T-Mobile prepaid offering free data… but only to access Facebook
Look, we understand: you absolutely have to know what Jimmy ate for lunch. And that Marissa is, “Ugh, just so sick of this week already.” And Jason’s only a “maybe” to the office holiday party? Who does that guy even think he is?
Sorry, sorry — we nearly forgot to tell you that T-Mobile’s prepaid brand, GoSmart Mobile, has joined forces with Facebook to offer unfettered access to The Social Network[TM]. Even if you don’t pay for data, GoSmart Mobile will still allow Facebook and Facebook Messenger access. You’ll never miss another link to “28 signs you’ve lived in New York City too long” again!
Whether the Facebook access will be speedy is another question altogether; it’s not actually clear which network users will access it through, and GoSmart is a prepaid service aimed at bringing down mobile costs over offering blazing fast speeds. Either way, free is free, right?
Filed under: Handhelds, Internet, Software, Mobile, T-Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
Facebook Home Update Brings a New Lockscreen Experience and New Gestures [Video]
Remember Facebook Home? Yeah, I think a lot of us quickly forgot about Zuckerberg’s blatant attempt to bring the Facebook experience to the Android platform. Even though the official Facebook phone was a flop, the Facebook Home UI still lives on in the digital world. A lot of us just laugh when we hear about Facebook Home, but a new update coming to the UI might actually raise an eyebrow.
The new Facebook Home update will include changes to the lockscreen as well as some new gestures to utilize. Instead of having someone’s food pic or selfie scaring you as you turn on your phone, you can actually have a custom wallpaper that has brief information at the bottom of the screen, such as, time, date, weather, and names of recent posted statuses. You can then swipe down to unlock your phone, and then choose whether to access your apps, or access Cover Feed. Cover Feed was already part of Facebook Home, but now you will be able to hide certain posts, and it is much easier to hop in and out of Cover Feed when you please using gestures. You can also have the option of choosing different feeds from different social media platforms, which is nice improvement for those who do not really care to see their Facebook feeds. Only thing about that is, there of course isn’t any Twitter or Google+ option when choosing a feed.
So check out the video of it action below. Facebook Home continues to improve, but is highly unlikely it will every blow up in the community. Let us know what you think about the update.
Source: Engadget
Facebook Home update to bring new lockscreen and gestures to select Android phones
Facebook hasn’t forgotten Home, the Android launcher that originally came out this past April and has trickled out to a few select handsets since. The social network just posted a video showing an upcoming update to Home, although it still hasn’t shown up in the Play Store yet. According to the video, the new update will feature a new lockscreen which lets you use your own wallpaper, rather than being surprised with a random picture and status update every time you wake up your phone; at the bottom you’ll also see details on which of your friends has recently posted a status update, as well as the current weather and quick access to your Home settings. A swipe down from the top will now unlock the phone and take you to your apps, and each status update will have a menu in which you can hide posts from that particular friend. There’s no word from Facebook on when we can expect to see this update, but we’ve reached out to the company for more details and will update the post as soon as we get more details. In the meantime, check out the video below to see if this makes you want Home any more than you did (or did not) before.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, Facebook
Source: YouTube
Facebook confirms video ads in feeds for mobile
Facebook on Tuesday confirmed that “a small number of people” will begin to see video ads in their social media feed. Indeed, this is for both the desktop as well as the mobile experience.
According to Facebook, the videos will automatically play as they appear on screen, but sound is muted. Tapping or clicking the video will open it full screen where the audio will also play.
For those worried that Facebook will chew up your data plan with advertisements, the online giant says they are downloaded via Wi-Fi in advance. This way, you’ll get the ads even when you’re offline. A real bonus, no?
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Facebook confirms autoplay video ads are coming to your News Feed
They’ve been a long time coming, but Facebook’s new video ads are finally here. Confirming an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal that said they’d launch this week, the company said it will start rolling out promoted videos to a limited number of users’ News Feeds, kicking it off with mini trailers for the new film Divergent. Leaning on a model utilized by Instagram, Facebook’s video ads will automatically play when they appear onscreen — although sound will be muted on both the desktop and mobile unless you deliberately click on the video. While you won’t be able prevent the new ad units from popping up, they can be avoided with some quick scrolling, just like you did with Facebook’s other sponsored content.
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Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Facebook Newsroom
WSJ: Facebook’s autoplaying video ads launch this week
After months of rumors, the Wall Street Journal claims Facebook will finally include video ads in user’s feeds on the web and mobile devices later this week — a move we figured would happen soon now that it’s splashed other autoplaying videos all over the place. Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the Journal claims Facebook will announce the change later today, with the first ads rolling out on Thursday. Previous rumors have put the run time for ads at 15 seconds or so — a fit for Instagram video — and this rumor even says movie studio Lions Gate will be among the first using it, pushing mini trailers for its upcoming movie Divergent.
So, why is Facebook reportedly tossing in one more thing for you to quickly scroll past? Because it can charge advertisers much more for video ads, which will play whether or not users click on them (like user videos, they’re silent unless clicked), letting it grab some of the money usually marked for TV campaigns. Previous rumors claimed the hold up in bringing video ads to the social network is because they loaded too slowly, so it would appear that hurdle has been cleared — we’ll see if load times are enough to keep users from running to other services once their feed looks like a sponsored version of Vine.
Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: Wall Street Journal
Nielsen: users embracing smartphone apps while ditching traditional web services
‘Tis the season for year-end lists and summaries galore, and Nielsen is no exception to this rule. The company has just released its list of the top 10 web brands, online video brands and smartphone apps, and its findings reveal a growing trend that may not come as a surprise to anyone: more people are using smartphones, and they’re using them to access the most popular services out there, instead of their web-based counterparts. In these aforementioned lists, Nielsen also discusses how each brand has changed year-over-year; web brands have all decreased, online video brands are relatively flat and smartphone apps are skyrocketing in overall usage.
Let’s take a look at a few services in particular. Google was the top web brand for 2013, yet it saw a decrease in unique visitors by six percent from last year (and YouTube dropped by 14 percent). That said, these two brands represented five of the top 10 smartphone apps, with growth ranging from 14 percent to as high as 29 percent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Facebook experienced a very similar trend, with a 16 percent decrease in web traffic versus a 27 percent increase in its smartphone app numbers, making it the most-used service of the year. In addition, social networks like Instagram and Twitter grew by leaps and bounds, earning each of them a spot among the top 10 apps; Instagram, in particular, was the fastest growing app on the list. (Also, here’s a shameless plug for our parent company as the seventh most popular web brand.)
Finally, Nielsen also reported that nearly two-thirds of US phone subscribers — 65 percent, to be specific — are now using smartphones instead of featurephones, which is a solid jump up from 56 percent at the end of 2012. Of those subscribers, 52 percent are now using Android devices, while 41 percent use iOS and seven percent use other platforms (BlackBerry is at three percent, while Windows Phone is at two). Head below the break to see all of the fine details for yourself.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Blackberry, Facebook
Source: Nielsen
Weekly Roundup: Instagram Direct, Jawbone Up24 review, Samsung’s EMC lab and more!
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Qualcomm’s Raj Talluri on wearables
Engadget sat down with Qualcomm SVP of Product Management, Raj Talluri, earlier this week to chat about the company’s Toq smartwatch. Click through to read the rest of the story.
Jawbone Up24 review
Jawbone’s latest fitness tracker, the Up24, touts much-needed upgrade: wireless syncing. But is that improvement enough to win back the hearts of those disappointed by the original Up’s performance? Click the link for our review and find out.
Instagram Direct announced
CEO of Instagram, Kevin Systrom, took the stage at a New York press event last week to announce Instagram Direct. This new feature allows users to limit certain videos and photos to groups of up to 15 friends. Follow the link for all the details.
Samsung’s EMC lab (video)
Engadget’s Mat Smith took a stroll through Samsung’s EMC lab where future products are tested for interference levels. Click on through for the video tour.
Recon’s extreme sports gear will now stream your death-defying stats straight to Facebook
Much has been written of the loneliness of the long-distance runner, but has anything been done to combat the solitude of the slopes? Recon Instruments is doing its part to bring extreme types closer to their social network by adding Facebook integration to the Snow2 heads-up display. The hardware will shortly be able to stream stats like speed, vertical descent and distance covered straight to your supportive friends back home. The feature is the primary component of the ReconOS 3.2 update, which daredevil users can download from December 18th, with the company promising that more social networks will be connected in the future. Personally, we’re waiting for the moment when the Snow2 can live-tweet the profanities we utter as we hurtle to our icy doom.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Facebook
Source: Recon
Facebook brings auto-playing videos to mobile devices and the web
We’d heard about Facebook experimenting with auto-playing videos in its news feeds on mobile (see it in action after the break), but now the change is rolling out widely no matter where you’re wasting time from. TechCrunch confirmed the new feature (recently added to the changelog on iOS) is coming to all mobile users, and today learned it’s expanding on the desktop as well. Now, Facebook’s feeds are more like Vine and especially Instagram, particularly the latter since sound remains muted until the videos are actually clicked. Of course, this is about more than just adding a few extra views to the counter, as it could lead to autoplaying video ads in the feed, which have been rumored for quite some time and are expected to launch next year.
Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Facebook
Source: Facebook (iTunes), TechCrunch
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