Publishers have a hard time navigating through the chaotic video industry. It is a most wanted content, yet it lacks the necessary tracking support to evaluate the performance and value of a piece. However, Facebook’s new addition might help them in this endeavor. The upcoming Watch tab will be a standalone video platform opening a new path to a database of 2 billion online users.

Facebook Will Fund Publishers to Be Active on Its Upcoming Watch Tab

Facebook enters the race with rival YouTube within video industry. The social media company has big plans for this project. In fact, it grew so confident in its potential, that Facebook will actually offer incentives for publishers to come up with new content. To feel less the pressure of creating videos, companies will receive either partial cover for their expenses or a proposition to sell their content to Facebook.

“We are funding and creating shows to seed the ecosystem and learn more about how episodic, community-driven, and built-for-mobile shows might work on Facebook.”

The upcoming Watch tab will act as a platform for shows. The service will offer customized recommendations of either recorded or live shows for users. It will also roll out with several preset categories such as ‘What’s Making People Laugh,’ ‘Most Talked About,’ and ‘Shows Your Friends Are Watching.’

Facebook Will Be Active on Its New Video Platform with Its Own Shows

The most surprising news is that Facebook itself is going to use this fresh platform as a trampoline to attain the title of the content creator. The company partnered with National Geographic, A&E, Billboard, and Major League Baseball to bring in original and exclusive shows.

Therefore, the new service will debut with some in-house productions. Some of the new titles will be ‘Tastemade’s Kitchen Little’ as a cooking show, ‘Major League Baseball’ that will run one game per week or NASA’s ‘Science @ NASA’ which will be five-minute videos with topics from science. However, the most appealing asset coming from Facebook will be the community of 2 billion users to which publishers will gain access.

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Facebook-owned application is currently under tight restrictions in China. Its various services have been blocked. As a consequence, people can’t use voice, photo, and video messages to communicate. However, text messages still have their clearance intact. This is just one of the many steps in this period of time that the Chinese censorship is willing to take to succeed in a leadership reshuffle in Beijing.

Chinese Censorship Blocked WhatsApp Except Its Text Messages

On Wednesday, dozens of Chinese users complained about encountering difficulties with their WhatsApp application. They reported frozen video, photo, and voice messages. Only their text communication managed to get through. However, it seems that the source of such technical issues was Chinese officials themselves.

The block was initiated incrementally. This method shares similarities with the procedure that ended up with Gmail’s total blackout back in 2014. Facebook declined to comment on this event. This move comes amid Chinese preparations for a leadership reshuffle. This event takes place twice in ten years. Therefore, this is a defining moment that many parties within the Communist group intend to take advantage of. Current President Xi Jinping is also a viable candidate for this process.

The Chinese censorship is probably the largest such apparatus in the world. It goes by the name of the Great Firewall and currently has thousands of online pages under the ban. The organization has no issue with extending their grasp over giant platforms such as Google, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and other sources of international news.

WhatsApp Was Gaining Popularity Thanks to Privacy Terms

Since he became president five years ago, Xi Jinping promoted a vigorous movement on obtaining control over what kinds news Chinese citizens can gain access to or not. This phenomenon exacerbated over recent months by abolishing celebrity news, VPNs, live streaming video apps, and online video content.

On the other hand, WhatsApp didn’t enjoy much popularity in China. Its Asian rival, WeChat, holds a monopoly over this market with 900 million users. However, Facebook’s messaging service was just starting to increase its influence thanks to its promise of a secure line of communication. While WeChat allows officials to monitor conversations frequently, the country had no power over WhatsApp.

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Logitech has just acquired a powerful player in the audio-headset market, namely Astro Gaming. This organization has already managed to make an influential name for itself through a large palette of PC peripherals such as mice, headsets, and keyboards. Through this new addition to its portfolio of purchases, Logitech earned a dominant piece of the industry on the spot.

