Did Facebook just do a facelift?

Tejas Tagra -

This week was prominent in the tech industry. We saw the delivery of the next MacBook Pro line-up and, we also Facebook rebranding itself from a social media company to metaverse centric company but let’s be honest, who are they trying to fool? Both of us know, Facebook is stealing data regardless of their name. But anyway- let’s dive right into the tech aspect.

This week began with Apple delivering its latest MacBook Pros with the M1 Max and M1 Pro chips and, the real-life results of these chipsets were astonishing! The new design 🤤 may not look like the best improvement and, people may criticise Apple for the notch but, it is astounding in real life! People reported zero hindrance in the user experience with the notch, yeah, people who have a problem with the notch can go and buy windows laptops :) Apple once again brought a bold change to their products. Apple also started delivering the AirPods 3 and, reviews are positive! People say that these are the most comfortable AirPods ever made. Even without noise cancelling, the AirPods maintain their best in class reputation. Another plus point is the improved battery life. Let's not sugarcoat, the battery life is still not the best but it is an exponential improvement over the first model. Oh- also- the new AirPods pack a MagSafe charger bundled in the box! So no more cables ever again! Making your buy worth it! You can charge all your iPhones with the bundled MagSafe charger, how cool is that? huh?

This was a big week for Apple, along with the MacBooks, Apple also started rolling out macOS 12 Monterey to all compatible MacBooks. Monterey brings a ton of refinements to the user experience and improves your day to day usage. Some highlighted features of Monterey include: improved FaceTime with SharePlay, Focus Modes, the new and improved Safari, Quick notes and, the list is long! Check out more about Monterey here! Apple also rolled out iOS 15.1 to its iPhone with SharePlay and ProRes for the iPhone 13 Pros. SharePlay in simple terms is just a way of sharing our content on FaceTime calls. The breakthrough here is the ProRes. ProRes allows users to film 8K video on their iPhone with lossless technology, so users can now film and edit their video content on their iPhones and Macs without a hassle. To you and me, it may not make an impact but professional content creators started drooling when Apple released this update.

The most influential change this week was announced by Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Yes, you read it right in the first paragraph! Facebook is rebranding its company to Meta! As Zuckerberg calls it, Meta is a social technology company. Meta’s focus would be to bring the metaverse to life and connect people. Okay, so what is the metaverse and, why did Facebook make this change? Facebook made this change due to a couple of reasons. Zuckerberg said that the company has outgrown its problematic social media app and had grown into something more significant with various technologies and not just a social media platform. Zuckerberg said, “From now on, we are going to be the metaverse first. Not Facebook first.” He also went on to say, “Facebook is one of the most-used products in the world. But increasingly, it doesn’t encompass everything that we do. Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it cannot possibly represent everything we are doing.” The metaverse in simple terms in a virtual environment that will allow people to interact by simply looking at screens. It will encompass virtual and augmented reality to facilitate communication and build interlocking communities.

Now for some not so significant changes. You can now take transfer your WhatsApp chats between iPhone and Android. Yes! You heard that right! This might seem insignificant but, this has been a feature request ever since WhatsApp launched. This week was also big became you can not get Apple Music on PS5! Wow! This has been an incredible week for the tech community, hasn’t it? Years of begging and Apple finally listened. You can now get a full functioning Apple Music app for the PS5 and, it also allows you to stream in the background while playing games!

The Google Pixel 6 lineup competes with the big players, it is the first time Google has made an effort to make its phone an irresistible package. The Pixel 6 is perfect for the everyday user and packs some compelling features. But unfortunately, it will not be coming to India. Instead, India will get the JioPhone. India’s telecommunications giant, Jio and Google partnered to make a phone. A phone specifically designed for the Indian market. They came together to build the JioPhone. The phone will feature a custom version of Android, Pragati OS and, can still work with the Play Store! The phone also features some handy language features and would come with inbuilt Snapchat Lenses for the camera. The phone features a 5.45-inch display with a 13-megapixel rear camera with support for HDR. The screen is 60Hz all panel with Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The phone would have dual-sim capabilities with a 3,500 mAh battery. Plus, the phone comes with 32GB of expandable storage with 2GB RAM. The phone will be available starting 4th November 2021 at Rs. 6,499.

Now for some headlines

  • Microsoft overtakes Apple to become the world’s most valuable company.
  • Apple reported a $6 bn fall in revenue due to the chip shortage.
  • You can now make end-to-end encrypted calls through Google Fi, so no one, not even Google can listen to your calls. This feature may already exist for FaceTime and WhatsApp calls but, this is the first time end-to-end encryption will be available on a traditional call from your carrier.
  • The popular gaming title, GTA San Andreas, is coming back! and this time in virtual reality! Yes, GTA SA is being developed for the Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality Headset, allowing nostalgic gamers to experience the game with a new perspective altogether.
  • Windows 11 is rolling out to everyone! Yes, all compatible devices, even custom built PC can now update to Windows 11 hassle-free without any additional cost.


That’s all this week! A lot of information to process. Yes, hopefully, the coming week also packs some exciting leaks and rumours. So let's catch up next week then, till then make sure to update your devices :)