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In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

nytimes.com

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Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#41

Post by amaks »

aresant wrote: post #36
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardware is commoditized but brands are not. Anyone can make handbags but only some can sell them for $5000. Oculus has potential to be as profitable as Apple if they absolutely nail the execution and the experience. But it remains to the be seen if the Rift is an iphone or a newton. Being tethered to a high end gaming pc "dooms" it to be a niche product. How soon can Oculus either ally with a console or make a conso…

Facebook is not trying to build a premium VR business w/margins akin to Apple, that would be completely inverse to their business strategy. Facebook is much more akin to Google than to Apple because Facebook & Google's primary business is the same - advertising. And if you're an advertising business your primary objective is driving more eyeballs / more users. Google's first VR solution demonstrates this - they GIVE…

Isn't Oculus Rift a premium VR product?

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#42

Post by rezashirazian »

Why is there such emphasis on black and hispanics in a company's diversity formula whereas Indians and other Asian ethnicity are usually ignored.

If a company is inherently biased and discriminates against non-white individuals, then wouldn't they do it against all minorities not just blacks and hispanics?

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#43

Post by __jal »

personjerry wrote: post #40
acangiano wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a 417.

Or 418 :) Edit: For reference, 418 is real. It is the "I am a teapot" error code, from an April fools RFC about teapots being internet connected, which I thought was at least marginally relevant to hardware hacking.

It it were 419 and I started hearing from previously unknown dead relatives' barristers in VR-land, I'd know who to blame.

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#44

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

malz wrote: post #34

Techcrunch has some photos of the lab. https://techcrunch.com/gallery/facebook-hardware-lab/

Damn.

All I've got at work is a 4kW laser cutter and a 5 tonne overhead crane, oh and a 220 tonne press and a 4m guillotine. About 30 mig welders. There's a machine shop next door too.

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#45

Post by __jal »

jacquesm wrote: post #33
searine wrote: post #4

I don't trust facebook with the data I give it now, and they want me to trust locked hardware they made?

> I don't trust facebook with the data I give it now Nice contradiction there. If you don't trust them, don't give them that data. If you do you implicitly will have to trust them.

Not necessarily. I block FB at my router at home and via DNS on my phone, reject mail from them at my server and use a browser blocker for their web bugs at work. And still "my" data leaks to them via other people who apparently upload address books, tag me in photos and whatever other mechanisms for soliciting data on nonmembers they've ginned up.

I know this because before I started bouncing their mail I'd get an endless stream of spam from them about how many friends desperately wished I'd sign up.

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#46

Post by taneq »

rezashirazian wrote: post #42

Why is there such emphasis on black and hispanics in a company's diversity formula whereas Indians and other Asian ethnicity are usually ignored. If a company is inherently biased and discriminates against non-white individuals, then wouldn't they do it against all minorities not just blacks and hispanics?

I think the unspoken assumption is that Indians and East Asians have no trouble getting hired based just on their academic and technical merits, despite not being caucasian. If you think about this for a while you'll realise that the "diversity" being championed is not diversity of race or gender.

No company is so racist that it will refuse to hire someone who's going to make them a profit.

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#47

Post by eldavido »

aresant wrote: post #36
KaoruAoiShiho wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hardware is commoditized but brands are not. Anyone can make handbags but only some can sell them for $5000. Oculus has potential to be as profitable as Apple if they absolutely nail the execution and the experience. But it remains to the be seen if the Rift is an iphone or a newton. Being tethered to a high end gaming pc "dooms" it to be a niche product. How soon can Oculus either ally with a console or make a conso…

Facebook is not trying to build a premium VR business w/margins akin to Apple, that would be completely inverse to their business strategy. Facebook is much more akin to Google than to Apple because Facebook & Google's primary business is the same - advertising. And if you're an advertising business your primary objective is driving more eyeballs / more users. Google's first VR solution demonstrates this - they GIVE…

So much this.

I saw facebook's earnings last quarter and my jaw dropped. 40% increase in revenue since same quarter last year. Then I took a look at their quarterly report, and the entire thing -- and I mean, like 99% of it -- is about ads. MAU, DAU, publisher and inventory growth, top-level organizational goals about getting more marketers on the platform, etc. The only other two revenue sources they have are hardware sales and payments, and they didn't even break out how much either of those businesses made apart from the broader facebook advertising business. It became extremely clear reading the report that ads is where the focus, attention, and money are going in the company.

I guess Oculus is going to be a giant ad business. Either that, or fb is going to pull off a major win against the innovator's dilemma, where they get so focused on ads that that focus chokes other initiatives within the company.

I don't doubt Oculus (as well as Messenger) have a ton of ad inventory in front of them. But I think it's a mistake to think fb cares about the hardware per se; they don't, it's all just a doorway to their platform.

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#49

Post by allannienhuis »

__jal wrote: post #45
jacquesm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't trust facebook with the data I give it now Nice contradiction there. If you don't trust them, don't give them that data. If you do you implicitly will have to trust them.

Not necessarily. I block FB at my router at home and via DNS on my phone, reject mail from them at my server and use a browser blocker for their web bugs at work. And still "my" data leaks to them via other people who apparently upload address books, tag me in photos and whatever other mechanisms for soliciting data on nonmembers they've ginned up. I know this because before I started bouncing their mail I'd get an e…

but you're not the one giving them that data - your friends/others are. Not sure how that can be avoided in any social networking type of application. Those applications are pretty much 'public' space in today's world. People who really need to keep their real identities private today (ie some law enforcement personnel) are in a tough place these days.

Re: In a Sign of Broader Ambitions, Facebook Opens Hardware Lab

#50

Post by sotojuan »

rezashirazian wrote: post #42

Why is there such emphasis on black and hispanics in a company's diversity formula whereas Indians and other Asian ethnicity are usually ignored. If a company is inherently biased and discriminates against non-white individuals, then wouldn't they do it against all minorities not just blacks and hispanics?

Same as to why white people are ignored: There's plenty of them and they have no trouble getting jobs at Facebook.

https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/06/driving-diversity-at-fa...

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