Abstract: Techniques for multi-protocol peer-to-peer connection are described. An apparatus may comprise a discovery component to discover a remote device using a first protocol, and receive discovery information from the remote device, the discovery information including protocol information. The apparatus may comprise an authentication component to authenticate the remote device. The apparatus may comprise a connection component to establish a peer-to-peer connection with the remote device using a second protocol based on the protocol information. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: When an online system receives a request to present content items to a user, a content selection system included in the online system selects content items for presentation to the user during a latency period from the time the request was received until the time when the content items are sent. A feedback control mechanism communicates with each computing device of the content selection system to determine the latency period of each computing device. The feedback control mechanism also determines a target latency period in which content items are selected. By comparing the latency period of each computing device to the target latency period, an amount of information to be evaluated by each computing device is determined based on whether a computing device's latency period is greater than or less than the target latency period.

Abstract: Techniques to display location-based information are described. An apparatus may comprise a screen management component and an interface component. The screen management component may be operative to display in a first screen area location-based information on a map according to geographic location, to display in a second screen area a list comprising the location-based information, and to adjust a relative size of the first screen area and the second screen area in response to a received interaction with one of the first screen area and second screen area. The interface component may be operative to receive the interaction with one of the first screen area and second screen area. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: A social networking system infers a sentiment polarity of a user toward content of a page. The sentiment polarity of the user is inferred based on received information about an interaction between the user and the page (e.g., like, report, etc.), and may be based on analysis of a topic extracted from text on the page. The system infers a positive or negative sentiment polarity of the user toward the content of the page, and that sentiment polarity then may be associated with any second or subsequent interaction from the user related to the page content. The system may identify a set of trusted users with strong sentiment polarities toward the content of a page or topic, and may use the trusted user data as training data for a machine learning model, which can be used to more accurately infer sentiment polarity of users as new data is received.

Abstract: Techniques for server-controlled tiling of location-based information are described. An apparatus may comprise a communication component and a tile component. The communication component may be operative to receive a location-based search request from a client application, the location-based search request comprising a geographic area, and to transmit a plurality of tiles to the client application. The tile component may be operative to determine the plurality of tiles as a set of tiles that cover the geographic area, each tile of the plurality of tiles covering a portion of the geographic area and comprising a set of locations. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Exemplary methods and apparatuses facilitate a promotion for users of a social networking system by receiving a promotional identifier from a user device of a first user in the social networking system and entering the first user into the promotion. Selection of a second user for participation in the promotion is received from the first user. In response to receiving an indication that the second user has completed an action within the social networking system, the likelihood of the first user winning an award or the quality of the award is increased.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining, by a computing device, a scroll range for an image based on a dimension of the image, determining the image's origin position device's initial tilt, determining a second tilt and a rate of rotation about a first axis, and determining a rate of rotation about a second axis. The method includes comparing the device's rate of rotation about the first axis with the device's rate of rotation about the second axis or one of its components. The method further includes determining, based on the comparison, whether to render a scrolling presentation of the image. When the scrolling presentation of the image is to be rendered, the method includes determining a progress parameter based on the scroll range, the origin position, the initial tilt, and the second tilt; and rendering a scrolling presentation of the image based on the progress parameter.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining, by a computing device, an origin position of an image for display on the device and determining a subsequent position of the image. The method further includes rendering the image in its origin position when a predetermined movement of the device is detected.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining, from a social graph, a plurality of second users having a connection to a first user, providing a facepile for display on a display device of the first user, and providing a communications composer for display on the display device in response to a user-selection by the first user within the facepile. The facepile includes a plurality of visual indications of the plurality of second users having a connection to the first user and each visual indication is associated with one of the plurality of second users. The communications composer includes a user interface that provides communication between the first user and the plurality of second users associated with the visual indications displayed in the facepile.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes providing a show page for display on a display device of a user in response to a selection by the user of an entry in a programming guide displayed on the display device, determining that the show page has previously been claimed by a content owner, accessing a content-owner module provided by the content owner, and providing the content-owner module for display on the show page. The show page includes a plurality of modules, and the show page is associated with particular media content.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining available shows from one or more content sources, providing at least a portion of the available shows for display in a programming guide on a display device of a user, receiving a selection by the user of a particular entry in the programming guide, determining a plurality of modules for the particular show, and providing a show page that includes the determined modules for display on the display device in response to the selection by the user. The entries of the programming guide are each associated with one of the available shows. At least one of the determined modules includes social content from a social graph of the social-networking system.

