In today’s Bulldog wrapup of technology and science news:

  • Want to make a call on Facebook? There’s an app for that
  • AT&T sees DirecTV merger advancing
  • Is the FCC killing the Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal?
  • Facebook strong in mobile ads
  • eBay thinks small as PayPal split nears

The details:

  • Hello? Facebook launches phone-calling app for Android

Hello? Anyone there? Facebook unveiled a new voice-calling app for Android phones on Wednesday, the same day that its WhatsApp messaging service introduced voice-calling for iOS devices.

Phone calls, it seems, are not dead yet.

Called “Hello,” the stand-alone app is the seventh child of Facebook Creative Labs, the company’s arm tasked with creating new applications outside of Facebook. Others, such as the news-reading app Paper or the video sharing app Riff, have met with limited success.

Hello’s aim is to give people more information about who is calling them. Because it’s connected to Facebook, Hello users can see information about their callers’ identity even if they don’t count them as a contact.

Hello is currently available in the U.S., Brazil and Nigeria.

  • AT&T says merger advancing

AT&T reported low churn in its customer base in its latest quarterly earnings report Wednesday, but perhaps the biggest news was the company’s expectation that its merger with DirecTV will be approved by the end of May.

“AT&T executives told investors Wednesday they expect their merger to be approved by the end of next month. Activities surrounding the cable companies’ plans have also quickened,” reports The Dallas Morning News,

Read more at: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20150422-att-says-it-expects-merger-to-with-directv-to-be-approved-by-the-end-of-may.ece

  • Comcast-TWC deal in trouble?

The huge Comcast-Time Warner Cable deal appears to be in trouble, report The Wall Street Journal and re/code.

“Comcast’s effort to convince regulators to approve its $45 billion deal to acquire Time Warner Cable appears to be on life support after Federal Communications Commission staff is reportedly recommending sending the matter to an administrative law judge for a hearing,” re/code reports.

“The move, reported first by the Wall Street Journal Monday night, would effectively kill the deal since it would drown the company in paperwork through the agency’s drawn-out judicial process.”

Read more at: http://recode.net/2015/04/22/report-suggests-fcc-about-to-kill-comcasts-time-warner-cable-deal/

  • Facebook mobile ad revenue continues to surge

Nearly three-quarters of Facebook’s advertising revenue now comes from mobile ads, as many more users access the social network on smartphones and other hand-held gadgets.

On that front, the company is doing fine — better, even, than it has in previous quarters. But the rate of its overall revenue growth slowed in the first three months of this year, causing its high-flying stock to tumble after the results came out.

Wednesday marked the first time since early 2013 that Facebook failed to top Wall Street’s expectations with its results, and shares of the Menlo Park, California, company fell more than 2 percent after-hours trading.

Facebook has grown mobile ad revenue steadily since 2012, when it started showing ads for the devices’ smaller screens. In the previous quarter, mobile represented 69 percent of total advertising revenue.

The social network had 1.44 billion monthly active users as of March, up 13 percent from a year earlier. The number of users who accessed Facebook on mobile devices at least once a month grew 24 percent to 1.25 billion.

Facebook’s share of the $42.6 billion worldwide mobile advertising market was 17.4 percent last year, according to research firm eMarketer, up from 16.4 percent a year earlier. In comparison, Google’s share was 38.2 percent, down from 46 percent a year earlier.

The company reported adjusted earnings of 42 cents per share in the January-March quarter, above the 41 cents per share that analysts polled by FactSet were expecting.Revenue increased 46 percent to $3.54 billion, from $2.5 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected $3.56 billion.

Net income declined as Facebook’s expenses grew 83 percent from a year earlier. The company earned $512 million, or 18 cents per share, down 20 percent from $642 million, or 25 cents per share.

  • As PayPal split looms, eBay plans to think small

EBay plans to grow by thinking small as it prepares for life apart from PayPal.

The company says it is focusing on getting more people, as well as small- to mid-size businesses, to buy and sell items on its popular online marketplace.

The effort comes as it attempts to address investor concerns about how it will fare later this year after it spins off its PayPal payments division, which has long been EBay’sfastest-growing segment.

CEO John Donahoe said Wednesday the company is moving toward the spinoff with “clarity and speed.”

EBay’s first-quarter earnings may have mitigated investors’ concern somewhat. The results beat expectations and revenue, excluding the impact of the stronger dollar, grew in both segments. A stronger dollar cuts into revenue generated overseas when it’s translated back into dollars.

“We are deeply committed to setting up eBay and PayPal to succeed and to deliver sustainable value to our shareholders,” Donahoe said.

The e-commerce company is seeking to reinvigorate its marketplace business, which includes the e-commerce arm of eBay. It stumbled last year when it had to deal with a change in Google’s algorithms that made eBay products come up in search results less often. It was also hit by a data breach that led to all its users being required to change their password.

For the quarter ending March 31, marketplaces revenue fell 4 percent to $2.07 billion, hurt by the stronger dollar. But the company said it sees signs of stabilization in active buyers and gross merchandise volume, or the total amount of goods sold, excluding the impact of the stronger dollar.