Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018
Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. It also averages 1.52 billion daily active users as of December 2018.
Facebook was launched in February of 2004 (as The Facebook) for college students and then rapidly grew as it opened the service to more than those with a .edu email address. It was the subject of the 2010 movie called “The Social Network“.
In 2012, the social media giant offered its IPO and Facebook earned the title of the fastest company to grow to $250 billion market capitalization in the S&P 500.
In recent years, the company has been at the center of attention related to its role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, it’s been a continual stream of negative news for the company. They recently had all of their enterprise certificates for iOS revoked after it was discovered they had repackaged Onavo VPN as a ‘Research’ app and were paying teens $20/month to sneakily sideload it.
In early 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a “privacy shift” for the company. He outlined a detailed vision for the future of the social media platform, specifically its messaging services. Notably, in contrast to how the company operates today, he says the future of the platform will be privacy-focused with features like end-to-end encryption, interoperability between its various apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reducing how long it holds data, secure storage of personal data, and more.
Back in October Facebook added the ability to edit posts and comments and also view all of your changes. However, at the time the feature was only available to iPhone users. Today iPad users can finally edit posts too with an update to the Facebook iOS app that just rolled out on the App Store.
Also new in version 6.7 of the app is new languages for icons, but Facebook doesn’t list the specific languages in its release notes.
• Now in additional languages: Use icons to share how you’re feeling and what you’re doing
• Now on iPad: Edit your posts and tap to see all your changes
• Bug fixes
In line with my report from earlier this month, Facebook has announced that it will be revamping its Android and iOS Messenger apps. As we previously noted, the new apps have an entirely new design that is flatter and distinct from the standard Facebook application on Android and iOS. The Verge was given a preview of the Android version has some new features besides the new design:
In terms of functionality, there are a host of under-the-hood improvements to make sending and receiving messages faster, says product manager Peter Martinazzi. There are also some front-end tweaks that makes the app faster — especially on Android, where the SMS texting feature, which let you text friends who don’t have Facebook, has been removed.
The highlight feature, however, of the new apps is phone number integration. The repot summarizes the functionality as a WhatsApp competitor:
While Facebook won’t let you text a phone number from Messenger, the company plans to use phone numbers in a new way: to identify its users, just like in WhatsApp. Upon opening Messenger for the first time, it will ask you to provide your phone number. Then, the app can match you with people whose numbers you have, but whom you aren’t Facebook friends with. Facebook guarantees your messages will reach somebody’s inbox if you have their phone number.
The Android version is available as a test with a limited number of users beginning today and iOS in the near-future. Also incoming, we previously reported, are updates to the main Facebook app that integrate Graph Search, but Facebook has not confirmed this as of yet.
IM + Pro 7,a feature-rich messenger app, has been redesigned to reflect iOS 7’s user-interface style. Today’s update also adds several new features and become a universal app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
It allows users free texting, sending photos, videos and voice messages. It supports a dozen IM services including Skype, Facebook, Twitter DM, AIM, iChat, ICQ, MSN, LiveMessenger, Jabber, Yahoo, Google Talk, and MySpace. It supports Group Chats in Skype, AIM, ICQ and Neighbors.
New features include setting up multiple accounts per service, typing notifications, iCloud sync and beep mobile-to-mobile messenger alerts. If you forget your iOS device at home, you are always able to log on from a computer using their website. IM + Pro 7 is available in the App Store for $4.99.
Facebook for iOS received an update today bringing the ability to edit posts and comments directly from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Previously, this feature was only available from the desktop version of the website. The update also brings another desktop feature: the ability to add photos to comments. All in all, version 6.6 appears to bring the app closer to feature parity with the desktop, but a few of these features like status and comment editing appear to be absent from the iPad app for now. Read the full change log and see examples below: Expand Expanding Close
Screenshots of upcoming Facebook Graph Search for iPhone update
Facebook is preparing a pair of major updates for its most popular iPhone applications, according to a source familiar with the apps. Facebook is testing an updated version of its main iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch client that integrates the social network’s powerful Graph Search tool. Graph Search is a feature that allows Facebook users to locate fellow users that have similar interests. For example, a Graph Search user can search for all friends who “Like” a certain Facebook page, musician, or movie. The upcoming app update incorporates Graph Search into the Facebook app’s main search bar.