Astro Gaming Was One of Logitech’s Rivals in Audio-Headset Market

Logitech paid $85 million in cash for integrating Astro Gaming in its business. The merger might be ready in August. Through this one move, Logitech gained access to a profitable pool of clients who are mostly passionate gamers. This means that they are willing to support innovation in PC industry as long as it boosts their playing experience. Logitech was half way there through its brand entitled Logitech G which is focused solely on gaming.

The two parties were actually rivals within the audio-headset market. Astro had some popular, high-quality products for which consumers were willing to spend a pricey budget. The most successful lines were Astro A50 and A40 headsets which could reach even $250 a pair. On the other hand, Logitech’s highest price tag in this PC niche stopped at $200.

Logitech Created a Pattern in Its Mergers and Acquisition Department

According to a press statement, the company has big plans for this investment. Logitech intends to focus less on PCs, phones, and tablets, and more on the game console market. The organization intends to streamline this segment until it hits long-term growth.

The company shows a pattern in its acquisition department. Every move is carefully tailored to gain access to a new niche and expand its outreach there. For instance, the $34 million investment in Ultimate Ears rendered Logitech a prestigious position within the market for Bluetooth speakers. The same goes for Jaybird and Saitek which represented keys to wireless earbuds and flight stick niches respectively.

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As a new fiscal year just started, tech giant Microsoft intends to take it for what it is, a fresh beginning. Therefore, the executive board researched ways to streamline the entire organization. As a consequence, an internal memo announced major internal changes. While there was no word about any layoffs, the company shows that it is capable of moving fast and doing whatever it takes to prevail in its industry.

Microsoft Wants Top Spot in a $4.5 Trillion Commercial and Consumer Market

A new memo circulated Microsoft headquarters to notify employees of big changes ahead. The company intends to adapt to new trends so as to serve better partners as well as clients. Therefore, Microsoft is going to mark the beginning of a new fiscal year with significant alterations.

First of all, the customer model of the company will be split into two departments. One of them will handle enterprise customers while the other will take care of small, medium, and corporate ones. Through this massive restructuring, the company intends to tap into a market valued at $4.5 trillion intended for Commercial and Consumer businesses.

The Upcoming Major Internal Changes Will Focus on Cloud Computing Business

Throughout its transformation journey, Microsoft will consult several “growth drivers” to remain on track. These mainly focus on working side by side with their clients to help them achieve success in their endeavors. The main method to unlock this potential is to grow capacities such as quick decision making, response time, and ongoing learning.

All these points indicate that Microsoft will go to great length in its major internal changes to boost its cloud computing business. The run rate for this product showed $15.2 billion last quarter which is an improvement since the previous one hit $14 billion. On top of that, revenue in this sector only proliferated 93% to $6.8 billion during last quarter.

The company tracked down other modern trends that can be turned into secondary sources of income. For instance, gaming is a hot area thanks to the rising popularity of eSports. As a consequence, the company reactivated a last year’s acquisition of Mixer, a streaming service, and added it into Xbox.

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Google made sure that it can offer its users access to all kinds of things. In the end, only a limited number of digital locations were off limits for the company. This strategy might have given the freedom and transparency many people wanted, yet it also became a weakness to the benefit of hackers and other cyber threats. Therefore, the company decided to put an end on search results for medical records.

Google Already Had Four Subcategories Under Its Removal Policy

On Thursday, Google uploaded a new privacy policy for all users. The change concerns the removal policy to be more exact which now received a new subcategory called “confidential, personal medical records of private people.” The entry has only four other tabs which are: nude or sexually explicit images, signatures, financial information, and identification numbers.

As a consequence, users should send requests for this kind of information to be removed on their behalf. The company can also receive requests for removal of imagery of child sexual abuse. Moreover, Google respects the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and people can ask for copyright takedowns.

The New Changes Regarding Medical Records Came Shortly after Another Uber Scandal

On the other hand, the company still intends to remain the biggest source of information on the planet. Therefore, the novel policy has some annexes to limit the removable materials. As a consequence, the company can continue to display addresses, dates of birth, and telephone numbers for most search results.

