Here’s the deal: Zuck is projecting his half-trillion-dollar company Meta’s vision of the future with a digital twist on the metaverse, a virtual space where we all spend more time. He is made in our own image.
The problem is, everything we’ve seen about the future seems lame as hell.
The whole episode shows the difficulty Meta, who has positioned himself as a leader in the virtual-reality industry, is having to sell his vision of the future.
The biggest problem: It just doesn’t look cool. And Zook doesn’t look good. And Facebook has not been good since 2009. And that is a big problem.
My simple but unshakable theory is that people won’t buy something if it’s not good. But if you can make them believe it looks cool, people will do anything. Just ask the tobacco industry. Smoking is really awful, but put some hot guys in a magazine for a cigarette ad and you’ve got yourself a profit machine.
The best thing is now missing in virtual reality. And it’s not just the avatars they’re washing.
First of all, to enter the Metaverse you must first strap on a large headset like the Meta’s $400 Quest device. It’s pretty cool in itself, but at the end of the day it’s a giant computer in your dome that your IRL friends and loved ones can literally make fun of.
Meta is not alone. As Rachel explained, Rackroom and Microsoft’s AltSpaceVR, among others, have been working for years to improve the appearance and customization of their avatars.
Technical limitations also affect the general operation of Metavas.
VR avatars also need to respond in real time to the way we move our faces and bodies, which requires powerful computing and graphics processing. What we want to make it look plausible is more sensors placed all over our bodies – which is incredibly unpleasant.
(This is why avatars on some social apps like Meta’s Horizon Worlds and Rec Room have legless toros and only heads.)
Currently, the headsets on the market only handle the three angles used to create 3-D images in VR, said Timu Tock, CEO of avatar creation platform ReadyPlayerMe.
Researchers expect/want to build an avatar that looks like most people in a VR setting. And that is a very complicated task.
Even if the technology is there to do that job, then you have an uncanny valley to worry about.
The more realistic the avatar’s face, the more drawn we are to them. (Remember the 2004 movie The Polar Express? Or didn’t you see it because the characters’ faces were so realistic and simultaneously failed to show real facial expressions that resulted in Tom Hanks’ scariest role to date?)
at last
Meta is spending billions of dollars that are at best unfulfilled and at worst nobody wants them. And the man whose vision was so impressed was, um, Mark Zuckerberg.
The relentless mockery of posting Zuck’s patient advice icon highlights the real difficulty of getting consumers on board. That should be a red flag for investors as well.
Number of days: $40,290
FEDEX BATTLE
When they make a delivery from FedEx Ground, they may not know that those drivers, wearing FedEx uniforms, are working for one of the thousands of independent contractors the company relies on to deliver.
Here’s the deal: FedEx Ground relies on a network of more than 6,000 independent businesses to deliver, each with dozens of drivers. But higher costs for fuel, trucks and driver wages meant that about 30% of those contractors suffered losses, according to Deutsche Bank estimates. Many of the contractors are now pressuring FedEx to improve the terms of the compensation packages they receive.
“My business is losing money every day,” said Spencer Patton, one of the largest contractors and a vocal critic of FedEx Ground’s relationship with its partner network. “And my business cannot continue to operate on November 25.”
Patton said wages to retain drivers rose 37% last year. Truck prices have increased by 30 percent. And diesel is up 52 percent from a year ago.
His suburban Nashville company, Patton Logistics, delivered about 6.5 million FedEx packages last year.
FedEx, for its part, reported that revenue at its FedEx ground unit increased $2.7 billion, or 9 percent, to $33.2 billion in the fiscal year ending in May compared to the previous year.
Still, FedEx Ground refuses to give its contractors the financial relief across the board that Patten and others are seeking.
“We recognize that current economic conditions are creating new challenges,” FedEx Ground said in a statement. “We are committed to working with carrier businesses individually to solve the challenges in their situations. Our goal is to enable success for FedEx Ground and carriers.”
FedEx Ground would not comment directly on the threat of some contractors closing during the holiday shopping season.
at last
This holiday season, you have some complicated things to weigh: USPS package prices are temporarily on the rise, FedEx may be short of drivers, and of course, supply chains are still all wrapped up from pandemic-time lockdowns and the war in Ukraine. .
In other words, it could be a great year for all of us to buy local and handmade gifts. Or do as I do every time I forget about someone’s birthday and receive the ever-useful e-gift card.
