Facebook Dumps The Poke And Camera Apps You Never Used

Image By engadget

Remember that Poke app that Facebook released a couple years ago? Yeah, we're guessing no, which might explain why the company has decided to put the kibosh on it and pulled it from the App Store. If you did manage to snag the app back in the day, you might recall that it allowed you to not only "poke," but also send a message, picture or video to Facebook friends, with those missives set to expire after 1, 3, 5 or 10 seconds. Also on the guillotine is Facebook's standalone Camera app, which we're not sure if anyone knew existed. Getting rid of these two apps isn't entirely surprising, as features from both have been incorporated into the big blue one over the years. Though killing them seems counter to the company's recent trend of unbundling its core app, we suspect it's more to do with getting rid of the old to make room for the new.

Source:The Verge

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Posted on 20:51

Categories: Facebook

Facebook Announces First Data Center with Rapid Deployment Design

Facebook announces first data center with new rapid deployment design coming to Luleå, Sweden

Facebook announced plans to build the first data center using its new “rapid deployment data center” (RDDC) design, its most efficient method to build a data center yet. It will be located in a second building at the company’s existing campus in Luleå, Sweden, the location of the social network’s first international data center.

At this year’s summit for the Open Compute Project (OCP), Facebook previewed the RDDC design (video embedded below and full 97-page presentation available here). The company says it expects the new approach to data center design will enable it to construct and deploy new capacity twice as fast as its previous approach, will prove to be much more site-agnostic, and will greatly reduce the amount of material used during construction.

• Site-agnostic design: By standardizing the designs of component assemblies much like with OCP servers, Facebook hopes to deploy a unitized data center into almost any region in the world faster, leaner, and more cost-effectively. Performing more of the assembly in a controlled environment and at ground level also reduces assembly time. By deploying pre-manufactured assemblies, a majority of the components can be used interchangeably. The goal is to be deployable wherever needed.
• Reduced on-site impact: The RDDC concept will deploy pre-engineered unitized modules that minimize the amount of time required for heavy equipment on site and overall time to complete a data hall. The modules reduce the generation of on-site waste and the impacts associated with the delivery and staging of individual construction materials common to traditional construction techniques.
• Improved execution and workmanship: Having a predictable and repeatable product delivered to the site allows local teams to easily replicate the quality and fit from one region to another. The RDDC design will produce this result by using explicit assembly instructions with established tolerances.

Facebook wouldn’t reveal when construction will begin, saying only that it will be “soon.” It did say, however, that lessons learned will be shared with the OCP community.

Via:Facebook, thenextweb

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Posted on 19:52

Categories: Facebook , Social Network

Facebook Launches An Improved Version Of The News Feed Redesign Once More

Facebook Rolls Out Simplified News Feed That Leaves Content And Ads Alone

Facebook is tweaking the design of its News Feed once more. While the social network has tried numerous layouts over the years, it seems to have finally rested on a solution that will appeal to all of its users.
You may remember that exactly one year ago, Facebook unveiled a redesigned News Feed that founder Mark Zuckerberg described as a “personalized newspaper.” Photos and videos were larger, stories were separated into cards and a dark, slimmer sidebar stretched down the left-hand side of the page.
Twelve months later, some Facebook users are still waiting to get that redesign.

Facebook now calls that version an experiment and explains that after extensive testing, it found that there were a few problems. In short, users liked the visual approach but found it harder to use the site on the whole. Rather than ship a flawed redesign, the company made further tweaks and finalized the design which is being unveiled today.

Facebook is emphasizing that this is a visual update and doesn’t change the way it ranks stories or surfaces content for any of its users. The changes will roll out in the coming weeks, so if you’re not seeing it just yet, fear not – you will soon.

Some context on the changes that are out today: Although there were News Feed changes announced last year, they were not rolled out worldwide.

Marra says that Facebook wanted to take some time to really think them through. “Over the last year we have been taking time and listening to what people think about the redesign,” he told me, with “lots of interviews with users to understand what parts were working and what parts were not. Some changes were getting in the way of using Facebook.”

Source:Techcrunch
Via:thenextweb

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Posted on 23:37

Categories: Facebook

Facebook And Instagram Step In With Age Limits On Firearms Ads, New Rules For Sellers

For most, Facebook's "Look Back" videos were a whimsical retrospective covering a decade of social networking. For Moms Demand Action, an advocacy group that supports gun control laws, the nostalgic campaign was a opportunity to be heard. The group published a parody Look Back video highlighting pages and posts that use the social network to set up gun sales between private parties, some of which violated Facebook's community standards. Now, Zuckerberg and Co. have responded, announcing a handful of new policies designed to help keep posts promoting the sale of regulated goods within the letter of the law.

Facebook says -- the social network doesn't want to restrict its users' ability to communicate or express themselves on the service, but also recognizes that its communication platform can be abused. To this end, it's instituting a series of "educational and enforcement efforts for people discussing the private sale of regulated items." Specifically, Facebook will limit access to posts promoting the private sale of regulated items (read: firearms) to users over the age of 18. Folks posting this material will also receive a friendly reminder to keep their business legal. Pages and groups promoting the same activity will also be required to use language reminding folks that there are specific rules and regulations policing the sale of such goods, and likewise, these pages will also be blocked to users under 18.

In addition to the new rules for posts, pages and groups, Facebook says that users searching for firearm sales or promotions on Instagram will be offered special in-app education, presumably reminding them to check their local laws to ensure their transactions are legitimate.

Source:Facebook
VIA:VentureBeat

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Posted on 03:02

Categories: Facebook , Instagram

Facebook Messenger Arrives For Windows Phone Sans Voice Features

Microsoft was clearly being cautious when it said Facebook Messenger would be available for Windows Phone within a few weeks of Mobile World Congress -- it's already here, just over a week later. The app offers much of Facebook's familiar chat experience, including group conversations, photo sharing and (of course) stickers. However, are a few missing features in this first revision. There aren't any voice messaging options, and chat heads aren't around to let you quickly jump between active discussions.

Source:Windows Phone Store

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Posted on 02:41

Categories: Facebook , mobile , windows phone