Earlier this year, the Facebook owned Instagram overhauled their app and introduced a new moments feature that is designed get users to use the app more often. Today, Instragram is rolling out two new features that users can take advantage. The two new features are live videos and disappearing photos.
Both the features are accessed through the existing moments screen and the update is now available for both iOS and Android versions of the app. Live videos work similarly like they do on Facebook and disappearing photos are basically Instagram direct photos/videos that will disappear after the image is viewed.
If these features sound similar, Instagram's moment feature is exactly like Snapchat minus the live video. Learn more about how all of this works out in the source link below.
Xiaomi has been dabbling around with other products like rice cookers and air purifiers in the last year and they are continuing that with their venture in the world of drones. Besides 360 degree videos, drones are the next hot thing when it comes to videography.
Just like all the other Xiaomi products in the past, the Mi Drone (as it is officially called) comes with features that rival products that are priced higher. Beginning later this year, Xiaomi will ship the Mi Drone to users in China for as low as CN¥ 2,499 (~US$ 380 / ~MYR 1,500) for the Mi Drone that shoots 1080P. There's also a Mi Drone that shoots 4K video but that is priced a little higher at CN¥ 2,999 (~US$ 460 / ~MYR 1,800)
Check out images of the drone itself below.
For more than half the price of a DJI Phanton 4, Xiaomi's new Mi Drone has the features to back it's price. While, the Xiaomi Mi Drone will not be as intelligent compared to the Phantom 4 in terms of obstacle avoidance but Xiaomi says that they have built a number of software features like the ability to navigate back home, orbiting and a geofencing mode which locks it to that specific area.
The camera is mounted on a three axis gimbal and the Mi Drone is controlled through a controller that uses a smartphone as the display. Find out more about what comes with the Mi Drone in Hugo Barra's recent live stream on Facebook.
In terms of design, the Xiaomi Mi Drone looks a lot like a quadcopter with 4 blades but the twist is that the Mi Drone is designed to be modular. Sections of the Mi Drone can be detached for maintain acne like the camera module and the rotors. Additionally, Xiaomi says that the 5,100mAh battery on the Mi Drone will be sufficient for 27 minutes of flight time.
What's the result of this sub-$500 drone? Check out the video below.
Instagram has evolved a lot since it's official debut 5 years ago on the iPhone and the most recent change that enables users to do away with he classic 1x1 photo crop shows how much the service is changing. If you though 60 second videos was cool, Instagram's new logo reflects upon all the new direction that the company is moving forward with.
Gone is the classic polaroid camera logo and that is replaced with a much more simpler design with a gradient of 4 colors. This new rebrand brings instagram up to speed with the current trend of 'flat' and minimalist logo design. Today's redesign also introduces a streamlined design change across Instagram's mobile and web clients. You can read more about the inspiration for instagram's new logo here
Virtual reality is gaining some good ground this year with the release of the multiple new VR headsets like the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, PlayStation VR and more compact options like LG's 360 VR headset. Facebook in particular seems to be interested in the field of immersive video content and while they do own Oculus and the Facebook timeline just recently opened up the gates for VR content, this new Surround 360 camera announced earlier today during Facebook's F8 is the next step Facebook is to popularize this new form of media.
Just like a lot other 360 cameras currently available, Facebook's open sourced VR camera has a round shape but somehow looks like a UFO due to it's dome like structure. Inside the Surrond 360 camera, there are 17 4-megapixel cameras that are capable of shooting up to 8K video. Additionally, this design also corrects the part of the image used to stand the device so that viewers can be fully immersed in the content.
Facebook says the camera is designed to be a versatile system and don't expect to buy one of these systems any time soon but this does add up to all the hype about virtual reality. While the system will not be physically available for purchase, Facebook will be open sourcing the technology and hardware designs of the Surround 360 camera in the Summer. The hardware required to build this system will cost $30,000 to build.
Despite all the competition out there today, WhatsApp still manages to top the charts at being the most popular mobile messaging app and is tailed closely behind by Facebook Messenger. The big reason why WhatsApp has grown to become a strong force is mainly due to it's ad-free concept which does require a yearly fee of $0.99 and also it's cross platform compatibility. It's not the most liked messaging app ever made but it gets the job done for most people. But to the case of majority of users, WhatsApp has always waived the yearly subscription for active users.
Most popular global mobile messenger apps as of August 2015, based on number of monthly active users (in millions) credit: statista
But today, the Facebook owned WhatsApp is announcing that the annual $0.99 subscription to use WhatsApp will be abolished and that WhatsApp will not be running third party ads any time soon. As for how all of this is going to work out for WhatsApp in terms of sustaining profit, the comapny suggest that they will be testing out a couple of ways to earn revenue and just be ready to have a new experience with WhatsApp
Naturally, people might wonder how we plan to keep WhatsApp running without subscription fees and if today's announcement means we're introducing third-party ads. The answer is no. Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organizations that you want to hear from. That could mean communicating with your bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. We all get these messages elsewhere today – through text messages and phone calls – so we want to test new tools to make this easier to do on WhatsApp, while still giving you an experience without third-party ads and spam.
