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Facebook and Nike just gave hypebeasts a reason to use Messenger
Nike hasn't been coy about how much it loves using augmented reality to sell hyped sneakers, since the technology can be used to fight the bots (automated systems) that are so beloved by resellers. And today, at the F8 developers conference, Facebook revealed a partnership with the sportswear giant that will let sneakerheads buy limited-edition pairs through the Messenger app... in AR. To show this feature off, Nike dropped a pair of Kyrie Irving signature shoes during the F8 opening keynote, which were dubbed the "Red Carpet" and sold out within minutes after the Facebook announcement.
Facebook teases simplified Messenger redesign
Facebook didn't announce Messenger Lite for iOS today, but the social network did reveal a redesign for the app. Specifically, a cleaner interface that's faster and, well, a little lighter and simpler too. Hopefully that means the camera app will get an upgrade too, especially with the augmented reality features Facebook is grafting on. More than that, everyone will have access to translation. The app has grown to support 300,000 chatbots, and some 8 billion messages are sent every month.
Facebook Messenger will begin translating English to Spanish soon
Messenger's built-in AI is getting a new trick. The M digital assistant will suggest translating a message to your native language if you get a message via Marketplace in a different tongue. It'll start with English to Spanish and roll out to users in the US over the next few weeks. Other languages and availability will come online later. This could make offloading that spare couch of yours a lot easier in the future -- especially if you're trying to communicate with a buyer while you're on the go.
Facebook is adding AR to Messenger for #brands
Facebook is bringing augmented reality to Messenger. Rather than being a feature you can use when talking to friends though, the first application of the tech is for #brands. Facebook puts it like this: "When a person interacts with your business in Messenger, you can prompt them to open the camera, which will be pre-populated with filters and AR effects that are specific to your brand. This feature leverages the nature of messaging to help people get valuable, instant feedback about purchases, customizations, and more, without ever needing to set foot in a store."
Facebook Messenger 'sleep mode' locks your kids out at bedtime
Facebook's Messenger for Kids has courted its share of controversy in the short time it's been on the scene. In an effort to clean up the app's reputation, Facebook is adding a feature that parents have been asking for: making it inaccessible during certain timeframes. Specifically, during dinner, when they should be doing homework or at bedtime. Thus, "sleep mode" for the app.
Facebook Messenger works with 360-degree photos and HD videos
A few months after giving you a way to send 4K images on Messenger, Facebook has rolled out the ability to blast your friends with 360-degree photos and HD videos. Maybe you'd rather share whatever you take to a few people through the messaging app rather than posting it on Facebook. Or maybe you just want to to make sure friends who don't frequent the social network are updated on what you're up to. Whatever the reason is, you can send people panoramic photos and 720p videos like you would any other media.
Facebook sued for collecting call logs and text histories
After news broke that Facebook Messenger and Lite scraped call logs and text history from Android devices, the social network stressed that it didn't do so in secret and with an ulterior motive. It got access to those data due to Android's wonky permission system, and it only inadvertently collected info from users who agreed to give the app access to their contacts list. That explanation, however, wasn't enough for the three users who filed a lawsuit against the social network, accusing it of violating their privacy by collecting their call and text history.
Facebook makes it easier to control large Messenger groups
Facebook's Messenger app is on its way to becoming a social network in its own right, thanks to new group chat features rolled out today. Like regular groups (the app for which Facebook killed last year), group chats now come with admin privileges. Anyone with admin status can add someone else to the chat, and also has the power to remove members, or promote or demote them as an admin.
Anyone can make Facebook Instant Games
Facebook's Instant Games technology hasn't exactly taken off (there are less than 200 games to date), but that's because it's been in closed testing. Now, it might have a chance to grow: Facebook has opened the Instant Games platform to all developers. Anyone can build HTML5-based web games designed to run in Messenger or your News Feed, whether you're on desktop or mobile. They'll have ways of making money from and promoting games, too, including ads (sorry, folks) and cross-promotional links.
Facebook adds video chat to its lightweight Messenger app
Microsoft isn't the only one making video chat more accessible in its messaging app. Facebook is rolling out an update to Messenger Lite for Android that brings video chats to those with lower-end phones or dodgy internet connections. You can have the same face-to-face conversations you do with the full Messenger app, just in a 10MB client that's easier to download and shouldn't tax your device as much. You'll need a reasonably solid connection for the actual chats, of course, but that's easier to manage than requiring one whenever you want to open the app.
