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Barbara Ortutay

Facebook founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (center) rings the opening bell of the Nasdaq stock market, from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., to celebrate the company’s initial public offer on May 18, 2012. One year later, much has changed at Facebook, including the addition of mobile advertisements, the launch of a search feature and the unveiling of a branded smartphone. (Associated Press file photo)

Facebook aims to be ad colossus

Last updated Friday, May 17, 2013 - 5:36pm

NEW YORK — It was supposed to be our IPO, the people’s public offering.

Facebook, the brainchild of a young CEO who sauntered into Wall Street meetings in a hoodie, was going to be bigger than Amazon, bigger than McDonald’s, bigger than Coca-Cola. And it was all made possible by our friendships, photos and family ties.

Then came the IPO, and it flopped. Facebook’s stock finished its first day of trading just 23 cents higher than its $38 IPO price. It hasn’t been that high since.

Business, Advertising, Facebook, Social media, Featured Read more Comments

FAA suspends furloughs of controllers

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Saturday, April 27, 2013 - 7:05pm

NEW YORK -- The Federal Aviation Administration said that the U.S. air traffic system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening after lawmakers rushed a bill through Congress allowing the agency to withdraw furloughs of air traffic controllers and other workers.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. Zuckerberg introduced “graph search" Tuesday, a new service that lets users search their social connections for information about their friends’ interests, and for photos and places. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Facebook unveils new search function

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - 4:56pm

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new search feature on Tuesday in the company's first staged event at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters since its May initial public offering.

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The iPotty for iPad potty training device is see on display at the Consumer Electronics Show, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013, in Las Vegas. No app is available to go with the trainer, but the idea is to keep the child on the toilet for as long as necessary by keeping them digitally entertained. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

'Smart' potty among weird gadgets solving problems you didn't know existed

Barbara Ortutay, Ryan Nakashima The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, January 10, 2013 - 10:55am

LAS VEGAS -- Some of the weirdest gadgets at the International CES show are designed to solve problems you never knew you had. Are you eating too fast? A digital fork will let you know. Is your toddler having trouble sitting still on the potty? Let the iPotty come to the rescue. Are you bored driving to work in a four-wheeled vehicle? Climb inside a 1,600-pound mechanical spider for your morning commute.

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FILE - In this Monday, April 9, 2012, file photo, Instagram is demonstrated on an iPhone, in New York. Instagram, the popular photo-sharing service that Facebook bought this year, is the target of a storm of outrage on Twitter and other sites after the company announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012 a change in its user agreement that hinted that it might use shared photos in ads. (AP Photo/Karly Domb Sadof, File)

Instagram says users’ photos won’t appear in ads

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, December 18, 2012 - 6:00pm

SAN FRANCISCO — Instagram, the popular mobile photo-sharing service now owned by Facebook, said Tuesday that it will remove language from its new terms of service suggesting that users’ photos could appear in advertisements.

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Apple CEO apologizes for error-ridden map app

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, September 28, 2012 - 12:30pm

NEW YORK — Apple CEO Tim Cook apologized Friday for the company’s error-ridden new mobile mapping service, pledging to improve the application installed on tens of millions of smartphones and, in an unusual mea culpa, inviting frustrated consumers to turn to the competition.

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Facebook irritates users once again

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 2:23pm

NEW YORK — In yet another change that upset users, Facebook has replaced the email addresses users chose to display on their profile pages with (at)facebook.com addresses.

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Facebook stock up slightly in public debut

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, May 18, 2012 - 11:31am

NEW YORK -- Facebook is trading up 8 percent Friday, as investors seek to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon.

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Pew study: Tablet users don’t want to pay for news

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, October 25, 2011 - 7:34am

NEW YORK — Although tablet owners spend more time consuming news than poking around on Facebook, they’re reluctant to pay for news content.

Business, News, Survey, Tablets, Technology, National Read more Comments

Q&A: Does Apple have to release health info about CEO Steve Jobs?

Barbara Ortutay, Rachel Beck, The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - 10:19pm

NEW YORK -- Steve Jobs is the public face of Apple, but that doesn't mean investors get to know every last detail about the CEO's health.

Jobs announced this week he is taking his third medical leave from the company he started in 1976.

No date was given for when he will return. No information was provided about what was wrong. No interim CEO was named, though Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will be responsible for Apple Inc.'s day-to-day operations.

Business, Apple, Computers, iPad, Steve Jobs, Featured Read more Comments

MySpace narrows focus to entertainment

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, October 27, 2010 - 10:53am

NEW YORK -- MySpace, the online social hub that's been fighting to stay relevant in the age of Facebook and Twitter, is overhauling its image and its website into an entertainment destination for its mostly younger audience.

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(The Associated Press) Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about the social network site's new privacy settings in Palo Alto, Calif. on Wednesday.

Facebook adjusts privacy controls after complaints

Barbara Ortutay The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, May 26, 2010 - 6:03pm

NEW YORK -- In Facebook's vision of the Web, you would no longer be alone and anonymous. Sites would reflect your tastes and interests -- as you expressed them on the social network -- and you wouldn't have to fish around for news and songs that interest you.

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Google's operating system escalates Microsoft duel

Barbara Ortutay, Michael Liedtke

Last updated Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 2:43pm

SUN VALLEY, Idaho -- Google Inc. is hoping to gain greater control over how personal computers work with its plans to develop a free operating system that will attack Microsoft Corp.'s golden goose -- its long-dominant Windows franchise.The new operating system will be based on Google's 9-month-old Web browser, Chrome. Google intends to rely on help from the community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.

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