Facebook Gives Messenger More Jobs to Do

Facebook on Thursday unveiled its redesigned Messenger app, which replaces the list of conversations it previously displayed with a home screen that will let users perform more actions within a chat.

The Home tab now organizes Messenger into recent conversations, favorites, active users, and messages awaiting a response.

It has a shortcut that reminds users about Facebook friends' birthdays.

Messenger now prepopulates users' favorites list based on whom they exchange messages with most often.

The active users list identifies people browsing Facebook or using Messenger at any given point in time.

Improved search features help users find what they're looking for, even if the conversation is ancient history.

An Active Now section indicates who is currently available.

Facebook's Vision

The redesign is in line with what CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in January, when he said Messenger would become "the next big platform for sharing privately."

The goal was to position Facebook Messenger to provide an experience that would be better than the mobile Web, without the need to download additional apps.

"That's the promise of a Web-based approach -- none of those pesky apps," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

However, working offline "could be problematic as a result," he told TechNewsWorld.

Facebook earlier this week announced that members could send and receive SMS messages and texts in Messenger. While it's only available for senders on Android, recipients of SMS messages can be on any platform.

SMS in Messenger supports standard text, images, videos and audio, as well as rich content like stickers, emojis and location sharing. However, members will have to use regular Facebook Messenger to send GIFs, send money, make voice and video calls, and book car-sharing rides.

The revamped Messenger app runs on Android devices only, noted Facebook rep Heidi Hagberg.

"iOS doesn't currently support app permissions for accessing text messages and SMS," she told TechNewsWorld.

Facebook "is going after all the unified channels of communications in order to be that productivity device -- the personal connector," observed Ray Wang, principal analyst atConstellation Research.

"It's trying to do the voice-to-text and video-to-text so people might look at video, which nobody's watching," he told TechNewsWorld.

The new Messenger "is an improvement over most messaging class apps," said Enderle, but Facebook is "pretty far off the mark with regard to a universal messaging app, in that this really doesn't do a good job of replacing email or embracing voice or video conferencing as a true converged product might."

Messenger for Business

Facebook is positioning the revamped Messenger as a tool for business use in addition to use by consumers.

"If you have email and calendar, you own a person's lifestyle," Wang said. "Facebook's taking small steps that tie the consumer role to the enterprise role."

The question is whether we're willing to make the tradeoff between privacy and convenience on the one hand, and privacy and security on the other, he mused.

"With Messenger, there's already a low level of trust as far as privacy is concerned," observed Mike Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

"That ... is lethal in a business setting," he told TechNewsWorld.

The Payoff for Facebook

Facebook eventually might place ads in Messenger, Enderle said, and it might offer advertisers information on the items that can be sold to people as well.

Facebook introduced sponsored messages, a program that lets businesses pay to deliver relevant marketing and promotional messages at scale to people already interacting with them.

In the United States, "we're testing the ability to send sponsored messages with just a few select businesses," Facebook rep Hagberg said. "The vast majority of Messenger users will not see sponsored messages right now."

Ads "are the short-term game," noted Constellation's Wang. "I want better 

context around the social graph -- and if I have that, I don't need ads

Supercha

I've just started using Superchat because it is a true universal messaging app -- it connects my Facebook Messenger, gTalk, Skype, and Twitter accounts. So, from Superchat I can chat with all of my friends on those platforms as well as my friends on Superchat. Highly recommend t.

Google: Dare to Daydream

Google's Cardboard has proved to the masses that virtual reality is more than a pipe dream. Inexpensive cardboard headsets leverage smartphones to create makeshift head-mounted displays for low-level VR experiences.

For those whose fancies of owning a US$600 Rift or a $900 Vive were out of reach, Cardboard was a way to keep their imaginations captive while Google was dreaming of Daydream.

Coming two full Google I/O developer conferences after the introduction of Cardboard, Daydream gathers novel and nebulous ideas surrounding mobile VR into a cohesive ecosystem that someday could be a star.

Twinkle, Twinkle

Daydream builds on the Cardboard concept.

On the software side, Daydream and its VR tools will be baked into the upcoming Android N. Users will have the ability to switch between a traditional user interface and VR mode.

With Cardboard's cogs still in place -- things like VR versions of Street View and YouTube -- Daydream will arrive with a healthy amount of content. Further, Daydream-compatible apps from CNN, HBO Now, MLB.com, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Hulu, Netflix and IMAX are headed to the platform.

As for as hardware, Google has given top device manufacturers standards for developing Daydream-ready smartphones and headsets to hold them. Vendors selling the headsets will be required to package them with the Daydream remote control.

Nodding Off

Quietly, Google has been conquering the VR industry.

While most of the press has gone to the high-end headsets, such as the Rift and PS VR, Cardboard has become the world's most successful VR platform.

