Facebook’s latest News Feed change will prioritize posts from friends
Facebook has announced it will be making more changes for its News Feed in the coming weeks. Posts from friends that Facebook users care about most will be placed higher in the News Feed with this change.
In a blog post, Facebook stated:
We previously made an update that tries to ensure that stories posted directly by the friends you care about, such as photos, videos, status updates or links, will be higher up in News Feed so you are less likely to miss them.
We’ve heard from our community that people are still worried about missing important updates from the friends they care about. For people with many connections this is particularly important, as there are a lot of stories for them to see each day. So we are updating News Feed over the coming weeks so that the things posted by the friends you care about are higher up in your News Feed.
Facebook adds that some Pages could see their reach and referral traffic go down as a result of these News Feed changes. In a separate blog post. Facebook revealed some of the values it has put in place when it comes to developing and updating its News Feed:
Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family. That is still the driving principle of News Feed today. Our top priority is keeping you connected to the people, places and things you want to be connected to — starting with the people you are friends with on Facebook. That’s why if it’s from your friends, it’s in your feed, period — you just have to scroll down. To help make sure you don’t miss the friends and family posts you are likely to care about, we put those posts toward the top of your News Feed. We learn from you and adapt over time. For example, if you tend to like photos from your sister, we’ll start putting her posts closer to the top of your feed so you won’t miss what she posted while you were away.
BLU announces the R1 HD starting at just $100 unlocked
BLU has announced the R1 HD, its latest Android-powered phone that starts at just $100 unlocked. This phone will also be part of Amazon’s latest promotion where you can score it even cheaper if you don’t mind it coming with ads.
The company has been making affordable unlocked Android phones for some time already, but what exactly does just $100 get you? Well, let’s take a look at the specs of the R1 HD.
| Display | 5.0-inch HD 720 x 1280, 293 ppi, 420-nit |
| Processor | Mediatek 6735, 1.3 GHz Quad-Core with Mali-T720 graphics GPU |
| OS | Android Marshmallow 6.0, upgradable to Android N |
| Memory | 1GB/2GB RAM |
| Storage | 8GB/16GB Internal Memory |
| Rear Camera | 8.0 megapixel, with LED Flash, (1.12mm pixel size, 1/4 inch sensor, 2.0mm aperture)HD 1080p@30fps video recording |
| Front Camera | 5.0 megapixel, with LED Flash, 84 degree Wide Angle |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth v4.0, Hotspot, FM Radio,VoLTE support will be added via Over-the-Air Update (OTA) |
| Network | (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz,(4G HSPA+ 42Mbps) 850/1700/1900/2100 MHz, (4G LTE Up to 150Mbps)2/4/7/17, 12 will be added via Over-the-Air Update (OTA) |
| Dimensions | 143 x 70.7 x 8.5 mm |
| Battery | Li-Polymer 2500 mAh |
| Available Colors | Midnight Black |
If you are looking for a backup phone or a first phone for the kids, this may be the perfect solution for you. You can pick it up from Amazon right now for just $100, or $50 if you don’t mind ads being forced in your face every so often.
See at Amazon
Yahoo Sports gets a new look, live video, and more
Yahoo has launched a complete refresh of its sports app, offering people a brand new design and a new set of features, such as personalized favorites, alerts, and scores. The app also features a variety of video content, including access to Yahoo’s free MLB Game of the Day live.
Here are the major highlights of the new Yahoo Sports experience:
- Favorites: Sign in and set your favorite teams to get schedules, game highlights, and updates in your own personalized news stream.
- Sports: Stay up to date on all the scores, stats and leagues you follow.
- Headlines: Get exclusive content from writers like Adrian Wojnarowski, Dan Wetzel, and Pat Forde along with the most important headlines in sports.
- Alerts: Set alerts for your favorite teams and get notifications when you want them. Follow every scoring play or only when a game starts. Your choice.
- Live games: Watch hundreds of live MLB and NHL games for free. No subscription required, Watch Brewers vs. Dodgers tomorrow @ 5pm ET.
You can grab the updated version of Yahoo Sports from the Google Play Store now.
