Facebook Hires Ex-Google Executive to Lead New Research Lab

In a fresh bid to connect the world better, Facebook has announced a new research lab to build hardware products based on its software and has hired a former top Google executive to achieve its goal.

The team at the new group called "Building 8" will be led by Regina Dugan who worked at the "Advanced Technology and Projects" group at Google and was director of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

"I am excited to have Regina apply DARPA-style breakthrough development at the intersection of science and products to our mission," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Thursday.

"This method is characterized by aggressive, fixed timelines, extensive use of partnerships with universities, small and large businesses, and clear objectives for shipping products at scale," he added.

"Building 8" will help Facebook realise its dream to focus on connectivity, artificial intelligence and augmented reality over the next 10 years as Zuckerberg outlined to people at its annual F8 conference in San Francisco this week.

"We will be investing hundreds of people and hundreds of millions of dollars into this effort over the next few years. I'm excited to see breakthroughs on our 10 year roadmap in augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, connectivity and other important areas," he posted.

"'Building 8' is an opportunity to do what I love most. Tech infused with a sense of our humanity," Dr Dugan said in a statement.

Bringing chatbots to life, Facebook has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) bots right into its popular messaging app Messenger to allow users to interact with businesses and get updates from them.

With chatbots, an interactive software powered by AI and with human help, Messenger users can send messages to businesses just like they do to their friends and get things done.

The company also unveiled its own 360-degree stereoscopic 3D video camera.

The new 3D video camera called "Facebook Surround360" produces sharp, truly spherical footage in 3D.

The system includes stitching technology that seamlessly marries the video from 17 cameras, vastly reducing post-production effort and time.

The design specs and stitching code will be available on GitHub this summer.

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard

10 Smartphones with Features that You Won't Find in Any Other Phone

Here’s a list of phones which are first-of-their-kind. From feature phones to smartphones, flat screen to curved, fragile to shatterproof, mobile phones have evolved over the years. Although many industry analysts would like to call the current level of innovation reaching a stagnation point, there still are some manufacturers which have been able to surprise consumers by truly packing something different in their smartphones. We have compiled a list of phones which offer first-of-its-kind features, and they are not merely concepts. 1. Motorola X force - Shatterproof display Display today is the most vulnerable yet the most neglected element in modern smartphones. But Motorola finally paid heed to the fragile screen with the launch of the the Motorola X Force – the world’s first smartphone with a shatterproof display. The phone uses the Moto ShatterShield display technology, which is said to be an integrated system consisting of five layers designed from material...

10 years of Twitter: Key milestones in the micro-blogging site's decade-long history

Over its 10-year history, Twitter has marked numerous world events and created its own unique moments. Here are a few key milestones in Twitter history: just setting up my twttr — Jack (@jack) March 21, 2006 March 2006: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (@jack) sent the first tweet, an automated message saying "just setting up my twttr." That same day, he sent the first live tweet, "inviting coworkers." Arrested — James Buck (@jamesbuck) April 10, 2008 April 2008: US university student James Buck (@jamesbuck) got off a one-word tweet "Arrested" after being taken into custody by Egyptian authorities at an anti-government protest in that country. In what is seen as an early demonstration of the power of Twitter to rally people to a cause, the resulting outcry prompted authorities to quickly restore his liberty. He proclaimed his release in a tweet reading "Free." http://twitpic.com/135xa - There's a plane in the Hudson. I'm ...

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