Cardboard app downloads have surpassed the 50 million mark, Clay Bavor, head of VR at Google, said during Google's I/O 2016 developers conference last month.

Those numbers are telling. Ultimately, Google has been looking to solve one of VR's most fundamental problems, suggested Abi Mandelbaum, CEO of YouVisit.

"While high-end developers like Oculus and HTC have worked to create headsets that provide highly immersive experiences, these pieces of hardware are very much unavailable to the general population due to their price tag and additional computer power needed to support them," he told TechNewsWorld.

As a result of its approximately $30-tall barrier to entry, Google's Cardboard platform has been a free-for-all to some degree, and its VR experiences are among the most basic of those on the market.

While hopes were high for a standalone headset to follow Cardboard, Google decided to make VR native to the phone, notedMarxent CTO Barry Besecker.

Google is "betting that mobile will be the key to VR proliferation, vs. desktop or console-based hardware like Oculus," he told TechNewsWorld.

Lucid Dreaming

Along with setting standards for Daydream hardware, Google will work to further establish itself in the VR market on the software side.

Through Daydream, "Google is helping to close another massive hole within the VR industry -- that is, the gap between the growing number of devices to view VR experiences and the limited amount of immersive content available to consumers," said YouVisit's Mandelbaum.

Google has kept consumers from nodding off while some awaited the release of the high-end headsets and others still await the affordability VR's second generation likely will bring.

That said, even though Google's VR efforts have held the attention of the masses, it's premature to consider them a success, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

If Google sees Daydream through, the company's sheer scale and resources might help it claim ownership of the market-- but Google has developed a reputation for failing to follow through, he told TechNewsWorld.

"Daydream VR appears to be the new strategic direction for Google VR," Enderle said, but "be aware that Google has the attention span of a small child on sugar, so how long this will remain 'strategic' will likely be measured in months."

Waking Up

The noise Google has kept up with its VR initiatives may have kept consumers from falling asleep, but it also might be waking up the company's rivals. OnePlus, HTC and LG have gotten a relatively early start before VR rush hour arrives.

One Google rival might be sleeping in, though -- unless Apple is keeping long hours in a lab somewhere working on its own VR products, which is entirely possible, according to Roger Entner, principal analyst at Recon Analytics.

"Microsoft is betting on HoloLens, and we still have to see what's up with Apple," he told TechNewsWorld. "Often Apple comes a little bit later than the others, but then they do it a lot better. I think that's the game plan here."

If Daydream is everything Google hopes it will be, Apple could start to hear murmurs from its following if it doesn't come up with an answering volley.

While Cardboard eventually grew beyond Android to support iOS, Daydream is native to Google's mobile operating system.

That could be risky, suggested Google may need to find away to support other platforms or it risks making the same mistake as Oculus and Samsung did, according to YouVisit's Mandelbaum.

Samsung's Gear VR, powered by Oculus -- a platform much like what Daydream wants to be when it grows up -- arrived with a built-in ceiling. Gear VR is compatible with just four Samsung handsets, he pointed out.

"In order to be successful in offering universal access and driving both viewership and creation," Mandelbaum said, "Google will need to shift to a more device-agnostic strategy that allows consumers access, regardless of their technology or location.

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Here's how much it costs to charge a smartphone for a year

I'm on a mission, and that mission is to save on my power bill. I've already done the obvious stuff, like replace lightbulbs - especially the 500W halogens floodlights I have outdoors - with low-power LEDs, and I'm being more careful as to how I use heating and cooling. But along with making big changes, I've also been looking at just how much power all the random stuff I have plugged in uses.

Last week, I looked at how much power smartphone chargers consumed when there wasn't a smartphone attached to them. Now let's look at how much power it takes to charge a smartphone for a year.

Now, the proper way to do this test would be to measure the power consumption over a year. Well, I want results quicker than that, so I'd have to do shorter periods of real-world testing and extrapolate out the results, which shouldn't be a problem.

So, what I did rather than keep detailed charging note for a year, or find how much power it took just to charge the battery from 0 percent to 100 percent, and try to fudge that into some real-world figure, I replicated what most people do and put my smartphone on to charge overnight and measure the nightly power consumption.

I chose this method for two reasons:

• It's a usage pattern that matches how many people use their device
• It is more real-world, since when the device is on charge overnight, not only is power being used to charge the battery, but also to run the device (remember, your device is doing stuff in the background like checking email), so this goes beyond just measuring the power used to charge the battery

Power consumption was measured using a WattsUp? PRO power meter.

My test subject was the iPhone 6 Plus, which has the biggest battery that Apple offers. I'm also a pretty heavy user, and this meant that going all day was sometimes tricky (the things I do for you). This means that my results are going to be at the high-end, and that more restrained smartphone users are going to have a smaller power bill.

