Facebook Messenger Android App Updated With Stickers

Facebook Messenger Android App Updated With Stickers

Facebook Home brought over “stickers” for Messenger. Stickers are basically emoticons on steroids, they’re similar to those we have seen on other chat applications such as LINE. These large and quite funny emoticons can be sent to your friends during chats. Earlier today we posted a guide on how to enable stickers on Android, but now Facebook Messenger for Android has been updated and it comes with stickers, no need to perform any trying procedures.

To get stickers on your Android device, just update the Facebook Messenger app. The latest version is now live and can be downloaded right away from Google Play Store. To use them just open a chat dialog, tap on the smiley at the right hand side, select your desired sticker and hit send. These only work in FB chat, attempting them in SMS won’t be of any use. In the release notes Facebook mentions that the stickers feature will be available to everyone soon, initial comments from people who have downloaded the updated Messenger app reveal that stickers aren’t exactly there in the dialog box. This seems a bit odd. Are you facing a similar issue?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Hopefully There Won’t Be A Need For These Bulletproof School Uniforms, Samsung Receiving Visits By Top Microsoft And Google Executives,

    

Facebook Pages New Mobile Layout Announced

Facebook Pages New Mobile Layout Announced

Today the world’s largest online social network has announced a new mobile layout for Facebook Pages. The social network has over a billion users and a substantial majority of them visit Facebook Pages daily, primarily through their mobile devices. They have designed this new mobile layout to make it easier for users to get the information from Pages on their mobile devices. Improvements have been made for both people and Page owners.

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Mobile Facebook Pages redesign targets Yelp

Facebook is rolling out a revamp to its mobile Facebook Pages today that will bring a new layout designed to get more information to you with one glance. The new design layout is aimed towards businesses and it makes all of the business’s important information pop-out, including the business’s address, hours, price range, and more. It also brings forward a more noticeable star ratings system, similar to Yelp, to let you know what others think of the business.

Mobile Facebook Pages redesign targets Yelp

The new redesign also conveniently places action buttons, like the “like”, check-in, and call button all at the top of the Facebook Mobile page for easy access. Before, Facebook’s business pages were a jumbled mess. A business’s address, and description were all displayed in a small, easy-to-miss font, and information was all over the place. Users would have to dig around to find important business information, like the business’s hours.

However, one thing that Facebook’s new design doesn’t have over Yelp is its huge database of reviews. Sure, it still has the star system showing how users have rated the business, but the only reviews you will see of the business are the ones from your friends. It will take Facebook a little while to implement public comments into its system. Nonetheless, this new layout will make Facebook Pages more appealing to users, and may even be enough to steer some users away from Yelp.

The new changes isn’t just beneficial for users. Page owners also get some new perks. Page admins can pin posts that they believe are important, including posts with coupons, specials, announcements and more. Admins are also able to easily switch back and forth from public and admin view to see how changes will look and to make changes if need be. So far, the new design is only available for iOS users and through a mobile web browser, however Android users will receive the update in the near future.


Mobile Facebook Pages redesign targets Yelp is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook unwraps plans for new data center in Iowa

As rumored earlier, Facebook has taken off the wraps of a new data center that will begin construction this summer in Altoona, Iowa. This will be the social network’s fourth self-owned and operated data center. The company already has data centers in Prineville, Oregon; Forest City, North Carolina; and Luleå, Sweden.

facebook-data-center

The new data center will feature the same Open Compute Project server designs and outdoor-air cooling system that the other Facebook data centers boast, but the new center will also include overall improvements to the building’s design and networking architecture than the other data facilities. Facebook claims that the new Iowa facility “will be among the most advanced and energy efficient facilities of its kind.”

As far as why Facebook chose Iowa to plop down a new data center in, the social networking giant said that the state is full of wind-generated power, and has “a great talent pool that will help build and operate the facility.” Of course, there’s also plenty of flat and open land there, making it ideal for a large facility that relies on outdoor air for cooling

The company didn’t reveal any statistics on the new facility, but the Des Moines Register reports that the new data center will cost $1.5 billion to construct. There’s no official say as to how large this new data center will be, but the Des Moines Register says that the facility will be 1.4 million square feet. Facebook’s one billion users are uploading a lot of content to the social network, and it all has to go somewhere.


Facebook unwraps plans for new data center in Iowa is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Many, Sometimes Conflicting, Problems With Facebook Home

The Many, Sometimes Conflicting, Problems With Facebook Home

Facebook Home users are having a lot of problems with the social giant’s Android takeover. Here are biggest criticisms.

Facebook Shuts Down Gun Shop Site That Is Giving Away A Free AR-15

Facebook Shuts Down Gun Shop Site That Is Giving Away A Free AR 15Guns and the right to bear arms is an extremely touchy subject, especially for folks living in the US. The thing is, we have seen our fair share of tragedies borne out on TV because of mindless and senseless killings, where even teenagers were able to obtain firearms and run amok with them, be it at campuses or in a movie theater. Well, it seems that the Facebook fan page for Pittsburgh Tactical Firearm has been shut down by the powers-that-be at Facebook. The thing is, not only was the main page shuttered, but the second page which begun as a replacement for the first was killed off, too. Apparently, this could very well be because the owner of Pittsburgh Tactical Firearm has been running a giveaway contest for an AR-15.

