Tag: Mark Zuckerberg

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Mobile Syrup

Mark Zuckerberg wants to introduce AI agents to billions through Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently told investors that the technology company sees “an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful.”

Although Zuckerberg didn’t follow up on exactly how the company plans on adding generative AI to its apps, his interest in the project was shown during the company’s earnings call for the first quarter of this year. It was reported that Meta earned $28.6 billion USD (roughly $38.9 billion CAD) in revenue along with a record 2 billion daily users of the Facebook app. Meta’s first quarter profits totalled $5.7 billion USD (about $7.7 billion CAD).

The CEO did tease potential plans for AI implementation on apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger and visual creation tools for posts on Facebook and Instagram, saying, “I expect that these tools will be valuable for everyone from regular people to creators to businesses. For example, I expect that a lot of interest in AI agents for business messaging and customer support will come once we nail that experience.”

Not one to shy away from bringing the topic back to the heavily-touted metaverse, Zuckerberg would go on to state that, over time, AI would come to the virtual world in the form of created avatars, objects, and worlds.

Initially behind on the AI push, Meta has slowly been taking steps towards bringing artificial intelligence to its systems, including spending billions of dollars on rehauling its data centers in recent quarters. Zuckerberg now says that the company is “no longer behind” in building its AI infrastructure and is planning on releasing related products in the coming months.

The news comes as AI chatbots have become all the rage lately, with companies like Snapchat and Google joining in on the craze. While Meta did release an AI language model called LLaMA to researchers earlier this year, it has not released anything widely accessible as of yet.

However, with Zuckerberg announcing that AI is “literally going to touch every single one of our products,” it won’t be long before Meta attempts a splash in the AI field. This doesn’t mean that the company is shifting away from the metaverse, though, with the next Quest VR headset slated to debut later this year.

Speaking of Meta’s journey into AR, Meta Spark is currently looking to support Indigenous storytelling through augmented reality.

Image credit: Meta

Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Meta cutting 10,000 jobs, reducing hiring, under company restructuring

Meta, the company responsible for Facebook and Instagram, is sharply reducing its employee count, slowing hiring, and cancelling projects.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the details in a Facebook post on Tuesday, blaming the changes on its financial performance and a move to make Meta a “better technology company.”

“Higher interest rates lead to the economy running leaner, more geopolitical instability leads to more volatility, and increased regulation leads to slower growth and increased costs of innovation,” Zuckerberg explained.

“I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years.”

Group leaders will share restructuring plans in the coming months, including cancelling low-priority projects and reducing hiring. The first of the laid-off employees involve the recruiting team.

Details on restructurings and layoffs on the tech side will be shared in April, and changes on the business side will be shared in May, Zuckerberg wrote.

“It’s important for all groups to get leaner and more efficient to enable our technology groups to get as lean and efficient as possible.”

This is the second round of layoffs Meta has partaken in, having dismissed thousands of employees in November 2022.

Image credit: Shutterstock 

Source: Facebook

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Mobile Syrup

Mark Zuckerberg is promoting the sale of his Mark Zuckerberg’s Little League Baseball Card

Meta recently announced that it’s adding the ability for Instagram users to connect their digital crypto wallets to the platform and share their digital art and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

To promote the new feature, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is turning his Little League baseball card into an NFT.

When Zuckerberg was eight back in 1992, he gave the card to his camp counsellor Allie Tarantino who kept it. Now, the card has been authenticated and is going up on sale, along with a blockchain version of it to go along.

“Mark was one of my campers and one day he came in with this card and gave it to me — I was stunned that he was on it! I had never seen a Little League baseball card before, so I asked him to sign it for me. I never could have guessed what amazing things he would do!,” said Tarantino.

“I’ve been telling this story for quite a while, about how I knew Mark as a camper, and it always astonishes people to see that this card actually exists. But I feel that my part of the story is over, so due to Mark’s prominence in the tech world, and the fact that he’s one of the most famous people on the planet, I figure now is a good time to sell this card and put it on market.”

The proceeds of the sale will go to the owner of the card and not Meta or Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg and Meta are just promoting the sale of the card, though it looks like it could use the proceeds. The company reported its first-ever decline in revenue for the second quarter, and its stock is more than 59 percent down since its all-time-high in September 2021.

Instagram recently rolled back its full-screen feed and reduced recommendations amid mounting criticism over changes to the app, and it appears as though rolling out support for NFTs is its way to secure redemption.

Learn more about digital collectibles on Instagram here.

Image credit: @zuck

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Mobile Syrup

Meta extends its ‘no revenue share’ policy to 2024

METAVERSE META FACEBOOK. Silhouette of smartphone with Facebook, Messenger, whatsApp, Instagram, Oculus apps and blurred META logo on background. Rebrand of Facebook. Stafford, UK, October 28, 2021

Earlier this month, Meta announced that content creators on Facebook and Instagram won’t have to share a cut of their revenue until 2023. Now, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is holding off revenue sharing earned from paid online events, Subscriptions, Badges, and Bulletin until 2024.

