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Facebook Announces ChatBots, Password-Less Login Kit And Universal Save Button

Everyone Hates Passwords, So Facebook Now Has An Alternative
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., speaks during the Facebook F8 Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Zuckerberg outlined a 10-year plan to alter the way people interact with each other and the brands that keep advertising dollars rolling at the world's largest social network. Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook Inc., speaks during the Facebook F8 Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Zuckerberg outlined a 10-year plan to alter the way people interact with each other and the brands that keep advertising dollars rolling at the world's largest social network. Photographer: Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg walked on to the stage in his signature grey T-shirt and blue jeans for the keynote of Facebook's F8 developer conference. Within half an hour of his speech, he covered topics ranging from messaging to live-streaming drones, and from free basics to virtual reality glasses. Here are some of the key announcements from the event.

  • Facebook messenger was the star of the event. Zuckerberg said Facebook-owned messenger and WhatsApp process 60 billion messages per day. That is almost three times more than SMS. He also said that messenger now has 900 million active users. In January, the app had reached 800 million active users.

  • The social network also introduced chat bots on the messenger. Now you can ask Wall Street Journal to send you top news or a food service to deliver you a pizza, all in messenger. From last year, Facebook had allowed certain services to integrate with the messenger. In US, people were able to call an Uber from the app. Apps like Telegram, Kik, and Slack already allow bots inside their app for purposes like commerce or utility services. Although Facebook didn't launch their much-anticipated bot M. They said since its capabilities are vast so we want to ensure it comes out as a complete product.
  • Facebook also announced a 10-year roadmap to the future. Three key points were connectivity, AR & VR, and Artificial Intelligence. Zuckerberg highlighted Free Basics, internet access to all and education under connectivity. He also said smart messaging platforms and apps will be the future of AI. "A lot of immersive content will be available in the form of AR and VR in the future," he added.
  • Zuckerberg put a lot of emphasis on live streaming as well. "By 2020 70% of mobile traffic will be video," he said. Facebook also opened up their live streaming to other apps. Zuckerberg even showed a DJI drone live streaming the event through Facebook's live video API. The social network will also allow apps such as vine to shoot video profile pictures of 7 seconds.
  • Facebook: By 2020, 70% of all mobile traffic will be video. #F8pic.twitter.com/jMSfjHh6aD

    — Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) April 12, 2016

  • Facebook said everyone hates password so they have come up with a new solution for login for apps called AccountKit. This will allow users to just enter their phone number of email ID on login screen, then enter the code they receive through SMS or email to login. Facebook had partnered with Indian music app Saavn to test this and they gained 33 percent in sign ups.
  • The social network announced two new universal features as well. First, Facebook will now have a quote button enabled in browsers so you can select a part of the text in an article and the article will be shared to Facebook via a button with the selected text as the status message. Second, was the universal save button, which essentially acts like Pocket or Google Bookmarks. The company said the save button now has 250 million users per month in the Facebook app.
  • Everyone remembers that picture of Zuckerberg walking through the sea of people wearing VR headsets in Samsung's conference. Yesterday he showed his vision of augmented reality glasses. Apart from that he said that in future AR and VR will became very social features. Facebook also announced a stunning 360 camera to shoot videos for VR. "Over the next 10 years, the form factor's just going to keep on getting smaller and smaller, and eventually we're going to have what looks like normal-looking glasses," he said about VR
  • Last but not least Zuckerberg also took a dig at Donald Trump. He didn't take the name of Trump but pointed at him through a statement. "As I look around and I travel around the world, I'm starting to see people and nations turning inward, against this idea of a connected world and a global community. I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others. For blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, reducing trade, and in some cases around the world even cutting access to the internet," Zuckerberg said.
  • Which of the above features are you excited to use?

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    This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.