5 ms·

sometimes i get tired of all the fakeness in the world. it seems to corrupt every part of society and makes me sick thinking about it. theranos, magic leap, and

sometimes i get tired of all the fakeness in the world. it seems to corrupt every part of society and makes me sick thinking about it. theranos, magic leap, and a lot more. everything seems to be overhyped bs, while the only successful things are essentially avenues to cram ads down your throat and brainwash you to spend money you don't have.

hacker_9 10y ago
This is just what marketing looks like in the 21st century. You have to have a wow factor for people to notice you. I would suggest never trusting any announcement/trailer/teaser for anything to be honest; their aim is only to show you an 'experience' which entices you, something that makes you want to come back for more and spend money on it.
- probablybroken 10y ago
  I think it's certainly been the case with a lot of kickstarter projects and certain startups. There's so much pressure on people to realise short term success, and so many people willing to believe in it.
  - hacker_9 10y ago
    While true this is really just a response to what the big companies have been doing for a long time. Some off the top of my head: MS Kinect trailer [1], and Hololens [2], also Ubisoft games with realistic graphics at E3 that were later downgraded [3]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNter0oEYxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNter0oEYxc
    - throwanem 10y ago
      I mean Watch Underscore Dogs was trash anyways, I get what you're saying but I almost don't even blame them for the E3 thing because how else were they going to polish that turd? ...and from the video I see that it's not just Watch Underscore Dogs by a long shot! It's weird to me that they keep pulling this nonsense, when amazing graphics are probably one of the biggest draws for Ubisoft Game. Maybe they're just banking on a steady supply of new gamers not savvy enough to realize that all Ubisoft games are Ubisoft Game.
      - majewsky 10y ago
        Downvoted for insistence on nagging about the underscore.
        throwanem 10y ago
        Underscores qua underscores are not a problem. But the underscore in the name of Watch Underscore Dogs is worth calling out for the way it underscores the absurd degree of edgewank throughout the game.
- simonh 10y ago
  Various brands of snake oil have been on the market for a very, very long time.
new299 10y ago
I'd like to break this down a bit. Firstly, why is this so frustrating. On a practical level, it's frustrating for engineers because to operate as engineers we have to work for these companies. It's not just the fakeness, it's the bad management that comes with it. They dilute the pool of possible good companies that we could work for. They also increase the cost of doing something actually worth while. Salaries get higher, cost of living increases. So that's why these companies are annoying to engineers. It's not just people being bitter exactly... --- The next question is why does this happen? Firstly, tech investors are not great at DD of science/basic technology startups. Maybe they hire external consultants to do the DD (due diligence). Maybe they rely on their friends (prior investments/contacts). So they roll the dice, invest in some company that looks safe (founders worked a Google etc. etc.) and their friends like. Then you get one big investor who throws a bunch of cash in. A large number of other investors throw in as well. They assume that first, big investor did the DD. This is an easy play for the investors. They don't have to do much work. It's easier than say, doing the DD on a smaller seed stage play. Once it gets bit enough, I guess they assume that they can crush other players in the same area just because they have a stack of cash. TL;DR: They don't do the DD, it's easier to make big bets than lots of small ones. It would probably be better for us, if the cash that was thrown at Magic Leap went to fund 2000 seed stage investments. But investors would find that too hard to do... That's my take anyway. I'd be interested to better understand what others think.
- throwaway21jan 10y ago
  a16z hasn't been too lucky with DD lately. Not just Magic Leap, I've heard that Improbable was struggling to fulfil its promises, and was being sued as a result.
  - new299 10y ago
    But they've only raised 22MUSD how can we expect them to have done anything yet? ;) Suing them seem like an odd thing to do.
    - throwaway21jan 10y ago
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

hacker_9 10y ago

This is just what marketing looks like in the 21st century. You have to have a wow factor for people to notice you. I would suggest never trusting any announcement/trailer/teaser for anything to be honest; their aim is only to show you an 'experience' which entices you, something that makes you want to come back for more and spend money on it.

probablybroken 10y ago
I think it's certainly been the case with a lot of kickstarter projects and certain startups. There's so much pressure on people to realise short term success, and so many people willing to believe in it.
- hacker_9 10y ago
  While true this is really just a response to what the big companies have been doing for a long time. Some off the top of my head: MS Kinect trailer [1], and Hololens [2], also Ubisoft games with realistic graphics at E3 that were later downgraded [3]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNter0oEYxc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNter0oEYxc
  - throwanem 10y ago
    I mean Watch Underscore Dogs was trash anyways, I get what you're saying but I almost don't even blame them for the E3 thing because how else were they going to polish that turd? ...and from the video I see that it's not just Watch Underscore Dogs by a long shot! It's weird to me that they keep pulling this nonsense, when amazing graphics are probably one of the biggest draws for Ubisoft Game. Maybe they're just banking on a steady supply of new gamers not savvy enough to realize that all Ubisoft games are Ubisoft Game.
    - majewsky 10y ago
      Downvoted for insistence on nagging about the underscore.
      - throwanem 10y ago
        Underscores qua underscores are not a problem. But the underscore in the name of Watch Underscore Dogs is worth calling out for the way it underscores the absurd degree of edgewank throughout the game.
simonh 10y ago
Various brands of snake oil have been on the market for a very, very long time.

new299 10y ago

I'd like to break this down a bit. Firstly, why is this so frustrating. On a practical level, it's frustrating for engineers because to operate as engineers we have to work for these companies. It's not just the fakeness, it's the bad management that comes with it. They dilute the pool of possible good companies that we could work for. They also increase the cost of doing something actually worth while. Salaries get higher, cost of living increases. So that's why these companies are annoying to engineers. It's not just people being bitter exactly... --- The next question is why does this happen? Firstly, tech investors are not great at DD of science/basic technology startups. Maybe they hire external consultants to do the DD (due diligence). Maybe they rely on their friends (prior investments/contacts). So they roll the dice, invest in some company that looks safe (founders worked a Google etc. etc.) and their friends like. Then you get one big investor who throws a bunch of cash in. A large number of other investors throw in as well. They assume that first, big investor did the DD. This is an easy play for the investors. They don't have to do much work. It's easier than say, doing the DD on a smaller seed stage play. Once it gets bit enough, I guess they assume that they can crush other players in the same area just because they have a stack of cash. TL;DR: They don't do the DD, it's easier to make big bets than lots of small ones. It would probably be better for us, if the cash that was thrown at Magic Leap went to fund 2000 seed stage investments. But investors would find that too hard to do... That's my take anyway. I'd be interested to better understand what others think.

throwaway21jan 10y ago
a16z hasn't been too lucky with DD lately. Not just Magic Leap, I've heard that Improbable was struggling to fulfil its promises, and was being sued as a result.
- new299 10y ago
  But they've only raised 22MUSD how can we expect them to have done anything yet? ;) Suing them seem like an odd thing to do.
  - throwaway21jan 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]