Facebook Rolls Out Support For 3D Touch, Offering Shortcuts For Posting Statuses, Photos And Videos On New iPhones

An update to Facebook’s iOS application, which rolled out earlier this morning, now allows iPhone 6s and 6s Plus owners running the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system to take advantage of the newly introduced 3D Touch feature to more quickly interact with the social network. Following the update, a hard press on the Facebook’s app icon will offer you a handful of shortcuts, including the ability to take or upload photos and videos or the ability to write your status update.

The addition is one of the more highly anticipated rollouts of third-party support for 3D Touch, a new user interaction that’s something of a spinoff of the similar Force Touch option on Apple Watch. A flagship feature on the new iPhones, 3D Touch is another gesture you can use with your device for faster access to apps.

It’s been likened by some as a right click for apps, as it’s a shortcut to things you can do within a mobile application, but also something of an optional step for power users rather than a new interaction everyone has to learn.

Initially, the 3D Touch option was available with a number of Apple’s default applications, like Mail, Music and Maps, for example, but has been steadily rolling out to third-party applications following the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus’s launch. Facebook-owned Instagram was among the first to offer 3D Touch support, but Facebook’s support means the feature now reaches one of the top mobile apps of all time – and one that reaches more of the app audience than any other, according to comScore.

Facebook’s other apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger, Moments, Groups and others, have yet to support the new interaction.

In addition to Facebook, other top apps now supporting 3D Touch include Pinterest, Jet, Twitter, Shazam, OpenTable, chat apps like Confide and FireChat, Medium, Dropbox, Evernote, and more.

The updated Facebook app is now live on iTunes. It doesn’t appear that Facebook has gained any other iPhone 6s or 6s Plus-only features in the new update, such as support for Live Photos, though that’ssomething in the works for later this year, Apple has said.Of course, users would never know that Facebook had rolled out 3D Touch today because of Facebook’s refusal to offer detailed app release notes – a plague in the industry, where developers no longer feel it’s necessary to inform users of the changes arriving in new versions of their applications.

Comments

eGym raises $45M Series C for cloud-connected gym equipment and fitness software

eGym , the Munich-based startup that offers cloud-connected gym equipment and supporting cloud software and app for the fitness training floor, has closed $45 million in Series C funding. The round was led by new investor HPE Growth Capital, while existing investors, including Highland Europe, also participated. The problem that eGym is looking to solve is that, whilst gyms have moved from a bodybuilder market to a mass market in the last 20 years, the technology in gyms lags behind. That’s despite the fact that better use of technology can help to reduce customer churn, the biggest pain-point of both gym operator and gym users. Comprising of an app for both gym user and trainer, combined with the company’s connected strength machines, the eGym Cloud makes it possible for gym members to receive better fitness instruction and an evolving and personalised fitness plan based on data collected as they workout. And by providing a better workout feedback loop, gym goers can get an i...

Building a smarter home

The Jetsons presented a highly entertaining vision of what homes of the future would look like . The animated television show anticipated a world where humans would be able to do everything with just the push of a button. In many ways, the show turned out to be prophetic; today we have printable food, video chats, smartwatches and robots that help with housework — and flying cars may even be on the way. The challenge for companies is to integrate digital technologies in meaningful ways that enhance people’s homes and improve their lives. Many of the innovations to emerge over the past few years have been geared toward this kind of “push-button living.” Thanks to the rise of smartphones and the proliferation of cheap sensors, it is possible to make just about any household appliance “smart” and “connected.” By 2019, companies are expected to ship 1.9 billion connected home devices, bringing in about $490 billion in revenue. ...

Airbnb will open its Cuba listings to users outside the United States

Airbnb will now let travelers from outside the U.S. to book properties in Cuba after receiving authorization from the U.S. government, reports the Associated Press . Previously, only Americans were allowed to reserve the site’s Cuban listings . They will open to international users on April 2. Airbnb launched its Cuban operations in April 2014 , four months after the Obama administration revealed that it will begin to restore diplomatic relations with the Communist country . The historic policy change means that travel and trade sanctions will be lifted , which is expected to boost tourism to Cuba dramatically because Americans no longer need licenses to visit. In fact, President Obama is currently on an official visit to Cuba , the first president since Calvin Coolidge to do so. According to the AP, Cuba is currently Airbnb’s fastest-growing market, with about 4,000 homes added since it opened listings. Other travel businesses...

Careless USB removal causes multiple deaths

EIGHTEEN workers have died after a USB stick was removed from a computer without adequate precautions. The offices of Hereford-based Envision Photography were completely destroyed in the ensuing blast. Survivor Norman Steele said: “My colleague Helen had put some files on the stick to work on at home, and she yanked it out of the computer before anyone could scream ‘no’. “I kicked her aside as a jet of white-hot flame belched out of the USB port and set fire to the desk opposite. “Grabbing her, I dived through the window just before all the PCs in the network exploded with purple electricity that fried everyone in the building. “I sprinted to my car, knowing that the printers were already becoming merciless hunter-killer drones, shouting for Helen to follow. “But when I looked round I saw her frozen, something glowing in her hand, the awareness dawning of her fate. She was still holding the USB. “She detonated in a flash of ultraviolet light that turned eve...

Oculus’ New $99 Samsung Gear VR Makes Serious Virtual Reality Affordable

At half the price of its last mobile VR headset, the new $99 Oculus-made Samsung Gear VR is cheap enough to unlock virtual reality for the mainstream. Revealed today at the Oculus Connect conference, it works with the whole 2015 line of Samsung Smartphones including the Note 5, S6, S6 Edge, and S6 Edge+. It will ship in November in time for Black Friday. Compared to the $199 previous Gear VRs that only worked with fewer phones, this headset will be a lot more accessible. The new Gear VR is 22% lighter, making it more comfortable to wear. The trackpad on the temple of the headset also now has a tactile directional pad on it so your finger will know where it’s touching. The previous Gear VRs had a smooth trackpad and sometimes it was to tough to know if you were touching it or just the unsensitive shell of the headset when you couldn’t see for yourself. There’s also a new Gear VR Gamepad which all the Oculus Connect conference attendees will get for free. It features an...

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog