In The News 03-25-16

Facebook makes Virtual Reality Social

Oculus virtual reality goggles are adding social features. That’s not a surprise, since Facebook in the parent company of Oculus.  When Mark Zuckerberg purchased Oculus for $2 billion a couple of years ago, he said he thought the tech could change the way we communicate.

oculus-gear

These features allow you to have  profile, add friends and play VR games with those friends.  Of course, you can use the device to connect to your Facebook account, too.

These features will be available to those who use the Oculus-powered Samsung Gear headset, which turns your smartphone into virtual reality goggles.

 Opera Testing Browser With Built-In Ad Blocking

The Opera browser only has a small percentage of the browser marketplace (Less than 3%), but developers are adding a feature that might draw some more users: built-in ad blocking.

Opera Browser

You can add ad-blocking software as an extension to some browsers, but this new version of Opera would have ad-blocking built right into the DNA of the browser.

Next week, I’ll show you how to download and install the Opera browser to give it a try.

Nest Thermostat Will Track Your Location

Nest, the smart home thermostat and app brought to you by the parent company of Google, will now use your phone to track your location.

nestcrop

The company wants to know if you’re home or not in order to set the temperature in the house. The  Home/Away Assistant can turn down the heat and air conditioning when you’re not there, but also be aware when you head towards home and start warming up or cooling the place down for you.

Nest will also add family accounts for up to 10 people, so that they can also control the climate in the house.

~ Cynthia

0 thoughts on “In The News 03-25-16

  1. Wonder how long it will take criminals to figure a way to hack the Nest thermostat and use it to know when to break into your home?

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