There's been a lot of news today about Facebook and its IPO and here is another. Facebook has just completed its first acquisition after becoming a publicly traded company. The mobile commerce startup Karma has been acquired by Facebook. Karma specializes in apps for gifting friends and family. The acquisition sees 16 employees joining Facebook.

The terms of the deal are undisclosed as of now. The acquisition should help Facebook monetize its app and mobile offerings, something its admittedly weak in. Facebook said in a statement: "We've been really impressed with the Karma team and all they accomplished in such a short time. This acquisition combines Karma's passion and innovative mobile app with Facebook's platform to help people connect and share in new and meaningful ways."

A lot of the talk today has been about Facebook's IPO which, while successful, did have a few surprises in store for Facebook and onlookers. First, Facebook didn't start trading on time due to a Nasdaq glitch. Apparently Nasdaq had an issue with its message relay system which wasn't sending out confirmations of purchases and sales.

That glitch doesn't seem to have affected total trade volume, however, as the Facebook IPO becomes the first one ever to trade 500M stocks in its first day. Prices for the stocks remained fairly level, spiking up to $42 and closing at $38.37. The stock price was set at $38 to start trading off. Within the first 30 seconds, 82 million shares had been traded.

It's a bit surprising that the stock didn't spike above $42 given the hype surrounding the IPO. The fact that it traded pretty level is a good indication that Facebook chose a good opening price. As such, it netted Facebook just about as much money as it possibly could and didn't give the early traders the money instead.

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37 billion. That's the number of online videos watched by Americans last month. In the United States, ComScore found that 181 million users watched 37 billion online videos last month. That means that 84.5% of United States Internet users watched at least one video last month. Incredibly, the average person watched 21.8 hours of video during the month.

Of course, Google grabbed the large majority of the viewers with 157.7. Second place went to Yahoo with only 53.6 million. Beyond that was Vevo, Facebook, and Microsoft with 49.5, 44.3, and 42.8 million viewers respectively. Hulu was even further down the list grabbing only 28.2 million views yet they came in just behind Google in terms of total time spent by the average user at 3.8 hours.

Video ads were also shown quite a few times in order to pay for the videos. 9.5 billion video ads were shown to users last month with Hulu showing the majority of those ads. This fact isn't surprising as viewers have to sit through the ads in the middle of their favorite TV shows. Video ads also accounted for 20.5% of all videos watched last month.

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BitTorrent may not be all bad for the music industry which is contrary to how they would like to portray it. It seems that piracy could aid album sales, if a new study is to be believed. North Carolina State University assistant professor Robert Hammond examined prerelease albums being BitTorrented and the album sales of said albums.

The investigation netted some interesting results. What he found was that there was a correlation between the two, although it was pretty small. Keep in mind that correlation does not equate to causation. Since this is an observational study rather than an experiment, it's impossible to say with certainty that BitTorrent aids album sales.

It is, however, possible to indicate that they seem to. After watching 1095 albums, Hammond noted "The findings suggest that file sharing of an album benefits its sales. I don't find any evidence of a negative effect in any specification using any instrument." The average increase in sales was around 59.6 albums, so its not a landslide increase.

This study also does not account for BitTorrent use after the release, nor does it account for singles downloads and sales, which are more likely to occur with a casual pirate. In other news, a similar study has shown similar results in that movie rips don't seem to affect box office revenues.

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It's always frustrating to pre-order a game and then have to wait for it to download after release. That's why Sony is introducing a pre-loading feature into PLayStation Network. What the feature will do is allow users to download a pre-purchased game before it officially releases so that it is playable once the release date passes.

The debut of the pre-loading feature will be with the upcoming game Sorcery which will release next week. Valve's Steam already has a similar feature built-in and it is loved by users of the digital download and management software. A pre-loading feature makes sense on so many different levels, it's a bit surprising that it has taken Sony this long to implement it.

Pre-loading will also take care of some of the server hammering that usually occurs on a major game launch day. It also allows users who don't have the fastest connection, such as yours truly, to be able to play it right when it launches. It should also help increase pre-sales as the game has to be pre-ordered by a user to take advantage of the feature.

