New Zealand seeks international team-ups in online government services

Representational Image : Reuters

  07 Nov 2016 , 15:21

New Zealand is looking to boost international cooperation in providing government services online, Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne said on Monday. Dunne will represent New Zealand at the third meeting of the D5 Digital Leaders Summit in South Korea, from November 10 to 12, Xinhua news agency reported. The D5 is a group of five nations — New Zealand, Britain, South Korea, Estonia and Israel — considered among the most advanced in the provision of online government services.

“New Zealand is well placed in playing its part in this grouping — it is already government policy here to be achieving 70 per cent of New Zealands’ most common interactions with government online by 2017, and we are keen both to share our experiences and learn from others,” Dunne said in a statement.

“While all this will be routine for those directly involved in the ICT (information and communications technology) world, the challenge of digital transformation is to ensure it resonates with the average citizen. It cannot just be about system upgrades; it has to demonstrate a positive, specific and noticeable benefit to the individual to be sustainable,” he said.

New Zealand authorities had renewed almost 706,000 adult passports online since November 2012, Dunne said, citing an example of how ordinary citizens could interact with government over the Internet.

At the conclusion of the summit, Dunne will sign on behalf of New Zealand the Busan Declaration, reaffirming the efforts of the D5 member countries to strengthen cooperation in the field of digital government among members and with the international community.

IANS

Facebook announces Masks, an AR overlay feature for Live similar to Snapchat Lenses

By Aditya Madanapalle /  28 Oct 2016 , 08:48

Facebook has announced augmented reality realtime overlays to Live videos. The feature is called Masks, and is similar to Snapchat Lenses. The immediate roll out is for iOS users in US, UK and New Zealand. However, over the course of a few months, the feature will be making it to Android devices on more countries. Public figures using Facebook Mentions will also have access to the Masks feature, so fans can see their favorite celebrities using Masks in their Lives.

The Masks feature is launched just in time for Halloween, and there are a few limited edition Masks that will be available only for a short time. The limited edition masks are a pumpkin and a witch. The skull, evil queen and other masks will be available for use in Facebook Lives even after Halloween is over. Other options include a clown, a panda, and a flower in your hair Mask.

Once a user goes live, a magic wand icon appears on the top right of the screen. Tapping on it opens up a creative tools tray which includes filters, drawing and now, Masks. The masks can be scrolled through, and switched in realtime. Tapping on the close icon on the top right of the screen stops the creative tools overlay. The first Mask, at the very right of the Mask list, is a no Mask option.

Facebook is also introducing a limited edition reactions bar just for Haloween. This replacement will occour in only some countries. The Like button shows an animated skeletal hand. The Love reaction shows the heart being chomped by mysterious invisible teeth. The laughter reaction shows a laughing witch. The wow button is a floating ghost. Frankenstein sheds a tear instead of the sad animated emoji. Finally, there is an angry pumpkin with red glowing eyes. Check out the animations.

The announcements are the latest in a series of steps Facebook has taken to openly imitate Snapchat features. Facebook is obsessed with owning a Snapchat like app. Facebook has been testing an photo uploader for iOS with Snapchat styled filters. In Brazil and Canada, Facebook had been testing a Snapchat style homescreen on its Facebook App. Most of the home screen is taken up by the view from the selfie camera, with an option for applying realtime filters similar to Snapchat Lenses.