In addition to the aforementioned update to the main Facebook for iOS application, Facebook is preparing a redesign of its Messenger app. Facebook is said to be internally testing two new versions of Messenger. The first version is said to look largely similar to the Messages application bundled into iOS. That version includes green interface elements. The second version in testing, which the source says is more likely to ship to end-users, is heavy on white space and very fitting for iOS 7’s design. It is not filled with blue interface elements like the new Facebook app. The new app has tabs for active/recent chats, contacts, and settings across the bottom…
While it previously announced plans to bring advertising to its mobile app sometime this year, Instagram officially announced today that it will be rolling out both photo and video ads from select brands in the coming months. The company said that the ads will begin showing up for users in the US initially and feature “a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community.”
Our aim is to make any advertisements you see feel as natural to Instagram as the photos and videos many of you already enjoy from your favorite brands. After all, our team doesn’t just build Instagram, we use it each and every day. We want these ads to be enjoyable and creative in much the same way you see engaging, high-quality ads when you flip through your favorite magazine.
Instagram noted in its announcement that it will allow users to hide ads that they don’t like and also provide feedback to help improve the experience over time.
Last month we reported that Facebook was beginning to test silent, auto-playing video ads in the News Feed, and since Instagram already auto-plays videos, it’s likely its ads will be similar to those being tested with a limited number of users on Facebook:
Sync.ME, a third-party contacts app for iOS with over 8 million downloads, just rolled out an interesting feature that brings new functionality to Apple’s own Contacts app on iOS. As pictured above, the latest version of the Sync.ME app now adds a “Widgets” link within Apple’s Contacts app that provides quick access to social network profiles for contacts and a number of other handy functions for quickly sharing content.
They are called ‘Widgets’, but in reality they are essentially quick links to profiles on social networks and other functions of the Sync.ME app. The interesting aspect is the fact that you’ll no longer have to launch the Sync.ME app and can now access all of the “Widgets” functionality from directly within the native iOS Contacts app.
On top of links to the contact’s Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn profiles, you’ll also find the ability to place and record calls over VoIP, quickly capture a business card using your camera, jot down a note, or add a reminder to your calendar for a specific contact. Other widgets will allow you to quickly share your location or a photo over iMessage or SMS, as well as post customized greeting cards directly to a contact’s timeline.
To accomplish this, the app appears to use the AddressBook API’s in a novel way that allows the app to automatically add a URL into a custom field for contact cards. That URL opens the “Widgets” section for any particular contact within Sync.ME, but the entire experience feels rather seamless. Here’s how to set it up: Expand Expanding Close
Facebook announced on its blog today that it’s rolling out a new update for iOS 7 (alongside just about every other developer today) that brings a brand new iOS 7 style design to the app. On top of a lighter color palette and the new iOS 7 translucent top bar, you’ll also now be able to “swipe from left to right to get back to News Feed” after tapping a story.
There are some other tweaks included in the update as well. The iPhone app, for example, now includes a new tab style menu along the bottom of the screen. The new menu design is something Facebook has actually been testing with many users in recent months, although not with the new iOS 7 design included in today’s update. Facebook is hoping the new menu makes it “easier to switch from News Feed to your friend requests, messages or notifications.”
Apple announced last week that Burberry would be capturing its London fashion show that took place yesterday entirely with its new iPhone 5s, and today Burberry has posted the full video of the event. There’s no mention whether or not the full 15 minute long video above has been retouched after being shot on the iPhone, but Apple and Burberry say the entire show, including photos and video, was “shot exclusively on iPhone 5s.”
We’ve seen a few shots leak throughout the week already, but Pocket-Lint has an inside look at how Burberry’s photographers shot the show using 14 different iPhones and an interview with Burberry’s creative director Christopher Bailey: Expand Expanding Close
Apple announced on Tuesday that iOS 7 will be publicly available on September 18th. The revamped OS moves completely away from the realistic designs of the past six generations, dropping almost all “artificial shadows” (as Apple SVP Craig Federighi called them), gloss, and even button borders. Instead, the Jony Ive-inspired interface features an entirely rethought design language that focuses heavily on large icons, lightweight fonts, whitespace, transparency, and conservative use of color.
We previously took a look at what some of Apple’s own in-house apps could look like when redesigned for iOS 7. During Apple’s September 10th event, Federighi flashed up a slide displaying the upcoming iOS 7 updates for many third-party applications. None of the apps were labeled, but we’ve tracked down names for most of them.
Facebook announced today that its beginning to test auto-playing videos in News Feed for its mobile apps. Videos in the News Feed will automatically begin playing as users scroll, but they’ll be silent until users tap to switch to a full-screen view with sound:
Today we’re starting to test an easier way to watch videos on Facebook. Now when you see a video in News Feed, it comes to life and starts playing. Videos initially play silently, and if you want you can tap to play with sound in full screen. Scroll past if you don’t want to watch.
It didn’t mention specific platforms, but did post the image of its iOS app above. Facebook’s Instagram app, which implemented new Vine-like video features back in June, already auto-plays videos by default as users scroll.
The company’s blog post notes that the silent, auto-playing videos in Facebook will include videos posted by individuals, musicians, and bands initially, but it does have plans to “explore how to bring this to marketers in the future.”
The new feature will be rolling out as a limited test in the coming weeks through its mobile apps and “continue to roll out over time.”
After Unity announced in March that it was beginning to work with Facebook to help bring web games using the engine to the social network, Facebook announced today that it’s releasing a new SDK to bring 3D Unity games from Android, iOS, and the web to Facebook. The cross-platform SDK will also allow developers to easier integrate Facebook sharing and game invite features directly into their unity games across mobile devices and the web.
Facebook has a relevant and engaged audience of gamers that mobile developers can reach by publishing their games on Facebook, and the SDK makes bringing a mobile game to web as simple as writing one line of code. By filling out a few fields in the developer app and giving us the URL of your game object, you can bring your mobile game to a whole new audience of avid gamers on Facebook.
The SDK will also let Unity developers implement native dialogs for inviting friends, requests, and sharing through Facebook, and the company will be “helping more people find and play Unity games on Facebook by driving discovery of the Unity player with a custom install flow for the Unity plug-in.”
Before Dropbox became popular, there was iDisk, which was Apple’s cloud storage system. iDisk allowed you to store documents, pictures, QuickTime files, and PDFs in one cloud-based “drive.” This was accessible on all of your Apple products as well as at me.com on a PC. It was practically like having your most important files in Finder on your computer – but everywhere.
Then iCloud came out. iCloud dropped support of iDisk, which meant there was no longer a way to access all of your files in a Finder-like cloud system. This paved the way for third party apps like Dropbox to become even more popular.
Dropbox is free. Dropbox works on any platform: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage space for free and they offer incentives to increase your allocated amount of free storage space.
Tonight, the Facebook Pages Manager app has been updated to version 2.1 which includes the ability to upload multiple pictures per post, new Page creation right through the app, and improved insights.
The app is great for owners of Facebook Pages, as it makes it easy to quickly respond to comments and check up on statistics, and is available free in the App Store.
What’s New in Version 2.1
– Upload multiple photos for a single post
– Edit Page admins: add new admins for the Pages you manage
– Improved insights to make it easier to manage your Page
– Edit Page cover photo
– Create an event hosted by your Page (iPhone only)
– Create a new Page
– Bug fixes and performance updates
Taking advantage of the OpenTable service, visiting a restaurant’s page now shows available times and reservations and everything can be completed right inside the Facebook app.
Using their mobile devices, will be able to book tables via Facebook Pages for restaurants. The update represents a new way for people to discover and book great dining experiences, all within the Facebook mobile app. There’s no need to visit a separate mobile site or open a separate app.
The new feature will be available on the Facebook mobile Pages for more than 20,000 OpenTable restaurant customers across North America.
In addition, the update brings listings to the pages of primetime TV shows and movies:
Finding shows and movies on TV is getting easier as well. For people that use iOS, Facebook will display TV listing information on US primetime TV and movie Pages. Listings will be based on your current time zone and include the channel name, air time and a description of the show or movie playing, meaning that the listings that exist in cable box guides, magazines and newspapers are now conveniently located on the Facebook Pages of peoples’ favorite shows.
The update has also brought hashtag search to iOS.
What’s New in Version 6.4
• Search for hashtags or tap them in posts to see what other people are saying about a topic
• Make restaurant reservations directly on participating Pages in the US
• Faster loading and a cleaner design for timelines on iPad
• Fixed a bug that was causing some people to see red notification badges when there weren’t any new notifications
Smaller, private social network Pathhas announced the addition of 13 new API partners, including Pic Stitch, WordPress, Viddy, Over and several other notable apps. The company notes that the API will come to more applications over time, but they are starting out with partners of applications they love and find to be related to the philosophies of the app.
To start, we have hand-selected developers we admire for their innovation and quality, as well as a few that have been most requested by our users. From more workout moments, to photo moments, to thought moments, we have worked closely with these developers to ensure that sharing to Path is a seamless and beautiful experience.
Moving forward, we will continue to work with developers with whom we share values. In addition, we’ll continue to work closely with each developer to guarantee an integration that truly delights the user. Our current list of developers that will be able to share to Path are:
Photos & Video
Over
Viddy
PicMix
PicFrame
Pic Stitch
Pic Collage
papelook
Manga-Camera
Otaku Camera
Miil
Thoughts
WordPress
Holy Bible
Workouts
Strava Cycling
Nike+ Running
Nike+ FuelBand
Some of these are available today, others in the coming weeks. We invite you to download them and start sharing to Path!
