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Facebook announced today that it has reached one million active advertisers amid growing adoption among small businesses and as bigger global brands also add Facebook ads to their mix.

Facebook director of small business Dan Levy announced the figure in a post, saying he would like to thank “the over one million businesses” who are active advertisers.

As of April 1 2013, Facebook has chalked up 1.2 billion connections between people and local businesses in the European Union, with 295 million such connections in the UK.

The company said on average there were 270 million views of local business pages in the EU in a week for the month of March, while in the UK there were 55 million such views.

Facebook also said 61 percent of its monthly active users in both the EU and the UK are connected to a local business page on the social networking service as of end-March.

Earlier this month, Facebook announced a new initiative to greatly simplify its advertising products, which would result in half of its ad units being shuttered by the end of this year. The core of the plan stemmed from feedback Facebook received from marketers, which helped the company realize that its ad products were too complicated and redundant.

Facebook also recently released an inside look at its Entity Graph, a complicated data set which maps the social network’s 100+ billion connections between people, places and interests.

Image Credit: Justin Sullivan via Getty Images

Behold, a ready-made answer for those who own a Linux-powered fruit machine but who are still looking for new ways to use it. It’s a simple media center starter kit, fresh out today, which makes it easy to hook your Raspberry Pi up to an HDMI display and use it to play video or music from the internet or your home network through the wonders of XBMC. Known simply as “XBMC Solution,” it consists of the Raspbmc software on a bootable SD card (this is an all-in-one install that combines XBMC with a lightweight Linux distro), a rechargeable RF controller with a small keyboard and touchpad to aid navigation (it’s generic, unbranded, and even has a “Win” key, but it works fine), plus Ethernet and HDMI cables in case you don’t have any going spare. Read on for more.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking, Internet, Software, HD

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Last week, the WSJ’s ace Federal Reserve reporter Jon Hilsenrath wrote a piece on Fed strategy that got a lot of attention in markets.

The gist was: Just because the Fed may signal a reduction in asset purchases doesn’t mean that an interest rate hike is getting closer.

Specifically Hilsenrath wrote:

Federal Reserve officials have been trying to convince investors for weeks not to overreact when the central bank starts pulling back on its $85 billion-per-month bond-buying program. An adjustment in the program won’t mean that it will end all at once, officials say, and even more importantly it won’t mean that the Fed is anywhere near raising short-term interest rates.

But in a note put out yesterday, Morgan Stanley Chief Economist Vincent Reinhart argues there’s a flaw in this logic.

Fed officials have been trying to convince everyone that their asset purchase decision

• is data-dependent,

• could be made soon, but,

• once taken, does not put the balance sheet on a fixed course.

The logical conclusion they hope everyone draws from this is that, as it is a flexible instrument subject to an ongoing calibration of the costs and benefits, the onset of tapering does not convey information about the date of the first fed funds rate hike.

Such an inference, however, is flawed. As long as the Fed is using the two instruments to influence the economy, policy decisions on their setting depend on the Fed’s outlook for the economy. A change in one reveals something about a change in the Fed’s outlook, which therefore has implications for the other policy instrument. Asset purchases can be a data-dependent, flexible instrument, but they will also be informative. Logically then, the Fed’s tapering talk reveals some combination of their being more confident about the economic outlook and less convinced that additional QE is providing net benefits.

Basically, if both QE and rate decisions are data dependent, then you can’t separate the two.

Probably the best defense of the Fed on this is that for a rate hike, the parameters are incredibly clear. Evan’s Rule sets the levels at which the Fed would consider raising rates, and it won’t raise rates before then. On the other hand, the pace of QE is clearly more subjective (and possibly also takes into account a desire to prevent excess speculation).

Anyway, between this confusion, and the latest comments from Obama hinting that Bernanke’s time at the Fed is over, we should be in for one hell of a press conference today.

