Facebook users in France were able to send vanishing missives with its smartphone Messenger application on Thursday, ramping up the challenge to Snapchat Inc.
“We’re conducting a small test in France of a feature that allows people to send messages that disappear an hour after they’re sent,” Facebook Inc said. “Disappearing messages gives people another fun option to choose from when they communicate on Messenger.”
Tapping an hourglass icon on the top right of the screen in Messenger would allow users to send messages designed to vanish an hour after they are sent.
The feature is being tested on versions of the Messenger application for mobile devices powered by Apple Inc or Android software. If it proves successful, the feature would likely be made available in other countries.
Making ephemeral messages an option in Messenger is a direct challenge to smartphone-messaging rival Snapchat.
Snapchat’s appeal has been the premise that messages disappear shortly after being viewed, providing users a sense of being able to keep pictures or videos private and ephemeral.
Los Angeles-based Snapchat rocketed to popularity in the US, especially among teenagers, after the initial app was released in September 2011. Snapchat rejected a US$3 billion takeover offer from Facebook in 2013.
Facebook earlier this year began testing a Messenger app virtual assistant that the leading social network said goes beyond artificial intelligence programs already on the market.
The personal digital assistant — dubbed “M” — completes tasks along with seeking out information at the behest of users.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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