Instagram is ready to make some serious money
After launching ads a year and half ago Instagram is now giving advertisers a much more powerful tool to integrate their ads. The tools include “Shop Now”,”Install”and “Sign Up” buttons.
These button appears at the bottom right of the advertisement. The company made advertisement open for all the advertisers. It is worth noting that pressing the buttons do not take you away from Instagram completely. Instead, it open a mini version of a browser within the app, so that when you are done buying or installing you will be returned to the app itself.
Instagram has always been a potential advertisement channel, able to drive its 300 million+ users to buy or download an app.
“The API comes polished—able to manage, track and measure marketing campaigns—thanks to borrowed technology and lessons learned from Facebook“
Instagram is all ready and plans to roll out this update gradually starting later this week in Spain. At the end Instagram wants to make advertisement available to all business areas no matter whether it is small or large. The API will plug Instagram into the broader ecosystem of social ad platforms.
In my opinion this is indeed a really big boost to the advertising sector. Local brand names as well as small and starting companies can now easily campaign their products by using Instagram as their path to advertise. However as delicious as it may seem, it can cause a lot of adverse effects. Like Facebook, a lot of users don’t want to see advertisement spam in their feed. I hope Instagram is prepared for such a scenario.
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Instagram is opening its advertising floodgates
Today Instagram announced sweeping changes to its 18-month old advertising scheme in an effort to monetize all those loyal sets of eyeballs. The company is essentially opening its platform to advertisers big and small, rather than the “select” partners it’s been pairing with during the past year and a half long pilot project. The plan is to push ads in more formats that are targeted towards people with relevant interests. All that means is that as it rolls out, the next Sponsored post you see is probably based on what IG (and its owner Facebook) think you like.
Specifically, “direct response” ads will now integrate action buttons that will prompt viewers to click through and buy, subscribe, or install whatever the ad is hawking. Instagram hinted at this feature back in March but made it official today. On the back end, Instagram is granting advertisers more granular data on users than the standard age, gender and location metrics they previously had access to. It’s using demographics and interests, plus the data businesses have about their customers.
Filed under: Internet
Via: ReCode
Source: Instagram
This is ‘Henry,’ Oculus Story Studio’s second VR film
Oculus’ big push into cinema began at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it introduced its VR filmmaking endeavor, Story Studio. Back then, the company debuted Lost and revealed a list of other shorts it had plans for — though it didn’t go into much detail about them. Today, however, we’re getting to know Henry, the second film from the virtual reality studio. Directed by Ramiro Lopes Dau, who previously worked on animation for Pixar’s Brave and Monster University, Henry tells the story of a cute hedgehog that has trouble making friends because of his appearance. Oculus Story Studio describes it as a heartwarming comedy.
“One of the cool things about Henry is that we’re incorporating more of that interactive discovery, where you can find his photo album and see elements of it brought to life,” Oculus Story Studio Producer, Edward Saatchi, told me in an interview recently. “You can feel as though you’re discovering parts of his story, which is really powerful. You’ll have a greater agency of discovering elements of his house.”
Henry is slated to debut later this year, but you can watch the trailer right now.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/129497938?portrait=0
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Facebook
Source: Oculus VR
Protesters want Facebook to remove ‘fake name’ reporting tool
Drag queens, Native Americans, victims of abuse and anyone who’d rather not use their real names on social media aren’t done waging war against Facebook’s real name policy. Around 50 to 100 protesters have shown up at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters on Monday for the #MyNameIs protest. They carried signs that read “My Name Is My Business,” “Facebook exposed me to my abuser” and “Your apology was a lie,” among many others. If you recall, someone with a vendetta against drag queens went on a reporting spree last year to get them all banned. People have been reporting Native American users, too, because their names tend to incorporate elements of nature, animals or their own features that make them sound fake. Blogger Dana Lone Hill was one of the people affected, as well as someone named Lance Browneyes from South Dakota.
The social network already apologized to the drag queen community, in particular, and clarified that the “authentic” names it requires don’t necessarily have to be people’s “legal” names — so, yes, they can use their stage monikers. Problem is, according to the #MyNameIs organizers, a lot of people are still being targeted and reported for their “fake” names even now. They believe the “anonymous reporting process is heavily flawed” and is prone to abuse, so they’re proposing three changes to Facebook’s system.
