4 ms·

Isn't everyone doing that though? With Apple stepping into the Ads business, it is almost clear that they will eventually wipe out any third party competition,

Isn't everyone doing that though? With Apple stepping into the Ads business, it is almost clear that they will eventually wipe out any third party competition, especially facebook from their platform. Facebook has realised that it desperately needs a hardware channel to survive in the cut-throat competitive field the tech industry has become, and VR is that channel.

marricks 4y ago
Yep, our current system sucks. I happen to think Facebook is much, much, worse than Apple but who knows in 5 or 10 years. Apple is building its own VR headset and making money off VR hardware seems like a stretch.
- elevaet 4y ago
  That doesn't seem a huge stretch to me. Apple has always tried to be on the leading edge in novel human-computer interaction hardware: the mouse, the touch screen, the pocket computer, the wrist computer...
  - automatic6131 4y ago
    The wrist computer is useless though
    - bjconlan 4y ago
      Their current version/vision perhaps is yes. But they're still the market leaders (Although Apples problem with innovation procrastination when market leaders is frustrating). I guess we have to wait for competition here before we see things move faster(particularly better human interfacing etc). All in all they shoot to the expectations of their users. (And the competition simply plays catch up) Im waiting for the "total recall" (the new one) style hand/pane/internal projections but that might skip watches and go straight to a neuralink thing.
      - LtdJorge 4y ago
        The wrist computer doesn't make sense to me. Why is every manufacturer so focused on having the same capabilities of a smartphone on a smartwatch? Shouldn't a smartwatch be a complement of the smartphone? Like, take out the cellular, microphone, maybe even WiFi and speaker (just give it a tiny one for beeping), give it a very energy efficient SoC with very limited GPU capabilities, an OLED (or AMOLED) display that is always on with white/gray on black time driven by a low power circuit, and the rest is just sensors and battery. All processing is done in the phone and they're connected via Bluetooth LE, the watch just collects health and movement data, and the battery lasts at least a week. Why would anyone reply to a text from a watch, when their paired phone is in their pockets? Or listening to music from a watch with a 200mAh battery? Are we stupid? And I'm not implying the screen only shows time, but it just shows the data in real time and let's you configure things, apps are limited and most things are white on black, again, battery is #1. My wristwatch lasts over a year and shows the time without having to flick or touch it.
        chad_stevens 4y ago
        You get texts/emails on watch so you can glance at your watch and read it without pulling out your phone. You don’t listen through your watch but use it as a more convenient interface to change a song/playlist. The test use case is while you are driving because you can talk to it and it will type out what you’re saying well. Rather than pulling out your phone and trying to text back. It also monitors vitals and steps. It is also handy when I forget my phone in the car and I need to text or make a quick call. I could go on but I’m done typing.
  - soVeryTired 4y ago
    The Newton…
gman83 4y ago
Valve hasn't done that with Steam, and they're the only real competition Facebook has with VR.
- discardable_dan 4y ago
  Have you not been following the Steam Deck?
  - strangetortoise 4y ago
    I clearly haven't, can you elaborate? I thought the steam deck was near universally lauded for it's open and hackable software, repairable hardware and competitive pricepoint. Is there some privacy news or other scandal I've missed?
    - discardable_dan 4y ago
      Full disclosure, I say this having spent days playing my Steam Deck now. It's a hardware channel to deliver you an ad platform selling you video games. Steam has better vertical integration (they are selling the games they are advertising), but it's the same idea. I haven't seen Steam OS telemetry reports, but I would expect they're basically the same as every other tech player. The platform _is_ open and hackable, but the OS is immutable and it's still an ad device.
      - andybak 4y ago
        I am absolutely astonished. Up until now I was absolutely sure that Valve was purely a charity. /s Seriously though. Can we have some nuance in the debate about advertising? Surely the bit we object to is the invasive, privacy and democracy-eroding tracking - not the concept of advertising itself?
        icemelt8 4y ago
        [dead]

marricks 4y ago

Yep, our current system sucks. I happen to think Facebook is much, much, worse than Apple but who knows in 5 or 10 years. Apple is building its own VR headset and making money off VR hardware seems like a stretch.

elevaet 4y ago
That doesn't seem a huge stretch to me. Apple has always tried to be on the leading edge in novel human-computer interaction hardware: the mouse, the touch screen, the pocket computer, the wrist computer...
- automatic6131 4y ago
  The wrist computer is useless though
  - bjconlan 4y ago
    Their current version/vision perhaps is yes. But they're still the market leaders (Although Apples problem with innovation procrastination when market leaders is frustrating). I guess we have to wait for competition here before we see things move faster(particularly better human interfacing etc). All in all they shoot to the expectations of their users. (And the competition simply plays catch up) Im waiting for the "total recall" (the new one) style hand/pane/internal projections but that might skip watches and go straight to a neuralink thing.
    - LtdJorge 4y ago
      The wrist computer doesn't make sense to me. Why is every manufacturer so focused on having the same capabilities of a smartphone on a smartwatch? Shouldn't a smartwatch be a complement of the smartphone? Like, take out the cellular, microphone, maybe even WiFi and speaker (just give it a tiny one for beeping), give it a very energy efficient SoC with very limited GPU capabilities, an OLED (or AMOLED) display that is always on with white/gray on black time driven by a low power circuit, and the rest is just sensors and battery. All processing is done in the phone and they're connected via Bluetooth LE, the watch just collects health and movement data, and the battery lasts at least a week. Why would anyone reply to a text from a watch, when their paired phone is in their pockets? Or listening to music from a watch with a 200mAh battery? Are we stupid? And I'm not implying the screen only shows time, but it just shows the data in real time and let's you configure things, apps are limited and most things are white on black, again, battery is #1. My wristwatch lasts over a year and shows the time without having to flick or touch it.
      - chad_stevens 4y ago
        You get texts/emails on watch so you can glance at your watch and read it without pulling out your phone. You don’t listen through your watch but use it as a more convenient interface to change a song/playlist. The test use case is while you are driving because you can talk to it and it will type out what you’re saying well. Rather than pulling out your phone and trying to text back. It also monitors vitals and steps. It is also handy when I forget my phone in the car and I need to text or make a quick call. I could go on but I’m done typing.
- soVeryTired 4y ago
  The Newton…

gman83 4y ago

Valve hasn't done that with Steam, and they're the only real competition Facebook has with VR.

discardable_dan 4y ago
Have you not been following the Steam Deck?
- strangetortoise 4y ago
  I clearly haven't, can you elaborate? I thought the steam deck was near universally lauded for it's open and hackable software, repairable hardware and competitive pricepoint. Is there some privacy news or other scandal I've missed?
  - discardable_dan 4y ago
    Full disclosure, I say this having spent days playing my Steam Deck now. It's a hardware channel to deliver you an ad platform selling you video games. Steam has better vertical integration (they are selling the games they are advertising), but it's the same idea. I haven't seen Steam OS telemetry reports, but I would expect they're basically the same as every other tech player. The platform _is_ open and hackable, but the OS is immutable and it's still an ad device.
    - andybak 4y ago
      I am absolutely astonished. Up until now I was absolutely sure that Valve was purely a charity. /s Seriously though. Can we have some nuance in the debate about advertising? Surely the bit we object to is the invasive, privacy and democracy-eroding tracking - not the concept of advertising itself?
      - icemelt8 4y ago
        [dead]