The Boring Facebook Logged Out Homepage may be replaced by Cute Couple or 3D Polygon Art

Facebook doesn’t want to look like just another website, so it’s testing colorful new versions of Facebook.com on a very small percentage of logged out visitors. One features a 3D polygon art map of the Facebook universe, while another showcases an adorable couple.

So next time you login, or finally surrender and sign up, you might be greeted with something a lot more vibrant than text inputs.



Facebook confirmed the images sent in by our awesome readers and watermarked by us are real but otherwise just gave the standard “we’re constantly testing new products and features across the site. We have nothing more to share at this time.” The data could prove that these designs confuse people are reduce or delay logins. That could lead get them scrapped, never to be seen again.

However, I’d expect Facebook will debut a more exciting log out page soon, maybe with a rotating set of photos and artwork that appeal to different demographics. For example, instead of the same photo of a couple for everyone, visitors might see photos of people from their country or part of the world.



Along with the very small test of the polygon art, Facebook is showing some users a logged out home page with the “Chairs Are Like Facebook” brand video it released to commemorate reaching 1 billion users.

Facebook started jazzing up its logout page in February. It now frequently plasters the exit screen with big banner ads, some of which are interactive like a Bing search page or an in-line video seen below.



If push comes to shove with Wall Street, Facebook may end up putting ads on the logged out home page too. But that doesn’t give a very good impression to people it’s trying to convince to sign up or sign in more frequently. The polygon landscape dotted with Likes, chats, friends, and photos is much more inviting.

VIA

Apple Maps: A swing and a miss

For days, I was frightened to upgrade my IPhone 4 to Apple’s new iOS6 operating system.  I already have pathological fears about fresh-out-of-R&D operating systems, but with the sheer number of Apple Maps horror stories flooding Twitter, I was legitimately terrified.  But time marches on, and so I crossed my fingers, finished my living-will, and ran the installer.

4 minutes later I was breezing through an upgrade wizard, and my phone felt new and shiny again like it did on the first day.  I even forgot about the massive spider-web crack on the backside.  In that moment, I decided that the twitter hounds were definitely exaggerating.

Tonight, I finally got around to using Apple Maps for the first time. Here’s a screenshot of the first search I ran (my favorite chinese food takeout, Asia Garden 2 in New Jersey).  Note: that’s not a translation tool, the map is actually showing me another continent. 

Baffled, I decided to add in the town and state.  Surely Apple would get it right if I provide the location of the actual restaurant.  

At this point I’m stunned.  Not only did the app present me with a different language, but it gave me the wrong location twice for a single business. I didn’t care enough to see if I’d go three-for-three, so I jumped over to Google Maps in Safari knowing full well I’d get the right address.

Bing! (No pun intended).  Google maps hits the nail on the head, just like always.  But while I was glad for Google, I was also deeply sad for Apple.  They’ve let down their customers by cheapening the quality of their app just to save a few bucks on Google Maps licensing fees.  Was it worth the backlash?  I didn’t think Apple, a company that prides itself on principles of artistry and sound visual aesthetics, would make a cold business decision without prior technical due diligence.  I didn’t think Apple operated like Microsoft.

I’m sure one day Apple will have a maps tool 50x better than Google’s, and they’ll rake in the billions for it.  Or maybe they wont.  But right now, I’m stuck with an app that gives me results from 12,000 miles away.

VIA