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Misinformation and sceptical views about Covid-19 and vaccines has been allowed to spread on more than a dozen Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups that together have gained 370,000 followers over the past year, according to a report.The misinformation and promotion of vaccine hesitancy includes posts in Facebook groups claiming that children are being “murdered by the experimental jab they’re being pressured to take”, and an Instagram account promoting a documentary by Andrew Wakefield, one of the key figures in promoting discredited links between MMR inoculation and autism.The 20 accounts, pages and groups have been tracked by NewsGuard, an organisation that monitors online misinformation. Since September last year NewsGuard has submitted regular reports to the World Health Organization, at the WHO’s request, flagging social media sites and other digital platforms that are spreading falsehoods about Covid-19.In research published on Tuesday, NewsGuard said 20 of the sites that it had monitored over that period had gained a total of 372,670 followers.  » Read More

Fresh off the reveal of its new name, Meta tweeted at Texas grocery giant H-E-B hinting at its possible inclusion in the metaverse. And let's just say H-E-B stans weren't enthused at the possible collaboration.The tweet from Meta, formerly known as Facebook, reads: "Wonder what ordering groceries in the metaverse will look like @HEB." Wonder what ordering groceries in the metaverse will look like @HEB ?”— Meta (@Meta) October 29, 2021 Facebook changed its name to Meta the same day as its H-E-B tweet, and revealed ambitious plans for a virtual reality social space called the "metaverse" where friends and family can meet.  Twitter went off.  Nice try Facebook, lmk when you can smell the tortilleria in the metaverse https://t.co/jU68VVBUrv— EricaGrieder (@EricaGrieder) October 29, 2021 Don’t you dare utter @HEB’s name again https://t.co/d54mBPKcCe— Austin (@austinfounde) October 30, 2021 Mark… https://t.co/M3Maejp8wp pic.twitter.com/0WVImu4gf8— Melly (@melreylaw) October 29,  » Read More

Oct 31, 2021, 1:07 PM 1 The global chip shortage and issues with the worldwide supply chain are finally having an impact on Apple according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his weekly Power On letter to subscribers. This past week, Apple reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results and the results for the entire fiscal year. For the quarter, iPhone sales hit $38.87 billion for a 47% year-over-year gain, and for the year handset sales reached $191.97 billion for a 39.33% annual increase.The company reported revenue of $83.36 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter and while that was a 29% gain year-over-year, it failed to meet Wall Street's expectations. As Gurman correctly points out, Apple would have hit a record $90 billion in quarterly revenue if not for the aforementioned problems. This allowed Apple CEO Tim Cook to state that the shortages weren't the result of anything that Apple had control over.Analysts are beginning to drop their estimates of Apple's fiscal first-quarter revenueCook said that Apple has patched up the problems it was having with its supply chain,  » Read More

There was a time when Sheryl Sandberg could do no wrong. The chief operating officer of Facebook — or rather ‘Meta’, as it’s now been renamed — was once the poster-girl of the modern successful woman. Capable, glamorous and happy, she had made it in the male-dominated Silicon Valley.Her best-selling book Lean In was a clarion call to women everywhere to be more confident, to stand up and speak up. She was a leader people wanted to follow. I remember for months after it was released seeing everyone reading it on the commute to work. She was considered a messiah of our times, inspiring women everywhere to try harder, aim higher.Well, it seems the halo is slipping somewhat.Facebook has come under sustained fire in recent months for the way it has tackled online abuse, threats, censorship, safety and security. It’s been dragged in to various ignoble scandals. Being second in command there is starting to look less and less like something to brag about.Mark Zuckerberg is starting to look like a bogeyman of the internet,  » Read More

When it was announced that Mark Zuckerberg was preparing to announce the new name of his Facebook empire, the world waited with bated breath to discover what the new moniker would be and who would be first to poke fun at it when it arrived. It didn't take long, as Zuckerberg revealed that the social media giant would be now going by the name of Meta and also explained his plans for a whole virtual reality called the Metaverse, a name that appears in the 1992 sci-fi novel Snow Crash, which he believes is the future of the online experience people can have that would blur the lines between social media and reality. Which sounds to many very much like a parallel to the reality seen in The Matrix, and it seems that the official Twitter account of The Matrix Resurrections feels the same way as they immediately jumped on the news. A tweet on the social media site shared the recent promotional poster featuring the red and blue pills that have been seen in all of The Matrix movies,  » Read More

