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Posts tagged ‘Facebook’

13
Oct

Facebook’s ‘On This Day’ feature has controls to filter out sad times


Facebook’s On This Day tool is a nice feature when it recalls good times that may have slipped your mind. It has a tendency to bring up events and people that you might prefer to forget, though, and the social network added preferences to curtail the sadness. On This Day now has controls that’ll let you filter out specific people and dates so the feature doesn’t remind you of those bits of nostalgia you’d rather not revisit. Facebook has come under fire for toying with our emotions and digging up the past before, and there’s already been some criticism of On This Day since it launched in March. By adding preferences, Zuckerberg & Co. are offering a way to keep those bad memories at bay. It’s a nice touch, since you never know exactly when the memory machine will pop up in your News Feed. If you’ve noticed On This Day posts there, the new controls should be available for you to tweak.

Via: The Verge

13
Oct

Facebook testing YouTube-like dedicated video hub


Facebook has been pushing video pretty hard lately and today is sharing its plans on making sure users have even more ways to watch tiny movies of their friends and from pages they follow. The most compelling of these experiments is a dedicated video tab that shows all the videos shared by folks and entities someone follows. It’s bit like a cross between Instagram and YouTube within the social networking company’s main app. This new feature will be tested on a small group of users to see how they respond to having almost instant access to videos without having to wade through political postings by family members and their friend’s baby bump photos.

In addition to the dedicated tab, Facebook is also testing a bunch of other video features. One of these is Suggested Videos, a YouTube-like way of surfacing videos that you might find interesting based on what you’re currently watching. It’s also testing a way for folks to watch while still having access to the rest of the newsfeed. And finally, it’s experimenting with a save button for those moments when you can’t watch a clip and would like to bookmark it for later viewing.

Like Instant Articles, all of this adds up to more ways to keep you inside the Facebook experience. The fewer instances you’re pushed out of the newsfeed, the happier you make the company and its advertisers. The tests are being tried out on iPhone with web testing coming soon and Android support coming in a few months.

Source: Facebook

13
Oct

Facebook tests Shopping feed and immersive ads for in-app purchases


Facebook is testing two new shopping features that could ruin the recovery of impulse buyers trying to kick the habit. While they are two distinct additions, both enable you to make purchases from within the mobile apps. The first experimental feature is called Canvas, and it turns the typical scrolling FB ads you see into immersive ones. When you click on an advertisement that has the capability, it loads a full-screen page where you can choose the item variant/color and buy it on the spot — no need to launch the seller’s website.

The other is the addition of a Shopping feed under Favorites, which displays the merchandise of brands participating in the Shop section Facebook introduced in September. It even has a search bar to make it easier to find whatever it is you’re looking for. Just like every other feature the social network’s testing, though, both will only be visible to a small number of users and might not make it to general release.

Features that enable people to buy right from Facebook’s mobile apps will greatly benefit the social network. A recent US comScore study showed that people spend the most time on their phones using a handful of popular apps, including FB and Instagram. Twitter, which is included in the top 15 applications, also has a Buy Now button for in-app shopping courtesy of Stripe.

Facebook Shopping feed:

Facebook Canvas:

Source: Facebook

12
Oct

Trends Today: the social media world of #hashtags (App Review)


In today’s world of technology, we are able to communicate faster than ever. A simple #hashtag, like, or comment can help keep us informed of all that is happening around us. Unfortunately, it can also mean we may miss something important we want to know. With the Trends Today app, you can now keep up with all the top stories in one spot.

Overview

Trends Today is an app that opens you up to a world of #hashtags. It allows you to see top trending stories on five of the most popular social sites: Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, and Vine, all in one location. Other social sites are planned to be added with future app updates.

You can also receive notifications of new trends, though I didn’t seem to have that happen too often. You can turn off notifications in the Settings menu if you prefer not to receive them. This is also the only settings option you will find. It would be nice to have different theme options and the ability to select what social sites you want to see in the app.