This new policy alteration came shortly after an incident over at Uber headquarters. A top executive here managed without difficulties to read the medical situation of a customer who was abused in one of Uber cars in India. The company dismissed the executive in question. However, the case was another heavy blow for the ride-hailing brand which ended up with the departure of its founder, Travis Kalanick.

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For the first time in 13 years, Facebook is going to work under the influence of a different goal. When it comes to a large business behemoth, enabling such a change is a crucial event in the history of the company. Until recently, the social media platform was described as a tool that brings small groups of beloved closer despite the distance that separates them. However, from now on Facebook will be a means to create a united world.

The New Facebook Mission Takes Global Proportions

The latest change of mission Facebook adopted revealed a broader focus. The company is no longer concerned about extending quality relationships across borders. That’s maybe because it already achieved this goal. However, this time Facebook wants to contribute with all its capacity to bring friends, families, and strangers alike together.

The new direction comes as a natural aftermath of trying events for the entire world. Now that almost everybody has access to information, people started to show divisive characters. Mark Zuckerberg wants to diffuse all this confusion that separates the world in biased communities and replace it with a positive influence.

A United World Can Be Created By Involving All People in As Many Social Groups as Possible

Zuckerberg considers that the starting point to put this new mission in application is the system of building blocks from his platform. These are represented by groups or private and public communities. In these blocks, people come together to discuss and debate common interests. Therefore, Mark wants to enhance and promote these experiences.

The aim is to entice 1 billion users to join such groups. On top of that, all these people should be active in these communities on a daily basis. Eventually, these organizations will take the form of real social groups such as labor unions, fraternal orders, sororities or church groups.

So far, there are around 100 million users who joined one or several such Facebook communities. Most of them feel like they really belong to a social gathering where they find support and encouragement.

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The gaming community is in a frenzy these days. A much awaited event has started. Steam summer sales are here which means major budget holes for many. However, there is also a smart way to go about it. Even though moderation is not a strong point for many players, there are a few tricks and tips to survive this period with some cash for other needs as well.

Steam Summer Sales Might Last Until July 5

Many gaming enthusiasts are scheduling their entire year of new content purchases around the Steam summer sales. Usually, if they like a new production but don’t desire it too much, they wait for the summer days. The big event started at 6 pm BST/1 pm ET today. Last year, it started on a Thursday as well on 23 June.

PayPal confirmed this official date on its Twitter account. The online payments system company wants a piece for itself from this busy period of game sales. Therefore, PayPal collaborated with Steam on a small enticing project. All UK gamers who decide to invest at least £20 in their collection of titles will pay £5 less if they choose PayPal as a paying method. The offer expires on July 5 which might coincide with the end of the sales as well.

There Are a Few Tricks for Avoiding Large Budget Holes

To avoid missing out on the most appealing deals, one must do some preparations for this event. One trick is to upload all favorite titles in the Steam Wishlist. All games in this digital pocket will send notifications the moment they receive a discount. Another tip is to aim for bundles. This collection of productions allows people to save more than they would by picking one title at a time.

Nonetheless, the most sensitive piece of advice is to refrain from greedy. Many people are mesmerized by how many 75% signs there are. Eventually, they end up buying more than they can play in a lifetime. Therefore, be sure that you will have an occasion sometime in the near future to enjoy your prey.

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Facebook has just entered the bubble constructed by names like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon that pioneers the field of conversational AI. This means that the company has brought some valuable contribution to this emerging area. The point of interest was endowing bots with the necessary features to become human-like negotiations.

Human-Like Negotiators Can Propel Chat Boxes to a Whole New Level

Siri, Alexa, and Cortana were the first innovative projects that tried to gift Artificial Intelligence with the art of conversation. People have even engaged two such bots into carrying a conversation with each other.  Users need more than a perfect speech recognition to engage in meaningful dialogues with robots. Maybe the missing piece is something only humans can master. Facebook tried to replicate this sixth sense of conversation into the AI realm along with text generation and natural language understanding.

On June 14^th, the Facebook AI Research team published a paper that shows how bots can become human-like negotiators. Professionals had to go to great length to achieve this impressive result. The secret that led them towards success was employing game-playing AIs into the configuration.