Abstract: Examples are disclosed for transmitting a command to control a peripheral device through an audio port. In some examples, the peripheral device may be coupled to a computing device via an interconnect. The interconnect may have an audio jack to couple with the computing device through an audio port and a connector to couple with a serial interface at the peripheral device. For these examples, elements of the computing device may receive a command to control the peripheral device and may generate analog signals including the command and a clock signal. The analog signals may then be transmitted through the audio port. The interconnect may be capable of converting the analog signals to a digital signal that includes the command and clock signal then provide the digital signal to the serial interface at the peripheral device. Other examples are described and claimed.

Abstract: An online system selects advertisements for presentation in various advertisement slots to maximize the total value to the online system for advertisement presentation. Candidate advertisements for presentation to a user are identified and types of advertisements are associated with various advertisement slots. For example, types of advertisements are associated with advertisement slots based on values for presenting various types of advertisements in different advertisement slots and one or more ad placement rules. Candidate advertisements having an advertisement type associated with each advertisement slot are identified, and an expected value of various placements of the candidate advertisements having a type corresponding to advertisement slots is determined. Based on the expected values, a placement of candidate advertisements in advertisement slots is selected and presented to a user.

Abstract: Methods for facilitating financial transactions include facilitating or otherwise increasing the ease and speed of checkout processes. In particular, one or more implementations comprise an e-commerce payment facilitator that acts as an intermediary between a commerce application and a payment gateway. The e-commerce payment facilitator can provide stored payment information to a commerce application based on a few simple selections by a user. This allows a user to easily and securely complete commerce transactions, which simplifies the user's checkout experience and reduces barriers to purchase. Furthermore, the e-commerce payment facilitator can pass payment details to the commerce application's payment gateway. In addition to the foregoing, methods involve dynamically and intelligently providing a user the option of using payment information stored by the network application.

Abstract: Techniques to promote messages in a social networking services to increase communication opportunities while throttling unsolicited messages are described. In one embodiment, an apparatus may have a message generation component and a message delivery component. The message generation component may be operative to receive a request from a first member of a social networking service (SNS) to send a message for a second member of the SNS. The message delivery component may be operative to deliver the message to one of multiple mailboxes for the second member based on a tiered payment schedule. The tiered payment schedule may include a first parameter to represent a relationship type between the first and second members, a second parameter to represent a subscriber tier for the second member, and a third parameter to represent a promotional cost associated with the subscriber tier. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Techniques to interact with an application via messaging are described. An apparatus may comprise an application support component and a communication component. The application support component may be operative to generate an image representing a state of an application and to update the state of the application according to a text command. The communication component may be operative to transmit the image to a client device via a messaging system as an image attachment to a first message and to receive a second message from the client device via the messaging system, the second message comprising the text command. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: A social networking system prices advertisements presented to a user of a social networking system via a client device in a state that provides the user with limited functionality by applying discount factors to bid amounts associated with advertisements selected for presentation. A discount factor is based on the likelihood of the user viewing or interacting with an advertisement via the social networking system presented while the client device is in the state providing the user with limited functionality. This likelihood is determined based on information including a history of user interaction with the client device and contextual information indicating whether the client device is in use.

