We had also heard in recent weeks that despite Facebook’s seemingly anti-iPad stance, such an app does exist internally, and has for some time. But we hadn’t been able to find anyone who had actually seen it. Well, until right now. We can now confirm the app’s existence with someone who has actually seen it.

“It looks pretty slick. Photos are fullscreen & really nice UI,” says a person who has played with the app.

I’ve long complained about Facebook’s lack of an iPad app. While their regular site works pretty well on the iPad, even Facebook CTO Bret Taylor recognized the need for a UI more custom-tailored for big touch screens.

More importantly, third-party Facebook apps have been flying off the virtual shelves since day one of the iPad (including a few that have tricked people into thinking they were official apps). Facebook needed to get on top of this situation, to ensure that they own their own brand on the device, not some third party. And now they are.

We have not heard a specific date the app will be released, but NYT says that it will hit the App Store in the “coming weeks”.

One interesting tidbit we did hear was that the app has been done for some time, but that Facebook may have been holding it back as a bit of leverage over Apple. Those two companies have been in the news a bunch recently following Apple’s inclusion of Twitter in iOS 5, despite talking about a similar deal with Facebook previously.

And then there was our story yesterday about Project Spartan. We heard (and have seen) indications that Facebook was targeting mobile Safari with the mobile platform. HTML5-based apps as well as Facebook Credits are the key parts of the plan.

Since our story, Facebook PR has gone on the offensive, trying to spin this to other journalists as not being a move against Apple, but rather a way to “complement” their devices (while at the same time declining to admit the project even exists — heh). That’s a bunch of horseshit, and they know it.

But honestly, does anyone expect them to say anything else? It’s not like they’re going to declare war on Apple (or anyone else) publicly. You don’t announce to someone that you’re going to punch them in the face before you punch them in the face. That would be madness. (Madness?! This. Is. Sparta[n]!)

Again, developers actually working on this new platform say it’s very clear that Project Spartan is step one in an attempt to gain control over the mobile space. That means getting on the devices currently controlled by Apple and Google, and doing so without fear of restrictions (hence, HTML5). And it means disrupting the current mobile distribution channels (App Store, Android Market, etc) which are controlled by the gatekeepers. Facebook has to do this because they do not have their own devices. At least not yet.

But now we’re getting too far into the weeds. I’m just happy Facebook is finally releasing an iPad app. Send pics if you got em!

Related posts:

1. Facebook, It’s Time For An iPad App
2. Project Spartan: Facebook’s Hush-Hush Plan To Take On Apple On Their Own Turf: iOS
3. Facebook Still Has No iPad App But They’re Building A Desktop Software Team?!

A just-released Pew study on the ways people use social networking sites has found, unsurprisingly, that the most popular social network is Facebook, with 92% of social networking users reporting that they have a Facebook account.

The study also found that on average Facebook users have about 229 Friends, with about 22% of their total Friends list being comprised of people they know from high school, 12% extended family, 10% coworkers, 9% college friends, 8% immediate family, 7% people from extracurricular groups and 2% being neighbors.

According to Pew, the average Facebook user has never met 7% of their Facebook “Friends” in real life, which means that on average about 16 people on a given Facebook Friends list are actually more like strangers. Users on average have only met 3% of their list (around 7 people) just once.

These numbers seem about right: A quick scroll down my Facebook Friends list reveals a smattering of people I’ve just added because I know “of” them and a few people I’ve added who I’ve met once at a conference. These not-quite friends Facebook Friends serve as reminders that Facebook should make it easier to mass “un-Friend.”

Either that or come up with a different word for the relationship.

Related posts:

1. Study: You’ve Never Met 7% Of Your Facebook “Friends”
2. Facebook Relaunches Questions: No Threat To Quora, More Emphasis On Friends
3. Facebook Relaunches Questions: No Threat To Quora, More Emphasis On Friends

A just-released Pew study on the ways people use social networking sites has found, unsurprisingly, that the most popular social network is Facebook, with 92% of social networking users reporting that they have a Facebook account.

