Facebook giving away 200,000 sets of Timeline business cards for free

Facebook is giving away Timeline personal cards for a limited time while supplies last in an effort to help users promote their profiles and a new partnership with moo.com. 200,000 sets of 50 cards each (5,000 per day) are being handed out absolutely free of charge on a first come, first serve basis.

Here’s how you can get a set of Timeline cards for yourself.

1. Visit your Facebook Timeline profile.

2. Click the About link under the basic personal information section.

3. Navigate to the Contact Info section and mouse over the small business card icon.

4. You should see a message from Facebook that says, “We’ve partnered with moo.com to make it easy to print your very own set of custom business cards. The first box of cards is on us.”

5. Click Print Cards to proceed.

With only 200,000 free sets of cards available, it’ll likely be pretty tough to get a free set considering the site has over 800,000 million registered members. As such, you can optionally visit moo.com and order a set for yourself right away. Prices start at $15 for 50 cards including delivery.

The customizable Timeline cards may seem like a silly idea on first thought but print cards are a great way to network with new contacts, especially if you have a business of your own that you are looking to promote in a new and creative way. Thinking outside of the box is one of the best ways to garner attention for yourself.

Apple's 12 Days of Christmas giveaway underway in Canada and Europe

Apple has started their 12 Days of Christmas promotion that runs from December 26 until January 6 in Canada and select parts of Europe. The app will provide users with free music, movies, books and applications each day until the promo expires.

To get things started, users are able to download a free Coldplay album that features three tunes from the band's iTunes Festival: London performance earlier this year. The tracks include Every Teardrop is a Waterfall, God Put a Smile Upon Your Face and Fix You. Accompanying the free songs are videos of each live performance, according toPocket Lint.

The fourth annual event is designed to promote the iTunes and App store, specifically targeted towards users who might have received a new iOS device for the holidays. The free service gives customers an opportunity to familiarize themselves with Apple’s purchasing model. Existing users are welcomed as well as a way for the company to thank them for their continued support.

Attempts to download from the US were unsuccessful in my testing as I was greeted with a message that said the item I requested isn’t available in the US store, but is available in the Finnish store. I tried switching stores as per the suggestion but again had no luck.

Since each offering is only available for 24 hours, Apple is allowing customers to sign up for email reminders so they don’t forget to check in each day. You can visit the iTunes Preview page to see if the app is available in your area.

Battlefield 3 slated for release on November 2

Although DICE has been candid about Battlefield 3's features and development priorities, the company hasn't been quick to share a release date. We've only heard that the game is expected to appear sometime in the latter half of 2011, butCVG may have discovered a potential launch date. According to a screenshot published by the site, the French version of EA's Download Manager displays a release date of November 2, 2011 -- the same timeframe as COD: MW3.

Many question the accuracy of that date as it falls on a Wednesday instead of Tuesday, which has become the traditional release day for major game launches in North America. European launches usually occur later in the same week, often on Friday. The fact that the screenshot is in French adds another layer of ambiguity, as November 2 might be the EU launch while it's actually scheduled to land in the US on Tuesday, November 1. But again, this is all speculation.

As one of 2011's most anticipated PC titles, it goes without saying that we're pretty excited about Battlefield 3. DICE is developing the game in its new Frostbite 2.0 engine and has promised that the PC version is receiving the most attention. Battlefield 3 reportedly features co-op gameplay, four classes, non-superficial character customizations, more unlockables than Battlefield: Bad Company 2, as well as improved level destruction, character animations and war sounds.

Free Software Foundation to Google: free Gmail's JavaScript

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has launched a new initiative in the form of a series of features that explain how to use common websites without using proprietary JavaScript. The organization wants to protect users from what it calls The JavaScript Trap, in reference to proprietary software running inside your browser. The first target is Google's Gmail service.

FSF explains that as JavaScript becomes more and more powerful, it has the potential to do more and more harm to a user's computer. In certain cases of new found vulnerabilities, companies advise customers to temporarily disable JavaScript in their browser while waiting for the security fix.

FSF argues that users should thus be able to see what the code running on their computers is actually doing, and change it if necessary. The group also argues that many sites, such as Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter rely on JavaScript too much, when they don't need to (as demonstrated by their mobile sites). Where there is a useful need for JavaScript, it should be released as free software, and where JavaScript provides an optional enhancement, a basic version of a site that doesn't rely on JavaScript can be provided.

In short, FSF wants Google to develop a "basic HTML" version of Gmail, which does not rely on heavy JavaScript to build the user interface. If you use Gmail, FSF wants you to ask Google to take the next step towards making Gmail free software friendly by releasing the JavaScript for Gmail under a free software license.

"When you visit a website such as Gmail, your browser will download and run several thousand lines of JavaScript code," an FSF spokesperson said in a statement. "JavaScript code is no different to languages like Python, C++ or Ruby — applications written in those languages running on our computers should be free software, so we can run, modify and share them if we wish. JavaScript today is not the JavaScript of the past — it is now used to write powerful, server-side applications thanks to free software like Node.js and the V8 JavaScript engine."

Frankly, we understand FSF's argument but we're not sure it's valid. If the code for JavaScript were to be provided to the public, we don't see why all code in all other languages shouldn't be as well. Then again, that's FSF's goal: for all software to be released under a free software license.