Abstract: Methods for facilitating financial transactions include facilitating or otherwise increasing the ease and speed of checkout processes. In particular, one or more implementations comprise an e-commerce payment facilitator that acts as an intermediary between a commerce application and a payment gateway. The e-commerce payment facilitator can provide stored payment information to a commerce application based on a few simple selections by a user. This allows a user to easily and securely complete commerce transactions, which simplifies the user's checkout experience and reduces barriers to purchase. Furthermore, the e-commerce payment facilitator can pass payment details to the commerce application's payment gateway. In addition to the foregoing, methods involve dynamically and intelligently providing a user the option of using payment information stored by the network application.

Abstract: A social networking system selects advertisements for presentation to a user while a client device used by the user is in a state that provides limited functionality to the user, such as a locked state. Based on objectives associated with various advertisements, the social networking system determines interactions associated with advertisements and selects advertisements associated with interactions capable of being performed while the client device is in the state that provides limited functionality to the user or associated with no interaction. The social networking system sends the advertisements to the client device for display to the user while the client device is in the state of limited functionality.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, by a server computing device, a notification which includes: information associated with the identity of the user associated with the user-initiated event or with the identity of the client computing device; a variable, pre-determined string of symbols for the user-initiated event associated with the notification; a variable number describing a value of an attribute associated with the user-initiated event; and a variable parameter describing an attribute of the user at or near the time of the event or an attribute of the variable number. The method includes correlating, by the server computing device, the user-initiated events with a user; and determining, by the computing device, a description of the user-initiated event associated with the notification based at least in part on the string of symbols.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatuses for tracking trends at an online presence are described. In some embodiments, an interactivity data structure and a tenured interactivity data structure are utilized in determining trends quickly.

Abstract: A method for making entity recommendations to users of a social networking system (SNS) by maximizing a predicted benefit to the SNS through objective value models. The method includes generating a plurality of candidate entities eligible for recommendation, and determining a weight for each candidate entity based upon an output score generated by an objective value model. The objective value model utilizes objectively measurable input values describing the candidate entities and generates larger output scores for those candidate entities that would create larger predicted increases in an objectively measurable amount of benefit for the SNS created by a potential connection being created between the user and the respective candidate entity. One or more entities are selected based upon the determined weights, and an entity recommendation user interface is presented to the user that includes one or more recommendation modules identifying the selected one or more entities.

Abstract: Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems generate a first candidate list of users that meet a first set one or more characteristics and a second candidate list of users that meet a second set one or more characteristics. When a user appears in both of the first and second candidate lists, the user is selected to receive only the first survey or only the second survey based upon a first priority value for the first survey and a second priority value for the second survey.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes determining, relative to a base user experience (UX), one or more modifications to one or more graphical elements of a user interface (UI) for display to a particular user. The modifications are configured to personalize the UI individually to the particular user and based on a computational determination of one or more categories applicable to the particular user. The method also includes applying the modifications to the UI; and providing the UI as modified for display to the particular user.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a set of queries of an online social network received from one or more users of the online social network, parsing each query using a parsing algorithm to generate a query command based on each query, each query command comprising one or more query constraints for a specified number of objects of a specified object-type as specified by parsing-configuration parameters of the parsing algorithm, retrieving the specified number of objects that match at least a portion of the query constraint from one or more data stores associated with the online social network, scoring each retrieved object based on a scoring algorithm, and generating one or more revised parsing-configuration parameters based on a comparison of the scores of the retrieved objects and the specified number of objects of the query constraints.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a set of queries of an online social network received from one or more users of the online social network, retrieving for each query a number of objects that match at least a portion of the query from one or more data stores associated with the online social network, where each object is associated with a pre-determined static-score based on a static-scoring algorithm, calculating a final-score for each retrieved object based on a final-scoring algorithm, and determining one or more revised static-scores for one or more of the retrieved objects based on a comparison of the final-scores and the static-scores of the retrieved objects.