The study also found that on average Facebook users have about 229 Friends, with about 22% of their total Friends list being comprised of people they know from high school, 12% extended family, 10% coworkers, 9% college friends, 8% immediate family, 7% people from extracurricular groups and 2% being neighbors.

According to Pew, the average Facebook user has never met 7% of their Facebook “Friends” in real life, which means that on average about 16 people on a given Facebook Friends list are actually more like strangers. Users on average have only met 3% of their list (around 7 people) just once.

These numbers seem about right: A quick scroll down my Facebook Friends list reveals a smattering of people I’ve just added because I know “of” them and a few people I’ve added who I’ve met once at a conference. These not-quite friends Facebook Friends serve as reminders that Facebook should make it easier to mass “un-Friend.”

Either that or come up with a different word for the relationship.

Related posts:

1. Study: You’ve Never Met 7% Of Your Facebook “Friends”
2. ShareThis Study: Facebook Accounts For 38 Percent Of Sharing Traffic On The Web
3. Unsocial: Foursquare Plus LinkedIn Minus All Your Friends

Delete Custom Fields will let you delete every instance of a custom field from your site.

OfferMatch shows offers or ads related to your posts.

SimpleTest for WordPress is a tool for WordPress plugin developers who want to create and run automated tests for their plugins.

Toppa Plugin Libraries for WordPress includes several utilities for plugin developers. They facilitate the use of Agile coding techniques for developing WordPress plugins.

Updated plugins

WordPress Beta Tester allows you to easily upgrade to WordPress Beta releases.

Related posts:

1. WordPress Plugin Releases for 6/16
2. WordPress Plugin Releases for 6/8
3. WordPress Plugin Releases for 4/1

Delete Custom Fields will let you delete every instance of a custom field from your site.

OfferMatch shows offers or ads related to your posts.

SimpleTest for WordPress is a tool for WordPress plugin developers who want to create and run automated tests for their plugins.

Toppa Plugin Libraries for WordPress includes several utilities for plugin developers. They facilitate the use of Agile coding techniques for developing WordPress plugins.

Updated plugins

WordPress Beta Tester allows you to easily upgrade to WordPress Beta releases.

Related posts:

1. WordPress Plugin Releases for 6/16
2. WordPress Plugin Releases for 6/8
3. WordPress Plugin Releases for 4/1

We’ve learned about the existence of yet another secret project within Facebook. And while it’s not quite as sexy as the new Photos app, the ramifications of it are much larger. Say hello to Project Spartan.

As we understand it, Project Spartan is the codename for a new platform Facebook is on verge of launching. It’s entirely HTML5-based and the aim is to reach some 100 million users in a key place: mobile. More specifically, the initial target is both surprising and awesome: mobile Safari.

Yes, Facebook is about to launch a mobile platform aimed squarely at working on the iPhone (and iPad). But it won’t be distributed through the App Store as a native application, it will be entirely HTML5-based and work in Safari. Why? Because it’s the one area of the device that Facebook will be able to control (or mostly control).

Facebook will never admit this, but those familiar with the project believe the intention is very clear: to use Apple’s own devices against them to break the stranglehold they have on mobile app distribution. With nearly 700 million users, Facebook is certainly in the position to challenge the almighty App Store distribution mechanism. But they need to be able to do so on Apple’s devices which make up a key chunk of the market.

As of right now, there are believed to be 80 or so outside developers working with Facebook on Project Spartan. These teams are working on apps for the platform that range from games to news-reading apps. Some of the names should be familiar: Zynga and Huffington Post (owned by our parent AOL), for example. The goal is to have these apps ready to roll in the next few weeks for a formal unveiling shortly thereafter.

Work has been going on for at least a couple of months, with Facebook putting in a lot of work before that. So some of the apps may not be fully polished at launch. It may be more of a “look what we can do” type thing.

Reached for comment on the matter, Facebook said they had “nothing to share”. But we don’t need their confirmation. Why? Because I’ve seen Project Spartan with my own eyes.

