INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Authors: TheIndianSubcontinent News AgencyFacebook’s ongoing Cambridge Analytica data scandal may have delayed its smart home speaker’s
release date, but the social network's annual developer conference went on as planned. CEO Mark Zuckerberg started off the F8 2018
conference with a protracted apology for Facebook’s role in Russian election-meddling and third-party acquisitions of personal data,
explaining Facebook's new privacy security settings along the way.Having addressed the elephant in the room, Zuckerberg jumped into
Facebook’s newest products, services and features. Lucky for you, we've rounded up the seven most important announcements from the F8
2018 Day 1 keynote right here.1
Oculus Go release date is todayIn a not-so-surprise announcement, Zuckerberg informed the San Jose, California conference crowd and those
watching via livestream that Oculus Go is on sale today on Oculus.com. People in 23 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, can go on the site and purchase the standalone headset right now.Shoppers in the US can also find
Oculus Go on sale at Amazon, Best Buy and NewEgg as well as at Best Buy retail stores today.On stage, Zuckerberg called the Oculus Go the
“first really affordable” VR headset on the market, and claimed it has the “highest quality lenses and optics that we have ever built
into a VR device”, including the latest Oculus Rift. The base 32GB model costs $199 / £199 / AU$299, while the 64GB version sells for
And over 1,000 Oculus Go games and apps are available to play right now.2
Dating profiles are coming to FacebookFacebook doesn’t just want to be the place to chat with family members and old school friends
anymore. Soon, you'l' be able to build a Facebook dating profile and connect with other singles in your area—in a part of the app that
your regular Facebook friends can’t see. If you opt into the feature, you’ll be able to set up a dating profile, then search your area
for Events and Groups where you're likely to meet potential daters. Select a group, and you’ll be able to click on members’ profiles
and see their photos and stated interests
You can then click on one of their photos as a “conversation starter” and initiate individual chat chains with other users, which will
be text-only (no chance for unsolicited photos). Facebook will also recommend potential matches “based on dating preferences, things in
common, and mutual friends”, but Zuckerberg emphasized that it won’t pair you up with any actual Facebook friends. “This is going to
be for building real, long-term relationships, okay Not just hookups!” Zuckerberg said, to laughs from the crowd. Zuckerberg implied that
this will be available through the Facebook app, but Facebook Chief Product Officer Chris Cox mentioned that dating profiles could be
available as a separate app, because focus groups wanted to keep their dating profiles separate from their regular profiles. Beta testing
of the dating features will begin “later this year”.3
Facebook Messenger is getting a redesignSneak peek of the new Facebook MessengerFacebook Messenger may be getting new features like 4K
photos, AR effects and AI translation tech, but the platform's upcoming interface revamp will clear away a lot of the clutter. VP of
Messaging David Marcus showed off a quick glance at the new look on stage some time after Zuckerberg also said Messenger was due to get a
simpler, cleaner look. Facebook plans to remove the games and camera tabs on the bottom, shrinking the friend bubbles a bit, and even
adding what looks like a night mode option. Marcus hinted that this simpler, cleaner new interface will be coming out “very soon”. 4
Clear History will wipe what you've been browsing Thinking about deleting Facebook to protect your data privacy Facebook wants to give you
a less drastic option to keep your business: clearing cookies and deleting browser history. In a few months, Facebook will roll out a
“Clear History” option, which will let you turn off Facebook’s ability to store data on you. Normally, Facebook Analytics collects
data on your browsing history and “Likes”, and uses this information to curate suggestions and ads for your feed. With Clear History,
you’ll be able to wipe all of Facebook Analytics’ collected information about you.Zuckerberg made it a point on stage to emphasize that
the Facebook experience will be degraded if users opt to Clear History
Deleting cookies from a browser, he said, “can make parts of your experience worse
Your Facebook won’t be quite as good while it relearns your preferences”. In other words, Zuckerberg believes that Facebook needs data
on your interests to properly function, and that after users delete their “Off-Facebook History”, they’ll realize they should trust
Facebook with data again. In a separate statement, Erin Egan, Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer, revealed that clearing your history
won’t technically “delete” your data
If you do use this setting, she said, “We’ll still provide apps and websites with aggregated analytics We can do this without storing
the information in a way that’s associated with your account, and as always, we don’t tell advertisers who you are.”So, by using
Facebook, you’ll still be giving the company a means to monetize your data for advertisers
Facebook will just be making that data more generalized, so no one can easily obtain individual ad profiles on users. Zuckerberg also
announced that it plans to hire 20,000 security and content reviewers by October 2018 to fight against fake news during election seasons. 5
New social-focused VR appsOculus is pulling out all of the stops to ensure that Oculus Go owners have plenty of new, exclusive VR content to
try out within their first month of purchase
Facebook, which owns Oculus, outlined the new and significantly updated apps coming to the platform. The first app, Oculus Rooms, has been
around for awhile, but now it's redesigned and all about making it easier than ever to hang out with friends in a virtual space to play
games, watch movies, or otherwise catch up
It'll be available for Oculus Go and Samsung Gear VR for now.Oculus TV, an Oculus Go-exclusive app, puts you inside of a virtual theater,
where you can start a virtual “Watch Party” with up to four friends, and check out both 2D and 3D content, either live or
on-demand. When it launches in May, you’ll be able to watch Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and Facebook Video, and other apps like ESPN+ will be
Facebook’s VP of VR, Hugo Barra, claimed that the TV screen inside the app can be set as large as 180 inches wide. You’ll also have
access to live events through Oculus Venues, an app for virtually attending ticketed events like concerts, sporting events and theater shows
When it releases later this month for Go and Gear VR, Oculus Venues will debut live concerts, MLB and NBA games, and standup comedy
shows. Finally, Oculus Gallery will let users easily share and view their own photos, video and other media inside virtual reality. 6
Instagram and Messenger add AR Camera EffectsAt last year’s F8, Facebook showed off its new augmented reality (AR) technology, which lets
you insert 3D animated creations into your photos and videos. Now, the company has brought its AR Camera Effects suite directly into
Instagram and Facebook Messenger, so you can add things like face filters, “world effects” or 3D objects into your feed. Asus is an
early AR Camera Effects on Messenger partnerFacebook has also given these AR tools to businesses that use chatbots as part of a closed beta
Early partners like Nike, Asus, Sephora and Kia, will use 3D visualizations of objects to their products so you can see what they'll look
like from the comfort of your home. You’ll be able to put a makeup filter over your face to see what a certain shade looks like on you,
for example, or check out how a Kia Stinger or pair of Nikes look in different colors. 7
Big updates to Instagram chat and WhatsApp callingConfirming rumors from earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced that Instagram users can
now use video chat to connect with people through the app. Up to four people can join the chat at once, and you’ll be able to browse
around inside the app while your friends sit in a thumbnail in the corner. Part of that browsing will be in their revamped Explore mode,
which places photo category buttons on the top of the window in a carousel, so you can quickly swipe through different options like
“Animals” or “Architecture” and select one that strikes your fancy. Zuckerberg claimed that people has been using the live video
feature to “just hang out” with friends, and that video chat was a logical addition to the platform.Facebook has also added a similar
option to WhatsApp called Group Calling, which also allows up to four people onto one call. Zuckerberg said that people already make “2
billion minutes of voice and video calls on WhatsApp” every day, and this new addition could add to that
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