Facebook acquires WhoGlue

Earlier this month, Facebook acquired WhoGlue, a start-up that develops software for membership organisations, reveals ZDnet.

Financial details were not disclosed, but Facebook did say it plans to incorporate the firm's technology, which allows membership organisations to form private social networks.

Incidentally, the Baltimore-based company sued Facebook for patent infringement two years ago.

Amazon.com and Wal-Mart Stores are prodding more manufacturers to change their packaging to cut waste and alleviate “wrap rage”, the frustration felt when a product is difficult to open, says Bloomberg.

The nation's largest online store and the world's biggest retailer have been pushing vendors, including Procter & Gamble and Bluetooth headset maker Plantronics, to eliminate excessive and cumbersome packing materials, such as hard plastic clamshell casings that enclose electronics, and wire ties used to secure toys to cardboard backings.

“We've gotten e-mails from customers who've purchased scissors in a clamshell, which would require another pair of scissors to open the package,” Nadia Shouraboura, Amazon's VP of global fulfilment, said in an interview.

Spotify announced yesterday that outside developers can create applications for the popular online music service, and unveiled partnerships with Rolling Stone, SongKick, TuneWiki and others, says Physorg.com.

"Today, Spotify becomes a musical platform," Spotify chief executive and co-founder Daniel Ek said at a press conference in New York. "Developers can create beautiful, responsive apps.

"We think this will lead to integrations that keep Spotify beautiful and simple, but layer in great musical experiences designed to be social and fun," he said.

Japanese social network Mixi has announced a partnership with Twitter that will see the two social media companies work together on product development, new business services and advertising opportunities in the country, according to Asiajin, reports TNW.

The link-up will see the companies develop a number of joint initiatives, the first of which is Mixixmas.

The Christmas-themed app has built-in support for Twitter that will allow users to share content on the micro-blogging service as well as the Japanese social network.