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Tag: paper

  • Facebook Gives Paper App Some New Features

    Facebook launched a blog for its Paper app in April, announcing the version 1.1 update, which introduced support for birthdays and events, photo comments, group updates, and nine new article covers.

    The company just put up the blog’s second post to announce another update – version 1.2. This time, it gets profile pic and cover photo editing, photo tags, a trending section, hashtags, and more control over your posts.

    The more features the company adds, the more it’s starting to feel like a part of Facebook. The profile and cover photo editing is a prime example.

    “When you see beautiful photo stories you probably also want to know who’s in the pictures,” the company says. “Now if a photo includes tags, you can tap the actions arrow and then choose View Photo Tags. You can even zoom in and tilt your phone to explore all the tags in a photo.”

    Trending and hashtags are both relatively recent additions to Facebook, making the social network more useful as a news tool. It’s hard to believe these weren’t part of Paper from the get to, but they are now.

    In the new version, when you start typing a friend’s name in a post, you can tag or mention them to let them know about the story. Additionally, mentions in comments work more smoothly. You can also tap and hold text to copy it from a post you’re reading, then paste and share it.

    If you view photos, and zoom in, you can now tilt your device to see more details.

    Image via Facebook

  • Facebook Open Sources Engine Behind Paper App (Pop)

    Facebook announced that it is open sourcing Pop, the animation engine behind its recently launched Paper app.

    Facebook released Paper in January. It’s a social news reader app for iOS. If you’re unfamiliar with it, watch this:

    Pop is responsible for the smooth animations and transitions that take place within the app, including scrolling, bouncing, and unfolding effects.

    “Since the original iPhone, iOS has excelled at supporting static animations. The Apple-provided Core Animation framework makes linear, ease-in, ease-out, and ease-in-ease-out animations simple to leverage,” says Kimon Tsinteris, an engineer at Facebook. “The innovation of touch interfaces has ushered in a new wave of software design. Direct manipulation of on-screen elements has removed one level of indirection, which in turn has raised our expectations for the screen as a medium. If objects respond to our touches, they should also respond to the velocity of our flick.”

    “When I co-founded Push Pop Press in 2010, our goal was to create a realistic, physics-everywhere experience,” he adds. “We wanted a solution that would allow us to evoke the same delightful experience of UIScrollView throughout the whole application. Pop is the latest manifestation of that vision, allowing us to keep the familiar and powerful programming model of Core Animation while also capturing a gesture’s velocity and better reflecting user intent. Paper has given us the opportunity to further refine both the vision and the animation engine behind it.”

    Facebook acquired Push Pop Press back in 2011. Here’s what it looked like at the time:

    Tsinteris says they want to make commonly needed animations convenient, and make it easier to create unique effects in apps. They also want to create a developer-friendly, but powerful programming model.

    Pop joins other open source iOS releases from Facebook including KVOController, Shimmer, and Tweaks.

    You can find Pop on GitHub here.

    Image via Facebook

  • Facebook Launches Update For Paper

    Facebook has launched a new blog for its Paper app, with the first post announcing an update to version 1.1. This is now available in the Apple App Store.

    The company launched the news reader app in January, and added some additional features in March.

    The new version adds support for birthdays and events, photo comments, group updates, and nine new article covers.

    “You already know that articles in Paper unfold to show you stories from some of the world’s best publishers,” the team writes. “Designer Sharon Hwang painstakingly crafted over 50 of these custom article covers for Paper so you can quickly identify favorite publications like National Geographic. In version 1.1 we’ve added many new covers to the collection. Now it’s even easier to spot articles from Bloomberg News, Mashable, FT, kottke, Fox News, Popular Science, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and Hacker News.”

    The new version also includes basic accessibility support and an arrow indicator that tells users when there are new stories in other sections. There are also tweaks to speed and reliability. You can see the full feature list here.

    The company says people are using Paper to check out an average of 80 stories per day across 5 to 6 sections.

    The most popular sections are Facebook, Headlines, Tech, Ideas, LOL and Pop Life.

    Image via Facebook

  • Facebook Tests Saving Stories for Later, Once Again

    Apparently, Facebook is experimenting with the “save” button again.

    Josh Constine over at TechCrunch has acquired some screenshots of the new test, in which Facebook is adding a big ol’ “save” button inside articles shared on the desktop version of the site.

    When users click the save button, the link is put into a “saved” articles section on users’ timelines. In the test, users can also access their saved links from a shortcut on Facebook’s left-hand navigation bar (again, desktop only).