Abstract: A social networking system identifies communications about an object associated with a brand owner. For each communication, the social networking system identifies users who were generated the communication, users who were exposed to the communication, and users who were not exposed to the communication. The social networking system determines a sentiment associated with a communication and may send a report based on the sentiment of the communications towards the brand owner. A request from a brand owner to present one or more response communications to users based on the users' relationship to a communication from a user about the object and the sentiment determined from the communication may be received by the social networking system. Based on the request, the social networking system presents a response communication to one or more users.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing a string of symbols by a computing device. The string is divided into one or more string components each including at least one of the symbols, and each string component is associated with at least one string-position identifier. The string components and their respective associated string-position identifiers are stored for the string of symbols.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes deploying an application to a plurality of client system, providing a treatment of the application to a set of client systems by receiving a request from the client system, determining whether the client system belongs in a treat group, remotely activating the treatment, and synchronizing activation of the treatment in response to subsequent requests, and receiving exposure data from the set of client system identifying exposure of the users to the treatment.

Abstract: A social networking system user creates an album including a shared collection of content (a “shared album”) and associates a privacy model with the shared album. The privacy model specifies additional users of the social networking system authorized to access content items in the shared album and specifies types of actions users authorized to access content items in the shared album are permitted to perform to content items in the shared album. Notifications describing actions associated with content items in a shared album may be presented to users authorized to access the shared album. The social networking system may prompt a user to create a shared album containing based on actions performed by the user or performed by connected to the user.

Abstract: Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a cache stickiness index for providing measurable metrics associated with caches of a content delivery networking system. In one embodiment, a method for generating a cache stickiness index, including a cluster stickiness index and a region stickiness index, is disclosed. In embodiments, the cluster stickiness index is generated by comparing cache keys shared among a plurality of front-end clusters. In embodiments, the region stickiness index is generated by comparing cache keys shared among a plurality of data centers. In one embodiment, a system comprising means for generating a stickiness index is disclosed.

Abstract: A social networking system receives a sponsored story request identifying a story describing an action performed by a social networking system user and generates a sponsored story accordingly. The sponsored story request may also include a bid amount and other information for generating a sponsored story from the sponsored story request. When an action is included in a sponsored story presented to a social networking system user, the social networking system notifies the user associated with the action and provides one or more settings regulating inclusion of actions associated with the user in sponsored story requests. For example, settings allow a user to prevent generation of sponsored stories including a specified type of action, a specific action, or multiple actions associated with the user. Hence, the settings allow a user to limit or prevent generation of sponsored stories describing actions associated with the user.

Abstract: An online system selects advertisements for inclusion in a scrollable advertisement unit that includes a display area and multiple advertisements, each associated with a position in the scrollable advertisement unit. Positions in the scrollable advertisement unit are ranked based on a measure of predicted performance of an advertisement in each position. Advertisements are ranked based on a probability of being viewed by a user if associated with a particular position in the scrollable advertisement unit and, optionally, on a probability of presenting an advertisement based on characteristics of the advertisement. The position ranking and the advertisement ranking are used to associate advertisements with positions. For example, an advertisement is associated with a position having a location in the position ranking corresponding to the advertisement's position in the advertisement ranking.

Abstract: An online system determines the pricing of an advertisement included in a scrollable advertisement unit including multiple advertisements and a display area presenting one or more advertisements. When an advertisement is included in a scrollable advertisement unit, a price for presentation of the advertisement is determined based on bid amounts of advertisements evaluated for inclusion in the scrollable advertisement unit and a scaling factor. The scaling factor is based on the probability of the advertisement being presented to a user based on the position in the scrollable advertisement unit associated with the advertisement. Advertisement characteristics affecting the likelihood of an advertisement being presented to a user may also be considered in the scaling factor.

