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Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

businessinsider.com

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Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#161

Post by hellomyguys »

kumarvvr wrote: post #141
hellomyguys wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A massive video library for computer vision and a huge data set on user actions taken for each video. More bullish take... potentially the next YouTube.

Doesn't look like it's for the data. For one thing, user gesture data or user action data can be automated with 3D software. Provides a far better set of training data. Data for targeted advertisements? Microsoft is hardly in that business of selling ads. I understand Mojang, because Minecraft is a platform that engages kids in meaningful ways. But TikTok is an app to waste time and shit post.

>For one thing, user gesture data or user action data can be automated with 3D software.

Not sure I get what that means.

>I understand Mojang, because Minecraft is a platform that engages kids in meaningful ways. But TikTok is an app to waste time and shit post.

Kids are definitely engaging in meaningful and interesting ways on TikTok. It would be an incredible overgeneralization to say otherwise. Is there a bunch of crap on there too? Sure, but you can write off the internet with the same logic. Crap is also fun, which has some value too.

The content on early YouTube wasn't what we have today either...

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#162

Post by app4soft »

lhorie wrote: post #121
muststopmyths wrote: post #114

Wait, so I'm going to have to install the TikTok For Business with Sharepoint integration in my Teams? I guess anything makes sense to a company that paid $26 billion USD for LinkedIn.

Jokes aside, it probably would be a nice addition to their consumer-oriented portfolio (i.e. xbox, minecraft, etc), if they're planning to stay relevant in the FAANG-taking-over-the-world state of reality these days.

> to their consumer-oriented portfolio (i.e. xbox, minecraft, etc)

Yeah. Symbian, Meego,..

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#163

Post by sanxiyn »

kumarvvr wrote: post #131

What value does Microsoft get out of this? Looks like a desperate deal pushed by TikTok to get rid of "Chinese spyware" tag. The deal makes no absolute sense.

It is a chance to acquire the next YouTube. An incredible chance, if you ask me.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#164

Post by ericmay »

moreorless wrote: post #145

Not a single person seem to think that it is odd that we can simply order a foreign company to sell their business to an American company.

Well, probably because that's not what is happening.

The US has the right to ban companies from the country (as do other countries). What the US is saying is that the parent company (Bytedance) bust divest Tik Tok or they'll lose access to the US market. Microsoft is interested in it, but it could be a different company buying it. This is different than "you must sell this company to this other company" because the US can't force a foreign entity to do that (as long as that foreign government doesn't also cooperate due to politics of soft power reasons). In the case of China, Bytedance can absolutely refuse to sell Tik Tok, it'll just get banned from operating in the United States. Surely they'd rather take a few billion dollars instead, which is why they are going to sell it.

Actions like this or ones that are similar in spirit happen quite often. And naturally if you look at China, well, frankly, they are getting a taste of their own medicine in some sense.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#165

Post by yalogin »

slipheen wrote: post #64

I think it's a clever play. It would help address the spyware concern by moving it to a US company, and give them a better foothold in Social Networking than Linked-in provides. I'd have a few concerns about if MS can keep it growing- For one, I worry that Microsoft may mismanage it, similar to how they treated Skype. We saw Yahoo buy many reasonable smaller social networks (Flickr, Delicious, Tumblr) and was never a…

What does Tiktok have to do with linkedin? As far as I am concerned its a high write-off. It may be is worth a billion or two as a private company. It doesn't provide any value.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#166

Post by mullingitover »

altaria wrote: post #112
tempodox wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. China does not recognize even the idea of Human Rights, let alone their implementation. What do you think the Great Chinese Firewall is for? Shutting out all those ideas from the rest of the world that are deemed hostile to the ruling party's ideology.

America is a fundamentally revolutionary nation fighting for global democracy. We have learned not to force it on countries anymore with violence, but the struggle for global democracy remains nonetheless. We are an existential threat to China.

> America is a fundamentally revolutionary nation fighting for global democracy.

I've studied the history of the US enough to know that this is brazen propaganda with no firm basis in reality. The US has no problem propping up brutal tyrants when it's convenient.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#167

Post by topkai22 »

moreorless wrote: post #145

Not a single person seem to think that it is odd that we can simply order a foreign company to sell their business to an American company.

Domestic ownership requirements are common throughout the world. In comparison to many other countries (look at the UAE, at least till last year) the US has traditionally been open to foreign ownership.

The thing that is notable is that the US has traditionally advocated for open markets and cross border ownership, but now is jumping on board with tactics it once campaigned against.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#168

Post by nouveaux »

moreorless wrote: post #145

Not a single person seem to think that it is odd that we can simply order a foreign company to sell their business to an American company.

It is not odd at all when the foreign company is one of the largest espionage threats to United States, which is one of the largest markets in the world.

Yes, the US government is mulling over the idea of banning TikTok but that is only one of the problems. The immediate problem is that US companies have seriously assessed the security risk. TikTok and China have a credibility problem in the business world.

TikTok shareholders sees the same risk and they want to protect their investment. Not odd or surprising.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#169

Post by kumarvvr »

hellomyguys wrote: post #161
kumarvvr wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't look like it's for the data. For one thing, user gesture data or user action data can be automated with 3D software. Provides a far better set of training data. Data for targeted advertisements? Microsoft is hardly in that business of selling ads. I understand Mojang, because Minecraft is a platform that engages kids in meaningful ways. But TikTok is an app to waste time and shit post.

>For one thing, user gesture data or user action data can be automated with 3D software. Not sure I get what that means. >I understand Mojang, because Minecraft is a platform that engages kids in meaningful ways. But TikTok is an app to waste time and shit post. Kids are definitely engaging in meaningful and interesting ways on TikTok. It would be an incredible overgeneralization to say otherwise. Is there a bunch of…

> Not sure I get what that means.

Generation of video clips of human gestures, by automating a 3D modeling software, like Blender, will give you not only the video, but also depth and other data related to the video.

If you are looking for sources to train your model to recognize depth / gestures, videos from TikTok are far less useful, than generating your own ones by automating or programming them.

Re: Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy TikTok's US operations

#170

Post by astlouis44 »

riffic wrote: post #31
nickthegreek wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree, this would give MS a strong foothold in social media that the next generation is flocking too.

If you haven't noticed, the pendulum is swinging towards decentralized, distributed computing systems. This has happened previously in history (mainframe -> PC, back to Cloud Computing, and now to edge/IoT). If you want to "skate where the puck is going" you would be paying attention to the open web standards space.

Are you referring to WASM/WebGPU when you say open standards? Personally think it's going to revolutionize how software is delivered.
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