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It looks as though Facebook may have to sell just a bit more stock to pay for a lawsuit that has been filed in San Jose, California Federal Court. While things may be looking great Wall Street, the courtroom picture is a bit more bleak. Stewarts Law US has combined 21 individual lawsuits into one amended class action suit seeking $15 billion.

The previous lawsuits date back to 2011 and allege that Facebook violated user privacy by tracking web usage. The new class action lawsuit alleges that Facebook violated the US Wiretap Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Stored Communications Act, along with others. The US Wiretap Act grants up to $100 a day per violation up to $10,000.

Specifically, the lawsuit makes claims that Facebook tracks users even once they are no longer logged in. "This is not just a damages action, but a groundbreaking digital-privacy rights case that could have wide and significant legal and business implications," David Straite, a Stewarts Law partner told Bloomberg via e-mail.

This isn't the first time someone has sued the social media giant over alleged web tracking. Back in 2011, a Mississippi resident filed a lawsuit after 42-year-old Kansas lawyer John Graham did. These aren't the only instances, just the ones that come to mind. At the time of writing, Facebook has not commented on the lawsuit. I imagine they are all sleeping after the all-night hackathon.

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If you missed out on Microsoft's deal last year, don't fret as they have brought it back again this year. Requirements are similar, though it seems as though Canadian's are getting a slightly better deal than Americans. The promotion? Buy a new PC worth at least some amount at a participating retailer and get a free Xbox360!

Here are the requirements as Microsoft says, so that I won't be held to anything:

Starting May 20th in the U.S., students who buy a qualifying Windows PC worth $699 or more at participating retailers can get a 4GB Xbox 360 console for free, just like last year! Starting May 18th in Canada, students who buy a Windows PC worth $599 or more can also get a 4GB Xbox 360 console for free!

 

Participating retailers in the US include Best Buy, Dell.com, Fry's Electronics, HPDirect.com, Microsoft Stores, and NewEgg.com. In Canada, they include Best Buy, Dell.ca, Future Shop, Staples and The Source.

Canadians only have to purchase a computer worth $599 whereas Americans have to spend $699. Computers at those price points are pretty nice all-in-all and will net you a free Xbox360 if you can prove you are a student. Sure, most people like either gaming on Xbox OR PC and not really both, but it is still a good deal.

If you're a PC gamer, you can just sell the Xbox 360 to a college friend. If you're an Xbox gamer, you probably already have an Xbox.

Researchers from Rice University in Houston, Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Switzerland's Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and the University of California, Berkeley have unveiled an "inexact" chip at the ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers in Cagliari, Italy.

The chip is allowed to make mistakes in order to gain speed and energy usage advances. This new "inexact" processor is up to 15 times more efficient than current processors. It can be used in certain applications where 100% accuracy isn't mission critical. Examples of this would be video or picture processing.

"It is exciting to see this technology in a working chip that we can measure and validate for the first time," said project leader Krishna Palem, who also serves as director of the Rice-NTU Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID). "Our work since 2003 showed that significant gains were possible, and I am delighted that these working chips have met and even exceeded our expectations."

If you needed any evidence that the Samsung Galaxy S III was a major competitor to the Apple iPhone, why don't you take a look at the pre-sale numbers. Already the Samsung Galaxy S III has passed 9 million pre-orders, according to an unidentified Samsung official. Towards the end of last month, Samsung had said that the Galaxy S III would "substantially contribute" to Q2 earnings.

Also, it has been leaked that the factory is operating at full capacity, producing as many phones as possible. The number seems to be 5 million a month, so I'm not sure if that will be able to keep up with global demand once the phone becomes available in more places. Currently, Germany is set to be the first to get it on May 29. Afterwards, it will expand to 100 different global carriers.

Samsung has of course declined to comment on these numbers. This year has the makings to be a great year for Samsung. It has recently passed Nokia as top phone manufacturer and looks set to grab even more market share than the 18.4% it did from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012. I know I'm looking forward to getting the new Galaxy.

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Our Deal of the Day is 7" Barnes & Noble NOOK Tablet, 8GB, Wi-Fi for $149 with FREE Shipping!

