Facebook might launch its Slack-like messenger for all in October

Facebook has been working on an product to compete with Slack for the past two years, and according to a new report, it might finally be ready for a commercial launch.

Slack is a messenger platform popular among many companies and teams, including Pocket-lint. We even published a handy guide that walks you through how the app works and several tips and tricks. But there are alternative options available, and soon, one of those options will be from Facebook. The social network has been developing it for awhile and already has 450 companies using it.

It’s called Facebook at Work. Facebook began testing it in 2015 and has signed up big clients like the 100,000-employee Royal Bank Of Scotland. The service offers Facebook Groups, Messenger, audio and video calling, and access to the social network’s profiles, Events, and Live video features. It’s unclear if Facebook at Work will be free. Slack has both free and paid tiers (charges $6.67 per active user).

The Information claimed Facebook at Work will launch next month and that Facebook will also charge a set monthly fee per active user, though companies of any size will be able to try it before getting charged. Check out the Facebook at Work’s dedicated page to see a video that shows how the service could transform your workplace or how your team communicates.

Measles has been eliminated in the Americas, according to WHO

It’s been 53 years since the first measles vaccine was released in 1963, though most people alive today have gotten it bundled into the combined MMR prevention shot that first appeared in 1971. After a half-century of immunization, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) has declared the entirety of the Americas — from the Aleutian Islands to Chile — to have eliminated measles.

The declaration was verified by an international expert committee dedicated to documenting the disease. Note that they said “eliminated” and not “eradicated.” World health officials have only achieved the latter with one disease, smallpox, meaning it no longer occurs or is brought in from other global regions. Some may remember that measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, but foreign visitors still truck it in annually, resulting in dozens to hundreds of cases every year. Unsurprisingly, these figures skyrocket when people forget or outright refuse to vaccinate themselves or their children, like when the US saw 644 cases in 2014 alone.

As PAHO pointed out, before mass vaccination began in 1980, measles annually killed 2.6 million people worldwide. Between 2000 and 2020, eliminating the disease is estimated to prevent 3.2 million cases and save 16,000 lives. That’s the real benefit. But both continents will continue to see measles crop up as it’s brought in from visitors and infects individuals, especially those that refuse to vaccinate or assume the disease is gone for good.

Via: ScienceNews

Source: Pan American Health Organization

Earth’s CO2 levels have permanently crossed the 400ppm threshold

Despite the fact that September is typically the lowest month for atmospheric carbon dioxide, the CO2 levels in Earth’s atmosphere crossed the symbolic 400 parts per million threshold this month. According to climate scientists, it is extremely unlikely that the planet will ever drop below those levels again in our lifetimes.

As we know, the CO2 levels have been steadily rising since the industrial revolution, but the last time the Earth saw consistent levels this high was three to five million years ago. While it’s true that El Niño’s warming effect is mostly responsible for the current highs measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, it should be noted that that human emissions have shot up by 25% since the last El Niño in 1997 and 1998. “So, it’s the natural effect on top of the increasing human effect,” Professor Richard Betts of the UK’s Met Office told the BBC in June.

Although there may be brief dips slightly in the near future, Ralph Keeling, who monitors C02 levels at the Scripps Institute for Oceanography, explained “it already seems safe to conclude that we won’t be seeing a monthly value below 400ppm this year — or ever again for the indefinite future.” NASA’s chief climate scientist Gavin Schmidt also confirmed that sentiment in an email to Climate Central, saying that in a best-case scenario where humans stopped pumping CO2 into the atmosphere today, the levels wouldn’t start to drop for at least a decade or more. “In my opinion,” Schmidt wrote, “we won’t ever see a month below 400ppm.”

This news is certainly depressing on its face, but it should serve as a warning for leaders in the industrialized world to do more to reduce their carbon emissions. And, for people in the United States, to get serious about the country’s commitment to fighting climate change.

Source: Scripps Institute, Climate Central

News brief: Pixels, pixels, big and small

Another Pixel render, a Xiaomi release, and offline YouTube support for some. Here’s all the news you need to know for September 27.

