Apple to begin notifying users of info requests from law enforcement

By Cody Lee on May 2, 2014

According to a new report from The Washington Post tonight, Apple will join Google and other high-profile companies in updating their privacy policy to routinely notify users when a government or law enforcement agency requests information on them.

The move should appease user privacy rights activists, who believe it’s unlawful for a government agency to have the power to access user data so discretely. The Justice Department, however, is concerned that the new routine could threaten investigations… Read More

 

Facebook unveils: Anonymous Login, ad network, mobile Like and much more

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 30, 2014

Facebook is holding its f8 developer conference in San Francisco today, with the CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg having taken the stage to share a whole bunch of interesting feature and platform announcements meant to empower programmers to build more engaging apps and help take the platform to the next level.

The social networking behemoth has recently entered fitness-tracking space by acquiring the popular Moves app and now claims 1.3 billion monthly active users.

Although the figure eclipses Instagram, WhatsApp and Twitter monthly actives combined – Instagram crossed 200 million monthly users and WhatsApp has half a billion monthly actives – Facebook remains laser-focused on reducing friction when it comes to sharing data between apps, liking stuff on mobile, jumping between mobile apps and the web, serving more relevant advertising in way more places than before and more… Read More

 

How to access the internal settings for the Facebook iOS app

By Jeff Benjamin on Apr 29, 2014

Feeling a little sneaky? Want to access Facebook’s internal settings for its iOS app? If you’re jailbroken, it’s extremely easy to gain access by means of a handy new jailbreak tweak.

The aptly entitled Facebook Internal Settings is a brand new jailbreak tweak that just landed on Cydia’s BigBoss repo. This free tweak makes accessing the super-secret (and super-confusing) internal settings a walk in the park. Have a look at our video walkthrough for more information. Read More

 

Facebook open sources animation engine behind Paper for iOS

By Jake Smith on Apr 28, 2014

Facebook has open sourced the Pop animation engine that drives its Paper app, now available in a listing on GitHub.

The Pop engine supports basic static animations, and also has spring and decay dynamic animations for building realistic, physics-based interactions. The Paper app has been praised for its design, and now developers will be able to access the same engine that drives it for their own iOS and OS X apps.  Read More

 

Facebook updates Messenger with video sharing, improved search and more

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 28, 2014

Social networking giant Facebook today has refreshed its iOS Messenger application, redesigned from the ground up last November, with a few new features you should know about.

The biggest news in Facebook Messenger 5.0, available free for the iPhone, is its newly added ability to exchange video messages from your library with other Messenger users. Previously, you could only share photos and short voice recordings using the app.

Other enhancements worth mentioning include easier photo sharing, improvements to the search feature, a tweaked user interface making it easier to send photos, voice messages and more… Read More

 

Facebook buying Moves app in a bid to join fitness-tracking fray

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 24, 2014

After acquiring virtual headset maker Oculus Rift for $2 billion (the deal got a thumbs-up from feds), Facebook now seems to be moving into the fitness tracking space with news of its latest acquisition, Finnish startup ProtoGeo Oy that created the fitness-tracking app Moves, available free in the App Store.

The development comes amid some major reshuffling in the fitness and health tracking market.

For instance, Nike is currently in the process of shuttering its wearable-hardware division that produces FuelBand-branded accessories and there are rumors that the company is collaborating with Apple on a sensor-laden fitness band that would control other devices via gestures… Read More

 

ShareDraft: Save Twitter share sheet messages for later

By Jeff Benjamin on Apr 22, 2014

ShareDraft is a new jailbreak tweak that lets users save share sheet messages as drafts. The share sheets, which are used for iOS’ built-in Twitter and Facebook sharing, normally force users to send a message or lose it. With ShareDraft installed, you can save messages to drafts and recover those drafts when sending future messages.

We’ve taken ShareDraft for a spin on video, and while it isn’t perfect, heavy share sheet users might find it to be a handy add-on. Check past the break for the full video review. Read More

 

Facebook reportedly planning ad network for mobile devices

By Jake Smith on Apr 20, 2014

Facebook is finally following the likes of Google and Yahoo and will launch an advertising network with a focus on mobile platforms, according to Recode.

Facebook hasn’t publicly acknowledged its plans, but the publication says Facebook will take the wraps off its mobile ad network at its F8 developer conference in San Francisco at the end of April.

An ad network from Facebook essentially means you’ll see Facebook ads even when you’re not on Facebook – think any app on the App Store. In a way, Facebook’s solution could go after Apple’s iAd network, which has failed to catch wind with the industry. Read More

 

Facebook updates Paper with photo comments, birthdays, events, group updates and more

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 18, 2014

Following yesterday’s release of Facebook 9.0 for the iPhone and iPad with direct comment replies and other improvements, the social networking giant today issued the first major update to its Paper for iPhone application, which was released on February 3.

Paper version 1.1, now available free in the App Store, includes a bunch of useful features that were missing in the initial release.

You can now add photos to comments, get notified about upcoming birthdays and events, follow posts from your favorite groups, choose among the nine new article covers from outlets like Fox News, Bloomberg News, Mashable, FT, kottke, Popular Science, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and Hacker News and more… Read More

 

Facebook app updated with direct comment replies and more

By Cody Lee on Apr 17, 2014

Facebook rolled out an update for its iOS client this evening, bringing the app to version 9.0. The update brings about a handful of new features, including the ability to reply directly to comments.