Original USS Enterprise prop restored to its former glory
There’s probably enough material about the tragic afterlives of the USS Enterprise models to fill a small book, at least. Until two years ago, the 1701 prop used for Star Trek (1966) had been left hanging in the Smithsonian’s basement gift shop. Now, to celebrate the museum’s 40th anniversary, the model has been restored as an exhibit in the Boeing Milestones of Flight hall, which opens Friday. A team, led by the museum’s chief conservator Malcolm Collum, collaborated with fans and Industrial Light and Magic to restore the model to its former glories. After all, a 50-year-old prop from a ’60s TV show was never designed to last this long.
The effects house proved vital in adding a working lighting scheme to the model, although it now uses LEDs rather than incandescent bulbs. But the museum’s own team did the bulk of the work, including building a new deflector dish after the original was lost at some point before 1974. With this restoration, the glory of the original model has been restored, although that only serves to highlight the tortures that the 1701 (Refit) prop has suffered since 1979. If you’re unfamiliar, this forum thread should bring you up to speed, but it’s fair that at least the original series model got a happy ending.
Source: Popular Mechanics, NPR
Facebook updates News Feed to show your friends’ posts first
Over the next few weeks, Facebook is tweaking its News Feed ranking to ensure you see your friends’ and family members’ status updates before anything else. The social network gave its feed algorithm an overhaul back in 2015 to prioritize people in your friends’ lists, but it sounds like that upgrade didn’t quite do the trick. This update is supposed to make sure all the posts by people you know show up and that they’re near the top above updates made by FB Pages. But how does Facebook pick out the person you want to interact with the most? The company has also explained how its upgraded feed works.
As you’d expect, your feed will prioritize posts by people whom you’ve chosen to “see first,” and those whose posts you’re inclined to Like or comment on. “[I]f you tend to like photos from your sister,” Facebook VP Adam Mosseri said, “we’ll start putting her posts closer to the top of your feed so you won’t miss what she posted while you were away.” On the other hand, it will assume that you’re not as thrilled to hear from people whose posts you hide all the time.
Since you probably follow various Pages, as well, such as those owned by businesses, publications or celebrities, the revamped News Feed also ranks their posts based on how informative and entertaining they are. If you liked a lot of stories about a certain celeb in the past, for instance, your News Feed will deem reports about that celeb informative and will make sure you see them in your stream. At the same time, if you’re inclined to like photos and Live videos, then the social network will put those near the top.
The company also took the chance to say that it doesn’t “favor specific kinds of sources — or ideas” and that it’s not “picking which issues the world should read about.”
Mosseri explained:
“Our aim is to deliver the types of stories we’ve gotten feedback that an individual person most wants to see. We do this not only because we believe it’s the right thing but also because it’s good for our business. When people see content they are interested in, they are more likely to spend time on News Feed and enjoy their experience. “
Facebook didn’t detail what compelled it to issue that statement. If you’ll recall, though, the Senate Commerce Committee launched an official investigation in May after the website was accused of routinely suppressing politically conservative news stories. The company denied the allegations that it gamed the Trending Topics section and announced after an internal investigation that it didn’t find evidence of political bias.
Students can get a free Xbox One with a Surface Pro 4
With a new, slimmer Xbox One waiting in the wings, Microsoft is doing everything in its power to get rid of the older model. The original Xbox One is already down to $299, and starting today students can get it for free when they buy a Surface Pro 4 in the US. As the Verge reports, you’ll need to step into a retail store to take advantage of the deal — it runs until August 14th and will be sold as a $300 discount on the pair’s combined price. “So basically a free Xbox One with the purchase of a Surface Pro 4,” Terry Myerson, head of Windows and devices at Microsoft confirmed.
The deal could be a compelling one-two combo if you’re about to start college. It’s this time of year that young scholars start thinking about a new laptop purchase; a free Xbox One is an obvious and relatively budget-friendly way to sort out your in-dormitory entertainment at the same time.
The trade-off, of course, is that you’re buying into older hardware. The Xbox One S is a sleek-looking beast and the Surface Pro 4 was released last October — there’s no word on a successor to the laptop hybrid, but you have to imagine Microsoft is working on something. If you take the plunge, just be aware that you might feel some buyer’s remorse by Christmas.