    The idea behind a “save” button is that users could store links that look interesting, but they simply don’t have time to digest at present. It’s a save it for later feature that would allow users to come back to all the content they might have just scrolled past. There’s a lot of stuff on one’s Facebook News Feed, and a saved links folder would help users cut through the clutter.

    If this all sounds familiar, that’s because Facebook has experimented with this same kind of thing before. Way back in 2012, the company tested a “save for later” feature that let users save posts for later viewing. At that time, Facebook tested it on both mobile an desktop. Facebook confirmed to us that they were testing the ability to save News Feed stories with a small percentage of users (the company line)–but then it just went away. Facebook scraps small tests all the time, so this wasn’t that surprising.

    But there’s always been this buzz-phrase around Facebook: “personalized newspaper.” In March of 2012, when Facebook unveiled Interest Lists, the company said that “Interest lists can help you turn Facebook into your own personalized newspaper, with special sections—or feeds—for topics that matter to you.”

    That idea of a personalized newspaper has engendered multiple News Feed tweaks. Facebook even created a standalone app around the idea of a newspaper-like feed of shared stories.

    All I’m saying is that a “save” button seems to fall in line with one of Facebook’s goals. Of course, it’s just a test–and you know what that means.

    Image via TechCrunch

  • Facebook Updates Paper App With New Features

    Facebook has released a new update for its Paper news reader app.

    It will now let users share articles via Facebook Messages, text message or email, and turn sound effects off. It also now supports languages that use multi-stage input, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

    The app was first released on February 3rd, and is only available for iPhone in the U.S. for the time being.

    “Your Paper is made of stories and themed sections, so you can follow your favorite interests,” Mark Zuckerberg said of the app when he first announced it. “The first section in Paper is your Facebook News Feed, where you’ll enjoy inspiring new designs for photos, videos, and longer written posts. You can customize Paper with a choice of more than a dozen other sections about various themes and topics—from photography and sports to food, science and design. Each section includes a rich mix of content from emerging voices and well-known publications.”

    Here’s the iTunes description:

    Explore and share stories from friends and the world in immersive designs and fullscreen, distraction-free layouts. Paper includes your Facebook News Feed and sections about your favorite topics.

    As Josh Constine at TechCrunch points out, the app’s sharing feature includes the following URL: fb.com/trypaper, which could get more people to give the app a try.

    Image via Facebook

  • Facebook ‘Paper’ News App Will Reportedly Utilize Human Editors, Instagram Photos

    Facebook is reportedly working on a standalone news app, which would rely on human editors to provide news stories from various publications.

    The app would presumably be a Flipboard-style news reader, and would make use of these hand-picked stories, as well as status updates and Instagram photos. This according to Re/code, which cites two people familiar with the matter. Rumors of the app, reportedly called “Paper,” came out earlier this month, indicating that it could launch before the month is over.

    There have been rumors of Facebook looking to launch more standalone apps, like Messenger and Poke. This would fit right along with that strategy obviously, and would also continue Facebook’s ongoing trend of a focus on news.

    The company has been making adjustments to its News Feed algorithm to promote actual news articles more than meme-like content. It’s even made a change so that links from Pages do better than text status updates.

    Earlier this month, Facebook launched a Trending feature on the user’s homepage, which highlights trends that are in the news, and points users to articles and discussion around them.

    The integration of Instagram into the new app is worth noting, as Facebook has so far done little to integrate the service into its other products.

    Image via Facebook

  • Woody Harrelson Limits ‘Wood’ From Paper Company

    Academy Award-nominated actor Woody Harrelson has made a name for himself as a talented performer. He has starred in The Hunger Games , Zombieland, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Natural Born Killers, and Out of the Furnace. Despite being recognizable for his film performances, Harrelson is also an entrepreneur. In 1998, the actor co-founded Prairie Paper Ventures along with Jeff Golfman and Clayton Manness.

    The purpose behind the company is to create paper using alternative resources such as wheat straw in place of trees. Harrelson explained, “Just know that two boxes of this paper saves one tree, so you can make a very real difference.”

    According to Golfman, “We like to say the most remarkable thing about our paper is how unremarkable it actually is where our process is unique is in the formulas [and] recipes we’re using.”

    The product is available through staples.com where a ream (composed of 80 percent wheat straw and 20 percent wood fiber) sells for $8.50.

    Harrelson’s celebrity stature has benefited the company, and Golfman was quick to acknowledge the actor’s efforts. “We didn’t know each other before we were business partners.” Golfman said before adding, “Now he’s a dear friend, very instrumental to the whole thing.”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpfQ_H7YFk8

    According to Prairie Paper’s official website, “Prairie Paper was selected as the winner of the 2013 COPA Eco-Friendly Product Award of Excellence. This award recognizes a new or significantly improved product that shows marked ability to invest it with a new form to promote significant aspects of a range of eco-friendly principles.”