The ability to reply directly to comments has been a wish list item for users for quite some time. Don’t get too excited though, it’ll only be available on select Pages that have enabled the feature… Read More

 

Facebook launches its own Find My Friends feature

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 17, 2014

Social networking giant Facebook is bound to stir controversy all over again as it’s just introduced a new friend-tracking feature. Similar to Apple’s free Find My Friends iOS app, Facebook’s Nearby Friends basically notifies you when your friends are nearby.

It’s a rather radical idea, one Facebook said Thursday was designed to encourage people to “meet up and spend time together” in real life. Go figure. Learn more about Facebook’s Find My Friends right below the fold… Read More

 

Instagram and Facebook stepping up fight against spammers

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 16, 2014

Facebook-owned Instagram has responded to complaints from users who have noticed a sharp increase in the number of fake accounts and followers that are spamming them. If you fire up Instagram’s free iPhone app and hit the Following button, you’ll see a message about changes in followers.

“We’ve removed deactivated and spam accounts,” the message reads. “Your list of followers and people you follow may have changed” as a result.

This is a welcomed albeit way overdue change.

I’ve been a frequent victim of spammers on Instagram. Some of these guys are really smart in how they get on your Following list with the ultimate goal of populating your feed with spammy posts often disguised as so-called viral images and videos… Read More

 

Facebook reportedly aims to get ahead of Apple with new payments service

By Jake Smith on Apr 14, 2014

Get ready to pay for items using Facebook, as the social network is said to be planning a payments service that could launch before the rumored iWallet from Apple.

Facebook hasn’t officially confirmed the service, but it’s working to receive regulatory approval for it in Ireland, according to a report from the Financial Times. The service is said to allow users to store money and make electronic payments through the social network. Essentially, it will put Facebook in competition with Google Wallet, PayPal,  Isis, Square, and soon Apple, if the rumors are true… Read More

 

Facebook removing messaging feature from iOS app in favor of Messenger

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 10, 2014

Feeling chatty? Love Facebook? Good, get ready to embrace Facebook’s polished Messenger app if you haven’t already.

That’s because the social networking giant is reportedly gearing up to kill chatting in its main iPhone and iPad application (available free in the App Store) and force users to download the nicely done Messenger software, also a free download.

The writing has been on the wall ever since Facebook revamped the Messenger app and rechristened the full-featured messaging tab in its mobile client as ‘Messenger’. Instead of showing your messages, tapping that tab yanks you out of the Facebook app to launch Messenger… Read More

 

Facebook Pages Manager 3.0 is out with new pinning and editing features

By Cody Lee on Apr 4, 2014

Facebook has posted an update for its Pages Manager this afternoon, bringing the app to version 3.0. The update includes the usual bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as a handful of new pinning and editing features.

Pages users can now pin and unpin posts to the top of their Page timelines from within the app, allowing them to highlight important events and other announcements. You can also now create and edit events on the iPad, and more… Read More

 

Greenpeace praises Apple and others for helping build a greener Internet

By Cody Lee on Apr 4, 2014

Apple has quite the history with environmental organization Greenpeace. The outfit has panned the iPad maker several times over the years for using toxic chemicals in its products and other non-green practices—it even staged a protest outside of its Cupertino headquarters back in 2012.

A lot has changed over the years, however, and this week, instead of protesting Apple, Greenpeace took to the skies to praise it and other companies for helping build ‘a greener Internet.’ That image you see above is of a blimp that the environmental advocacy group flew over Silicon Valley… Read More

 

Facebook rolling out free VoiP calling in Messenger to everyone

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 3, 2014

Ever since launching its totally redesigned Messenger app last November, the social networking giant Facebook’s been dragging its feet in terms of enabling VoIP calling for everyone.

For users in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, this useful feature has been part of the old Messenger app for quite some time now.

Today, Facebook issued a minor update to Messenger for iOS that seemingly enables free voice calling over Wi-Fi and low-cost calls over cellular for everyone.

The update is available in the App Store so grab it now and check out free calling in Facebook Messenger… Read More

 

How to enable Facebook Chat Heads anywhere in iOS 7

By Jeff Benjamin on Mar 31, 2014

Facebook’s Chat Head feature is now available to use anywhere in iOS 7 thanks to a timely update to the well-received MessageBox tweak. If you can remember, MessageBox was the jailbreak release that allowed users to enjoy Chat Heads anywhere in iOS, not just in the default Facebook app.

Developer Adam Bell has updated MessageBox to play nice with iOS 7, freeing the Chat Heads feature from the confines of Facebook’s Paper app. Want to see how Chat Heads look in iOS 7? Step inside for our full video walkthrough. Read More

 

Facebook Messenger picks up contact groups, message forwarding and more

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 27, 2014

The social networking giant, Facebook, has just updated its slick Messenger client for the iPhone and iPod touch with a pair of long overdue feature additions.

The first lets you forward a message to another person (even Apple’s own Messages app supports this) and the other finally makes it possible to create groups for the people you message most, with custom group photo and name.

The new Facebook Messenger 4.0 is now live in the App Store so update your copy to check out contact groups and message forwarding for yourself… Read More

 

Facebook is buying Rift headset maker Oculus VR for $2 billion

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 25, 2014

Facebook on Tuesday issued a press release announcing it is buying Kickstarter-funded startup Oculus VR for approximately $2 billion in cash and stock.

For those who have been sleeping under the rock lately, Oculus VR is the maker of the Rift virtual-reality headset. This major move reveals Facebook’s intent to make use of virtual-reality technologies, not long ago the stuff of science fiction.

The announcement comes just days after the Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony announced Project Morpheus, its own head-mounted five-inch full HD display with a 90-degree field of view that could mainstream virtual reality gaming by connecting to the PlayStation console… Read More

 
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