Facebook purchases Oculus Rift for $2 billion

Facebook is looking to venture into virtual reality with its latest acquisition—and they aren’t afraid to spend big. Kotaku has just reported that Facebook is buying Oculus Rift for US$2 billion. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of the year and will be made up of $400 million cash payout and the rest as Facebook shares.

"Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says. "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate."

Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR says in a PR release. "We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it's only just the beginning."

Facebook launches beta program for Messenger

Facebook wants to ensure bugs are immediately dealt with and needs your help to do so. Facebook plans to release a “small batch of fixes and new features every month.” Beta testers just need to send a bug report when you come across any issues. You can check out more information on the program and how to join on the official blog post.

Source: Android Police

Facebook now auto-plays video ads for all users

Facebook has been testing auto-play video ads for some users. Now, the feature seems to be available for everyone. Facebook says the video ads will only download when your mobile device is connected to Wi-Fi but will play no matter what connection you use. Like Instagram, the videos will play without sound first until you tap on them.

Source: Lifehacker

Facebook to host first F8 Developer Conference in three years on April 30

Facebook last hosted F8 Developer Conference in 2011 when the company unveiled the Timeline and Open Graph platform. The company aims to return to its roots with the upcoming conference that will be held in San Francisco on April 30. Tech Crunch predicts F8 will focus on how mobile developers can use Facebook to gain more traction with free and paid promotion in order to earn money.

According to a Facebook blog post, “This year, we’re going back to our roots and having a pure developer conference. F8 will open with a morning keynote, followed by four tracks that will cover getting started guides, technical best practices, infrastructure strategies, engineering deep dives, and advertising tips  for making your app or game highly successful. We’ll also have sessions  dedicated to exploring how developers can take advantage of open source technologies.”