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How’s about this for a coincidence? We’ve just benchmarked the Snapdragon 800 reference tablet, with some very nice results, and now Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft will use a Qualcomm chip in its next refresh of the Surface RT. The report, based on insider sources, doesn’t stretch to detailing whether we’ll be looking at the flagship 800 processor specifically, but that’d seem like a logical upgrade for the current hybrid which runs on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 and already feels underpowered. As for NVIDIA, the same unconfirmed report suggests that they’ll still have a role to play as a supplier “for some versions” of Microsoft’s product. That’s a curious notion, because it implies we might see multiple iterations of the Surface RT to suit different price points or markets (e.g., those with or without LTE), and at least one version of those could house a Tegra 4. Or it could simply be a diplomatic way of saying that the existing RT products will continue to be sold and supported for a while. Either way, if Microsoft doesn’t implement the full force of Snapdragon, someone else hopefully will.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Source: Bloomberg

Tesla Motors has announced a partial recall for some of its Model S vehicles due to a weakened mounting bracket for the left-hand latch of the rear seats. Elon Musk, CEO and Chairman of Tesla Motors, confirmed that a number of cars built between May 10 and June 8 this year could contain the defect.

He said the weakened bracket “reduces our confidence” that the back of the left-hand seat would be protected and remain intact if the driver were to be involved in a road accident.

It sounds rather ominous, but Musk was keen to emphasize that the mounting bracket is still welded to the car and that the company is not aware of any injuries caused as a result. In addition, there have been no customer complaints filed in relation to the issue.

“As designed, the striker bracket is both bonded and welded to the vehicle body, either one of which would be sufficient by itself,” Musk said today in a blog post.

“This is consistent with the primary design goal of the Model S, which is first and foremost to maximize safety. However, we discovered that, due to body side alignment adjustments in the factory, the bonded section of the joint was compromised and the welded section of the joint was weakened in some cars.”

Tesla Motors will now reinforce the bracket on cars built during the affected period. The company says that this work has already been carried out on cars that were sill in the factory, meaning that the recall only applies to Model S cars delivered between mid-May and early June.

The recall is the first of its kind since Tesla Motors launched its new service and warranty program in April this year. There are a number of new perks for car owners, such as the ability to pick up another Model S on loan while their car is in service.

Tesla also offers a valet service, which means that someone from the firm will come and pick up the car when it needs to be taken in for repair. The loan vehicle will be dropped off too and when the servicing is done, Tesla will return the original car for free.

Tesla Motors is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs and builds premium electric cars. Both the Model S and Model X differ from previous eco-friendly car projects, however, because they both offer competitive performance in an attractive outer chassis.

Musk revealed in early May that he had been in talks with Google to develop an ‘autopilot’ function for some of his company’s vehicles. The efforts of the partnership are yet to materialize, but it does suggest that Tesla Motors is looking to innovate in even more unusual ways.

Image Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The growing pile of bearishness on China continues.

Last night, Chinese stocks hit a new 6-month, as concerns rise about growth, debt, acute financial market stress, a property bubble, and everything else.

Today, HSBC has significantly slashed Chinese growth.

The bank’s chief economist Stephen King tweeted the news:

HSBC cuts China growth forecasts to 7.4% in ’13 & ’14 (from 8.2% and 8.4%) as Beijing focuses on supply reforms instead of demand stimulus.

— Stephen King (@KingEconomist) June 19, 2013

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BIG DATA costs big bucks. Perhaps then, it should be no surprise to see ERN, the London-based startup that’s planning to use Big Data to enable banks and merchants to create loyalty-based offers for cardholders, has announced that it’s raised more funding before actually managing to launch. Following a $2 million funding round raised last December, the company has added another $1.6 million in seed funding to its coffers.

Once again, ERN is remaining tight-lipped on who its backers are, only to describe them as “high net worth individuals”, the majority of which I understand are new investors, and that the additional capital will be used to further develop its platform.

In addition to its headquarters in London, the Fintech startup has an office in Silicon Valley and Singapore, and currently employs a team of 14 people, a head-count that it’s planning to ad to. Two noteworthy hires earlier this year include former Mastercard executives Anant Patel and Brian Eagle-Brown. Patel is now ERN’s Head of UK Sales, while Eagle-Brown is the startup’s UK Merchant & Acquiring Sales Director.

ERP’s analytics platform, dubbed “Looop”, enables banks (or more specifically, card issuers) and participating merchants to boost customer loyalty by creating new products and offers based on the analysis of their card transactions. The idea is that by drilling into the Big Data around a customer’s transactional history — after they’ve opted in, of course — individually-tailored offers can be pushed to their smartphone via the Looop app, in the form of an e-coupon redeemable in-store.

From the merchants point of view, these offers can be segmented using the Big Data that the system is able to make sense of, as well as being based on things like time and location. So, for example, only push an offer when a customer who has previously bought a dress is within a certain radius of the participating store.

