Hasta La Gadget!

Facebook and several other companies announced the Internet.org initiative tonight to bring connectivity to 5 billion people, but how are Zuckerberg and friends going to do it? As laid out in the Facebook founder’s “Is Connectivity A Human Right?” plan, part of the process includes making technological changes. A big part of that is delivering data more efficiently, and making sure apps use less of it. First on the chopping block is Facebook’s own app, which used an average of 12MB of data earlier this year but the company thinks it can cut to 1MB per day “simply by improving data usage.” Beyond that, more savings are possible if Facebook offers a variant with fewer photos in developing countries.

Other methods for using less data include caching and data compression, with the former already in use on its featurephone app, and the latter something partners like Opera have a lot of experience in. In the future, Zuckerberg speculates users could even download stories or photos from nearby friends using technology like WiFi Direct. All of this is done with the aim of reducing the bandwidth needed for basic internet services, thereby making access “affordable and available” to more people. Hit the source link for more details on the hows and whys, we’ll be expecting our more efficient social network any day now.

Filed under: Internet, Mobile, Facebook

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Source: Is Connectivity A Human Right? (PDF), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)

Google’s strategy for bringing internet access to underserved areas involves giant balloons, but Facebook’s leans more on collaboration. The social network has founded Internet.org along with Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Samsung and Qualcomm, and is setting the partnership’s sights on making sure the two-thirds of the world that doesn’t have internet access gets the proper hookup. Zuckerberg and friends aren’t ready for a complete show-and-tell of their plans just yet, but they’ve outlined some of their goals: making access affordable, using data more efficiently and lending businesses a hand so they can increase access.

When it comes to cost cutting, the group aims to develop and use tech that allows for cheaper connectivity, such as affordable high-quality smartphones. As for data efficiency, the team may investigate compression tools and caching systems to help ease the load on fledgling networks. In fact, Facebook is already working on reducing its Android app’s daily data usage from 12MB a day to just 1MB. Lastly, the organization intends to look into sustainable business models that sweeten the pot for everyone from developers to mobile operators to pitch in for the cause. Connecting roughly 5 billion people to the web is a tall order by any standard, but Facebook and Co. are drawing inspiration from their successful Open Compute Project to give themselves a fighting chance. Zuck’s scheduled to talk up the alliance on CNN tomorrow morning, but you can head past the break for a video from Internet.org that tugs at the heart strings.

Filed under: Internet, Facebook

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Via: The New York Times

Source: Facebook (1), (2), (3), Internet.org

The question of how much contact the NSA has with internet traffic throughout the US is being raised again, this time by the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday The Atlantic took issue with the security agency’s mathematics and 1.6 percent claim, while the WSJ report looks more closely at its reach into telecommunications companies. The mishmash of codenamed programs are said to cover up to 75 percent of US internet traffic, although the amount actually stored and accessed is much smaller. The main difference between the calculations may be due to the difference between what ISPs — handing over data under FISA orders — carry, and what the NSA specifically requests. Its capabilities mean it can pull a lot more than just metadata, with access to the actual content of what’s sent back and forth becoming even more troubling as privacy violations exposed by its own audits come to light.

There’s an FAQ-style breakdown of what’s new and notable from the usual “current and former” officials to get those interested up to speed quickly — keep your tinfoil hats and end-to-end encrypted communications systems close by.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Wall Street Journal (1), (2)

When Facebook launched Video on Instagram, some were quick to dig an early grave for Vine — Twitter’s video-only app was surely doomed, right? Wrong. Twitter just revealed that Vine now has over 40 million registered users, or more than triple the 13 million users it claimed before its Android app launch in early June. Twitter hasn’t said how many of the new members run Android, but it’s clear that Google’s platform contributed significantly to the increase. Whether or not Vine maintains its pace is another matter. While Instagram frequently reports active users, the Vine team isn’t as specific; there’s a chance that some of those 40 million account holders tried Vine and promptly abandoned it. Still, the much larger audience suggests that there’s room for more than one short-form mobile video service.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile, Facebook

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Via: Marketing Land

Source: Vine (Twitter)

Aside from the super high-res display, the Pixel has also had something else other Chromebooks didn’t: the Google+ Photos app. Starting today, however, Google’s changing that and bringing the application to the rest of the Chromebook family, making it accessible outside of its sleek, pixel-packed laptop for the first time. The Google+ Photos app, which is available in 52 languages, remains unchanged otherwise, and users can download it now via the Chrome Web Store.

Filed under: Laptops, Internet, Google

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Source: Google+