Apart from the updated time frame, Zuckerberg also mentioned a bunch of updates to monetization, including “Interoperable Subscriptions.”

Interoperable Subscriptions will allow creators to bring over their subscribers from other platforms, and provide them with access to subscriber-only Facebook groups. Additionally, Zuckerberg said that more creators will now be eligible to take part in monetization programs. Meta is opening up the ‘Reels Play Bonus’ program to more creators on Facebook, and will soon add the option for creators to cross-post their Instagram Reels to Facebook, allowing creators to monetize on both platforms.

Facebook’s tipping feature, Facebook Stars, will also be opened up to more eligible creators, giving them the option to earn from their Reels, Live, and VOD videos.

Zuckerberg also mentioned how Meta is testing out a “Creator Marketplace,” which he described as a “set place on Instagram where creators can get discovered and paid, and where brands can share new partnership opportunities.”

Source: Mark Zuckerberg, Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Mark Zuckerberg reveals neural interface wristband that will control future smart glasses

Meta could be developing a new control method for smart glasses.

Mark Zuckerberg, the tech giant’s CEO, has revealed that his company is working on a new pair of smart glasses (not related to the Meta Quest) with eyewear company Essilor Luxottica that works in tandem with a neural interface wristband, as seen in the post below:

In the post, Essilor Luxottica’s chairman Leonardo Del Vecchio can be seen sporting a wristband that would reportedly allow you to control other devices, including the smart glasses the two companies are developing.

“Here Leonardo is using a prototype of our neural interface EMG wristband that will eventually let you control your glasses and other devices,” reads Zuckerberg’s post.

This is not the first time we’ve heard about the wristband prototype. Back in March 2021, Facebook revealed in a blog post that users who wear the band will be able to interact with the virtual world with finger gestures and movements. Facebook, at the time, referred to these gestures as ‘clicks.’

No other information about the prototype was shared, though we do know that Meta aims to release a total of four VR (Virtual Reality) headsets by 2024, with the first one of them reportedly releasing as soon as September of this year. Read more about it below:

Image credit: Tech at Meta

Source: Mark Zuckerberg Via: Reuters

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Mobile Syrup

Zuckerberg wants the launch of Project Nazaré ‘to be an iPhone moment’

Meta is serious about dipping its toes in the augmented reality (AR) glasses game in addition to its push into the metaverse, as echoed in a recent report by The Verge.

The glasses, which are currently in development under Project Nazaré, were first talked about by the Menlo Park, California-based company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook Connect 2021. At the event, Zuckerberg outlined the company’s progress in the AR/VR space by mentioning the recently released Ray-Ban Stories. However, those were just small steps “along the path to an embodied internet,” said Zuckerberg. “The ultimate goal here is true Augmented Reality glasses.”

At the time, Zuckerberg had said that Project Nazaré is still “a few years out.” Meta reportedly plans to launch the glasses sometime in 2024, with upgraded versions arriving by 2026 and 2028.

While the report doesn’t talk about how much the AR glasses would cost, it does mention that they will be more expensive than the company’s $459 Oculus Quest 2 headset and more expensive than the $369 Ray-Ban Stories.

The first Nazaré headset is designed to work without connecting to a smartphone and instead will connect to a proprietary “phone-shaped device” that takes some of the computing load off the glasses. A former Meta employee told The Verge that Zuckerberg “wants it to be an iPhone moment,” referring to the initial release of the glasses sometime in 2024.

Zuckerberg has long been adamant about making the company’s push into the metaverse a serious endeavour. However, Meta’s goal to revolutionize and create a connected digital world may not instantly invoke the visions of Steve Jobs unveiling the first iPhone. The glasses merely act as an admission ticket to a movie theatre, and anyone keen to experience Zuckerberg’s full vision of the metaverse will need to purchase them first.

Want to learn more about Meta’s capabilities in the AR/VR space and what might be on the table when Project Nazaré finally drops? Check out our review of the Ray-Ban Stories.

Image credit: Facebook

Source: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Zuckerberg says NFTs to arrive on Instagram ‘in the near term’

At the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference yesterday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that users would, “in the near term,” be able to display Non-Fungible-Tokens (NFTs) and even mint them directly on Instagram.

While Zuckerberg mentioned NFTs and their introduction to Instagram, he spent most of his time talking about his metaverse vision. He did, however, add that “I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully, over time, [and] be able to mint things within that environment.”

The move shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Earlier this year, a Financial Times report stated that Meta is developing new tools that will allow its users to display their NFTs as their profile pictures, whereas Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, back in December 2021, stated that the company was “actively exploring NFTs.”

