Facebook might introduce an Android dialer with call blocking capability

While Facebook Home wasn’t much of a success, they aren’t done experimenting with its mobile apps. A leaked screenshot from Android Police shows the existence of an Android-only dialer app. Its unique feature is that it shows you information about who’s calling you and automatically blocks calls from numbers you commonly block. The app is called Phone but Facebook won’t talk more details about it at the moment.

Source: The Verge

You don’t have to define your gender on Facebook anymore

Last year social network Facebook worked with GLAAD to generate custom genders, such as transgender and cisgender, but it wasn’t universally well-received because users were still boxed in by pre-selected options. Facebook seems to have scrapped that and now has a custom gender field. It still populates suggestions as you type but you can put in whatever gender you want to represent yourself on the site, similar to the “infinite” gender options on Google+. Aside from that, you can choose the pronoun you want to be called on the site. You can even tweak your privacy settings for gender if you just want a select audience that can see your gender. There isn’t any word though how fast the roll out of the option is. So best keep your eye out for it.

Source: The Verge

Microsoft to take out Facebook and Google chat from Outlook.com

Microsoft is encouraging its users to use Skype more on Outlook.com. The company sent out emails to Outlook users that they plan to remove Facebook and Google chat integration in the site. They won’t specify why they took out Facebook chat. But for Google Talk they said it was “due to Google’s decision to discontinue the chat protocol used by the Google Talk platform.”

If you’re worried about your Facebook and Google contacts synced with the webmail service, you don’t have to be. Microsoft said that the feature won’t be affected by the discontinuation of the chat options.

Source: The Verge

Have someone manage your Facebook account when you die

Facebook is hoping to help you memorialize your account once you’ve passed on. The social network has introduced a “legacy contact” feature so someone can manage your account on your behalf postmortem. What they can do is update your profile pictures and cover photos, respond to new friend requests, and write pinned posts on top of the deceased user’s timeline. And they also gain the ability to download your Facebook data entirely. Legacy contacts won’t be able to log into your accounts or access your private messages though. Your account will also display a redesigned profile with the word “Remembering” above your name.

But if you don’t want someone managing your account, you can opt to have your account permanently deleted when you die. The rollout for this feature starts in the U.S. before it expands worldwide. You can read more about adding a legacy contact here.

Source: Entrepreneur