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Facebook wants to make “the camera the first augmented reality platform”

Facebook recently added a camera feature to all of its mobile apps, allowing you to quickly snap a photo or capture a video and share it with your friends… but also to apply real-time effects including frames, virtual masks, and style transfers (make your picture look like a van Gogh in real-time). Now Facebook says […]

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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 Video app is coming to smart TVs

Facebook may have started out as a website where people could share status updates and see what their friends were up to. But these days it’s a platform for discovering news (some of which is even real… although some is not), organizing events, and watching videos. Now the company wants to bring that last bit […]

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WhatsApp messages might not be a secure as you think, but not because of a backdoor

Mobile messaging app WhatsApp is used by millions of people around the world, and while many use it as a convenient way to chat, send pictures, and generally keep in touch with friends and family, there’s another nifty thing about WhatsApp: it promises secure, encrypted communications. But does it deliver on that promise? Kind of. […]

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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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US election aftermath: Twitter cracks down on harassment, Facebook and Google ad networks ban fake news sites

The 2016 presidential election results have wide-ranging implications in a number of fields. In the tech world, we’re already starting to see the impact as Google and Facebook take steps to combat fake news sites (which some people blame for distributing misinformation during the lead-up to the election), and Twitter’s move to roll out new […]

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Oculus is working on a standalone VR headset (no PC, no phone)

Facebook’s Oculus Rift may be one of the most powerful virtual reality systems on the market… but you also need to plug it into a powerful PC to use the headset. The company has also worked with Samsung to produce the Gear VR, a cheaper product that works without wires… but which relies on your […]

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Facebook and Unity partnership could bring more games to Facebook (and desktop PCs)

Game development platform Unity has announced a partnership with Facebook, allowing game makers to use Unity’s tools to publish games to Facebook. That means developers can use the same tools to create games for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, and Facebook’s web-based social network. But earlier this year the company launched a beta version of a […]

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Facebook plans to show ads even if you’re using an ad blocker

There’s a lot of free, ad-supported content on the internet. You can search the web, read the news, and watch cat videos for free. And even though Hulu is moving to a subscription-only service, you can still (legally) watch plenty of TV shows and movies without paying a penny. But according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, […]

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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 […]