Is Magic Leap the Solyndra of 2017?

This week’s episode arc: the future is a nuclear hellscape full of zombies to the future filled with sustainable food, vibrant public transit systems, voice ux assistants for non sighted developers, and a technologically innovative rebuilt Puerto Rico. Sometimes you need the dark to see the light.

Google Home vs. Amazon

• Game over? Target partners with Google for voice enabled online shopping, joining Walmart to give Google two huge retailers. Amazon, what happened? You had a two year head start.
• Brian reminds Phillip: Amazon doesn’t need to partner with Walmart or Target.
• Amazon’s Alexa is trying to be branded the same way, but at some point, is it a blender, too? Its definitely a fridge.
• Amazon’s been blowing their lead to Google

Google Missteps

• Google be creepin
• Google Fi accidentally throttled half a million subscribers. Does that mean they’re going to renege their promise not to throttle users ever?

Amazon Acquires Body Labs

• Amazon Acquires Future Commerce podcast alum Body Labs for $70MM
• Brian called it, and he’s excited; confirms that Jeff Bezos listens to Future Commerce.
• Body Labs is a body modeling software that takes a 2D picture of your body and turns it into a 3D representation.
• Ramifications for: private label brands, custom clothing, new sizes, sporting goods, and even video game avatars.

Uber eVTOL

• Phillip got an Uber survey; subject: rockets. Specifically, eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing).
• 100 questions almost entirely on eVTOL, e.g. does it need a pilot for you to feel safe, or can it be autonomous?
• Show title idea: “I’m running a little late, my eVTOL crashed.”
• Phillip peers into the future and sees only two options: eVTOLs, or scrap metal fortified shelters protecting the huddling remnants of humanity from zombies and nuclear apocalypse.

Facebook

• Facebook Announces it’s own food delivery service
• Definitely not on brand: “Of all the things they could go invest in, this is not the thing I’d expect”

Oculus Go: VR for the common folk

• Exciting development, Facebook announces Oculus Go.
• Affordable entry point, stand alone, embedded audio, “near high VR experience.”
• Phillip says, “it doesn’t sound good to me, that’s like saying ‘it’s not diarrhea, it’s near diarrhea.’”
• A clear upgrade in the affordable VR realm: this is not pseudo-experience that feels like a phone hack.
• Not only visual VR, but spatial audio as well.
• Hugo Barra, Zuckerberg, if you’re listening, send the guys over for a demo.
• VR still kitsch: it’s not clear how it makes life better for consumers.

Magic Leap gets some serious Series D funding

• 1 billion dollars of Series D funding. That’s a lot of money, especially for an unknown product.
• Prediction: Magic Leap is the Solyndra of 2017
• Exceptional at fundraising, but nothing else?
• Or maybe the CEO of Magic Leap is just Killgrave from Jessica Jones.

Technology for good in the public sphere

• Brent Toderian, tweets Enrique Penalosa, Mayor of Bogota’s, inspiring quote: “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich ride public transportation.”
• Real disruption comes when convenience outweighs other factors: need innovation in public transit.
• “The whole world depends on disrupting food delivery and public transit systems.”
• Shoutout to Jason L Baptiste and his new company, Studio Live.
• Google’s Project Loon connects Puerto Rico to wifi using hot air balloons.
• Mark Zuckerberg uses Puerto Rico to shill for his new Facebook feature.

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