Meta will delay Facebook, Instagram message encryption to 2023

Daniel Korpai/Unsplash

Meta was initially scheduled to release end-to-end encrypted messaging on Facebook Messenger and Instagram as soon as next year. But now, we learn that this plan is delayed to "sometime in 2023." The company delivered the update through a commentary Meta's safety head Antigone Davis wrote for The Telegraph. Davis wrote they're taking the extra time to "get this right."

The company said it is working with privacy and safety experts, governments, and civil society to work on this feature so that privacy and safety will work hand in hand. Davis writes about Meta's approaches to detect abuse and prevent harm proactively, including looking at suspicious patterns of activities on non-encrypted data and user reports. 

Via: Engadget

Meta reportedly plans to have physical stores for its hardware

Meta, a.k.a. the company previously known as Facebook, might be looking at opening brick-and-mortar shops. The New York Times reported that the company had been discussing this option since last year and before it rebranded into Meta. Nothing has been finalized about the plans, though, and Meta could still scrap it.

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Oculus Quest to get Slack, Dropbox as Progressive Web Apps

Facebook Reality Labs

This isn't the first time 2D apps have surfaced on the Oculus Quest virtual reality platform. But Facebook is planning to bring more third-party 2D apps to the VR platform via the Progressive Web App (PWA) framework. The aim is to give more work tools for its VR users. The plan starts with Facebook, Instagram, collaboration app Smartsheet, and email client Spike. But then Facebook will add access to Dropbox, Slack, and more in the future.

The PWA-based framework allows developers to bring their apps to VR without creating fully custom versions. But there is still a need to go through Oculus' developer channels to get their apps on the platform. As The Verge noted, this update marks a larger-scale rollout of non-VR apps inside the headset.

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Facebook is now Meta, and its reportedly working on a smartwatch with a built-in camera

If you've checked your tech news today, you know that Facebook is changing its company name to Meta, reflecting its plans on a "Metaverse," where it is building a mixed reality platform that places all its apps in one place. Think a bit like the world in Ready Player One, at least the oversimplified version of that analogy.

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