Filed under: World wide web, Web services, Social Software

Love them or hate them, Facebook applications are what makes the social networking site what it is. Back when MySpace, Friendster, and other sites let you connect with friends, leave messages, and maybe even play some music, Facebook let you send snowballs, play Scrabble, and graph your bestest friends.

The only problem with Facebook applications is that up until now, you’ve had to actually visit Facebook to access them. OK, sure, that makes sense. But as Google promotes its OpenSocial initiative which will let people develop applications that can run on any website, Facebook’s approach was starting to look a bit antiquated.

Now Facebook has upped the ante by releasing a JavaScript client library that lets you add a Facebook application to any site. That means you can visit Joe Schmo’s home page and still play a game of Scrabulous with your Facebook contacts. You know, if Hasbro and Mattel don’t shut it down.

There appears to be some debate in the developer community about how significant this announcement was. Facebook had already released an API for writing applications. And some developers have created applications that can be hosted on other sites. But by releasing the JavaScript library, developers can create multi-site applications that don’t require any server-side code, making it incredibly simple for anyone to embed an application on their site.

[via All Facebook]

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Citigroup to form China investment bank venture
Reuters - SHANGHAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and Central China Securities will apply to Chinese regulators to set up an investment banking joint venture soon, sources who were briefed on the situation told Reuters on

Guarding against scams
Chicago Tribune - CHECKING AND BANKING Check credit card and bank accounts often Check at least once a month when the statements arrive or even more if you get them online. They have the ability to be the first indication that someone has illicitly accessed your data. Be wary

UM reaping a bumper of QBs
Miami Herald - The university suffering from a quarterback drought will soon be up to its neck in signal callers — although none has taken a snap during a college game. Among the three expected Miami newcomers, one is the son of FedEx founder Fred Smith, another

Rogue trader: Banking crackdown
MSN UK News - The City watchdog is to crack down on derivatives trading in the wake of the rogue trader scandal that cost French bank Societe Generale £3.7 billion, according to reports. Bosses at the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have called investment bank

Pressure on Fortis after subprime loss report
Boston Globe - Federal Reserve and the biggest trading scandal in banking history after a junior trader at France’s Societe Generale was accused of causing a $7 billion loss. A banking source said Fortis held a board meeting on Friday, which a Fortis

SocGen trader questioned for second day
Reuters - PARIS (Reuters) - A junior dealer detained over the biggest fraud in banking history is helping investigators, police stated on Sunday, as his employer revealed that he had bet 50 billion euros ($73.3 billion) of its money on illicit trades. French

All-Star Game, 6 p.m.
Miami Herald - The NHL’s brightest stars will come out tonight in Dixie, as the Eastern Conference takes on the West in the 56th annual All-Star Game at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The mid-season showcase is in Atlanta for the first-time ever, but this marks the

Glenn Greenwald
Salon - Why has he been so willing so tenaciously to pursue this fight — even in the face of overt though anonymous threats that he could alienate his party’s leadership and lose influence as Banking Committee Chairman if he persists? Dodd himself provided

ECB’s Trichet calls for stronger controls after Societe Generale fraud
Forbes - PARIS Thomson Financial - The head of the European Central Bank called for tighter internal banking controls following revelations of a 4.9 bln eur loss at Societe Generale attributed to fraudulent dealings by a lone trader. ‘The lesson to be drawn

Acopia Capital Group Utilizes OpenClose as Backbone for New Company
Forbes - OpenClose automates each key back-end operation from origination to closing in one system, including a robust banking operations core, support for underwriting, closing, post-closing, secondary marketing, funding, shipping and reporting. The Web

Florida newcomers’ lawsuit targets Save Our Homes
Miami Herald - Robert C. Bruner, Deborah Plitnick and Stanley C. Chamberlin don’t need Amendment 1 to pass on Tuesday to make their case that the state’s property tax system is unconstitutional. But, if voters approve the amendment, the three new Florida residents

Chávez rides on tide of Venezuelan oil, but will it ebb soon?
Miami Herald - The economic powerhouse that fuels the grand ambitions of President Hugo Chávez at home and abroad is Petroleos de Venezuela S.A., the say oil company. With oil prices at all-time highs, PDVSA’s sales hit $101 billion in 2006 — making it the

UPDATE 1-Citigroup to form China investment bank venture
Reuters - SHANGHAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Citigroup (C.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and Central China Securities will soon apply to Chinese regulators to set up an investment banking joint venture, two sources who were briefed on the situation told Reuters on

Who’s Blogging
Washington Post - Jerome Kerviel, 31, handed himself over to the authorities on Saturday, three days after the venerable SocGen unveiled the world’s biggest investment banking fraud in history that it blamed on a lone and lowly dealer. Police extended their 24-hour

Trader taken in for questioning in fraud probe to be held for up to 24
International Herald Tribune - PARIS : A trader held for questioning in a multibillion-euro (-dollar) banking fraud probe is to be kept in custody for up to a further 24 hours, French judicial officials stated Sunday. Jerome Kerviel, blamed by French bank Societe Generale for a

Rogue trader Jerome Kerviel held for a further 24 hours
Times On the internet - The head of Société Géné-rale’s investment banking arm, Jean-Pierre Mustier, stated Kerviel’s superiors had repeatedly missed opportunities to stop him after challenging unusual trades. “In some cases he would tell them it was a mistake

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Filed under: Raising money, Public or private?

Funds backed by Qatar may take a $3 billion stake in Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), another step toward sovereign funds owning a piece of almost every big financial institution in the US and Europe. Due to losses related to subprime financial instruments, it is a good thing that the entities have money to invest.

According to The Sunday Telegraph “powerful funds backed by the Qatari government are considering assembling a significant stake in Credit Suisse, one of Europe’s largest banks.”

Continued at 24/7 Wall St.

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