Articles about Facebook

The use of bounty programs to track down security vulnerabilities in websites and software is increasingly common these days, and it's a tactic employed by Facebook. One bounty hunter -- or penetration tester -- hacked his (or her… they are anonymous) way into the social network and made the shocking discovery that someone had already installed a backdoor.

Orange Tsai managed to compromise a Linux-based staff server and found there was already a piece of malware in place syphoning off usernames and passwords. These account details were being transmitted to a remote computer, and after revealing this to Facebook, Tsia pocketed $10,000 as a reward.

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The tax arrangements of international technology companies have been in the spotlight for a little while now. Few people disagree with the idea that they should be paying their way when it comes to tax, and one of these people is Steve Wozniak. He thinks Apple should pay tax at a rate of 50 percent -- just like him.

Just like Amazon, Facebook and Google, Apple manages to avoid a great deal of tax by channeling money through a subsidiary located in the Republic of Ireland. This reduces its tax bill dramatically by avoiding the UK corporation tax of 20 percent, and instead paying the Irish rate of 12.5 percent. Apple co-founder Woz feels the company should be paying the same rate that he has to.

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Facebook has been going a little crazy with News Feed updates of late, making constant changes in a bid to ensure that people see content they actually want to read. The real motivation may be ad revenue, but it's always pushed as surfacing (ouch... sorry... I slipped into buzzword mode...) more relevant content. The new changes are no different.

The most recent update to the feed algorithm will take into account not only which news articles people click on, but how long they spend reading them. This will help Facebook to not only determine what sort of article interest users but also help the social network to identify clickbait that doesn't deliver what it promises.

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Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular messaging services today, boasting over 900 million monthly active users. However, since competition in this market is increasingly fierce, to maintain momentum the social network has to keep improving its service.

Earlier this month, at its F8 developer conference, Facebook announced support for chat bots with the purpose of enabling businesses to deliver better customer support, and now it is rolling out group calling to Messenger users across the globe.

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Researchers at security company ESET have released details of a new piece of malware that spreads disguised as video posts on Facebook.

Malicious links appear as a video post you were tagged in on a timeline, or as a message sent to you via Facebook Messenger by a friend. They use the titles, 'My first video', 'My video', 'Private video' or a string of randomly generated characters.

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This week, Facebook opened up its long awaited bot platform within Messenger following similar moves from LINE, Telegram and Kik. It almost seems as though bots have peaked on the "Hype cycle" in just a few short weeks since they entered mainstream discussion. This isn't a criticism of the concept, but rather of industry discourse. Chatbots certainly have potential, but where that lies is just as important as the eventual scale.

Facebook demonstrated quite a few bots during this week's F8 conference. Unfortunately, it appeared as though many of them were just apps built inside a messaging app (a concept that has yet to go mainstream outside of a few Asian countries). In fact, these demonstrated chatbots basically just substituted touch navigation with text messages, i.e. instead of tapping an icon/button to get to another page, you had to send a message to the bot. While this may just be a v1.0 issue, it seems an awful lot like a command line substitute to apps. Chatbots will have a hard time going mainstream if they increase, rather than decrease, friction in the smartphone navigation model.

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I know plenty of people who -- literally -- spend their lives on Facebook, sharing everything they do, and obsessively reading and reacting to every post made by their friends.

But here’s the thing. Despite all of the hours they put into being on the site, they probably only know a fraction of what it has to offer. There are a lot of features tucked away that they -- and you -- might never encounter. Think you know Facebook? Think again...

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There are many cloud storage providers nowadays, but I choose to give Dropbox my money. While there are alternatives that are free, I'd rather spend money on quality, and to support a company that supports Linux. Not to mention, Dropbox is secure, available on many platforms, and the company is constantly introducing new features.

Speaking of new features, today, the company announces that its cloud storage is now officially supported by the wonderful Facebook Messenger. Users of the chat program can now directly share files from Dropbox on both Android and iOS. You must have both the latest version of the Dropbox and Facebook Messenger apps installed for it to work.

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Corporate leaders, especially those considered thought leaders, have a firm right and assumed expectation to voice their opinion on public policy. As such, I've got no inherent issues with Facebook's founder and chief, Mark Zuckerberg, proclaiming his positions publicly -- even if I happen to blatantly disagree with them.

Mark and other leaders of their respective industries have something very intrinsically unique that most others do not. That comes in the form of the power of the pulpit. It places their opinion in a position which bring inherent weight and reach which many could only dream of. Yet, this advantage comes with a social responsibility so as to not abuse or otherwise misuse the privilege.

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Outlook is without a doubt one of the most powerful email apps available on Android and iOS. It supports all the major email providers, works with popular cloud storage services, gives you access to contacts, and integrates your calendars. On top of all this, Outlook is also optimized for use in the enterprise, so it can be a great app for work too.

Microsoft is now making Outlook even better as it launches Calendar Apps. This is a new feature that is designed to give you access to more calendar sources, with Evernote, Facebook and Wunderlist being the first available services.

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Just a few days ago, WhatsApp trumpeted the roll out of end-to-end encryption for its messaging service. The world rejoiced. With events such as the battle between Apple and the FBI turning attention to encryption, the announcement was well-timed to ride the crest of the wave. But it seems that for all of the bluster and bravado, the news about extra protection may not be quite as good as it seems.

Analysis of WhatsApp's privacy documentation reveals that the Facebook-owned company retains a huge amount of data about messages that are sent. If this all sounds familiar, it's because the retention of metadata is precisely what the NSA was (is?) up to, trawling web communications and upsetting Edward Snowden and privacy advocates around the world. WhatsApp's encryption and policies mean that those who are concerned about their privacy should not rest on their laurels.

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WhatsApp may have a billion users, but Facebook Messenger isn't far behind: Mark Zuckerberg says "900 million people now use Messenger every month". Nowadays, Facebook is about much more than people sharing pictures of breakfast and bitching about their friends, it's also a valuable tool for businesses.

With this in mind, Facebook is adding a number of features to Facebook Messenger that it says will make it easier for businesses to connect and converse with their customers. Usernames will make it easier for people to identify businesses, while Messenger Links and Messenger Codes (just think QR codes with a fresh lick of paint) are being rolled out to make it quicker and easier to start conversations.

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Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends both past and present. You can post something on another person’s wall, or spark up a chat through Messenger.

For the most part, holding a conversation on the social network is easy. If someone is a friend they’ll be able to send you a private message, and anyone who isn’t currently connected to you will be able to get in touch by sending a message request. But what you probably don’t know is Facebook has a secret inbox which may well contain messages you never even knew you’d been sent.

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As a PC builder, Newegg is a website on which I spend a lot of time. Not only does this online retailer offer great prices, reliable customer service, and a large amount of available products, but it is a great resource for learning too. Even if you aren't looking to spend money, you can "window shop" at the new offerings, as a way to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies.

Today, Newegg enables a new feature that is really cool and forward-thinking. You can now interact with the retailer's customer service using Facebook Messenger. In other words, the social network's messenger service has value that expands beyond casual chatting -- it is also a legit business tool, dubbed "Messenger for Business".

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Facebook Live may have started life as a celebrity-only feature, but it soon spread to all users, giving them the opportunity to share their own live video streams. Today the social network unveils a number of new features with the aim of making it easier to find and share live broadcasts, as well as personalizing and interacting with video.

Live video is all about bringing together a community of people to share an experience, so it's little surprise that the first of today's announcements sees the arrival of Facebook Live to Facebook Groups and Facebook Events. Building on the Reactions feature that rolled out recently, live video now also benefits from Live Reactions. But the laundry list of new features doesn't end there.

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