Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for detecting sources of computer network failures. One of the methods includes identifying a network flow in a computer network between a source and a destination; performing a first probe to determine whether there is end-to-end connectivity between the source and the destination; in response to determining that there is no end-to-end connectivity between the host and the destination, performing one or more additional probes including a second probe to determine whether each hop in the path of the network flow between the source and the destination is operational including requesting that the source transmit a respective first trace diagnostic packet to each hop in the path of the network flow; and determining whether at least one link of the computer network that is part of the path of the network flow has failed based on the results.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for performing dynamic control of social messaging platform client-side and server-side behavior according to current and historical environmental, service, and application conditions.

Abstract: A method includes selecting two or more frames from a plurality of frames of a video, downscaling the two or more frames, estimating a flow data based on an optical flow associated with the downscaled two or more frames, upscaling the flow data, generating a refined flow data based on the upscaled flow data and the downscaled two or more frames, upscaling the refined flow data, and synthesizing an image based on the upscaled refined flow data and the two or more frames.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for load balancing between a set of servers. Subsets of servers from the set of servers are assigned, via deterministic subsetting, to respective clients from a set of clients. Unlike conventional load balancing techniques using deterministic subsetting, the disclosed techniques enable configuring a client to distribute different amounts of load among the servers in its server subset. Techniques for constructing the subsets are also described.

Abstract: A method of operating a messaging platform, including: obtaining, for a first profile of the messaging platform, a trending entity within a first topic of interest to the first profile; accessing a first plurality of messages classified as the first topic of interest; retrieving a subset of the first plurality of messages corresponding to the trending entity; and sending content associated with the subset for display to a user of the first profile.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for posting messages on a social messaging platform. One of the methods includes providing a message composition interface; receiving a user request to include a promotion with a composed message; in response to the request, processing the content of the composed message and the user's profile on the social messaging platform to determine one or more social signals; computing an engagement score for each user in a pool of users, wherein the engagement score for each user indicates the likelihood that the user will engage with the message; selecting candidate users from the pool of users; selecting a plurality of target users from the candidate users based on a promotion value and the respective engagement scores; and posting the message on the platform including adding the message to a message stream associated with the selected target users.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for identifying devices. One of the methods includes receiving one or more data packets at a network location from a client device, the one or more data packets being associated with a connection request from the client device seeking a connection with particular network resources; identifying transport layer information from the one or more data packets; extracting particular values of the transport layer information; generating a cryptographic hash value from the extracted values, wherein the hash value provides an identifier for the client device; using the identifier for the client device to monitor subsequent connection requests from the client device; and in response to the monitoring, determining whether to perform denial of service (DoS) mitigation with respect to the client device.

Abstract: According to an aspect, a system includes a messaging platform configured to facilitate an exchange of messages between user accounts of the messaging platform, and a client application configured to communicate with the messaging platform. The messaging platform is configured to store a UI process flow relating to the on-boarding process, where the UI process flow defines a flow logic for a plurality of nodes representing tasks to be executed by the client application, and each node is defined by one or more generic UI components and configuration data that configures the generic UI components to render UI objects on a user interface of the client application. The messaging platform is configured to modify one or more of the tasks or the flow logic to change at least one aspect of the on-boarding process without requiring the client application to implement a software update.

Abstract: A method for presenting stories includes creating clusters of documents. Each cluster corresponds to a story. A computer processor generates, for each cluster, a global ranking of social networking messages about the story. The method further includes identifying, for each cluster, a representative social networking message according to the global ranking, selecting, by the computer processor, for a user, a subset of the clusters, and presenting, to the user, the representative social networking message for each cluster in the subset of the clusters.

Abstract: A method for testing web services includes obtaining, by a new version of a service deployed on a network framework, a request and an old response to the request generated by an old version of the service, generating, by the new version of the service, a new response to the request, and generating, by a comparison tool built into the network framework and accessible to the new version of the service, a comparison of the old response and the new response.

Abstract: A method for integrating audio recording and distributing. The method can include: detecting a user interface selection made by a user of a computing device; recording an audio snippet in response to the user interface selection; generating, by the first computing device, a social network message including an indication of the audio snippet; and transmitting the social network message to an external server for broadcasting to a set of user accounts of a real-time messaging platform.

Abstract: A method of placing advertisements involves sending, from a device, a request for at least one ad position, receiving, in response to the request, ad positioning information specifying an ad position in a stream and a related content position in the stream, determining, by the device, that a related content item is present in the stream, and overriding, by the device, the ad positioning information by placing an advertisement associated with the related content in the related content position within the stream.

Abstract: A method and system for capturing, sharing, viewing, and/or displaying one or more videos. A user of a computing device performs a gesture involving contacting a touch sensitive display. In response, a video segment is captured while the user maintains contact with the touch sensitive display. Upon releasing contact with the touch sensitive display, recording of the video segment is ceased. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user may then record one or more additional video segments to be included in a video vignette.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for synchronising advertisements published on a group communications network with advertisements in a broadcast, the apparatus comprising: a receiver for receiving broadcast data; a communications interface in communication with a group communications network; a broadcast data content extractor adapted to derive search terms and advert data from the received broadcast data, the advert data relating to an advert received in the broadcast data, wherein on receipt of a query by a user of the group communications network, the query comprising one or more of the search terms, the communications interface publishes a group communication comprising at least a portion of the advert data on the group communications network.

Abstract: A method for operating a server system. The method includes: receiving, by the server system, a request for a plurality of assets in a first format to fill an ad unit, in an application executing on a mobile device, with a native advertisement; receiving, by the server system and from an ad source over a network, ad content in a second format; converting, by a converter of the server system, the ad content in the second format to the plurality of assets in the first format; and sending, by the server system, the plurality of assets to the application, where the application fills the ad unit with the native advertisement including at least one of the plurality of assets.

Abstract: A system and method for message analysis, including: receiving, from a client device, a reporting request identifying a first broadcasted message authored by a context account of a messaging platform; identifying, by a computer processor, engagement data corresponding to engagement with the first broadcasted message by a set of engaging accounts of the messaging platform that engaged with the first broadcasted message; generating, using the engagement data and by the computer processor, propagation data representing propagation of the first broadcasted message in a connection graph of the messaging platform; and providing the propagation data for the client device in response to the reporting request, where the client device is operable to display a visual representation of the propagation data.

Abstract: A messaging system automatically populates a stream of messages using only a seed selected by the requesting account holder. In one embodiment, the seed includes the streams of one or more of the “top” accounts of the messaging system. Here, “top” is according to any one of a number of different metrics stored in the messaging system. With knowledge of the seed, the messaging system automatically populates a stream for the requesting account holder, without requiring any other input. As a result, an account holder is provided with a fully functioning stream with very little effort or knowledge required on their part.

Abstract: Images of key phrases or hashtags appear on televised feeds. Image processing techniques, such as feature locating algorithms or character recognition algorithms, can be used to locate the images of key phrases in the images. Then, character recognition algorithms can be used to generate a list of candidate key phrases for the key phrase in image format. However, identification of the key phrase in image format is not completely accurate with conventional methods. Social media content items associated with the televised feed are used to filter the list of candidate key phrases. Using known information about the televised feed as well as about key phrases in text format in the social media content items, candidate key phrases in the list of candidate key phrases can be scored and, thus, a final candidate key phrase selected based on the scores.