These special bots are using decision trees to work out a problem. In a certain situation, they can identify the goals and even reach a compromise to attain them. This paper is a huge step forward toward a future where people are taking full advantage of chat bots. These can act as personal assistants to interact with businesses and purchase their products for instance.

Facebook Taught Bots How to Reason and Develop Complex Communication

The challenge for the research team was replicating in robots skills that only humans are naturally capable of. These are reasoning and complex communication. The success was attained through dialog rollouts. This is the capacity to envision all possible future conversations.

Scientists constrained their bots to finish a negotiating dialogue by teaching them that they can’t give up. Eventually, they showed they were capable of creating new sentences to express their goals, coming up with final deals to reach even a compromise, and negotiating until a positive result.

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It took a lot of efforts and missed deadlines for Epic Games to finish this one. However, the result is a compelling story with rich visual content and a multitude of cross genres. Fortnite is a co-op tower-defense shooter game that will finally be released on July 24 for early access only.

Early Access for Epic Games’ Fornite Starts on July 24 for $39.99

The Fortnite production was first announced in 2011. However, the creative lead at Epic Games, Donald Mustard, confessed that at the time the idea of this game was only three-weeks-old. However, the picture was so vivid in their minds that they hurried to announce it to the world.

With this occasion, the studio will take advantage of the thrills of a new game to introduce a new payment method which is known as “free to play… later.” As the title goes, enthusiasts can get early access to the long-awaited game but for a price of $39.99. However, they can also wait another year when the game will be released free of charge.

The final variant will be released sometime in 2018. Therefore, the paid fee promises hours of fun with the beta version ahead of time on all platforms, be it Mac, PC, PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Not only that, but fans who really can’t wait to enjoy the game can preorder the founder’s pack and get it three days earlier, on July 21.

The New Game Mixes Minecraft Mechanics with Tower Defense Combats

The game itself is a collection of hit gaming strategies. Players will have to harness materials for creating their forts which is similar to Minecraft. However, once the night kicks in, they have to leave their crafting skills behind and reach for their weapons. This is when zombies appear in an attempt to conquer players’ fort.

There is a smooth and addictive synthesis built around the two different game genres. On the one hand, players will want to build stronger ramifications and find better loot with each wave to be better prepared for the enemy. On the other hand, they will want to perfect their combat strategies and work better in teams.

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Yes, The Witcher television series is no longer a fan’s ultimate dream. Thanks to Netflix, the story of Gerald of Rivia will soon hit the small screens, and since Andrej Sapkowski will serve as an executive producer, fans will most likely get the full Witcher experience.

Tomek Baginski Will Also Work on the Project

Tomek Baginski, the man responsible for the cinematic intros for all three The Witcher video games has also been invited to work on the team alongside Jason Brown, Sean Daniel, and Jarek Sawko. With such great minds in charge of production and visual effects, fans are more than likely in for a treat.

Judging from Netflix’s press release, the team hasn’t settled on a storyline, Brown and Daniel preferring to remain vague when talking about the “original, funny, and constantly surprising” characters that populate Sapkowski’s novels.

Will Netflix Highlight Geralt’s Righteousness?

Witchers are neither humans, nor monsters. They are taken away from their families during early childhood, given a cocktail of potions which provoke unnatural mutations, trained in combat, and taught about all manner of ghouls and wraiths. In most cases, after this Trial of Grass, the children that do survive the process lose their ability to differentiate between the subtle tones of good and evil.

However, Geralt is special. The Butcher of Blaviken never truly sticks to the witcher’s code. He doesn’t just kill a monster, collect a reward, and ignore all problems that don’t have a supernatural component. The White Wolf has made a name for himself by standing up to those in need, be them common folk oppressed by kings or gang members, sorceresses viciously hunted by a mad emperor, and even intelligent monsters.

Nevertheless, times are hard; especially since most witcher schools have long been abandoned, monsters roam the lands with nobody to kill them. Then there’s the war which made life even harder as poverty reigns absolute. Nigh is the time of madness and despair; nigh is the time for The Witcher television series.

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