Source: The Verge
Flyability’s Elios UAV is now even safer thanks to DJI
DJI has partnered with Swiss aerial tech company Flyability to make the Elios UAV aircraft even safer using a special image transmission system known as the Lightbridge 2. The result is a rescue drone that’s able to navigate tight spaces and smaller enclosures more efficiently so humans don’t have to.
The Elios is an interesting-looking structure already, with a unique enclosure that protects the drone itself and allows it to head through more intricate structures such as power plant boilers with ease. It’s designed specifically for those areas in mind, with Lightbridge 2 allowing for minute navigation and imaging to tie it all together.
Elios operators are sent a live view to the mobile device of their choice via the Lightbridge system while flying the drone, which can help create and improve digital images of the areas to be explored. This means human workers don’t have to be exposed to potentially dangerous conditions, and that’s a win for everyone.
The drone was actually released last month to little or no fanfare, but it’s definitely something we should be cheering about, especially when it comes to ensuring the safety of those working in questionable conditions.
Source: DJI
Apple’s Website Has Hidden Easter Egg to Celebrate Euro 2016
Apple quietly updated the “choose your country” selector on its website a few weeks ago in the United Kingdom and other European countries, adding Euro 2016 country groups and a bracket to celebrate the ongoing football tournament in France.
Apple also temporarily added a handful of countries and regions that it does not have regional websites for, including Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Ukraine, and Wales, to ensure that the groups and bracket are filled out properly.
The fun “easter egg” discovery is for the 2016 UEFA European Championship currently being held between June 10 and July 10 in France, where eight teams remain: Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Wales.
Tags: Apple, Europe
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Samsung to Capitalize on First OLED-Based iPhone in 2017
Samsung Display will remain the global leader among AMOLED display suppliers over the next few years, with shipments estimated to increase to 560 million units by 2019, according to Taiwan-based DigiTimes Research.
Samsung Electronics, which produces the company’s lineup of Android-based Galaxy smartphones, is expected to remain Samsung Display’s largest customer over the next few years, with its in-house AMOLED panel demand projected to grow from 239 million units in 2016 to 290 million units in 2019.
Apple is rumored to release its first OLED-based iPhone in 2017, moving away from traditional LCD technology it has used since 2007 for at least one iPhone model. The report estimates that Samsung Display will supply Apple with 40 million AMOLED panels in 2017, 80 million units in 2018, and 120 million units in 2019.
LG Display, AU Optronics, Japan Display, and Foxconn-owned Sharp may also share production of OLED panels for future iPhones.
Earlier this year, DisplayMate found that Samsung’s Galaxy S7 makes a compelling case for Apple to switch to OLED display technology. Possible benefits include increased brightness, improved color accuracy, improved screen visibility in bright environments, and more efficient power consumption.
A number of China-based smartphone vendors, including Vivo, Oppo, GiONEE, Huawei, and Lenovo, have also adopted or decided to adopt AMOLED panels in the future, with Samsung Display’s combined shipments to them projected to increase from 99 million units in 2016 to 150 million units in 2019.
Related Roundup: iPhone 8 (2017)
Tags: Samsung, digitimes.com, AMOLED, OLED
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This is that massive microSD you’ve been waiting for and it’s a hefty 256GB
When it comes to microSD card news, we normally get bored before writing it, but this boundary jump had to be covered. Western Digital has just revealed its latest SanDisk which is the fastest of its size and capacity on the planet.
The Western Digital 256GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I is this device’s full title. While the name might not be in keeping with the device’s compact size, it does clarify its big offerings.
Sure, 256GB microSD cards have been around for a while now and are still not that cheap compared to a drop down to 64GB for example. But when it comes to recording high quality video, say at 4K, that larger capacity can prove invaluable. But transferring that amount of data needs to be done quickly to achieve the best possible results.
The card is able to transfer at speeds of up to 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s. Of course whether your smartphone, drone or action camera will be able to take advantage of that depends on what the device can handle, so be sure to check before you buy.
Dinesh Bahal, vice president of SanDisk product marketing at Western Digital, said: “Our microSD cards are now at the centre of many consumer devices and we’re excited to not only raise the bar with the launch of the world’s fastest microSD card, but also to offer a family of 256GB microSD cards that give consumers the flexibility they need to capture life at its fullest.”
The Western Digital 256GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I will be available from around September 2016 for £170.
READ: Now TV Smart Box: Release date, price, specs and everything you need to know
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