Shop owner Erik Lowry said, “I still don’t know what’s going on.” He realized that the page was shut down three days back, and many of the page’s 27,000 followers subsequently called and emailed to ask what had happened. Lowry then stepped up to begin a replacement page, but that one was also shut down shortly, and despite asking at least 100 times, according to him, Facebook did not respond with any explanation. Do you think that such “censorship” is unconstitutional?

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Facebook building $1.5 billion data center in Altoona, Iowa

DNP  Facebook building $15 billion data center in Altoona, Iowa

Facebook has already set up shop in North Carolina and Oregon, but it’s heading to Iowa for its next — and biggest — data center. According to the Des Moines Register, the town of Altoona will be home to a 1.4-million-square-foot facility (code-named Catapult), and it will reportedly be the “most technologically advanced center in the world.” Why Altoona, you ask? The city is already home to several data hubs, as its fiber-optic cable system, access to power and water utilities and affordable land are big draws for companies. Facebook will complete project Catapult in two $500 million phases, though the entire cost will reportedly ring in at $1.5 billion. The social network is also seeking wind energy production tax credits, which is no doubt connected to its Open Compute Project for promoting energy efficiency. That’s all we know so far; suffice to say a center this big won’t be built overnight.

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Des Moines Register

Facebook is reportedly behind “Project Catapult” data center

Facebook is reportedly the company that’s planning on building a $1.5 billion data center in Altoona, Iowa. Before, everything was kept hush-hush, and the only thing we knew about the data center was that it was referred to by officials as the cryptic “Project Catapult”. Des Moines Register stated that it spoke with lawmakers about Catapult and discovered that it is Facebook who is behind the project.

Facebook to reportedly build 1.5 billion dollar data center in Altoona, Iowa

Facebook was said to have been scouting sites to launch its next data center. There was a location in Nebraska that Facebook was reportedly looking at, but apparently Facebook has decided to go in another direction. According to Data Center Knowledge, official’s approved the site plan for Facebook’s data center in Iowa back in June, and by November Facebook and state/local officials had a meeting to discuss the “fine details” of the data center in order to finalize the deal.

Many people had already speculated that Facebook was behind the data center in Altoona, mostly because the site plans looked very similar to Facebook’s site plans for its data centers in both Oregon and North Carolina. The entire building will be about 1.4 million square feet, with 3 separate data centers measuring 466,000 square-feet. It is said to be the “most technologically advanced data center in the world.”

Facebook is also said to be in talks with officials about tax credits for wind energy production, as well as a new payment rate on water. While there are various factors that point to Facebook as the company behind the data center, Facebook has yet to officially confirm it. But if it is, it looks like both Google and Microsoft’s data centers in Iowa will be getting a familiar neighbor pretty soon.

[via Des Moines Register]


Facebook is reportedly behind “Project Catapult” data center is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook Messenger for Android updated with free voice calling

Facebook has finally rolled out a new feature to its U.S. Android users that now allows them to initiate a free voice call with one of their Facebook friends. The voice calling feature will be available automatically, meaning you won’t have to go to Google Play to download an update. The feature has been available to iOS users for quite some time now, and Android users in Canada had the feature since early March. The voice calling feature uses up your data plan instead of your actual minutes, so if you’re on a tiered data plan, proceed with caution.

Facebook Messenger for Android updated with free VoIP calling

In order to initiate a free voice call, all you have to do is choose the contact that you want to call. You have to initiate a text conversation first. Afterwards, you will see an “i” icon at the top right of the message box. Click on that and you will have access to 3 separate options, one that says “Free Call”. If you’re using Chat Heads, you can initiate a free voice call by tapping the 3 dots that appear next to your contact’s name.

Facebook Messenger for Android updated with free VoIP calling 1

Facebook Messenger really has become an all-in-one messaging service. Not only does Facebook Messenger allow you to instant message your Facebook friends, it also lets you to integrate your SMS texts into it, allowing you to consolidate your conversations. Alongside this new free calling feature, all Facebook really needs to add is a video-calling feature for Android devices and it will truly be an all-in-one service.

Facebook is trying its best to get more users to stray away from other popular messaging apps, like WhatsApp, and migrate over to its messaging platform. Just a few days ago, WhatsApp announced that it has over 200 million active users on its service, a number Facebook desperately wants. Messenger poses a good threat against WhatsApp now that it has all of these features tied into it. This new feature will also be helpful in making its Facebook Home launcher more appealing to users. If you haven’t tested out Facebook Home yet, you can check out our review of Facebook Home here to see what it’s all about.


Facebook Messenger for Android updated with free voice calling is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook’s New Logo Takes Flat and Simple to the Extreme

The latest subtle redesign to Facebook’s logo was just noticed by developer Tom Waddington. It’s hard to imagine a simpler symbol than new little favicon cube that’ll live next to the Graph Search bar on Facebook’s revamped site. More »