Want to know something cool? I played with a new phone today. Oh, you want to know what it is? OK, I’ll tell you. It’s got a screen, a big, beautiful screen, with lots of colors. And man is it sharp. It’s made of metal, high-quality metal, the kind they make cars from. And probably planes. It’s got a really good camera. Like, a camera so good that it can capture in detail things you want to put on the internet. And man, that battery. Its battery lasts so long you can use it all day, and maybe even longer. But the one thing that really differentiates this phone from all the others is that it runs Android. Have you heard of this Android thing? Man, this phone is really great.

Do you have a phone? You should really think of getting one.

YouTube is getting offline support — in India

Google has announced a new version of YouTube, called YouTube Go, for emerging markets. Like its bandwidth-limiting features in Chrome and a number of other apps, YouTube Go is all about lowering the barrier of entry for video streaming on devices with limited connectivity, and for users with low monthly bandwidth limits. It’s not yet available, but you can sign up to get a notification when it is available.

Moto Z and Moto G4 line getting Nougat soonish

Motorola has told Droid-life that we can expect updates to Android 7.0 Nougat starting in Q4 — “expect to see Android N on the Moto Z family and Moto G4 beginning in Q4,” — which is great news. Because Motorola doesn’t have the best record with expedient updates, I’m not holding out too much hope for all variants to be updated in good time, but at least owners of the Moto Z and Moto Z Force from Verizon shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for improved notifications and Multi Window.

T-Mobile Galaxy S7s getting a nice, juicy update

It ain’t Nougat, but it’s a nice bit of Marshmallow. Or something. T-Mobile is rolling out the September security patch, along with some bug fixes and performance improvements, to its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge units, according to Android Police. No word on when Android 7.0 is coming, but you can bet your butt it won’t be anytime soon. Sorry, were you expecting something else?

Galaxy Note 7 coming to Europe on October 28

The Galaxy Note 7 is coming to Europe earlier than expected. The company announced that it is bringing the Note 7 to countries like the UK, France, and Germany on October 28th, half a week earlier than it initially intended. That turnaround is due to the expedited return of outstanding recalled units, which the company says is approaching 60% of all stock. More

OnePlus 3 invading the UK

OnePlus has tied a carrier deal with O2 in the UK, bringing the OnePlus 3 — one of our favorite phones of the year — to Britain starting on Thursday, September 29. Good news for anyone who doesn’t want to pay full price for a full-featured phone. More

Xiaomi’s new phones are pure hotness

I want one.

Xiaomi’s newest phones, the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus, are beautiful spec machines, running the latest version of MIUI 8, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow. There’s no question that the Chinese company is improving its industrial design, but what really strikes me is how enticing they would be to Western audiences. More

Pixel render leaks

We’ve seen leaked photos of the Pixel and Pixel XL last week, and today an alleged press render of both the smaller and larger Pixels have surfaced, giving us another look at Google’s upcoming phone. More

Galaxy S6, S6 edge pick up September patch in Europe

Samsung is issuing the September security patch to Galaxy S6 and S6 edge customers in Europe. The OTA is rolling out right now, and comes in at 140MB.

BBC iPlayer to require login from early 2017

A BBC ID, with postcode information, will soon be required to access the service. The news follows the move to a

Samsung planning Note 7 ad blitz in India

According to Business Standard, Samsung will restart sales of the Note 7 in India on October 7, the same day the iPhone 7 debuts in the country. The company is planning an aggressive ad campaign to inform customers that the new Note 7 units are safe to use:

According to sources, the new Note 7 models will be manufactured separately and not be refurbished versions of the handsets made earlier. Samsung will highlight the fact prominently on packaging and promotional campaigns.

Xiaomi sells over 2.3 million Redmi Note 3 in India

Xiaomi claims to have sold over 2.3 million units of the Redmi Note 3 in India. The tweet from RedmiIndia’s account is no longer available, but the contest page Xiaomi created to commemorate the event is up and running. Want a shot at grabbing a Redmi Note 3 for free? Head here.

