Internet & Websites - Page 20

Just how powerful is Facebook? Well, how about over 1 billion daily active users? It's the first time the social network has reached this peak, with Q3 2015 being quite good indeed.

Back in Q2, Facebook sat at 968 million DAUs, and this time last year the social network had 864 million DAUs. Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg explained during the company's earnings statement: "we're focused on innovating and investing for the long term to serve our community and connect the entire world".

Zuckerberg also added that Facebook is pushing to become a big destination for video, where he believes the company will have users engaging more in the next few years with short form clips. Facebook is experiencing around 8 billion video views per day, so we can see the importance of videos for the social network. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg added that Facebook video targeting is beating other platforms such as YouTube.

It looks like Google is making big progress in its Twitch competitor, with YouTube Gaming v1.1 being torn down by Android Police. The outfit found that the latest app includes background and offline playback, and so much more.

With YouTube's background and offline playback still not here, it shows the progress that the team has had with YouTube Gaming, pushing out these two big features into the app virtually instantly. We should hopefully expect the normal YouTube app to feature offline playback and background play in the next few revisions.

Google is including VR support for YouTube Gaming through Cardboard, allowing 360-degree videos to be played through the YouTube Gaming v1.1 app. If you want to download the YouTube Gaming v1.1 APK, you can grab it here.

Facebook is currently working on four new video related functions, each of which is highly practical.

First up is suggested videos, which would help you find other videos to watch after you start watching a video from your Feed. This feature is available now on most iPhones around the world, and to some web users. Android users will see it within a few months.

Next is multitasking while watching videos. Facebook is now testing the ability to watch a video in a floating screen while you continue to use the site, which sounds much like what we see with Chromecast and YouTube.

Google met with technology companies and publishers recently to discuss the issue of slow loading websites on mobile, an issue they believe causes significant revenue loss for website owners.

Following the talks, they've launched the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project. As you can probably tell from the name, the aim is to improve mobile browsing performance, but it's also to better how code functions across all the different devices available today.

The project is built on AMP HTML, "a new open framework built entirely out of existing web technologies, which allows websites to build light-weight webpages."

Facebook and French satellite provider Eutelsat have teamed up to transmit free internet to large portions of Africa via orbital satellite.

With the help of Spacecom, the duo has secured the entire Ka-band payload of the AMOS-6 geostationary satellite which will transmit the signal. The AMOS-6 is configured with "high gain spot beams covering large parts of West, East and Southern Africa" as well as "high throughput satellite architecture" that ensure cost-effective, Direct-to-User internet access for Africans. Both Facebook and Eutelsat will split the broadband capacity, and the satellite is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2016.

"Facebook's mission is to connect the world and we believe that satellites will play an important role in addressing the significant barriers that exist in connecting the people of Africa," said Chris Daniels, Vice President of Facebook's Internet.org. "We are looking forward to partnering with Eutelsat on this project and investigating new ways to use satellites to connect people in the most remote areas of the world more efficiently."

In a bid to push Prime subscribers towards its own Fire TV set-top box, Amazon is planning on ceasing all sales of Google's Chromecast and the Apple TV.

The digital retailer says that it will no longer list or sell devices that don't support Prime Video streaming, including all current and last-generation Apple and Google streaming products. The new policy will go into effect starting October 29, whereupon the entire online retailer will be Chromecast and Apple TV-free.

"Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime," Amazon said in an official statement to Mashable. "It's important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion. Roku, XBOX, PlayStation and Fire TV are excellent choices."

According to a report from Recode, Google is preparing for the launch of 'YouTube Red', the company's ad-free, subscription-based model for YouTube that has been in the pipeline for quite a while now.

Recode is reporting that numerous emails were sent out to channel owners, asking them to agree to a new set of terms and conditions by October 22nd or their monetized videos would be switched to private until the new agreement had been agreed upon. We don't know if the subscription-based YouTube Red will launch on that day, but it should be within hours of that.

The ad-free YouTube Red will launch in the US at first, after which it will float across the pond once Google begins sorting out the various legal issues associated with rights management. As for pricing, we can expect a decent price of $9.99 per month, something that will include Play Music Unlimited. As someone who shifted over from Spotify to Play Music Unlimited, I'm hoping my existing subscription will include YouTube Red.

