Facebook will be rolling out a payment system to more developers called Facebook Credits. This is Facebook’s method of payment using credit cards connected to its users. The money that developers earn through the sales of virtual goods will have 30% taken out from their cut if the customer uses Facebook Credits. Facebook is taking the 30% cut so that they could invest “heavily in the ecosystem.” [Mashable]

This morning First Direct bank in the United Kingdom sent a direct message to their Twitter followers that said “Hey, I’ve been having better sex and longer with this here,” followed by a link to an external website. Shortly after that tweet was sent out, First Direct resumed control of their account and followed up with a message that said “Hi all, I’m sure you can tell, but we were hacked last night – please disregard any inappropriate tweets that purport to come from us!”

There were numerous panic messages from First Direct account that followed:
- ‘Re. previous Tweet I just want to clarify that only our Twitter account has been hacked!!! We’ve changed our password so all should be well.’
- ‘no password issues, it was a link in a DM. No customer / personal data has been compromised. Sorry for any offense caused.’

First Direct is one of the only banks in the United Kingdom to embrace Twitter in an effort to maintain good customer service. While using social networking to interact with customers can be very beneficial, it also has risks. [ZDNet]

Sirius XM Radio has posted their first quarterly profit since the merger. The company expects to add about 500,000 customers in 2010 as there has been an increase in demand for new cars. It was about a year ago that Sirius XM was considering a bankruptcy. Liberty Media helped bail out the radio company from the bankruptcy. Liberty has about a 40% equity stake in the radio company. Sirius XM reported a fourth quarter net income of $14.2 million. About a year ago, Sirius XM had a net loss of $245.8 million. [NYT]

Ron Conway is one of the most influential venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Some of his investments include Yammer, Gowalla, DailyBooth, Foursquare, Bit.ly, Y-Combinator, Seesmic, Twitter, Facebook, DanceJam, Mint.com, Digg, Google, Simply Hired, and Answers Corporation. Conway is now raising $10 million for his SV Angel investment company. Conway averages about 4 investments per month. [TechCrunch]

Chinese search engine Baidu.com has received a $50 million investment from Providence Equity Partners to start a video subsidiary. The video service will be just like Hulu. Baidu was planning to invest $10 million of their own money in the project too. Baidu will have a majority stake in the venture. Baidu’s video website will be monetized by ads and there will be licensed premium content. The video website will most likely be called Qiyi.com. [paidContent]

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has withdrawn a complaint against Cryptome.org. Microsoft originally filed a complaint because internal Microsoft guidelines were published on Cryptome. The guidelines were about how Microsoft can provide user data to law enforcement agencies. Yesterday Microsoft notified Network Solutions that they will be withdrawing their complaint. It is unknown why Microsoft took back their complaint. [CNET]

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) will be investing $155 million in their Cleveland Engine Plant to manufacture the 3.7 liter V-6 engines for 2011 Mustangs. Production will be starting next month said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans. Overall Ford is spending $1.8 billion to overhaul six of their engine and transmission plants across North America. Ford is going to add new engines to their factories in Romeo, Michigan; Windsor, Ontario; and Chihuahua, Mexico. News transmission production will be started in Livonia, MIchigan and Sharonville, Ohio. [BusinessWeek]

About a year ago Anthony Stancl was charged for blackmailing people through Facebook. Stancl posed as a female on Facebook and convinced about 31 people at his school to send him nude pictures of themselves. Using these pictures, Stancl blackmailed the classmates to do some form of sex acts for him. Because of the threat, Stancl will now face about 15 years in prison. Stancl claims to empathize with his victims according to the AP. [AP]