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Facebook Messenger chief admits bot launch was 'overhyped'
Chatbots were oversold and not that great when they first launched earlier this year, Facebook Messenger VP David A. Marcus told Techrunch's Disrupt conference. "The problem was that it got really overhyped very, very quickly," he said. "And the basic qualities we provided at that time weren't good enough to replace traditional apps."
Facebook works with Israel to curb posts inciting violence
Facebook is no stranger to fighting terrorism online, but it's about to take those efforts one step further. In the wake of lawsuits from terror victims' families, the social network is partnering with Israel on ways to track and pull content that incites violence. The country claims that a year-long surge in Palestinian violence was partly sparked by social posts, and hopes that tighter controls on those posts will help douse those flames. The two aren't saying exactly what they'll do, but Facebook has stressed its belief that it can fight extremism through a "strong partnership" between public and private organizations.
Facebook Messenger chatbots now support payments
The latest version of Facebook Messenger adds a new feature to the 30,000 or so chatbots that currently inhabit its platform. Starting today with version 1.2, those Messenger bots can now accept payments directly in the chat without sending users to an external website.
Instagram lets anyone filter words out of comments
Instagram is making good on its promise to bring word filters to everyone. The photo-centric service has announced that anyone can now filter their comments to keep out abusive (or just plain annoying) feedback. If you're tired of dealing with harassment or "get more followers" spam, you won't have to spend ages blocking users or reporting individual comments. It's just a matter of choosing the right keywords to keep discussions civil.
Bad experiences on Facebook have real-world consequences
Researchers at Brown University believe that they have established a link between Facebook use and depression. The study examined 264 people and tracked if, and when, they reported having an NFE: a Negative Facebook Experience. When that data was boiled down, the team concluded that people who reported experiencing NFEs were 3.2 times more likely to risk suffering from the symptoms of depression.
Facebook bans, then reinstates, iconic 'napalm girl' photo
Facebook's policy on what constitutes as nudity is in the news again. This time, though, there's a reversal involving a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo from the Vietnam war, The Guardian reports. The Terror of War is a photograph of children running from a napalm attack with armed soldiers behind them, taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut. One of the kids, Kim Phúc, is naked. When Norwegian writer Tom Egeland posted it along with six others as a status concerning photos that "changed the history of warfare," the author's account was suspended.
Facebook co-founder donates $20 million to elect Hillary Clinton
Mark Zuckerberg's other half, Dustin Moskovitz, has pledged to donate $20 million to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democratic efforts this election year. Moskovitz, a co-creator of Facebook and founder of Asana, outlines his intentions in a Medium post that criticizes Republican candidate Donald Trump and praises Clinton.
Facebook's trending algorithm promoted a 9/11 truther story
Facebook's trending news algorithm has failed once again. Earlier today, Facebook users who clicked on the "9/11" trending topic on the social network were directed to a tabloid story by The Daily Star, which claimed that bombs destroyed the World Trade Center towers. As The Washington Post reports, the story was quickly removed after they contacted Facebook.
Bloomberg: Amazon wants live sports streaming rights
Bloomberg believes that Amazon is considering buying the rights to a variety of live sporting events as a way of bringing more people into Prime. According to the site's anonymous sources, the firm has made discreet enquiries about picking up licenses for global sports including tennis, golf, soccer and car racing. The company is believed to have a beady eye on domestic sports like baseball and basketball, although knows that traditional broadcasters have that sewn up for the next few years.
Facebook's 'Star Trek' reactions show it doesn't know jack about Spock
Today is Star Trek's 50th anniversary, marking half a century since the show first aired on September 8th 1966. Here at Engadget, we're celebrating with an ancient Trekkie tradition: Nitpicking. Today, Facebook announced that it's temporarily replacing its "Like" buttons with a set of Trek-inspired reactions -- a laughing Captain Kirk, a sad, crying Geordi Laforge and an adorably angry Klingon. They're all perfect ...except for Spock. Facebook chose Star Trek's most emotionless character to represent its most emotive reaction: "Wow."
Oculus Story Studios won its first Emmy for an interactive film
Virtual reality is an art form that's still in its early stages. Headsets, like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, were only released this year, and people still need to be convinced that VR can be a powerful new way to tell and experience movies, TV shows, and video games. In what could be a tipping point for the VR industry, Facebook-owned Oculus won its first Emmy for Outstanding Original Interactive Program for its animated VR short film, Henry.
