When the company formerly known as Facebook made the shift to Meta, there were a lot of questions about what that would look like in practice. Today, as Meta celebrates its self-described made-up holiday “Quest Day,” we’re starting to get some answers. VR brand Oculus has now been absorbed into parent company Meta, and this celebration …
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As far as Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts were concerned, it was pretty slim pickings when it came to the Oculus Quest 2. The best we saw was a free gift card with purchase, but no actual drops in price. While the 128GB model stubbornly remains at $299, if you’re committed to getting your hands on one of these …
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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 VR and VRChat, but its …
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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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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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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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Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri will testify before Congress for the first time about how the social media app is trying to keep young people safe, amid criticism that the photo and video service is harming the mental health of teens. “These are important issues, but we have shared goals. We all want young people to be safe when they’re online,” …
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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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Facebook parent company Meta has been ordered by the UK competition regulator to sell Giphy, the online database for gifs it bought in May 2020 for $400 million. The Competition and Markets Authority blocked the acquisition on Tuesday, following an investigation during which it determined the deal could harm social media users and UK advertisers. The investigation found that by …
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The UK Competition and Markets Authority is expected to block Meta’s $315 million acquisition of Giphy in the near future, the Financial Times reported Monday. Meta, previously known as Facebook, moved to buy the online GIF platform in May 2020. However, the UK regulator expressed concern with the deal and provisionally ruled in August that Meta should be forced to sell Giphy. The …
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