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Safety Checked in? Facebook’s Community Help now lets you help others out

Glad you’re safe, now help others out

Facebook is tuning up its Safety Check feature to include actual offers of help to people in need. That’s right: If Safety Check activates in your area, you’ll be able to help out with material support like food, clothing, or even temporary housing. The feature is called Community Help and is just one of the latest improvements to Safety Check, which started out as a simple way to let your Facebook friends know you’re safe.

Now, Facebook says that they’re working with several response agencies to, first, make sure Safety Check is activated for an actual incident and not some… internet rumor, and to quickly coordinate help for those affected. If you’re in the area of an incident and check in as safe, you’re shown a special Community Help page where you can contribute to helping out. If you need help, you can request assistance.

Truly ‘Ludicrous speed’

No real shock here, but Tesla’s latest and greatest version of the Model S, the P100D, just left every other supercar behind in the 0 to 60mph race with an astounding time of just 2.28 seconds. That’s faster than, well, anything you can buy that’s stock and street legal, according to Motor Trend. But there’s some sorta bad news as well: you won’t be able to get that kind of power output and hyperspace speed as an option in the upcoming budget Model 3 Tesla.

That info comes in a tweet from Elon Musk himself, who responded to a question on Twitter about the battery option by saying the wheelbase of the Model 3 is too small to accommodate the big battery. But batteries, unlike gas engines, are highly configurable, and you can bet that battery capacity will continue to improve as well, so in time, future versions of the Model III might come close. Musk also says that battery improvements are “coming soon.”

Just imagine the NDAs these people have

Think Apple is letting its Apple TV plans slide? Doesn’t look like it, as Bloomberg is reporting that Apple just stole away Amazon’s head TV guy. Tim Twerdahl, who was director of Jeff Bezo’s Fire TV efforts and is also a veteran of Netflix and Roku, is now VP of Apple TV product marketing. Pete Distad, who held the position previously, will now work directly with Eddie Cue on securing content deals. Distad previously worked at Hulu.

Apple is seen as lagging in the streaming game despite solid sales and reviews of the Apple TV streaming device. However, Apple trails behind Amazon in the crowded marketplace, which also includes the popular Roku and Chromecast devices. We’ll see if this latest chess move between the major players can lift Apple’s fortunes.

Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
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