Barely a month after Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses received a major upgrade, adding Meta AI with Vision in beta in the U.S. and Canada and adding the ability to share what you’re looking at on WhatsApp and Messenger video calls, the company is back with another update. Voice command access to Amazon Music and the wellness app Calm, as well as hands-free posting to Instagram are new features, rolling out “gradually.” Simply say, “Hey Meta, play Amazon Music,” or “Share my last photo to Instagram’” to get results without touching your phone. Continue reading Ray-Ban Meta Now Hands-Free with Amazon, Calm, Instagram

Meta Platforms announced an expanded collection of generative AI features, tools and services for advertisers and businesses. The enhanced AI features include full image and text generation, text overlay capabilities, and image expansion for Reels and the Feed in Facebook and Instagram. The updated tools will be available via Meta Ads Manager through Advantage+ creative. According to Meta: “Our goal is to help you at every step of your journey, whether that’s improving ad performance by helping you develop creative variations, automating certain parts of the ad creation process, or increasing your credibility and engagement through Meta Verified.” Continue reading Meta Launches Enhanced Generative AI Tools for Advertisers

Pursuant to his goal of “building the world’s leading AI,” Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday that Meta AI is upgrading to Llama 3 concurrent with a rollout of its open-source chatbot across the company’s social platforms, integrating it into the search boxes atop WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger. There is also a website, meta.ai, for those who prefer browser access. Reports of Meta upgrading its social AI capabilities began leaking out early last week, albeit on a more limited test scale than what Zuckerberg announced, which, excepting Threads, is cross-platform. Continue reading Meta AI Assistant Is Launching Across Platforms with Llama 3

Meta will release a new Quest educational product later this year. As with 2023’s workplace-specific Meta Quest for Business, the as yet unnamed learning tool will allow teachers, trainers and administrators to access education-specific apps and features, and make it possible for them to manage multiple Quest devices at once. The classroom convenience of not having to individually update and prepare each headset for the same lesson was one of Meta’s key findings in researching what teachers wanted from virtual reality, Meta says, positioning education and training as a growing tech product sector, with lots of app activity. Continue reading Meta Education Initiative Aims to Put Quest VR in Classrooms

Meta is testing a new large language chatbot, Meta AI, on social platforms in parts of India and Africa. The chatbot was introduced in late 2023, and began testing on U.S. WhatApp users in March. The test is expanding to include more territories and the addition of Instagram and Facebook Messenger. India is reported to be Meta’s largest social market, with more than 500 million Facebook and WhatsApp users, and has big implications as the company scales up its AI plans to compete against OpenAI and others. The Meta AI chatbot answers questions and generates photorealistic images. Continue reading Meta Tests Image-Generating Social Chatbot on Its Platforms

Messaging app Telegram has added business account features to create a custom start page, listings, maps, hours of operation, chatbot support and more. Anyone can turn their Telegram account into a Telegram Business account, and users don’t need coding skills. Public channels with 1,000 or more subscribers can receive 50 percent of the revenue from ads shown in their channels. Based in Dubai, Telegram says the channels of its global users generate over 1 trillion monthly views. In February it unveiled an ad program that adopted the TON blockchain’s Toncoin as its native currency. Continue reading Telegram Adds Business Features to Challenge Meta, Google

While YouTube and Facebook are the most-used platforms among U.S. adults, TikTok is the fastest growing, according to a new Pew Research survey on social media usage. Google’s YouTube led in popularity by a wide margin, with 83 percent of the 5,733 U.S. adults polled reporting they had used it at some point. Meta Platforms’ Facebook took second place, with 68 percent of respondents having at least tried it. Those two platforms also stood out for having the majority through each age demographic subset. Instagram, also owned by Meta, took third place, with 47 percent of respondents attesting they had used it. Continue reading YouTube, Facebook Most Popular Social Apps Among Adults

Instagram’s Threads app, an X competitor designed for sharing text updates and joining public conversations, is now gaining traction after an inconsistent 2023. New data from app intelligence firm Appfigures reveals that Threads is growing, tripling its number of downloads month-over-month in December, positioning it as one of the Top 10 most downloaded apps for Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store. Ahead of Threads in downloads for December were popular apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp (Instagram took over the No. 1 spot from TikTok). Meanwhile, X continues to decline. Continue reading Instagram Threads Reaches the Top of App Store Downloads