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Features

Each site will have its own tab. I found this made it very easy to navigate between the different social sites. For Twitter and Facebook, lists are generated by trending topics. Once a topic has been selected, you will see the different tweets and posts on that topic, from which you can click on to read, comment, or share. You can also view posts by most recent or most popular. The Reddit tab will be organized by trending posts, instead of by topic,and Instagram and Vine will show thumbnails of the trending photos and videos.

Other features include a built-in web browser, so there is no jumping out of the app to view a post, and the ability to see what is popular worldwide, or by selecting a specific country. The current list of countries is USA, UK, Australia, Canada, and India.

Screenshot_2015-10-08-12-25-57
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Setup

When you first open the app, you will be asked to select which country you want to view posts from. You can change this, later, by clicking the menu button, at the top left of the screen, and selecting whichever location you prefer.

From the same menu, you can choose to create a profile as well. This is not required, nor is it clear as to what it’s for. Skipping the registration will not hinder your viewing experience, so I would just skip it.

When you select a post, you will be taken to the social media’s mobile site. To like, share, or comment, you will have to sign into your respective accounts. However, with Vine and Instagram, these will not open in the browser, instead, you’ll be taken to your default browser, or the app. You can view the pictures and videos, but there is no sign in option, so you cannot like or share within the Trends Today app. Hopefully, the developer will change this in future updates.

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What we liked

  • One app to view trending posts from multiple social sites
  • Easy navigation
  • Built-in browser

What could be better

  • Needs more social sites, like Google+
  • Sign in options for Instagram and Vine
  • Options to select which sites you want to be displayed

Summary

For any of you who have multiple social media accounts, Trends Today is a great way to keep you up-to-date with the trends of each one. So, browse, comment, and #hashtag away with Trends Today.

Trends Today – Trending News (Playboard) | Trends Today – Trending News (Play Store)

The post Trends Today: the social media world of #hashtags (App Review) appeared first on AndroidGuys.

12
Oct

Facebook’s iOS app uses 3D Touch to make short work of status updates


When you find yourself needing to post to Facebook quickly, the social network’s app leverages tech on Apple’s latest handsets to do just that. Thanks to the newfangled 3D Touch tool that arrived with the new iPhones, a press on the app’s icon will reveal options for taking a photo/video, uploading a photo/video and composing a status update. With the addition, Facebook joins a collection of apps (like Dropbox) that have already taken advantage of the new iOS feature. If your trusty device hasn’t alerted you to the update yet, nab it from iTunes via the source link below.

Via: iMore

Source: iTunes

10
Oct

5 Android Apps you shouldn’t miss this week! – Android Apps Weekly


Welcome back to Android Apps Weekly!

cloudcal Android Apps WeeklySponsored by CloudCal

[Price: Free / $2.45]
This week’s Android Apps Weekly is sponsored by CloudCal. Last week you may have remembered that we showed you an app called CloudTasks. Well, CloudCal is done by the same developers and the two apps actually work together well by syncing your to-do list from CloudTasks into CloudCal.

CloudCal has an awesome set of features all on its own and includes a unique month-view calendar that shows your days as clock faces so you can see how busy you are that day. It also syncs with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange along with Google Calendar. It has a unique design that includes drag-and-drop events and a slew of standard features like inviting colleagues to events and other productivity-inclined features. It’s totally free to use so give it a shot and show your support for Android Apps Weekly!
Get it now on Google Play!

