Facebook Messenger is testing Instant Games, a new HTML5 based game platform

By tech2 News Staff /  07 Nov 2016 , 13:52

Facebook is working on introducing a new platform called ‘Instant Games’, which will rival the native mobile ecosystems established by Google and Apple with the help of their mobile operating systems. Facebook has not been able to get back into the gaming sector on mobile devices despite a proper platform on desktop devices.

According to reports, the company is following up on the success of inbuilt games like Basketball in Facebook Messenger. Even though there is no precise date of launch for this new platform, some of the games are already available to play. Since it is yet to launch officially, you can’t share your score or invite others to play the game. These HTML5 games can be embedded anywhere, right from web pages to Messenger screens to bots. This can be the strategy that Facebook has long been waiting for to drive up user interaction on Facebook Messenger as people can play and challenge their friends on the platform.

Image Credit: TechCrunch

According to the report by TechCrunch, the company will soon launch a proper API and development kit for third party developers. Some of the games set to be part of the platform are already online, though they seem to be geo-locked and may not be playable at all locations. But one of the most important factors is that the games will not be heavy in terms of file size of the data files.

This way a large number of people can play these games in the Messenger without any additional download. One thing to note here is that this is not the first attempt by Facebook to enter the mobile gaming market, since its first attempt went down the drain in 2012. This comes right after the launch of Facebook Gameroom, a new offering by Facebook to target PC gaming platform like Steam.

Azure SQL Database Now Supports Backup Retention for 10 Years

 By Luke Jones - 

October 31, 2016 9:27 pm CET 

Microsoft announced that the backup retention of Azure SQL Database has been significantly increased. The service will also make automatic weekly backups of all databases.

Azure SQL Database now support up to 10 years of Backup Retention, says Microsoft. The announcement was made on the company’s official Azure blog. Principal Program Manager of Azure SQL Database, Alexander Noscov, said the change makes it easier for customers.

This ease of use means customers can enable long-term retention in a few clicks. With this new feature you can extend the retention period from 35 days to as much as 10 year. That’s quite a difference for sure. Azure SQL Database now also supports backups that are stored within the Azure Backup Service Vault.


To support data retention requirements, Azure SQL Database now backs up more often. Indeed, Microsoft says the service will create a full backup every week for each database.

In the blog post, Noscov explains how the backups work:

“Once you add the LTR policy to a database using Azure Portal or API, these weekly backups will be automatically copied to your own Azure Backup Service Vault. If your databases are encrypted with TDE, that’s no problem — the backups are automatically encrypted at rest.


The Services Vault will automatically delete your expired backups based on their timestamp, so there’s no need to manage the backup schedule or worry about the cleanup of the old files. The following diagram shows how to add LTR policy in the Portal.”
Azure SQL Database Temporal Tables

At the start of this month, Microsoft introduced Temporal Tables to Azure SQL Database. The service allows customers to track their data history easily. Some of the uses for these tables include:
Supporting data auditing in your applications
Analyzing trends or detect anomalies over time
Easily implementing slowly changing dimension pattern
Performing fine-grained row repairs in case of accidental data errors made by humans or applications

Why data center managers shouldn't overlook object storage backends

Object storage is mainly associated with web-based applications and the cloud. But, the backend is proving to meet the needs of traditional NFS use cases as well.

By Keith Townsend | October 7, 2016, 7:49 AM PST

When hearing the term object storage, the first thing that comes to mind may be cloud. Amazon has made S3 synonymous with the term, and it's common to see object storage in cloud-native applications. However, outside of cloud-native applications, there is plenty of interest to the enterprise. Enterprise data center managers would do well to pay attention to object storage backends.
A matter of perspective

It's tough to make a case for object storage at the presentation layer in the enterprise. Solutions such as Dropbox utilize object storage on the backend. However, the front end is a traditional, tree-based presentation layer. Even the web interface for Dropbox presents the common file/folder view of your data.

It's the backend that offers an interesting objection for enterprises. I asked storage expert and consultant Enrico Signoretti of Juku.IT about enterprise use cases, and he said that the API nature of object storage is an awkward fit within the enterprise. Signoretti advised to look beyond the front-end, as object storage offers many advantages for backend systems. And, IT vendors have started to pay attention to the qualities of object storage for enterprise solutions.
Scalable backend

Object storage doesn't carry with it the burdens of a file system. Object storage relies on the application to present data in an organized manner to end users. As such, object storage systems don't

Microsoft, Facebook or Google: Whose bot building platform developers prefer?

By tech2 News Staff /  03 Oct 2016 , 17:54

Microsoft went all out earlier this year saying that it is betting big on bots. Satya Nadella who believes that apps will replace bots recently revealed that 45000 developers are using the Microsoft Framework.

It should be noted that using the Microsoft Bot Framework is not limited to Skype, bots can be created for Facebook Messenger, and also other chatting platforms. According to VentureBeat, 34000 developers are building bots on Facebook Messenger. The reportfurther adds that Messenger VP David Marcus had