Last week, Facebook released version 6.0 of its app for the iPhone and iPad. The update included two highly anticipated new features, Chat Heads and stickers, which the social network showed off at its ‘Home’ media event earlier this month.
Unfortunately, the two features are on a staggered rollout that Facebook said should be done “over the next few weeks,” so not everyone has them yet. But never fear. As usual, the jailbreak community has come up with an easy way around this… Read More
Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most interesting people for 2013 is packed with profiles of technology leaders. Apple design guru Jony Ive is among those listed, described as a Star Wars’ Obi-Wan leading a team of Jedi employees.
The thread of Apple’s innovation runs through other profiles, including Samsung’s CEO, who is viewed by a former executive of the iPhone maker as carrying on the tradition of Steve Jobs… Read More
The social networking giant Facebook yesterday at the Mobile Developer Conference in New York City updated its software development kit (SDK) for iOS developers with a new native Share Dialog that also supports photos, akin to the iOS 6 Share Sheet feature.
It lets iOS programmers write apps which enable users to share content to Facebook without leaving the app. Previously, sharing to Facebook in non-Facebook apps used to bring up a web page.
Facebook also rebuilt the Login Dialogs across mobile and web claiming a 20 percent speed increase and introduced other changes to the SDK… Read More
As we predicted, Chat Heads are coming to a jailbroken iPhone near you. Stride developer, Adam Bell, is currently hard at work on implementing Facebook’s Chat Head feature system-wide on iOS, and he’s made some great progress.
First posted on the Verge, Bell’s Chat Head integration with iOS looks to be coming along much faster than many anticipated. Take a look at a hands-on video inside. Read More
This is admittedly, a very rough demo, but it does give us a rough idea as to how Chat Heads might look on iOS. I’d say it’s only a matter of time before a jailbreak developer implements Facebook’s Chat Heads in some way, shape, or form throughout iOS.
What do you think? Perhaps it could be an extension of biteSMS, or maybe it could be a standalone feature? Whatever the case may be, I believe that the only variable here is time. Read More
As promised, the new Facebook version 6.0 update has just dropped on the App Store, bringing out a number of new features such as Chat Heads borrowed from Facebook Home for Android, a redesigned user interface on the iPad focused on the new News Feed which was announced in March, stickers in chat windows and more.
Get downloading and read the following one-line disclaimer from Facebook before you jump straight to the comments:
“Chat Heads and stickers will be available to everyone over the next few weeks”.
There, it’s a staggered roll-out, you’ve been warned… Read More
Chat Heads, the core feature of the new Facebook Home for Android, is coming to iPhone and iPad via an update to Facebook’s iOS client, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer and mobile head Cory Ondrejka announced at AllThingsD’s D: Dive into Mobile conference today.
Other new features have also been mentioned, including a new layout on iPad which takes into account March changes to Facebook’s News Feed.
As for Facebook Home, that application will see its first update on select Android smartphones from HTC and Samsung in “the second week of May”. Go past the fold for a nice Facebook 6.0 for iOS hands-on video… Read More
Facebook Home just landed on select Android devices so the social networking giant figured it should do a video to highlight some of the features of its controversial new UI overlay. A first-look clip, included right past the break, has Facebook’s Product Director Adam Mosseri discussing Chat Heads, Cover Feed and nice gestures and animations which let you stay on top of what your Facebook friends have been up to, no matter what app you happen to be using at any given moment… Read More
ShareNotes is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to share notes on Twitter and Facebook using iOS’ built in share sheet. The sheet is accessible via a tap on the share button in the Notes app, and it features two new buttons for Facebook and Twitter sharing once this tweak is installed.
The stock sharing options for notes are quite limited; you can only share notes via Mail or Messages. This jailbreak tweak opens things up a bit. Take a look inside for screenshots and more info… Read More
After years of rumors and speculation, Facebook finally announced its entry into the smartphone space last week. But it didn’t unveil its own hardware, or operating system, like a lot of folks were expecting. Instead, it showed off Facebook Home, a software shell for Android.
As you’d expect, feedback following the announcement has been filled with mixed emotions. Luckily, Facebook lifted the embargo on tech journalists last night, allowing them to publish their full reviews of Home to help give folks a better idea of what it’s all about… Read More
Facebook has found a new home on Android, so to speak, as the social networking giant at a news conference earlier today unveiled a Home launcher, a new feature for select Android devices which marries cherry-picked Facebook applications to a beautiful user interface described as putting “people first in an app first world.”