Abstract: Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for downloading graphics assets of a software application in a form in which they are rendered as needed on a computing device based on its characteristics and then stored therein for later use. A computer-implemented method includes determining whether a requested graphics asset is stored in a storage of a computing device, retrieving the graphics asset from the storage when the graphics asset is stored in the storage, rendering the graphics asset when the graphics asset is not stored in the storage, and visually presenting the graphics asset on a display of the computing device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In particular embodiments, one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embody software that is operable when executed to receive an audio waveform fingerprint and a client-determined location from a client device. The received audio waveform fingerprint may be compared to a database of stored audio waveform fingerprints, each stored audio waveform fingerprint associated with an object in an object database. One or more matching audio waveform fingerprints may be found from a comparison set of audio waveform fingerprints obtained from the audio waveform fingerprint database. Location information associated with a location of the client device may be determined, and the location information may be sent to the client device. The client device may be operable to update the client-determined location based at least in part on the location information.

Abstract: In one embodiment, one or more server computing devices receive from a client computing device associate with a user a request for a structured document including an image; the server computing devices access a data store for data associated with the image; the server computing devices construct based at least in part on at least some of the data associated with the image a text string corresponding to the image in the structured document; the text string is configured to be audibly read out by the client computing device; the server computing devices also send the structured document with the text string to the client computing device for presentation to the user.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes providing for display to a user of a computing device a first user interface of a first application. The device provides for display in connection with the first user interface multiple interactive elements that each correspond to a node of a social graph associated with a social-networking system. The device receives user input selecting one of the interactive elements and in response to the user input provides for presentation to the user a second user interface of a second application for communicating with the node of the social graph corresponding to the selected interactive element. The second user interface provided for presentation is automatically associated with the user, the node of the social graph corresponding to the selected one of the interactive elements, and content associated with the first application.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an update of activity associated with one or more content objects associated with a search term. The search term is associated with a number of content objects exceeding a pre-determined threshold number. The content objects associated with the search term are indexed on a list of one or more index servers. The list includes identifier information corresponding to the content objects. The method also includes modifying the list of one or more of the index servers in response to the update.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving an update of activity associated with one or more content objects associated with a search term. The content objects associated with the search term are indexed on a list of one or more index servers or a term server. The list of the term server include identifier information of one or more content object types. The list of the index servers include identifier information of a single content object type. The method also includes determining whether the search term has a number of associated content objects exceeding a pre-determined threshold number; and modifying the list associated with the search term of a term server or one or more of the index servers based at least in part on the determination and in response to the update.

Abstract: A hybrid speech translation system whereby a wireless-enabled client computing device can, in an offline mode, translate input speech utterances from one language to another locally, and also, in an online mode when there is wireless network connectivity, have a remote computer perform the translation and transmit it back to the client computing device via the wireless network for audible outputting by client computing device. The user of the client computing device can transition between modes or the transition can be automatic based on user preferences or settings. The back-end speech translation server system can adapt the various recognition and translation models used by the client computing device in the offline mode based on analysis of user data over time, to thereby configure the client computing device with scaled-down, yet more efficient and faster, models than the back-end speech translation server system, while still be adapted for the user's domain.

Abstract: Disclosed here are methods, systems, paradigms and structures for optimizing intermediate representation (IR) of a script code for fast path execution. A fast path is typically a path that handles most commonly occurring tasks more efficiently than less commonly occurring ones which are handled by slow paths. The less commonly occurring tasks may include uncommon cases, error handling, and other anomalies. The IR includes checkpoints which evaluate to two possible values resulting in either a fast path or slow path execution. The IR is optimized for fast path execution by regenerating a checkpoint as a labeled checkpoint. The code in the portion of the IR following the checkpoint is optimized assuming the checkpoint evaluates to a value resulting in fast path. The code for handling situations where the checkpoint evaluates to a value resulting in slow path is transferred to a portion of the IR identified by the label.

