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Facebook’s Internet.org is Now Called Free Basics

September 25, 2015 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Facebook’s free-internet project Internet.org is now called Free Basics. It’s a controversial $1 billion project that is somewhat a huge marketing stunt for Facebook, some say.

Free Basics is almost two-years old today and it aims to bring free internet access to about four billion people on the planet. Four billion people who didn’t have the means to access the internet prior to Facebook’s meddling.

Facebook’s project is aimed especially at Asian emerging markets. This seems like an extraordinarily awesome thing, but users will only be allowed to use Facebook services and a few select websites for jobs, information, updates on sports and health related issues. At least, that’s what their initial statement said.

In essence, the whole issue is about net neutrality. If Facebook is pushing their services, and only theirs, it will have the power to dictate what content is accessible through their project. This means more exposure and money for them and their partners.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and CEO, took to write an editorial piece in two Indian newspapers after Free Basics launched in the country. He defended he company’s project, but received a ton of flack mainly because users can’t access Google.

However, according to a message posted on the project’s official website change is coming. Zuckerberg took to Facebook to post what this entails.

Basically, any developer that wants his services to be included in Internet.org can do so. According to the Facebook post, everything is encrypted and the platform now supports HTTPS web services.

More so, the motive behind renaming the project is as simple as it gets. They want it to be crystal clear that every app used via Internet.org is free and that they provide basic services that every individual has a right to access.

Those strict guidelines seem to be getting loosened up. How much, we don’t know yet, but it’s a step forward.

Free Basics is available across 19 countries, offering more than 60 services.

As of 25th of September 2015, Facebook’s Free Basics can be accessed across 19 countries, offering more than 60 services – people that reside in Asia, Africa and Latin America can take full advantage of Free Basics.

Facebook has allied itself with tech giants such as Ericsson, Qualcomm and Samsung to provide the very best connection.

Zuckerberg ends his Facebook post by saying that connectivity isn’t a thing that should be seen as an obstacle in this day and age. It’s not and end. It’s more about what people do with the possibility of connecting to resources, free knowledge on the internet.

Raising a healthy family may be a given in first world countries, but, unfortunately, it’s not something that emerging markets are all that used to.

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Facebook Mentions and Live Available for Verified Profiles

September 11, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Facebook Mentions and Live are now available for verified profiles. Facebook’s new features are aimed at journalists and the social media behemoth wants reporters to use their new tools.

Basically, Facebook gives journalists the ability to stream live on Facebook.

In a statement today, the company notes that experts, journalists and other influencers, who are verified, now have access to Facebook Mentions – an app which was formerly available only to a select few celebrities.

Q&A sessions, live breaking news reports, behind the scenes and countless other possibilities for free, Facebook notes.

Vadim Lavrusik, the company’s product manager for Facebook Mentions, notes that they want people to use Facebook for news-gathering and to better connect readers with journalists.

Facebook’s new app lets its user monitor what people have to say about them. The app offers the ability to easily follow certain topics of interest, observe what’s trending on Facebook, and choose with whom to share their content.

Anyone can apply for Facebook Mentions, but the company notes that only those who qualify will be approved to use their app. However, nobody knows the criteria for approval. Facebook will most likely release a guideline for applying to Mentions in the near future.

Yet, livestreaming isn’t that popular. Sure, in Silicon Valley it’s the hot new trend that everyone goes crazy about, but for the rest of the world – radio silence.

Facebook has the perfect platform to make livestreaming possible. With their 1.5 billion monthly users, they are in an unique position to make this happen. Frankly, they are the only ones who can do it.

Ricky Gervais, a prominent Facebook Mentions user.

The time is ripe for livestreaming.

Twitter acquired livestreaming service Periscope earlier this year and YouTube is taking it more seriously now with their YouTube Gaming side. Twitch is a different kind of beast in this scenario.

Ricky Gervais, a beloved comedian and extrovert, has used Facebook Mentions to give viewers a sneak peak of his life, a behind the scenes VIP pass if you like. He seems to enjoy his popularity and the exposure he gets. What extrovert wouldn’t?

But, do we really want Fox News livestreaming their ignorant journalism? What does this imply for the average Joe? Is Facebook going to transform into a news riddled platform, or it will somewhat divide itself in the near future?

Real time coverage of news sounds great, but we all know how media twists and turns every little thing. If you can do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do it.

We’ll keep a close eye on Facebook Mentions and we won’t sugarcoat what problems there are bound to happen.