Right now, Barnes & Noble is selling their NOOK Tablet through eBay for $149 (new, not refurb) with FREE Shipping, though it's not expected to last more than a few hours. That's a $50 discount (25%). It features a 7" 1024 x 600 IPS multitouch display, 1Ghz processor, 8GB storage, microSDHC storage, 802.11b/g/n wireless, and more. Get one while you can.

BARNES & NOBLE NOOK TABLET 8GB WIFI DEAL

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Our Mobile App of the Day is Feed Me Oil for Windows Phone.

When hunger strikes, strike oil! Welcome to a weird and wonderful place where the land is literally alive - and it's starving! Your job is to get the oil from the broken pipe to the mouths of the strange creatures. It won't be easy though, as you'll need to use all sorts of fun tools, as well as your brains, to solve the puzzles.

AMAZING DESIGN

A huge variety of mind-bending levels will test your mental skills. Different ways to solve each puzzle for endless replayability.

A JOY TO PLAY

Intuitive controls that make the game a breeze to pick up. Incredibly slick and realistic physics create oil like you've never seen. Use fans, magnets, wind, and more to beat each level.

BEAUTIFUL

Unique, surreal art design that looks amazing. Stunning musical soundtrack that features jazz, emotive piano tracks, and more.

You can download Feed Me Oil directly from the Windows Marketplace on your Windows Phone device, or here.

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Our Download of the Day is Google Chrome 20.0.1132.8 Dev.

Continue on the bleeding edge of Google Chrome releases, with version 20.0.1132.8 Dev now available. There's not much changed with this version, with the changelog stating:

• This build contains updates to V8 (3.10.8.5) and several other fixes.

You can download Google Chrome 20.0.1132.8 Dev, here.

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Nearly a year ago, EA Games President, Frank Gibeau, teased that EA were "actively looking at how to bring [Mirror's Edge] back in the right way", this was in a discussion with GameTrailers. But, now there's some more concrete, well, kinda, information available on this news.

GamerZines reports that judging from two former EA employee's LinkedIn profiles tease they've worked on a Mirror's Edge sequel. According to GamerZines, the profile of an ex-EA Software Engineer has said that he's worked on Mirror's Edge 2 between July and August of 2009, where he was implementing "the wandering of crowd system within Unreal3 engine".

Another ex-employee had a different task, where was implementing "new gadgets and interactive features" into Mirror's Edge 2, including "leaderboards" and a mini-game embedded into Mirror's Edge game story". If development started on Unreal Engine 3, EA must've switches engines mid-development to Frostbite 2, the engine that powers the beautiful first-person shooter that is Battlefield 3.

The Steam remote library management was only in beta for a little while, and has broken out of the beta and into full availability. Now you can lay in your bed, or on the bus or train and manage your library directly from your iOS- or Android-based device.

If you've got the Steam app for iOS or Android, you can start a download remotely, complete online purchases, and more. Here's what Valve have to say about it:

To kick off a remote download, simply visit your Games list on the Steam Community site, which can be accessed from your own profile using a web browser or the Steam mobile app on iOS or Android. If logged into the latest update of the Steam client on a PC or Mac, there you'll see which games are currently installed, and have the ability to install others from your library. Or, seamlessly complete your online purchase with remote installation: When a remote session is detected, the Steam store will ask whether you'd like to download your new purchases immediately.

Apple really wanted that iPhone5.com domain, and they've fought hard to get it. The company took its complaint to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), where they've successfully won its dispute over the iPhone5.com domain.

WIPO has displayed the domain as 'Terminated' on its website, with the domain owner expected to have relinquished ownership. The iPhone5.com domain is now held by brand protection agency Corporation Service Company, which could've been used by Apple to take ownership.

Even now that Apple have won their dispute, it's not clear whether Apple's new iPhone will actually be called 'iPhone 5', but it's definitely a step in the right direction of finding out. With so much news flying left, right and center over the new iPhone, I really hope we see something at their WWDC event next month.

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Activision and Electronic Arts have finally reached a settlement over the $400 million lawsuit involving the developers of Call of Duty. Activision lawyer Beth Wilkinson said yesterday in a hearing in the Los Angeles Superior Court:

Activision and Electronic Arts have decided to put this matter behind them.