So here's what I found.

On average, during an overnight charge, the iPhone consumed an average of 19.2 Wh.

According to figures published by the US Energy Information Administration for January 2016, the average cost per kWh in the US was $0.12.

Remember that 1 kWh equals 1,000 Wh.

So, take our average of 19.2 Wh per day, multiplying that by 365 days, we get 7 kWh, which works out at $0.84 a year.

So if you guess under a dollar, well done.

How much does the electricity needed to charge a smartphone over the course o#Reforms

#Congress#Hillary Clinton#Republicans#Ferguson Сity#Obamacare#Ebola#MH17 crash#Afghanistan#Nuclear deal#Israel#Xi Jinping#Putin#Iran#Ukraine conflict#Boko Haram#Barack Obama

f a year cost? Under a dollar? A few dollars? Tens of dollars? Hundreds of dollars? Let's find out.

Microsoft pushes new Windows 10 tool to kill PC bloatware

It seems even Microsoft is getting sick of bloatware.

The software giant has built a tool designed to "refresh" systems with a new copy of Windows 10, which takes aim at preinstalled junk apps, the security flaw-ridden apps that come bundled with almost every new consumer PC.

now included as part of Microsoft's second "fast-ring" test build of Windows 10 Anniversary Update this week.

ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley has more on what's inside the new test build.

In an updated community page, Microsoft said the feature will reinstall a fresh copy of the operating system, which excludes necessary hardware drivers, as well as support applications -- known as "bloatware" or "crapware."

These preinstalled apps are often included on new notebooks, desktops, and even some Android devices. It's generally added by the device maker, and is often embedded deep in the operating system, making it difficult to remove. Making matters worse, they're often full of security flaws, putting the device owner at risk. Recently, a security firm discovered that every single PC maker installed bloatware that included at least one major security flaw, which could lead to device compromise or data theft.

Even Microsoft has taken heat in the not-so-distant past for its part to play.

Microsoft says its own line-up of Signature products are the "safest" devices, with claims on its website that device owners can "forget" about preinstalled bloatware. But the same security researchers found that these supposedly bloatware-free devices "also often included OEM update tools, potentially making their distribution larger than other OEM software."

Their report concluded that buying a Signature edition PC may be "beneficial," but users are "not guaranteed to protect end users to flaws in OEM software altogether."

Microsoft is expected to release Windows 10 Anniversary Update later this year.

The new feature downloads and installs a fresh copy of Windows, killing any pre-installed apps bundled in by PC manufacturers., 048x1, 536 display, All affected users are from US, 

Acer store flaw let a hacker steal a year's worth of credit cards

Acer has quietly informed the California attorney general that its online store was attacked by hackers.

In a letter dated Wednesday, the Taiwanese technology giant admitted that an unauthorized outside party had taken a year's worth of full credit card data, names and addresses between mid-May 2015 and late-April this year.

The company said it hasn't found any evidence yet that passwords or logins were affected, but didn't outright rule it out.

An Acer spokesperson said the company has notified all 34,500 customers whose data was taken -- all of which are based in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

It's not thought to be related to a recent spate of "mega breaches," which included MySpace, LinkedIn, and Tumblr, which all suffered at the hands of historical hacks, leaking millions of accounts.

Which browser is most popular on each major operating system?

Collectively, five browsers dominate the web, accounting for 98 percent of all traffic as measured by the latest U.S. Government Digital Analytics Program. (For a discussion of where that data comes from, see the note at the end of this earlier post.)

The trouble with those aggregate numbers is they mash together visits from sites running mobile and desktop operating systems, where the choice of browsers varies greatly. That's why I was thrilled to see that the good folks at DAP released some new crosstab options this week.

Those new data formats now make it possible to measure browser usage in detail on individual platforms

For this analysis, I used traffic from May 1, 2016 through June 17, 2016, breaking the results out across Android, iOS, Windows, and OS X. The results are eye-opening.

Two overall conclusions are worth highlighting before diving into the details.

First, desktop operating systems encourage the use of alternative browsers. As a result, somewhere between 50 and 60 percent of all PC and Mac users choose a browser other than the default option. Among mobile operating systems, however, changing defaults is nearly impossible. That explains the dominance of Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari.

Second, independent browsers are rapidly nearing extinction. A mere seven years ago, Mozilla's Firefox was a force to be reckoned with. In 2016, it is being crushed by Chrome on desktop platforms and is a statistical blip on mobile devices.

ANDROID

If you carry an Android device, the chances are overwhelming that you use Google's Chrome, which is the default on any device that runs Google Play services. The stock Android browser is second most popular. All other browsers together constitute only about 5 percent of traffic from Android phones and tablets.