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Has Google Rigged Search Results in India?

August 31, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The CCI, which is the Competition Commission of India, is investigating the big G. They think Google rigged search results in India. If found guilty, Google might be fined 10 percent of the company’s income. That’s a whooping $1.4 billion.

The CCI has received complaints from more than 30 companies around the world. Facebook, Flipkart, Hungama Digital, MakeMyTrip and Nokia’s maps division are among the companies who have told on Google.

The main issue here is that Google has been gaming search results to display their own content and services more obviously, regardless of the fact that other sources have a higher hit rate.

The report filed by CCI notes also notes that sponsored links that are shown in results show a direct correlation with the amount of money an individual, or a company, spends on adverts with sneaky-Google. Flipkart, an ecommerce portal, states that they are a victim in this case.

Google needs to respond until the 10th of September. The company has to present itself in front of a seven member commission on the 17th, a week later. The commission is headed by Chairman Ashok Chawla.

Can we say that Google rigged search results for certain? Welp, we can’t say for sure. However, what we can say is that Google is acting more mischievous than it normally does. A few months ago, in March, the CCI fined Google with $166,000 for failing to cooperate.

More so, just last week they rejected claims that they are rigging search results in Europe. Google faces the exact same charges on the EU front.

We expect a decision being made until the end of the year. If Google is found guilty, they can be fined up to $6.7 billion, or a 10 percent payment of its annual revenue.

If this goes south for G, the decision will most likely be challenged at the Supreme Court. If they still won’t win, the CCI commission will ask the company to make major changes regarding the way they do business.

This is the first time a case goes globally where an antitrust body is formed and rises against Google.

According to Ms. Vestager, who is a Danish politician, Google is also being investigated by the European Union regarding their dominance over its Android OS.

Kent Walker denied these accusations last Thursday via a blog-post. Kent added that Google hasn’t reduced online competition at all, in fact, the company has sent approximately 20 billion referrals to various Internet companies across Europe over the past 10 years. This lead to a 227 percent increase in traffic for the websites targeted.

We’ll see how our search-engine Lord and Savior gets out of this one. What do you think? Is Google knowingly profiting from their stance of top-dog?

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Facebook M stands for Mediocre or Mistake, You Pick

August 28, 2015 By Karen Jackson 1 Comment

Facebook M has been unveiled yesterday. It’s a personal assistant currently in beta, and it’s being tested by about 200 totally random users in the Bay Area. Facebook M is quite unique, mainly because it employs human power. These trainers-of-the-M are capable of completing real day to day activities like buying an item or making a reservation.

We don’t know what the M will turn into, what we do know is that it won’t be your run of the mill personal assistant. Well, if it’s different it should be better, right?

Well, not exactly.

Digital assistants are pretty weak at the moment. Regardless, they are forced upon consumers. M seems to be a different kind of beast – seems to be. At the dawn of this millennium, when flip phones where introduced to voice control, people where in awe. It ended up being a gimmick that you could show off and laugh in its face.

Technology is growing exponentially, and tech industry behemoths are trying to revive it. It does have tremendous potential, but Facebook M will be found inside the Messenger app and it will be text-based. This is a huge mistake.

Why?

Cortana, Google Now and Siri are personal assistants, but they are quite different from one another. The only common ground is that all three of them live in their own ecosystem. Highly popular ecosystems which we carry on a daily basis.

Zuckerberg’s M doesn’t have its own home. Unless Facebook is planning on unveiling their own OS anytime soon, it’s not going to have it in the near future. Digital assistants need their own hardware in order to be fully integrated, and subsequently useful.

There are too many steps a user has to make to get to M. But, if they play their cards right, Facebook might just hit gold. The Messenger App is installed on almost every smartphone on the planet. Zuckerberg just announced via Facebook that on the 24th of August 2015, a Monday, one out of seven people tuned into the social media platform.

That’s approximately 1 billion people.

Facebook is looking a little bit naive with their promos. In the screenshot below, someone asks M what is the best burger joint in Chicago, and the DA replies with a link. Why would you need to use something else when you already have Google?

M stands for Mistake

Why would you use M in the first place? You need to type sentences in the Messenger App, coherent sentences mind you, so Facebook M understands what you are asking. You could just type keywords in Google and get the desired info.

If there’s a problem with the reservation then you either have to a) type more messages, or b) call the restaurant yourself. Why not do this in the first place without going through all this hassle?

