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11 years ago today, the Facebook Phone was released (and within a month, it had a 99% price slash)
The $99 to $0.99 price drop on the Facebook Phone put modern sale events to shame
From Apple’s uber-popular iPhones to the Windows family of operating systems, there’s no shortage of success stories in the tech industry. However, there are just as many devices and applications that have perished without leaving a trace. Dell’s Alienware Area-51m laptops, for instance, were a colossal letdown due to their lack of upgradability, the very feature that was marketed as their selling point. There was also the Cortana digital assistant, which served little purpose besides annoying a majority of Windows users during its lifetime.
You could soon be unable to chat with your Facebook friends on Instagram
The cross-platform chat feature is reportedly going away, having been rolled out with much fanfare less than three years ago.
Meta is reportedly all set to end the cross-app messaging support between Instagram and Facebook Messenger. The feature was rolled out back in 2020 with much fanfare when Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announced the cross-platform messaging feature, making it easier for Instagram users to message their Facebook friends, and vice-versa. However, that feature is now seemingly going away after less than three years.
Meta could be planning an alternative mobile app store in the EU
The pilot could start as early as this year.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is thinking about offering its users in the European Union an alternative avenue to download apps on their smartphones. As part of its plans, Facebook users will be able to download apps directly through ads on the platform, rather than being redirected to Google's Play Store or Apple's App Store.
How to delete or deactivate your Facebook account
Deleting or deactivating your Facebook account is fairly simple as long as you know where to find the options.
Facebook, just like many other social media platforms, has seen some significant changes over the last few years. I would even go as far as to say that using Facebook hasn't really been the same — at least for me — since the massive data breach at Facebook, exposing the personal details of over 500 million users. I also don't find Facebook particularly useful or interesting anymore, and it's mostly just a bubble of distractions and ads for things that I may have discussed with a friend on WhatsApp or Instagram.
Facebook tests bringing Messenger back in-app, alongside better discovery
Imagine opening Facebook and having everything you need right there.
Meta may be returning a fabled classic to its social media that users have had to juggle for years now.
Messenger's encrypted experience gains support for emojis, chat themes, and more
A new update to Meta's Messenger brings chat themes, emojis, reactions, and more to the end-to-end encrypted experience.
There are a lot of great messaging apps, and one of the most popular is Messenger. The app was initially a component of Facebook but was then spun off as its own stand-alone app, offering users the ability to create an account without having a Facebook page. Although it might not be the most robust messaging app available, it offers a wide variety of features like chat, support for SMS, voice and video calling, and more. Perhaps one of its most important updates was introducing E2EE (end-to-end encryption) to the platform, giving users a more secure way to connect.
Meta's Accounts Center gives users a new settings hub for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger
Today, Meta announced a new update that will give users access to one hub to control some settings for Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.
Today, Meta announced a new and easy way to access some of the settings for its most popular apps like Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Going forward, those that use these apps will be able to access some settings for all apps from one location called the Meta Accounts Center. The Meta Accounts Center can be found in each app, but will give users control of settings in Meta's other apps as well.
Meta shares list of 400 Android and iOS apps that may have stolen your Facebook credentials
Meta has shared a list of over 400 malicious Android and iOS app that may have stolen your Facebook login credentials. Read on to learn more.
If you've ever logged into an app using your Facebook account, you might want to change your password and set up two-factor authentication immediately. That's because security researchers at Meta have identified over 400 malicious apps on the Google Play Store and Apple Apple Store designed to steal users' Facebook login credentials. Meta says that the offending apps range from photo editors to business utility apps and require users to log in with their Facebook accounts. But, unlike genuine apps that let users log in with their Facebook accounts, these apps only spoofed the feature to steal login credentials.
Meta is rolling out a new feature to help users see less irrelevant content on their Facebook feed. While Meta claims that the new feature lets you customize your feed, it doesn't actually let you make any substantial changes. Instead, you can use it to train Facebook's algorithms to show less irrelevant content on your feed.In a blog post on the matter, Meta reveals that Facebook users will start seeing new 'Show more' and 'Show less' buttons underneath posts on their feed. Selecting the 'Show more' button will "temporarily increase the ranking score for that post and posts like it." On the other hand, selecting 'Show less' will decrease its ranking score. Facebook's algorithms will use this feedback to improve the kind of posts you see on your feed.
Facebook will roll out a new way to connect with Community Chats
Facebook will roll out a feature called Community Chats, that will allow instant communication between Messenger and Facebook Groups.
Facebook will begin testing its Community Chats feature in Messenger, allowing users to create a Facebook Group and then have conversations using chat, video, and audio channels. Furthermore, there will be the added convenience of being able to invite people to the community through the Messenger app.