First, they want Facebook to get rid of its fake name reporting option completely, since it already has separate tools to report impersonation and harassment anyway. Next, they want the social network to stop asking for government IDs, credit cards and the like to authenticate one’s identity. Finally, they’re asking the company to create an appeals process, as many affected users are having a hard time getting their accounts reinstated due to Facebook’s almost non-existent customer service.
Facebook, on the other hand, has posted the latest updates to its authentic name policy on its Safety account. According to company execs Justin Osofsky and Monika Bickert, the social network now allows folks in the US (and later on, anywhere in the world) to access their accounts for seven days after they’ve been reported, while they take steps to prove their identities. They no longer have to show the social network legal docs, as well, and can use “a piece of mail, a magazine subscription, or a library card that include their authentic name.”
The company has also tweaked its language throughout the site to clarify that authentic name doesn’t necessarily mean legal name. In addition, Osofsky and Bickert have taken the chance to defend the company’s policy, stating that it “helps protect [the] community from dangerous interactions, like when an abusive ex-boyfriend impersonates a friend to harass his ex-girlfriend, or a high school bully uses a fake name to post hateful comments about a gay classmate.”
They haven’t mentioned anything about Facebook’s fake name reporting tool, however, which the protesters want to be removed. Chicago-based burlesque performer told The Huffington Post: “What Facebook has been incredibly slow to realize is that their name reporting system has been used as a tool of harassment and abuse, to frighten, endanger, and attempt to out thousands of people. I understand that people on Facebook sometimes pose as others, or hide behind pseudonyms to conduct abusive behavior online, but it is so important that we distinguish between those users and folks who are just being their authentic selves.”
Via: Mashable
Source: MyNameIs campaign, Facebook Safety
Supreme Court: online threats must be intentional to be illegal
You can’t be sent to prison for kinda sorta threats in the real world, and that now applies to the internet as well. The US Supreme Court has overturned the conviction in Anthony Elonis v. United States on the grounds that online threats aren’t illegal unless they’re clearly intentional — not just that a “reasonable person” would see them as hostile. When Elonis raged against his ex-wife and the government through allegedly “therapeutic” rap lyrics on Facebook, the court says, it wasn’t absolutely certain that he actually wished harm. The man isn’t out of the woods yet (a lower court has to look at the case once again), but there’s now a higher standard for putting him behind bars.
Whether or not this is a smart decision depends on who you ask. The American Civil Liberties Union is a big fan of the ruling, since it acknowledges “centuries” of legal precedent that requires the government to prove there was criminal intent. At the least, it reduces the chances that you’ll be hauled off simply for writing a mean-spirited social network update or blog post.
However, both dissenting judges and women’s groups are more than a little nervous. The court didn’t set a clear standard for what constitutes intent, potentially creating a lot of ambiguity at trials. Would it be enough to know you were being reckless to be found guilty, for instance? Likewise, there’s a concern that this interpretation will let internet abusers skirt around the law by writing hate-filled posts that aren’t technically threats, but are still likely to scare their targets. The sites hosting this content can always ban the offenders and delete their material, but it may be tougher to convict someone whose digital attacks really are a precursor to physical violence.
[Image credit: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images]
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Via: Slate
Source: Supreme Court (PDF)
Facebook will encrypt the emails it sends to you with PGP
Facebook, the social network where there’s no such thing as too much information is handing another olive branch to the privacy crowd. The company has announced that it’ll allow users to add PGP keys to their profiles, enabling them to encrypt the regular missives that the social network sends out. That way, no-one but you will be able to find out that Dave, the bully from junior high, has tried to add you as a friend twice this month. If you’re wary about the legitimacy of Facebook’s project, take comfort from the fact that one of the testers was noted security expert and former Tor lead, Runa Sandvik.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Facebook
Facebook supports GIFs, so go knock yourself out
It’s hard to believe, but that bastion of instant gratification, Facebook, has never supported GIFs (except via a kludge). But that appears to be fixed and you can now express your joy or add some comedy to posts on the social network. You just need to add a GIF link from Giphy, Imgur and other sites to your status updates, and it’ll play inline like magic (uploads won’t work, however, as TNW spotted). We’re not sure when Zuckerberg and Co. turned the feature on, though it doesn’t seem to work yet on mobile apps and may take some time to roll out to your neck of the woods. Meanwhile, here’s a little inspiration.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Via: TNW
Source: Animated GIFs (Facebook)
Buying a computer and an Oculus Rift should cost “around $1500″
Brendan Iribe, CEO of Oculus, recently discussed just how much you can expect to spend on a “complete package” of a computer powerful enough to use the VR headset, and the headset itself. He estimated the price of everything at around $1500, which is definitely not something just anyone will be able to afford.
