Hurricane Sandy's already taken out , and now Facebook is the next tech company that's (wisely) deciding to cancel product announcements as a result of the storm that's but a day or so away from hammering New York City with rain and flooding.

According to AllThingsD's Kara Swisher, Facebook is officially postponing two events it was planning to hold next week: One, an engineering open house, and the other, an event promoting new purchasing opportunities within its recently launched Gifts service.

It remains to be seen as to whether  or when  Facebook's planning to move its Gifts announcements. But it doesn't appear as if the company was set to announce Earth-shattering news anyway. According to Swisher, the company was planning on announcing new retail partnerships centered on its Gifts platform  a service put into play in select cities last month, and one which allows Facebook users to send each other real-life gifts with Facebook as the intermediary for the transaction.

Facebook users  those with access to the limited roll out of the Gifts platform, we note  can select from more than 100 different retail stores when selecting a gift to send their friends. Facebook's payments system handles the cash processing; retailers take care of the details and shipping. Like, for example, how recipients can elect to change the style of a particular gift if they appreciate the gesture but would prefer a different color prior to a retailer putting said gift in the mail.

And one little bonus for those receiving gifts from their thoughtful Facebook friends: Currently, those who get a gift also unlock the power to now give gifts themselves to others  a viral kind of a push for helping the rollout of Facebook's Gifts service beyond its current, location-restricted setup.

It'll be interesting to see just who else Facebook has on tap to join the company's gift-giving platform  New Yorkers would likely prefer to just receive ponchos, rainboots, umbrellas and water, among other items, right about now.

For more tech tidbits from David Murphy, follow him on Facebook or Twitter (@thedavidmurphy).