Tag Archives: Facebook

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s biggest metaverse app, opens to the public

It’s been two years since Facebook — now Meta — first showed off its VR metaverse app, Horizon Worlds. The app, which was in private beta until now, is at last open to the public starting Thursday. The virtual meeting space and gaming hub is a familiar mix of existing VR social apps such as Rec Room, AltSpace …

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Facebook parent Meta uses AI to tackle new types of harmful content

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, said Wednesday it has created artificial intelligence technology that can adapt more quickly to new types of harmful content, including posts discouraging COVID-19 vaccinations. Generally, AI systems learn new tasks from examples, but the process of gathering and labeling a massive amount of data typically takes months. Using technology Meta calls Few-Shot Learner, the new …

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2021 Holiday Gift Guide: Stop making these mistakes when buying smartphones and other tech gifts

This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas. An unfolding supply chain crisis and a continuous pandemic won’t stop the holidays — but it’ll definitely make it more difficult for you to get your hands on the perfect holiday gift. And while seeing empty shelves might push you into a panic to buy something ASAP, …

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GOP Rep. Devin Nunes to leave Congress to run Trump’s media company

California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, will leave Congress to run the former president’s new social media company. The Trump Media & Technology group said in a statement that Nunes will serve as its chief executive officer, beginning in January. Trump announced in October it would launch a social network called Truth Social to take …

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Instagram rolls out tools for teens, parents ahead of Senate hearing

A day before Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri is scheduled to testify before Congress, the photo-sharing app on Tuesday unveiled new parental controls and other features aimed a keeping teens safe.  Among the new features, Instagram will let parents and guardians set limits on how much time teens are spending on the app. There will also be an option to notify parents …

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Make your WhatsApp messages disappear by default

WhatsApp is adding more options to control your disappearing messages, the popular app announced Monday. You can now turn on disappearing messages by default for all new chats, and you can choose how long you have until the messages fade.  Brett Pearce/CNET When you enable the feature, every one-on-one chat that you or someone else starts will be set to …

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9 great reads from CNET this week: Tech fails, NFTs, Marvel and more

Every year has its ups and downs. The ups are a thrill. The downs are often fascinating, for what they reveal about the limits of our ambitions, the challenges of trying to get things right and the escape hatches that might get us out of trouble (or the rabbit holes that take us ever deeper). Or just because misery loves …

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Twitter’s leadership shake

When co-founder Jack Dorsey returned to Twitter as chief executive in 2015, he made it clear the social media company needed to constantly reinvent itself.  “The world needs a Twitter that not only remains relevant,” Dorsey said during a conference call that year, “but thrives and continues to redefine what came before it.” Parag Agrawal became Twitter CEO with Jack …

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Ready Shopper One: A metaverse holiday gift guide

This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas. The metaverse is happening now! Or it’s already happened. The metaverse is gaming. It’s virtual reality. It’s a marketing term. It’s Web 3.0. It’s Facebook’s quick-change identity shift to Meta. Or, of course, it’s still a decade away. I’ve been covering VR and AR for years, …

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Facebook drops restrictions on searches, praise for Kyle Rittenhouse

Facebook has lifted restrictions on people praising Kyle Rittenhouse or searching for his name on the social network. The change, which was earlier reported by the BBC, comes after Rittenhouse was acquitted last month of all charges related to his fatally shooting two people during unrest over police violence in Wisconsin.  Facebook, now under parent company Meta, removed Rittenhouse’s accounts in …

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