TECH THAT...

A ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST NEWS IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

FACEBOOK MESSENGER JOINS THE DARK SIDE

FACEBOOK has finally jumped on the current vogue for “dark-modes” in apps, with the roll out of an alternative white-on-black view for its Messenger app.

It’s been in public testing for a few weeks – accessed by sending a half-moon emoji to one of your contacts – but is now starting to roll out to everyone, accessed in the settings menu.

It’s nothing too fancy – when on, it turns the screen black and the text white instead of the other way round (pictured above), with a few design tweaks for legibility.

Why would you want to turn it on? Some people find it easier to read in low-light, and it also saves battery power – you’re not lighting up the whole screen…

Rumour is Facebook will be adding the option to its main app pretty soon, joining the likes of Twitter and YouTube in offering dark options.

And we’re also expecting Apple to add a system-wide “dark-mode” option to iOS when it reveals its next version for the iPhone and iPad OS at its World Wide Developers Conference in San Jose, kicking off on June 3.

These are dark days indeed.

DISNEY UNVEILS STREAMING TV

HOT on the heels of Apple’s reveal of its very own TV steaming service comes news that entertainment giant Disney is to do the same.

Disney+ will not launch until November 12, and will be US-only at first. The entertainment giant has said nothing about a UK launch, but you can sign up to be notified of news of this at disneyplus.com.

The service itself looks like a very compelling offering – not least because Disney plans to charge only $7-a-month for it, comparing favourably with Netflix’s $13.99 for its top tier (they do a basic $7.99 offering, but you can watch only one stream at a time, and there’s no HD).

Disney will offer a wide range of content from all its famous franchises – including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.

It looks as though it be well-worth $7, and we should be keeping our fingers crossed that the service arrives in the UK sooner rather than later.