Just a quick note that we’ve moved our comment system to WordPress. You can log in with your WordPress, Twitter or Facebook accounts and you will need manual approval by mods the first time you comment (so prepare to wait a few minutes/hours). Previous stories will continue to contain previous comment archives.
Why didn’t we go to Disqus or Livefyre? If it was only comments, we probably would have. But we’re building something kind of cool behind the scenes with WordPress and this is just the start.
As always, we read and appreciate your feedback and look forward to hearing your thoughts.
If This Then That (IFTTT) today launched an iPhone app version of its popular service for automating simple actions/services. The video above is a nice tutorial/overview of the service if you aren’t familiar. Channels are the services (like Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, as well as devices like Philips Hue, Belkin WeMo, and UP by Jawbone) and Recipes are the directives in IFTTT lingo.
Download the app and unlock three new Channels for iPhone: Contacts, Photos, and Reminders (with more to come). Create and use Recipes around the things you do on the go: snapping screenshots, adding new contacts, completing reminders, and organizing your photo albums.
The IFTTT team notes that they are adding new features all the time.
Facebook updated its iOS app today with the blue check marks next to names of verified celebrities, public figures and brands that it first rolled out on the desktop. Facebook started its verified profiles and pages for select celebrities, journalists, government officials, popular brands and businesses back in May. Like Twitter, Facebook automatically authenticates accounts with large audiences and adds a small blue checkmark next to their name in search results, timelines, and profile pages.
The updated app also includes performance enhancements for iPad and a “Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people.”
What’s New in Version 6.3
• Find verified celebrities, public figures and brands by looking for a blue check mark next to their names
• Improved places editing to fix categories, phone numbers and other info on iPad
• Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people
Other notable executive attendees include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sergey Bring and Larry Page, Disney CEO and Apple Directory Bob Iger, and News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch.
The conference is well-known as being a place where major deals, acquisitions, and partnerships will be formed. Time will tell if Cook plans to make any deals at this year’s event.
The final nail in the coffin of the Facebook phone seems to have been hammered into place as AT&T has sold the last of it’s HTC First handsets and has no plans to purchase any more, reports CNET.
AT&T had earlier denied that any plans had been made to discontinue the handset, but there had seemed little doubt about the handset’s future after the carrier dropped the price from $99 to 99 cents. Even Facebook itself went as far as telling users that the front-end could be switched off … Expand Expanding Close
Yesterday, Facebook unveiled its updated Instagram apps for iOS and Android that now include a new Vine-like video feature for creating 3-15 second long videos with, of course, Instagram-style filters. While there has been some backlash over the decision from a small group of users, it appears that a nice chunk of the service’s now 130 million strong user base are embracing the new video features. As noted by CNET, Facebook has since confirmed that over 5 million videos have been uploaded in the 24 hours since the updated apps were released.
Facebook also notes that Instagram was seeing around 40 hours of video uploaded per minute during the NBA Finals:
At peak, Instagram users uploaded 40 hours of video per minute. The climactic moment came Thursday night as the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs during the NBA Finals, the spokesperson said.
Your follow count is dropping fast, but who are the ones that are unfollowing you? Was it spammers who don’t matter or was it Scoble who grew tired of your tweets? With the free Friend Check app, you can find out.
Once you install the app and give it permission to access your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram account, it will take a snapshot of your followers, mutual, and following lists. At any time, you can create a new snapshot and compare that to the previous one. The screenshot above shows the exact snapshot where fellow 9to5Mac reporter Zac Hall decided to unfollow me (only to test the app, of course!).
The only “con” I’ve found with this app is that they give you step-by-step instructions for literally everything the first time you use it. It is tiresome at first, but from then on it’s smooth-sailing unfollower goodness.
Friend Check is currently free to download in the App Store. You can add one account of each service or pay the 99 cents in-app purchase to enable multi-account support.
Today, live from Facebook’s press event, the company just announced that its bringing video to Instagram with a brand new set of features. In what appears to be direct competition for Twitter’s rapidly growing Vine video sharing app, Instagram will soon allow users to share similar short video clips. On stage, Instagram demoed an updated iOS app that now includes a button for video capture that will allow users to create 3-15 second long videos using multiple clips.
It also announced that it has partnered with an artist to create 13 brand new custom filters specifically for video and a handful of leading experts to integrate “mind blowing” cinematic video stabilization features (something that isn’t too great in a lot of other apps).
