Samsung is releasing a new version of its Gear VR

 According to an announcement the company made today at Mobile World Congress (MWC). Samsung is releasing a new version of its Gear VR headset that features a packed-in controller, In a midst to catch up with Google’s recently released Daydream View virtual reality headset.

The controller,adds motion control support to the headset and features a limited array of buttons. Including a controller with every Gear VR allows players to navigate and interact with virtual reality content without having to use the headset’s built-in buttons like with previous iterations of the Gear VR.

Samsung’s latest version of the Gear VR packs features a clickable touchpad, trigger, home button, back button and volume keys. It also includes an accelerometer, gryrometer and magnetic sensors. Samsung’s new Gear gamepad is powered by an AAA battery. The new Gear VR is designed to be used with the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, Note 5 and Galaxy S6 series of smartphones.

It has  two 42mm lenses with a 101-degree field of view, with samsung claiming that its Gear VR features improved distortion technology designed to reduce motion sickness even further.Tthe headset also features a strap designed to house the controller when you aren’t using it.

Samsung claims that there are over 70 Gear VR titles currently in development designed to take advantage of the controller.

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How to free up disk space on an Android device

The "insufficient storage available"  is probably one of the most annoying  messages one ever wishes to  see popping up on the display of their Android phone or tablet especially that time you are trying to download a new app, add anew song to your playlist or even capture a lifetime moment using your phone.
well, if you ever find yourself in this situation, here are a few tips to keep you back on track enjoying every minute of your android phone.
1 Delete photos and videos
 Photos and videos  take up a substantial amount of space - tap Storage and Settings to check on your device.
still, you can back all this up - but before you do that, do a bit of cleaning and remove all those blurred, pointless and dull pictures you don't really need.
2:Delete apps you're not using
 some apps  take up big chunks of space on your device that you can claim back if you don't use them any more.
How to go about it.
Open the Settings app then tap 'Storage' and then 'Apps' to see the apps taking up space on your Android device, with the biggest disk hoggers at the top. to unistall these apps, go to the Apps menu from Settings, tap any of the apps listed, and select 'Uninstall'.
you can back up data incase you might need the app in future
3:Delete app caches and data
deleting  the cache and databases for  apps helps you  keep certain apps on your system but cut down on the amount of space they take up.
how to go about it:
go to Settings then Storage > Apps and you'll see two options for each one - Clear Data and Clear Cache
Clear Data removes personalized data held by the app - it's like uninstalling it and reinstalling it. In the case of twitter, for example, you'd find yourself logged out
Clear Cache  just empties the temporary cache of files held by the app so it can start up more quickly, basically bits of the app kept in memory. Clear the cache and the app will launch more slowly the next time you use it, but nothing else should've changed.
4 Delete offline playlists
Open up Spotify, Google Play Music, Apple Music or whatever you have on your phone and see if there are any cached playlists you do without for a while.
Podcast apps are also known for keeping large files around, though it's not really the app's fault if you haven't deleted old episodes you've listened to. Most podcast apps come with auto-cleanup options that erase episodes when they've been played, so see if your app of choice has anything like this available, or just delete the podcasts manually.
5:Syncing  photos and videos to the cloud
most times, we do not  want to delete anything permanently, we just want to  get it off our phones at that particular moment. Fortunately, Google Photos does a great job of this, and you can see which pictures and videos have already been synced to the cloud by launching the app and choosing Settings then Backup & sync from the menu.
There's also a dedicated 'Free up space' entry on the menu - this searches your phone or tablet for photos and videos that have already been backed up, and then asks if you want to erase the copies stored on your device. Your photos and videos will still be safe and sound in the cloud, though they may have been resized, depending on the backup options you've chosen in Google Photos.
You can actually get this to all happen automatically: from Settings tap 'Storage' then 'Manage storage' to find the Smart Storage option.
There are  apps, like Dropbox, which can do a similar job for you, syncing images and video clips to the web automatically so you can delete the originals.
6:Delete data from your browser
giving your mobile browser a good clear-out  is another way you can free up some space in your phone.
in fact you can do this job through the clear cache and clear data functions we mentioned a few steps ago, although that method doesn't give you much control over what's wiped and what isn't.
7:Delete other types of files
More recent (6.0+) versions of Android have a built-in file manager too: from Settings choose 'Storage' and then 'Explore'.here you will find that, There are various other types of files you can get rid of on your device.
To delete a file, long-press on it then tap the trash can icon. You can select several files at once after the first long-press.
NB: do not delete any files you're not sure about - you might break one or two of your apps .