Imagine loading up the mobile web version of Facebook and finding a drop-down for a new type of app. Clicking on one of the apps loads it (from whatever server it’s on depending on the app-maker), and immediately a Facebook wrapper is brought in to surround the app. This wrapper will give the app some basic Facebook functionality, as well as the ability to use key Facebook elements — like Credits.

One thing the App Store has nailed is an easy payment system. Facebook has been attempting to build the same thing with Credits, but so far hasn’t done much in the mobile space. With Project Spartan, they intend to have Credits built-in to alloy developers to sell apps and offer in-app purchases. This will be vital for a partner like Zynga, for example.

Speaking of Zynga, it has been known for some time that Facebook was placing a huge emphasis on making it easier for game developers to build with HTML5 as opposed to Flash (like Zynga and others currently do). The culmination of this will be Project Spartan.

And while the target may ultimately be Apple, in this regard, they’re somewhat helping Apple by killing off yet another huge piece of Flash reliance on the web: gaming.

But again, the real goal is to get people using Facebook as the distribution model for games and other apps, not the App Store (or any other distribution hub).

Much has been made recently about Apple’s partnership with Twitter over iOS 5. It’s widely believe that Facebook was once the preferred partner, but was snubbed — or did the snubbing, for one reason or another. Regardless, the implications are clear: Twitter will be the big single sign-on partner for iOS, not Facebook, even though that’s a key area of focus for them. So they’re taking the fight to the browser.

Android will also clearly be a part of this new platform. But we’re told that the initial target is definitely mobile Safari on iOS devices.

Things are about to get a lot more interesting in the mobile space. More to come.

Related posts:

1. Project Spartan: Facebook’s Hush-Hush Plan To Take On Apple On Their Own Turf: iOS
2. Yes, Despite All The HTML5 Talk (And Action), Facebook Is Finally Doing An iPad App
3. Facebook SIMs, HTC/INQ Phones — Facebook’s Phone Project Lingers, But It’s None Of Those

We’ve learned about the existence of yet another secret project within Facebook. And while it’s not quite as sexy as the new Photos app, the ramifications of it are much larger. Say hello to Project Spartan.

As we understand it, Project Spartan is the codename for a new platform Facebook is on verge of launching. It’s entirely HTML5-based and the aim is to reach some 100 million users in a key place: mobile. More specifically, the initial target is both surprising and awesome: mobile Safari.

Yes, Facebook is about to launch a mobile platform aimed squarely at working on the iPhone (and iPad). But it won’t be distributed through the App Store as a native application, it will be entirely HTML5-based and work in Safari. Why? Because it’s the one area of the device that Facebook will be able to control (or mostly control).

Facebook will never admit this, but those familiar with the project believe the intention is very clear: to use Apple’s own devices against them to break the stranglehold they have on mobile app distribution. With nearly 700 million users, Facebook is certainly in the position to challenge the almighty App Store distribution mechanism. But they need to be able to do so on Apple’s devices which make up a key chunk of the market.

As of right now, there are believed to be 80 or so outside developers working with Facebook on Project Spartan. These teams are working on apps for the platform that range from games to news-reading apps. Some of the names should be familiar: Zynga and Huffington Post (owned by our parent AOL), for example. The goal is to have these apps ready to roll in the next few weeks for a formal unveiling shortly thereafter.

Work has been going on for at least a couple of months, with Facebook putting in a lot of work before that. So some of the apps may not be fully polished at launch. It may be more of a “look what we can do” type thing.

Reached for comment on the matter, Facebook said they had “nothing to share”. But we don’t need their confirmation. Why? Because I’ve seen Project Spartan with my own eyes.

Imagine loading up the mobile web version of Facebook and finding a drop-down for a new type of app. Clicking on one of the apps loads it (from whatever server it’s on depending on the app-maker), and immediately a Facebook wrapper is brought in to surround the app. This wrapper will give the app some basic Facebook functionality, as well as the ability to use key Facebook elements — like Credits.

