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989 'Facebook' stories December 2010 - May 2015

Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018

Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. It also averages 1.52 billion daily active users as of December 2018.

Facebook was launched in February of 2004 (as The Facebook) for college students and then rapidly grew as it opened the service to more than those with a .edu email address. It was the subject of the 2010 movie called “The Social Network“.

In 2012, the social media giant offered its IPO and Facebook earned the title of the fastest company to grow to $250 billion market capitalization in the S&P 500.

In recent years, the company has been at the center of attention related to its role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, it’s been a continual stream of negative news for the company. They recently had all of their enterprise certificates for iOS revoked after it was discovered they had repackaged Onavo VPN as a ‘Research’ app and were paying teens $20/month to sneakily sideload it.

In early 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a “privacy shift” for the company. He outlined a detailed vision for the future of the social media platform, specifically its messaging services. Notably, in contrast to how the company operates today, he says the future of the platform will be privacy-focused with features like end-to-end encryption, interoperability between its various apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reducing how long it holds data, secure storage of personal data, and more.

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Facebook launches new ‘Instant Articles’ feature in iPhone app

Mike Beasley May 13 2015 - 7:45 am PT

1 Comment

Facebook has launched a new feature in its official iOS client called “Instant Articles,” the company announced today. The feature will allow web publishers to create versions of their stories optimized for display inside the Facebook app. As suggested by the name, these optimized articles are designed to load instantly and provide a more native-feeling experience.

The articles are built using some of the same user interface elements and concepts first introduced in the alternative Facebook client, Paper, such as large images that scroll as you tilt your phone, and in-line videos that automatically start playing.

New elements added specifically for Instant Articles include audio captions on photos and the ability to like or comment on specific sections of the article rather than the entire thing. Facebook says publishers will still have full control over content and monetization, and loading a story as an Instant Article will still count the same as clicking a link in the browser in terms of traffic tracking.

Only a handful of publishers will be able to take advantage of Instant Articles at launch, including NBC, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic. Only a select few articles from those publishers will be available in this format for now.

Instant Articles is rolling out in the Facebook for iPhone application now.

New Greenpeace report praises Apple for aggressively leading in renewable energy initiatives

Jordan Kahn May 12 2015 - 8:58 am PT

4 Comments

Greenpeace today released an update to its “Clicking Clean: A Guide to Building the Green Internet” report, showing that Apple continues to lead among tech companies when it comes to renewable energy efforts. The report notes that Apple has been “most aggressive” with its renewable energy projects including a number of new initiatives and continuing to maintain “its claim of a 100% renewably powered cloud for another year.”
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iPhone slightly increases lead as most popular smartphone in US – comScore

Ben Lovejoy May 8 2015 - 4:01 am PT

17 Comments

Apple has further increased its lead as the top smartphone manufacturer in the US, the iPhone increasing its market share by one point from 41.6% in Dec 2014 to 42.6% in March 2015, according to comScore. There was no change in the rankings, with Samsung in second place at 28.3% – a fall of 1.4% – followed by LG, Motorola and HTC.

Android remained the most popular platform, with 52.4% of the market against iOS at 42.6%. Windows, Blackberry and Symbian were all also-rans, totalling just 5% between them.

comScore also reported the top 15 smartphone apps …
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Facebook Messenger for iOS adds cross-platform video chat support

Mike Beasley Apr 27 2015 - 11:04 am PT

3 Comments

Facebook continues to add new capabilities to its Messenger app today with the launch of a new video calling feature. A new video icon at the top of conversation threads will initiate a call, allowing participants to communicate across platforms over Wi-Fi or LTE connections.

The addition puts Facebook in competition with Apple’s FaceTime, Microsoft’s Skype, and other similar services. Interestingly, web-based video chat has been available on the desktop for some time, and was previously powered by Skype.