The settlement removes EA from the trial that involves Activision versus the former Infinity Ward heads, Jason West and Vince Zampella. It's alleged in 2010, the duo plotted with EA to leave Activision and set up a new independent studio. Activision had accused EA of disrupting Infinity Ward by trying to secure the two developers while they had two years left on their contracts.

West and Zampella sued Activision after they were fired, and seek more than $1 billion (that's with a B) in damages. Keep in mind that the duo originally were after $36 million, but there's no explanation as to why the number has meteorically risen since then. I'm guessing because of the multiple billions of dollars the Call of Duty games have raked in between when they left the studio, and now.

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Bloomberg has reported that the late Steve Jobs was involved with the design work for the next-generation iPhone. The new iPhone is said to feature a larger display, somewhere in the 4-inch area. We reported on this yesterday, but now news is hitting that Steve Jobs was personally involved.

I do have a problem with this, of course media outlets are going to push Steve Jobs was involved in the design. It's great PR for everyone involved. I'm not one to dig on a dead man, but they'll continue to push 'Steve Jobs inspired' for years to come. If we remember, Steve Jobs didn't like the idea of a bigger screen on the iPhone. It would mean fragmented design not just for iOS, but for apps to cater to various iPhones with varying screen sizes and resolutions.

I think we're going to see Apple change, especially with the iPhone, because of increasing competition from Google-based devices. Steve Jobs' passing will of course always be remembered, as will the visionary himself. I expect the iPhone to take on changes in the coming year, the same with iOS. Apple are one of the biggest for back peddling, and we're seeing this now with the news of a larger iPhone screen.

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Hate pre-installed versions of completely useless software on your PC? Well, take your PC into a Microsoft Store, pay them $99 and they'll install a clean copy of Windows onto your PC for you. Handy. The new program is a branch from Microsoft's "Signature" PC initiative, which sells bloatware-free versions of PCs from Microsoft's partners in Microsoft Stores.

The Redmond-based company is willing to change any computer into a Signature PC, if the customers wish to do so, and bring their PC into a Microsoft Store and pay the $99 fee. Signature PCs sport Microsoft Windows Live Essentials program, the ad-supported Word and Excel-only Microsoft Office Starter Edition, the Microsoft Security Essentials anti-virus package, and Zune media player software.

Users can opt-out of having these programs installed, and can also specify which other third-party browsers or programs get installed. Included is 90 days of free phone support. The only issue I have with this, is Microsoft created this problem (allowing bloatware to be used and installed by OEMs) and are now cashing in on it. But, at least they're trying to dig out of the hole, and not make it deeper, I suppose.

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VideoCardz.com is reporting that NVIDIA is set to launch their flagship mobile GPU based on the Kepler architecture during Computex in Taipei next month. The NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 680M is not a full GK104 Kepler GPU, nor does it even sport half of the CUDA cores of its desktop version.

The GEFORCE GTX 680M features just 744 CUDA cores, with some listings showing the GPU to have 768 cores, so this should be confirmed during Computex itself. Are you wearing socks? You mighr want to take them off in advance so they don't get blown off: the GPU has much higher GDDR5 memory capacity of.. 4096MB! 4GB of RAM on a notebook-based GPU!

It shares the desktop model's memory interface of 256-bit, and rumors swirling around put its power consumption at 100W. The chip is a second revision of N13E-GTX 680M chip - A2 silicon. The card will support SLI (!) and of course, DirectX 11.1. Performance numbers, that's what we all want, right? We're looking at it being 37-percent than the GEFORCE GTX 670M, with the first leaked benchmark coming from a Chinese website. The GPU hits 4,905 points in 3DMark 11's Performance Preset.

Just over 24 hours ago, we reported that HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE handsets were stopped from entering the US by Customs, and now, it's gotten a bit of attention and the US District Court of Delaware has ordered both company's to enter settlement discussions.

Judge Sherry Fallon will moderate the talks, with the order requesting lawyers from both sides to meet in Delaware on August 28 in an attempt to resolve the ongoing patent dispute. It's unknown whether a settlement will be reached, but pressure will be on HTC to make some sort of concession, following the International Trade Commission ban on HTC handset imports coming into force.

The ITC ban was disclosed on December 19, after a judge determined that HTC's messaging and browser apps in Android violated Apple patents.

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