Facebook will pull the plug on the Facebook Gaming app later this year
Facebook has announced that it will kill off the Facebook Gaming app for iOS and Android later this year. Read on to learn more.
Just over two years after its launch, Facebook has announced that it will soon pull the plug on the Facebook Gaming app for Android and iOS. A new banner in the app states that it will stop working from October 28, 2022, and will no longer be available for download on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.
Facebook is testing default end-to-end encryption in Messenger
Facebook is finally getting serious about security and privacy on Messenger, enabling end-to-end encrypted chats by default.
Facebook has offered end-to-end encrypted chats for Messenger since 2016. But the service had to be enabled for each individual chat session, requiring users to be informed and also making it a bit of a pain to keep conversations secure. While it wasn't ready to have encryption on by default late last year, things have now changed. Over the coming weeks, Facebook will test having end-to-end encrypted chats on by default. The test will roll out to selected users, who should notice that their chats are end-to-end encrypted without the need to take any kind of action.
Facebook gives creators access to musical powerhouses for monetized video content
Facebook introduced a licensed music library that will give creators access to popular artists that can be used in videos and monetized.
Facebook is introducing a new way for creators to make revenue, and surprisingly, it's by using popular licensed music. The new Music Revenue Sharing feature will allow creators to use licensed music from some of the biggest stars in videos and earn ad revenue.
Facebook might soon let you create multiple profiles with the same account
Facebook is testing a new feature that will give users the option to create multiple profiles with a single account. Read on to learn more.
Facebook is testing a new option to help users create multiple profiles with a single account. The idea behind this move is to help users differentiate profiles based on the groups they wish to connect with on the platform. For instance, the feature will let you create a dedicated profile to connect with your friends and another one for your colleagues.
Meta updates its privacy policy to make it easier to understand how it uses your data
Meta is updating its Privacy Policy and Terms of Service to make it easier to understand its data practices. Read on.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, has announced new changes coming to its privacy policy. The changes, Meta says, are designed to more clearly convey to users how the company uses collected information.
Whistleblowers allege Facebook deliberately blocked government and health pages in Australia
Whistleblowers have accused Facebook of deliberately blocking government and health pages in Australia. Read on.
In February last year, Facebook briefly blocked publishers and people in Australia from sharing and viewing news on its platform. The dramatic move came in response to the Australian government's controversial media law that sought to mandate Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for surfacing their content on their respective platforms. But when the tech giant started blocking news sites, it also took down pages of health agencies, emergency services, and public welfare networks. At the time, Facebook said it was a mistake. But documents submitted to the US and Australian authorities by whistleblowers allege that Facebook deliberately removed those pages.
Facebook is reportedly scaling back its podcasting plans
Facebook is scaling back on its push for podcasts and other audio experiences as it seeks to prioritize other initiatives.
In April last year, Facebook announced several new audio features, including audio chat rooms, podcasts, and sound bites to take on Clubhouse and Spotify. But it looks like the company is quickly losing interest in the audio initiative, a new report claims.
APK Teardown: WhatsApp may soon let you dictate and send messages via Facebook Assistant on Ray-Ban Stories
WhatsApp is working on letting Meta's Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses users dictate and send messages through Facebook Assistant.
WhatsApp is by far the most popular Instant Messaging app. Despite its popularity, it is slow-moving when it comes to introducing new features. For instance, the Community feature was first spotted by us back in October 2021, and it only got officially announced yesterday. One of the pain points of WhatsApp remains its non-integration with Voice Assistants -- you can't ask Google Assistant to send a message on WhatsApp to someone. Meta could be working on letting this happen, but not with Google Assistant, but with Facebook Assistant and on its Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses.
This might be Meta's upcoming premium mixed reality headset
Project Cambria, Meta's new high-end VR/AR headset, has been leaked with both press renders and possible tech specs.
Meta, which used to be called Facebook, has been hard at work on new 'Meta Quest' (which used to be branded as Oculus) virtual and augmented reality headsets. The company isn't expected to release a sequel to the Quest 2 this year, but there is a different headset ton the wait aimed at professional use and high-end gaming.
Apple calls out Meta for taking almost 50% of Metaverse purchases
Apple has called out Meta for planning to take a whopping 47.5% commission fee on digital purchases made in the Metaverse.
Many developers -- both indie and big corporations -- continue to criticize Apple's 15-30% commission fee on App Store purchases. For example, Spotify launched a campaign a while back just to pressure the Cupertino tech giant into giving in. Other names include Meta -- Facebook's parent company. Its CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly called Apple's practices monopolistic and anti-competitive. In a surprising turn of events, though, Meta revealed yesterday that it plans to charge a whopping 47.5% commission fee on digital purchases made in its Metaverse. Apple has now called out Meta, highlighting the hypocrisy in its actions.