Tag: social-network

Facebook eyes ride-sharing feature for events pages

Facebook has been ramping up its Events pages as of late, and a recent patent application shows another use for those listings. In the paperwork, the social network explains how Events pages can also serve as a hub for ride sharing. Instead of the usual Going, Not Going, and Interested RSVPs on an event’s page, you would have the option to say whether or not you plan to drive. If you do, you can input details as to how many passengers you can take, if you just want to offer a ride to friends and what time you’ll be leaving. As you might expect, Facebook can pair passengers and drivers based on personal details like common interests, where you went to school and more to decrease the chances of awkward silence. After your pals (or soon-to-be pals) are all locked in, you’ll receive navigation info to guide you to the pickup spots. While a patent app doesn’t mean the company will actually implement the feature, this makes a lot of sense for Facebook. Using the Events pages as a primary interface could allow the folks in Melo Park to include ride sharing and carpooling relatively easily. For now, though, you’ll have to rely on hailing an Uber through Messenger . Via: Tech Insider Source: USPTO

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Facebook eyes ride-sharing feature for events pages

‘Final Fantasy XV’ hits the road in 2016

Final Fantasy XV has been in development for what seems like an eternity. But being New Year’s Eve (or Day, depending on where you live), changes are afoot: Final Fantasy XV and its all-dude bro’d-trip will release in 2016. The news comes by way of a Square Enix blog post written by none other than the game’s director, Hajime Tabata. “In development, previous phases required wisdom and strength, ” he writes. “However, moving toward the final phase will focus on effort and willpower.” Sure! He goes on to vow that every developer working on it will work their hardest right to the end. “We will do everything we can do to finish FFXV to create an experience we are incredibly proud of and one that you will enjoy and treasure.” In case you’re feeling celebratory, you could always fire up the demo from earlier this year, or, barring that, watch us do the same in the video below. Source: Square Enix

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‘Final Fantasy XV’ hits the road in 2016

Facebook reportedly launching a standalone news app next week

According to Financial Times , Facebook will be releasing yet another standalone app. The yet-to-be-released Notify app will feature news from media partners like The Washington Post, CBS and Vogue . Users will receive alerts when one of the outlets publishes an article and it becomes available within the app. Unlike Instant Articles — which embed articles within the main Facebook app — Notify will be a one-trick pony. Both the app and in-app features are meant to reduce the load time of stories and give the social network the opportunity to become the go-to destination for news from multiple sources. If the app does emerge from the company next week, it’ll join a growing number of single-use apps the company has released over the years including, Messenger , Poke, Camera , Rooms , Slingshot , Groups and Pages . [Image credit: Shutterstock] Source: Financial Times

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Facebook reportedly launching a standalone news app next week

Facebook’s 360-degree videos bring immersive content to your News Feed

Always trying new things to improve your News Feed browsing , Facebook now supports more immersive videos . The social network announced that 360 video will begin rolling out to that portion of the site today. Right now, they’re only viewable on the web and Android with support for iOS “in the coming months.” The more immersive videos on Facebook work similarly to what you’ve probably seen on YouTube . As the footage plays, you can use your cursor to click and move around the video on the desktop. With a mobile device, you can use your finger to navigate around the visuals or you can simply move the device itself to change perspective. This new addition also paves the way for VR content to hit the News Feed when devices like the Oculus Rift and PS VR head to consumers. There are a number of companies already pushing footage to Facebook as part of the new initiative, including Star Wars , Discovery , VICE , GoPro , Saturday Night Live and LeBron James & Uninterrupted . As you might expect, that first entry from Disney and LucasFilm is a 360-degree promo for Star Wars: The Force Awakens . And yes, we’ve embedded it down below for easy access. Facebook says the new videos aren’t just for publishers, as you’ll be able to post your multi-angle footage as well — so long as you have a multi-camera rig to proper capture it, of course. Speed across the Jakku desert from Star Wars: The Force Awakens with this immersive 360 experience created exclusively for Facebook. Posted by Star Wars on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 Source: Facebook

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Facebook’s 360-degree videos bring immersive content to your News Feed

Coder wins a thousand Twitter contests using a bot

You’ve probably seen “retweet to win” contests on Twitter, and maybe even won a t-shirt, concert tickets or marshmallows . But computer engineer Hunter Scott completely automated the idea and created a bot that entered every Twitter contest it could find — 165, 000 in total. As a result, he claims to have won four contests a day for nine months, for a total haul of over a thousand prizes . A lot of that swag was terrible, and a lot of it he couldn’t accept. But the interesting part was how he allegedly managed to beat Twitter’s system. The most difficult part of this project was preventing the bot from getting banned by Twitter. Scott said that “the most difficult part of this project was preventing the bot from getting banned by Twitter.” The social network has limits in place to stop such activities: unless you have a high follower count, you can only follow up to 2, 000 people yourself, for instance. At the same time, you can’t follow and unfollow users too rapidly or retweet too often. Luckily, Scott’s Python script was able to balance all that and follow every single contest it found. He said his win rate was “pretty miserable” considering the low quality of the prizes. He couldn’t claim the best one, a $4, 000 trip to New York’s fashion week because of taxes and fact that he didn’t live near New York. Nevertheless, he was fond of a few them, especially a cowboy hat autographed by actors in a Mexican soap opera. “It really embodies the totally random outcome of these contests, ” he said. Scott never revealed the name of his Twitter bot, so we’ve reached out to verify his claims — but the prizes appear to check out. Filed under: Internet Comments Source: Hunter Scott Tags: contests, HunterScott, Python, retweet, Twitter, Twitter bot

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Coder wins a thousand Twitter contests using a bot

Facebook’s Testing Online Shops Embedded Into Business Pages

Forget the Like button: Facebook wants you to hit the Buy button instead. Buzzfeed reports that Zuckerberg & C0. is testing new, miniature e-commerce sites that are embedded within the Facebook pages of retailers. Read more…

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Facebook’s Testing Online Shops Embedded Into Business Pages

Uh Oh, GIFs Finally Work on Facebook

Here’s some news: You can now embed GIFs on Facebook. Well, technically, you can post a link to a GIF, and Facebook will produce the animation, just like pretty much every other social network’s been doing for years. Read more…

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Uh Oh, GIFs Finally Work on Facebook

Hidden Message in Apple Transparency Reports Suggest New NSA Warrants

It’s not what Apple’s most recent transparency reports say that has activists concerned—rather, it’s what’s missing. Because the sudden omission of a mere two sentences essentially translates to Apple saying that yes, they’ve now been subjected to the Patriot Act’s demands . Read more…

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Hidden Message in Apple Transparency Reports Suggest New NSA Warrants

This Synthetic Material Changes Color and Texture Like Octopus Skin

When it comes to camouflage, we lowly humans are far behind the cephalopod. Octopus, squid, and cuttlefish have the amazing ability to change color or texture —going from scarlet red to bone white, bumpy to smooth in just seconds. But we’re making progress. Scientists at MIT and Duke have created a new stretchy camouflage skin inspired by these creatures. Read more…

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This Synthetic Material Changes Color and Texture Like Octopus Skin