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Lilbits: Meta Portal’s slow demise, Microsoft’s Fall 2023 Surface hardware event, KDE goes double-click by default, and Bodhi Linux 7.0 released

by Brad Linder 1 Comment on Lilbits: Meta Portal’s slow demise, Microsoft’s Fall 2023 Surface hardware event, KDE goes double-click by default, and Bodhi Linux 7.0 released

The Meta Portal line of products are smart displays that launched in 2018 when Meta was still called Facebook. With support for Amazon’s Alexa voice service, they were kind of the company’s answer to an Amazon Echo, but with the added bonus of Facebook Messenger support, making them one of the easiest ways to place […]

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Facebook launches Messenger Rooms (Chat with up to 50 people, send links to non-FB users)

by Brad Linder 2 Comments on Facebook launches Messenger Rooms (Chat with up to 50 people, send links to non-FB users)

Video conferencing system Zoom has seen its user base explode over the past few months as millions of people stay at home to slow the spread of COVID-19. So it’s not surprising to see rivals starting to copy some of Zoom’s most popular features. Case in point — Facebook has launched a new group video […]

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Facebook Messenger is now available as a desktop app for Windows or Mac

by Brad Linder 7 Comments on Facebook Messenger is now available as a desktop app for Windows or Mac

Zoom may be grabbing all the headlines lately (for better or worse), but it’s hardly the only option for making video calls over the internet. Microsoft has Skype. Google has Hangouts. And Facebook has Messenger — which is now available as a desktop app. You can now download Facebook Messenger from the Microsoft Store or […]

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Facebook launches 3 new Portal video-calling devices with prices starting at $129

by Brad Linder 1 Comment on Facebook launches 3 new Portal video-calling devices with prices starting at $129

As promised earlier this year, Facebook is launching its Portal line of video-calling smart displays in more countries and adding support for WhatsApp video calls as well as Facebook Messenger. But the company is also launching three new Portal devices, all of which are cheaper than the original models Facebook launched last year. The new Portal […]

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Facebook introduces Portal: A video chat device for $199 and up

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Facebook introduces Portal: A video chat device for $199 and up

Facebook’s smart display is here… but the Facebook Portal isn’t really the Amazon Echo competitor many folks had been expecting. In fact, Facebook is using Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant to power voice controls — so this is more of a collaboration with Amazon than a competition. You can talk to the device by saying “Hey […]

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Facebook Messenger Lite now available in the US, UK, Ireland, and Canada (Android-only)

by Brad Linder 1 Comment on Facebook Messenger Lite now available in the US, UK, Ireland, and Canada (Android-only)

It’s been a while since Facebook slit up its mobile apps and required users to download Facebook Messenger in addition to the main Facebook app. But if you don’t need all the bells and whistles that come with Facebook Messenger, now there’s a light-weight option. Faacebook initially launched Messenger Lite in 2016 as an app […]

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Facebook’s M assistant finally arrives in Messenger… offers suggestions based on your chats

by Brad Linder 1 Comment on Facebook’s M assistant finally arrives in Messenger… offers suggestions based on your chats

It’s been almost two years since Facebook unveiled its M digital assistant software for Facebook Messenger. Initially only available to a small group of testers, M is now launching for everyone in the US. So what does that mean? Basically that M will analyze your chats and try to suggest relevant content. It’s basically the […]

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Facebook brings games to Android and iOS apps

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Facebook brings games to Android and iOS apps

Facebook may be a social networking site first and foremost, but the company also has a long history of enabling developers to create games that users can play on their own or with friends. As a growing percentage of Facebook’s users are accessing the site on mobile devices, Facebook is taking a step that helps […]

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Facebook Messenger for Android is now an SMS app too

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Facebook Messenger for Android is now an SMS app too

Google’s attempts to integrate SMS with Hangouts might not have been universally popular, but that hasn’t stopped another company from trying to bring together instant messaging and SMS. The latest version of Facebook Messenger for Android now lets you send and receive text messages over a cellular network. Of course you can still use Facebook […]

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Like Microsoft, Facebook believes that chatbots are the future

by Brad Linder Comments Off on Like Microsoft, Facebook believes that chatbots are the future

It’s (not really) official: chatbots are the new apps. Two weeks after Microsoft launched a new platform designed to help developers create chatbots that can interact with users in Skype, Outlook, Slack, and other platforms, Facebook has launched its own bot-making tools. The Facebook Messenger Platform allows developers to create bots that allow Facebook Messenger and Facebook […]