Jack Dorsey: “Carpe diem!”

After much hype and controversy, Facebook’s cryptocurrency project meets a dead end. With the decision to sell the assets of the cryptocurrency project, the Facebook-led Diem officially makes a retreat from the much-awaited project.

In 2019, Facebook hyped is a cryptocurrency, formerly known as Libra. However, now after admitting defeat Diem Associates, set up by FB, apparently gave up on its digital payments ambitions.

Though the buyer was not announced officially, rumors keep making rounds that the California-based Silvergate Bank is planning to buy the project technology. Neither Facebook nor the Silvergate Bank confirmed this news or commented on this matter so far.

Facebook Is Planning to Rebrand the Company with a New Name

by Chuck Joe

Oct 25, 2021

Reportedly, the popular social media platform Facebook has been planning to rebrand the company with a new name. It will focus on creating the metaverse. According to a source, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is expected to announce Company’s Connect conference on October 28, reported The Verge.

The rebrand is all about placing the blue Facebook application as one of many applications under a parent company, supervising apps like WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus, and many more. But all information needs to be confirmed by the CEO and spokesperson of the company. They haven’t commented regarding this story. Social media giant Facebook consists of 10,000 employees who build consumer hardware such as AR glasses that Zuckerberg considers will soon be as ubiquitous as smartphones. He told The Verge that in a few years, “we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to becoming a metaverse company.” A rebrand can also be focused on further futuristic projects on which Zuckerberg is focused. Facebook’s former employee Frances Haugen has exposed internal documents to the Wall Street Journal and testified because of them before congress.

Facebook is not alone when it comes to rebranding, many famous companies have done the rebranding including Google. The company was originally known as Alphabet in 2015 and was no longer a search engine. It also made driverless cars and health tech. Snapchat was also recorded in 2016. In that year, the company named itself a “camera company” and launched its first pair of Spectacles camera glasses.

Despite Zuckerberg’s comments, Facebook has been constantly focusing on the groundwork to build the next generation of technology. Hence, they assigned a dedicated metaverse team this past summer. Recently, they revealed that the head of AR and VR will be Andrew Bosworth who will be promoted as a chief technology officer.

Facebook’s VR Quest Taking Shape?

by Alba

Jan 17, 2020

Since Facebook acquired Oculus for $2.3 billion in March 2014 it had many challenges like improving the software and design of the equipment. Oculus was still in its embryonic stage which acquired surreal vision developed by a British company. In December 2016 Oculus was incorporated with an improved virtual reality user experience. It was a long journey and the consumer version of the product was finally released on March 28, 2016.

Then there was a challenge to get the attention of customers in the time of Social media like Instagram where millions of users were busy sharing pictures. But, 2.6 million Oculus VR headsets have been sold out by the end of the third quarter.

Though Oculus seems to be a perfect gear for video games it had certain limitations. The first turn-off was the high price tag of the device. There were only limited games. There was a requirement for tethering to a PC every time.

But development is the rule of thumb for every technology. The Oculus Quest which was launched in May last year is one of a kind and applauded for many added features. You don’t need to tether the device with a PC anymore and the device is loaded with more games such as a new Star Wars series called “Vader Immortal” and a new VR-only sequel “Half Game” which is one of the favorites among PC gamers. Oculus Quest surely will be successful in the game arena.

Facebook breaks down 3 Billion fake profiles!

by Manish M

May 24, 2019

In an ‘enforcement report’ released yesterday, Facebook has claimed to have deactivated 3 billion fake accounts in the wake of cleansing the platform and regaining its lost glory.

In the report, Facebook states that between October 2018 and March 2019 it took action to weed out preposterous profiles on its platform. This included three billion fake accounts and seven million “hate speech” posts were removed.

The accounts that were deleted were found to be harboring content that was driven by hate. Also, fake profiles were rampant and piled up in huge numbers which had to be taken care of. Not to mention that there were instances of profiles that sold drugs and guns online.

Nudity and sexual activity were on the rise, with 14 out of every 10,000 times people viewed posts on Facebook. In terms of violence, there were 25 for every 10,000. Also. 5% of profiles with monthly visits were fake.

So far, so good Facebook. (silent clap)

Facebook gets a facelift, kicks out Alex Jones and all extremists from its platform

by Manish M

May 03, 2019

Facebook has decided to clean up its tarnished image. From data leaks to fuelling hate crimes, it seems to have realized to put a leash on the fake, hatred-fuelled news and information.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his channel Info Wars has been banned from Facebook. Alex Jones was the one who spread the news that the Government added something in the tap water that turned people gay.

Facebook on Thursday announced that it was banning Jones, Farrakhan, Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, and Infowars, which Jones runs, from both its platform and Instagram, which it owns. The platform wants to seriously curb hate comments and anti-semitic views from its social space.

A Facebook spokesperson said, “We’ve always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology,”. “The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today” he ended.

Facebook is cracking down on negative news outlets and this move is huge since it has been criticized heavily for not taking responsibility to regulate hateful messages in the past. Lawmakers and activists have been vying for a clean-up of Facebook for a long time and Facebook has always responded with a careless, awkward shrug. Looks like their outcries have finally been heard.

Now any Facebook employee can look up your Instagram password!

by Manish M

Apr 19, 2019

In the recent breach, back in March, Facebook declared that “several thousands” of Instagram passwords were affected and were accidentally stored in a readable format on its servers. It claimed that the saved passwords were not visible to anyone outside Facebook and assured that there is no way anyone is abusively accessing the passwords internally.

However now, Facebook reveals that the breach is worse than it was expected.

Facebook now says millions of Instagram users’ passwords were accidentally stored in a readable format on its servers, not ‘several thousand’ as initially speculated. It published the findings on a post, Thursday morning.

Facebook quoted, “Since this post was published, we discovered additional logs of Instagram passwords being stored in a readable format,”.It continued, “We now estimate that this issue impacted millions of Instagram users. We will be notifying these users as we did the others. Our investigation has determined that these stored passwords were not internally abused or improperly accessed.”

The social media giant is under investigation by numerous government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice, for its data collection and privacy practices.

Facebook’s plan for the dead and departed

by Manish M

Apr 11, 2019

Facebook is working on using Artificial intelligence to prevent a problem that is becoming upsetting with every passing day– receiving notifications about deceased loved ones.

Facebook is the world’s biggest digital graveyard. The company hopes to stop the painful experience of getting suggestions to invite dead people to events or to wish them Happy Birthdays. It will no longer recommend you to invite deceased people to concerts and barbecues.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, recently wrote a post on handling the news of a loved one passing away via memorialized accounts and the introduction of a new ‘Tributes section’. Content posted as tributes can be moderated by a person’s “legacy” contacts. These are the other Facebook users who they have designated as trusted persons (or persons) who can take over in the event of their death. But, for profiles of deceased users that have not yet been memorialized, Facebook said it would use AI to stop those accounts from appearing in unexpected places as well.

This is a unique, positive step by Facebook amidst facing fire for its recent data breach. It is interesting to note that 8000 Facebook users die every day and by the end of the century, the number of dead people will be more than the active people on Facebook.

Let’s hope the Facebook AI is intelligent enough to not designate living people as ‘dead’.