    The website details additional honors such as the following: “At the 2013 Canadian Printing Awards, Prairie Paper was awarded silver in two categories; Most Environmentally Progressive Vender and Most Environmentally Friendly Printing Technology.”

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons

  • If You Buy Only One Notebook This Year, Make It This One

    Tech reviews aren’t anything but shills for the latest hardware anymore. It’s just another advertising vehicle used by a publication’s corporate masters to sell you a product under the guise of objectivity. Whatever happened to the days of honest to goodness objective reviews?

    The folks at the Edyge have come to the rescue with a completely honest review of the Paperchase Kraft Notebook. You’ll marvel at its glorious display and abundance of free apps. It’s no wonder Sonny Ericksen likes it so much.

    Well, I’m sold.

    [h/t: Reddit]

  • Laptops Made of Paper

    Laptops Made of Paper

    There is now a possibility your new computer will be made of paper. Paper PP Alloy, developed by PEGA Design, is made of the combination of recyclable paper and polypropylene. According to PEGA, Paper PP Alloy is not only environmentally friendly, but also strong, sturdy and flexible. The materials used to construct it are also easier to get ahold of compared to those needed to make plastic. PEGA also points at the Paper PP Alloy can also be used in the injection molding manufacturing process, and is fully recyclable.

    PEGA assures that we’ll all be using paper-based laptops in the near future, though some commentators suggest that Paper PP Alloy would be difficult to recycle. Either way, paper appears to be gaining ground as the new exotic material in the construction of robots as well.

    PEGA, a company defined by using unconventional materials, has previously developed a bamboo-based laptop, as well as one made from a cellulose acetate material. The company has also developed a PLA (Polylactic Acid) product, that is a biodegradable material extracted from produce. PLA is eco-friendly, and is a promising replacement for oil-based plastics.

    [Hat tip to Gizmodo.]

  • Lexmark Reveals New Line of Inkjet Printers

    On Monday, January 31st, Lexmark International revealed its new inkjet printer designed for businesses. It originates from the company’s decision to target business customers with its line of printers. The OfficeEdge series of printers is targeted for small and medium sized companies and can range in price from 249 dollars to 499 dollars. The Pro5500 models are immediately available while the Pro4000 model will be available in the month of April. A spokeswoman from Lexmark, Melissa Lucas explained to the Herald-Leader a few ways the Pro5500 was designed for businesses.

    As mentioned earlier, the line of printers is intended for business purposes and they do mesh well with business and IT environments. The Pro5500 and Pro4000 printers are definitely built for fast and heavy duty scanning and printing. The new line proudly exudes astonishing new speeds that surpasses previous models.

    The Pro5500 model features a single pass, duplex, auto document feeder, which gives the user the ability to quickly feed printable and scannable documents. Additionally the feeder has a capacity of up to 50 sheets of document. An awesome time saver, the machine has the ability to simultaneously scan two sides of a given document saving a lot of work too. The device is also able to fit a variety of paper sizes as well.

    The printers have an outstanding print quality which truly surpasses those qualities of lesser models. Featuring clear, vivid colors, deep black and katana blade sharp grays, These colors are made possible by Lexmark’s new pigment based Vizix Pro ink. This new ink is now used in both standard models and the new models as well.

    The Pro5500 features a sleek 4.3 inch touchscreen menu for quick and easy command navigation; you can even download new software and updates to the systems. Lexmark says these machines are truly the most business efficient line of printers yet. Lexmark Executive Vice President, Marty Canning had this to say about the company’s new line:

    “The tremendous business-class capabilities we’ve integrated into our new business inkjets, along with a compelling value proposition, make them viable alternatives for demanding, heavy use workgroups, our customers working in shared use environments, such as doctor offices and branch banks, will find that the OfficeEdge Series is an ideal choice for managing their workflows and professional-quality color documents.”

  • Facebook: The Paper Edition, Vol. 1

    Facebook: The Paper Edition, Vol. 1

    Back in December, I wrote about a young man in Vienna who requested all the information that Facebook had collected on him over the year. To the surprise of many, his request yielded a delivery of a whopping 1,222 PDF files containing every single bit of Facebook activity he’d had since joining the site.

    While that’s a lot, that’s specific to only one person’s account. Now what about the whole Facebook monster – what would that look like on paper? CartridgeSave, UK’s largest online cartridge retailer, put together an inforgraphic that illustrates exactly how much information data has in their vaults. Honestly, I doubt there are enough paper sources – trees and recycled alike – to accomodate the staggering requirement to print out Facebook.