Tech
Facebook denies its algorithms are a problem, but launches a tool to more easily view a non-algorithmic News Feed – TechCrunch
Following years of backlash over its algorithms and their ability to push people to more extreme content, which Facebook continues to deny, the company today announced it would give its users new tools to more easily switch over to non-algorithmic views of their News Feed. This includes the recently launched “Favorites,” which shows you posts from up to 30 of your favorite friends and Pages, as well as the “Most Recent” view, which shows posts in chronological order. It also introduced new controls for adjusting who can comment on your posts, and other changes.
The features themselves aren’t entirely new, in some cases, but they’ve been made easier to get to with the addition of a Feed Filter Bar on mobile for changing the view of the News Feed, and an option menu on your posts to control who can comment.
The “Most Recent” view of the News Feed has long existed but has been buried in the extended “more” menu (the three-bar hamburger icon) on the Facebook mobile app. It’s not as useful as it sounds because it shows you all the posts from both friends and Pages in a single chronological view. If you’ve been on Facebook for many years, then you’ve probably “Liked” a number of Facebook Pages for brands, businesses and public figures. These Pages tend to post with more frequency than your friends, so the feed has become largely a long scroll through Page updates.
However, if you still prefer the “Most Recent” view, the Feed Filter Bar will give you a tool to easier switch back and forth between this and other views. The feature will launch on Android first, then roll out to iOS.
Meanwhile, Facebook has offered a way to prioritize who you see in your News Feed through a “See First” setting, but the newer “Favorites” feature rebrands this effort and gives you a single destination under Settings to select and deselect your Favorites, including favorite Pages.
The updated commenting controls are a new take on a habit many Facebook users have already adopted — when they share a post only to a given audience, like family or friends, while excluding other groups like work colleagues or even specific people. Now, users will have the option to instead share their posts but control who can engage in conversations. Public figures, for example, may choose to adopt the feature to restrict their audience to only those brands and profiles they’ve tagged.
Facebook says it will also show more context around suggestions it displays in the News Feed with its “Why am I seeing this?” feature that will explain how its algorithmic suggestions work. It says several factors may be at work here, in terms of what’s shown and why — including your location, whether you or people like you have engaged with related topics, groups or Pages, and more.
The changes arrive at a time when Facebook, along with other tech giants, has come under fire for its role in spreading misinformation leading to deadly events, like the storming of the U.S. Capitol, and serious public health crises, like vaccine hesitancy during a pandemic. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week testified before the House’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology about its failures to remove dangerous misinformation and its allowing of extremists to become more radicalized and to organize online.
Facebook’s official position, however, is that it doesn’t play a role in directing people towards problematic content — they seek it out. And people’s News Feeds are only a reflection of their own choices, in that way.
These thoughts and more were detailed today by Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs for Facebook, where he insists personalization algorithms are common across tech companies — Amazon and Netflix use them, too, for instance. And ranking simply makes what’s most relevant to the user appear first — effectively blaming users for the problems here. He also throws back the decisions to be made around Facebook’s role in misinformation peddling to the lawmakers, adding: “It would clearly be better if these [content] decisions were made according to frameworks agreed by democratically accountable lawmakers.”
Tech
Save $150 on these noise-cancelling Sony headphones, along with more Best Buy Top Deals of the week – Yahoo Singapore News
Yahoo Lifestyle Canada is committed to finding you the best products at the best prices. We may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Pricing and availability are subject to change.
Black Friday has come and gone, but Best Buy Canada is still offering shoppers plenty of pre-holiday savings. Their selection of weekly Top Deals is filled with new must-have items, whether you’re shopping for your self or for a gift for a loved one.
No matter if you’re looking for a new laptop, TV, or home appliances, this week’s crop of deals are not to be missed.
Best Buy Canada is currently offering shoppers the chance to save $150 on one top-rated pair of noise-cancelling headphones. The Sony WH-XB910N Noise Cancelling Headphones normally retail for $350, but until Dec. 9, you can score them on sale for $200.
These Sony wireless headphones are designed to offer top quality sound as well as comfort that you can wear all day. They feature built-in EXTRA BASS noise-cancelling technology to deliver an immersive audio experience without any disturbance for hours of entertainment on-the-go.
Each set of headphones has a long-lasting battery life that offers up to 30 hours of use on a single charge and touchpad controls to make selecting your music a breeze. You can shop these headphones on sale in either blue or black.
What shoppers are saying
Backed by a 4.8-star rating from Best Buy shoppers, these Sony headphones have been praised for their excellent build quality and “top-notch” sound.
“These are amazing headphones,” shared one reviewer. “The EQ let’s you customize precisely. The 360 sound feature is really effective. Plus you can turn the volume loud and set the bass to either heavy or mellow.”
“I have to point out is that the noise cancelling on the WH-XB910N is near perfect!” another shopper wrote. “I couldn’t even hear my dog barking in front of me with active cancellation turned on. So if the goal is silence, these are great at it. Pairing was a breeze with the Sony App.”
Shoppers have noted that the tap capabilities can take some getting used to, but all of the benefits of these headphones far outweigh the slight learning curve.
