Tag: Facebook

Programs

Android Go makes your old mobile so much better

Source: Android Authority

The rollout of Google’s line of Go apps, designed to run on older mobile devices, continues at a pace. As well as, Android Oreo (Go Edition), which makes Android run better on phones with less than 1GB Ram, and takes up less space than the full version of the OS, Google has rolled out some Go versions of its apps. These include YouTube Go, Gmail Go, Maps Go, Assistant Go, and Files Go, which will even recommend apps that you don’t need anymore.

It isn’t just Google either. Facebook has released lite versions of its Facebook and Messenger apps, and now Microsoft is getting involved too. Microsoft owned Skype is now optimized for use on slower and older mobiles, and even on mobiles running much older versions of Android, all the way back to Android 4.03.

With such innovation designed to squeeze performance out of older devices, more and more people will have reliable access to internet services and might be time to start thinking about what to do with all those old devices you have lying around the house.

Facebook fails another test

Source: Facebook Newsroom

Facebook has pulled its new Explore Feed tab, which it first introduced when users complained about the lack of relevant posts popping up in their news feed. Facebook has framed the Explore tab as a mere test, which means another Facebook experiment has fallen flat on its face and the social media giant still faces the reality that people do not like what their Facebook news feeds are serving up.

With Facebook’s history of running sinister sounding experiments on its users perhaps another failed test like the explore tab could be seen as a win for its users. It is infinitely better than running a test on how easy it is for lies to spread as Facebook did in 2013; or trying to find out if your friends are more likely to buy something if you say you’re going to buy it as Facebook did in 2011. Perhaps the most shocking test that Facebook ran was back in 2010 when it experimented on a massive 61,279,316 users of voting age whether it could affect the way they voted.

The list of intrusive and shocking experiments Facebook has run goes on and will likely continue to grow. Remember that with Facebook you’re the product, and the social media giant isn’t afraid to tweak, probe, and test its product as it tries to increase profits and even boost its hold and control over the 2 billion subscribers it has around the world.

Facebook ignores experts’ warning and rolls out Android app for six-year-olds

Source: Getty Images

Okay, so the headline’s a little misleading – Messenger Kids is for children six and above. And Facebook has only ignored the advice of the experts it hasn’t paid off.

So that’s fine, then.

But most of the experts who haven’t received funding from Zuckerberg’s Panopticon think that the new app will lead to a more miserable childhood for many, and have told Facebook so in no uncertain terms.

The girls and boys of Menlo Park are keen to get kids hooked on their brand, as you currently need to be 13 to join Fakebook. Also, the platform is increasingly being rejected by younger people, and Messenger Kids is no doubt a ploy to help reverse that trend.

Facebook Co-Founder wants you to get $500 every month

Source: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

When Chris Hughes helped Mark Zuckerberg launch Facebook back when he was in Harvard, he never imagined how successful there project would be or just how much money it would make him. Since amassing his fortune, however, Hughes has become much more attuned to a problem that is growing across America, massive inequality.

“… (there) are tens of millions of American workers who are temps, part-time contractors, people who don’t have the kind of financial stability we used to think of as a job,”

According to Hughes, up to 90 million Americans are living precariously, due to an unstable income and a Universal Basic Income could help them live more securely. He claims the scheme could be paid for by only taxing people earning over $250,000 a year and with minor adjustments to the tax code. A Universal Basic Income would then be paid to everybody, rich and poor, meaning there could be no claims that it is unfairly benefitting the poorest people in society.

Hughes even cites the state of Alaska, where since 1976 residents have been receiving annual endowments, paid for by oil revenues. Last year nearly 740,000 people received $1,100 each.

Hold the phone! You can now use WhatsApp with a landline

The launch of WhatsApp Business has given the messaging service a completely new dimension. WA Business gives companies and customers an official and secure way to communicate with each other and in the coming months and years; we’ll see all sorts of entrepreneurs using this new facility to sell us their wares. WA Business also brings with it an interesting new function; it allows you to hook up your WhatsApp account using a landline number instead of your mobile number.

Although WhatsApp Business is designed for use by businesses, anybody can download the app. You will still need a mobile phone to run the app but you’ll be able to register your landline number instead of the number associated with your SIM card.

WhatsApp Business Download WhatsApp Business Now
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Once you’ve downloaded WhatsApp Business all you have to do is tell the app that you won’t be registering your mobile number but rather your landline. Normally WhatsApp sends an SMS to verify your number but for landlines, you’ll have to select the Call Me option.