One thing the App Store has nailed is an easy payment system. Facebook has been attempting to build the same thing with Credits, but so far hasn’t done much in the mobile space. With Project Spartan, they intend to have Credits built-in to allow developers to sell apps and offer in-app purchases. This will be vital for a partner like Zynga, for example.

Speaking of Zynga, it has been known for some time that Facebook was placing a huge emphasis on making it easier for game developers to build with HTML5 as opposed to Flash (like Zynga and others currently do). The culmination of this will be Project Spartan.

And while the target may ultimately be Apple, in this regard, they’re somewhat helping Apple by killing off yet another huge piece of Flash reliance on the web: gaming.

But again, the real goal is to get people using Facebook as the distribution model for games and other apps, not the App Store (or any other distribution hub).

Much has been made recently about Apple’s partnership with Twitter over iOS 5. It’s widely believe that Facebook was once the preferred partner, but was snubbed — or did the snubbing, for one reason or another. Regardless, the implications are clear: Twitter will be the big single sign-on partner for iOS, not Facebook, even though that’s a key area of focus for them. So they’re taking the fight to the browser.

Android will also clearly be a part of this new platform. But we’re told that the initial target is definitely mobile Safari on iOS devices.

Things are about to get a lot more interesting in the mobile space. More to come.

Related posts:

1. Project Spartan: Facebook’s Hush-Hush Plan To Take On Apple On Their Own Turf: iOS
2. Yes, Despite All The HTML5 Talk (And Action), Facebook Is Finally Doing An iPad App
3. Facebook SIMs, HTC/INQ Phones — Facebook’s Phone Project Lingers, But It’s None Of Those

That’s why it’s surprising that now, just over a year later, he’s leaving Facebook.

We heard the news today and reached out to Facebook to confirm. But I think they’re mad at us for some reason. No matter, Odio’s own going-away party page on Facebook confirms the move. (We’ve also reached out to Odio about why he’s leaving and what he’s up to next, but have yet to hear back.)

Here’s why this is also a little weird. As we just unveiled to the world, Facebook is in the midst of a massive mobile photos revamp. And Odio is the lead product manager for Photos. That doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense.

But perhaps Odio just hit his first post-acquisition cliff and decided he wanted to work on something new.

Worth noting, on his going-away drinks page, it reads:

Sam is leaving Facebook this Friday, let’s give him a proper send-off. Drinks will be had, good times remembered, and perhaps we’ll even document the event on some photo sharing site.

Do we think that means Facebook proper, or the new thing they’re working on?

Odio’s last day at Facebook will be Friday.

Related posts:

1. Finally: Facebook Co-Founder Opens the Curtain on Two-Year Old Asana
2. Finally: Facebook Co-Founder Opens the Curtain on Two-Year Old Asana
3. Exposed: Facebook’s Secret iPhone Photo Sharing App (Which Looks Amazing)

Last night, something very interesting came our way. Something massive — documents and images outlining what appears to be a new Facebook iPhone app built around photo sharing. We teased what we had with a single image last night. Now, as promised, here’s the rest.

A few notes: the images we have suggest that while polished, this still may be a work in progress. It’s clear that some of these mock-ups are older than other ones, given a few documents we have as well. Also, some images make it seem as if the service will eventually reside within the existing Facebook iPhone app, while others seem to showcase an entirely new app (or a completely redesigned Facebook app). It’s entirely possible that both will be correct. It would make a lot of sense for Facebook, which is by far the largest photo service on the Internet with close to 100 billion photos, to make their own dedicated photo app. The space is exploding with popularity right now as Instagram and others are gaining millions of users quickly. Regardless, Facebook’s focus on mobile photos going forward is very clear.

It also looks as if at least a part of these apps are using the some HTML similar to what has been recently rolled out to m.facebook.com. This is not surprising. Given their talk of commitment to HTML5, Facebook likely wants to make an app that is as portable as possible. That is, while it may be built first for iOS, it can easily be ported to Android and other platforms with the HTML5 elements in place.