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Apple releases iOS 8.4 beta 2 to developers with revamped Music app

Mark Gurman Apr 27 2015 - 9:49 am PT

42 Comments

A couple of weeks following the first beta, Apple today released iOS 8.4 beta 2 to developers for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. iOS 8.4 beta 2 is available via Software Update for those running the first beta, and it should be available for download soon via the Apple Developer Website. Apple has also released the iOS 8.4 Public Beta 1, which corresponds to this second developer seed, and Xcode 6.4 beta 2.

As we first reported, iOS 8.4 brings a revamped Music app to iOS with a new design, a Mini-Player feature, improved search, and a larger focus on album artwork. At WWDC, Apple will announce the new Music app and its integration with a new Beats-based streaming music service. We’ll update this post live as new features in the second beta are discovered.

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First look: Clear, the iOS app that vets your social media history for indiscretions

Ben Lovejoy Apr 22 2015 - 6:10 am PT

4 Comments

Going for a sensitive job, or just friended your new romantic interest on Facebook, and want to make sure your drunken post from six months ago isn’t going to come back to bite you? That’s the experience Hipster co-founder Ethan Czahor had when he was hired as Jeb Bush’s chief technology officer. Journalists went digging and found some extremely embarrassing posts that led to his resignation.

He’s now put that experience to good use, though, beta-launching Clear, an app which aims to vet your social media history for offensive or insulting posts and offer you the ability to delete them (not to be confused with the to-do list app of the same name). I decided to take it for a quick spin …
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Now you can share your Vine masterpieces with all your social networks at once

Ben Lovejoy Apr 22 2015 - 4:47 am PT

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Vine has updated its iOS app to allow you to share your video loops with Vine friends, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr through a single share action. Previously you had to share to each network individually, and Tumblr was not supported.

Vine is a free download from iTunes. The app was updated last year to optimize for the iPhone 6/Plus and add a favorites function to alert you to new videos from friends whose videos you don’t want to miss.

WhatsApp Messenger adds free VoIP calling, new sharing extension, more

Zac Hall Apr 21 2015 - 11:25 am PT

18 Comments

WhatsApp Messenger, the popular cross-platform chatting service, released a major update to its iPhone app today introducing some long-rumored features and new ways to share content with friends and family…
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Apple Watch app developers say it’s all about timely notifications

Ben Lovejoy Apr 10 2015 - 6:34 am PT

1 Comment

Apple was clear with developers from the start that the Apple Watch is all about “quick, easy looks” rather than lengthy interactions, and it seems the message has been taken on board by major brands, reports the WSJ.

“If people use their desktop computers for hours at a time and their phones for minutes at a time, we think people will use the Watch for seconds at a time,” said Shayne Sweeney, an engineering manager at Facebook’s photo-sharing site Instagram, which created a Watch app.

Adam Grossman, founder of the Dark Sky weather app, echoed the comment.

Who wants to keep their wrists up to their face for many minutes?

Expedia’s chief product officer John Kim said the company was focusing mostly on itinerary-focused push notifications.

Instead of “pulling” information from websites or apps, users will want relevant information “pushed” to them at the most useful moments.

With American Airlines’ Kevin MacFarland agreeing.

The goal is the right information at the right time.

Apple revealed last year that the watch offers both “short and long looks,” with not even a touch needed to switch between the two.

New Facebook Messenger web experience gets an unofficial standalone Mac app

Chance Miller Apr 8 2015 - 4:43 pm PT

14 Comments

Earlier today Facebook unveiled a dedicated website for its Messenger service, accompanying dedicated apps for the iPhone and iPad. Now, however, a third-party developer has taken that newly unveiled web interface and put it into a dedicated OS X desktop app.

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Want to work for Apple in the US? Here are the five main jobs for which foreigners are hired

Ben Lovejoy Mar 30 2015 - 5:06 am PT

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If Apple’s recently-revamped jobs site has tempted you to consider a move to the US, data from the Office of Foreign Labor Certification may provide a guide to your chances. Applications for H-1B visas–those allowing overseas workers to accept job offers in the US–reveal that top tech companies like Apple mostly sponsor the visas for five main roles, reports TechCrunch.