Abstract: A wireless communication system and in particular to a wireless communication system for digital audio players that provides for increased functionality, such as communication, interaction and synchronization between a computing platform and various mobile, portable or fixed digital audio players, as well as providing a communication link between the various digital audio players themselves. The computing platform may act, for example, through a wireless network or wireless communication platform, to control the digital audio players; to act as a cache of digital audio data for the digital audio players; as well as provide a gateway to the Internet to enable the digital audio players to access additional digital audio content and other information.

Abstract: A method of operation of a URL spam detection system includes: identifying a feature dimension of a user action on a social networking system to detect anomalies; extracting URL chunks from a content associated with the user action; aggregating a non-content feature of the user action along the feature dimension into a URL distribution store to produce a feature distribution for each of the URL chunks; determining whether the feature distribution of a particular URL chunk within the URL chunks exceeds an expectation threshold for the feature dimension; and classifying the particular URL chunk as an illegitimate URL when the feature distribution exceeds the expectation threshold to restrict access to a particular URL chunk on a social networking system.

Abstract: A social networking system presents a viewing user with a newsfeed of stories describing actions performed by other social networking system users. In particular, the social networking system provides a pre-fetched set of newsfeed stories to a user device of the viewing user and a presentation order for the stories. The social networking system does not “lock” the set of newsfeed stories or the presentation order. The user device locally stores the pre-fetched ranked set of newsfeed stories upon receipt. When the viewing user later requests presentation of newsfeed stories, the user device retrieves the set of newsfeed stories and presents, to the viewing user, stories from the set according to the presentation order. A request is also sent to the social networking system to “lock” the presented newsfeed stories and the order in which the newsfeed stories were presented.

Abstract: When a social networking system receives a report of malicious activity, the social networking system calculates disabled connectivity score for a user reporting the activity or identified by the report. The disabled connectivity score indicates how strongly the user is associated with other objects that have been disabled by the social networking system. Hence, the disabled connectivity score provides a measure of the user's trustworthiness that is used to determine a type of action to be taken in response to the report. Examples of actions that may be taken when a report is received include ignoring the report, further reviewing the report, or taking remedial action by disabling or deleting an object maintained by the social networking system that is the subject of the report.

Abstract: Navigating on a display includes tracking motion of an input tool on a display, comparing a motion of the input tool to a threshold, and changing a position of the visible portion of a page of information on the display if the input tool motion exceeds the threshold. The position of the visible portion of the page of information on the display is constrained if the motion does not exceed the threshold.

Abstract: Disclosed here are methods, systems, paradigms and structures for optimizing generation of intermediate representation (IR) for a script code by eliminating redundant object reference count operations from the IR. An IR of the script includes (a) a set of first code that increments a reference count of an object when a programming construct refers to the object, and (b) an associated set of second code which decrements the reference count of the object when a reference to the object is removed. The IR is analyzed to identify a subset of the set of second code which, upon execution, does not decrement the reference count of the object to a zero value. The subset of second code and the first code corresponding to the subset is removed from the IR to generate an optimized IR. The optimized IR is further converted to an executable code.

Abstract: A method and system on failure recovery in a storage system are disclosed. In the storage system, user data streams (e.g., log data) are collected by a scribeh system. The scribeh system may include a plurality of Calligraphus servers, HDFS and Zookeeper. The Calligraphus servers may shard the user data streams based on keys (e.g., category and bucket pairs) and stream the user data streams to Puma nodes. Sharded user data streams may be aggregated according to the keys in memory of a specific Puma node. Periodically, aggregated user data streams cached in memory of the specific Puma node, together with a Incremental checkpoint, are persisted to HBase. When a specific process on the specific Puma node fails, Ptail retrieves the Incremental checkpoint from HBase and then restores the specific process by requesting user data streams processed by the specific process from the scribeh system according to the Incremental checkpoint.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes accessing an electronic image comprising a surface area and dividing the electronic image into a plurality of surfaces. The method further includes determining that one or more of the surfaces comprise a type of graphics, and determining a percentage of the surface area of the image that is occupied by the one or more surfaces determined to comprise the type of graphics.