Posts tagged facebook
HTC First, Facebook Home- What You Need To Know From Facebook’s Android Event
Apr 8th
As was expected, Facebook last week unveiled some of their new plans for Android including a new Facebook phone called the HTC First and more importantly, a major update to their Android app called Facebook Home.
Both the First and Facebook Home will be available later this week– on Friday, April 12th– but here is what you are going to need to know about both before they get here.
The Facebook Phone Is Coming Today- Here Are Some Of The Latest Rumors On What We Can Expect
Apr 4th
The new Facebook Phone, the HTC First
Later today, Facebook will be holding a big event to showcase their “new home on Android.” While there has been a lot of speculation about what exactly Facebook will show off, thanks to some recent rumors it looks like we now have a pretty good idea. Yes, Facebook isn’t just announcing an update to their Facebook Android app, they also are expected to announce the Facebook phone to go along with it.
Before the event gets underway at 10 AM Pacific Time, here are some of the latest rumors on what we expect Facebook to show off.
Facebook Is Having An Android Event This Week- Could A Facebook Phone Be Coming?
Mar 31st
Late last week Facebook sent out invitations for an event at their headquarters teasing a “new home on Android.” As expected the internet is now filled with rumors about a new Facebook phone. While we still have a few days until the April 4th event, here are some of the latest and most interesting rumors about the Facebook phone and what else they might announce.
Is Facebook Finally Bringing Video Chat To The iPhone?
May 4th
Facebook Video Chat– coming soon to the iPhone?
With Facebook Video Chat having been available for Windows and Mac for almost a year now, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before they brought the feature over to their mobile apps. And according to the site 9to5Mac, that time is finally almost here.
The folks over at 9to5Mac have gotten a sneak peak at a beta for an upcoming update to Facebook’s Messenger app for iPhone. In addition to the usual bug-fixes and performance improvements expected in a normal update they found this: the ability to make Skype Video Chats right from your iPhone/iPod Touch just like you already can from your computer. Making a video call is pretty simple too– if the person who you’re talking to is at their computer or on iPhone/iTouch you’ll see a blue arrow next to their name. Tap that arrow and you’re calling them.
9to5Mac also says that Facebook has a similar update planned for the Android version of the Messenger app (as well as a version of the Messenger app for the iPad), but that will probably come after the iPhone gets its update this summer.
DIY Tech: Go On Facebook Without A Web Browser
Nov 13th
If you’re like me, I bet you’re thankful that your cell phone has a dedicated Facebook app – and rightly so: dedicated apps offer quick access to your account, and don’t require the use of a web browser.
However, like me, you’re probably also disappointed knowing that these same joys are not shared when you want to access your Facebook account from a PC or Mac. You know the drill: opening a new browser window, accessing the Bookmarks Bar or Favorites window, entering your account info after that, and only then finally logging on to Facebook. It’s not the worst process, but it’s not as easy as your tablet or phone where all it takes is a press of a button (or touch screen).
However, there is a solution. Enter Facebook Desktop…
No, Facebook Will Not Make You Have To Pay For The New Updates
Sep 25th
An example of some of the many Facebook scam statuses
By now you’ve probably heard the news that there will be some major changes to Facebook coming out over the next few days/weeks, including a whole new design for your profile called Timeline (which we’re not gonna get into right now, but basically it allows you to fill in all your memories from literally the time you were born in to your Facebook profile so it’ll be available online for all your friends to see forever. Yes, it’s that creepy. More info here). Now whether or not you like the new Facebook (other updates include the new chat and the new News Feed which you’ve already probably seen if you’ve logged on to Facebook this past week), one of the big things we’ve been asked since the announcement were if the statuses like the ones you see above were true. These status said that unless you re-posted the status you’ll have to start paying a monthly fee to use Facebook. Put simply, this is all a scam and completely untrue.
Ever get one of those annoying mass texts that said that if you forward said text to (insert number of friends here) some company/organization/cat will donate money to a cause or that the next person you see will be your soul mate and you’ll live happy ever after forever? Sorry to say but like these Facebook statuses these are all scams and are completely made up by random people for fun. The only thing that will happen if you post them or forward them is you’ll end up annoying someone else. Facebook is free, and as they write on their homepage (which you can see for yourself if you log out), it always will be. No monthly fees, no subscriptions to get the updates– everything is free (I mean, Facebook needs you to want to continue to use their site. It’s how they make billions selling ads).
So if you see one of your friends falling for this latest scam feel free to calm them down and let them know that everything will be ok and that Facebook will still be free even after this latest update comes out.
Pic from Mashable
The Teen Review: HTC Status
Jul 28th
When we first saw the HTC Status for ourselves a couple of weeks ago we were very impressed. It’s fast, sleek, and has an excellent keyboard. But there’s a reason we called that a First Look and not a full-blown review, as those were just our first thoughts after spending a few minutes with AT&T and HTC’s new Facebook and teen focused phone.
For the last couple of weeks we’ve put the Status under some much more intense testing. So, how does it hold up and if you’re on AT&T should it be your next phone? For those answers and more read on for our full Teen Review of the HTC Status.
