Suddenly, Facebook Shuts Down Apps Left And Right

Facebook has started shutting down apps with tens of thousands of active users left and right, AllFacebook writes.

The reason is Facebook didn't really police these "small" apps before and now has rolled out an algorithm that automatically shuts them down if they post too often to users' walls, etc. The problem is that Facebook didn't tell app makers it was going to do this, so these just woke up Friday and saw their app had been shut down, and very understandably freaked out.

This isn't too big a deal -- most app makers will simply tweak their app to get them back in compliance and move on -- but it shows how miscommunication can turn a routine adjustement into a big freakout.

Don't Miss: How Zynga Makes Millions Off A Stupid Game Like CityVille →

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Suddenly, Facebook Shuts Down Apps Left And Right

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The Engineer Who Left Foursquare For Facebook Has Already Left Facebook

Nathan Folkman, the engineer who (surprisingly) left Foursquare late last year for Facebook, has already left Facebook.

Folkman now works at Path, the mobile startup run by former Facebook exec Dave Morin.

We've heard second-hand that Folkman wasn't thrilled with his situation at Facebook, so he decided to leave for a smaller company.

Folkman didn't respond immediately to our request for comment.

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• Sorry, You'll Never Quit Facebook
• MySpace Founder Hints He'd Like To Buy It Back
• 10 Ways Google Just Tried To Thump Apple

The Engineer Who Left Foursquare For Facebook Has Already Left Facebook

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Homeland Security Is Seizing Internet Domains Left And Right

The Department of Homeland Security's ICE has launched a major crackdown on websites enabling copyright infringement or selling counterfeits of trademarked goods. In just the past few days ICE has seized at least 12 domains, TorrentFreak reports.

All of these domains now display the image shown here.

The sites fall into two categories: torrent sites that enable the download of copyrighted music, and sites selling knockoffs of trademarked goods like designer handbags.

A controversial bill that would allow the Attorney General to shut down domains on similar grounds was recently derailed (temporarily) by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden.

The owner of an affected site told TorrentFreak that his domain was taken over without any prior complaints or notification from the court.

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• Oregon Senator Vows To Block Internet Blacklist Bill

Homeland Security Is Seizing Internet Domains Left And Right

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Microsoft Says Kinect Left Open By Design

kai_hiwatari writes "Around two week ago when Adafruit announced a bounty for developing an open-source driver for the Kinect, Microsoft made it clear that they didn't condone it. Now Microsoft seems to have realized the potential of their device and has made a U-turn. Alex Kipman, Xbox Director of Incubation, now says that they left the Kinect open by design. Kipman said, 'What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection, which we didn't protect, by design, and reads the inputs from the sensor.'"

Microsoft Flips Back on Kinect Hacking, Says Kinect Interface Was Left Unprotected ‘By Design ‘

Microsoft today changed its stand about the open-source community finding new uses for its Kinect device, a Microsoft representatives in a National Public Radio's "Science Friday" said that the company's Kinect motion-controller was left open by "design," tweeted a "Science Friday" staff: