Instructions for Facebook application developers re: integrating with the new Facebook design.

Quoted: We’re getting ready to launch some significant changes and improvements to Facebook, including a new profile for users and a new navigation bar for the Facebook site. These changes are intended to help users communicate and share information more easily with each other - on their profiles, through applications, and through News Feed.

This guy finds Facebook apps that are not properly computing and verifying the signature that proves that the caller is Facebook.

˙ʞooqǝɔɐɟ sı ɹǝllɐɔ ǝɥʇ ʇɐɥʇ sǝʌoɹd ʇɐɥʇ ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ǝɥʇ ƃuıʎɟıɹǝʌ puɐ ƃuıʇndɯoɔ ʎlɹǝdoɹd ʇou ǝɹɐ ʇɐɥʇ sddɐ ʞooqǝɔɐɟ spuıɟ ʎnƃ sıɥʇ

There is some useful stuff here.

Quoted: Facebook has been developed from the ground up using open source software, and we are proud to give back to the open source community through various open source projects.

Quoted: App creators insist that people actually enjoy the invitations. "It is something very positive," says Vikas Gupta, an Amazon.com alum who created both the popular Send Good Karma and Hug Me apps, and runs his start-up Jambool out of a spare bedroom in San Francisco's South of Market district. "It is a positive action that people like sending to their friends."

This explains why TwitterSync has not been working the past week.

Quoted: That's the difference. The Twitter app uses the Twitter API while TwitterSync uses IM - if IM is working, TwitterSync is faster and can update more often.

This Twitter -> Facebook syncing app actually works, unlike the official Twitter app for Facebook.

One of the reasons for why Microsoft's $240M investment for 1.6 percent of Facebook does *not* necessarily imply that Facebook is worth $15B. Microsoft very likely got some "preferred" treatment in this deal.

Quoted: Microsoft is probably getting some kind of option for their $240 million…. We don't know what it is, but it's probably the right to purchase shares of Facebook at some known price in the future. The value of that option is very hard for business journalists to calculate, but it's NOT hard for Microsoft's CFO to calculate, and it's probably very significant. You have to deduct the value of the option from the purchase price before you can multiply and get the valuation. Almost certainly, the $15 billion valuation is ridiculous.

The other reason (curiously omitted) is that Microsoft received exclusive rights to international advertising on Facebook. This also has to be deducted from the purchase price.

This list of valuations seems more reasonable than others I have seen.

Quoted: Putting a value on private companies is hard enough for insiders and venture capitalists who have full access to the company's financial statements. ...