Facebook cancels F8 conference citing coronavirus concerns

Photo by Ian Kennedy

Facebook won't be pushing through with its biggest event of the year over concerns about the novel coronavirus (or COVID-19) outbreak. The F8 developer, which is a mostly-annual conference, was scheduled to take place on May 5 and 6 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. The highly anticipated Facebook event attracted over 5,000 developers, entrepreneurs, and creators from around the world last year. Facebook's decision mirrors the cancellation of this year's Mobile World Congress due to COVID-19.

Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook's director of developer platforms and programs, said in a statement, "This was a tough call to make—F8 is an incredibly important event for Facebook and it's one of our favourite ways to celebrate all of you from around the world—but we need to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees, and everyone who helps put F8 on."

Source: CNET

Oculus Go will reportedly launch at Facebook’s F8 developer conference

If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on the US$199 Oculus Go headset, we’re sorry to disappoint but you might have to wait a couple of months more before it officially launches. Variety reports the relatively inexpensive virtual reality headset will make its debut at Facebook’s F8 developer conference on May 1^st. As CNET points out, it isn’t exactly a delay but it does stretch that promise of an “early 2018” release. And it will put Facebook at a disadvantage if they take longer to release their version of a budget-friendly VR headset with the likes of HTC and Lenovo with Google gearing up to release their own headsets.

Oculus Go is an important venture for Facebook though as it helps them reach the company’s lofty goal of getting a billion people to use virtual reality, as said by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the launch of the headset back in October. It makes sense, though, for the social media company to debut the Oculus Go at F8 with the company absorbing Oculus more and more into its brand and the conference will feature “the biggest AR/VR news from Facebook to date,” according to Facebook VP of VR/AR Andrew Bosworth. Facebook has declined to comment on the report.

Facebook rumoured to be unveiling ‘Bot Store’ at F8 conference

Facebook will reportedly unveil a game-changing feature at its upcoming F8 developer conference. The social network will supposedly introduce the Bot Store, which will allow its users to download a range of automated programs that they can interact with through Messenger. For example, you can download a bot for a fast food joint. You can just send the bot your message and it’ll ring that up for you. These bots could change the way we use the Internet and even replace browsers and apps, centralizing everything in this one service.

Chat platforms like Slack and Telegram have been using bots for a while but bringing said feature to Facebook’s one billion users will bring the feature to the mainstream market. The F8 conference is happening on April 12 to 13 in San Francisco. We have to wait ‘til then to get news.

Source: Independent

Facebook opens registration for F8 developer conference

It’s almost that time of the year again. Facebook is opening registration for its F8 developer’s conference. The event will be happening on March 25 and 26 at San Francisco’s Fort Mason Center. The social network touts this as its biggest conference yet and would have every Facebook product and company (Instagram, Parse, Messenger, and WhatsApp). Oculus’ Chief Scientist Michael Abrash will be giving the talk on the opening day. There will be over 40 sessions and attendees will even get to try the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype and the Gear VR. You can find out more details below. If you can’t be in San Francisco then, they will stream the keynote and other sessions live on F8 site.

Source: Facebook F8