So what does this mean for your content? Nothing’s different from photos. We’re still committed to making sure you have control over all of your content. Only the people who you let see your photos will be able to see your videos. And as with photos, you own your videos.
As for where videos will appear, like photos, Instagram says “your video will appear on your profile and in feed. If your visibility is set to private, only your approved followers can see videos or photos you share.”
The video feature will also be available on the web, allowing users to view Instagram videos in any browser without having to use the apps. Expand Expanding Close
Facebook updated its iPhone and iPad app today with a couple new features. Users can now attach a number of different emoticons to status updates organized into several categories based on emotion, content, and location. For example, the “Feeling” category will allow users to attach an emoticon next to a message like “Im feeling happy,” while the “Watching” and “Listening to” sections let users link to Facebook profiles associated with content they want to share.
You can also now start a conversation with photos you’ve received in messages and Facebook says the updated app includes the ability to “Easily change who can see something you’ve shared.”
What’s New in Version 6.2
• Add icons to status updates to show what you’re feeling, reading, watching and more (English only)
• Easily change who can see something you’ve shared
• Start a new conversation with photos you receive in messages
• Bug fixes
Facebook
Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018
Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. It also averages 1.52 billion daily active users as of December 2018.
Facebook was launched in February of 2004 (as The Facebook) for college students and then rapidly grew as it opened the service to more than those with a .edu email address. It was the subject of the 2010 movie called “The Social Network“.
In 2012, the social media giant offered its IPO and Facebook earned the title of the fastest company to grow to $250 billion market capitalization in the S&P 500.
In recent years, the company has been at the center of attention related to its role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, it’s been a continual stream of negative news for the company. They recently had all of their enterprise certificates for iOS revoked after it was discovered they had repackaged Onavo VPN as a ‘Research’ app and were paying teens $20/month to sneakily sideload it.
In early 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a “privacy shift” for the company. He outlined a detailed vision for the future of the social media platform, specifically its messaging services. Notably, in contrast to how the company operates today, he says the future of the platform will be privacy-focused with features like end-to-end encryption, interoperability between its various apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reducing how long it holds data, secure storage of personal data, and more.
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Facebook iOS app now lets iPad users edit posts
Back in October Facebook added the ability to edit posts and comments and also view all of your changes. However, at the time the feature was only available to iPhone users. Today iPad users can finally edit posts too with an update to the Facebook iOS app that just rolled out on the App Store.
Also new in version 6.7 of the app is new languages for icons, but Facebook doesn’t list the specific languages in its release notes.
The Facebook app is available on the App Store for free.
What’s New in Version 6.7
• Now in additional languages: Use icons to share how you’re feeling and what you’re doing
• Now on iPad: Edit your posts and tap to see all your changes
• Bug fixes
Facebook announces it will revamp Messenger apps with new design, phone number integration
In line with my report from earlier this month, Facebook has announced that it will be revamping its Android and iOS Messenger apps. As we previously noted, the new apps have an entirely new design that is flatter and distinct from the standard Facebook application on Android and iOS. The Verge was given a preview of the Android version has some new features besides the new design:
The highlight feature, however, of the new apps is phone number integration. The repot summarizes the functionality as a WhatsApp competitor:
The Android version is available as a test with a limited number of users beginning today and iOS in the near-future. Also incoming, we previously reported, are updates to the main Facebook app that integrate Graph Search, but Facebook has not confirmed this as of yet.
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Popular universal IM app IM+ Pro redesigned for iOS 7, adds sync & typing status
IM + Pro 7,a feature-rich messenger app, has been redesigned to reflect iOS 7’s user-interface style. Today’s update also adds several new features and become a universal app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
It allows users free texting, sending photos, videos and voice messages. It supports a dozen IM services including Skype, Facebook, Twitter DM, AIM, iChat, ICQ, MSN, LiveMessenger, Jabber, Yahoo, Google Talk, and MySpace. It supports Group Chats in Skype, AIM, ICQ and Neighbors.
New features include setting up multiple accounts per service, typing notifications, iCloud sync and beep mobile-to-mobile messenger alerts. If you forget your iOS device at home, you are always able to log on from a computer using their website. IM + Pro 7 is available in the App Store for $4.99.