Facebook expands customer service tools in Messenger
Google isn't the only one looking to improve messaging software to help businesses connect meaningfully (and profitably) with customers. Facebook just announced a new update to its own Messenger platform, which improves quick replies, expands on customer chat plugins and better customization tools.
Facebook Messenger adds an easy way to start group calls
If you've ever tried initiating a group voice or video call on Messenger, then you know that it's not intuitive at all. You'd have to hang up on your friend, start a new group convo and then call from within that window to be able to talk to several friends at the same time. Facebook must have realized that the process shouldn't be more complex than setting up a three-way call on a landline, so it has launched an easier way to initiate group calls. Now, when you want to bring the rest of your circle into an ongoing call, you simply have to tap on the screen and select the "add person" icon.
Google's Phone app is getting chat heads like Facebook Messenger
An update rolling out to Google phones, including Pixel and Android One devices, will give the Phone app a new but familiar feature. Android Police has discovered in an APK teardown that the app is getting circular floating chat heads, which are pretty much identical to Facebook Messenger's. They'll appear when you leave the call screen -- you can drag them anywhere on your display, and they'll stay visible on top of other apps. You'll also see a menu when you tap on the icon, with options to go back to call, to mute, to put it on speakerphone or to end it. Unfortunately, it's unclear if it'll eventually make its way to all Android devices.
Advocacy group urges Facebook to pull Messenger for Kids
Facebook started rolling out its messaging app for kids last December, offering a standalone app with parental controls built right in. The app is available on iOS and Android Fire tablets, and allows children under the age of 13 to chat with approved contacts. As you might imagine, however, child advocacy groups have taken issue with it. In a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood express concern that "this new app will undermine children's healthy development."
Facebook tries giving chatbots a consistent personality
Dig into the personalities of chat bots and you'll find that they're about as shallow as they were in the days of Eliza or Dr. Sbaitso. They respond with canned phrases and tend to be blithely unaware of what you've said. Facebook wants to fix that. Its research team has tested a new approach that gives bots more consistent personalities and more natural responses. Facebook taught its AI to look for patterns in a special 164,000-utterance data set, Persona-Chat, that included a handful of facts about a given bot's persona. An AI trying to mimic a real person would have five biographical statements to work with, such as its family and hobbies, with each of them revised to say the same things in a different way. Train existing chat bots from that and you get AI that 'knows' what it likes, but still maintains the context of a conversation and speaks relatively fluently.
Facebook Messenger bug caused the app to freeze on some iPhones (updated)
Just a few days after Facebook announced that its 2018 goal was to make Messenger less clunky, now there's an iPhone bug that makes the app almost unusable for some people. The app apparently freezes up after typing a few words. TechCrunch reports that closing and reopening the app didn't fix the issue. I was unable to replicate the bug within my own Messenger app on iOS.
Facebook vows to simplify Messenger in 2018
Today, Facebook released an outline of its priorities when it comes to Messenger, and one thing is clear: The organization wants to simplify the service. Over the past few years, the company built many new features that it packed into Messenger, and now the app is cluttered. "Expect to see us invest in massively simplifying and streamlining Messenger this year," Messenger lead David Marcus explains. He says the end goal for Facebook is "to make Messenger the easiest and most delightful way for people to spend time together in happy and harder times."
Facebook's Messenger Kids app arrives on Amazon Fire tablets
Facebook launched a Messenger app just for kids this past December, but it was only available on iOS. Now the app is available on Amazon's app store for Fire tablets as well. While it might not help counter the current worries over connected gadget addiction, the app has some built-in features to help limit kids exposure to undesirable content and people.
RIP, AOL Instant Messenger
We knew this day would come. One of the major parts of our formative years on the worldwide web -- we called it that back in the day -- will cease to be. AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) came to a close a few hours ago. While we've already eulogized it, it doesn't make the moment any less bitter. Sunrise, sunset.
Facebook Messenger adds Snapchat-style AR objects
Facebook clearly doesn't want any significant Snapchat feature to go unanswered. It's adding World Effects to Messenger's camera that, to no one's surprise, serve as direct parallels to Snapchat's augmented reality objects. You can float an arrow in the world to point to a landmark, put word bubbles like "bae" or "miss you" over your head, or throw in a "celebratory" robot... because robots, that's why.
