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Augmented reality is going to be the technology that will characterize mobile phones in the coming years. This has been one of the announcements of Facebok founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the annual F8 conference dedicated to Facebook developers and in which the social network has shown its plans for the coming years.
More than 5 billion people worldwide use Facebook, WhatssApp, Instagram and the company's other applications every day and here are the 8 key new features presented by Facebook this week.
The camera is everything
According to Zuckerberg, the most important part of a mobile phone is the camera. Users will continue to share videos and photos with friends, but soon the mobile cameras will begin to generate new augmented reality experiences within Facebook. Consumers of this social network will get games and filters of playful photos in what many have seen as a direct attack against Snapchat. Any user can create masks and frames to decorate their images or selfies.
The camera remains the pillar of much of what Facebook has presented at its conference, and will be for everything: Facebook Stories and Instagram and WhatsApp states, among others.
The Spaces virtual reality platform
Facebook does not forget the virtual reality with the announcement of Spaces, a platform to share experiences with friends and acquaintances in a more social format than the one known to date. This application allows true virtual feats like visiting the International Space Station and becoming a selfie in orbit.
Music and games in Messenger
Facebook pretends that Messenger is the first social network to talk to friends. The new integrations of this application incorporate games and music to the platform so that the user can share the last song of Chainsmokers or distract themselves with a game of Words With Friends without closing the chat window. The full potential depends on what the developers contribute but, for now, Messenger synchronizes with Spotify and soon with Apple Music.
The protagonism of augmented reality
Facebook's new augmented reality tools will allow you to place virtual objects in the real world when the user sees their environment through the mobile. It will be possible to obtain augmented reality games that incorporate real world objects thanks to a technology called "SLAM" (location and simultaneous assignment) that establishes a three-dimensional grid on the table in front of the user, turning it into a game board.
Frames and masks
Frame Studio and AR Studio are two tools that allow developers and artists to create augmented reality content. With Frame Studio it is possible to create 2D overlays, similar to Snapchat, that reside on the edges of the photo or video. AR Studio allows developers to create 3D masks that track and respond to facial movement (such as Snapchat's dog mask, which pops out the tongue when you open your mouth) without having to write any code. These tools are not something we have not seen before, but they make augmented reality content creation more accessible
The 'bots' reach the Messenger groups
This has been one of the news that has announced Facebook and that will allow its users to use different 'bots' to help them in their conversations through Messenger. In addition, the messaging application will add a tab in which each person can take a look at the 'bots' they have interacted with before.
Let's imagine that we have organized a dinner with friends at home and while chatting on Messenger someone suggests Thai food. Appears in the application our favorite Thai restaurant, everyone navigates the menu and adds the desired dishes to the cart and even pay through the mobile to bring us dinner home. These types of interactions will be increasingly common through Messenger.
Developer Circles
80 percent of developers who create applications for Facebook reisden outside the United States. Not all of them have access to the same educational resources or the support of the same type of infrastructure. Therefore, a year ago, Facebook launched a pilot program called "Circles of developers" with the intention of spreading the knowledge among all of them. This program organizes meetings, workshops and sessions around the world in order to form and obtain a wider network of competent developers who create the best applications for Facebook.
The virtual assistant M
Facebook has launched M, its new virtual messenger assistant that is born with the idea of competing against Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa. The system, powered by artificial intelligence, offers suggestions to users according to the topics that are being spoken in the chat.