The company hasn’t announced pricing for the headset just yet, but since Oculus has already announced what they consider minimum specs to power the headset, we can try to ballpark what price point they’re trying to hit.
The recommended hardware for the Rift demands an NVIDIA GTX 970/AMD R290 GPU or greater, an Intel Core i5-4590 CPU or better, and 8+ GB of RAM.
Quickly searching around on Amazon, you can find those GPUs in the $300 – $350 range, while the CPU runs around $180 and 8 GB of RAM will cost about $60. You can estimate those parts to cost between $550 and $600, and that’s not including a computer case, motherboard, hard drive, or power supply.
Going with cheaper components, you could finish that computer build for roughly another $300 (assuming you were willing to piece things together by yourself and not buy a computer from a company) and end up hitting upwards of $800 – $900. A pre-built machine will likely add several hundred extra dollars to that price tag. A machine that hits the recommended hardware from iBuyPower lists at around $1100.
With those price ranges, we can assume the Rift will be priced anywhere from $300 to $700. Granted, that’s a pretty wide range to try to figure out, but I’d bet that Iribe is counting on most people buying their computers, not building them, so hopefully that price is a little closer to the low end.
source: re/code
Come comment on this article: Buying a computer and an Oculus Rift should cost “around $1500″
Oculus Rift and a VR-ready PC will cost $1,500, CEO says
The Oculus Rift is prepared to melt your perceived reality in early 2016 — if you have the proper PC. If not, a new, Rift-ready PC plus the headset itself should cost around $1,500, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe said today at the Re/code conference. “We are looking at an all-in price, if you have to go out and actually need to buy a new computer and you’re going to buy the Rift… at most you should be in that $1,500 range,” he said (via Re/code). He didn’t provide a standalone price for the Rift, but Oculus has already divulged its recommended PC specs and they’re fairly hefty.
Oculus Chief Architect Atman Binstock said earlier in May that these specs will apply to the lifespan of the Rift and that the price of such a powerful rig should drop over time. Iribe echoed that idea today, noting that he’d like to see the total price dip below $1,000. Previous Rift development kits — that’s just the headset, no PC — have been priced around $350.
Now we have two ballpark figures for the Oculus Rift: A vague “Q1 2016″ release window and an even more nebulous “$1,500 or cheaper” price point. One day we’ll get a straight answer out of you, Oculus. One day.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Facebook
Source: Re/code
Creepy Chrome extension shows where FB messages come from
Even though Facebook’s mobile Messenger specifically tells you that it tracks your location data the first time you install the app (and every time you start a new conversation), most folks don’t realize how often and how accurately it actually does so. In fact, the app pings your location each time you send a text. And with this new Chrome extension, you’ll be able to see exactly where your contacts have been messaging you from — without their knowledge or consent.
Dubbed the “Marauder’s Map” (yes, like from Harry Potter), the extension leverages GPS data that’s embedded into each Messenger message to surreptitiously locate and track whoever sent it. This isn’t a real-time tracking method by any means, mind you; the extension simply compiles that embedded data into a cohesive map. However, it does allow anyone you’ve mailed with FB Messenger to see where you’ve been. If this sounds a bit too stalkerish for your tastes, you could always just uninstall Messenger and use any of the myriad of alternate texting apps currently on the market. Supposing that’s not an option, you can alternately just turn off your GPS location service before launching the program.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Via: Medium
Source: Chrome Web Store
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