Facebook open sources Caffe2, its flexible deep learning framework of choice

Today Facebook open sourced Caffe2. The deep learning framework follows in the steps of the original Caffe, a project started at the University of California, Berkeley. Caffe2 offers developers greater flexibility for building high-performance products that deploy efficiently.

This isn’t the first time that Facebook has engaged with the Caffe community. Back in October, Facebook announced Caffe2Go, what effectively was a mobile CPU and GPU optimized version of Caffe2 (they even both have Caffe2 in their names if you parse it right). Caffe2Go received attention at that time because its release coincided with Style Transfer.

Notably, the company also released extensions to the original Caffe. The majority of these changes make Caffe more attractive to developers building services for large audiences. For projects where resources are of no consequence, Facebook has historically turned to Torch — a library it finds optimal for research use cases.

Every tech company wants to tout the scalability of its machine learning framework of choice. I asked Yangqing Jia, the lead author on Caffe2, what he thought of MXNet and the noise Amazon has been making about its ability to scale. Reasonably, he was cautious about dropping benchmarking numbers for comparison. These numbers can have meaning, but they are heavily influenced by the actual implementation of a machine learning model and subject to a fair amount of “DIY” volatility.

Yangqing Jia, the lead author on Caffe2 and Alex Yu, leader of business development

“All frameworks are more or less at a similar scalability factor,” explained Jia. “We’re pretty confident that Caffe2 is probably a little bit better than the rest.”

Facebook is pouring a lot of resources into both Caffe2 and PyTorch. Today’s release accompanies partnerships at the hardware, device and cloud levels. Alex Yu, leader of business development for Caffe2, explained to me that Facebook aimed to include the market leaders in each category. This meant Nvidia and Intel on the hardware side, Qualcomm on the device side and Amazon and Microsoft on the cloud side. And while Google wasn’t targeted, a GCP partnership wouldn’t be out of the question going forward.

Prior to release, Caffe2 was deployed at scale across Facebook. The team also took considerations for the developer communities familiar with the original Caffe. Caffe models can be easily converted to Caffe2 models with a utility script. Facebook is releasing documentation and tutorials and has put Caffe2’s source code on GitHub.

Facebook announces React Fiber, a rewrite of its React framework

Facebook has completely rewritten React, its popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces. The company hasn’t previously talked much about React Fiber, as the project is called, but it has actually been working on it for a while. It’s now ready to talk about this project publicly in more detail (after word about it started spreading last year) and the plan is to put this rewrite into the hands of developers once React 16.0 launches later this year. It’s already in use on Facebook.com today, which clearly indicates that Facebook itself thinks it’s ready for prime time.

In addition, it is also launching a rewrite of Relay, its framework for building data-heavy applications.

React Fiber

The idea behind React Fiber, the company tells me, is to take what the company has learned from developing React the first time around and put that into an updated framework that is still fully backwards compatible with existing React-based applications. React Fiber, Facebook tells me, will become the foundation of any future improvements and feature development of the React framework.

The main focus here was to make React as responsive as possible, Facebook engineer — and member of the React core team — Ben Alpert told me in an interview earlier this week. “When we develop React, we’re always looking to see how we can help developers build high-quality apps quicker,” he noted. “We want to make it easier to make apps that perform very well and make them responsive.”

In light of this theme, it’s no surprise that the highlights of this new release are built-in primitives for scheduling and incremental rendering. “We want to make sure we render the right stuff at the right time,” Alpert said, and added that “responsiveness was a huge push here.”

But why rewrite React from scratch? “It was not necessarily that the old code base was bad, but we wanted to start with a new foundation that could power everything we do going forward,” Alpert said. That means the new code was developed from the ground up to be extensible, for example.

Alpert stressed that React Fiber will be backward compatible, though as with all major React updates, there will be a few small breaking changes. The team says it doesn’t anticipate that these will be problematic for developers, though. “We always had a strong API contract, so that gives us the flexibility to reimplement,” he added.

Relay Modern

As Facebook also today announced, Relay — the company’s JavaScript framework for building data-driven applications — has also been rewritten with a similar emphasis on performance and extensibility. Relay combines React with Facebook’s GraphQL query language and now Relay Modern, as the company calls this rewrite, is meant to push this concept further and overcome some of the limitations of the original design. That also meant simplifying some of the design to enhance the overall performance of the framework. “Relay Modern retains the best parts of Relay — colocated data and view definitions, declarative data fetching — while also simplifying the API, adding features, improving performance, and reducing the size of the framework,” the team explains in today’s announcement. To do this, the team implemented a number of changes, but most importantly, it adopted static queries and ahead-of-time optimizations.

