Tag Archives: mark-zuckerberg

4 January 2023
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Vr-is it going to die or conquer the world?

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Short explanation:

Virtual reality is a phrase heard by many of us but do we really know what this is about?

The creation of simulated environments using computer technology, placing many users inside a three-dimensional world and providing them with almost real experiences creates something unbelievable for many people and that’s what virtual reality is.

A set of virtual worlds between which we can move, meet other people and experience various types of stimuli using our own created avatar using VR and AR technology as well as special equipment in the form of google VR and others is something truly amazing. Over the course of development, more advanced sensory experiences would come, involving an increasing number of senses such as hearing, touch and even taste to make the created world more real.

One of many in the world who unconditionally believes in the development of this technology is Mark Zuckerberg. His and his company’s involvement in the research and development of this technology, although very promising, brought serious financial losses to Meta. According to him, the world of the metaverse will be the new Internet, and just as many years ago no one expected that within the range of a small device such as a telephone, we would gather a lot of information and the possibility of contact with the whole world, The same as then today many doubt the development of this world.

Technology is supposed to simplify our lives and it is supposed to be similar to the metaverse, the development of which may reduce many development barriers. let’s imagine a situation when bosses from different parts of the world sit at one business table within one room in a special virtual world, in fact sitting in their own room in the forest wearing only google VR.let’s imagine a situation when bosses from different parts of the world sit at one business table within one room in a special virtual world, in fact sitting in their own room in the forest wearing only google vr. Experiencing this situation with all your senses and not just the TV screen will be an amazing experience. Sitting in your own home and having the opportunity to meet people of other nations, from the other end of the world, and even going to a concert or to a regular store will be within our reach.Already, many worlds created by games such as Fortnite or Minecraft want to absorb their users even more and immerse them in an almost real world that they experience with all their senses. However, this requires a lot of work and refinement of details as well as having advanced equipment, which is expensive at the moment.

A short movie to explain everything more briefly:

The race for dominance in this world is still going on and Mark Zuckerberg’s huge risk and huge financial losses do not guarantee his success because there are other huge companies around the corner, such as Microsoft, which are also exploring and interested in this world. other large companies create their own meta worlds, testing, for example, cooperation between employees in the virtual world. H&M opening its virtual store and enabling the purchase of its digital products is the best example of this.

This concept of augmented reality will probably defend itself and will become the answer to many human and economic problems. At the same time, it will introduce society to other problems that it will have to face. I sincerely believe in this technology and count on its development, which will further improve our world.

Thanks for reading.

Sources:

https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/what-is-virtual-reality/

https://fortune.com/2022/10/31/what-is-mark-zuckerberg-net-worth-losses-100-billion-metaverse-earnings/

https://www.vrowl.io/what-is-virtual-reality-vr-and-what-are-the-possibilitie

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30 October 2022
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Business

Is Mark Zuckerberg’s grand vision going to be the biggest flop in tech history?

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Thomas Edison. Nikola Tesla. The Wright Brothers. Alexander Graham Bell. 

What do all these visionaries have in common? 

Well, they all changed the course of humanity and our civilization’s technological development.

From inventing the lightbulb (Edison) to the creation of the telephone (Bell), they were undoubtedly figures that played key roles in getting to where we, as humans, have come so far.

But why am I mentioning them?

They were all ridiculed at first.[1]

In 1903, just nine weeks before the first manned flight, The New York Times stated that it would take at least a million years for humanity to create a functional airplane.[2] A million years.

And how are they relevant to Mark Zuckerberg?

As you might have read, the Meta (formerly known as Facebook) founder has come into great criticism recently over his vision of the Metaverse. With a 2021 loss of 10 billion dollars[3] and being over 300 000 users short of Meta’s year-end goal,[4] the Metaverse has already been branded as a massive flop by major media outlets.

The major feedback points were that:

  • The users’ avatars were ‘soulless’ and had no legs;
  • The virtual world felt empty and lonely.