Former Meta executive David Marcus also mentioned in August of 2021 that the company is exploring building NFT features alongside Meta’s Novi wallet.

Zuckerberg did not comment on how the upcoming feature would work.

Presumably, you’d have to transfer your already-owned NFTs to the company’s Novi wallet, which would be directly integrated with Instagram. From there, you would most likely be able to set NFTs in your wallet as your profile picture, or mint new ones directly from the platform. The details are hazy but Instagram might also launch a marketplace for the tokens, where users would be able to exchange or sell their digital collectibles. Who knows — users’ feeds might also get a new ‘bid’ button or a new ‘auction’ tab where users can send offers for digital collectibles. The sky is the limit in such a case.

The issue, however, is that NFTs on Instagram are likely to be met with severe criticism. It is also a double-edged sword that can backfire on Meta as they’ll have to introduce strict security measures to prevent NFT scams, which, outside of the platform, are pretty abundant.

Twitter, which has a larger Cryptocurrency/Web3/NFT community, along with Reddit, which hosts an abundance of self-proclaimed NFT connoisseurs, have launched similar features in the recent past. Twitter has already introdued support for NFT profile pictures for Twitter Blue users, whereas Reddit has already launched its CryptoSnoos NFT collection which Redditors can use to stand out and ‘glow’ among the crowd.

A tentative timeline for when Meta would introduce NFT integration for Instagram is unclear, except the fact that its coming “in the near term.”

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg

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Mobile Syrup

Facebook starts rolling out end-to-end encryption for WhatsApp chat backups

After offering end-to-end encryption for chats for several years now, Facebook-owned WhatsApp can now encrypt your chat backups as well. The new security feature was revealed last month and starts rolling out today.

Announced in Facebook blog post, the feature is rolling out “slowly” for users on the latest version of WhatsApp.

Once you have access to the new security feature, you will be able to encrypt your backups before they are sent to iCloud or Google Drive. You can protect your WhatsApp cloud backups with a password or a 64-digit encryption key, which means that no one else will be able to access the backup except you, not even the government.

Making backups is to guarantee that your chats are safe in the event that your devices are lost or stolen. It’s worth noting that if you lose your encryption password or key, you will be unable to recover your backups since neither WhatsApp nor your cloud provider will be able to decode the file.

“No other global messaging service at this scale provides this level of security for their users’ messages, media, voice messages, video calls and chat backups,” boasts Facebook in its blog post about the update.

When the security feature is available, open WhatsApp and navigate to Settings > Chats > Chat Backups > End-to-End Encrypted Backup and follow the instruction prompts.

More information about using end-to-end encryption to secure your chat backups on iOS and Android can be found here.

Image credit: Facebook

Source: Facebook

Categories
Potins

Kanye West can improve lives

Kanye West believes his ideas can make the human race "better".

The ‘Bound 2’ hitmaker admitted his decision to ask Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for $53 million via Twitter was a "mistake", but is still looking for investment because he is convinced he can change lives for the better.

Asked if he ever regrets any of his Tweets or wishes he had thought them through first, he said: "Absolutely not. What’s the point of thinking?

"I should have put [the request to Mark] on Facebook. Now I understand why he didn’t hit me back.

"I understand Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t use Twitter, even though I have had dinner with him and his wife and told them about how I wanted to help the world, and he said he’d help me, and blah blah blah.

"That’s how it feels though, it’s like the pursuit of happiness, it’s like you’re trying to sell this bone density machine, you know in that movie.

"I feel that if I had more resources, I could help more people. I have ideas that can make the human race’s existence within our 100 years better. Period."

In an epic seven-minute rant, Kanye – who has children North, two, and Saint, five months, with wife Kim Kardashian West – went on to explain how he was raised to "make a difference" to people.

He continued to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres: "I care about people. My dad lived in homeless shelters less than five years ago, to find out … he’s a psych major.

"My mom was the first black female chair of the English department of the Chicago State University. I was raised to do something, to make a difference…

"Picasso is dead, Steve Jobs is dead, [Walt] Disney is dead. Name someone living that you can name in the same breath as them. We’re one race, the human race, we’re a blip in the existence of the universe and we’re constantly trying to pull each other down. It’s like I’m shaking talking about it, I feel I can make a difference while I’m here, I feel I can make a difference through my skill set."

As well as discussing the controversy over the lack of diversity at this year’s Oscars, and the way he can "see sounds", the 38-year-old star also vowed to "take away bullying" with his clothing designs, as he aims to be the "Michael Jackson of apparel".

He said: "I’m sitting with [President Barack] Obama, and Leo [DiCaprio]’s talking about the environment, and I’m talking about clothes, and everyone looks at me like, ‘That’s not an important issue’.

"But I remember going to school in fifth grade and wanting to have a cool outfit. I want to take away bullying."