Facebook pulls rape joke pages

Facebook has removed several rape joke pages from its social network, says the BBC.

The group pages, which included “You know she's playing hard to get when you're chasing her down an alleyway” had been criticised by victim support groups. The network says: “There is no place on Facebook for content that is hateful, threatening, or incites violence.”

However, controversial postings may remain if administrators add a tag stating they are humorous or satire.

The latest version of Mozilla's Firefox 8 is due to launch this week, boasting new integration with Twitter that will allow users to scan the social network from the browser search box, reveals V3.co.uk.

The new software has leaked onto the Web via links to Mozilla's FTP servers, but the firm warned against downloading the browser until its official unveiling as the current build is still undergoing testing.

Firefox 8 no longer supports third-party add-ons by default in an effort to make the browser faster and more secure.

Software maker Adobe Systems said yesterday it is laying off 750 workers, or 7% of its workforce, as it moves to focus on products that help people create digital content and then market it on multiple devices and platforms, reports the Associated Press.

The company also slashed its earnings guidance for the quarter through 2 December, to account for a restructuring charge it expects to book in the quarter of $73 million to $78 million, mainly for severance payments.

Adobe now expects net income of 30c to 38c per share in the three months to 2 December. Earlier, it had forecast earnings of 41c to 50c per share.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt yesterday defended his company as a great innovator, contradicting an unflattering portrait drawn by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs before he died last month, writes the Associated Press.

Schmidt told reporters that he is still “very sad and recovering from the sense of loss” from Jobs' 5 October death. He declined to specifically address Jobs' irate criticism of Google in a biography that drew upon dozens of interviews with the book's author, Walter Isaacson.

The biography was released on 24 October. In it, Jobs contends Internet search leader Google stole from Apple's iPhone to build many of the features in Google's Android software for rival phones. Jobs also belittled the quality of Android and Google's other non-search products, which he described in vulgar terms.