Facebook for iOS updated with comment editing, photos, and more
Facebook for iOS received an update today bringing the ability to edit posts and comments directly from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Previously, this feature was only available from the desktop version of the website. The update also brings another desktop feature: the ability to add photos to comments. All in all, version 6.6 appears to bring the app closer to feature parity with the desktop, but a few of these features like status and comment editing appear to be absent from the iPad app for now. Read the full change log and see examples below:
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Facebook prepares major updates to iPhone apps as top engineer returns to Apple
Screenshots of upcoming Facebook Graph Search for iPhone update
Facebook is preparing a pair of major updates for its most popular iPhone applications, according to a source familiar with the apps. Facebook is testing an updated version of its main iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch client that integrates the social network’s powerful Graph Search tool. Graph Search is a feature that allows Facebook users to locate fellow users that have similar interests. For example, a Graph Search user can search for all friends who “Like” a certain Facebook page, musician, or movie. The upcoming app update incorporates Graph Search into the Facebook app’s main search bar.
In addition to the aforementioned update to the main Facebook for iOS application, Facebook is preparing a redesign of its Messenger app. Facebook is said to be internally testing two new versions of Messenger. The first version is said to look largely similar to the Messages application bundled into iOS. That version includes green interface elements. The second version in testing, which the source says is more likely to ship to end-users, is heavy on white space and very fitting for iOS 7’s design. It is not filled with blue interface elements like the new Facebook app. The new app has tabs for active/recent chats, contacts, and settings across the bottom…
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Instagram rolling out photo & video ads in the U.S. within a couple of months
Instagram noted in its announcement that it will allow users to hide ads that they don’t like and also provide feedback to help improve the experience over time.
Last month we reported that Facebook was beginning to test silent, auto-playing video ads in the News Feed, and since Instagram already auto-plays videos, it’s likely its ads will be similar to those being tested with a limited number of users on Facebook:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iCH9ReoH_I
Sync.ME adds ‘Widgets’ to Apple’s iOS Contacts app
Sync.ME, a third-party contacts app for iOS with over 8 million downloads, just rolled out an interesting feature that brings new functionality to Apple’s own Contacts app on iOS. As pictured above, the latest version of the Sync.ME app now adds a “Widgets” link within Apple’s Contacts app that provides quick access to social network profiles for contacts and a number of other handy functions for quickly sharing content.
They are called ‘Widgets’, but in reality they are essentially quick links to profiles on social networks and other functions of the Sync.ME app. The interesting aspect is the fact that you’ll no longer have to launch the Sync.ME app and can now access all of the “Widgets” functionality from directly within the native iOS Contacts app.
On top of links to the contact’s Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn profiles, you’ll also find the ability to place and record calls over VoIP, quickly capture a business card using your camera, jot down a note, or add a reminder to your calendar for a specific contact. Other widgets will allow you to quickly share your location or a photo over iMessage or SMS, as well as post customized greeting cards directly to a contact’s timeline.
To accomplish this, the app appears to use the AddressBook API’s in a novel way that allows the app to automatically add a URL into a custom field for contact cards. That URL opens the “Widgets” section for any particular contact within Sync.ME, but the entire experience feels rather seamless. Here’s how to set it up:
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Facebook updates iOS app with new look for iOS 7
Facebook announced on its blog today that it’s rolling out a new update for iOS 7 (alongside just about every other developer today) that brings a brand new iOS 7 style design to the app. On top of a lighter color palette and the new iOS 7 translucent top bar, you’ll also now be able to “swipe from left to right to get back to News Feed” after tapping a story.
There are some other tweaks included in the update as well. The iPhone app, for example, now includes a new tab style menu along the bottom of the screen. The new menu design is something Facebook has actually been testing with many users in recent months, although not with the new iOS 7 design included in today’s update. Facebook is hoping the new menu makes it “easier to switch from News Feed to your friend requests, messages or notifications.”
The new Facebook app for iOS has begun rolling out to the App Store. A video of the new design in action is below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnXggjgWC3U&feature=youtu.be
Watch the full Burberry London fashion show shot entirely with an iPhone 5s (Video)
Apple announced last week that Burberry would be capturing its London fashion show that took place yesterday entirely with its new iPhone 5s, and today Burberry has posted the full video of the event. There’s no mention whether or not the full 15 minute long video above has been retouched after being shot on the iPhone, but Apple and Burberry say the entire show, including photos and video, was “shot exclusively on iPhone 5s.”
We’ve seen a few shots leak throughout the week already, but Pocket-Lint has an inside look at how Burberry’s photographers shot the show using 14 different iPhones and an interview with Burberry’s creative director Christopher Bailey:
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A look at what some high-profile apps will look like when iOS 7 hits
Click for a larger view.
Apple announced on Tuesday that iOS 7 will be publicly available on September 18th. The revamped OS moves completely away from the realistic designs of the past six generations, dropping almost all “artificial shadows” (as Apple SVP Craig Federighi called them), gloss, and even button borders. Instead, the Jony Ive-inspired interface features an entirely rethought design language that focuses heavily on large icons, lightweight fonts, whitespace, transparency, and conservative use of color.