The issue doesn’t seem to be only existent in Meta’s creation, as another metaverse, Decentraland (valued at over 1.1 billion USD[5]), reportedly had only 38 daily active users.[6]

Mark Zuckerberg showcasing his Metaverse avatar
Source: https://qz.com/2081426/facebooks-meta-company-wants-control-of-the-metaverse

The metaverse was supposed to serve as an “alternate reality” to our real world, with limitless possibilities. In fact, the idea seemed quite appealing, as you could travel to any place in the virtual world instantly. Of course, there are also dystopian visions of a Matrix-like scenario, where, in the distant future, a person would be constantly hooked up to a headset and haptic pads that would produce a fully immersive experience, essentially replacing actual reality.

But what is actually going on in the Metaverse?

For now, the main purpose of this virtual world seems to be entertainment, with virtual concerts making headlines.[7] Other such virtual experiences include art exhibitions, movie showings and gambling. 

As crazy as it may seem, there are going to be Subway franchises in the Metaverse – the company has filed for a trademark earlier this year.[8] So, worry not, you’ll be able to order a sandwich that you cannot actually eat soon enough.

While some of the ideas (such as virtual food and drinks) are ridiculous, if implemented properly, a virtual world could serve well for business and educational ventures. It could replace Zoom for virtual conferences and add at least a touch of reality to remote calls and work. 

Zuckerberg seems confident enough in his strives to popularize the Metaverse and there is no sign of him backing down anytime soon. For one, as he recently stated on his Joe Rogan Experience appearance, he wants VR to ‘eat TV’, so that people could spend time socializing inside of his creation instead of sitting in front of a TV.[9]

Mark Zuckerberg
Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/12/mark-zuckerberg-surfing-again-electric-board-sunscreen

So where is this alternate reality headed? It is hard to say for sure, but it doesn’t seem to be replacing actual life anytime soon. There is major money to be made in the technology, and perhaps we could see a Metaverse boom after we come out of the upcoming recession. 

In the distant future, we might hold business meetings virtually by default. It is not impossible that we are headed into a Matrix-like world. Or maybe, in 50 years’ time, we might remember the Metaverse as the biggest flop in tech history.

If the Meta founder fulfills his ambitions, perhaps a future Kozminski student will start his October 2053 tech blog entry with the words:

Thomas Edison. Nikola Tesla. The Wright Brothers. Alexander Graham Bell. Mark Zuckerberg.

Where do you think is the Metaverse headed? Would you prefer to hold your classes and business meetings in such a virtual world, or do you think that the venture is going to fail miserably? Feel free to reply in the comments.

Until next time,
Jan

[1] https://scienceinfo.net/7-famous-inventions-were-initially-badly-criticized.html

[2] https://bigthink.com/pessimists-archive/air-space-flight-impossible/

[3] https://stealthoptional.com/news/facebooks-metaverse-lost-10-billion/

[4] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11319449/Mark-Zuckerbergs-Metaverse-FLOP-users-complain-lonely.html

[5] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/decentraland/

[6] https://insidebitcoins.com/news/is-it-that-lonely-in-the-metaverse-platforms-speak-out-about-daily-active-users

[7] https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/07/27/the-world-of-metaverse-entertainment-concerts-theme-parks-and-movies/?sh=53f366136531

[8] https://www.todaynftnews.com/subway-files-2-trademark-applications-to-enter-the-metaverse/

[9] https://open.spotify.com/episode/51gxrAActH18RGhKNza598?si=TSH3vCOcQP6NOddq3a_XIg

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28 December 2018
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Just before Christmas, New York Times surprised us with a ‘wonderful’ gift. A report that clearly shows that Facebook has been sharing our private conversations with major companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, Yahoo and many more.

Discovered report included information of over 200 pages of leaked documents, which contained the data about secret partnerships with third-party companies, that enabled them to allegedly read, compose or even delete the messages. Regarding them as ‘partners’, allowed them to not be controlled with usual privacy regulations. The number of companies that was discovered, when it comes to that level of clearance was estimated to be over 150.

“The deals, the oldest of which date to 2010, were all active in 2017,” The Times reported. “Some were still in effect this year.”

Major companies that were included in the document started addressing the issue after the controversy bursted out. Moreover, all of the companies are trying to separate themselves from the scandal.

Let’s start with something ‘less dramatic’. I will give you a simple example of how it worked. In the report, New York Times stated that Facebook gave Apple access user’s contacts and calendar, even if the sharing option was switched off. This way they could access the useful data that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Apple publicly denied these allegations and declared that they had never requested that kind access and never used it.

What also probably will warm your heart is the fact, that one the biggest company in the world, Amazon, is also connected with this controversy. They retrieved user’s name’s and contact information from Facebook database. Organisation confirmed getting it all, but didn’t reveal why and what for they used the data.

The more frightening case is with Spotify, Netflix and The Royal Bank of Canada. They have been granted a full access to user’s information and even private conversations. Furthermore, these companies were allegedly able to read, compose and even delete messages. All of the organisations stated that they were not aware of this kind of ‘unique’ access and they were not involved in this matter.

“Over the years we have tried various ways to make Netflix more social,” a Netflix spokesperson told Business Insider. “One example of this was a feature we launched in 2014 that enabled members to recommend TV shows and movies to their Facebook friends via Messenger or Netflix. It was never that popular so we shut the feature down in 2015. At no time did we access people’s private messages on Facebook, or ask for the ability to do so.” —Netflix (@netflix ; Twitter)

“Spotify’s integration with Facebook has always been about sharing and discovering music and podcasts,” Spotify told Business Insider in an emailed statement. “Spotify cannot read users’ private Facebook inbox messages across any of our current integrations. Previously, when users shared music from Spotify, they could add on text that was visible to Spotify. This has since been discontinued. We have no evidence that Spotify ever accessed users’ private Facebook messages.” – Spotify (@Spotify ; Twitter)

The Royal Bank of Canada “disputed that the bank had any such access,” The Times wrote.

The problem lies in the law, because according to the 2011 Federal Trade Commission consent decree, Facebook isn’t violating any laws. Why you may ask? Well they do not need your permission to share your information to other companies, because they are partners, so they are sort of ‘cooperating’. This is a major issue and we can see that in many areas of law with many other cases. Countries and their regulations just can’t keep up with the growth of technological world. The whole process of creating new rules is just too slow. That’s something we should focus on looking forward.

As a result of this controversy, Facebook tried to defend themselves.

“Facebook’s partners don’t get to ignore people’s privacy settings, and it’s wrong to suggest that they do,” Steve Satterfield, Facebook’s director of privacy and public policy, said in their statement for Business Insider. “Over the years, we’ve partnered with other companies so people can use Facebook on devices and platforms that we don’t support ourselves. Unlike a game, streaming music service, or other third-party app, which offer experiences that are independent of Facebook, these partners can only offer specific Facebook features and are unable to use information for independent purposes.”

Facebook has encountered a lot of controversies lately, especially when it comes to the sensitive data they have been gathering from years from their users. They had many leaks, breaches, even the CEO, Mark Zuckerberg had to testify to USA Congress earlier this year.  Taking all of that into consideration, do you still want to use Facebook? 

Reference list:

  1. Gray, S. (2018, December 19). Bombshell report shows Facebook let companies like Spotify and Netflix read private messages. https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-let-major-tech-companies-feast-on-user-data-2018-12?IR=T
  2. Keach, S. (2018, December 19). Facebook secretly let Netflix and Spotify read your PRIVATE messages – as tech giants rocked by bombshell report. https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/8013861/facebook-netflix-spotify-private-messages-data-scandal/
  3. Muskit, S. (2015, July 14). What Does Happiness Mean To Mark Zuckerberg?. https://lifebeyondnumbers.com/happiness-mark-zuckerberg/
  4. Zuver, J. (2018, July 26). Drew And Mike – July 26, 2018. https://drewandmikepodcast.com/drew-and-mike-july-26-2018/

Facebook shares our private conversations with other companies?

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18 October 2015
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What are zero rating services and why should you be concerned?

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what-is-net-neutrality-video-blocked (1)

Chris O’brien in his article1 on Venturebeat quotes, “In the race between Google and Facebook over global connectivity, everyone is winning” but is this really true and if it is, at what cost?

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