Facebook app leaks F8 news about Parse, Messenger, 'teleportation station'

"F8: Just revealed: Parse of IoT, Messenger as a Platform, and the Teleportation Station," read the message, which several people posted to Twitter. The two-day conference starts Wednesday morning Pacific time.

Parse is Facebook's development platform for creating mobile apps. The message, if correct, implies that Facebook is entering the Internet of Things space, which aims to connect assorted devices to the Web.

In recent weeks media reports have speculated that Facebook will also turn Messenger into a platform and open it to developers. This would allow developers to build in functions that allow people to do more than just send messages. Rival chat apps, for example, allow users to play games without leaving the app.

The "Teleportation Station" comment is less clear. One possible scenario is that this ties into Oculus Rift, the virtual reality startup Facebook purchased last year. F8 has a session on Thursday called "Why Virtual Reality Will Matter To You."

Fred O'Connor writes about IT careers and health IT for The IDG News Service. Follow Fred on Twitter at @fredjoconnor. Fred's e-mail address is fred_o'connor@idg.com