Google's Maps iOS app gains more search tools in update

Google on Tuesday pushed out an update for its Maps iPhone app designed to make it easier for users to search for local businesses and contacts in their address book.

The new version features several new search functions. With people, for example, the app now lets users search for individuals by name to see where they are located, provided that the addresses for users' Google Contacts on file are up-to-date.

The app also includes a way to search for local places by category such as restaurants, bars, cafés and gas stations. After a user taps the search box, a horizontal menu appears that the user can expand to display nearby places of the category they choose.

After a business is selected, a tab at the bottom of the screen displays Zagat ratings and Google user reviews, which can be expanded to provide more information including driving directions, photos and street-view images.

Visually, the new nearby search's interface bears some resemblance to Facebook's mobile Nearby search tool, which displays local businesses to users based on friends' interaction with those places.

Google Maps users can also now choose between kilometers and miles for their preferred distance units.

The update adds further polish to an app that many iPhone users have already gravitated toward after Apple CEO Tim Cook was forced to apologize for glitches seen in Apple's native Maps app that began shipping with iOS 6 last September.

Google's mapping application was dropped with that version of iOS, but it was made available again in Apple's App Store in December following Apple's stumbles with its own application.

The free update is available now in Apple's iTunes store in 29 languages including English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German and Hebrew.

Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com

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Facebook loosens ties with Zynga

Facebook and Zynga have loosened their ties in an amended agreement that does away with most of Facebook's exclusive rights to Zynga games, but also permits Facebook to develop its own games from March next year.

The social networking company, however, said it did not plan to develop its own games. "We're not in the business of building games and we have no plans to do so. We're focused on being the platform where games and apps are built," it said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

In a regulatory filing on Thursday, Zynga said the amendments, which among other things remove the requirement that Zynga show advertisements served by Facebook and offer Facebook Credits as payment on its games sites such as Zynga.com, would be in effect until May 13, 2015.

Zynga's use of the Facebook platform with respect to Zynga sites will also be governed solely by Facebook's standard terms and conditions for game developers, thus ending the games developer's special relationship with Facebook, which was a sore point with other developers.

"We have streamlined our terms with Zynga so that Zynga.com's use of Facebook Platform is governed by the same policies as the rest of the ecosystem," Facebook said in its statement. "We will continue to work with Zynga, just as we do with developers of all sizes, to build great experiences for people playing social games through Facebook."

The amended agreement also eliminates the requirement that Zynga use the Facebook platform as its primary non-Zynga platform to launch social games, and removes the need for Zynga to use the Facebook platform as the exclusive means of login for games not hosted on the Facebook site, the social networking website said in its filing.

Under the amendments, however, any social game launched by Zynga will generally be available through the Facebook website concurrent with, or shortly following, its availability on another social platform or a Zynga property.

The requirement does not however apply to Zynga mobile games, social games owned and operated by a third party, social games that cannot be launched on the Facebook web site due to technical limitations, and any downloadable social games or any Zynga games launched in China or Japan, according to Zynga's filing.

A third-party social game offered on Zynga websites will also have to be offered to Facebook if the game is acquired by Zynga. If Facebook allows real money gambling games on the Facebook web site in countries where Zynga has real money gambling games, Zynga will subsequently launch such games on the Facebook web site, if certain conditions are met.

The Zynga filing states that Facebook "will no longer be prohibited from developing its own games," which gave rise to speculation that the social network may be planning its own games to compete with Zynga and other developers.

Zynga reported in the third quarter that 84 percent of its quarterly revenue was generated from the Facebook platform, down from 93 percent a year earlier.

In its quarterly report in October, Zynga had listed among its risk factors the possibility that "high-profile companies with significant online presences that to date have not developed social games, such as Facebook, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corporation, may decide to develop social games." The games company said it was investing in its Zynga platform, mobile and other platforms, and also in integrating and operating some of its games on additional platforms, including Google+, Mixi and Tencent.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com

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Use Facebook's new Social Jobs app to find work

Looking for a job? Now you can leverage one of the sites that you use the most, Facebook, to help in your hunt.

Facebook on Wednesday rolled out its long-awaited Social Jobs app for U.S. users, which has aggregated more than 1.7 million job listings from job search sites that were already using Facebook to reach recruits, including Jobvite, BranchOut, Work4Labs, and Monster.com.

The social network first announced plans for a jobs app last October as a joint venture with the Labor Department. The two launched the Social Jobs Partnership, a group that includes the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and the Direct Employers Association.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis in a statement said "the foundation of an industry-supported open-source job-posting schema" is "helping America get back to work."

The national unemployment rate in October dipped below 8 percent for the first time since January 2009.

Facebook says the app is a natural progression in social networking. NACE research indicates that 50 percent of employers already use Facebook to find new hires. Those employers said potential recruits can better use Facebook to find jobs by liking company pages and networking with contacts.

"Facebook is all about connecting people, and we're thrilled to see developers leveraging our platform to connect job seekers and prospective employers," Marne Levine, Facebook's vice president for global public policy, said in a statement. "By allowing job seekers to view and share job openings based on personalized criteria, like location and industry, the Social Jobs Application builds on our broader effort to help people use social media to find jobs in the U.S."

LinkedIn competitor?

It's unclear whether Facebook intends to ramp up competition with professional networking site LinkedIn, which has 175 million users compared to Facebook's 1 billion. LinkedIn offers paid accounts for both job hunters and recruiters. For now, Facebook's jobs app serves as a marketplace of other sites' listings.

LinkedIn recently revamped its user profiles to make the site more visually appealing in an effort to compete with other social networks.

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