In case you’re looking to pick up a pair of these headphones for yourself, be sure to shop them on sale while you can! You can also browse more of this week’s Top Deals below.
This innovative tablet comes equipped with Dolby AtmosQuad speakers to ensure a premium audio experience that keeps you entertained.
Cans and bottles of sparkling water and soda are sure to become a thing of the past once you add a SodaStream Fizzi machine to your kitchen.
With both a front and rear-facing camera included, this dashcam kit has every angle of your car covered in the event of an accident.
Save $160 on this 43″ 4K TV that includes voice control, Dolby Vision, DTS-X Sound, built-in Wi-Fi, built-in Fire TV and more features.
Get in on the latest kitchen craze with a versatile and easy to use air fryer like this touchscreen Bella Pro model.
This laptop makes it easy to get work done when you’re at home or on the go and comes with an HD display, a fast-charging battery, and a precision touchpad for easy navigation.
Choose from four colours of these Bose QuietComfort earbuds that deliver active noise cancelling and high-fidelity audio.
This stick vacuum may be small, but it packs a powerful punch to tackle dirt, dust, pet hair and crumbs with ease.
Both the young and young at heart are sure to get hours of enjoyment from this remote-control monster truck with top speeds of up to 40km/h.
Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram and sign up for our newsletter.
Fortnite Chapter 2 has ended and Chapter 3…has not quite started just yet. After the calamitous battle against the Cube Queen, Fortnite (and right now, the Epic Launcher) is down until Chapter 3 comes online. Last time this happened, we got a black hole animation for a few days. Now? My guess is that won’t be that long, but players are now floating in a vast ocean, waiting to make their way to the map.
So, how did we get here?
Well, to start things off, players are put in a somewhat defensible area alongside a friendly blue cube, who fought back against the Cube Queen and her hordes of Cube Zombies and flying saucers until it was impossible to survive.
Then, that transitioned seamlessly into a cutscene where The Foundation rescues Jonesy from Doctor Sloane’s torture and reveal himself to be none other than The Rock, which is no great shock, given all the hints the game and he have been doling out lately. But it is neat to see him playing a Fortnite original character, rather than himself or something from a different licensed IP, which is how we usually see celebrities enter Fortnite.
Fortnite
Epic
We were warped back to a playable sequence where we ran through tunnels under the island, escorted by a scientist that sounded suspiciously like Joel McHale. Once the chamber flooded, we emerged to watch the entire island flip over and reveal a brand new island underneath, which will serve as the Chapter 3 map.
Then, a tidal wave came, as you imagine might happen when an entire island flips over, and now players are stuck floating clutching debris like Jack in Titanic, waiting for the greenlight to head to the map. As of right now, we do not know how long that will be.
Floating
Epic
Fortnite is moving over to Unreal Engine 5 as of this new chapter, so it’s a bigger transition than usual. But we also did see the battle pass trailer leak earlier today, implying that perhaps it won’t be that long until the game returns. Maybe tonight, I’d guess no later than tomorrow, so players can still hop in during the weekend, but we’ll have to see. Stay tuned for updates as we get them.
As far as Fortnite events go it was…pretty good. Lately, these have been more cinematic than not, where you’re a pretty passive observer. This one integrated a cutscene directly, and I personally find the concerts more engaging, but it was still cool.
So, you can keep trying to log in to see when Fortnite stops being down, but it’s likely going to be a bit, so keep an eye on social media for clues on when things will return and you can dive into Chapter 3. More to come, stay tuned.
Update: Debris is starting to float through the water. Maybe this is how we end up on shore eventually:
Fortnite
Epic
Update 2: The map is slowly being revealed by this website, asking people to flip their social media photos and post #FortniteFlipped
Fortnite
Epic
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Fortnite’s Chapter 2 comes to an end on Saturday, but a trailer for Chapter 3 has already leaked, reportedly from Epic Games’ Polish YouTube channel (via Kotaku). Based on the trailer, the next chapter is poised to be a significant update, adding a brand new island, new mechanics, and your friendly island Spider-Man.
The Chapter 3 island looks to have a lot of new areas to explore, including the Daily Bugle and a location reminiscent of the Aztec-themed Sunny Steps from Fortnite’s first chapter. There appear to be new ways to get around, such as sliding down hills to get some extra speed and swinging from high places. And it seems you’ll be able to retrieve stashed weapons from previous matches using tents, which could add some extra strategy to playing a few rounds with your friends.
The leaked trailer shows some new playable characters joining the game, including Spider-Man (who looks to be available in the battle pass) and skins for Marcus Fenix and Kait Diaz from Gears of War. Epic also appears to be adding The Foundation, a mysterious character from Chapter 2 who might be played by Dwayne Johnson.
One thing the trailer doesn’t reveal is exactly when Fortnite Chapter 3 will be available. The black hole downtime between chapters 1 and 2 lasted for nearly two days — hopefully, we don’t have to wait as long to swing onto the new island in Chapter 3.
If you want to watch the end-of-chapter event, you might want to log on soon, as it kicks off at 4PM ET Saturday.
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