Let’s get into the big Android apps headlines from this last week!:

  • In an effort to help websites load faster on mobile browsers, Google has announced the Accelerated Mobile Pages project. Partners for this project include Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more than 20 others. Here’s hoping this works.
  • Facebook has announced an interesting new thing called the Network Connection Class. Using this, Facebook will determine your network speed and show you stuff in your news feed based on what your network can handle resulting in faster load times for the News Feed.
  • The latest Humble Bundle is now live and includes six games with more to come soon. Some titles include Haunt the House: Terrortown, Jelly Defense, and Fearless Fantasy. You can get three games for $1 or pay the average, which is just around $4 right now, and grab all of them. It’s also a great way to give to charity!
  • Earlier this week, it was announced that Spotify is now compatible with RockScout which is an application you can use to control car stereos equipped with MirrorLink. This gives you a far more user friendly way to control Spotify while in the car.
  • A couple of weeks ago, we talked about how Russia was thinking of ordering Google to unbundle Google apps from devices. Well, this week, they went ahead and did exactly that. The idea being that Google’s pre-loaded apps cause an unfair disadvantage for third party software. Google has about a month to comply or respond.

For even more Android apps and games headlines, updates, and new releases, don’t forget to check out this week’s newsletter! There we have the complete list of things that happened this last week and it includes all the stuff we didn’t have time for here. If you’re so inclined, you can sign up using your email and we’ll send you our newsletter every Friday to keep you up to date!

Signup for our newsletter

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  • Android Weekly
  • Apps Weekly

While you’re at it, don’t forget to check out our Twitch channel. It’s been a couple of weeks since we rocked out on some games there but that’s going to change very soon. Hit the follow button and then come join us on our next stream for some video games and chit chat!
Check us out on Twitch!

autodash Android Apps WeeklyAutoDash

[Price: Free]
First up this week is AutoDash. This is a custom launcher designed to be used while you’re in the car. The premise is simple as the app allows you to create a customized control panel for easy access to apps, navigation, and media while you’re in the car. It also has a few smaller features like voice recording, IFTTT integration, and song recognition. It’s a little rough around the edges right now so do keep that in mind. Otherwise, it’s totally free and could be fun to use.
Get it now on Google Play!
autodash Android Apps Weekly

meter Android Apps WeeklyMeter

[Price: Free]
Meter is a fun, minimal live wallpaper that displays various system information right on your home screen. Some options include your battery, your notifications, your WiFi signal strength, and a lot more. It uses minimal style shapes to visually represent the data so it’s easy to see what’s going on at a glance. You can also manipulate the wallpaper by tilting the phone. Like AutoDash, this one is a bit rough around the edges so your mileage may vary but hey, at least it’s free!
Get it now on Google Play!
meter Android Apps Weekly

zenwatch Android Apps WeeklyZenWatch FaceDesigner

[Price: Free]
ZenWatch FaceDesigner is a new application from ASUS that allows you to design your own Android Wear watch faces for your ASUS ZenWatch. This is pretty fun because it’s not every day that this kind of customization is offered by an OEM for their devices and we hope it becomes a trend that other OEMs follow. Using this app, you can pretty much design your watch face however you want. Do note that it’s only compatible with the ZenWatch so everyone else will have to keep using alternatives.
Get it now on Google Play!
zenwatch facedesigner Android Apps Weekly

showtime Android Apps WeeklyShowtime and HBO Now

[Price: Free]
It’s true that Showtime and HBO Now aren’t really new apps, but this last week they were released on Google Play for Android TV. If you happen to have an Android TV device, you can easily search for these apps, download them, and start watching their content. Their designs are both pretty decent considering that they’ll be on a TV and both services appear to work relatively well. Android TV just got a whole lot better thanks to these two apps.
Use the button below to download Showtime or you can click here to get HBO Now.
Get it now on Google Play!
showtime Android Apps Weekly

capture cc Android Apps WeeklyAdobe Capture CC and Adobe Illustrator Draw

[Price: Free]
Last up this week are two new applications from Adobe. The first is called Capture CC and this app lets you create a variety of design assets by extracting information from various images. You can also turn these shapes into vector graphics, brushes, and shapes to make your design work easier. Illustrator Draw allows you to, well, draw things. This complex drawing app lets you draw with layers and has integration with a few of Adobe’s desktop applications. Both of these applications are powerful and will get better as time goes. They’re also both free to download.
To download Capture CC, use the button below. You can get Illustrator Draw on Google Play by click here.
Get it now on Google Play!

