Lots of companies now want your video chats – even Facebook


Facebook’s new video chat service called Messenger Rooms on a mobile phone. The New Facebook service uses virtual rooms similar to those that exist for text chat within Messenger. These let you open the door so your friends can swing by unannounced, or schedule a dinner party for 8pm on a Friday. — Facebook via AP

OAKLAND, California: Amid the coronavirus pandemic, this has become an era of Zoom birthdays, virtual happy hours, FaceTime story times and Google yoga classes. Our friends, coworkers, teachers – and doctors, if we're lucky – now largely exist as faces in rectangles on our phones and computer screens.

With people’s social lives moved indefinitely online, a bevy of big and small tech companies want to unseat fast-rising Zoom from its perch atop the heap, given security concerns and other issues with the video-calling service. There were already several smaller contenders for the throne, and now there's a big one as well: Facebook.

Win a prize this Mother's Day by subscribing to our annual plan now! T&C applies.

Monthly Plan

RM13.90/month

Annual Plan

RM12.33/month

Billed as RM148.00/year

1 month

Free Trial

For new subscribers only


Cancel anytime. No ads. Auto-renewal. Unlimited access to the web and app. Personalised features. Members rewards.
Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
   

Next In Tech News

New York governor regrets saying Black kids in the Bronx don’t know what a computer is
Biden to unveil $3.3 billion Microsoft AI investment in battleground Wisconsin
Apple’s China iPhone shipments soar 12% in March after discounts
Police in Vietnam arrest 20 for hacking Facebook accounts
Scammers use trojan horse virus to dupe 79-year-old SG man of RM605,000 of life savings
Hong Kong police foil dramatic robbery attempt caught on CCTV
UK tells tech firms to 'tame algorithms' to protect children
SoftBank in talks to buy AI chipmaker Graphcore, Bloomberg reports
Report: Chinese unicorn Zhipu AI to launch Sora rival as early as 2024 amid local race to catch up with OpenAI
Google Wallet now supports Maybank credit and debit cards, offering up to RM10 cashback on first use

Others Also Read