Facebook is finally moving into the world of immersive video content, announcing that 360-degree videos will begin rolling out to your News Feed in the very near future.

The social network announced that the Facebook website is the only place they'll appear for now, with the Android and iOS versions of the Facebook app to support 360-degree video "in the coming months". When you're on the web and on your News Feed with a 360-degree video, you can click your mouse on the video and move around the video, all from your desktop.

But what about content? This is next to useless without some good content, right? Well, various companies are already diving on the 360-degree content bandwagon, with Star Wars, Discovery, VICE, GoPro, Saturday Night Live and LeBron James & Interrupted. The Disney side of things has a 360-degree promotional video for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is super-awesome.

It turns out that many people aren't afraid of fallout from Ashley Madison's high-profile data breach, with "hundreds of thousands" of new members reportedly signing up for the site in the past week. In addition, 87,596 women also signed up for the infidelity website, according to Avid Life officials.

"Last week alone, women sent more than 2.8 million messages within our platform," according to Avid Life Media.

"Recent media reports predicting the imminent demise of Ashley Madison are greatly exaggerated. Despite having our business and customers attacked, we are growing." However, CEO Noel Biderman stepped down as head of the company, and additional shakeups are possible - though it looks like a bit of notoriety could be helping the website.

The UK government wants to be a bit more proactive in discussing its strategy to counter the spread of the Islamic State, and is using the @UKAgainstISIL Twitter account to help share that message.

The Foreign Office officially launched the account last Thursday, and will share "updates on the UK government's ongoing work to defeat Isil." The group is sharing updates regarding airstrikes, condemn the Islamic State's activities, and share information on how to defend against the group.

"The government is very well aware of the fact that it doesn't have the ability to say things that will resonate with extremist Islamists," said Charlie Winter, senior researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, in a statement published by The Guardian.

We knew it was coming, but Google has just officially announced YouTube Gaming, a new gaming-focused service that is launching tomorrow. YouTube Gaming will arrive as its own web service, as well as including Android and iOS apps.

YouTube Gaming will be Google's portal for gaming video content, with the service automatically collecting all gaming-related videos. This will include livestreams on individual pages for more than 25,000 different games. More so, it will provide gamers with personalized recommendations based on the pages and channels that they follow.

Google is also making it much easier for people to livestream their games to YouTube, offering up a new page (which is currently sitting in beta form), providing a better way to start streaming your games from a personal URL. Frank Petterson, Engineering Manager for YouTube Gaming said: "Together, we all make gaming better. Our peers make us better gamers, and games are made better by the communities that surround them".

As we quickly approach the start of the NFL football season, it looks like LG Electronics is preparing to help us hear the games better with new wireless audio products. LG showed off the P5 (NP5550), P7 (NP7550), and SoundPop 360 speakers, LG X-Boom Theater, and OM7550 Cube Speaker System.

The LG Music Flow P5 is a 10-watt wireless speaker with up to eight hours of battery life, while the LG Music Flow P7 is a 20-watt speaker with up to 10 hours of battery life. The LG SoundPop 360, similar in design to a drinking tumbler, is a cylindrical speaker providing 360-degree range â€" and up to 20 hours of battery life.

The LG X-Boom Theater has a pair of tower speakers with up to 1000-watt total audio output, built-in subwoofers, and is paired with a 3D Blu-ray player including LG Smart TV functionality. The LG Cube Speaker System supports a 1000-watt speaker and subwoofer, two USB ports, portable audio input, Multipoint Bluetooth, and NFC.

Intel wants to have a go at Hollywood, partnering with the United Artists Media Group and Turner to create the "America's Greatest Makers" TV show. Ideally, Intel wants to help inventors use Curie to develop "the next big wearable or smart-connected device."

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich was joined onstage during the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) by UAMG CEO Mark Burnett, as they announced the show. America's Greatest Makers will debut during Q1 or Q2 2016, and will feature technology inventors fighting it out for a $1 million cash prize.

