Chika Umeadi could be the poster child for what’s wrong with virtual reality today. At a glance, he seems like the perfect candidate to buy a VR headset. He’s an app developer and techie. He loves video games. He’s 30, unmarried and says he has the means to splurge when he wants to. Yet even …
Read More »
Facebook might finally be ready to unveil its rumored video chat device. The social network will show off the Portal device next week, Cheddar reported on Friday. It’ll come in two screen sizes — with the larger priced around $400 and the small one for $300 — and function much like an Amazon Echo Show (right down to having Alexa …
Read More »
IGTV, a video-focused app spun off of Facebook’s popular photo-sharing app Instagram, recommends offensive videos to young users, a report by Business Insider said Friday. Clips with apparent child exploitation and genital mutilation surfaced in the app’s “For You” and “Popular” sections for an anonymous account the publication registered as belonging to a 13-year old, according to the report. Backlash over multiple examples of …
Read More »
Apple isn’t known for its iPhone’s battery capacities — and Huawei wants to help. The Chinese phone maker took to the streets outside Singapore’s Apple Store to give out power banks to buyers queuing to be one of the first to get Apple’s newest iPhones, and conducted a similar stunt in London this morning with a “juice” van offering both electricity …
Read More »
The British government could be preparing to set up an internet regulator that would police the actions of social networks and sanction them if they failed to comply with rules. Buzzfeed News reported on Thursday that it had obtained details of government proposals, which form part of legislation currently being drafted ahead of an official announcement later this year. One …
Read More »
Tech companies rushed to help out as Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina. Apple is sending $1 million to the Red Cross to help in its emergency assistance and disaster relief efforts, CEO Tim Cook said in a tweet Friday morning. “The Carolinas are in our hearts. To our employees there, first responders and everyone in Hurricane Florence’s path, …
Read More »
Engineers wanted to design custom chips for Facebook in its ongoing efforts to break through in AR, in addition to Oculus‘ ongoing VR work. That’s according to a report in The Information (paywalled) that found several job listings over the past few days. For example, the listing for a Digital Design Engineer provides more details about Facebook’s direction with the …
Read More »
Path will be no more. The mobile social network, a former competitor of Facebook, on Monday said it’ll be shutting down over the next two months. Starting Oct. 1, you won’t be able to download the app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store. Path will shut its service on Oct. 18, then customer service will close …
Read More »
Facebook is looking for a director of human rights policy to improve the way the social network tackles abuses on its platforms, according to a job ad posted Saturday. The ad, posted on Facebook’s careers site, explains that the new director will lead a team working “to act against those who would use Facebook to enable harm, stifle expression, and …
Read More »
The iPhone SE is dead. Long live the iPhone SE! Needless to say, some folks are not happy that Apple effectively put its compact budget phone out to pasture last week. Granted, some other folks — myself included — might argue that there’s a better option in the form of the iPhone 7. Read more: No iPhone SE? No problem. …
Read More »