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It's now much harder to see if someone edited a Facebook post

Have you ever made a cringeworthy mistake in a Facebook post?well i'll help you answer that "YES , WE ALL HAVE!! "  at one point

Its quite familiar seeing a Facebook post full of spelling mistakes  and  errors but a few minutes later , the post looks  quite clean with no single grammatical error .There's usually a small seen spot reading "EDITED" that unveils our social media 'behaviour'- a social media feature that most social media networks haven't added still.




However, facebook has now removed the "edited " post label making it hard for one to see if if a post has been edited or not.This has made  it much more difficult to know when someone actually took the time to fix their mistake.

truth is,  this type of editing isn't a big deal , because we all eventually aim at delivering the right message in the best possible way we can ; avoiding any types of mistakes.But the move to hide post edit labels takes away one of the few features that provided any transparency for our online behavior.

To see the edited post, you need to right click at the top right of the post , a drop down menu appears .Now click "view edit history" the edited post shows up

 This feature raises one of the biggest ethical questions that has long plagued social media and the way we interact on the internet: Should we have the power to instantly, surreptitiously rewrite our wrongs to preserve our online image?

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Toontastic 3D, a new app for kids to animate with

Google just launched a new storytelling app that will help kids create their own cartoons.

 Kids can use Toontastic 3D to make animations using a set of built-in characters or create their own using the app's editor and camera. They can record sound and create a story, which is then saved as a 3D video

In 2014, Google announced plans to revamp its products with a 12-and-under focus. Since then, the company has announced several standalone apps for kids, including YouTube Kids.

The company has also launched several family-oriented experiences with increased parental controls. Google acquired kids app-maker Launchpad Toys in early 2015 as part of its effort to push into kids technology. After the acquisition, Launchpad made its apps free for everyone.

And Google previously launched Telestory, an augmented reality video camera for kids to record their own TV shows. Both apps are widely praised by parents and educators.

Toontastic 3D is available for Android and iOS as of Thursday morning—if you're not seeing it yet, give your preferred app store some time to update.

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FACEBOOK WANTS TO MAKE JOURNALISM GREAT AGAIN

Facebook has a plan to help journalism thrive

On Wednesday Facebook announced "THE FACEBOOK JOURNALISM PROJECT," a new initiative that will include more collaboration with media outlets, new tools and training for journalists, as well as education efforts for the general public.
 Facebook confirmed previous reports that it is bringing ads breaks to its videos, a potentially lucrative move for publishers and for Facebook.
"We know that our community values sharing and discussing ideas and news, and as a part of our service, we care a great deal about making sure that a healthy news ecosystem and journalism can thrive," wrote Fidji Simo, a director of product at Facebook, in a blog post announcing the program. "That’s why today we’re announcing a new program to establish stronger ties between Facebook and the news industry."

The new initiative comes after Facebook was widely critiqued for its role in disseminating misleading news (fake news) and propaganda around the U.S election. Facebook has also been under fire from those in the media industry for its role in controlling access to readers without providing much in the way of monetization.
Facebook has pushed back against those critics while also beginning to introduce new ways for its users to report hoaxes.
The initiative announcement is divided into three parts: collaboration, tools/education for journalists and tools/education for the public.
"Publishers simply choose the articles and a cover image or video to package together in a set of Instant Articles," wrote Facebook product manager Josh Roberts in a blog post about the new magazine-like format.
In addition to the new Instant Articles format, Simo said that Facebook also wants to help with improving the prospects of local news. Local media outlets have been particularly hard hit in recent years as the economics of media have changed.
As for tools and education for journalists, Facebook will be introducing a "certificate curriculum" in partnership with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies for journalists that complete its courses on how to best use Facebook.
Facebook will also be making CrowdTangle, the Facebook audience tracking startup that it recently bought, free for publishing partners.
 Facebook will be working with outside organizations "on how to better understand and to promote news literacy both on and off our platform to help people in our community have the information they need to make decisions about which sources to trust."
, Facebook said it is working with Arizona State University to figure out how to support this goal, as well as working with the News Literacy Project to make public service ads on the issue.
 Facebook as well  said it will continue efforts to "reduce the spread of news hoaxes.

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