Facebook just debuted a step-by-step online guide to help small businesses familiarize themselves with the social-networking site. The "online education center," so-called, gives directions on such things as how to set up a profile page, create targeted ads and deals, and interact with customer feedback online. "The timing is interesting, as it comes just a week after Google began shutting off all company profiles on its Google+ social network," GigaOm notes. "The search engine giant says it's just company policy to restrict Google+ access to individual users, a stance that has inspired a good deal of controversy in …

Photo tagging service Pixazza officially rebranded as Luminate on Wednesday and debuted a new platform for in-image apps. According to TechCrunch, some liken the Google Ventures-backed start-up to an "AdSense for Images." A fair characterization or not, the company lets publishers identify, tag and match products found within online images on their sites, and then link them back to the inventories of its own network of advertisers. "The service, which can be integrated in a site by adding a single line of code, allows consumers to browse the photos featured on a site and mouse over it to …

Aided by its 2010 acquisition of face recognition firm Polar Rose, Apple is reportedly planning a deep integration of the technology into its forthcoming iOS5 operating system. "This is huge news, for all the reasons that Google's use of face recognition in its online offerings could change much about the Web," assures Fast Company. "By adding controls into iOS' API, Apple's allowing third-party apps to access the core face recognition tech." As a result, in the very near future, Fast Company predicts that game makers will track face positions for "an unusual mode of input." Apps like Instagram …

For better or worse, Internet usage is increasingly becoming an addiction, reports The Daily Mail, citing a new study of 1,000 Britons. Among the study's participants, 53% reported feeling "upset" about being deprived of online access after 24 without a digital "hit," while 40% said they felt lonely. Conducted by consumer research firm Intersperience, "The research found that people experience these feelings even if denied online access for a short time," The Daily Mail notes. Participants were quizzed on their attitudes to the use of the Internet, smart phones, and other devices, and were even asked to go 24 …

After investing millions in development and marketing, should Microsoft consider selling Bing? So suggests Robert Cyran in a Reuters opinion piece published last Friday. "Microsoft needs to concentrate on a different kind of search: finding a buyer for Bing, its online search business," Cyran writes. "The industry's distant No. 2 is a distraction for the software giant -- and one that costs shareholders dearly." Microsoft's online services division, which includes Bing, lost $728 million in the second quarter -- and $2.6 billion over the past 12 months, according to Microsoft earnings released last week. "Facebook, or even Apple, …

Despite reporting a 52% rise in second-quarter revenue, Netflix on Monday issued a weaker-than-anticipated earnings outlook. Along with what it considers a temporary slowdown in subscriber growth, the (increasingly online) content distributor blamed the outlook on negative consumer reaction to a recent price increase. "The price adjustment, announced July 12, takes Netflix's DVD-by-mail service, which was a $2 add-on to its $8-a-month online streaming service, and makes it a separate $8 package," according to The New York Times. "For Netflix, the online streaming service, which remains $8, is growing much faster than DVD-by-mail. But some customers were outraged …

Unlikely to help it retain mobile market share, Research In Motion on Monday said it planned to cut over 10% of its workforce, or more than 2,000 jobs. Increasingly losing ground to rivals like Apple and Google, the BlackBerry maker previously announced broad cost-cutting measures. "The company also announced new responsibilities for its top management 'to create greater alignment of the organization," CNNMoney.com reports. "The most major change was the retirement of chief operating officer Don Morrison, who left the company after having been on medical leave." Morrison has been replace by Thorsten Heins. The move follows an …

Apartment sharing start-up Airbnb has raised $112 million -- at a $1.3 billion valuation -- led by Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen reportedly put up $60 million, while $40 million came from DST, $5 million from General Catalyst, and the rest from previous investors and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The round is the second for the company, bringing its total amount raised to date to $119.8 million. "The San Francisco company lets people travel to places more affordably by letting them book apartments from people around the world," VentureBeat notes. "Over the past three years, we've built a community marketplace …

What does the center of today's socially-driven Web look like? Pretty minimal, actually. See for yourself over at TechCrunch, which just posted nearly 30 pictures of Facebook's new campus building in the old Sun Building in San Francisco. Highlights? "A phone booth (!)," TechCrunch enthuses, along with "purple glazed windows, chalkboard paint, a tons of Unistrut benches and the re-incorporation of the Sun's logo-etched glass doors for its conference rooms." According to TechCrunch, the picture come courtesy of Facebook Product architect Aaron Sittig, who has documented the move and the elaborate decorative elements involved in a Facebook album …

DreamWorks Animation SKG is in talks to offer Netflix exclusive online streaming rights to its films, Bloomberg reports, citing a single source. If it goes through, the deal would replace a pay-TV partnership with HBO. "An exclusive accord would underscore the growing importance of Internet streaming to studios, which have seen U.S. DVD sales tumble," Bloomberg points out. To date, Netflix has signed digital distribution deals giving subscribers of its streaming service films from Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, and Miramax. Bloomberg's source said an agreement with DreamWorks could be reached as soon as this week, while …