After you receive the call and verify your number, you’ll be able to use WhatsApp Business with your landline number the same you use WhatsApp with your mobile number.

Follow me on Twitter: @PatrickDevaney_

WhatsApp Messenger Download WhatsApp
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A Secret WhatsApp Web Trick That’s Perfect for Gossips

Are you a bit of a gossip? Do you love knowing anything and everything that is going on in all your friend’s lives? Well, if you are, you might be interested in this little trick for WhatsApp Web. This trick, which only works on the browser version of WhatsApp, allows you to discover exactly when a message has been read. It could be particularly useful for group messages.

There are two ways you can check the time that each contact has read a message.

The first involves double-clicking the two blue ticks of the message in question. This will open a window where you can see who has read the message and at what time.

The second consists of pressing the button that appears above the date the message was sent and clicking message information. This will show the same window from before.

So there you have two quick and simple ways to find out who has read your message and when, and you don’t even have to get your phone out of your pocket to use them.

 

The Best 24 Apps for Windows 10

One of Windows 10’s biggest features as an operating system is its flexibility moving between devices. Whether you are on your home computer, tablet, or phone, Window 10 is designed to offer a cohesive experience. Here is our pick of apps that offer you a great experience where ever you are.

Adobe PhotoShop Express

Adobe’s fantastic photo editing suite has long been the gold standard, and with PhotoShop Express they have managed to perfectly adapt the experience to touchscreen. The app allows you to quickly and easily tweak you pictures with options like red-eye removal, noise reduction, and a range of filters. The free version even lets you upload 50 photos a month to the cloud.

Download it here

Adobe Photoshop Express

AllRecipes

Cooking apps are a wonderful tool for any budding chef, and AllRecipies maybe the best of them all. With a fantastic clean layout, it’s easy to find, favorite, and read any recipe you want. Plus, I find the recipes on the app fantastic.

Download it here

AllRecipes

Age of Empires: Castle Siege

Constructing your town and army to pit them against other player’s armies and towns is becoming one of the biggest social gaming genres. However, Microsoft have used the trend to relaunch their beloved Age of Empires franchise with Age of Empires: Castle Siege. It has worked brilliantly, as the game offers more direct unit control than the competition, making it feel significantly more involved.

Download it here

Age of Empires

Angry Birds Space

Ah yes, those mad birds have been to many wild and wacky places – but to our mind space is the greatest. Angry Birds Space doesn’t add any new or weird abilities, it simply places you in space and forces you to deal with the physics and gravitational forces that apply in the cold dark vacuum that is most of the universe.

Download it here

Angry Birds Space

Asphalt 8: Airborne

Gameloft’s Asphalt series has long been mobile gaming’s go to arcade racing experience, and Asphalt 8: Airborne is just the latest, most over-the-top interpretation of this. Keeping the high-speed racing and crisp graphics the franchise is known for, the eighth installment adds high-flying ramps and aerial maneuvers to really take the action to the next level.

Download it here

Asphalt 8: Airborne

Crossy Road

Why did the chicken cross the road? Well, we are not sure, but probably to download Crossy Road. This endless take on the Atari classic Frogger uses simple taps and swipes to give you precise control of a road-running chicken as it desperately tries to navigate highways, rivers, and railway tracks without being turned into nuggets.

Download it here

Crossy Road

Cut the Rope 2

What makes physics intriguing as an element in puzzles? Is it that we feel we have an innate understanding of how it should work and the ways we fail fascinate us? Or is it simply that inside we all want to be part of some huge Rube Goldberg machine? Who knows, but it is what Cut the Rope 2 taps into as you slice your way through ropes to drop and swing candy into Om Nom’s gaping maw.

Download it here

Cut the Rope 2

Dropbox

You probably already have a Dropbox account, making the Dropbox app even easier to recommend. This cloud storage/sharing solution gives you 2GB of storage for free when you open an account. The app’s clean and simple design also allows you to easily find the files you want, with photos particularly well displayed in albums.

Download it here

Dropbox

Facebook

If you use Facebook, as I am prepared to guess most people reading this do, then it’s hard to ignore the usefulness of the official Facebook app. Providing a simple layout which allows you to easily access all of the social platform’s options whether you are using a touchscreen or a mouse, you probably need this installed.

