The world’s most popular social networking site will roll out new settings to make it simpler and easier for users to control their personal information, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook “missed the mark” with features that drew scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators and privacy watchdogs. Details of the new settings were revealed in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. Washington Post Chairman Donald Graham is a member of Facebook’s board of directors. Zuckerberg did not say when the new settings would be in place, just that Facebook is “working hard to make these changes available as soon as possible.” One of the settings will make it easy to turn off all third-party services, he wrote. “Sometimes we move too fast — and after listening to recent concerns, we’re responding,” Zuckerberg said.
Government credits boost April sales
Homebuyers rushed to take advantage of government incentives and low mortgage rates in April, giving the housing market its biggest boost in five months. But now that a homebuyer tax credit has expired, growth in the second half of the year will depend on the lure of historically low mortgage rates and the strength of the economic recovery. Some economists say mortgage rates alone won’t be enough to propel the market. “Although mortgage rates have fallen sharply, the combination of high unemployment, heavy indebtedness and tight credit suggest to us that demand will stumble,” said Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics. Sales of previously owned homes rose 7.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.77 million, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.
Port of Everett ship visits for June
Here’s a look at the port’s ship calls scheduled for June: June 1, Westwood Olympia, shipper Westwood; June 8, Sevillia, Westwood, BBC Aranus, BBC; June 15, Westwood Rainier, Westwood; June 21, BBC Thames, Desco; June 21, San Amerigo. The port has seen 31 ships and 20 barges visit so far this year, compared to 98 ships and 53 barges for all of 2009.
T-bill rates mixed in Monday auction
The Treasury Department auctioned three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.165 percent, up from 0.16 percent last week. Six-month bills were auctioned at a discount rate of 0.22 percent, down from 0.23 percent last week. For a $10,000 bill, the three-month price was $9,995.83 while a six-month bill sold for $9,988.82. That would equal an annualized rate of 0.167 percent for the three-month bills and 0.223 percent for the six-month bills. Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 0.35 percent last week from 0.38 percent the previous week.
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