Text-based is confusing, and more so annoying as hell. Phrases can be misinterpreted, and ladies, we’ve all had a ton of text-based fights with boyfriends or girlfriends. It’s not a pretty sight.

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Facebook To Start Testing Their Aquila Solar Powered Drone

July 31, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

Last year, Facebook started teasing the world with its plans of building a little plane that would deliver internet to the masses. Now, the big F is preparing to test their Aquila solar powered drone.

The Aquila solar powered drone is a 140-foot self driving plane that will deliver internet, for free, from altitudes of 60,000 to 90,000 feet.

More than 10 percent of the world’s population doesn’t have the infrastructure required to use basic internet, and Facebook’s plan is to solve this issue.

The drone, or UAV, however you want to put it, has a wingspan similar to the well known Boeing 737, and it weighs just about 880 pounds.

It will be able to patrol a selected area for 90 days, relying solely on energy from the Sun. But this doesn’t mean that it isn’t costly. Facebook employs balloons to get the Aquila solar powered drone to a specific altitude, and then it sets it loose.

Aquila will be able to fly above commercial airliners, and thunderstorms, and at night, to conserve energy, it will drop at 60,000 feet.

Aquila drones will be able to fly in a circle in a radius of 3 kilometers, and it will be able to offer free internet within a 50 kilometer range.

It’s a little bit confusing at the moment how the Federal Aviation Administration will control this kind of air traffic.

The Aquila solar powered drone is part of Facebook’s plan of connecting the world. Through their internet.org, the company has brought free basic internet service to over a billion users, in 17 countries across the world.

Their main goal is to bring the internet to underdeveloped countries that don’t have the infrastructure required e.g fiber optic cables, microwave repeaters and cell towers.

Facebook wants to start testing their UAV later this year, but we don’t know a precise date.

Facebook has built a prototype, and has tested it in a plant in the UK, but the company hasn’t disclosed any information.

Also part of the internet.org connect-the-world project, Facebook is developing an improved way of transmitting data. They managed to go up to 10 Gbps, which, when comparing to the previous system that was capable of transmitting at 1 Gbps, is ten times faster.

FB CEO Mark Zuckerberg is aware that offering free internet to people in underdeveloped countries will also be profitable for Facebook, but he notes that this isn’t profit-driven, and it’s mainly inclined on helping developing countries, and their economies.

When you have access to the world’s knowledge only at a mouse click’s distance, you can grow better and faster.

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Facebook Launches Moments – A Photo Sharing App

June 17, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

The social media behemoth Facebook just launched a new photo sharing app called Moments.

At the current moment – pun not intended; the app is only available for those who reside in the US – it can be downloaded for iOS, and Android. Availability to more countries will follow in the near future.

Moments is not your basic photo sharing app – it makes it easier to share photos with your friends. You can synch your gallery with whomever you want to. Moments uses a facial recognition software that detects who is in a photo, and it will synch, privately I may add, with who recognizes to be your friends. It also recognizes when, and where the photos were taken – sort of like what Google Photos does. No, it’s exactly like Google Photos.

If you’re familiar with the tag option, then you’ll have no problems searching for photos. You can use a filter to search only through one of your friend’s photos, or a certain location, a certain time, and of course date.

You have the option to limit these tags, and Facebook says that this won’t pose as a threat to your privacy.

Of course, you need to grant access to Moments so the app can be able to synch your gallery. If you tag a person that isn’t your friend on Moments, they will get a message on Facebook telling them that some photos are awaiting approval, and if they wish to join the new platform. Some may find this a little bit intrusive.

The really great thing is that you can share pictures with your friends on Moments that you don’t necessarily have to share on Facebook. Okay, so you went to the beach today, and you already shared two pics. Do you really want to fill my news feed with your road-trip? Share them on Moments, set a privacy setting, and only you and your friends can have access to them.

Given the fact that Google Photos has just launched, can Moments do something to the big G’s new service? Facebook isn’t known to have a successful app releases – their Poke, Camera for iPhone, and Slingshot failed, miserably actually, and they were eventually removed from the Apple App Store. Yikes.

I’ll give it a try, but I’ll most likely stick to Google’s Photos app – unlimited free storage for 1080p videos, and pictures up to 16 megapixels sounds exceptional. It ain’t the best option for professional photographers, but for my crappy holiday pictures it’s more than enough.

So, with what service are you sticking with? Facebook’s Moments, or Google’s Photos?

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