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WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

theverge.com

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Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#41

Post by wolco »

OJFord wrote: post #15
jakelazaroff wrote: post #2

I wonder when this trend of calling companies "tech companies" — just because they happen to use technology — will end. WeWork clearly is a real estate company; Uber is a taxi company with an app; etc.

Can you define it (as opposed to giving examples) in a way that calls any non-hardware-producing company a tech company though? I sort of want to agree, but it seems like any software manufacturer is 'a company that uses tech, not a tech company' if you keep going. WeWork, absolutely though. Honestly, the news to me here is that anyone thought it was or called it a tech company.

Garmin makes the tech.

Strava provides a tech service on top.

Ubiome - software for lab results

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#42

Post by tedivm »

paxys wrote: post #30
tedivm wrote: post #7

For the number of engineers they have you'd think they'd have figured out how to build a decent wifi network with some actual security in it. Instead every WeWork has the same password for the wifi (literally a variant on `P@ssw0rd`) and it is super easy to spy on other people's connections. The hilarious thing is they actually built a secure wifi network for their staff, so they clearly recognize the need. They also…

How do you spy on other people's connections at a WeWork?

https://mrncciew.com/2014/08/16/decrypt-wpa2-psk-using-wires...

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#43

Post by ghaff »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #24
UncleMeat wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wifi is largely insecure anyway. You should largely assume that the network is malicious no matter what and just rely on application layer security.

Not everybody knows or appreciates the use of a VPN. I don't think yours is enough justification for WeWork for not having built a proper service.

What is a "proper service" in this case? Many company networks routinely allow access using fairly straightforward and rarely rotated passwords. Of course, access to actual company resources like email require 2FA etc.

But as others note, the main purpose of having a password at all is to stop casual passersby from leeching off your network.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#44

Post by ghaff »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #12
Jestar342 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the trend of bringing tech to an existing market. When that stops, we'll probably stop calling it tech companies. Uber is the perfect example of a "tech company" - they brought technology (and in this context "tech", arguably, means "the internet") to an industry that was previously dominated by standing on a street and waving down a cab/taxi. However I think it is rather pithy to just call them a taxi c…

In my mind, the main feature of a tech company is the ability to scale due to almost zero marginal costs, compared to other companies which need much more time and resources, which is also why tech companies can have such huge profit per employee numbers.

That's very specific to software that doesn't need much support. I think Intel is probably considered a tech company and they certainly can't scale at near-zero marginal cost.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#46

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

Jestar342 wrote: post #6
jakelazaroff wrote: post #2

I wonder when this trend of calling companies "tech companies" — just because they happen to use technology — will end. WeWork clearly is a real estate company; Uber is a taxi company with an app; etc.

I think it's the trend of bringing tech to an existing market. When that stops, we'll probably stop calling it tech companies. Uber is the perfect example of a "tech company" - they brought technology (and in this context "tech", arguably, means "the internet") to an industry that was previously dominated by standing on a street and waving down a cab/taxi. However I think it is rather pithy to just call them a taxi c…

But we don't call, say, banks tech companies. A huge portion of their business requires sophisticated technical infrastructure they create themselves, but we just call them banks.

And there are plenty of normal taxi companies with similar systems to Uber's.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#47

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

rootusrootus wrote: post #9
jakelazaroff wrote: post #2

I wonder when this trend of calling companies "tech companies" — just because they happen to use technology — will end. WeWork clearly is a real estate company; Uber is a taxi company with an app; etc.

I agree on WeWork, but Uber is clearly not a taxi company. They're closer to being a mobile app developer, though that still feels like it falls short of an accurate description.

Uber is a taxi company with creative outsourcing of taxis and drivers.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#48

Post by not_a_cop75 »

baxtr wrote: post #45

The Verge simply doesn't get it. WeWork will leverage their real estate assets and come up with an AI-based cryptocurrency to monetize their community base. They will call it "The Country of We." Just wait for it. The time will come.

The difference between reality and satire is getting smaller and smaller all the time.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#49

Post by ustolemyname »

zaroth wrote: post #26
tedivm wrote: post #7

For the number of engineers they have you'd think they'd have figured out how to build a decent wifi network with some actual security in it. Instead every WeWork has the same password for the wifi (literally a variant on `P@ssw0rd`) and it is super easy to spy on other people's connections. The hilarious thing is they actually built a secure wifi network for their staff, so they clearly recognize the need. They also…

Having the same WPA2-PSK authentication secret does not allow spying over WiFi, unless you are willing to actively spoof the network.

Yes it does. If you capture the authentication handshake, it's as straightforward as putting the passphrase into Wireshark.

Re: WeWork isn’t a tech company; it’s a soap opera

#50

Post by afarrell »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #46
Jestar342 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the trend of bringing tech to an existing market. When that stops, we'll probably stop calling it tech companies. Uber is the perfect example of a "tech company" - they brought technology (and in this context "tech", arguably, means "the internet") to an industry that was previously dominated by standing on a street and waving down a cab/taxi. However I think it is rather pithy to just call them a taxi c…

But we don't call, say, banks tech companies. A huge portion of their business requires sophisticated technical infrastructure they create themselves, but we just call them banks. And there are plenty of normal taxi companies with similar systems to Uber's.

People call Monzo a tech company.
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