Data via U.S. Digital Analytics Program

The one surprising name in the All Other category is Amazon's Silk browser, the default choice on Kindle Fire tablets. That browser accounts for 1.9 percent of all Android traffic, more than Opera and Opera Mini (1.6 percent) and Firefox Mobile (1.2 percent).

IOS

If you thought Chrome's dominance on Android was overwhelming, take a look at the numbers for iOS, where Safari (including Safari's in-app browser) accounts for more than 96 percent of all traffic from iPhones and iPads.

Data via U.S. Digital Analytics Program

Only the most diehard Chrome users apparently bother installing the Chrome app, which after all is just a wrapper around mobile Safari.

WINDOWS

On desktop platforms, which are historically open to third-party developers at the system level, the competition among browsers is far more intense than on mobile platforms. Collectively, just under 40 percent of all Windows traffic uses the default browser: Internet Explorer or its Windows 10-only replacement, Edge. Google's Chrome is the clear first choice, with Firefox a distant third.

Data via U.S. Digital Analytics Program

As I pointed out in a separate analysis recently, that 5.5 percent share for Edge is actually a little better than it looks. During the May-June period, Windows 10 accounted for more than 26 percent of all visits from Windows PCs. That means roughly 21 percent of visits from Windows 10 devices are using Edge. Still, that means nearly four out of five Windows 10 users are going out of their way to set an alternative browser instead.

OS X

Safari is the most popular browser on Macs, but only just barely. Roughly half of all Mac users choose either Chrome or Firefox instead of the default choice.

Data via U.S. Digital Analytics Program

and support for the carrier's 4G LTE network., 536 display, android tablette, The 7.9-inch slate features a Qualcomm Snapdragon hexacore processor, 048x1, New data from the U.S. Government Digital Analytics Program finally provides hard numbers about web usage. Here's a breakdown of which browsers are winning on the four most widely used desktop and mobile operating systems., 

Asus, Verizon team up for $250 ZenPad Z8 Android tablet

{Standard|Regular|Typical} tablets may be {losing sight of|moving away from} style, but that {has not|have not|hasn't already} stopped Asus and Verizon from hooking up to launch a new {standing|record} {for many who} want an {Google android|Android os} device bigger {than the usual mobile phone|than the usual smart phone|than the usual touch screen phone|when compared to a mobile phone|when compared to a smart phone|when compared to a touch screen phone|compared to a mobile phone|compared to a smart phone|compared to a touch screen phone} to use on the go with the carrier's 4G network.

The ZenPad Z8 is a Verizon exclusive that attempts to inject some life into the staid 7. 9-inch tablet form factor. {Particularly|Specifically|Especially}, the carrier is {phoning|contacting|dialling} the Z8 "{a media|a multimedia system|a multi-media} powerhouse" thanks to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 hexacore processor (also used in Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 phablet), {set of|couple of} front-facing {loudspeakers|audio speakers|audio system}, and the Asus VisualMaster suite of image-enhancing {systems|technology|solutions}.

Those enhancements, which include Tru2Life technology for {clarity|acrimony  roughness     unsavoriness} optimization and intelligent {comparison|distinction|compare} adjustment, were touted when Asus rolled out the ZenPad Z300M and Z380M tablets last month. {Yet|Nevertheless|Although} whereas those ZenPads were saddled with a people 1, 280x800 screen, the Z8 sports a higher-res 2, 048x1, 536 screen. It offers an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera (along with a 2-megapixel front-facing webcam) as opposed to the 5-megapixel one out of the Z300M and Z380M, though they all {talk about|show} Asus' PixelMaster tech to enhance {image|photography} quality.

The Z8 also contains TWO GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage, and runs the {newest version|more recent version} of Android, 6. 0 Marshmallow. But perhaps {most of all|above all|most significantly}, it comes with support for Verizon's 4G LTE network, which not only {enables you to|allows you to|permits you to} {hook up} to the Net when a Wi-Fi network isn't available, but also allows for features such as making and {obtaining|acquiring} video calls from the Z8 when it's {connected|associated} to a smartphone {able|in a position|competent} of HD Voice and video calling and using Verizon's Messages app. {It can|Is actually|Really} ready to handle Verizon's upgraded XLTE network, that can be rolling away across the country since launching in 2014.

{In contrast to|As opposed to|Contrary to} some of Verizon's {earlier|prior|past} exclusive tablet offerings, which tended toward the lower end in features, the ZenPad Z8 retains a similar price tag with snazzier specs. It's available for pre-order on Verizon's site for $249. 99 and will be in brick-and-mortar Verizon stores starting on June 23, {It is also|Additionally it is|Recharging options} available for $149. 99 with a two-year Verizon service agreement, or {$10,50|$12|$20}. 41 per month for two years of {obligations|repayments}.