Facebook To Release New Streaming Device

Facebook has reached out to Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Disney and Amazon about putting their services on a brand new streaming device the social media company is planning on releasing, according to reports.

The product is going by the code name Catalina, with plans for a fall release. It will have a remote and emulate other streaming peripherals like the Apple TV or Roku.

The product is going to use the same video-calling tech that Facebook uses for its Portal speaker, and the device is going to mostly be a way for Messenger and WhatsApp users to video chat with one another.

In other Facebook product news, the company recently  revealed that it’s making progress on developing its brain-reading computer.

The social media giant announced the program in 2017.

“We are working on a system that will let people type with their brains,” the company said at the time. “Specifically, we have a goal of creating a silent speech system capable of typing 100 words per minute straight from your brain — that’s five times faster than you can type on a smartphone today.

“This isn’t about decoding your random thoughts. Think of it like this: You take many photos and choose to share only some of them. Similarly, you have many thoughts and choose to share only some of them,” the company continued.

“This is about decoding those words you’ve already decided to share by sending them to the speech center of your brain. It’s a way to communicate with the speed and flexibility of your voice and the privacy of text. We want to do this with non-invasive, wearable sensors that can be manufactured at scale.”

The company has been working to make the technology a reality through a partnership between Facebook Reality Labs, a division that studies long-term tech products and hardware, and researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, according to CNBC.

A study was published on Tuesday (July 30) in the journal Nature Communications, explaining how the researchers used the brain-computer interface to decode speech directly from the human brain onto a screen. For the study, researchers worked with three patients undergoing treatment for epilepsy who had electrodes implanted into their brains.