Alongside the new software shell, Mark Zuckerberg and HTC’s Peter Chou announced the HTC First, an Android smartphone born out of the collaboration between Facebook and HTC which runs the Home interface. Zuckerberg confirmed his company will be rolling out the new launcher to select Android devices beginning April 12, as a free app download from Google’s Play Store.
But what about iOS? iPhone users are unfortunately shut out. Initially hiding behind ‘Apple’s walled-garden’ argument, Zuckerberg in wide-ranging interviews with Forbes and Wired.com shed more light on the matter… Read More
Facebook’s media event just ended and as expected, most of what was talked about had to do with a new Facebook experience on Android. The social network unveiled a new ‘people first’ launcher, or shell if you will, for Android devices called Facebook Home.
But software wasn’t the only topic of discussion today. Right before ending the press conference, Mark Zuckerberg pulled a Steve Jobs’-like ‘one more thing,’ and called HTC’s CEO Peter Chou on stage to introduce the long-rumored HTC First smartphone… Read More
Facebook just finished up its media event, and to our surprise, most of the discussion was not about a new smartphone. Instead, it was about Facebook’s new ‘Home’ launcher for Android devices that promises to put “people first in an app first world.”
Home’s not a forked version of Android, but rather a deep software integration with Google’s OS that features a family of Facebook apps and a gorgeous UI. It changes the look of everything, from the Lock and Home screen to Messaging and more… Read More
The average U.S. smartphone or tablet user spends two hours and 38 minutes on their device, the majority inside an app.
Just over half an hour is spent inside a mobile browser, while more than two hours each day is spent inside apps, such as Facebook.
According to the mobile analytics firm Flurry, games top the list of most-used apps, while Facebook is threatening to overtake Safari, Apple’s dominant web browser, Opera Software’s Opera Mini and other popular mobile web browsers as the most-popular way to access social and other content on the web… Read More
With more than 6 different games from the Angry Birds franchise bouncing around in the App Store, we probably didn’t need another one. But we’re getting one. Rovio announced today that its bringing its Facebook hit ‘Angry Birds Friends’ to iOS.
‘Angry Birds Friends’ combines classic Angry Birds gameplay with Facebook integration and other social features. Players can challenge their Facebook friends in weekly tournaments, collect daily awards and send and receive gifts of power-ups… Read More
A new image of what is purportedly the upcoming Facebook phone has been leaked on Twitter. The image, first posted by @evleaks, shows off a generic looking Android device made by HTC.
It’s widely expected that Facebook will announce its first real foray into the hardware business on Thursday, this, by means of a partnership with handset manufacturer HTC. Last week, Facebook sent out invites that stated: “Come see our new home on Android.” It looks like that was more than just an invitation, as it also reveals the purported name of the device: Facebook Home. Read More
Just a little bit ago, Facebook sent out press invitations for a media event next week. The keynote will take place at 10:00am PST on Thursday, April 4, at the company’s headquarters on 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park. What is it going to be talking about? Maybe its new smartphone.
Yes, I know. We’ve heard this rumor enough now that it’s almost meaningless. But it sounds like it’s for real this time. A new report says the handset, which is being built by HTC, has a 4.3-inch display, an iPhone-like Home button and is running a forked version of Android… Read More
Obviously, home field advantage doesn’t hold sway when it comes to app stores. That’s the message from a new report showing Google the leading publisher on Apple’s App Store while Facebook downloads outnumbered Google on the Mountain View, California company’s own marketplace.
Although Apple led apps downloaded from its App Store in December, iOS video and mapping apps from Android’s Google topped its smartphone rival during January and February. Meanwhile, a Facebook app grabbed the top spot on Google Play, reinforcing the importance of social networking downloads in generating app store revenue… Read More
The social networking giant Facebook back in early-January updated its free Messenger app with the ability to share audio snippets, having added that feature to its official iOS client, also a free download, later that month. Initially only available to Canadian and North American users, today the company has expanded in-app voice calling to people in the United Kingdom in the form of a quiet backend update.
The handy feature should presumably become available to UK users through the company’s main iOS client at a later stage as well… Read More
