Report claims Facebook signed an exclusive deal to bring ‘Splinter Cell’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed’ to Oculus VR

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Gaming is an arena Facebook hasn’t fully explored yet. It could probably be seen as a less problematic area for the company to focus on. And according to a new report from The Information, we might be seeing them make moves now. Facebook has reportedly signed an exclusive deal with Ubisoft to bring Splinter Cell and Assassin’s Creed to its Oculus virtual reality headsets. If true, this won’t be the first time Ubisoft has made VR games. The company has even released Oculus Rift launch exclusive titles like Eagle Flight and Star Trek: Bridge Crew. The developer has also released Assassin’s Creed-based VR escape rooms, but it hasn’t done it for home VR headsets yet. Oculus is known for having exclusive games on its platform, so this isn’t a particularly surprising move if it’s true.

One way Facebook is reportedly making its move in the gaming space is by naming former Oculus Content Vice President Jason Rubin as head of “special gaming initiatives.” And the company has its sights on acquiring studios and backing more exclusive games. But the report didn’t specify if Facebook had any studios or games in mind.

Source: The Verge

Facebook tests out a feature that’ll let you mute notification dots

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Facebook’s notification system on mobile is broken, to say the least. You get duplicated or delayed notifications sometimes. Add to that the in-app indicators (those eye-catching red dots) that always seem to be calling for your attention. It seems Facebook has finally listened to its users and is testing out a feature that will let you disable in-app Notification Dots for category tabs. These include Groups, Marketplace, Profile, and Menu. As expected, the main Notifications tab won’t be disabled, since this is the main tab you’re getting all your notifications from.

First spotted by Android app reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong, the social network confirmed it started testing out the feature for a subset of iOS and Android users. Facebook’s well-being team spearheaded the release of this feature because they wanted users to spend their time more rationally on the app. If you want to check if you have it, you can head to Menu > Settings & Privacy > Settings > Notifications > Notification Dots. You can toggle the dots for each group separately.

Source: XDA Developers

Facebook will no longer pre-install its apps on Huawei phones

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Facebook is the latest US company to comply with the country’s ban on doing business with the Chinese tech company. The social media company announced it would no longer  the pre-installation of its apps on Huawei phones. According to a source familiar with the matter, this affects phones that haven’t left Huawei’s factory yet. Current Huawei owners can still use the apps and receive app updates, but new units won’t have Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram pre-installed. This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to install the apps yourself. As it stands, Huawei devices still have access to the Play Store, so you will be able to download the apps there. But if the ban continues, then Huawei will be losing access to some of the most popular apps out there.

Source: Reuters

Instagram will enlist Facebook fact checkers to limit misinformation on its platform

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Facebook-owned Instagram wants to limit the spread of misinformation on its platform and one way to remedy that would be to run potentially false posts through Facebook’s fact-checking partners. While Instagram won’t take down these posts, they won’t show up in the Explore tab as well as in the hashtag results page. A spokesperson for the company told Poynter, "Our approach to misinformation is the same as Facebook's—when we find misinfo, rather than remove it, we'll reduce its distribution." On top of this, Instagram is considering adding pop-ups for when people look up misinformation.

Source: Engadget