Static queries essentially ensure that complex queries that aren’t altered by runtime conditions can be pre-built and offloaded to Facebook’s servers. So instead of sending complex queries across the network, all an application has to send is a string that identifies the pre-set query and the variables needed to complete it. Related to this, the ahead-of-time optimization feature in the Relay compiler now looks at the query structure to optimize the query that is now stored on the server to execute it faster — and hence return results to the user faster, too. Other new features in React Modern include built-in garbage collection, for example.

For developers who are already using an older version of Relay, Relay Modern comes with a compatibility API.

Facebook says that when its teams switched the Marketplace tab in the Facebook app from Relay to Relay Modern, the time to interaction on Android improved by an average of 900ms. While that doesn’t sound like much, every second on mobile counts, and that’s enough to make an application feel noticeably more responsive than before.

BSNL, Pantel Tech launch Bharat Phone for Rs 1,799

News:  नई दिल्ली। पैंटेल टेक्नोलॉजी के साथ पार्टनरशिप में भारत संचार निगम लिमिटेड ने एक फीचर फोन लांच किया है। इसकी कीमत 1,799 रुपये रखी गयी है। सबसे खुशी की बात यह कि ययह साथ ही यह 1200 मिनट की फ्री टॉक-टाइम के साथ आ रहा है। इसका नाम भारत फोन रखा गया है।

बीएसएनएल का यह नया डिवाइस 3 इंच के डिसप्ले के साथ है तथा इसपर आप इंटरनेट का उपयोग भी धड़ल्ले से कर सकते हैं। ट्रस्टपोर्ट से ऑफर किया हुआ एंटी मालवेयर के साथ आने वाला यह डिवाइस आपको इमेल, फेसबुक और म्यूजिक व वीडियो डाउनलोड करने की सुविधा भी मुहैया करा सकता है।

बीएसएनएल के सीएमडी आर के उपाध्याय ने कहा कि कंपनी हमेशा कॉमन मैन की सेवा करती है और इस बार पेंटल टेक्नालाजी के साथ भारत फोन लांच करते हुए काफी खुशी भी महसूस हो रहा है। इस डिवाइस की मदद से अब काफी लोग इंटरनेट का उपयोग कर सकते हैं। इसके तीन अन्य डिवाइसेज भी लांच हुए हैं जिसमें दो तो 5 इंच व 6.5 इंच वाला स्मार्टफोन है और इसकी कीमत क्रमश: 6,999 रुपये और 7,999 रुपये है तथा 6,999 रुपये में एक टैबलेट भी है। सभी डिवाइसेज बीएसएनएल के स्पेशल टैरिफ वाउचर्स के साथ आ रहे हैं। इसके अलावा पैंटेल टेक्नॉलॉजी के साथ मिलकर बीएसएनएल ने स्मार्ट डिवाइसेज को डाटा एसटीवी के साथ ऑफर किया है।

Source- Technology News in Hindi

Facebook joins the GSM Association to stay in sync with carriers

News: Facebook has a vested interest in the phone world between its hundreds of millions of mobile users and the Home interface. It's only fitting, then, that the social network has just joined the GSM Association. The company tells FierceWirelessthat it wants to play an "active role" in the GSMA as an associate member. The move should help Facebook both maintain its cozy relationships with carriers and understand their concerns. Membership could also be useful for Facebook's attempts to democratize internet access through Internet.org -- when it's already enlisting the help of wireless providers, a formal alliance with those networks is only logical.
Source- Technology News in Hindi

ENGADGET

Nexus 5 pre-registration page goes live in Canada, confirms specifications

 

News:  It seems Google isn't the only one accidentally listing its upcoming Nexus smartphone online, as a new report reveals that a Canadian mobile carrier put up a page on Facebook for pre-registering the Nexus 5.

As per Android Police Wind Mobile, a Canadian carrier made the Nexus 5 pre-registration page live on Facebook for users to get notified when the device is available, ahead of the official launch, though the pre-registration page did not suggest any details of availability and pricing of the Nexus 5. However, the page has been reportedly taken down after initial reports which say it did reveal a complete specifications list.

We have already seen a number of purported specifications revealed of the upcoming Nexus 5 smartphone, and the latest leak does not add anything new. New leaked specifications are in-line with the earlier leaks and suggest that the Nexus 5 will come with a 4.95-inch full-HD (1080p) IPS LCD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor clocked at 2.3GHz, 2GB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera with OIS and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Connectivity options expected in the smartphone are Wi-Fi, NFC (Android Beam), and Bluetooth 4.0, while the device is likely to come in two storage variants 16GB and 32GB. The alleged device has also been expected to include a host of sensors like ambient light, proximity, pressure as well as accelerometer, compass, notification LED and gyroscope.

