Mar 22, 2016 08:48 by Demo Demo
Ever hear a song and wonder what it means? What inspired its lyrics? Why the artist chose to work with certain collaborators, and what they were doing in the studio when they recorded it? It’s this kind of curiosity that drove us to team up with Genius, the world’s largest collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced musical knowledge, giving you a chance to more deeply connect with the artists and songs you love. Starting today, we’re introducing a brand new playlist, Behind the Lyrics (Hip Hop), followed by Behind the Lyrics (HITS) in the coming week. These playlists, curated by Spotify and Genius, will allow you to go Behind the Lyrics of your favorite hip hop tunes. Tracks on these playlists will include lyrical excerpts, fun facts, annotations, and stories straight from the artists and from the Genius community, all of which are frequently updated. Simply hit ‘Play’ on this Genius-powered playlist to learn more about your favorite artists and...
Read More...Mar 22, 2016 08:46 by Tanya Gold
Every day, people come to Facebook to discover what’s happening in their world and around the world, and to share all kinds of things, whether that’s updates that are happy, sad, funny or thought-provoking. News Feed is the central way you can get updates about your friends, family and anything else that matters to you, and the central place to have conversations with the people you care about. We’ve been listening to people and know that there should be more ways to easily and quickly express how something you see in News Feed makes you feel. That’s why today we are launching Reactions, an extension of the Like button, to give you more ways to share your reaction to a post in a quick and easy way. To add a reaction, hold down the Like button on mobile or hover over the Like button on desktop to see the reaction image options, then tap either Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry. We understand that this is a big change, and want to be thoughtful about rolling this out. For mor...
Read More...Mar 22, 2016 08:40 by Tanya Gold
WhatsApp has made it possible for the first time for users to share documents as part of a new update for iOS and Android. On Android, users who tap the paper-clip icon for attachments will see a “Document” button, while on iOS, users who tap the upload icon will see the option to “Share Document.” For now the feature appears to be limited to PDF files but it does pull files from third-party cloud storage apps enabled on the phone, including iCloud Drive, Dropbox and Quip. This is an important upgrade for small businesses who use WhatsApp to communicate with one another, or with customers – for example making it easier to share invoices and price lists or product information that’s stored on a cloud service like Dropbox. In January WhatsApp announced it was going to start testing tools that would allow businesses and organizations to chat with users on its network. It gave examples of asking an airline about a delayed flight or voicing conc...
Read More...Mar 22, 2016 08:33 by Tanya Gold
HAVANA -- Google is opening a cutting-edge online technology center at the studio of one of Cuba's most famous artists, offering free Internet at speeds nearly 70 times faster than those now available to the Cuban public. President Barack Obama says Google's efforts in Cuba are part of a wider plan to improve access to the Internet across the island The U.S. technology giant has built a studio equipped with dozens of laptops, cellphones and virtual-reality goggles at the complex run by Alexis Leiva Machado, a sculptor known as Kcho. Obama said Sunday that Google was also launching a broader effort to improve Cubans' Internet access across the island. The company gave no specifics, and Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, said Monday that no further details would be announced during Obama's visit. In an exclusive tour of the site with The Associated Press on Monday, Google's head of Cuba operations, Brett Perlmutter, said the company was optimistic that the Google+Kcho.Mor...
Read More...Mar 22, 2016 07:55 by Nadia Bezhan
It was last May that the BBC unveiled an ambitious plan to give a million schoolchildren a tiny device designed to inspire them to get coding. Now, after a few bumps in the road, the Micro Bits are finally ending up in the hands of children. The tiny device can be plugged into a computer and programmed to do all sorts of cool stuff, and Year Seven pupils across the UK are being told it is theirs to take home. Some, who have had early access to the Micro Bit, have come up with amazing projects - like the Yorkshire school that sent one up 32km (20 miles) on a balloon bringing back pictures of its journey to the fringes of space. But, amid all the excitement from the young people getting a new toy, this is where the serious stuff starts. Big claims have been made for how this project can change the way children learn about and engage with technology. Now, it's up to teachers to make that happen. I've been talking to two people with different perspectives on the Micro Bit. Steve Hodges is a Mi...
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