Eric Eldon at InsideFacebook reports that the social network has begun experimenting with a new option for users to report the senders of friend requests as someone they don’t actually know. The prompt appears after you click to ignore a friend request. Actually knowing a person isn’t a requirement to be their friend on Facebook (unlike LinkedIn, for example), so this is an odd choice of words, but presumably the vast majority of the site’s users do only want to be friends with people they’ve met. Facebook has strict limits on the number of messages and friend requests a person can send, but apparently that hasn’t worked well enough. Sponsor Two years ago MySpace added a requirement that any friend requests sent had to be verified as human using a CAPTCHA. That cut spam friend requests on MySpace down dramatically. There is no such requirement on Facebook. Dealing with information overload and spam are key steps in creating and maintaining a user experience that keeps people coming back to non-essential websites like social networks – as opposed to email, which you’ll keep using anyway because you have to. According to Eldon, Facebook hasn’t determined yet what it will do with these reports when filed. We regularly hear about people claiming abuse by the Facebook anti-spam team but every time we call Facebook about one of those complaints, the company’s response seems quite reasonable. People do a lot of obnoxious things on Facebook. I don’t know any of those people, though, and plan on clicking a button that says so when the opportunity arises. Discuss

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Facebook Adds Zap-a-Spammer Button

Today marks the official start to the 2010 Consumer Electronics Showcase in Las Vegas where all of the biggest electronics manufacturers show off their coolest and newest products. While CES is mainly a gadget show, entrepreneurs looking for the next big thing should pay close attention to the innovative ideas being pushed into the consumer market. The big show is just getting underway, but we are already seeing some trends emerge that could point to new opportunities for startups in 2010. Sponsor Televisions On everyone’s CES prediction list this year are new TV technologies, including 3D viewing and the apparent rebirth of Web TV . Recently, various set-top boxes have brought web apps into our living rooms, including the Roku player , and BluRay players with Netflix , YouTube and Pandora integration. As we reported earlier this week, Skype has partnered with LG and Panasonic to integrate their service with new Internet-connected HDTVs. In addition, Internet media aggregator Boxee is marketing their brand new Boxee Box set-top device, and Yahoo! announced plans today to expand its presence in the living room. As more media and applications migrate onto televisions, startups will have the opportunity to find new niches and provided services on these new products. Automobiles Another trend is the implementation of new technologies into automobiles, and as we mentioned yesterday , Ford’s new MyFord Touch is leading the way. By placing LCD touch screens in the dashboard and turning the car into a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, Ford is opening doors for new platforms in the automobile. Current companies are already taking advantage of the the growing auto-tech industry. Streaming music service Pandora recently announced a partnership with Pioneer to bring Internet radio to your dashboard – albeit for a hefty $1,200 price tag. When the day comes that everyone has a connected car that can sync and share data, startups will be needed for services that organize and make use of these new forms of information. Augmented Reality And finally, while we may not see a plethora of new gadgets in this space at CES, augmented reality looks to make a huge splash in the consumer electronics market in 2010. Right now, most AR experiences are on cell phones or desktop computers, but fans of augmented reality expect to see some Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) or new transparent LCD screens in the near future. The potential for augmented reality has been flying under the radar for years, and only in recent days have improvements in technology allowed for it to begin to flourish. AR is a quickly expanding field with many opportunities for innovation, and is a field in which startups could quickly find a foothold. Discuss

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TVs, Cars, AR – Oh My! Hot Tech Trends For Entrepreneurs At CES

Startups in the Boston area considering applying for TechStars Boston 2010 should bite the bullet and fill out that application today in order to receive an invitation to tomorrow’s special meet and greet with TechStars mentors. The event, dubbed TechStars For A Day , will be held in Cambridge, Mass. and will provide startups with the opportunity to find out more about the TechStars program while getting some early networking under their belts. Sponsor While it isn’t possible to make a definitive correlation between TechStars’ events and nation’s VC funding climate, the cities TechStars is based in – Boston, Boulder and Seattle – is were the money is flowing. In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that six out of the eight venture-backed companies that went public in 2009 were from outside of the Valley – two of which were from Massachusetts, one of which was from Seattle. In attendance will be Shawn Broderick , the executive director of TechStars Boston and founder/CEO of TrustPlus , TechStars founder and CEO David Cohen , as well as many other Boston mentors . The deadline for startups to apply for TechStars Boston 2010 is midnight, Jan. 11. Discuss

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TechStars Boston Hosts Invite-Only Mini-Camp on Jan. 5

While 2009 has been the year of the API, it’s the codeless creative experiences that drive mainstream adoption. Every December ReadWriteWeb’s writers collect up their thoughts from 2009 and make predictions for the year ahead. My

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Augmented Reality: Passive Consumers versus Creative Contributors

As of today a federal appeals court is upholding the judgement to bar Microsoft from selling current versions of Word and Office. The question is, what does the patent actually entail? The original patent can be summarized as covering a “method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other.” With this broad an abstract, it appears that the patent could affect a lot more than simple word processing. But, as with all patents, the devil is in the details. Sponsor As of January 11, 2010, the Redmond Microsoft will no longer sell its flagship word processing products in their current format. In August a Texas jury filed in favor of i4i Inc. finding that Word infringes on the Canadian company’s software patent. Microsoft announced that it is already taking steps to remove the “little-used” infringing software feature from Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007. The removal would make these versions of Word unable to open XML files for editing. An addiitonal workaround may already be planned. In early August ZDNet UK’s Rupert Goodwins covered Microsoft’s patent for an SML Schema Document – a way of creating rich XML files so that word-processing applications recognize the file as a native document. Microsoft is also taking this opportunity to direct users to the beta versions of Word and Office 2010. It’ll be interesting to see if this patent resurfaces to block additional consumer products or if the Word trial will be an isolated incident. Discuss

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Will the Word-Blocking Patent Extend Beyond Microsoft?

If the rumors are true, then something is afoot in the Apple music camp. According to a recent article in Bloomberg , Apple is in talks to acquire online music service Lala . If a sale is finalized between the two companies, a number of new music monetization models can emerge and with Apple holding the supply chain from devices to players to downloads, a streaming music component may prove devastating to others. Sponsor Tiered Pricing : With a Lala purchase, Apple could easily employ a tiered pricing model for a streaming service. Users would continue to purchase streams on a per-song basis while also having the option to download songs through the iTunes store. Full Subscription : In contrast to this model, Apple could also follow MOG’s lead and launch a full subscription service with links to purchase Apple downloads. Full Subscription with Download Limit : And finally, different still, there’s the opportunity to employ Microsoft’s Zune Pass model. The company could offer a $15 dollar per month subscription streaming music service with the option for users to download their ten favorite songs per month to keep. If Apple decided on this route, downloads would still prove lucrative as users in excess of their download limits would be driven to iTunes for additional sales. Discuss

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If Apple Acquires Lala: 3 Models for Service Integration

SAP is preparing to launch a potential rival to Google Wave . The application, code-named Constellation, is described as a “virtual war room” where co-workers can collaborate in real-time with information aggregated from different data sources. The cloud-based tool is now in private beta with the code name 12Sprints . The application is being developed by SAP’s Business Objects division. Sponsor Constellation demonstrates once again how much effort is being placed on cloud-based collaboration platforms that pull in disparate data sources, stitched together into one lightweight environment. What’s unique is how these environments are almost separate from the legacy IT infrastructure that at times looks almost antiquated compared to its web-based counterparts in the cloud. That’s the opportunity Google sees with Google Wave, as do other competitors such as PBWorks , MindTouch and a number of other companies looking to bask in the shiny lights of the collaborative universe. According to IDG , which received a demo of the technology, Constellation works best with five to thirty users. There will be the capability to publish to a wider audience through wikis, Sharepoint and other platforms. SAP is also working on an on-premise application, but the initial focus is definitely on the cloud. Users will be able to access their enterprise data by tunneling into the app. For example, buying decisions can be more collaborative as purchasing data can be viewed by a group who can then discuss and make decisions. Applications like what we see with Constellation illustrate how important it is becoming for the enterprise to become more transparent with its information. Email is a data trap. But voice calls can be the same way. Platforms like Constellation open information to a far larger community.