India’s Reliance Jio will start home deliveries of SIM cards

Reliance Jio made waves earlier this month when it announced that all customers would receive free 4G data until the end of the year. To combat growing demand, it looks like Jio will kick off home deliveries of its SIM cards.

Canada’s Shomi streaming service to shutter in November

Rogers and Shaw announced yesterday that its two year-old streaming competitor to Netflix, Shomi, is shuttering. With fewer than a million customers (and some saying fewer than 100,000 active users), Shomi never quite got off the ground, even when it was untethered from a cable or internet subscription and made available to all Canadians. It’s a shame, too, because Shomi’s parent companies co-own the streaming rights to many Amazon exclusives, including Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle.

Google Pixel XL now fully revealed in another amazing Pixel leak

Shortly after Google Pixel was fully revealed in a leak by VentureBeat, another clear leak surfaced depicting its bigger sibling.

Google is planning a major event for 4 October, when it is expected to launch two new flagship Pixel-branded phones and other hotly-anticpated hardware like the Google Home voice-activated speaker and 4K-capable Chromecast Ultra. So, naturally, there has been no shortage to leaks and rumours approaching launch day, with the latest example yet being a clear look at the Google Pixel XL, thanks to an image from VentureBeat.

This year, Google looks to be dumping the Nexus programme for smartphones and pushing Pixel devices instead. There are said to be two Pixel handsets, the larger of which, pictured here, offers a 5.5-inch QHD display. As you can see from the leak, the XL simply looks like a larger version of the Pixel, which Venture Beat also pictured a leaked image of on Tuesday.

The two devices have the same icons and launcher. They also have the same navigation buttons, but the Pixel XL obviously has its own gradient wallpaper. These leaked images – the most crisp yet – appear to corroborate previous rumours and leaks, and their design reflects recent HTC handsets too, in the shape of the speaker and the front sensor.

• Made by Google: What to expect at Google’s 4 October Pixel event
• Google Pixel and Pixel XL: Release date, rumours and everything you need to know about the next Nexus
• Google Pixel XL vs Pixel: What’s the rumoured difference?

Both new Pixel devices are expected to launch at Google’s Made By Google event. Check out Pocket-lint’s round-up for details on what to expect.

This sci-fi film was shot entirely by autonomous drones

Directed by speculative architect Liam Young, In the Robot Skies claims to be the first narrative fiction film shot entirely by autonomous, pre-programmed drones. But the lack of human camera operators is more than just a headline grabbing gimmick. The film, which premieres in October at the London Film Festival, revolves around an age-old love story set in a near-future police state where the drones themselves play an integral role.

Young and fiction author Tim Maughan imagined the story to explore the “drone as a cultural object” — one that can be both oppressive and liberating as it eventually breeds new urban subcultures. While the film may not be the first drone-shot sci-fi flick, some of the themes are strikingly close to becoming reality. From the synopsis:

From the eyes of the drones we see two teenagers each held by police order within the digital confines of their own council estate tower block in London. A network of drones survey the council estates, as a roving flock off cctv cameras and our two characters are kept apart by this autonomous aerial infrastructure. We watch as they pass notes to each other via their own hacked and decorated drone, like kids in an old fashioned classroom, scribbling messages with biro on paper, balling it up and stowing it in their drones.. In this near future city drones form both agents of state surveillance but also become co-opted as the aerial vehicles through which two teens fall in love.

For the technical aspects, Young teamed up with Belgium’s Embedded and Artificially intelligent Vision Lab to develop a “flock of camera drones each with their own set of cinematic rules and behaviors.” Aside from their initial programming, the drones could capture the footage with minimal human interaction. Because the footage was specifically shot for IMAX, the visuals promise to be as expansive as the skies those drones are flying in.

The London premiere happens on Saturday, October 8th with a live performance by the film’s music composer and electronic producer Forest Swords, but there’s no word yet on a wider release or digital distribution.