Facebook flips the switch on 360 degree videos
Facebook has joined YouTube and implemented a feature which allows users to view 360-degree videos.
As of Wednesday, September 23, users on PCs and smartphones can view 360-degree videos, and to mark the new feature, Facebook has released a couple of cool videos.
Belgium believes Facebook is as bad as the NSA for spying
Belgian Privacy Commission (BPC) said during a court hearing earlier this week that Facebook is spying on its users in Europe. The American social media company is allegedly violating privacy laws, monitors information of non-users and logged-out users, all for the purpose of placing ads, IB Times just wrote in a report.
This is a developing story which started in April this year, when the Centre of Interdisciplinary Law and ICT at the University of Leuven in Belgium claimed the social network’s privacy policy violates European Union laws.
Facebook and other social networks no longer have to reveal terrorist discussions to US government
Government snooping into online activity is something that has long appalled privacy groups around the world. In something of a victory for those concerned about privacy and government meddling, the US Senate has killed plans that would have required social networks to tell the government about any users talking about terrorism-related topics.
The change of heart is a win not only for social network users, but also the social networks themselves who will no longer be required to police content more than they already do. The policy had been criticized for being vague, placing undue pressure on companies, and limiting freedom of speech.
Don’t get sucked in by Facebook Dislike button scams -- or vomiting snakes
You've probably heard talk recently of Facebook adding a Dislike button or an 'empathize' button. While this is certainly something that has been in the news, it is not yet a reality -- and it has created a great opportunity for scammers to cash in on people's impatience.
We don’t get know exactly what form the Dislike button will take, or when it will appear, but there are now several scams in operation that lure in victims with the promise of instant access to the yet-to-be-released feature. A variety of techniques are employed by scammers to encourage victim to "Download the official DISLIKE button now". It is, of course, a fake, and there are a number of things to look out for.
Facebook rolling out missing children alerts in UK
Facebook is rolling out its missing children feature to the United Kingdom, allowing people within a certain area to be notified when a child goes missing.
The social network uses geo-location to find people in the near area, and alert them to a child disappearance. Facebook users can learn more about the disappearance if they happen to know any information that might be of help, or share the post to friends and family.
'Dislike' button is officially coming to Facebook, says Zuckerberg
Facebook is ready to deliver one of the highly-requested features that millions of users have repeatedly asked for: a dislike button. The social juggernaut has started to work on it, Mark Zuckerberg told an internal corporate Town Hall, reports multiple publications.
"I think people have asked about the dislike button for many years," Zuckerberg reportedly said. "Today is a special day because today is the day I can say we’re working on it and shipping it".
Apply Magic Sauce uses Facebook likes to determine your personality
We all know that Facebook has a lot of information about us, but what exactly can it learn from all that data?
Aside from the most obvious -- the things you give it, such as gender, date of birth, place of living, education, work, your favorite sports clubs, music and movies -- it can also conclude a lot of things on its own.
Facebook and Twitter's autoplay videos in the firing line after Virginia shooting
The Virginia shootings in which two journalists were killed on live TV by Vester Flanagan highlighted one of the problems of social media: it can be used for terrible things. If the news of two needless deaths was not enough, countless Facebook and Twitter users were upset by footage of the killings that quickly spread around the social networks, automatically playing for many people.
This is not the first time that autoplay videos have been in the news, and it certainly won’t be the last. Now politicians in the UK are calling for Facebook and Twitter to better police content that is uploaded by users to avoid a repeat incident in which people are unwitting viewers of horrific scenes.
Microsoft is the number one employer for Workforce Diversity
Diversity is the current weapon tech companies are using to bludgeon each other with -- Twitter has even gone as far as publishing its goals. Facebook fails in this department while Apple, ever the master of spin, is keen to present itself in the best possible light. For many on the outside looking in, diversity is little more than an exercise in PR, but that's not going to stop companies celebrating wins here and there.
The latest win is for Microsoft. For the second year running, the company has been voted the number one employer by readers of Workforce Diversity for Engineering & IT Professionals magazine. Clearly this is something of a niche publication, but given its specialization, it’s a crown that Microsoft is only too happy to wear.
Twitter's diversity goals are completely meaningless nonsense
Workforce diversity is something that every company wants to be seen to be getting right. At the moment -- particularly in the world of technology -- they're failing spectacularly. As in so many walks of life, it's a world dominated by white, middleclass men, and it's a problem that gets worse the further up the hierarchy you look. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft. They all have one thing in common: a desire to be seen as the most welcoming, ethnically and sexually diverse, forward-thinking companies out there.
It's great PR, and now Twitter is trying to step up its game. News of a commitment to making the Twitter workforce more diverse sounds great, but sounding great isn’t the same as being great. I've mentioned that talk of diversity is good public relations, and that's exactly what we see here -- spiel, empty gestures, misguided proposals, and embarrassingly ham-fisted approaches. Now Twitter is taking things a step further.
Facebook ramps up video piracy fighting technology
Think of video piracy, and talk of BitTorrent probably isn’t far away. While torrented movies and TV shows account for a large proportion of pirated material, it is far from being the end of the story. Even sites as seemingly innocuous as Facebook can be part of the problem.
The social network is not really used as a way to share the latest blockbuster movies, but it is home to a lot of 'recycled' content, the rights for which are not necessarily owned by the uploader. Responding to growing complaints from video publishers, Facebook is ramping up its fight against piracy, boosting the existing Audible Magic audio fingerprinting tool, introducing a video fingerprinting utility, and ensuring that repeat offenders are kept off the site.
Facebook celebrates one billion users online in a single day
The aim of Mark Zuckerberg, through Facebook, has been to connect the world. On Monday this week, the social network saw one billion people logging on to send messages, post photos, write status updates, and generally be social. One billion people in a single day.
Or to put it another way -- as Zuckerberg does -- "1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family". There aren’t many companies or services that can claim to have such a wide reach, so the palpable pride is entirely understandable.
Virginia shooting shows the power of social media, and the danger of autoplay videos
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool. It's not without good reason that ad campaigns start on Twitter and Facebook in the hope of going viral. As with any medium, social media is full of positive and negative content. Content you're interested in seeing, and stuff you really aren't.
But the difference with the likes of Facebook and Twitter is that you're not always in control of what you see. The horrific shooting live on TV in Virginia highlights this perfectly. As with any tragedy or big news story, many were quick to take to social networks to share information and thoughts. They also shared video footage of the killings which automatically played in people's timelines.
Facebook is now working on its own digital assistant called M
Sounding like a character from a James Bond movie, M is Facebook's personal digital assistant. Ready to compete with the likes of Cortana, M will live inside Facebook Messenger and take artificial intelligence a step further. Rather than just helping you to find information or create calendar entries, M will actually perform tasks on your behalf.
Once up and running, M will be able to book restaurants for you, purchase shopping, and more. It will also be possible to use the service to ask for advice -- such as looking for somewhere to visit nearby, or gift suggestions -- and Facebook says the AI behind M is "trained and supervised by people".
It's about to get easier to donate money to non-profits via Facebook
Facebook is known as The Social Network, but it's about more than just being social. It's also used by businesses, charities, and other organizations to promote products, services and causes. To make it easier for non-profits to raise money Facebook is introducing a Donate Now button.
This is something that makes life easier for the donor and the recipient. Many non-profits are small operations which may not want to go to the trouble of setting up a fully-fledged website with a donation page. For people who discover a worthy cause through Facebook, it makes sense to be able to hand over some money through the same medium.
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