In addition to receiving highly targeted offers — the Looop system is designed to be non-spammy and is self-learning based on how a consumer interacts with the platform (i.e. which offers they take up) as well as their card transactions — the Looop smartphone app lets consumers track spending on their credit and debit cards in “real-time”. The pull being that they can budget more effectively — the trojan horse needed to push those enticing loyalty-based offers.

Meanwhile, although yet to launch, ERN says it’s now in a position to conduct wider customer trials, which have begun already. What banks or merchants it’s working with, the startup isn’t saying or can’t say. However, I understand them to be household names.

Will Ferrell fans, take notice: the first full-length trailer for Anchorman: The Legend Continues is out

In the trailer, Ron, Brick, Champ and Brian (played by Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, David Koechner and Paul Rudd, respectively), are back, but the setting has changed

The ’80s have replaced the ’70s, and the team has moved from San Diego to the Big Apple. Their mission, to quote Ron Burgundy, is to have “salon-quality hair and read the news.”

SEE ALSO: ‘Anchorman 2′ Announcement Takes the Internet to Pleasure Town [VIDEO]

The movie, directed by Adam McKay, has a huge list of star cameos, including Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Vince Vaughn, Sacha Baron Cohen. It hits theaters Dec. 20 Read more…

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It’s been an interesting couple of months in world markets.

In a sense, we’ve seen a level of volatility and confusion that we haven’t seen in awhile. This is especially apparent in any emerging markets (and of course Japan).

And yet US equities have held up very well. And the rise in US interest rates is arguably a very bullish sign.

In a note this morning, SocGen’s Kit Juckes says the next leg of volatility is on its way.

He suggests that in addition to rate volatility, that you should keep an eye on credit spreads, and that buying opportunities are likely to present themselves at some point in the future.

The next leg of a summer of market volatility is likely to start in the days ahead. EM currencies are in the firing line first – BRL, INR and RUB all stand out. The next leg of the rise in US bond yields will probably take 10yr Note yields towards 2.5% this summer, and 2y/2y rates towards 2%. I’d pencil in CDX in the US at 100 from 82 currently and the iTraxx crossover at 500 in the fist instance, though the sell-off is a chance to buy credit after the summer. As for key asset allocation recommendations, LoadsaCash pretty much sums it up.

In the meantime, all eyes remain on the Fed.

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Today, HTC unveiled two new smartphones as it competes with rivals Apple and Samsung: the Desire 200, an inexpensive Android-powered device, and the Butterfly S, a top-tier handset on par with the company’s flagship HTC One.

Details regarding the two devices had been widely speculated, and were officially disclosed today at a press conference curiously held in Yilan, a beach town about one hour from Taipei.

As reported by Engadget, the Butterfly S device features a 5-inch 1080p display, HTC’s Sense 5 UI, front-facing BoomSound stereo speakers – making this device, along with the HTC One, top quality when it comes to audio.

The smartphone runs Android Jelly Bean on a quad-core 1.9GHZ Snapdragon 600, a startlingly long-lasting 3,200mAh battery, quad-band HSPA/WCDMA radio, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. It also has an UltraPixel Camera, Zoe software features, as well as a 2.1-megapixel wide-angle camera on the device’s front-facing side.

Photos of the phone leaked last week. The BoomSound speakers are quite visible and recall those on the HTC One.

The company also unveiled the new low-end Desire 200, the details of which were revealed yesterday.

Launched in collaboration with Taiwan carrier Chunghua Telecom, HTC apparently took deliberate measures to keep the launch of the devices as quiet as possible. Access was given almost exclusively to local media outlets, who were bused to the event from the capital.

Engadget reports that the Butterfly S phone will retail for NT $22,900 (roughly $766), while the Desire 200 will sell for NT $4990 (roughly $165). There’s no word yet on subsequent launches in Asia or internationally.

Despite earning $970 million in revenue in May, its best monthly sales figure in about one year, HTC has lately been struggling financially. In Q4 of 2014 the firm brought in a mere $34 million in net profits, its lowest since 2004, and Q1 of 2013 didn’t fare much better. Sales of HTC one, the company’s flagship smartphone, reached 5 million one month after its launch, while rival Samsung’s  Galaxy S4 reached double that amount within the same time period.

Update: HTC just posted a preview for the Butterfly S on YouTube.