"I just don't believe that one player — one company — winds up making all the right decisions for this."Facebook prompted both praise and condemnation this week when it announced a sweeping new focus on a virtual reality “metaverse,” so all-encompassing that the company is changing its name to Meta.But it sounds like not everybody at the social media giant is thrilled with the new strategy, even among the megacorporation’s high ranking VR developers.Take John Carmack, the legendary programmer behind “Doom” and “Quake” who took a job as CTO of Oculus VR prior to its acquisition by Facebook. During a keynote address at Facebook’s Connect conference this week, after the announcement of the direction change, Carmack sounded off about the metaverse announcement — and he sounded pretty annoyed.“I have been pretty actively arguing against every single metaverse effort that we have tried to spin up internally in the company from even pre-acquisition times,” said Carmack, whose title is now consulting CTO,  » Read More

Facebook’s decision on Oct. 28 to rebrand itself to Meta — to indicate its plans to build an avatar-filled metaverse — helped spark a speculative rally across cryptocurrencies that belong to similar virtual world projects.Decentraland, a virtual place with its own economy, currency (MANA) and social events — accessible to anyone with a web browser — saw its market valuation explode from $1.44 billion to $2.08 billion over the past 24 hours. This happened as its native token, MANA, jumped by around 45% to $1.14 in the same period.MANA/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingViewAt its intraday best, the Decentraland cryptocurrency was changing hands for $1.227 on Oct. 29, its highest level since May 18.The “Meta” FOMOTraders started rushing into the Decentraland market after assessing Facebook’s foray into the virtual world sector. The company’s chief executive officer, Mark Zuckerberg, said it will from now on be "metaverse first, not Facebook first" following the latest rebranding.  » Read More

The social media company remains a polarizing investment. Key Points Apple’s iOS update is throttling the growth of Facebook’s ad business. But Facebook’s family of apps continue to gain new users. The stock still looks undervalued relative to its growth potential. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) posted its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 25. The social media giant's revenue rose 35% year-over-year to $29.01 billion, but still missed estimates by $510 million. Its earnings increased 19% to $3.22 to per share, which beat expectations by a nickel. Facebook's stock rose slightly after the report, and remains up about 20% for the year. The market's calm reaction to Facebook's revenue miss was starkly different from Snap's (NYSE:SNAP) post-earnings crash on Oct. 22. Image source: Facebook. Let's see why Facebook held onto its gains after its mixed earnings report, how the company plans to address its biggest challenges and controversies, and if its stock is still worth buying as a long-term investment.  » Read More

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday that the corporate name of the social media platform will change to "Meta," to emphasize its "metaverse" vision. The flagship social network will keep its name. "From now on we are going to be Metaverse first, not Facebook," Zuckerberg said during a keynote address at the company's annual developer's conference. "I hope that people come to know the Meta brand and the future that we stand for."Zuckerberg said the company's future will focus on building virtual reality products that connect users through a different medium. He predicted that one billion people will be on the Metaverse in the next decade. The company describes the metaverse as a three- dimensional virtual space where users can create avatars that represent them. Zuckerberg said the new virtual reality world will allow users to play video games, watch movies, attend concerts, collaborate with colleagues, and gather with friends without leaving their living room. Seen on the screen of a device in Sausalito, Calif., Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on Thursday,  » Read More

At the company’s AR/VR-focused Connect event this morning, Mark Zuckerberg announced that despite a name change, Facebook Meta’s mission will remain the same and that its existing brands wouldn’t be changing. “To reflect who we are and what we hope to build, I am proud to announce that starting today, our company is now Meta. Our mission remains the same — it’s still about bringing people together. Our apps and our brands — they’re not changing either,” Zuckerberg said. Well, it turns out that’s not so true. In a lengthy Facebook post, CTO-in-waiting Andrew Bosworth detailed about 15 minutes later following the completion of the keynote that as part of the new rebrand, they will be killing off the Oculus brand. Oculus phrasing was conspicuously absent from the presentations today and features like the Oculus Store were consistently referred to as the Quest Store. In his post, Bosworth details that starting early next year the process to rename the Oculus app to the Meta app and the Oculus Quest to the Meta Quest will begin.  » Read More