By examining the most common professions among H-1B applicants for Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft, five consistent career paths emerged across each company. Software engineers, systems software engineers, financial analysts, computer systems analysts and marketing managers make up a large part of H-1B visa applications.

The salary data shows that the average salary paid to foreign workers employed in the USA by the five tech companies is highest at Facebook, at $135k, with Apple sitting in the middle of the pack at a little over $120k.

Facebook unveils platform to integrate third-party apps, customer support for businesses into Messenger

Jordan Kahn Mar 25 2015 - 10:41 am PT

4 Comments

During its F8 Developer Conference today, Facebook announced a new Facebook Messenger Platform that will allow third-party apps to integrate with its popular Messenger app.
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Facebook Messenger rolling out feature to let friends send money to each other

Benjamin Mayo Mar 17 2015 - 12:34 pm PT

7 Comments

Facebook has today announced it is rolling out a new feature for users that will let friends send money to each other, through its Facebook Messenger app. Like similar services, a simple tap allows users to send a cash amount to their recipient in a single step.
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Waze app to get AMBER alerts, help users look out for missing & abducted children

Ben Lovejoy Mar 4 2015 - 5:48 am PT

3 Comments

Waze, the free crowdsourced navigation and traffic app, is to get AMBER alerts in the U.S., helping users look out for missing and abducted children. You’ll only see alerts for children in your local area, and for safety reasons details will only appear once your vehicle has been stationary for at least ten seconds.

AMBER alerts are created by law enforcement agencies to quickly alert members of the public to children who have been reported missing or are believed to have been abducted. Waze says the app will scan for new alerts every ten minutes, though once you’ve dismissed an alert it won’t be shown again for a further week.

Alerts will display all the information available, which will normally include a photo of the child, their name, age, description, where they were last seen, what clothing they were wearing and details of any vehicle known or believed to have been involved.

The update is expected to roll out shortly in the U.S. only. Waze is a free download from iTunes. It was last updated in December, with an iOS widget and improved traffic data.

Facebook added AMBER alerts to its mobile apps in January.

Microsoft continues its iOS app acquisition spree with Prismatic, a news reader startup that Apple eyed

Zac Hall Mar 2 2015 - 9:14 am PT

3 Comments

Since Satya Nadella took the reins from Steve Ballmer just over a year ago, Microsoft has been on an aggressive acquisition spree of cross platform apps and services. Most recently, the company bought the iOS email app Acompli then relaunched it as Outlook for iOS. Microsoft also bought Sunrise, the popular calendar software with an iOS app.

Aside from Microsoft and Apple, other interested buyers include or included Facebook, Google, and Yahoo (anyone missing?). Competing with Apple’s TestFlight acquisition last year, Microsoft even bought the beta distribution service Hockeyapp at the end of last year.

Adding to its list of recent mobile app acquisitions, TechCrunch reports that Microsoft is now eyeing Prismatic, a social recommendation network with apps for both iOS and Android. Prismatic describes itself as a personalized and social news reader.
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Facebook Messenger adds iOS 8 extension, WordPress gains WYSIWYG editor & image features

Zac Hall Feb 24 2015 - 10:26 am PT

6 Comments

Facebook is out with a useful update to its Messenger app for iPhone and iPad today adding an action extension for sharing content from other apps on iOS 8. This adds the ability to have deep Facebook Messenger integration with other apps including Safari and Photos just like Apple’s own Messages app.

Once enabled, you can do things like share images and videos from the Photos app or links from Safari directly to your contacts on Facebook Messenger without having to jump back and forth between apps. Facebook Messenger version 22.0 is rolling out now on the App Store.

WordPress’s mobile blogging app for iPhone and iPad also received a new update bringing the experience closer to that on the desktop …
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Facebook Paper iPhone app updated w/ improved photo sharing experience

Zac Hall Jan 28 2015 - 10:15 am PT

2 Comments

Facebook is rolling out an update to its Paper app for iPhone users bringing a better photo sharing experience to the alternative News Feed app.
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Facebook adding AMBER Alerts to its mobile apps and web

Zac Hall Jan 13 2015 - 6:52 am PT

21 Comments

Facebook shared its latest safety initiative today with a new feature focused on rescuing missing children. Through a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Facebook will now include AMBER Alerts in the timeline of its users boosting exposure of the critical information needed in such cases.
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Contract drivers for Apple and other tech companies vote to unionize in quest for better conditions

Ben Lovejoy Jan 13 2015 - 5:06 am PT

2 Comments

Contract workers driving shuttle buses for Apple, eBay, Yahoo and other Silicon Valley companies have voted to unionize, reports USA Today.

A majority of the 120 full-time and part-time drivers who transport those companies’ employees have signed authorization cards with the union, said Rome Aloise, International vice president and secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 853.

The drivers are employed by South San Francisco-based Compass Transportation, which has contracts with Apple and the other firms to transport its workers to and from work.

The vote follows a call by Jesse Jackson for Tim Cook to create “world-class working conditions” for low-paid contractors. Cook subsequently met with Jackson to discuss income and diversity issues ahead of a small protest which briefly entered the lobby of the Apple campus.

Although the hourly rates for the drivers range from $18-20, they argue that high living costs make it difficult to live close to work, and working further out does not allow them to return home between split shifts in the morning and evening–meaning they are effectively at work for far longer than their paid hours.

William Gould, a professor at Stanford Law School said: “These workers, as a practical matter, have to wait in certain areas to do their work (and) they are not compensated for that wait.”

Facebook shuttle bus drivers joined the Teamsters union in November.

Photo: wired.com

Facebook launches ‘Stickered’ companion app for Messenger on iOS

Mike Beasley Dec 22 2014 - 6:03 pm PT

12 Comments

After moving the messaging component of its iOS client out into a separate app, Facebook has continued its pattern of breaking up the functionality of its software today by launching a new iOS application called Stickered.

The app launched a few days ago on Android, but only became available today for iOS users. It allows users to add stickers to photos from their camera roll, or overlay them directly on a live camera view before snapping a photo.

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Facebook bringing ‘Trending’ section to iOS, improves web version

9to5 Staff Dec 10 2014 - 9:08 am PT

1 Comment

Facebook introduced a new “Trending” section on the web in January to display trending stories that are frequently shared and discussed on the social network. Today, the company announced that it has improved this feature by organizing trending topics into five categories so that it’s easier for people to explore stories from different sources.
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Apple and Amazon refuse to make full federal workforce diversity data public

Ben Lovejoy Dec 9 2014 - 5:32 am PT

8 Comments

From Apple’s diversity microsite

Although Apple published its own employee diversity report back in August, USA Today reports that the company has refused to make public the full data from its federal diversity filing. While companies are required to file this information annually in a form known as EEO-1, they are not legally obliged to make the data public.

Facebook, eBay, Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn are among the technology companies that have made public their EEO-1s […]

Chief among the companies that decided not to disclose their EEO-1s were Microsoft, Twitter, Apple and Amazon.

When USA Today pressed the matter, Twitter released its filing and Microsoft agreed to do so by the end of the month, but Apple and Amazon did not respond …
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Facebook Pages Manager update introduces redesigned iPad UI

Mike Beasley Dec 8 2014 - 7:17 pm PT

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Facebook has updated its standalone Pages Manager app with a revamped UI for the iPad. The new design brings a tabbed sidebar that allows quick access to features like notifications and messages. The app also gained bug fixes.

You can get Facebook Pages Manager for free on the iOS App Store.

What’s New in Version 12.0

• New design updated for iPad, faster access to messages, notifications, and insights
• Bug fixes and performance updates