To help promote the show, expect to see trailers and teasers across Turner networks, such as TNT, CNN, HLN, TruTV, Adult Swim, and Bleacher Report.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently spoke out regarding the Islamic State and other criminal groups using social media.

Speaking directly about the Islamic State, she had this to say: "We have got to shut down their Internet presence, which is posing the principal threat to us," when asked during a stop on her campaign to become president.

"You've got to look carefully at terrorist groups and criminal cartels and other illegal actors to figure out whether they can use the Internet to cause crimes, to cause harm, to wage terrorist attacks and we can't just let that go on unabated," Clinton said.

A few days ago YouTube updated its web-based video player, with the video sharing giant now removing the iconic 301+ view counter. It has been replaced with a new real-time view counter, which is much better for viewers, and YouTube content creators.

YouTube explained its 301+ view counter in an infographic, above, where it quickly became a placeholder to stop spammers from artificially increasing YouTube video views. Once a video hit 300 views, YouTube would halt the view counter at 301+ until it was able to confirm the views weren't spam bots, and then it would reveal the true view count.

But now, YouTube is confident that it can tell the difference between automated views and real-life people watching them. From now on, the view counter will drive up as more people watch the videos, with the iconic 301+ view counter now put to rest.

This Tuesday, Facebook's latest patent was approved, giving this internet giant the ability to judge your friends list through a financial eye. This new ability means that a lender can examine the credit ratings of your Facebook friends in order to judge if you're suitable for a loan or not.

The full text reads: "When an individual applies for a loan, the lender examines the credit ratings of members of the individual's social network who are connected to the individual through authorized nodes. If the average credit rating of these members is at least a minimum credit score, the lender continues to process the loan application. Otherwise, the loan application is rejected."

The Islamic State has had ups and downs while using social media, finding Twitter, YouTube, and other sites helpful in recruiting new members, sharing propaganda, and intimidating the public. Trying to fight the group has evolved into an international effort, with Europol and the US government looking for ways to crack down on the Islamic State.

"Every targeted country that the Islamic State brags about becomes more resolved to take on the Islamic State," said Max Abrahms, a political science professor at Northeastern University and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, in a statement published by Voice of America.

"While it's true that bragging about the violence over social media can be beneficial in terms of having a recruitment affect, there's also a very substantial attrition effect."

Social media can be an extremely powerful marketing tool used for promotion, and that is evident by the number of celebrities, athletes, and other public figures using Twitter, Facebook, and other networks.

TweakTown recently chatted with Paul Daley, a popular - yet polarizing - English mixed martial arts (MMA) and kickboxing specialist. The fighter, sporting a 37-13-2 MMA record and 20-3 kickboxing record, most recently defeated Dennis Olson during Bellator 140 earlier this month. Daley is quite active on Facebook, sharing news updates about training, upcoming fights, and news that combat sports fans have shaed with him.

"Social media has taught me that it's good to be yourself," Daley told TweakTown. "People have an idea of how a fighter's life is, [but if] they really want to know and follow."

Teenagers on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more than two hours per day are more likely to report higher psychological distress, poor mental health, or suicidal thoughts, according Ottawa Public Health.

Considering the study took a look at all social networking websites, it's a rather frightening revelation - especially with more younger folks logging social media time using their smartphones. They are never really far away from Facebook or Twitter.

Researchers analyzed data from students in seventh grade up to grade 12, with 25 percent reporting at least two hours of daily social networking time. They took a closer look at correlations between the amount of time logged on social media to self-reports of mental health and psychological well-being.

Remember how the Islamic State is using social media in a clever way to recruit members, lure girls away from their homes, and intimidate locals? Well, it looks like a few women in Chechnya have duped the Islamic State for some quick cash.

The unidentified women, currently being investigated for fraud, scammed at least $3,300 from the Islamic State - by promising to head to Syria to join the group. Instead, the women shut down the social media accounts after the money was successfully wired into their accounts.

"I don't recall any precedent like this one in Chechnya, probably because nobody digs deep enough in that direction," said Valery Zolotaryov, a police officer in Chechnya, speaking to a Chechen newspaper. "Anyhow, I don't advise anyone to communicate with dangerous criminals, especially for grabbing quick money."