Meta (Facebook) has released a social VR experience called ‘Horizon Worlds’, giving users the first real look at the ‘Metaverse’ described by Mark Zuckerberg in the company’s recent re-brand announcements. What Is Horizon Worlds? Horizon Worlds (which launched via invite-only in beta last year) is a free, virtual space app that has been built with the Horizon creation tools….
In this article, we look at whether there is evidence to suggest that people lie more online, and what the message is for businesses. Lying Just 3 years after the World Wide Web was introduced to the public domain, a report was published by University of Virginia psychologist Bella M. DePaulo (DePaulo, Kashy, Kirkendol, Wyer, and Epstein) which revealed that most people, on average, tell one or two lies…
Facebook/Meta has announced that it is integrating Workplace with Microsoft’s collaboration app Teams to enable users to share information more easily between the two platforms. What Is Workplace? First announced in 2016, originally Facebook’s internal messaging board, and formerly known as ‘Facebook At Work’, Workplace is the work-focused version of Facebook’s social app. The app is a communication tool…
After one of the most publicised re-brands in history, as Facebook changes its name to ‘Meta,’ we look at the reaction in the media and the marketplace, and the issues for the company going forward. ‘Meta’ … ? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced at Connect 2021 last week that the company had brought together its apps and technologies under…
Microsoft’s LinkedIn will be replaced with a “no social feed” version in China after criticism from the US that it has been complicit in the censorship of posts and profiles from Western journalists. Accusations From Home The accusations that LinkedIn appeared to be appeasing and complicit with the Chinese Communist Party and its censorship rules can be traced back…
Facebook has just enabled encrypted backups for WhatsApp messages to Google Drive or Apple’s iCloud. The feature, however, is not enabled by default so, if you’d like to backup your important WhatsApp messages, here’s how to turn the feature on: – In the latest version of WhatsApp, go to ‘Settings’. – Tap on ‘Chats’ > ‘Chat Backup’ > ‘End-to-end…
Google has matched water use pledges by Microsoft and Facebook by announcing a ‘water stewardship target’ to replenish more water than it consumes by 2030 and to support water security in communities where it operates. Stewardship Google says that through focusing on water stewardship at office campuses and data centres, ecosystems in water-stressed communities, and by sharing prediction technology and tools,…
After experiencing two outages in a week, one lasting more than six hours, and a whistleblower at a Senate Committee hearing alleging potentially harmful effects from Facebook’s algorithms, some are asking ‘what’s going on with Facebook?’ Whistleblower Recently identified former Facebook employee turned whistleblower, Frances Haugen, was found to be behind a series of leaks reported in the US Wall…
In this feature, we take a look at how a multi-billion-dollar market obtains, uses, and sells our location data. Report A GVR report estimates that the global location intelligence market was worth USD 12.2 billion in 2020. This market uses our phone/device location data. There are many different interlinked players in this market ecosystem from app companies, collectors, data…
The introduction of the Age Appropriate Design Code (also known as the Children’s Code) by the ICO means that Facebook has decided to ask Instagram users to give their date of birth as part of the login. Age Appropriate Design Code The statutory Children’s Code (‘The Age Appropriate Design Code’), which came into force on 2 September 2020, is…
