NEW YORK: President Obama finally announcing his support of regulating Internet service as a utility, rather than as an information service. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler subsequently came out against that proposal, which must be frustrating for the President who appointed him.
Next up, we ruminated about the crazy changes happening at Microsoft, inspired by the company making its .NET framework and runtime open source. Microsoft is making its most reliable income streams free and embracing other platforms how can they do that without killing their revenues.
A recently launched app called Current turns Facebook into a native application for the Mac desktop. The app offers an alternative to regular checking the Facebook site in an open browser tab, with support for Facebook Messenger, photos, videos, customizable notifications, and more.
Current is effectively a replacement for using Facebook via the browser, creator Scott Kyle explains. Kyle previously worked at Apple on iOS WebKit and iAd frameworks, so he knows a little something about Apple’s design aesthetic and that shows in Current.
With Current, Facebook feels almost like part of the Mac OS X user interface, with a shortcut in Mac’s menu bar for accessing your buddy list, inbox and notifications. The app also lets you customize these notifications so you can minimize distractions while you’re trying to work. And when you’re ready to respond, each conversation pops out into its own window, allowing you to drag it around your desktop and place it anywhere you like.
There are over 500 million active Facebook Messenger users according to Facebook, and they are very under-served on the desktop,” he says. “All the other touches of the app were created to make the experience better than using a browser, and are in the vein of ‘what would Facebook do if they weren’t confined to a browser?’”
Current offers another option. With chat, notifications and friend requests in the menu bar and Mac OS X Notification Center, you can stay in touch without having to constantly check in on Facebook.