The app seems to be a combination of Instagram, Color, Path, and even Path’s new side project, With. The last two are particularly interesting since those two projects are the work of Dave Morin, the former lead of Facebook’s Platform team. And while Path is tied in closely now with Facebook integration, With went with Twitter. Also worth noting is that Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom was once approached by Mark Zuckerberg about working at Facebook way back in 2004, after they caught wind of his first take on a photo sharing service. Systrom declined the invitation, and now Zuckerberg is a Instagram user (which also connects to Facebook).

Going back to Twitter, the obvious thing to say here would be that this is in reaction to Apple teaming up with that other social network for iOS 5. But this new Facebook app, which we’ve heard may be internally called “Hovertown” or “WithPeople”, has clearly been in development for quite a while. But it’s also true that Facebook and Apple had been talking about iOS integration at various points (notably for iOS 4, which obviously never happened).

Below, enjoy the full monty. Note the location elements, likes and comments, multi-picture mode, filters, multi-user albums, face-tagging, and more. I hope this app sees the light of day. It looks awesome.

And sorry, Facebook. But consider us even for the Facebook Fax thing. Finally.

Related posts:

1. Behold: Facebook’s Secret Photo Sharing App
2. Exposed: Facebook’s Secret iPhone Photo Sharing App (Which Looks Amazing)
3. Postagram Captures Android And Facebook For More Mobile Photo Postcard Fun

Last night, something very interesting came our way. Something massive — documents and images outlining what appears to be a new Facebook iPhone app built around photo sharing. We teased what we had with a single image last night. Now, as promised, here’s the rest.

A few notes: the images we have suggest that while polished, this still may be a work in progress. It’s clear that some of these mock-ups are older than other ones, given a few documents we have as well. Also, some images make it seem as if the service will eventually reside within the existing Facebook iPhone app, while others seem to showcase an entirely new app (or a completely redesigned Facebook app). It’s entirely possible that both will be correct. It would make a lot of sense for Facebook, which is by far the largest photo service on the Internet with close to 100 billion photos, to make their own dedicated photo app. The space is exploding with popularity right now as Instagram and others are gaining millions of users quickly. Regardless, Facebook’s focus on mobile photos going forward is very clear.

It also looks as if at least a part of these apps are using the some HTML similar to what has been recently rolled out to m.facebook.com. This is not surprising. Given their talk of commitment to HTML5, Facebook likely wants to make an app that is as portable as possible. That is, while it may be built first for iOS, it can easily be ported to Android and other platforms with the HTML5 elements in place.

The app seems to be a combination of Instagram, Color, Path, and even Path’s new side project, With. The last two are particularly interesting since those two projects are the work of Dave Morin, the former lead of Facebook’s Platform team. And while Path is tied in closely now with Facebook integration, With went with Twitter. Also worth noting is that Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom was once approached by Mark Zuckerberg about working at Facebook way back in 2004, after they caught wind of his first take on a photo sharing service. Systrom declined the invitation, and now Zuckerberg is a Instagram user (which also connects to Facebook).

Going back to Twitter, the obvious thing to say here would be that this is in reaction to Apple teaming up with that other social network for iOS 5. But this new Facebook app, which we’ve heard may be internally called “Hovertown” or “WithPeople”, has clearly been in development for quite a while. But it’s also true that Facebook and Apple had been talking about iOS integration at various points (notably for iOS 4, which obviously never happened).

Below, enjoy the full monty. Note the location elements, likes and comments, multi-picture mode, filters, multi-user albums, face-tagging, and more. I hope this app sees the light of day. It looks awesome.

And sorry, Facebook. But consider us even for the Facebook Fax thing. Finally.

Related posts:

1. Behold: Facebook’s Secret Photo Sharing App
2. Exposed: Facebook’s Secret iPhone Photo Sharing App (Which Looks Amazing)
3. Postagram Captures Android And Facebook For More Mobile Photo Postcard Fun