Wrap up

If we missed any great Android apps and games news, tell us more about it in the comments below!

9
Oct

Facebook goes beyond Like, trailing new Reactions


After long-time rumors of a ‘Dislike’ button, Facebook will be trialing a new feature that will allow users to share different reactions to posts on the site.

The feature, known as ‘Reactions’, will act as an extension to the standard Like button, with a set of six emoji: like, love, haha, yay, wow, sad and angry. The reactions will be accessible by hovering or long-pressing the Like button wherever it appears on the News Feed, whether it is from friends, pages you follow or advertisers.

Facebook-Reactions-crop

“As you can see, it’s not a “dislike” button,” Chief Product Officer Chris Cox wrote in his announcement, “though we hope it addresses the spirit of this request more broadly. We studied which comments and reactions are most commonly and universally expressed across Facebook, then worked to design an experience around them that was elegant and fun.”

Facebook will be testing Reactions in two countries for the time being: Ireland and Spain. Both were chosen as their users have friend networks that rarely extend beyond their national borders. The site will be using feedback to improve the feature and hopes to roll out Reactions to everyone.

Source: Facebook, Techcrunch

The post Facebook goes beyond Like, trailing new Reactions appeared first on AndroidGuys.

9
Oct

Apple Watch owners can use Facebook Messenger on their wrists


The dedicated Facebook Messenger app Apple promised for its wearable’s latest operating system, the watchOS 2, is finally here. So long as you’ve already installed the updated platform, you can start using third-party apps on your Apple Watch, including the social network’s messaging application. Since the watchface is too small to type on, the app lets you send and receive voice clips, stickers, Likes and emojis — abbreviated interactions that suit a tiny display. Facebook also upgraded the app to show your Messenger contacts and conversations via spotlight search on iOS 9 and to work with the iPad’s multi-tasking capabilities.

Source: iTunes

9
Oct

Instead of dislike, Facebook is testing ‘Reactions’ animated emoji


Last night Engadget brought you a sneak peek at Facebook’s new “Reactions” feature, and today the social network confirmed it’s now in testing. Instead of the often-requested “dislike” to counter the existing Like button, founder Mark Zuckerberg explains (in a video embedded after the break) that this idea is just about giving more options to express yourself. Whether or not the feelings of love, sadness and empathy are what you’re trying to project, the test is currently limited to users in Ireland and Spain. If you are there (or use a browser proxy service like Hola to fake it) you’ll see something like the picture above, after long pressing the Like button on the website or mobile apps. Depending on how things go, this could roll out to the rest of the billion or so Facebook users soon, but it looks like any official support for dislike is never going to be in the plans.

Source: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Facebook Newsroom

9
Oct

Facebook introduces ‘Reactions’ to give users more ways to share their reaction to a post


facebook_reactions_1

Today Facebook introduced an extension to the like button, giving users the ability to chose from six different emojis that portray their reaction to a post. The new feature is called ‘Reactions’ and will first launch in two test markets, Spain and Ireland, before Facebook decides to roll it out to the rest of the world. 

“We’re excited to start this test, but understand that this is a big change, and one that we want to make sure to get right. So we’re starting by offering Reactions to Ireland and Spain, where people will be able to react to any post across Facebook – a post from a friend, advertiser, publisher or business.“

facebook_reactions_emojis

The Reactions emojis will be located alongside the original like button. Facebook will use Reactions to have a better understanding of what each individual user is interested in, with the goal of making news feed content more relevant to that interest. According to Facebook, it will allow businesses and publishers to better understand users’ content demand and see how people are responding to their content on Facebook. Page owners will be able to see all of the reactions to their post on Page Insights.

The new feature is still under testing, and Facebook will improve on it as users provide feedback.

Source: Facebook
Via: Techcrunch

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