Get more Technology News in Hindi

ndtv.com

Instagram will finally make its Windows Phone debut 'in the coming weeks

Hindi News:Third-party apps like 6tag not working for you as an acceptable Windows Phone Instagram client? We've been waiting a long time for the social network to acknowledge that it's working on an app for Microsoft's mobile OS, and your patience will now be rewarded: Instagram is finally coming to Windows Phone. Elop announced that the Facebook-owned company will launch its app in "the coming weeks," followed closely by Twitter's popular video-sharing service: Vine.

Source- Technology News in Hindi

engadget.com

Google Search adds support for hashtags, pulls related info from Google+

The latest way Google is working social media into its search engine is with the use of familiar hashtags, but at least for now that doesn't include direct results from competitors like Facebook and Twitter. Available initially to users in the US and Canada, searches that include hashtags (like #ExpandNY, for example) will gain a right rail display relevant Google+ posts that were either shared publicly or to you. Even if you're not an avid user of the #, since Google+ autogenerates hashtags for many posts, it should be easy to find related info for pretty much any topic. According to Zaheed Sabur, there are also links to search said hashtag on other social sites, although which ones weren't specified. Even if you're in the right area you probably won't see the new feature just yet, as it's going live "within the next few hours."

ENGADGET

Source: News in Hindi 

LA officials may delay school iPad rollout after students hack them in a week

Just a week after it began the first phase of putting iPads in the hands of all 640,000 students in the state, the Los Angeles school district already has a fight on its hands. In a matter of days, 300 children at Theodore Roosevelt High School managed to work around protective measures placed on the Apple tablets, giving them complete access to features -- including Facebook, Twitter and other apps -- that should otherwise have been blocked.

Students bypassed the security lock on the device by deleting a personal profile preloaded in the settings -- a simple trick that has the school district police chief recommending the board limit the $1 billion rollout before it turns into a "runaway train scenario." For now, officials have banned home use of the iPads while they assess ways to better restrict access -- they would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids.

[Original image credit: flickingerbrad, Flickr]

Source: News in Hindi

YouTube teams up with Google+ to turn comments into conversations

Comments on the internet: often a haven for trolls and axe-grinders, but comment threads also give rise to some insightful and entertaining commentary. In an effort to encourage the latter and to provide users with an improved experience, YouTube's rolling out a new commenting system that integrates deeply with Google+. What does that mean, exactly? Much like that other social network's News Feed, comments in YouTube will be based on relevance, not how recently they were posted. So, comments from people you know, celebrities and video creators, plus positively rated comments will percolate to the top of comment threads according to Big G's ranking algorithms. Additionally, replies will be nested beneath original comments to better enable conversations. Like Facebook, should you find the idea of automated comment curation unsettling, you can always switch back to the old way of having the most recent comments show up first.

The integration with Google+ also broadens your commenting boundaries; post a comment on YouTube, then share that video on on G+ and comments and replies made on either site will show up in both places. You can also control who gets to read comments you make by choosing which circles will see them, so you can even have private conversations. As for content owners, the system borrows features from many other commenting platforms. To deal with comments at scale, channel admins can build user whitelists and blacklisted words and phrases to make moderation easy. YouTube Product Manager Nundu Janakiram tells us that the comments system has been in the works for over a year, and that these features are only the beginning. His team plans to provide even better tools for users and content creators to let them filter out the noise and increase the quality of comments. Initially, folks will be able to test out the new comments in the discussion tab on any YouTube channel's home page, after which it'll roll out to individual videos in the coming months -- and we'd be shocked if these G+ enabled comments don't make their way into many other Google properties eventually, too.

Source: News in Hindi

Report: Twitter to launch location-based ads later this year

Twitter has been steadily ramping up its ad efforts this year, first bringing promoted tweets to mobile devices and more recently opening up ad buying to all US users. Now, according to Ad Age, the social network is preparing to introduce promoted tweets based on your location. In addition to displaying nearby retailers, this feature could showcase deals and promotions at stores in your area. Twitter already display's different advertisers' tweets based on general metro areas, but drilling down into specific geo-coordinates will naturally deliver more relevant adverts. Facebook, meanwhile, has been serving up content based on a user's ZIP code since 2011; so a little catch-up is definitely in order. Twitter's targeted ads will supposedly launch at the end of the year, just in time for that all-important retail rush.

Filed under: Internet


Source: Ad Age

AOL Reader launches into private beta, thanks Google for the opportunity

Google: "Eh, we're kind of over this Reader thing. Let's go launch some balloons."

AOL: "Why, thanks guys -- don't mind if we do!"