Password management firm 1Password has launched a public beta for a program that implements passwordless logins, joining the trend to eliminate its bread and butter: passwords. Those who sign up to participate, creating a new 1Password account via the public beta, will get “an extended free trial that lasts for the duration of the beta,” the company says. Initially, “the ability to unlock 1Password with a passkey is reserved for new users, but will be made available to those with existing 1Password accounts sometime in 2024. Passkeys let people sign in to accounts without having to memorize a password or manage a secret key. Continue reading 1Password Introduces Passkey Support for Desktop and iOS

Teenagers in the U.S. are finding it hard to tear themselves away from YouTube and TikTok, according to a new study of 13- to 17-year-olds by the Pew Research Center. Pew found that “nearly 1 in 5 saying they use the video-streaming apps ‘almost constantly.’” YouTube topped the chart for the second consecutive year, with 93 percent, “roughly 9 in 10 teens” saying they regularly use YouTube. That far outstrips TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram, which manage to creep to about 70 percent among a subset of teens 15 to 17. Among the total teen sample, that falls to 63 percent for TikTok, 60 percent for Snapchat and 59 percent for Instagram, according to Pew. Continue reading Pew: U.S. Teens Fixated on Video Apps YouTube and TikTok

Meta Platforms is moving Imagine with Meta from its test bed as a generative AI experience in chats to a standalone experience on the Web that allows users to create high-resolution images using natural language text prompts. That is one of more than 20 generative AI features Meta is deploying to create new business opportunities globally leveraging AI across search, ads, business messaging and more. While most will wind up on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, some say Meta’s popular Facebook and Instagram platforms have plateaued at 2 to 3 billion users per month, circumscribing ad growth. Continue reading Standalone Image Generator Is Among New AI Tools by Meta

After introducing the Chat Lock feature in May, WhatsApp has added something called “secret code,” for an additional layer of privacy protection for extremely sensitive conversations. A secret code makes sensitive chats “harder to find if someone has access to your phone or you share a phone with someone else,” the Meta Platforms subsidiary says. With a secret code, users can set a unique password — different from that which normally unlocks the phone — to give locked chats an extra layer of privacy. An additional option allows the Locked Chats folder to be hidden from the general chatlist. Continue reading WhatsApp Rolls Out ‘Secret Codes’ Privacy for Locked Chats

Meta Platforms-owned instant messaging and VoIP service WhatsApp has updated its Voice Chat feature for mobile so it can now host group calls of up to 128 participants. Voice chats allow WhatsApp users to instantly talk live with members of a group chat while still being able to message within the group. The new feature, which is being compared to a Discord server, is being rolled out globally. The idea is to have the Voice Chat be less disruptive than group calling, which rings-in all group members. Voice chats can be quietly started with an in-chat bubble users tap to join. The updated version will have end-to-end encryption by default. Continue reading Meta’s WhatsApp Launches Voice Chat for Up to 128 People

Earlier this year, Google introduced support for passkeys as part of a larger initiative to improve security and eventually eliminate the need for passwords. Since the launch, consumers have begun using passkeys across Google apps such as Search, YouTube and Maps. As the next step in establishing “a simpler and more secure way to sign into your accounts online,” and following positive feedback from early users, the company is offering passkeys as the default option across personal accounts. When signing into accounts, users will receive prompts for creating passkeys. Additionally, Google account settings will feature a toggle that reads “skip password when possible.” Continue reading Google Makes Passkeys Default Option on Personal Accounts

Key highlights from this week’s two-day Meta Connect virtual event include details about the Quest 3 mixed reality headset, the latest smart glasses from its Ray-Ban collaboration, and an announcement that AI stickers are rolling out across the Meta Platforms apps. Starting at $500, the Meta Quest 3 will add Microsoft 365 apps integration by the end of the year, for those who want to use the gaming headset for productivity. Available for preorder now, the Quest 3 ships October 10. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses start at $299 and ship October 17. Continue reading Meta Shows Off Quest 3 and Smart Glasses at Connect 2023