Instagram will take advantage of your iPhone 7's camera
You won't have to wait long to find apps that take advantage of the iPhone 7's upgraded camera system. Instagram has revealed that an updated version of its iOS app will take and share photos using the wider color range captured by the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus' image sensors. You should see more vivid colors than you'd get from a phone taking photos in the usual sRGB color gamut. Instagram's update will arrive sometime later this year. Click here to catch all the latest news from Apple's "See You" event.
Instagram is dropping photo maps
Instagram isn't just piling on new features -- it's taking them away, too. The social image service says that it's removing the Photo Map feature, which lets you see where a person's snapshots come from. The removals started last week, Instagram adds. It's currently focused on removing maps on profiles of other people, but you'll eventually lose access to your own photo map as well. Location info will stick around (such as pages showing all the photos taken at a given place), however, so you won't lose track of where you took that stunning flower shot.
Facebook test highlights what your friends are talking about
Facebook's new experimental feature shows you status updates you might have missed otherwise. Mashable has spotted a box marked "What friends are talking about," which lists a few of your friends' posts in a single box on top of your feed, in the company's Android app. We weren't able to replicate the experience on either Android or iOS (or even on a computer), but that's not exactly surprising. Only very few people get access to the social network's features in their experimental stage, so you'll have to check your own apps to see if you've been chosen.
SpaceX asked to pay $50 million after losing a satellite
SpaceX may have to deal with more than equipment losses and Mark Zuckerberg's disappointment in the wake of its launchpad explosion. Spacecom, which owned the AMOS-6 satellite destroyed in the incident (and part of Facebook's free internet plans), is asking SpaceX for either $50 million or a free flight as compensation. The loss will have a large impact on Spacecom's bottom line, as you might imagine. The Israeli firm is estimating that it'll lose between $30 million to $123 million in equity.
The Engadget Podcast, Ep 4: All Eyez On Me
Editors Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to talk about Intel's latest CPUs, Dead or Alive's controversial VR feature and Lenovo's "innovative" take on the keyboard. Then the panel takes a look at Chris Brown's standoff and how Instagram videos and Facebook Live fit into our modern media landscape.
Tech's biggest names are working to regulate AI research
Artificial intelligence is hitting its stride, already giving us machines that can drive themselves, talk to us, fight in our wars, perform our surgeries and beat humanity's best in a game of Go or Jeopardy. Five companies at the forefront of the technology industry have been meeting to discuss these advancements in AI and figure out how to regulate even more powerful systems in the future, The New York Times reports. Researchers from Facebook, Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are looking at the practical consequences of AI, such as how it will impact transportation, jobs and welfare. The group doesn't have a name or an official credo, but its general goal is to ensure AI research focuses on benefiting people, not harming them, the NYT says.
Facebook Messenger's 'Instant Video' looks awfully Snapchatty
Bots have been all the rage in Facebook Messenger over the last few months, but today the social network is adding a new way to chat with your pals. The company announced a tool called Instant Video that allows you to have those quick conversations face-to-face in addition to text and photos. Yes, video calling was already available in Messenger, so what's new here? Well, Instant Video is meant to be easily and instantly (get it?) accessible inside a chat conversation rather than having to go through the process of making a call. It's all about efficiency.
Facebook's sticker search has a queasy political reaction
I don't usually search out particular stickers to express myself on Facebook Messenger (I'm a 💯 or 🔥 emoji kind of guy) but recently people who do, have noticed some strange results. VentureBeat points out a tweet by Serena Ehrlich showing the vomit sticker in response to searches for liberals or feminism. The company responded saying something in its search algorithm caused the response and that it should not continue to appear after today.
Facebook promises to stabilize shaky 360-degree videos
Shaky video is already a problem with conventional cameras, but it's much worse with 360-degree and virtual reality cams. Your bumpy mountain bike ride won't be so exciting to watch if it makes viewers queasy. However, Facebook might just save the day: it's testing an algorithm designed to stabilize 360-degree shots. The approach blends 2D motion models with 3D reconstruction to reduce the unwanted effects in immersive footage, such as the bobbing camera movements, lens deformations and stitching between cameras.
