Facebook + Skype Video Chat= Something Awesome

Facebook started Rollout Season 2011 with its answer to Google+ Hangouts today in the form of Video Calling, an integrated video chat feature built on Skype technology.

Typically, if two FB users want to perform a video call, they've got to leave Facebook and connect through either a Skype client, Apple's Facetime, Google Talk or even Google+ Hangouts. Now, all the users need to do is download a small plugin and boom — instant video messaging. It's accessible through the chat tab; just start a normal chat conversation, hit the Video Chat button and you're off and running.

By integrating video calling directly into the Facebook experience they're able to drop this technology directly into the mainstream. You thought getting Friend Requests from your parents was a hassle? Then you're going to love explaining to your mom why you don't love her enough to accept her video chat requests.

Facebook chat has historically been buggy, to put it mildly, so will Video Calling be more of the same? The demo looked smooth enough (see below) but we'll have to see how it works in real world situations.

Facebook/Skype partnership is a shrewd one, to be sure. Skype, if you'll remember, was purchased by Microsoft in May for $8.5 billion. This move not only strengthens Facebook's own feature list but also strengthens the budding FB/MS alliance (what with Facebook's recent Bing integration and all) against their common Google enemy.

In addition to Video Calling, Facebook also announced an update to Group Chat that allows for ad-hoc group messaging with a new design that makes it easier to find buddies that are online.

Mark Zuckerberg Recruits Talent by Taking Them on Romantic Hikes through the Woods

A normal job interview: you, a desk, a guy in a suit. Penetrating questions about goals, risk, strategy. Some handshakes, and you're gone. At Facebook? Zuckerberg takes you along this scenic trail, promising your techie dreams, the NYT reports. Swoon. According to some anonymous Silicon Valley wunderkinds courted by Zuck, select recruits bypass the entire interview process. Instead, they're taken across Facebook's parking lot, and onto a secluded trail. What's discussed on this strange hike? Facebook? Favorite recipes? How pretty Zuckerberg's eyes look? We're not sure. But once you reach the hike's climax—an idyllic panorama of Silicon Valley—Zuck tries to seal the deal: "Zuckerberg said money wasn't an object and that if I wanted the job—and why wouldn't I, he questioned—the paperwork was already ready to go back at the office," recounts one wilderness interviewee. "The entire experience was totally surreal. I really felt like I was on a date." Another woodland candidate describes their vista moment: "He pointed to Facebook and said that it would eventually be bigger than all of the companies he had just mentioned, and that if I joined the company, I could be a part of it all." Sounds like a better date than most I've ever been on!

The Best Deal of the Day

When I was a punk teenager hanging out at the mall like punk teenagers tend to do, I always wondered if someone gave me a hundred bucks what would I spend it on. Would I buy like 8 CDs? A pair of shoes? A million sour belts at Sweet Factory? Would I go big on one big ticket item or diversify my dollar?

Now that I'm older, I don't go to the mall anymore. But I cruise the online retailers with the same punk teenager abandon. And as I see this ThinkGeek Summer Sale where stuff is up to 75% off, I'm reverting back to my younger self's question again: If I had a hundred bucks, what would I buy from Think Geek? Here's my list:

Electronic Butterfly in a Jar ($15), Whiskey stones ($15), Wi-Fi detector shirt ($15), Liquid Bookmark ($10), Samurai Sword Chopsticks ($10). Microsonic Grenade ($8), Plush Sushi ($7), Humping USB Dog ($6), Staple Free Stapler ($5), Swedish Firesteel ($4), Floating Match Illusion ($3), Le Whif Breathable Chocolate ($2). Bam. 100 bucks. Fake online shopping is so awesome. What's on your list?