17
May
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Facebook Pages Manager App Updated To 1.4 With Photo Albums, Drafts, And The Mighty Banhammer

Posted by in Applications, News

Facebook Pages Manager is the odd man out in the social network's Android suite, but it's indispensable if you've got a public image to maintain. The Pages Manager lets companies or individuals manage their separate likeable identities. Yesterday's update (version 1.4) adds a number of features from Facebook on the web, including the ability to add albums to your page, save drafts for editing later, and adding posts to a specific event. Oh, and one absolutely vital function: kicking the trolls and whiners off of your digital turf right from your phone.

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To delete a comment and/or ban the commenter, tap the comment and select your action.

16
May
glass

Google Glass Getting Social Media, News, and Productivity Apps, Becoming More Useful Every Day

Posted by in Apps/Games, Glass, News

Ah, Google Glass. Though the venerable headset has a lot of potential, it has yet to become something people want to use all the time. If you're a social media addict, a news junkie, or a productivity pro, though, Google's heads-up computer just got a lot more compelling. Today at I/O, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, CNN, Elle, and Evernote pledged to support Glass by releasing official applications - "glassware," as Google calls them. Facebook's app is available now.

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The social media apps do what you'd expect: post pictures and text. Facebook's app allows users to upload photos to their timelines and add descriptions with voice.

13
May
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Head Of Android Sundar Pichai Talks Google I/O, Android, And Chrome - Confirms Focus On Developer Tools, Not A Major Android Revision

Posted by in Android OS, News

Newly appointed head of Google's Android division Sundar Pichai - who perhaps not-so-incidentally also leads the Chrome OS team - recently sat down with Wired for his first interview since Andy Rubin's departure. Though he didn't speak to specifics about any mysterious Motorola smartphone or Chromebook Pixel follow-up, Pichai did shed some light on the state of Android, Google's open-source philosophy, and future projects.

When asked if separate operating systems - Chrome OS and Android, for instance - confuse users, Pichai said the OS is less important than the apps, ecosystem, and backend people rely on. He also emphasized that developers, concerned about distributing their products on particular platforms, appreciate the flexibility multiple operating systems provide.

06
May
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HTC First Review: The Phone You Didn't Realize You'd Actually Want

Posted by in First, Reviews

Facebook phone. Those two words in that order have been repeated over and over again for the last couple of years, simply as rumors for the longest time. Then the HTC Status hit the scene with an integrated Facebook button – still, Zuckerberg himself claimed that it wasn't Facebook's phone.

Many months later, the rumor mill started whirring once again about an alleged phone designed just for Facebook. This time, for some reason, the rumors held more water. And the more frequent the leaks got, the more we realized that this was probably the real deal – a Facebook phone was happening.

02
May
abfriendstiny

Rovio Thinks The Best Way To Improve Angry Birds Is To Let Your Facebook Friends Bother You With It

Posted by in Games, News

It's been three and a half years since Angry Birds was first released and you thought it was finally over. You disconnected your internet, set up your shack in the woods, and you're living off the land without ties to the metal world. It's over, right? There are no more birds to be flung. They can't touch you here. At last, you can relax, send a carrier pigeon to the two friends who still talk to you and invite them over for a tree bark barbecue.

"Hey, Hermit Dan! Have you seen this? Angry Birds Friends! It's like Angry Birds, but you compete with other people.

27
Apr
Facebook-Matrix

[For Developers] Facebook Open Sources Its Internal Android Build Tool 'Buck' Which Runs Faster Than Ant

Posted by in Development, News

This post is very developer-centric. If you don't write software or you aren't trying to fall asleep, turn back now. You have been warned.

When most of us think about Facebook, open source software probably isn't the first thing that jumps to mind. As it turns out, the social media titan has quite a few public contributions that we rarely hear about. Since Facebook went native, Android development has become a high priority within the company. Among the many pleasant results of this shift, some of the internal tools may find their way into the public domain. One such project is Buck, an alternative build system similar to Ant, but designed to be faster and more modular.

26
Apr
facebook

Google Drops The Hammer, Bans Facebook (And All Others) From Performing Non-Play Store App Updates

Posted by in Applications, News

Shortly before the Facebook Home launch, some users noticed a new version of Facebook was available on their device, but it wasn't through the Play Store. Instead, the update came directly through the app, bypassing the Store altogether. Naturally, there was outrage, people were angry, felt violated, and whatnot. For Facebook, however, this was a way of getting a beta version of its app out to some users without having to give it to all users. It did a similar sort of update just last night, proving that this wasn't just a one-time thing.

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Regardless of why Facebook has chosen to circumvent the Play Store for its own update mechanism, though, that didn't sit too well with Google.

18
Apr
fbmessenger

Facebook Rolling Out Voice Calls On Android To Messenger Users In The US

Posted by in Applications, News

Facebook has been on a real push to take over users' phones as of late, with Facebook Home, Chat Heads, and updates to its official and Messenger apps. Today, it goes a step further, offering full, free voice calls to US users. This is the same feature that rolled out to Canadian users late last month.

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The service requires Facebook Messenger to be installed (naturally) – to initiate a call, simply head into your contact list, open a message, and hit the "I" in the top-right corner. You should see an option for "Free Call" in the list; if it's white, the users can receive a call.

16
Apr
facebookhome

PSA: Facebook Home Updated, Now Available Outside Of The US

Posted by in Applications, News

Facebook did a soft launch of its new Home launcher late last week, which left a lot of its international users out in the cold. Good news: if you've been dying to get your hands on Home, it's now available outside of the US. Of course, device restrictions still apply, as the app is only available on a handful of handsets right now:

  • HTC One X
  • HTC One X+
  • HTC One
  • Samsung Galaxy S III
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II
  • Samsung Galaxy S 4

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And if you like what it has to offer but aren't necessarily sold on using it full time, there's an easy way to keep all of Home's functionality without sacrificing your existing launcher.

16
Apr
facebookhome

Tip: Use Facebook Home Alongside Another Launcher By Leaving It Enabled, But Not Making It The Default

Posted by in Applications, News, Tips & Tutorials

When I went hands-on with Facebook's new launcher a few days ago, I stepped away pleased with the overall experience, but felt that it lacked a lot of the features a power user (or even a regular user who does stuff) would like. Still, I found the "lock screen" functionality to be a very pleasant experience – turning my phone on to nothing more than a scrolling photo and the time is very minimal and relaxing. I even made the comment that I wish I could use it as my lockscreen and return to Nova for my actual launcher. Turns out doing just that is actually extremely easy.

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