Download it here

Facebook

Firefox

Firefox is already many peoples go to browser of choice thanks to its high-level of customization and fast surfing experience. Well, add to that the fact that Firefox offers full Windows 10 integration, and Mozilla’s browser could easily become the number one choice for internet on the Microsoft platform.

Download it here

Firefox

Flipboard

Flipboard is a magazine viewer that offers you a curated news-feed of your interests, all beautifully laid out to look like a magazine. It’s a far more compelling way of viewing the sites you regularly visit, particularly on mobile devices.

Download it here

Flipboard

Flow Free

So simple, so free, Flow Free is another of those puzzle games that can really take over your mind. You know you are in trouble when you start day dreaming about a game and solving puzzles you create for yourself while you’re meant to be work. If you have a job that demands your full attention, maybe don’t download this.

Download it here

Flow Free

Fresh Paint

Providing you with a full featured painting app, Fresh Paint is a fantastic way to unleash your creativity. What is so wonderful about Fresh Paint is its tactile nature as, alongside a standard color wheel it also allows you to mix your own colors on a digital palette before applying them to your canvas.

Download it here

Fresh Paint

Frozen Free Fall

You can take your pick of match-three games, from Bejeweled to Candy Crush, they are all much of a muchness. However, I have struggled to let go of Frozen Free Fall. Well, I say that, what I really mean is that my friend’s daughter has struggled to let it go, so it remains installed on my phone.

Download it here

Frozen Free Fall

Jetpack Joyride

Escape mad scientists with a rocket pack. No, there isn’t much need to expand on Jetpack Joyride’s core concept to make it appealing. The only other thing you really need to know is that the simple controls and comical power-ups mean that it is, in fact, as fun as it sounds.

Download it here

Jetpack Joyride

Minecraft

If you absolutely have to have a game to launch on the same day as your new operating system, then none could be better than Minecraft. Whether this was a driving force behind Microsoft’s purchase of Mojang we will never know, but it certainly is not going to hurt the company to have the Minecraft Windows 10 Beta on its store front.

Download it here

Minecraft

Minion Rush

Endless runners are everywhere, and at this point you can get them in any flavor you fancy – from Spider-Man to Tomb Raider. Personally, however, I find it hard to resist the little yellow minions as they waddle their way through Minion Rush. The game itself is a fine example of the genre, and the minions make the perfect slapstick fodder to be on the end of every failed jump.

Download it here

Minion Rush

Modern Combat 5: Blackout

While Call of Duty’s mobile incarnations may all have been awful, that hasn’t stopped Modern Combat borrowing the idea of an extravagant modern military story. Modern Combat 5: Blackout offers everything CoD does, with a solid country hopping plot, loads of weapons, and a robust multiplayer mode that allows up to 12 players to compete together online.

Download it here

Modern Combat 5: Blackout

Nook

If you use your phone or tablet as a portable personal library, then Nook is the perfect app for you. With a huge library curated by Barns and Noble, and plenty of options to make your reading experience easy on the eyes, Nook is the app for bookworms.

Download it here

Nook

OneNote

In isolation, Microsoft’s note taking tool is just good. Add in a Microsoft 365 account, and all of the cross app and cloud storage options it opens up, and OneNote becomes a truly fantastic tool. Allowing you to edit across devices, great touchscreen support (such as the intuitive radial menu), and the ability to pull pictures from social media platforms like Facebook, OneNote is a must.

Download it here

OneNote

Pako

If you enjoyed the bit in GTA where you are trying to outrun a seemingly endless sea of police officers, then you are in luck, because that is all Pako is. Viewed from an isometric perspective, you must speed around the urban arenas trying to stay ahead of the cops for as long as possible. With a nifty 70s gangster movie motif, Pako is brilliantly playful.

Download it here

Pako

Skype

Even with every other messaging service starting to offer calls and video, Skype is still up there as the best ways to connect with friends and family around the world for free. Since its acquisition by Microsoft the service has continued to improve, and its cross platform functionality on Windows 10 makes it an even more flexible communication tool.

Download it here

Skype

Threes!

Threes! maybe one of the most perfectly conceived mobile games ever. Simple, fast, and skillful, trying to combine tiles of the same number together with simple swipes, while not boxing yourself into an impossible situation, is the kind of addictive challenge that can ruin whole afternoons.

Download it here

Threes!

Twitter

“Twitter is many people’s social network of choice. If you are one of these people, like me, you need this app. That’s 140 characters, right?”