We previously took a look at what some of Apple’s own in-house apps could look like when redesigned for iOS 7. During Apple’s September 10th event, Federighi flashed up a slide displaying the upcoming iOS 7 updates for many third-party applications. None of the apps were labeled, but we’ve tracked down names for most of them.
The apps featured are:
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Facebook testing silent, auto-playing videos in News Feed for its mobile apps
Facebook announced today that its beginning to test auto-playing videos in News Feed for its mobile apps. Videos in the News Feed will automatically begin playing as users scroll, but they’ll be silent until users tap to switch to a full-screen view with sound:
It didn’t mention specific platforms, but did post the image of its iOS app above. Facebook’s Instagram app, which implemented new Vine-like video features back in June, already auto-plays videos by default as users scroll.
The company’s blog post notes that the silent, auto-playing videos in Facebook will include videos posted by individuals, musicians, and bands initially, but it does have plans to “explore how to bring this to marketers in the future.”
The new feature will be rolling out as a limited test in the coming weeks through its mobile apps and “continue to roll out over time.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iCH9ReoH_I
Facebook releases new SDK to bring 3D iOS & Android Unity games to its 260 million gamers
After Unity announced in March that it was beginning to work with Facebook to help bring web games using the engine to the social network, Facebook announced today that it’s releasing a new SDK to bring 3D Unity games from Android, iOS, and the web to Facebook. The cross-platform SDK will also allow developers to easier integrate Facebook sharing and game invite features directly into their unity games across mobile devices and the web.
The SDK will also let Unity developers implement native dialogs for inviting friends, requests, and sharing through Facebook, and the company will be “helping more people find and play Unity games on Facebook by driving discovery of the Unity player with a custom install flow for the Unity plug-in.”
Facebook noted that a few games, including Cmune’s UberStrike, Madfinger’s Shadowgun:Deadzone, and Nival’s King’s Bounty: Legions, are already utilizing the new SDK.
The Facebook SDK for Unity is available here.
How-to: Setup and use Dropbox to manage and share photos, files
Before Dropbox became popular, there was iDisk, which was Apple’s cloud storage system. iDisk allowed you to store documents, pictures, QuickTime files, and PDFs in one cloud-based “drive.” This was accessible on all of your Apple products as well as at me.com on a PC. It was practically like having your most important files in Finder on your computer – but everywhere.
Then iCloud came out. iCloud dropped support of iDisk, which meant there was no longer a way to access all of your files in a Finder-like cloud system. This paved the way for third party apps like Dropbox to become even more popular.
Dropbox is free. Dropbox works on any platform: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage space for free and they offer incentives to increase your allocated amount of free storage space.
There are two different ways to set up Dropbox:
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Facebook Pages Manager app updated with multi-photo posts and other new features
Tonight, the Facebook Pages Manager app has been updated to version 2.1 which includes the ability to upload multiple pictures per post, new Page creation right through the app, and improved insights.
The app is great for owners of Facebook Pages, as it makes it easy to quickly respond to comments and check up on statistics, and is available free in the App Store.
Facebook update brings restaurant reservations and TV listings to mobile apps; Path adds 13 API partners
As announced on the Facebook for Business news blog, the social network has added new features in an update to their mobile applications today.
Taking advantage of the OpenTable service, visiting a restaurant’s page now shows available times and reservations and everything can be completed right inside the Facebook app.
In addition, the update brings listings to the pages of primetime TV shows and movies:
The update has also brought hashtag search to iOS.
Housecleaning: We’ve moved to WordPress comments
Just a quick note that we’ve moved our comment system to WordPress. You can log in with your WordPress, Twitter or Facebook accounts and you will need manual approval by mods the first time you comment (so prepare to wait a few minutes/hours). Previous stories will continue to contain previous comment archives.
Why didn’t we go to Disqus or Livefyre? If it was only comments, we probably would have. But we’re building something kind of cool behind the scenes with WordPress and this is just the start.
As always, we read and appreciate your feedback and look forward to hearing your thoughts.
If This Then That (IFTTT) launches iOS app for automating service directives
If This Then That (IFTTT) today launched an iPhone app version of its popular service for automating simple actions/services. The video above is a nice tutorial/overview of the service if you aren’t familiar. Channels are the services (like Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, as well as devices like Philips Hue, Belkin WeMo, and UP by Jawbone) and Recipes are the directives in IFTTT lingo.