The above mentioned quotes are still unofficial, mind you, but it appears that AOL (disclaimer: that's Engadget's parent company) is joining Feedly and Digg in an effort to capture the audiences who will soon be forced to flee from Google's Reader product. AOL Reader launched today in beta form, promising to collect "all your favorite websites, in one place." It appears that the design language follows that introduced in the entity's Alto mail product, and if you've forgotten your AOL password, fret not -- those who request (and receive) an invite will be able to sign in via Facebook, Google or Twitter. Oh, and judging by the shot above, it's designed to work universally across screen sizes and devices, including your tablets, phones, desktops, laptops and space-age computational creations. Of note, it appears that the sign-up forms aren't entirely active just yet, as we're hearing that the bona fide launch won't occur until next week.

Update: We've confirmed that invites will be accepted starting on Monday, June 24th.
Filed under: Internet, Software

Source: AOL Reader (1), (2)

TuneWiki social music player to shut down on June 28th

If you've been interested in social music listening, there's a good chance you've heard of TuneWiki's lyric syncing and discovery services. Unfortunately, you won't be hearing about them for much longer -- the company is shutting down on June 28th. The firm hasn't explained its decision, but we wouldn't count on any content working after the cutoff date. We've reached out for more details; for now, the only certainty is that lyric lovers will have to scramble for alternatives.

Filed under: Internet

Via: The Next Web
Source: TuneWiki

Facebook disputes 21 squatter domain names

Facebook is taking on 21 domain names currently held by Domain Asset Holdings, a known domain squatter based in Potomac, Maryland. The full list of domains is available on Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) Search website (UDRPSearch) under case number D2011-0516.

Here are all 21 of them, 14 of which start with the word Facebook: aboutfacebook.com, facebookbabes.com, facebookcheats.com, facebookclub.com, facebookdevelopment.com, facebookfest.com, facebookintegration.com, facebookjournal.com, facebookking.com, facebookland.com, facebooksafety.com, facebookstudio.com, facebookstuff.com, freefacebookapps.com, friendsonfacebook.com, fundraisingwithfacebook.com, joinusonfacebook.com, killfacebook.com, moneyfromfacebook.com, moneywithfacebook.com, and newfacebookapplication.com.

All the domains are listed for sale on DomainMarket, although none seem to list their current prices. If Facebook were to simply purchase all 21, it would probably not put any content on any of them and simply have them redirect to facebook.com.

In the past, Facebook has sent cease-and-desist letters to various websites that either start with the word “face” or end with “book” – but it has also avoided many legitimate sites that fit these criteria, or even use the whole word “Facebook.” For example, Facebook has yet to complain about allfacebook.com or insidefacebook.com, both of which are blogs that cover the social network.

Facebook bans 20,000 accounts daily

Facebook chief privacy advisor Mozelle Thompson appeared before the Australian Parliament’s cyber-safety committee this week to discuss Internet-related security issues. Thanks to the event, we learned that about 20,000 users are kicked off Facebook every day for various infractions, including for lying about their age.

“There are people who lie. There are people who are under 13 [accessing Facebook],” Thompson told Federal Parliament’s cyber-safety committee, according to The Telegraph. “Facebook removes 20,000 people a day, people who are underage.”

Although the company requires its users to be at least 13-years-old, the limit is easily circumvented, like on pretty much any website on the Internet. “While the social network has mechanisms to detect liars,” Thompson admitted that “It’s not perfect”.

The original report suggested that the 20,000 accounts banned daily are all for individuals found not to be at least 13-years-old. This is not true; the number actually includes accounts deleted for any serious rule-breaking. Furthermore, it does “not include the proactive efforts that actually prevent fake or under age accounts from being created.”

“At Facebook, we take safety very seriously and we were pleased to participate in a hearing in Australia to talk about our safety policies, practices and systems,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “As we explained in the hearing, these efforts include removing numerous accounts everyday for activities including spamming, posting inappropriate content, and violating age restrictions.”

Last year, Facebook received almost 250,000 résumé applications. To help those applying to the company, IB Times put together a list of five questions

Last year, Facebook received almost 250,000 résumé applications. To help those applying to the company, IB Times put together a list of five questions you should ask yourself to see if you’re ready to work at one of the hottest technology companies:

1. Are you enthusiastic and passionate about Facebook?
2. Do you know anyone who can assess or vouch for your cultural fit?
3. Are you suited to work in a bold and open environment?
4. Can you make a difference?
5. Can you let go of work-life balance (for most of the time, at least)?

How does Facebook’s résumé count compare to other online giants? Well, Facebook is still a relatively small company but it’s very clear that the number is quite large, though definitely not the highest. For example, Google, arguably the largest Web company, receives somewhere around 1 million résumés each year, with the record for one week being 75,000.

Google had some 24,400 employees last year, while Facebook had over 2,000. It’s therefore fairly impressive that a company that is 12 times smaller, and has significantly fewer positions available, received just four times fewer applications last year.

In December 2010, the social network was named the best company to work for in the US. I’d therefore be very surprised if Facebook did not set a new résumé record for itself this year.