Facebook launches video calls, group chat features

Published: Thursday July 7, 2011 MYT 2:44:00 PM
Updated: Friday July 8, 2011 MYT 9:20:11 AM

NEW YORK: Quick on the heels of Google's launch of its latest social-networking venture, Facebook said its 750 million users will now be able to make video calls on the site.

The feature will be powered by the Internet phone service Skype. Facebook also redesigned its chat feature, so that the people a user messages the most often show up first.

To make video calls, Facebook users with webcam-equipped computers have to select the friends they want to chat with.

In the chat window that pops up, clicking on a small blue video icon brings up the video chat feature.

Currently there is no option to video chat more than one person. That feature is available on Google+, a social service that Google began testing last week with a small number of invited users.

Facebook is also adding a group chat option. This works much the same way as the group chat on Google+. Once you are chatting with one friend, you can click an icon to add more people to the conversation.

Facebook's new products come after a relatively quiet period for the world's largest online social network. Zuckerberg, 27, said the company is embarking on "launching season 2011."

Users can expect "a lot of stuff coming out" from Facebook in the next couple of weeks and months, he said at an event at the company's Palo Alto, California, headquarters.

Facebook updated its user count - to 750 million users worldwide - for the first time since last summer, when it reached half a billion people. Zuckerberg said that's because "we don't think it's a metric to watch anymore."

Rather, Facebook is paying more attention to how much its users are sharing with one another. That number is growing at a much faster rate than its monthly user base. Currently, people share four billion items, such as photos, status updates and links, every day using Facebook.

Without mentioning Google by name, Zuckerberg said that "independent entrepreneurs and companies focused on one particular thing will always do better than companies that try to do everything."

For Facebook, that one thing has been creating an online social infrastructure that other companies, such as Skype, can then add their own products to.

Skype has agreed to be bought by Microsoft Corp for US$8.5bil (RM25.5bil) in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. Microsoft owns a small stake in Facebook. - AP

From: BERNAMA

Alert system to notify consumers of online piracy

Published: Friday July 8, 2011 MYT 9:27:00 AM
Updated: Friday July 8, 2011 MYT 9:39:01 AM

WASHINGTON: Hollywood studios, recording labels, artistes and Internet service providers have created a program to alert Internet subscribers when their accounts are used to access movies, songs and other content that entertainment companies consider unauthorised.
The new "copyright alerts" system is intended to educate consumers about online piracy by sending up to six electronic messages notifying subscribers when their accounts are used to download or share such content.
Internet service providers would send the alerts to a subscriber after receiving a notice from a copyright holder.
Consumers who ignore the notices could face "mitigation measures," such as slower Internet connections or redirection to a special website that provides information about copyright protections.
Internet service providers would not be required to terminate any subscriber accounts or hand over subscriber names to copyright holders.
Among the groups and companies participating in the new program: the Motion Picture Association of America and member companies including Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; the Recording Industry Association of America and member companies including Universal Music Group Recordings and Warner Music Group; Independent Film & Television Alliance; and Internet services providers including AT&T Inc, Comcast Corp and Verizon Communications Inc. - AP

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