The Facebook Phone Gets A Release Date– HTC Status Coming To AT&T July 17th
Jul 11th
If you’re a Facebook addict and need to always have your Wall one click away this phone is definitely for you.
Previously known as the HTC ChaCha when it was announced back in February, the Status is not just a “Facebook phone” but also a pretty solid, cheap smartphone. Here are the full specs: thin design with 2.6 inch touchscreen and full keyboard underneath (at a resolution of 480 x 320 this screen isn’t as nice as HTC’s other Android phones, but it should be more than enough for the goal of Facebooking 24/7), 5 megapixel back camera with auto focus and LED flash and a VGA front-facing camera for video chat (what great timing! Unfortunately we don’t know if this will be able to Facebook video chat out of the box or if it’ll have to wait until Facebook updates their apps later this year), Android 2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense (including new widgets for Facebook chatting from the homescreen), and an 800 MHZ processor (again, this is not gonna be EVO 3D, Sensation 4G or ThunderBolt fast, but it should be more than enough for constantly updating your Facebook all day. And this lower processor speed should allow for much better battery life so you can stay connected even longer). And of course there’s that Facebook button on the bottom of the phone which allows you to instantly post on a friend’s wall, check in on Facebook Places, or share pictures, videos or links.
Best part about all this? The price. The Status will cost a very solid $49.99 with new 2 year contract and data plan (which starts at $15 a month for 250 MB or enough for more status updates than you could imagine) when it launches next Monday, July 17th (and for those who can’t wait you can pre-order the Status right now from AT&T).
Personally, I would rather just a more powerful phone like the Infuse 4G or iPhone 4 and just install the Facebook app as opposed to a “Facebook phone,” but AT&T readers we wanna know: are you completely addicted to Facebook that you need a phone like this or would you rather a phone like the Infuse 4G or iPhone 4 and just have the Facebook app installed? Let us know in the comments.
Facebook Announces Skype Video Chat– And Yes, It’s Awesome
Jul 6th
As expected, Facebook today finally announced one of its most long-awaited features– the ability to video chat with your Facebook friends. Powered by Skype and starting today, you’ll be able to easily video chat with any of your Facebook friends just by clicking on the video camera icon in the normal chat window. That’s it and it works in all the major browsers– Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari– on Mac or Windows, so no matter what you use you should have no problem video chatting (and like Skype on the computer, if you don’t have a webcam you can still see and hear the other person but they can only hear you). Done with the chat? Just close the video and you’re done.
And like regular Skype you can also leave video messages for a friend if they’re not online (like a private version of posting a video message on their wall which is open for all of their friends to see), and you can also now call or chat with your Facebook friends right from an updated Skype app (available for Windows users here).
The new Facebook group chat
Facebook also today introduced two other updates to Chat– a better, more organized Friends list that has a sidebar for easy access to the friends you message most, and the ability to easily group chat with multiple friends (again, just by clicking the “add friends to chat” icon in the normal chat window).
Yes all this isn’t “groundbreaking” by any stretch, but the fact that it is such an easy and simple way to make an already very good instant messaging system better does in our opinion make it awesome.
The new Chat features will be rolling out to everyone over the next “couple of weeks” but if you can’t wait you can get right now here. Let us know what you think and don’t forget to Like us!
Facebook Launching Something “Awesome” Next Week– Is It Facebook Video Chat?
Jul 1st
You may have heard recently about Google’s big new Facebook competitor, Google+, and how it looks to take everything you currently do on Facebook and make it even more social by connecting you with all your Gmail/Google account friends.
With new features like Circles (creating groups out of all your friends for easier organizing and communicating like say family, classmates or friends from camp. Now you can post updates for just certain people to see instead of your whole Friend’s list), Huddle (think of this like Group Text on the T-Mobile Samsung Sidekick 4G and myTouch 4G Slide– its group texting to your Circles from your phone or computer that should make figuring out what you’re all doing later a lot easier), and most importantly, Hangouts, Google+ looks to be the first real rival to Facebook. Hangouts is the real big thing here and allows for video chats with specific friends or Circles right from your phone/computer– something we all know has been badly missing from Facebook over the last few years.
And while Google+ is right now only in a very limited beta (or testing, not yet ready for everyone) stage, it looks really good and could finally be something that really threatens Facebook for your social networking attention. Facebook of course isn’t taking this new threat without a fight back and has sent out invites for an event next Wednesday, July 6th, where they promise they’ll be launching something “awesome.” And what is this rumored new “awesome” feature? Well if these latest rumors are to be believed (and we believe them) then next week we’ll finally see Facebook video chat thanks to a partnership with Skype.
To us this all makes perfect sense. Facebook needs to steal some of the buzz around Google+ before it grows any larger and what better way to do that then by partnering with one the largest providers of video chat in the world in Skype (oh, and Microsoft– who also is a big rival of Google– is a big investor in Facebook and just so happens to now own Skype).
Again, Facebook hasn’t said exactly what they’ll be announcing next week (some rumors are it’ll be an iPad app or some better photo uploading from phones), but we wanna know: what do you want to see from Facebook next week? Would you use a new Facebook/Skype video chat over iChat, Google Talk, ooVoo or whatever other video chat app you use? Let us know in the comments.