The IFTTT team notes that they are adding new features all the time.
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Facebook iOS app updated with check marks for verified celebrities, public figures & brands
The updated app also includes performance enhancements for iPad and a “Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people.”
What’s New in Version 6.3
• Find verified celebrities, public figures and brands by looking for a blue check mark next to their names
• Improved places editing to fix categories, phone numbers and other info on iPad
• Fix for a problem that was causing News Feed to load slowly for some people
Once again, Tim Cook to attend Sun Valley conference for tech/media execs
Apple CEO Tim Cook will attend this year’s Sun Valley conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho, according to a report from Reuters. This is not unprecedented as Cook made a surprise appearance at the conference last year.
Other notable executive attendees include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sergey Bring and Larry Page, Disney CEO and Apple Directory Bob Iger, and News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch.
The conference is well-known as being a place where major deals, acquisitions, and partnerships will be formed. Time will tell if Cook plans to make any deals at this year’s event.
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Facebook phone experiment over as AT&T clears stock and nobody else steps forward
The final nail in the coffin of the Facebook phone seems to have been hammered into place as AT&T has sold the last of it’s HTC First handsets and has no plans to purchase any more, reports CNET.
AT&T had earlier denied that any plans had been made to discontinue the handset, but there had seemed little doubt about the handset’s future after the carrier dropped the price from $99 to 99 cents. Even Facebook itself went as far as telling users that the front-end could be switched off …
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Instagram hits 5M video uploads in first 24 hours, 40 hours per minute during NBA Finals
Yesterday, Facebook unveiled its updated Instagram apps for iOS and Android that now include a new Vine-like video feature for creating 3-15 second long videos with, of course, Instagram-style filters. While there has been some backlash over the decision from a small group of users, it appears that a nice chunk of the service’s now 130 million strong user base are embracing the new video features. As noted by CNET, Facebook has since confirmed that over 5 million videos have been uploaded in the 24 hours since the updated apps were released.
Facebook also notes that Instagram was seeing around 40 hours of video uploaded per minute during the NBA Finals:
Want to know who unfollowed or unfriended you? There’s an app for that.
That hurts, Zac.
Your follow count is dropping fast, but who are the ones that are unfollowing you? Was it spammers who don’t matter or was it Scoble who grew tired of your tweets? With the free Friend Check app, you can find out.
Once you install the app and give it permission to access your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram account, it will take a snapshot of your followers, mutual, and following lists. At any time, you can create a new snapshot and compare that to the previous one. The screenshot above shows the exact snapshot where fellow 9to5Mac reporter Zac Hall decided to unfollow me (only to test the app, of course!).
The only “con” I’ve found with this app is that they give you step-by-step instructions for literally everything the first time you use it. It is tiresome at first, but from then on it’s smooth-sailing unfollower goodness.
Friend Check is currently free to download in the App Store. You can add one account of each service or pay the 99 cents in-app purchase to enable multi-account support.
Facebook launches updated Instagram w/ 15 sec video clips, custom filters & cinematic stabilization
http://vimeo.com/68765934
Today, live from Facebook’s press event, the company just announced that its bringing video to Instagram with a brand new set of features. In what appears to be direct competition for Twitter’s rapidly growing Vine video sharing app, Instagram will soon allow users to share similar short video clips. On stage, Instagram demoed an updated iOS app that now includes a button for video capture that will allow users to create 3-15 second long videos using multiple clips.
It also announced that it has partnered with an artist to create 13 brand new custom filters specifically for video and a handful of leading experts to integrate “mind blowing” cinematic video stabilization features (something that isn’t too great in a lot of other apps).
As for where videos will appear, like photos, Instagram says “your video will appear on your profile and in feed. If your visibility is set to private, only your approved followers can see videos or photos you share.”
The video feature will also be available on the web, allowing users to view Instagram videos in any browser without having to use the apps.
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Facebook iOS app updated with emotions for status updates, better control over sharing
Facebook updated its iPhone and iPad app today with a couple new features. Users can now attach a number of different emoticons to status updates organized into several categories based on emotion, content, and location. For example, the “Feeling” category will allow users to attach an emoticon next to a message like “Im feeling happy,” while the “Watching” and “Listening to” sections let users link to Facebook profiles associated with content they want to share.
You can also now start a conversation with photos you’ve received in messages and Facebook says the updated app includes the ability to “Easily change who can see something you’ve shared.”
What’s New in Version 6.2
• Add icons to status updates to show what you’re feeling, reading, watching and more (English only)
• Easily change who can see something you’ve shared
• Start a new conversation with photos you receive in messages
• Bug fixes