Download it here

Twitter

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Follow me on Twitter: @DoFuss

iPhone: how to send an MP3 via WhatsApp

Want to send a music file with WhatsApp for iPhone? For Android users it’s easy to send a song via WhatsApp, because it’s the operating system itself that offers the option. For iPhone users, it’s another matter.

WhatsApp for iOS allows you to send pictures, videos, contacts and geographic location…but not music. Fortunately,  sending an MP3 via WhatsApp for iPhone is still possible. All you need is the help of a free app that offers an Open With option. There are a few of these, but iZip seems to be the most suitable for our purpose.

Here, I’ll take you through how to send an audio file with WhatsApp for iPhone.

How to send audio files using iZip

1. Install iZip on your iPhone. Open the program.

2. Select Music Library.

Select Music Library from the menu

3. Open a folder (e.g. Albums).

Select a folder in the Music Library

4. Tap Select in the top right of the screen and choose the song you want to send with WhatsApp. At this point, Select will be replaced by Done.

Select the song you want to zip

5. Tap the Zip button at the bottom center of the interface. The app will compress the file.

Select the song and then zip

6. This will open the folder Local Files. From there, you can select the ZIP file you just created.

Select the ZIP file you just created

7. You’ll be asked Would you like to extract all files? Tap OK .

Do you want to unzip the file

8. This automatically creates and opens a folder in Local Files with the decompressed song. Then select the file .

Select the file to be opened with

9. Now, tap Open In (at the bottom center of the screen) and, from the choices that appear, select Open in WhatsApp.

Select Open in WhatsApp

10. It will open WhatsApp automatically. Select the user you want to send the MP3 to, and when it asks you to Send to [contact name], click on Yes.

Confirmation sending files to contact

At this point, the file will load and send. When the recipient receives it, you can listen to it by tapping the Play icon next to the music file.

Listen to the file received

Beware of copyright

This method lets iPhone users exchange music via WhatsApp, even if the procedure is a bit more complicated than for Android users.Remember, however, that sharing music files protected by copyright laws is illegal, so only send audio or music that can be freely shared.

One last tip: if you want to share a new song with a friend, instead of sending the file, you can share it with them via Spotify. To do so, just find the song you like, tap the menu with the three dots next to it, and select WhatsApp.

Spotify - Share with Whatsapp

Then, select the contact, confirm you want to send it, and you’re done. Simple, fast, safe and totally legal.

If you’re looking for other tricks for using WhatsApp, look for them in the index of our comprehensive guide to WhatsApp.

How to use Video on Instagram

Facebook and Instagram released Video on Instagram today. While Twitter’s Vine supports 6 seconds of video recording, Video on Instagram allows up to 15 seconds. While 9 more seconds doesn’t seem like a big difference, creative users will appreciate the extra time.

Instead of releasing a standalone video app, this update expands the usability of the Instagram app. Both iOS and Android are receiving the update at the same time today, but iOS is getting one exclusive feature: Cinema stabilization, which will stabilize video shaking. It’s easy to tell that Cinema stabilization was implemented on iOS because of standardized devices.

The same steps as taking an Instagram photo

Taking video with Instagram is basically the same as taking a photo. After you launch the app and your feed has refreshed, you will see the Instagram photo icon. There is the new, red video camera icon next to the main photo button.

After tapping the camera button, Instagram will enable video recording. The Instagram icon to the left of the record button will take you back to the photo menu. When you’re ready to take video, hold down the red camera button to record.

Add a filter and cover

Instagram gives users 13 new filters to apply to their videos. Unlike the photo filters, the video filters are a little harder to differentiate from each other, but this will probably depend a lot on the recorded video.

Once you apply the filter, you choose your Cover Frame. This is the image that will be shown in your Instagram feed. The slider will scroll though the entire video so you can pick your favorite image.

Share online

With your video recorded, filter applied, and cover frame selected, sharing the video is the same as sharing a photo. Enter your text and choose the different social networks to share to. Once you press “Share,” the video will upload. The time for the upload to complete will depend on your connection. After it’s uploaded into your feed, all you have to do is tap on the cover frame for the video to play.

Facebook versus Twitter

Right now it doesn’t look like you can tag people in video like you can with photos, but this may be a possible update in the future.

Video on Instagram is the logical next step for the app. Users on Vine have been able to create some impressive short videos. Instagram’s 15 seconds will allow users more time to create interesting video.

This update puts both social networks head to head again, but Facebook was smarter by releasing identical updates for both Android and iOS simultaneously, instead of Vine releasing a very basic version for Android compared to iOS.