Well, developer Tom Waddington, who has a history of finding things hidden deep in Facebook code, thinks that he’s found proof that video is definitely coming to Instagram – at least at some point.

Here’s what Waddington found in Instagram code:

I decided to take a look at Instagram – the current app, the API and the website. Before long, I came across mentions of .tVideo and .tVideoIndicator CSS classes on profile pages…The sprites – a play/pause and volume/mute button, and their connection to videos in the markup seems to mean that Instagram video is a certainty. A mute button is the big giveaway on a photo-sharing app

He’s not sure that Instagram video is what Facebook is gearing up to unveil on Thursday, but he says this proves it’s on the way. One source recently told TechCrunch that Facebook’s big event would focus on Instagram, but it’s possible that Facebook could unveil any number of new products. It could even be some sort of news aggregator or RSS reader – Waddington recently found some code pointing in that direction too.

If true, it sounds like someone is looking to capitalize on, or at least steal thunder from, the success of Twitter’s 6-second video app Vine. According to TechCrunch’s source, as well as a previous report from former Reuters social media editor Matthew Keys, the new feature videos will let users record 5 to 10 second videos. Not much else was detailed, like whether or not the videos will have filters, or any other sort of quick-editing tools. But since it is Instagram we’re talking, it almost seems nuts that they would debut short videos without their signature filters.

Vine has been gaining momentum since its launch back in January, just recently launching on Android. Last week, we told you that Vine video shares had actually surpassed Instagram photo shares on Twitter for the first time ever. Even though that may be able to be explained by the fact that Instagram cut itself out of Twitter last year in order to direct people to the actual Instagram site, it’s still a indicator of Vine’s early success.

Other than this new Instagram videos rumor, we’ve speculated that Facebook could be looking to talk about an expanded presence for public conversations (on the heels of their big hashtag rollout), or even an RSS reader of sorts. Whatever the case, we’ll be covering the event. Facebook sent the event invites by snail mail, simply saying that “a small team has been working on a big idea.”

So…what’s the big idea?

This one will take place on June 20th at their Menlo Park HQ.

Facebook usually sends out its press invites via email – but this is not the case for this upcoming event. These invites came the old-fashioned way – snail mail.

ABC News posted an image of the invite, which keeps with the Facebook tradition of non-specific, no-frills press invites. All it says is “A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product.”

So we know it will be a new product launch, and that’s about it.

Recent product launches that Facebook has held big press events for include Graph Search, the New News Feed, and Facebook Home.

Earlier this week, Facebook launched hashtags. They said that it was part of a bigger move to “bring public conversations to the forefront.” They also said it was just the beginning of a series of future roll outs to help with these public conversations.

“We will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics,” said Facebook.

Is this the “big idea” that Facebook is set to unveil? Who knows. As always, we’ll be covering the event.

[Image via Facebook]

According to the report, the event will be “product-related.” Of course, that’s a rather unspecific description, and could mean a variety of things.

Yahoo to hold a product-related news event in New York City on Monday; CEO Marissa Mayer to speak at event. $YHOO

— CNBC (@CNBC) May 17, 2013

This announcement does come on the heels of reports that Yahoo was in “serious” talks to buy or invest in Tumblr. That report indicated that Marissa Mayer has been in close talks with Tumblr CEO David Karp, but that Facebook may also be poised to throw their hat in the ring. any acquisition of Tumblr would be an expensive one – valuations put the company at upwards of $1 billion.

It may seem unlikely that Yahoo would announce an acquisition at an event like this, but it’s not completely out of the question. It seems a bit early for a Yahoo-Tumblr product, but who knows. It’s been a while since Yahoo scheduled anything like this, so we’ll be very interested to hear what they announce next week.

[CNBC via The Next Web]

Some users are getting a message from Facebook when they attempt to invite a large number of users to a single event.

“We’re sorry, but you seem to be sending invitations to people who aren’t interested in accepting them. Please make sure you’re only inviting people you know and think would enjoy this event. You’ll only be able to send invitations again once more people have accepted.”

So, what gives?

Facebook seems to be enforcing an event-oriented rule that only allows for 100 invites at a single time – and more importantly only 300 pending invites. That means that if you have over 300 invites out there with no response, you can’t send any more until a few people join, maybe, or decline your event.

Facebook explains the rules on its help page:

You can invite an unlimited number of people to events, but you can only invite 100 people at a time. Once you invite the first 100 people, you can then start inviting more.

