As those of us who spend our days on the social network (for research purposes, naturally) know, there are two ways to view your News Feed on Facebook: sorted by "top stories" and by "most recent." You switch from one to the other via a menu at the top of your feed.

Many of us assume that "most recent" means you get posts from your friends unfiltered, without Facebook's algorithm determining what's a "top story." In fact, even "most recent" is filtered for your reading pleasure, based on whose stuff you've interacted with in the past.

So users are always interested in different ways of looking at their feed. One programmer stumbled across one on Monday — a URL that leads to a version of the news feed that many of us find to be less filtered than the alternative. But the link he found will vanish on Wednesday.

Scottish developer Tom Waddington found an apparently internal Facebook link for a completely unfiltered feed: https://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf_all. (Give it a try. We'll wait.)

How did he find it? "It was a lucky guess," Waddington told Mashable. "Obviously nf is newsfeed, and I tried tacking things on the end."

But Waddington also cautions that the link may not be working come Wednesday. That's when Facebook tends to push out its updated version of the site, which developers get to preview at beta.facebook.com every Sunday.

"It's in the process of being removed," says Waddington. "The beta site has it removed already. I'll see if there's still a way to get it to show!"

Here's what Facebook had to say in a statement: "It is an old link that allows you to access your News Feed operating on an earlier version of our ranking algorithm. This feed does not show all posts."

The company strenuously denied an earlier report in TechCrunch that incorrectly called it an "unfiltered version" of the feed.

Facebook did confirm, however, that the link will not function as of Wednesday. Check it out while you can.

What does your feed look like with this link? Would you want to have access to it going forward? Let us know in the comments.

UPDATE: Some users are reporting that Facebook has turned off the old link for them, two days' early. If what you're seeing is exactly the same as your regular news feed, that would be why.

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The holidays are just around the corner, and for many, the next month-and-a-half will be the busiest and most stressful time of the year.

Here at Mashable, we're not looking to add to your stress; rather, we're trying to reduce it. So, for your convenience, we've rounded up all of our digital features into one post.

This week's roundup contains essential resources for holiday shoppers, including our Gift of the Day series and a gallery of 50 holiday gifts for video-game fans.

In addition to gifts and gadgets, you'll find helpful social media and digital business advice, as well as some killer software apps. So dig in, and help yourself to a holiday-feast-sized portion of digital media resources.

Read more…

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Last week, Facebook introduced a "Share" button on its mobile site and apps.

At long last, smartphone and tablet users can post links from their News Feed directly to their own pages with the touch of a button. It's taken the social media giant years to take this step and move mobile closer to the desktop Facebook experience. If you're (understandably) excited to start sharing but aren't sure exactly how, check out this step-by-step guide. Read more…

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There is more to Pinterest than just weddings and recipes. Check out our 10 favorite pins from this week.

While compiling our top 10 Pinterest pins, we came across handy products, useful tips and eye-catching design concepts. In addition to keeping a close eye on our Pinterest feed, we use the Pinterest analytics tool Repinly to look through popular pins and choose 10 standouts to share in our roundup.

This week, we couldn't help but be captivated by a design concept for a floating cloud sofa (sadly, it isn't a reality at this time) and a concept for a flat extension cord. Additionally, we found a few real life products that could make your life a little more convenient — such as a playful key holder and a handy dustpan.

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