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Facebook Hires Hugo Barra, Former Android VP and Public Face of Xiaomi, To Head Oculus
Facebook has hired Hugo Barra, the most prominent global executive at Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, to lead its virtual reality business including the Oculus unit, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said. "Hugo shares my belief that virtual and augmented reality will be the next major computing platform. They'll enable us to experience completely new things," Zuckerberg said in a post on Facebook.
"...They'll enable us to experience completely new things,"
Let's hope that Facebooks investments will enable them to contribute more than feeding rampant narcissism via the worlds largest social media platform.
I can't but help think of this platform as just another fad that will eventually pass. Sure, it will be neat to check it out, but I just can't see it as being the next big thing nor really making any significant impact. Thinking 3D TV, apple watch, etc.
Thread closed. Nuff said.
Let's hope that Facebooks investments will enable them to contribute something back instead of ripping off everyones private data and making you do so via endless spam and eulas
that made the front page of that magazine? What was his name... Can't be bothered to look him up. Oculus is a fad for the foreseeable future. I can't believe that guys like Carmack and Michael Abrash bought into it, must've been paid a lot of money. There is no market adoption, everybody says wow for the first 5 minutes and then proceeds to not use it. Most people who bought one aren't using it anymore and it's siting there gathering dust. Also, most PCs aren't powerful enough to really run VR. Also, most games suck. A lot of money invested for embarrassing returns. Wonder what the consequences will be like. Hopefully some asses will get fired for these decisions.
as vr is to reality.
I said a long time ago that the numbers on Oculus did not make sense when FB bought it and we found out they wanted to sell units at $800 or so per. There is no way they can ever sell enough units to recover the initial investment. That is even less likely now that they have competition. Oculus will eventually run out of other people's money and die the fiery death it deserves. Of course I'm sure Hugo Barra will make a ton of money riding it into the ground.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
3D TVs were a fad. 3D printers were too expensive.
VR has a lot more potential than all of them. But, if I have to pay $800 for a new GTX 1080 card, and then another $800 for a VR headset, I'm already out $1600 dollars. Bring down the price and maybe more people will use it.
I don't see why they would release VR without getting to 5K per eye? Or fine, 4K per eye. At resolutions below 4K per eye .. the screen door effect is far too prominent to stand for more than a few minutes (10 minutes being the Guiness world record, do not attempt -- the poor guy puked to death afterwords). Anyway, my point is that VR is basically not usable until we have the technologies to display, at absolute minimum 120 fps at 4K per eye. And that's for enthusiasts .. if it is for the mainstream we need it to be 180fps and 5K per eye.
Today, we are at less than HD resolution at 90 fps .. it's irresponsible to release a product half baked so early.
and luckey and zuckerburg. and the rest of the oligarchy.
Its amazing how little you can know about computers (and the world) and still be the CEO/owner of a major gossip site.
Stagnant megacorp hires washed up exec from stagnant and companies in an effort to avoid further stagnation.
When your brand starts to lose its luster, don't hire faces from other big name companies to try and restore it.
1: If they're willing to leave for a bit more cash (and your illegal collusion and spying means you'll only ever offer a bit more) and enter your musty old claptrap, they're not the hip rockstar you think they are.
2: Your opinion of the companies they're coming from is vastly different from what that person can do for your opinion. Inertia is a big thing in big companies. Even if you see that company as a super hip brand, it's likely a facade covering an internal morass. Hint: Look at your own company and the problem you're trying to solve compared to the company image you put out). Even if the company you're hiring the person from IS legitimately agile/hip/innovative/buzzword, the odds of it being due to that one person, or that one person being able to repeat their success on your ship, are slim to none.
3: Your customers don't give a shit what monkey in a suit you hire, they care about the shit you sell them. Cut executive pay and roll it into product development, QA, or even salaries for regular staff if you want your company to BE healthy as opposed to just APPEAR healthy.