NYPD CREATES SOCIAL NETWORKING UNIT TO SCOUR SITES FOR PERPS

The New York Police Department has many different specialized units from the Special Victims Unit to SWAT and the bomb squad. Now a new unit is being formed that will be tasked with scouring various social networks for evidence and possible crimes that are posted by perpetrators. New York's newly minted Assistant Commissioner, Kevin O'Connor, will enlist the department's juvenile justice unit to take on this task.

CAMBRIDGE RESEARCHS COME UP WITH NEW WAY TO PREDICT FRIENDS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

Friend suggestions on social networks may already be a little too eerily accurate for some, but a team of researchers from Cambridge University now say they can do one better. They've devised a method that doesn't simply rely the usual friends-of-friends approach, but on where those people tend to hang out.

According to researcher Salvatore Scellato, "it turns out that the properties of the places we interact can determine how likely we are to develop social ties," and that places like offices and gyms are better indications of potential friends than football stadiums or airports. That notion was borne out in their research (conducted over a period of four months using Gowalla), which found that "about 30 percent of all new social links appear among users that check-in to the same places."

With the two prediction methods combined, the researchers say they're able to account for 66 percent of all new social ties.

MISSOURI TO FORBID TEACHERS AND STUDENTS FROM BEING FRIENDS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

If you’re a student living in Missouri, you’d better not be Facebook friends with any of your teachers – that will soon be illegal.

According to Missouri Senate Bill 54 that goes into effect on August 28, any social networking — not just Facebook — is prohibited between teachers and students. It’s all part of an effort to “more clearly define teacher-student boundaries.” However, KSPR reports that It’s only direct social media contact that’s prohibited; teachers are allowed to create Facebook Pages where all students have direct access to the teacher in a more public setting.

GOOGLE+ APP NOW AVAILABLE FOR iPHONE

Apple finally approved the official Google+ application for iOS on Tuesday. Google took the wraps off of Google+, its new social network, on June 28th and immediately made an Android application available to its users. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Apple to approve the iPhone version. Google+ for iOS is supported on the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4, provided that the device is running iOS 3.1 or later. There’s no word if a dedicated iPad version is in the works.

LEAK: MICROSOFT'S "TULALIP" SOCIAL NETWORK

It appears Google is not the only one working on a new social network, Microsoft accidentally spilled the beans on a new social network it has been working on called “Tulalip.” According to VentureBeat, a splash page for the the social network appeared shortly on Socl.com on Thursday before it was immediately taken down. In an effort to conceal its mistake, Microsoft issued a statement. “Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn’t mean to, honest,” Microsoft said. It’s unclear if Tulalip is a legitimate social network or if it really is just an “internal design project,” but given the similarities between Tulalip’s user interface and the tiles found in Windows 8 and Windows Phone, it would certainly be a nice fit.

PRIVATE PROFILES WILL NOT BE ALLOWED IN GOOGLE + AFTER JULY 31ST

Don't want anyone searching for you on Google+? No problem! Just leave your profile marked as private and Google will punt your page from the cloud after July 31st. If you still want your profile around come August, you'll need to mark it as public before that deadline. You can still keep most of your personal details under lock and key, limiting access to specific elements to yourself, your circles, extended circles, or anyone on the web -- Google does require that your full name and gender be available to everyone, however.

WINKLEVOSS TWINS GIVE UP APPEAL OF FACEBOOK RULING

Olympic rowing twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court a ruling upholding their $65 million settlement with Facebook Inc and its founder Mark Zuckerberg, signaling the possible end of the long-running dispute.

The 2008 accord was intended to resolve a feud over whether Zuckerberg stole the idea for what became the world's most popular social networking website from the Winklevosses, who like him had attended Harvard University. Their battle was dramatized in the 2010 film "The Social Network."

After agreeing to the cash-and-stock accord, the Winklevosses sought to undo it, saying it was fraudulent because Facebook hid information from them, and that they deserved more money.

The 6-foot 5-inch (1.96-meter) twins, who competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, had been planning to appeal an April 11 ruling by a federal appeals court in San Francisco upholding the settlement, which that court called "quite favorable."

But in a filing on Wednesday with that court, the Winklevosses said that after "careful consideration," they decided not to seek Supreme Court review. The filing did not give a reason for the decision.

DISNEY BUYS TOGETHERVILLE, GETS INTO SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR KIDS

Disney has just acquired Togetherville, a social network for kids 10 years of age or younger, we’ve confirmed with the company. Togetherville, which exited beta last year, mimics the experience of adult social networking sites, i.e. Facebook but in an age-appropriate and parent-monitored environment. Togetherville promises a safer, more secure environment, where parents can moderate who their children are connecting with. Parents approve each of their child’s friends, and can also connect with other parents using Facebook’s social graph.

Terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK WINS ANOTHER WEEKEND

The Social Network, aka the Facebook movie, is once again the number one movie, taking in $15.5 million for its second week.  Opening week saw the movie reap $23 million, bringing the total to $38.5 million.  The movie is close to breakeven with estimates of Sony spending $45-52 million total to make the movie and promotion.

Sony had hoped to get sales up to $100 million, but that number is looking very optimistic.  However, with the Oscar buzz and overwhelmingly positive reviews (Frank Rick of The New York Times calls it "brilliant"), there is still hope it will make that mark.  [TechCrunch]

"GOOGLE ME" SOCIAL NET PLANNED

Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealed at Tuesday's Google Zeitgeist their plan for "Google Me".  Google Me is the internal name for an initiative to bring social networking functions to all of Google's services like YouTube and Gmail.

Some of the planned features are alerts on YouTube when friends view their videos, playing social networking games and accessing data from places like Twitter and Flickr. [Ars Technica]

FACEBOOK MOVIE GETTING RAVE REVIEWS

The soon to be released movie about Facebook, The Social Network, is receiving rave reviews.  Peter Sciretta of /Film stated it is his "favorite movie of the year (so far)."  The Sydney Morning Herald had this to say about the film ""This is an astounding film about one of the most important seismic shifts in communication in the modern age, and the way innovation and ethics are not often related."

While this is not the final cut of the film, it was screened for a select few reviews to gauge the reaction.  The movies production team was worried about people's negative reaction to coding, programming and arguments about typeface.  All that has apparently been laid to rest with the reviews of the preview.  Cinematical said that "with The Social Network, director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin turn some fairly dry, nerdy content about fairly dry, nerdy characters into one of the must-see films of the year, and they don't waste any time getting right to it." [Gizmodo]

WEBSITE FOR "THE SOCIAL NETWORK" GOES LIVE

The offiicial website for the movie "The Social Network" has launched.  The movie hits theaters October 1st.

"The Social Network" takes a look at the youngest billionaire in history, Jeff Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook and the personal and legal complications his success has brought him.  It stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Rooney Mara, Brenda Song, Max Minghella and Justin Timberlake.