Edition 6: Rich White (nerds) and Snap(Chat)holes
Edition 6: Rich White (nerds) and Snap(Chat)holes
Hello!
The Debates were on. I was not watching them simply because they’re depressing. I did catch some on Twitter via live-stream but promptly shut it down. But anywhere I turn it’s all about the debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. I am just afraid that Donald Trump will actually be elected.
Who gave all these Silicon Valley dudes the megaphones they have? Palmer Lucky, the founder of Occulus VR has been funding Anti-Hillary Memes. First Theil bankrupting Gawker and supporting Trump, now him and it all goes back to Facebook. I want to give Facebook the benefit of the doubt that they don’t intentionally get fine folks like this in their company. But perhaps it’s because Facebook is so massive, weird things happen. Sure you can argue free-speech but it’s also the right of everyone on the internet to express their opinions and developers withdraw support. I always like to think the founders personalities are reflected in the companies or products they create. So where does this leave Occulus? Some developers will stay and with Facebook’s huge money machine behind it, it will not disappear into technology obscurity.
Like it or not, and if Facebook will admit to it or not. It is a media company but as a friend said to me recently, the danger is that they don’t act, think or behave like a media company. Another example of Facebooks power, they disabled Palestinian Journalists accounts (and said sorry). What kind of internet are we creating where the power is concentrated within such small circles?
Funny tweet of the day: “Disney owns Star Wars and if they Buy Twitter, they will own my life” — not sure who said it but saw it in passing. Definitely a better match then Salesforce. Salesforce will make Twitter into a sales prospecting tool. This is off the cuff comment so please don’t take it seriously. But as a friend (thanks Maya) mentioned, Disney can really leverage Twitter for entertainment which has always been Twitters strength (not for me personally).
Other opinion drafts:
SnapChat released glasses and changed their name. Why do I think they’re cool and won’t meet the same fate as Glassholes I mean Google Glass? A couple of things in no order:
- They will become teenagers GoPro. All the kids who don’t want to spend $300 on a GoPro or have the need for 1040K Digital HD Video from their skydiving adventures will use Spectacles to record 10 second (or 30 second) videos of whatever they do.
- They are super casual and look fun and laid back. SnapChat is already huge amongst teenagers, the glasses are designed to appeal to them. Ever seen someone wear Google Glasses? They look arrogant and frankly a little prick(ly). Google Glass wanted to slap a computer on your head and era in the future of computing on your face. Snapchat wants you to have fun.
- There’s no invite needed to buy a pair, though they wont be at your local stores anytime soon. Pricing is low enough to make me want to buy a pair just for the hell of it, as opposed to $1500 for Glassholes (I really should stop saying that) which were invite only. Just the fact that it’s invite only, exclusive in the case Google Glass was a barrier to mass adoption.
At the end of day, Google Glass and SnapChat want to appeal to different groups and achieve different goals. Will it be easy? No. Hardware is brutal. Just ask Pebble. But Snapchat can just hire some folks from Amazon and Apple to figure out the manufacturing and distribution.
BUT:
“That’s my view as a business reporter. As a human being, it’s hard to believe Spiegel has truly thought through the potential ways a frictionless recording device can shatter young girl’s lives. These are the questions the press should be asking in the coming months.” — Sarah Lacy
Note: This is an unlocked link from Pando Daily that expires in 13 hours and some screen captures of Evan (Snapchat CEO) leaked emails are not safe for work or young kids.
Edit: Snapchat is now known as Snap. The omission was intentional.
Thanks for reading,
- Kamil