where unlocked phones start at $1,400 U.S., not so much
Apple (AAPL) delivered the iPhone 4S to two dozen more countries Friday, bringing it -- by our count -- to 76, exceeding its stated goal to be in more than 70 countries by the end of the year.
Friday's launches were in Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Cyprus, Egypt, French West Indies, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Reunion Island, MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Dec 16, 2011 5:02 PM ET
Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. We've assembled the day's most newsworthy bits below.
Comcast lost 275,000 basic cable subscribers during the company's third quarter, attributing the loss to the economy, the housing crunch and competition. Despite that, the company reported third quarter revenues of $5.91 billion, up 7% from a year MORE JP Mangalindan, Writer - Oct 28, 2010 6:00 AM ET
DST's Yuri Milner makes big bets on social media companies and brings new clout -- along with a mysterious oligarch backer -- to Silicon Valley.
Yuri Milner has 50 friends on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg is one of them. They met a couple of years ago when Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and CEO, was trying to learn more about a Russian social network that Milner partly owned. Then, in the spring of MORE
Jessi Hempel, writer - Oct 4, 2010 3:00 AM ET
A round-up of the companies, deals, and trends that made headlines.
Every day, the Fortune staff spends hours poring over tech stories, posts, and reviews from all over the Web to keep tabs on the companies that matter. While that's our job -- awesome, right? -- we realize our readers may not have the same luxury. To save you the trouble, we've assembled the weekend's most newsworthy bits below.
With a traffic increase MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Sep 13, 2010 8:05 AM ET
Smartphones linked to a big Belgian heist are being unloaded in batches of 100
Russian bloggers report that Apple (AAPL) iPhones in mint condition are being offered in batches of 100 at "knockdown" prices to wholesalers in Moscow's notorious Gorbushka electronics marketplace.
Because the phones are unlocked and have Belgian model numbers they are believed to be swag from the largest iPhone heist to date -- an industrial-scale B&E in which thieves MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Nov 30, 2009 6:56 AM ET
Despite heavy advertising and early black market interest, Apple's (AAPL) iPhone is an expensive flop in Russia, according to a reportposted Thursday by Svetlana Gladkova.
Gladkova, Russian editor of the tech blog Profy.com, writes that Russia's three major carriers cut a deal with Apple last year that requires them to sell a total of 3.5 million iPhones over a period of two to three years.
But in the first 6 months after MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 30, 2009 10:30 AM ET
There are 29 colorful little buttons displayed on Apple's "Coming Soon" page -- its official list of countries where the iPhone 3G is scheduled to launch before the end of the year -- and carriers in some of those countries have let it be known that their launch day is Friday, Sept. 26.
Whether the phone will come to the entire list -- which runs the alphabetical gamut from Botswana to MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 25, 2008 12:34 PM ET
Hats off to Silicon Alley Insider for their continued coverage of the overseas iPhone market.
Last week, Henry Blodget plucked a pseudonymous post from a New York Times comment stream and re-published what may be the smartest analysis to date of what's driving the extraordinary demand for iPhones overseas, especially in emerging markets (see "Tantrum" here).
Today, Dan Frommer treats us to an informal survey of the going rate for those iPhones MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 8, 2008 2:25 PM ET