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Invite Mark Zuckerberg home with two new Facebook Portal smart displays
Remember that a portal goes both ways
Facebook is stuck on hardware liked chewed-up gum to the underbelly of a school desk. After going public with what are essentially smart spyglasses co-branded with Ray-Ban, we're once again talking about smart displays as the company adds two new entries to the Portal family.
Facebook's Portal becomes almost useful with the arrival of Zoom and Netflix support
You still probably shouldn't bring a Facebook-controlled video camera into your home
Smart displays have taken off in the last couple of years. Even Facebook got in on the game with the launch of the Portal in 2018. The company refreshed the Portal product line last year, introducing new products like Portal TV. Now Portal is getting a bit more useful thanks to additions like Zoom and Netflix.
Messenger Rooms video calls are now available on Facebook Portal screens
Support for voice commands in British English are also coming soon
Videoconferencing is all the rage right now and Facebook, like any other big industry name, naturally wants a bigger slice of the pie. In a bid to do that, the tech giant buckled down to make its Zoom-rival Messenger Rooms ubiquitous across its several social media platforms. Now, Facebook's much-maligned smart screens are also getting support for Rooms along with a bunch of accompanying features.
Nab a Facebook Portal Mini for just $80 ($50 off) for simple video calling with friends and family
Video calls with grandma made easier
When Facebook announced it was releasing the Portal series of devices for video calls, skepticism abounded. Development on the devices continued unabated though, and they've been extremely well-reviewed. Facebook has come out with several variants in the past two years, including 10" and 15" models; today, its 8" variant, the Facebook Portal Mini, is on sale for just .The Portal Mini has an 8" touch screen housed in a sleek black or white frame that also functions as a smart home hub. You can video chat with friends and family through Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, and like the Google Nest Hub, the camera will keep its focus by panning and zooming on whoever is talking. When not in use, the frame can turn into a picture display for your Facebook, Instagram, or phone's camera gallery, much like other smart hubs.
Facebook released its Portal smart displays back in October 2018 and is now reportedly working on expanding its ecosystem to TVs. Indeed, according to rumors, the social media network has approached steaming companies to discuss a potential partnership to bring their services to a new device made for TVs.
Smart Displays are a convenient way to place video calls while you're busy doing other things. Unfortunately, they often require people to have a compatible device or use specific software, making it less convenient to reach loved ones. Most people have a Messenger account, though, and Facebook is using this as a selling point for its Portal smart displays against Amazon's Echo Show. If you were thinking of getting an intelligent screen in your household, now is the right time to do so, as both the Portal and the larger Portal+ are currently $120 off at Best Buy.
Communication and information display have started to move beyond the smartphone to smart displays and dedicated video devices like the Facebook Portal. Speaking of which, the social media giant has pushed out an Android app for managing said Portal devices. You can now send photos to the Superframe, add accounts, call your Portal when you're away from home, and manage your favorites.
Facebook's totally-not-a-surveillance-device, the Portal smart display, was released in October of last year. Despite the company's abhorrent record with user privacy, the Portal seems to be fairly popular, and now Facebook is bringing it to more regions and adding new features.