Facebook is still indeed the king of social media even with newer services coming up in the recent years and over the years, the Facebook site has been updated to include new features. But the only thing remained the same throughout is their logo which for years featured that classic looking facebook font.
Well, 2015 is the time for change as this is the first time since 2005 that Facebook is changing how their logo looks like. The new typography design isn't too far from the original, it's just the font have been given some rounder edges.
So, have you noticed the new Facebook logo which is rolling out to all users.
Just last night, the US Supreme court made a big step in the right direction by legalizing same gender marriage in all 50 states in America. Although the US isn't the first country to fully legalize this kind of marriage, they have definitely made an impact towards the entire world given their strong influence in a lot of fields. You can check out this article here to see all the countries which same sex marriage is legal here.
This might not be legalized in Malaysia but this new ruling by the US is a turning point for gender equality and to celebrate this momentous win, Facebook is launching a brand new global campaign to contribute to the #lovewins campaign.
Accessible to any Facebook user anywhere in the world, you can show your support towards this motion by giving your profile picture a bit more color. At the landing page, you'll be able to overlay your profile picture with a Rainbow flag and also share a meaningful status while you're at it.
To chip in the campaign, we've also switched our profile picture on social media to reflect the Rainbow flag. Check out some of the initial reactions by popular tech companies.
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This morning, Oculus unveiled the final product design for their first consumer focused Virtual Reality headset. The rift as it is known...
This morning, Oculus unveiled the final product design for their first consumer focused Virtual Reality headset. The rift as it is known will be coming in Q1 2016 for a price no more than $1500 and the specs for this VR headset has not been released yet. Unlike the other development models which the company released for the past few years, the final design has gentler curves all around and now includes two built in headphones to further improve the experience.
The headstrap is resizeable to suit your needs and this new design finally allows users to wear their glasses over the headset and the zoom range towards the lenses inside can be adjusted. Of course, this still looks a little sci-fi but the Facebook owned Oculus has refined the product into one that customers will be proud to wear.
As for the Virtual Reality experience, Oculus has created a new controller called the Oculus Touch which looks a lot like a controller from the Wii U. This wireless controller wraps around your hands and acts like a single joystick with some button. Aesthetically, it does look pretty cool looking and the ergonomics of it seem to fit in with the headset.
The final piece of the Oculus Rift is the games and for that, they are partnering with Microsoft to bring support for the Rift to the XBOX One as wells as streaming to Windows 10 devices. This partnership between Microsoft and Oculus will see the consumer Oculus Rift to ship with a wireless XBOX controller. So, soon you'll be able to play Forza and Halo in the virtual world.
Not much technical details beyond the actual physique of the new Oculus Rift but we'll be hearing quite a bit from Microsoft during E3 next week. Stay tuned!
For the past year, Facebook, the social media company has been trying to innovate beyond the Facebook Timeline and that has resulted in the company acquiring both WhatsApp and Oculus. Building on their previous announcements of Facebook Messenger becoming a separate service through messenger.com; Today Facebook is announcing that video call will be coming to Facebook Messenger.
As of March 2015, Facebook Messenger has over 600 million active montly users making it the second most used IM application around. The addition of video calling builds upon the ability to perform voice calls on Messenger.
Like the voice calling feature, Facebook will slowly roll out this new video calling feature and this feature will be available to iOS and Android users in the following countries. The company adds that more countries will be able to utilize this feature in the coming months ahead. Watch the introductory video below to learn more
Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay.
Nokia has been making waves in the headlines recently, from acquiring Acatel-Luncent to reports of Nokia branded smartphones; It looks like they are getting serious in restructuring the company. Well, a report today by retuers says that Nokia is trying increase interest of their HERE Maps platform.
Recently, Nokia was reportedly ready to let go off their maps division which was formed when they purchased Navteq for $8.1 billion in 2008. HERE Maps has been posing some negative revenue for the company and like their burning mobile phone platform, Nokia is planning to sell it to another company.
So, the story here is that both Facebook as well as a group of German automakers are interested in acquiring Nokia's mapping platform. Nokia is expecting to get $3.2 billion out of the deal but that's not it; Apparently, Nokia is also trying to get an offer from Apple, Alibaba, Amazon and Uber.
As you might know, HERE Maps is second to none one of the better mapping platforms out there today and although the division is not raking up money under Nokia, this doesn't mean that it's future owner can't make good use of it.
The listed companies which Nokia is trying to sell HERE Maps too will definitely have a way to make it big. Take for example, Facebook, they can take this opportunity to better the location services and also Apple looks to be a big name which will find the data on HERE Maps useful enough for their own mapping platform on iOS.
Either way, these reports look to be real solid and if Nokia does indeed plan to sell off it's mapping platform then we'll most likely hear about an acquisition report in the coming weeks
WhatsApp, the popular messaging app has just reached yet another milestone. Founder, Jan Koum announced via facebook that the service now has 700 million monthly active users. The figure is a little over the 500 million monthly active users that is logged by Facebook messenger. In addition to that, he also added that today over 30 billion messages are being sent through WhatsApp every day. In other news, it is reported that WhatsApp will be announcing a desktop client as well as support for voice messages in the coming months.
