Technology - Google News

Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are down - CNET
Facebook Building a Version of Instagram For Kids Under 13 - Bloomberg
Apple and Epic’s top execs plan to testify live in May’s Fortnite app store trial - The Verge

Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are down - CNET

Posted: 19 Mar 2021 11:20 AM PDT

Popular apps Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were down.

James Martin/CNET

Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger appear to be working again after widespread issues plagued the apps for roughly an hour on Friday. Issues started to pop up with the three Facebook-owned apps at around 10 a.m. PT, according to reports on DownDetector.

People, including us here at CNET, ran into errors when trying to send messages on WhatsApp and Messenger. The Instagram app wasn't showing new posts and instead said "Couldn't Refresh Feed," and some users reported seeing a "5xx Server Error" on the desktop version of the site.

Facebook said the issues have now been resolved, but the company didn't provide specifics on what caused the problems.

"Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have trouble accessing some Facebook services," a spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement. "We resolved this issue for everyone, and we apologize for any inconvenience."

In a tweet earlier Friday, the Facebook Gaming account said there were "a number of issues currently affecting Facebook products, including gaming streams."

There are a number of issues currently affecting Facebook products, including gaming streams. Multiple teams are working on it, and we'll update you when we can.
— Facebook Gaming (@FacebookGaming) March 19, 2021

In usual fashion, many people turned to other social media sites to commiserate, sparking trending topics on Twitter.

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Facebook Building a Version of Instagram For Kids Under 13 - Bloomberg

Posted: 18 Mar 2021 03:18 PM PDT

Facebook Inc. is building a version of the photo-sharing tool Instagram specifically for children under the age of 13, an effort to get its popular products into the hands of the next generation of internet users.

The new app was announced internally Thursday, but is not yet launched. Instagram currently requires that users must be at least 13 years old. BuzzFeed News previously reported on Instagram Kids.

Instagram, bought by Facebook almost a decade ago for $1 billion, has become one of its most popular products at a time when its main social networking property has failed to resonate with some younger users.

"Increasingly kids are asking their parents if they can join apps that help them keep up with their friends," Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement. "Right now there aren't many options for parents, so we're working on building additional products -- like we did with Messenger Kids -- that are suitable for kids, managed by parents. We're exploring bringing a parent-controlled experience to Instagram to help kids keep up with their friends, discover new hobbies and interests, and more."

Messenger Kids is a version of Facebook's messaging app for pre-teens. That app includes a number of parental controls, but a flaw previously allowed some kids to chat with people their parents had not approved. The incident sparked concern from regulators that it didn't adequately protect children.

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Apple and Epic’s top execs plan to testify live in May’s Fortnite app store trial - The Verge

Posted: 19 Mar 2021 11:52 PM PDT

It's hard to believe it's only been seven months since Apple booted Fortnite off the App Store and Epic Games sprung its antitrust trap, but you won't have to wait much longer before the behind-the-scenes legal machinations give way to courtroom drama — and, it seems, until Apple and Epic's top executives take the stand.

In a legal filing Friday evening, Apple revealed that CEO Tim Cook, SVP Craig Federighi, and former marketing chief and current App Store boss Phil Schiller intend to testify live and in person in the courtroom, among many other tentative witnesses. Epic Games' CEO Tim Sweeney and VP Mark Rein should be there as well, plus Facebook's VP of gaming, a Microsoft VP of Xbox business development, and quite a number of directors on both sides.

Schiller is expected to spend the most time on the witness stand by far at an estimated 11 hours of examination and cross-examination, which makes sense. Not only has he been in charge of the App Store that's at the center of the case, but some of his emails and the emails of his subordinates have been under scrutiny — both for this case and in the big tech antitrust hearing last year, one which ended with the House Judiciary Committee concluding that "Apple exerts monopoly power in the mobile app store market."

Apple says its executives "look forward to sharing with the court":

Our senior executives look forward to sharing with the court the very positive impact the App Store has had on innovation, economies across the world and the customer experience over the last 12 years. We feel confident the case will prove that Epic purposefully breached its agreement solely to increase its revenues, which is what resulted in their removal from the App Store. By doing that, Epic circumvented the security features of the App Store in a way that would lead to reduced competition and put consumers' privacy and data security at tremendous risk.

The trial should tentatively begin May 3rd, and is expected to run several weeks.

You can find the full list of tentative witnesses and those who'll be tentatively deposed below.

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