Also, you can only have 300 pending invites at one time for an event. Some people will have to respond to your event invite before you’ll be able to add more.

Remember, Facebook isn’t capping invites to a single event. You can invite as many people as you want. But you just have to do it a bit more slowly.

[Mari Smith via AllFacebook]

Is Facebook working on a new Android-based OS? Is this about that long-rumored Facebook phone?

Well, yes and yes, according to one report.

TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook will unveil a modified Android OS built to heavily incorporate Facebook, and that it may come to a new HTC device.

This is not a totally new OS we’re talking about here. Apparently, it will simply be an Android tweak that has a bunch of Facebook functionality. TechCrunch describes it as “Facebook’s integration with iOS 6, but on steroids.”

The report indicates that it could be called “Facebook Home,” which you may be able to guess would sport a Facebook-themed home screen. Maybe your news feed stories built in, maybe your messages, maybe any other aspect of Facebook that you want to greet you in the morning.

Is this that mythical Facebook Phone that we’ve been hearing about off and on for a couple of years? You may remember that rumors emerged back in April of 2012 that Facebook and HTC were working to develop a Facebook Phone. Similar reports emerged a few months later, stating that Facebook would debut a modified Android OS centered around their service on an HTC handset.

That report suggested such a product would surface mid-2013. Hm.

But the reports of a possible Facebook phone have been shut down at every turn, even by CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself. Speaking just two months ago, here’s what he had to say about it:

“We’re not going to build a phone. It’s not the right strategy for us to build one integrated system…Let’s say we sell 10 million units — that would be 1 percent of users. Who cares for us?”

This newest report sure sounds a lot like that mythical Facebook Phone. Maybe not the Facebook Phone of yore, but at least a device that runs a Facebook-centric OS. We’ll see what goes down next Thursday.

One of the most important things to consider when planning an event or deciding on whether or not to attend an event is the weather. Sure, that bonfire sounds like a blast, but if it’s going to be 39 degree and drizzling you’re probably going to choose to do your drinking at a bar.

Now, Facebook is making that decision easier by adding weather information to events.

The weather data will reside right under the date and time on any event page, right above the map and the event description. It’s provided by Weather Underground.

You’ll also see the weather info when creating an event, so that you can either change the date or at least throw in a description. “Hey, it’s supposed to rain, so bring an umbrella!”

The weather info is also coming to place pages (ones that aren’t owned pages). It will be visible on mobile as well.

We’re not seeing the weather info inside events or unclaimed places yet, and we’ve reached out to Facebook to determine how fast their rolling it out.

[via TechCrunch]

The event invitation, no surprises here, is pretty vague. All that it says is “Come see a new look for News Feed.”

Although Facebook is constantly tweaking their products, the last time that the News Feed went through a major change was back in September of 2011 when they reconfigured the feed to include top news and most recent – plus they added the ticker to the right-hand side.

The most recent Facebook event took place in mid-January when the company unveiled Graph Search.

As always, we’ll be covering the event.

I’ve been part of the field trial since the beginning, and personally, I find it to be one of the most useful things Google has done in quite some time. This notion was only amplified when Google added Drive content into the mix, and I would imagine that Calendar data would only enhance it further.

With the update, you can search for your agenda, and find appointments saved to your Google Calendar.

I should note that I’ve been experiencing some problems with the feature actually returning results for the past week or so. I reached out to Google about the issue, and have so far been unable to get an explanation, though I’m told nothing has changed, and it’s likely something specific to my own account.

When the feature works though, it really is helpful on a daily basis.

What other Google services would you like to see implemented in this feature?

Israeli social media firm Blink first spotted a new “Buy Tickets” option appearing on some events.

The button links users to a third-party website, however, so Facebook hasn’t begun to process ticket payments or anything. Although users have to leave Facebook for the actual transaction, it is still interesting to see Facebook tests ticketing inside events.

And here’s what the “Buy Tickets” button looks like in another setting:

Of course, any suggestion that Facebook could be working on getting into the tickets business is rather premature. But Facebook did just launch a giant ecommerce initiative with “Gifts,” and they already have the framework to process these kinds of transactions.

We’ve reached out to Facebook for comment and will update this article accordingly.

UPDATE: Facebook tells us that it’s nothing “hugely different from what was there before.” Before, it was a bit.ly link, now it’s a button. It still sends ticket buyers to a third-party site.

[via AllFacebook]