It's a weird time to be a smartphone shopper. Should you be holding out until your next phone is 5G? Will 5G even impact your usage, for that matter? And assuming Samsung can resolve its manufacturing kinks, could a crazy folding-screen phone actually be in your future? As you try to work your way through those critical decisions, here are a couple of our favorite deals from the past week to distract you:
In one of the scariest product announcements in recent years (should have done on Halloween, amirite?), Facebook unveiled its video calling devices last month. The Portal and Portal+ are now beginning to ship to anyone who was silly enough to pre-order one, and you can even go out and buy them in shops.Facebook assures us these products were "built with privacy and security in mind," but I still don't think I want a Facebook-connected eye anywhere in my home. Each to their own, though. The smaller Portal has a 10-inch screen and costs $199, while the larger, rotatable Portal+ goes for $349 — they're both Amazon Alexa-enabled.You can get buy them from Facebook directly, Amazon (online and in Amazon Books stores), or Best Buy (Online and in-store). There's even a deal that lets you save $100 when you buy two Portal devices — why buy one when you can get two? Fork it, why not buy four? Or six? One for every room in the house.Source: Facebook
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- Facebook has clarified that data such as call length and frequency of calls can be used to target ads. Recode reports that the social media platform reached out to revise statements made to the publication concerning user privacy on Portal. The publication initially reported that no data collected through its device will be used to target users with ads on Facebook. That's simply not true, however. While Portal itself will not run ads, it will collect call log data including who you call, as well as general usage data — for instance, how much time you spend on certain apps in Portal — all of which can be used to target ads on the company's other properties, like Facebook or Messenger. This all makes sense — ads are the social network's major business — but it's not comforting considering Facebook's poor track record with users' sensitive information. At least the company is attempting a level of transparency, but one can only wonder if it has simply given up hope of ever shipping meaningful amounts of this product at all.
While Facebook's video calling smart home devices have long been in the works, the wake of another major data privacy scandal doesn't feel like the best time for a product launch. But perhaps Facebook just couldn't wait any longer — after all, it was reportedly supposed to debut the new products earlier this year, but held off due to bad press from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Today, just a little over a week after it announced a security flaw that affected 50 million accounts, the company launched the Portal ($199) and Portal+ ($349), both Amazon Alexa-enabled video calling devices.
Facebook has been working on something akin to an Echo Show or smart display for a while now. After the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Facebook decided to put the plans on hold. Now it appears the device could launch as soon as this coming week.
After an unsuccessful first attempt at a digital personal assistant inside its Messenger app, Facebook is giving it another go. This time around, the company is focussing its efforts on speech recognition to create a product called Aloha.
It's time to return to Aperture Science for some totally not deadly tests. Note: this assessment of deadliness is not guaranteed. There may actually be a great deal of danger, depending on your construction abilities. GLaDOS will be your guide as you take on your role as bridge builder in this fusion of Portal and the Bridge Builder games, and GLaDOS is not so good at keeping people alive, either.
Imagine a world where Bridge Constructor combines its bridge-building gameplay with Valve's puzzle-platformer Portal. Well, imagine no longer as apparently Headup Games have been secretly working on just that very thing. That's right, Bridge Constructor Portal is a thing and it's coming to Android really soon. There is even a trailer available for your viewing pleasure, so hit that "Read More" button and check it out!
NVIDIA has been serving up Android-based hardware for years now, but the SHIELD Android TV Box lets you play games and access the broader Android TV ecosystem from one device. And just as you would expect from NVIDIA, the SHIELD is no slouch when it comes to gaming performance and selection. What you might not know is how great the selection of games you can play on SHIELD is. Here are some of the best.
The developers that brought us Pushbullet have announced a brand new app. Portal is designed to do one thing and one thing only: move files between your computer and your Android device. While this is possible with Pushbullet, it isn't a strong point and requires sending those files to their servers and back. Portal sends them within your local wireless network, avoiding potentially costly data fees and making possible far faster transfer times.
The biggest Android gaming news of the month was certainly the release of NVIDIA's SHIELD Android TV, and it brought with it quite a few high-profile PC ports. But since the vast majority of readers don't have one, I've decided to restrict this month's top picks to more general smartphone and tablet games. Fear not, SHIELD early adopters: you get your own picks down there below the honorable mention section.
Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn't get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can't wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don't want to wade through a whole day's worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we've got several PC and console pilgrims including Hotline Miami, War Thunder, and Always Sometimes Monsters, a new Portal-inspired Zen Pinball table, a mashup of tactic, RPG, and city-building, and standard platformers and puzzlers. Without further ado:
Portal and Half-Life 2 were both launch titles for the SHIELD Portable, and to this day remain two of the best games you can play on Android. Recently, both apps got updated to support Android TV, which really only means one thing: they support the new SHIELD set-top box. That's good, because playing them on the TV is honestly one of the best ways to experience these classic FPS titles. Here's a look at the changelogs for each: