#TC is like SpongeBob I think
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birdsandcake · 7 months ago
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Seeker doodles 🛩️
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kindlecomparedinfo · 7 years ago
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A fictional Facebook Portal videochat with Mark Zuckerberg
TechCrunch: Hey Portal, dial Mark
Portal: Do you mean Mark Zuckerberg?
TC: Yes
Portal: Dialling Mark…
TC: Hi Mark! Nice choice of grey t-shirt.
MZ: Uh, new phone who dis? — oh, hi, er, TechCrunch…
TC: Thanks for agreeing to this entirely fictional interview, Mark!
MZ: Sure — anytime. But you don’t mind if I tape over the camera do you? You see I’m a bit concerned about my privacy here at, like, home
TC: We feel you, go ahead.
As you can see, we already took the precaution of wearing this large rubber face mask of, well, of yourself Mark. And covering the contents of our bedroom with these paint-splattered decorator sheets.
MZ: Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bit creepy tbh
TC: Go on and get all taped up. We’ll wait.
[sound of Mark calling Priscilla to bring the tape dispenser]
[Portal’s camera jumps out to assimilate Priscilla Chan into the domestic scene, showing a generous vista of the Zuckerbergs’ living room, complete with kids playing in the corner. Priscilla, clad in an oversized dressing gown and with her hair wrapped in a big fluffy towel, can be seen gesticulating at the camera. She is also coughing]
Priscilla to Mark: I already told you — there’s a camera cover built into into Portal. You don’t need to use tape now
MZ: Oh, right, right!
Okay, going dark! Wow, that feels better already
[sound of knuckles cracking]
TC: So, Mark, let’s talk hardware! What’s your favorite Amazon Echo?
MZ: Uh, well…
TC: We’d guess one with all the bells & whistles, right? There’s definitely something more than a little Echo Show-y about Portal
MZ: Sure, I mean. We think Alexa is a great product
TC: Mhmm. Do you remember when digital photo frames first came out? They were this shiny new thing about, like, a decade ago? One of those gadgets your parents buy you around Thanksgiving, which ends up stuck in a drawer forever?
MZ: Yeah! I think someone gave me one once with a photo of me playing beer pong on it. We had it hanging in the downstairs rest room for the longest time. But then we got an Android tablet with a Wi-Fi connection for in there, so…
TC: Now here we are a decade or so later with Portal advancing the vision of what digital photo frames can be!
MZ: Yeah! I mean, you don’t even have to pick the pictures! It’s pretty awesome. This one here — oh, right you can’t see me but let me describe it for you — this one here is of a Halloween party I went to one year. Someone was dressed as SpongeBob. I think they might have been called Bob, actually… And this is, like, some other Facebook friends doing some other fun stuff. Pretty amazing.
You can also look at album art
TC: But not YouTube, right? But let’s talk about video calling
MZ: It’s an amazing technology
TC: It sure is. Skype, FaceTime… live filters, effects, animoji…
MZ: We’re building on a truly great technology foundation. Portal autozooming means you don’t even have to think about watching the person you’re talking to! You can just be doing stuff in your room and the camera will always be adjusting to capture everything you’re doing! Pretty amazing.
TC: Doing what Mark? Actually, let’s not go there
MZ: Portal will even suggest people for you to call! We think this will be a huge help for our mission to promote Being Well — uh, I mean Time Well Spent because our expert machine learning algorithms will be nudging you to talk to people you should really be talking to
TC: Like my therapist?
MZ: Uh, well, it depends. But our AI can suggest personalized meaningful interactions by suggesting Messenger contacts to call up
TC: It’s not going to suggest I videchat my ex is it?
MZ: Haha! Hopefully not. But maybe your mom? Or your grandma?
TC: Sounds incredibly useful. Well, assuming they didn’t already #deletefacebook.
But let’s talk about kids
MZ: Kids! Yeah we love them. Portal is going to be amazing for kids
TC: You have this storybook thing going on, right? Absent grandparents using Portal to read kids bedtime stories and what not…
MZ: Right! We think kids are going to love it. And grandparents! We’ve got these animal masks if you get bored of looking at your actual family members. It’s good, clean, innovative fun for all the family!
TC: Yeah, although, I mean, nothing beats reading from an actual kid’s book, right?
MZ: Well…
TC: If you do want to involve a device in your kid’s bedtime there are quite a lot of digital ebook apps for that already. Apple has a whole iBooks library of the things with read-aloud narration, for example.
And, maybe you missed this — but quite a few years ago there was a big bunch of indie apps and services all having a good go at selling the same sort of idea of ‘interactive remote reading experiences’ for families with kids. Though not many appear to have gone the distance. Which does sort of suggest there isn’t a huge unmet need for extra stuff beyond, well, actual children’s books and videochat apps like Skype and FaceTime.
Also, I mean, children’s story reading apps and interactive kids’ e-books are pretty much as old as the hills in Internet terms at this point. So, er, you’re not really moving fast and breaking things are you!?
MZ: Actually we’re more focused on stable infrastructure these days
TC: And hardware too, apparently. Which is a pretty radical departure for Facebook. All those years everyone thought you were going to do a Facebook phone but you left it to Amazon to flop into that pit… Who needs hardware when you can put apps and tracker pixels on everything, right?!
But here you are now, kinda working with Amazon for Portal — while also competing with Alexa hardware by selling your own countertop device… Aren’t you at all nervous about screwing this up? Hardware IS hard. And homes have curtains for a reason…
MZ: We’re definitely confident kids aren’t going to try swivelling around on the Portal Plus like it’s a climbing frame, if that’s what you mean. Well, hopefully not anyway
TC: But about you, Facebook Inc, putting an all-seeing-eye-cum-Internet-connected-listening-post into people’s living rooms and kids’ bedrooms…
MZ: What about it?
[MZ speaking to someone else in the room] Does the speaker have an off switch? How do I mute this thing?
TC: Hello? Mark?
[silence]
[sound comes back on briefly and a snatch of conversation can be heard between Mark and Priscilla about the need to buy more diapers. Mark is then heard shouting across the room that his Shake Shack order of a triple cheeseburger and fries plus butterscotch malt is late again]
[silence] 
[crackle and a congested throat clearing sound. A child is heard in the background asking for Legos]
MZ: Not now okay honey. Okay hon-, uh, hello — what were you saying?
TC: Will you be putting a Portal in Max’s room?
MZ: Haha! She’d probably prefer Legos
TC: August?
MZ: She’s only just turned one
TC: Okay, let’s try a more direct question. Do you at all think that you, Facebook Inc,
might have a problem selling a $200+ piece of Internet-connected hardware when your company is known for creeping on people to sell ads?
MZ: Oh no, no! — we’ve, like, totally thought of that!
Let me read you what marketing came up with. Hang on, it’s around here somewhere…
[sound of paper rustling]
Here we go [reading]:
Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.
For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.
Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.
Pretty cool, huh!
TC: Just to return to your stable infrastructure point for a second, Mark — did you mean Facebook is focused on security too? Because, well, your company keeps leaking personal data like a sieve holds water…
MZ: We think of infrastructure as a more holistic concept. And, uh, as a word that sounds reassuring
TC: Okay, so of course you can’t 100% guarantee Portal against hacking risks, though you’re taking precautions by encrypting calls. But Portal might also ‘accidentally’ record stuff adults and kids say in the home — i.e. if its ‘Hey Portal’ local listening function gets triggered when it shouldn’t. And it will then be 100% up to a responsible adult to find their way through Facebook’s labyrinthine settings and delete those wiretaps, won’t it?
MZ: You can control all your information, yes
TC: The marketing bumpf also doesn’t spell out what Facebook does with ‘Hey Portal’ voice recordings, or the personal insights your company is able to glean from them, but Facebook is in the business of profiling people for ad targeting purposes so we must assume that any and all voice commands and interactions, with the sole exception of the contents of videocalls, will go into feeding that beast.
So the metadata of who you talk to via Portal, what you listen to and look at (minus any Alexa-related interactions that you’ve agreed to hand off to Amazon for its own product targeting purposes), and potentially much more besides is all there for Facebook’s taking — given the kinds of things that an always-on listening device located in a domestic setting could be accidentally privy to.
Then, as more services get added to Portal, more personal behavioral data will be generated and can be processed by Facebook for selling ads.
MZ: Well, I mean, like I told that Senator we do sell ads
TC: And smart home hardware too now, apparently.
One more thing, Mark: In Europe, Facebook didn’t used to have face recognition technology switched on did it?
MZ: We had it on pause for a while
TC: But you switched it back on earlier this year right?
MZ: Facebook users in Europe can choose to use it, yes
TC: And who’s in charge of framing that choice?
MZ: Uh, well we are obviously
TC: We’d like you to tap on the Portal screen now, Mark. Tap on the face you can see to make the camera zoom right in on this mask of your own visage. Can you do that for us?
MZ: Uh, sure
[sound of a finger thudding against glass]
MZ: Are you seeing this? It really is pretty creepy!
Or — I mean — it would be if it wasn’t so, like, familiar…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
[sound of a child crying]
Priscilla to Mark: Eeeew! Turn that thing off!
TC: Thanks Mark. We’ll leave you guys to it.
Enjoy your Shake Shack. Again.
Portal: Thanks for calling Mark, TechCrunch! Did you enjoy your Time Well Spent?
from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8176395 https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/13/a-fictional-facebook-portal-videochat-with-mark-zuckerberg/ via http://www.kindlecompared.com/kindle-comparison/
0 notes
localbizlift · 7 years ago
Text
A fictional Facebook Portal videochat with Mark Zuckerberg
TechCrunch: Hey Portal, dial Mark
Portal: Do you mean Mark Zuckerberg?
TC: Yes
Portal: Dialling Mark…
TC: Hi Mark! Nice choice of grey t-shirt.
MZ: Uh, new phone who dis? — oh, hi, er, TechCrunch…
TC: Thanks for agreeing to this entirely fictional interview, Mark!
MZ: Sure — anytime. But you don’t mind if I tape over the camera do you? You see I’m a bit concerned about my privacy here at, like, home
TC: We feel you, go ahead.
As you can see, we already took the precaution of wearing this large rubber face mask of, well, of yourself Mark. And covering the contents of our bedroom with these paint-splattered decorator sheets.
MZ: Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bit creepy tbh
TC: Go on and get all taped up. We’ll wait.
[sound of Mark calling Priscilla to bring the tape dispenser]
[Portal’s camera jumps out to assimilate Priscilla Chan into the domestic scene, showing a generous vista of the Zuckerbergs’ living room, complete with kids playing in the corner. Priscilla, clad in an oversized dressing gown and with her hair wrapped in a big fluffy towel, can be seen gesticulating at the camera. She is also coughing]
Priscilla to Mark: I already told you — there’s a camera cover built into into Portal. You don’t need to use tape now
MZ: Oh, right, right!
Okay, going dark! Wow, that feels better already
[sound of knuckles cracking]
TC: So, Mark, let’s talk hardware! What’s your favorite Amazon Echo?
MZ: Uh, well…
TC: We’d guess one with all the bells & whistles, right? There’s definitely something more than a little Echo Show-y about Portal
MZ: Sure, I mean. We think Alexa is a great product
TC: Mhmm. Do you remember when digital photo frames first came out? They were this shiny new thing about, like, a decade ago? One of those gadgets your parents buy you around Thanksgiving, which ends up stuck in a drawer forever?
MZ: Yeah! I think someone gave me one once with a photo of me playing beer pong on it. We had it hanging in the downstairs rest room for the longest time. But then we got an Android tablet with a Wi-Fi connection for in there, so…
TC: Now here we are a decade or so later with Portal advancing the vision of what digital photo frames can be!
MZ: Yeah! I mean, you don’t even have to pick the pictures! It’s pretty awesome. This one here — oh, right you can’t see me but let me describe it for you — this one here is of a Halloween party I went to one year. Someone was dressed as SpongeBob. I think they might have been called Bob, actually… And this is, like, some other Facebook friends doing some other fun stuff. Pretty amazing.
You can also look at album art
TC: But not YouTube, right? But let’s talk about video calling
MZ: It’s an amazing technology
TC: It sure is. Skype, FaceTime… live filters, effects, animoji…
MZ: We’re building on a truly great technology foundation. Portal autozooming means you don’t even have to think about watching the person you’re talking to! You can just be doing stuff in your room and the camera will always be adjusting to capture everything you’re doing! Pretty amazing.
TC: Doing what Mark? Actually, let’s not go there
MZ: Portal will even suggest people for you to call! We think this will be a huge help for our mission to promote Being Well — uh, I mean Time Well Spent because our expert machine learning algorithms will be nudging you to talk to people you should really be talking to
TC: Like my therapist?
MZ: Uh, well, it depends. But our AI can suggest personalized meaningful interactions by suggesting Messenger contacts to call up
TC: It’s not going to suggest I videchat my ex is it?
MZ: Haha! Hopefully not. But maybe your mom? Or your grandma?
TC: Sounds incredibly useful. Well, assuming they didn’t already #deletefacebook.
But let’s talk about kids
MZ: Kids! Yeah we love them. Portal is going to be amazing for kids
TC: You have this storybook thing going on, right? Absent grandparents using Portal to read kids bedtime stories and what not…
MZ: Right! We think kids are going to love it. And grandparents! We’ve got these animal masks if you get bored of looking at your actual family members. It’s good, clean, innovative fun for all the family!
TC: Yeah, although, I mean, nothing beats reading from an actual kid’s book, right?
MZ: Well…
TC: If you do want to involve a device in your kid’s bedtime there are quite a lot of digital ebook apps for that already. Apple has a whole iBooks library of the things with read-aloud narration, for example.
And, maybe you missed this — but quite a few years ago there was a big bunch of indie apps and services all having a good go at selling the same sort of idea of ‘interactive remote reading experiences’ for families with kids. Though not many appear to have gone the distance. Which does sort of suggest there isn’t a huge unmet need for extra stuff beyond, well, actual children’s books and videochat apps like Skype and FaceTime.
Also, I mean, children’s story reading apps and interactive kids’ e-books are pretty much as old as the hills in Internet terms at this point. So, er, you’re not really moving fast and breaking things are you!?
MZ: Actually we’re more focused on stable infrastructure these days
TC: And hardware too, apparently. Which is a pretty radical departure for Facebook. All those years everyone thought you were going to do a Facebook phone but you left it to Amazon to flop into that pit… Who needs hardware when you can put apps and tracker pixels on everything, right?!
But here you are now, kinda working with Amazon for Portal — while also competing with Alexa hardware by selling your own countertop device… Aren’t you at all nervous about screwing this up? Hardware IS hard. And homes have curtains for a reason…
MZ: We’re definitely confident kids aren’t going to try swivelling around on the Portal Plus like it’s a climbing frame, if that’s what you mean. Well, hopefully not anyway
TC: But about you, Facebook Inc, putting an all-seeing-eye-cum-Internet-connected-listening-post into people’s living rooms and kids’ bedrooms…
MZ: What about it?
[MZ speaking to someone else in the room] Does the speaker have an off switch? How do I mute this thing?
TC: Hello? Mark?
[silence]
[sound comes back on briefly and a snatch of conversation can be heard between Mark and Priscilla about the need to buy more diapers. Mark is then heard shouting across the room that his Shake Shack order of a triple cheeseburger and fries plus butterscotch malt is late again]
[silence] 
[crackle and a congested throat clearing sound. A child is heard in the background asking for Legos]
MZ: Not now okay honey. Okay hon-, uh, hello — what were you saying?
TC: Will you be putting a Portal in Max’s room?
MZ: Haha! She’d probably prefer Legos
TC: August?
MZ: She’s only just turned one
TC: Okay, let’s try a more direct question. Do you at all think that you, Facebook Inc,
might have a problem selling a $200+ piece of Internet-connected hardware when your company is known for creeping on people to sell ads?
MZ: Oh no, no! — we’ve, like, totally thought of that!
Let me read you what marketing came up with. Hang on, it’s around here somewhere…
[sound of paper rustling]
Here we go [reading]:
Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.
For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.
Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.
Pretty cool, huh!
TC: Just to return to your stable infrastructure point for a second, Mark — did you mean Facebook is focused on security too? Because, well, your company keeps leaking personal data like a sieve holds water…
MZ: We think of infrastructure as a more holistic concept. And, uh, as a word that sounds reassuring
TC: Okay, so of course you can’t 100% guarantee Portal against hacking risks, though you’re taking precautions by encrypting calls. But Portal might also ‘accidentally’ record stuff adults and kids say in the home — i.e. if its ‘Hey Portal’ local listening function gets triggered when it shouldn’t. And it will then be 100% up to a responsible adult to find their way through Facebook’s labyrinthine settings and delete those wiretaps, won’t it?
MZ: You can control all your information, yes
TC: The marketing bumpf also doesn’t spell out what Facebook does with ‘Hey Portal’ voice recordings, or the personal insights your company is able to glean from them, but Facebook is in the business of profiling people for ad targeting purposes so we must assume that any and all voice commands and interactions, with the sole exception of the contents of videocalls, will go into feeding that beast.
So the metadata of who you talk to via Portal, what you listen to and look at (minus any Alexa-related interactions that you’ve agreed to hand off to Amazon for its own product targeting purposes), and potentially much more besides is all there for Facebook’s taking — given the kinds of things that an always-on listening device located in a domestic setting could be accidentally privy to.
Then, as more services get added to Portal, more personal behavioral data will be generated and can be processed by Facebook for selling ads.
MZ: Well, I mean, like I told that Senator we do sell ads
TC: And smart home hardware too now, apparently.
One more thing, Mark: In Europe, Facebook didn’t used to have face recognition technology switched on did it?
MZ: We had it on pause for a while
TC: But you switched it back on earlier this year right?
MZ: Facebook users in Europe can choose to use it, yes
TC: And who’s in charge of framing that choice?
MZ: Uh, well we are obviously
TC: We’d like you to tap on the Portal screen now, Mark. Tap on the face you can see to make the camera zoom right in on this mask of your own visage. Can you do that for us?
MZ: Uh, sure
[sound of a finger thudding against glass]
MZ: Are you seeing this? It really is pretty creepy!
Or — I mean — it would be if it wasn’t so, like, familiar…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
[sound of a child crying]
Priscilla to Mark: Eeeew! Turn that thing off!
TC: Thanks Mark. We’ll leave you guys to it.
Enjoy your Shake Shack. Again.
Portal: Thanks for calling Mark, TechCrunch! Did you enjoy your Time Well Spent?
0 notes
pmsocialmedia · 7 years ago
Text
A fictional Facebook Portal videochat with Mark Zuckerberg
TechCrunch: Hey Portal, dial Mark
Portal: Do you mean Mark Zuckerberg?
TC: Yes
Portal: Dialling Mark…
TC: Hi Mark! Nice choice of grey t-shirt.
MZ: Uh, new phone who dis? — oh, hi, er, TechCrunch…
TC: Thanks for agreeing to this entirely fictional interview, Mark!
MZ: Sure — anytime. But you don’t mind if I tape over the camera do you? You see I’m a bit concerned about my privacy here at, like, home
TC: We feel you, go ahead.
As you can see, we already took the precaution of wearing this large rubber face mask of, well, of yourself Mark. And covering the contents of our bedroom with these paint-splattered decorator sheets.
MZ: Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bit creepy tbh
TC: Go on and get all taped up. We’ll wait.
[sound of Mark calling Priscilla to bring the tape dispenser]
[Portal’s camera jumps out to assimilate Priscilla Chan into the domestic scene, showing a generous vista of the Zuckerbergs’ living room, complete with kids playing in the corner. Priscilla, clad in an oversized dressing gown and with her hair wrapped in a big fluffy towel, can be seen gesticulating at the camera. She is also coughing]
Priscilla to Mark: I already told you — there’s a camera cover built into into Portal. You don’t need to use tape now
MZ: Oh, right, right!
Okay, going dark! Wow, that feels better already
[sound of knuckles cracking]
TC: So, Mark, let’s talk hardware! What’s your favorite Amazon Echo?
MZ: Uh, well…
TC: We’d guess one with all the bells & whistles, right? There’s definitely something more than a little Echo Show-y about Portal
MZ: Sure, I mean. We think Alexa is a great product
TC: Mhmm. Do you remember when digital photo frames first came out? They were this shiny new thing about, like, a decade ago? One of those gadgets your parents buy you around Thanksgiving, which ends up stuck in a drawer forever?
MZ: Yeah! I think someone gave me one once with a photo of me playing beer pong on it. We had it hanging in the downstairs rest room for the longest time. But then we got an Android tablet with a Wi-Fi connection for in there, so…
TC: Now here we are a decade or so later with Portal advancing the vision of what digital photo frames can be!
MZ: Yeah! I mean, you don’t even have to pick the pictures! It’s pretty awesome. This one here — oh, right you can’t see me but let me describe it for you — this one here is of a Halloween party I went to one year. Someone was dressed as SpongeBob. I think they might have been called Bob, actually… And this is, like, some other Facebook friends doing some other fun stuff. Pretty amazing.
You can also look at album art
TC: But not YouTube, right? But let’s talk about video calling
MZ: It’s an amazing technology
TC: It sure is. Skype, FaceTime… live filters, effects, animoji…
MZ: We’re building on a truly great technology foundation. Portal autozooming means you don’t even have to think about watching the person you’re talking to! You can just be doing stuff in your room and the camera will always be adjusting to capture everything you’re doing! Pretty amazing.
TC: Doing what Mark? Actually, let’s not go there
MZ: Portal will even suggest people for you to call! We think this will be a huge help for our mission to promote Being Well — uh, I mean Time Well Spent because our expert machine learning algorithms will be nudging you to talk to people you should really be talking to
TC: Like my therapist?
MZ: Uh, well, it depends. But our AI can suggest personalized meaningful interactions by suggesting Messenger contacts to call up
TC: It’s not going to suggest I videchat my ex is it?
MZ: Haha! Hopefully not. But maybe your mom? Or your grandma?
TC: Sounds incredibly useful. Well, assuming they didn’t already #deletefacebook.
But let’s talk about kids
MZ: Kids! Yeah we love them. Portal is going to be amazing for kids
TC: You have this storybook thing going on, right? Absent grandparents using Portal to read kids bedtime stories and what not…
MZ: Right! We think kids are going to love it. And grandparents! We’ve got these animal masks if you get bored of looking at your actual family members. It’s good, clean, innovative fun for all the family!
TC: Yeah, although, I mean, nothing beats reading from an actual kid’s book, right?
MZ: Well…
TC: If you do want to involve a device in your kid’s bedtime there are quite a lot of digital ebook apps for that already. Apple has a whole iBooks library of the things with read-aloud narration, for example.
And, maybe you missed this — but quite a few years ago there was a big bunch of indie apps and services all having a good go at selling the same sort of idea of ‘interactive remote reading experiences’ for families with kids. Though not many appear to have gone the distance. Which does sort of suggest there isn’t a huge unmet need for extra stuff beyond, well, actual children’s books and videochat apps like Skype and FaceTime.
Also, I mean, children’s story reading apps and interactive kids’ e-books are pretty much as old as the hills in Internet terms at this point. So, er, you’re not really moving fast and breaking things are you!?
MZ: Actually we’re more focused on stable infrastructure these days
TC: And hardware too, apparently. Which is a pretty radical departure for Facebook. All those years everyone thought you were going to do a Facebook phone but you left it to Amazon to flop into that pit… Who needs hardware when you can put apps and tracker pixels on everything, right?!
But here you are now, kinda working with Amazon for Portal — while also competing with Alexa hardware by selling your own countertop device… Aren’t you at all nervous about screwing this up? Hardware IS hard. And homes have curtains for a reason…
MZ: We’re definitely confident kids aren’t going to try swivelling around on the Portal Plus like it’s a climbing frame, if that’s what you mean. Well, hopefully not anyway
TC: But about you, Facebook Inc, putting an all-seeing-eye-cum-Internet-connected-listening-post into people’s living rooms and kids’ bedrooms…
MZ: What about it?
[MZ speaking to someone else in the room] Does the speaker have an off switch? How do I mute this thing?
TC: Hello? Mark?
[silence]
[sound comes back on briefly and a snatch of conversation can be heard between Mark and Priscilla about the need to buy more diapers. Mark is then heard shouting across the room that his Shake Shack order of a triple cheeseburger and fries plus butterscotch malt is late again]
[silence] 
[crackle and a congested throat clearing sound. A child is heard in the background asking for Legos]
MZ: Not now okay honey. Okay hon-, uh, hello — what were you saying?
TC: Will you be putting a Portal in Max’s room?
MZ: Haha! She’d probably prefer Legos
TC: August?
MZ: She’s only just turned one
TC: Okay, let’s try a more direct question. Do you at all think that you, Facebook Inc,
might have a problem selling a $200+ piece of Internet-connected hardware when your company is known for creeping on people to sell ads?
MZ: Oh no, no! — we’ve, like, totally thought of that!
Let me read you what marketing came up with. Hang on, it’s around here somewhere…
[sound of paper rustling]
Here we go [reading]:
Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.
For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.
Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.
Pretty cool, huh!
TC: Just to return to your stable infrastructure point for a second, Mark — did you mean Facebook is focused on security too? Because, well, your company keeps leaking personal data like a sieve holds water…
MZ: We think of infrastructure as a more holistic concept. And, uh, as a word that sounds reassuring
TC: Okay, so of course you can’t 100% guarantee Portal against hacking risks, though you’re taking precautions by encrypting calls. But Portal might also ‘accidentally’ record stuff adults and kids say in the home — i.e. if its ‘Hey Portal’ local listening function gets triggered when it shouldn’t. And it will then be 100% up to a responsible adult to find their way through Facebook’s labyrinthine settings and delete those wiretaps, won’t it?
MZ: You can control all your information, yes
TC: The marketing bumpf also doesn’t spell out what Facebook does with ‘Hey Portal’ voice recordings, or the personal insights your company is able to glean from them, but Facebook is in the business of profiling people for ad targeting purposes so we must assume that any and all voice commands and interactions, with the sole exception of the contents of videocalls, will go into feeding that beast.
So the metadata of who you talk to via Portal, what you listen to and look at (minus any Alexa-related interactions that you’ve agreed to hand off to Amazon for its own product targeting purposes), and potentially much more besides is all there for Facebook’s taking — given the kinds of things that an always-on listening device located in a domestic setting could be accidentally privy to.
Then, as more services get added to Portal, more personal behavioral data will be generated and can be processed by Facebook for selling ads.
MZ: Well, I mean, like I told that Senator we do sell ads
TC: And smart home hardware too now, apparently.
One more thing, Mark: In Europe, Facebook didn’t used to have face recognition technology switched on did it?
MZ: We had it on pause for a while
TC: But you switched it back on earlier this year right?
MZ: Facebook users in Europe can choose to use it, yes
TC: And who’s in charge of framing that choice?
MZ: Uh, well we are obviously
TC: We’d like you to tap on the Portal screen now, Mark. Tap on the face you can see to make the camera zoom right in on this mask of your own visage. Can you do that for us?
MZ: Uh, sure
[sound of a finger thudding against glass]
MZ: Are you seeing this? It really is pretty creepy!
Or — I mean — it would be if it wasn’t so, like, familiar…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
[sound of a child crying]
Priscilla to Mark: Eeeew! Turn that thing off!
TC: Thanks Mark. We’ll leave you guys to it.
Enjoy your Shake Shack. Again.
Portal: Thanks for calling Mark, TechCrunch! Did you enjoy your Time Well Spent?
via Social – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2CJb3td
0 notes
workfromhom · 7 years ago
Text
A fictional Facebook Portal videochat with Mark Zuckerberg
TechCrunch: Hey Portal, dial Mark
Portal: Do you mean Mark Zuckerberg?
TC: Yes
Portal: Dialling Mark…
TC: Hi Mark! Nice choice of grey t-shirt.
MZ: Uh, new phone who dis? — oh, hi, er, TechCrunch…
TC: Thanks for agreeing to this entirely fictional interview, Mark!
MZ: Sure — anytime. But you don’t mind if I tape over the camera do you? You see I’m a bit concerned about my privacy here at, like, home
TC: We feel you, go ahead.
As you can see, we already took the precaution of wearing this large rubber face mask of, well, of yourself Mark. And covering the contents of our bedroom with these paint-splattered decorator sheets.
MZ: Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bit creepy tbh
TC: Go on and get all taped up. We’ll wait.
[sound of Mark calling Priscilla to bring the tape dispenser]
[Portal’s camera jumps out to assimilate Priscilla Chan into the domestic scene, showing a generous vista of the Zuckerbergs’ living room, complete with kids playing in the corner. Priscilla, clad in an oversized dressing gown and with her hair wrapped in a big fluffy towel, can be seen gesticulating at the camera. She is also coughing]
Priscilla to Mark: I already told you — there’s a camera cover built into into Portal. You don’t need to use tape now
MZ: Oh, right, right!
Okay, going dark! Wow, that feels better already
[sound of knuckles cracking]
TC: So, Mark, let’s talk hardware! What’s your favorite Amazon Echo?
MZ: Uh, well…
TC: We’d guess one with all the bells & whistles, right? There’s definitely something more than a little Echo Show-y about Portal
MZ: Sure, I mean. We think Alexa is a great product
TC: Mhmm. Do you remember when digital photo frames first came out? They were this shiny new thing about, like, a decade ago? One of those gadgets your parents buy you around Thanksgiving, which ends up stuck in a drawer forever?
MZ: Yeah! I think someone gave me one once with a photo of me playing beer pong on it. We had it hanging in the downstairs rest room for the longest time. But then we got an Android tablet with a Wi-Fi connection for in there, so…
TC: Now here we are a decade or so later with Portal advancing the vision of what digital photo frames can be!
MZ: Yeah! I mean, you don’t even have to pick the pictures! It’s pretty awesome. This one here — oh, right you can’t see me but let me describe it for you — this one here is of a Halloween party I went to one year. Someone was dressed as SpongeBob. I think they might have been called Bob, actually… And this is, like, some other Facebook friends doing some other fun stuff. Pretty amazing.
You can also look at album art
TC: But not YouTube, right? But let’s talk about video calling
MZ: It’s an amazing technology
TC: It sure is. Skype, FaceTime… live filters, effects, animoji…
MZ: We’re building on a truly great technology foundation. Portal autozooming means you don’t even have to think about watching the person you’re talking to! You can just be doing stuff in your room and the camera will always be adjusting to capture everything you’re doing! Pretty amazing.
TC: Doing what Mark? Actually, let’s not go there
MZ: Portal will even suggest people for you to call! We think this will be a huge help for our mission to promote Being Well — uh, I mean Time Well Spent because our expert machine learning algorithms will be nudging you to talk to people you should really be talking to
TC: Like my therapist?
MZ: Uh, well, it depends. But our AI can suggest personalized meaningful interactions by suggesting Messenger contacts to call up
TC: It’s not going to suggest I videchat my ex is it?
MZ: Haha! Hopefully not. But maybe your mom? Or your grandma?
TC: Sounds incredibly useful. Well, assuming they didn’t already #deletefacebook.
But let’s talk about kids
MZ: Kids! Yeah we love them. Portal is going to be amazing for kids
TC: You have this storybook thing going on, right? Absent grandparents using Portal to read kids bedtime stories and what not…
MZ: Right! We think kids are going to love it. And grandparents! We’ve got these animal masks if you get bored of looking at your actual family members. It’s good, clean, innovative fun for all the family!
TC: Yeah, although, I mean, nothing beats reading from an actual kid’s book, right?
MZ: Well…
TC: If you do want to involve a device in your kid’s bedtime there are quite a lot of digital ebook apps for that already. Apple has a whole iBooks library of the things with read-aloud narration, for example.
And, maybe you missed this — but quite a few years ago there was a big bunch of indie apps and services all having a good go at selling the same sort of idea of ‘interactive remote reading experiences’ for families with kids. Though not many appear to have gone the distance. Which does sort of suggest there isn’t a huge unmet need for extra stuff beyond, well, actual children’s books and videochat apps like Skype and FaceTime.
Also, I mean, children’s story reading apps and interactive kids’ e-books are pretty much as old as the hills in Internet terms at this point. So, er, you’re not really moving fast and breaking things are you!?
MZ: Actually we’re more focused on stable infrastructure these days
TC: And hardware too, apparently. Which is a pretty radical departure for Facebook. All those years everyone thought you were going to do a Facebook phone but you left it to Amazon to flop into that pit… Who needs hardware when you can put apps and tracker pixels on everything, right?!
But here you are now, kinda working with Amazon for Portal — while also competing with Alexa hardware by selling your own countertop device… Aren’t you at all nervous about screwing this up? Hardware IS hard. And homes have curtains for a reason…
MZ: We’re definitely confident kids aren’t going to try swivelling around on the Portal Plus like it’s a climbing frame, if that’s what you mean. Well, hopefully not anyway
TC: But about you, Facebook Inc, putting an all-seeing-eye-cum-Internet-connected-listening-post into people’s living rooms and kids’ bedrooms…
MZ: What about it?
[MZ speaking to someone else in the room] Does the speaker have an off switch? How do I mute this thing?
TC: Hello? Mark?
[silence]
[sound comes back on briefly and a snatch of conversation can be heard between Mark and Priscilla about the need to buy more diapers. Mark is then heard shouting across the room that his Shake Shack order of a triple cheeseburger and fries plus butterscotch malt is late again]
[silence] 
[crackle and a congested throat clearing sound. A child is heard in the background asking for Legos]
MZ: Not now okay honey. Okay hon-, uh, hello — what were you saying?
TC: Will you be putting a Portal in Max’s room?
MZ: Haha! She’d probably prefer Legos
TC: August?
MZ: She’s only just turned one
TC: Okay, let’s try a more direct question. Do you at all think that you, Facebook Inc,
might have a problem selling a $200+ piece of Internet-connected hardware when your company is known for creeping on people to sell ads?
MZ: Oh no, no! — we’ve, like, totally thought of that!
Let me read you what marketing came up with. Hang on, it’s around here somewhere…
[sound of paper rustling]
Here we go [reading]:
Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.
For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.
Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.
Pretty cool, huh!
TC: Just to return to your stable infrastructure point for a second, Mark — did you mean Facebook is focused on security too? Because, well, your company keeps leaking personal data like a sieve holds water…
MZ: We think of infrastructure as a more holistic concept. And, uh, as a word that sounds reassuring
TC: Okay, so of course you can’t 100% guarantee Portal against hacking risks, though you’re taking precautions by encrypting calls. But Portal might also ‘accidentally’ record stuff adults and kids say in the home — i.e. if its ‘Hey Portal’ local listening function gets triggered when it shouldn’t. And it will then be 100% up to a responsible adult to find their way through Facebook’s labyrinthine settings and delete those wiretaps, won’t it?
MZ: You can control all your information, yes
TC: The marketing bumpf also doesn’t spell out what Facebook does with ‘Hey Portal’ voice recordings, or the personal insights your company is able to glean from them, but Facebook is in the business of profiling people for ad targeting purposes so we must assume that any and all voice commands and interactions, with the sole exception of the contents of videocalls, will go into feeding that beast.
So the metadata of who you talk to via Portal, what you listen to and look at (minus any Alexa-related interactions that you’ve agreed to hand off to Amazon for its own product targeting purposes), and potentially much more besides is all there for Facebook’s taking — given the kinds of things that an always-on listening device located in a domestic setting could be accidentally privy to.
Then, as more services get added to Portal, more personal behavioral data will be generated and can be processed by Facebook for selling ads.
MZ: Well, I mean, like I told that Senator we do sell ads
TC: And smart home hardware too now, apparently.
One more thing, Mark: In Europe, Facebook didn’t used to have face recognition technology switched on did it?
MZ: We had it on pause for a while
TC: But you switched it back on earlier this year right?
MZ: Facebook users in Europe can choose to use it, yes
TC: And who’s in charge of framing that choice?
MZ: Uh, well we are obviously
TC: We’d like you to tap on the Portal screen now, Mark. Tap on the face you can see to make the camera zoom right in on this mask of your own visage. Can you do that for us?
MZ: Uh, sure
[sound of a finger thudding against glass]
MZ: Are you seeing this? It really is pretty creepy!
Or — I mean — it would be if it wasn’t so, like, familiar…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
[sound of a child crying]
Priscilla to Mark: Eeeew! Turn that thing off!
TC: Thanks Mark. We’ll leave you guys to it.
Enjoy your Shake Shack. Again.
Portal: Thanks for calling Mark, TechCrunch! Did you enjoy your Time Well Spent?
from Facebook – TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2CJb3td via IFTTT
0 notes
un-enfant-immature · 7 years ago
Text
A fictional Facebook Portal videochat with Mark Zuckerberg
TechCrunch: Hey Portal, dial Mark
Portal: Do you mean Mark Zuckerberg?
TC: Yes
Portal: Dialling Mark…
TC: Hi Mark! Nice choice of grey t-shirt.
MZ: Uh, new phone who dis? — oh, hi, er, TechCrunch…
TC: Thanks for agreeing to this entirely fictional interview, Mark!
MZ: Sure — anytime. But you don’t mind if I tape over the camera do you? You see I’m a bit concerned about my privacy here at, like, home
TC: We feel you, go ahead.
As you can see, we already took the precaution of wearing this large rubber face mask of, well, of yourself Mark. And covering the contents of our bedroom with these paint-splattered decorator sheets.
MZ: Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bit creepy tbh
TC: Go on and get all taped up. We’ll wait.
[sound of Mark calling Priscilla to bring the tape dispenser]
[Portal’s camera jumps out to assimilate Priscilla Chan into the domestic scene, showing a generous vista of the Zuckerbergs’ living room, complete with kids playing in the corner. Priscilla, clad in an oversized dressing gown and with her hair wrapped in a big fluffy towel, can be seen gesticulating at the camera. She is also coughing]
Priscilla to Mark: I already told you — there’s a camera cover built into into Portal. You don’t need to use tape now
MZ: Oh, right, right!
Okay, going dark! Wow, that feels better already
[sound of knuckles cracking]
TC: So, Mark, let’s talk hardware! What’s your favorite Amazon Echo?
MZ: Uh, well…
TC: We’d guess one with all the bells & whistles, right? There’s definitely something more than a little Echo Show-y about Portal
MZ: Sure, I mean. We think Alexa is a great product
TC: Mhmm. Do you remember when digital photo frames first came out? They were this shiny new thing about, like, a decade ago? One of those gadgets your parents buy you around Thanksgiving, which ends up stuck in a drawer forever?
MZ: Yeah! I think someone gave me one once with a photo of me playing beer pong on it. We had it hanging in the downstairs rest room for the longest time. But then we got an Android tablet with a Wi-Fi connection for in there, so…
TC: Now here we are a decade or so later with Portal advancing the vision of what digital photo frames can be!
MZ: Yeah! I mean, you don’t even have to pick the pictures! It’s pretty awesome. This one here — oh, right you can’t see me but let me describe it for you — this one here is of a Halloween party I went to one year. Someone was dressed as SpongeBob. I think they might have been called Bob, actually… And this is, like, some other Facebook friends doing some other fun stuff. Pretty amazing.
You can also look at album art
TC: But not YouTube, right? But let’s talk about video calling
MZ: It’s an amazing technology
TC: It sure is. Skype, FaceTime… live filters, effects, animoji…
MZ: We’re building on a truly great technology foundation. Portal autozooming means you don’t even have to think about watching the person you’re talking to! You can just be doing stuff in your room and the camera will always be adjusting to capture everything you’re doing! Pretty amazing.
TC: Doing what Mark? Actually, let’s not go there
MZ: Portal will even suggest people for you to call! We think this will be a huge help for our mission to promote Being Well — uh, I mean Time Well Spent because our expert machine learning algorithms will be nudging you to talk to people you should really be talking to
TC: Like my therapist?
MZ: Uh, well, it depends. But our AI can suggest personalized meaningful interactions by suggesting Messenger contacts to call up
TC: It’s not going to suggest I videchat my ex is it?
MZ: Haha! Hopefully not. But maybe your mom? Or your grandma?
TC: Sounds incredibly useful. Well, assuming they didn’t already #deletefacebook.
But let’s talk about kids
MZ: Kids! Yeah we love them. Portal is going to be amazing for kids
TC: You have this storybook thing going on, right? Absent grandparents using Portal to read kids bedtime stories and what not…
MZ: Right! We think kids are going to love it. And grandparents! We’ve got these animal masks if you get bored of looking at your actual family members. It’s good, clean, innovative fun for all the family!
TC: Yeah, although, I mean, nothing beats reading from an actual kid’s book, right?
MZ: Well…
TC: If you do want to involve a device in your kid’s bedtime there are quite a lot of digital ebook apps for that already. Apple has a whole iBooks library of the things with read-aloud narration, for example.
And, maybe you missed this — but quite a few years ago there was a big bunch of indie apps and services all having a good go at selling the same sort of idea of ‘interactive remote reading experiences’ for families with kids. Though not many appear to have gone the distance. Which does sort of suggest there isn’t a huge unmet need for extra stuff beyond, well, actual children’s books and videochat apps like Skype and FaceTime.
Also, I mean, children’s story reading apps and interactive kids’ e-books are pretty much as old as the hills in Internet terms at this point. So, er, you’re not really moving fast and breaking things are you!?
MZ: Actually we’re more focused on stable infrastructure these days
TC: And hardware too, apparently. Which is a pretty radical departure for Facebook. All those years everyone thought you were going to do a Facebook phone but you left it to Amazon to flop into that pit… Who needs hardware when you can put apps and tracker pixels on everything, right?!
But here you are now, kinda working with Amazon for Portal — while also competing with Alexa hardware by selling your own countertop device… Aren’t you at all nervous about screwing this up? Hardware IS hard. And homes have curtains for a reason…
MZ: We’re definitely confident kids aren’t going to try swivelling around on the Portal Plus like it’s a climbing frame, if that’s what you mean. Well, hopefully not anyway
TC: But about you, Facebook Inc, putting an all-seeing-eye-cum-Internet-connected-listening-post into people’s living rooms and kids’ bedrooms…
MZ: What about it?
[MZ speaking to someone else in the room] Does the speaker have an off switch? How do I mute this thing?
TC: Hello? Mark?
[silence]
[sound comes back on briefly and a snatch of conversation can be heard between Mark and Priscilla about the need to buy more diapers. Mark is then heard shouting across the room that his Shake Shack order of a triple cheeseburger and fries plus butterscotch malt is late again]
[silence] 
[crackle and a congested throat clearing sound. A child is heard in the background asking for Legos]
MZ: Not now okay honey. Okay hon-, uh, hello — what were you saying?
TC: Will you be putting a Portal in Max’s room?
MZ: Haha! She’d probably prefer Legos
TC: August?
MZ: She’s only just turned one
TC: Okay, let’s try a more direct question. Do you at all think that you, Facebook Inc,
might have a problem selling a $200+ piece of Internet-connected hardware when your company is known for creeping on people to sell ads?
MZ: Oh no, no! — we’ve, like, totally thought of that!
Let me read you what marketing came up with. Hang on, it’s around here somewhere…
[sound of paper rustling]
Here we go [reading]:
Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.
For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.
Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.
Pretty cool, huh!
TC: Just to return to your stable infrastructure point for a second, Mark — did you mean Facebook is focused on security too? Because, well, your company keeps leaking personal data like a sieve holds water…
MZ: We think of infrastructure as a more holistic concept. And, uh, as a word that sounds reassuring
TC: Okay, so of course you can’t 100% guarantee Portal against hacking risks, though you’re taking precautions by encrypting calls. But Portal might also ‘accidentally’ record stuff adults and kids say in the home — i.e. if its ‘Hey Portal’ local listening function gets triggered when it shouldn’t. And it will then be 100% up to a responsible adult to find their way through Facebook’s labyrinthine settings and delete those wiretaps, won’t it?
MZ: You can control all your information, yes
TC: The marketing bumpf also doesn’t spell out what Facebook does with ‘Hey Portal’ voice recordings, or the personal insights your company is able to glean from them, but Facebook is in the business of profiling people for ad targeting purposes so we must assume that any and all voice commands and interactions, with the sole exception of the contents of videocalls, will go into feeding that beast.
So the metadata of who you talk to via Portal, what you listen to and look at (minus any Alexa-related interactions that you’ve agreed to hand off to Amazon for its own product targeting purposes), and potentially much more besides is all there for Facebook’s taking — given the kinds of things that an always-on listening device located in a domestic setting could be accidentally privy to.
Then, as more services get added to Portal, more personal behavioral data will be generated and can be processed by Facebook for selling ads.
MZ: Well, I mean, like I told that Senator we do sell ads
TC: And smart home hardware too now, apparently.
One more thing, Mark: In Europe, Facebook didn’t used to have face recognition technology switched on did it?
MZ: We had it on pause for a while
TC: But you switched it back on earlier this year right?
MZ: Facebook users in Europe can choose to use it, yes
TC: And who’s in charge of framing that choice?
MZ: Uh, well we are obviously
TC: We’d like you to tap on the Portal screen now, Mark. Tap on the face you can see to make the camera zoom right in on this mask of your own visage. Can you do that for us?
MZ: Uh, sure
[sound of a finger thudding against glass]
MZ: Are you seeing this? It really is pretty creepy!
Or — I mean — it would be if it wasn’t so, like, familiar…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
[sound of a child crying]
Priscilla to Mark: Eeeew! Turn that thing off!
TC: Thanks Mark. We’ll leave you guys to it.
Enjoy your Shake Shack. Again.
Portal: Thanks for calling Mark, TechCrunch! Did you enjoy your Time Well Spent?
0 notes
always-tc · 6 years ago
Note
2, 6, 15, 19, 26 for cute tc questionsss!!
2. what type of drunk do you think they’d be (silly, sleepy, ect)?
i imagine silly!! she sometimes tells stories of the times when she’s been drunk and she sounds like she’s quite happy and silly when she’s drunk.
6. what spongebob character would they be? (bonus: what spongebob character would you be?)
ahaha not a clue i’m gonna go with spongebob 😂
15. what’s their zodiac sign(if you know it)? what’s yours? are y’all compatible?
she’s a taurus! from what i’ve read tho her personality is more of a sagittarius (my sign) and i’m more of a taurus ahah! i think it’s kinda an opposites attract kinda thing with these signs.
19. they come up to you one day and ask, “what’s your favorite meme?” how do you respond lol??
ahahah oh my goodness i don’t even know 😂 i’ll think about this one and maybe edit it at some point x
already done 26. thank you for asking :)
0 notes
fmservers · 7 years ago
Text
A fictional Facebook Portal videochat with Mark Zuckerberg
TechCrunch: Hey Portal, dial Mark
Portal: Do you mean Mark Zuckerberg?
TC: Yes
Portal: Dialling Mark…
TC: Hi Mark! Nice choice of grey t-shirt.
MZ: Uh, new phone who dis? — oh, hi, er, TechCrunch…
TC: Thanks for agreeing to this entirely fictional interview, Mark!
MZ: Sure — anytime. But you don’t mind if I tape over the camera do you? You see I’m a bit concerned about my privacy here at, like, home
TC: We feel you, go ahead.
As you can see, we already took the precaution of wearing this large rubber face mask of, well, of yourself Mark. And covering the contents of our bedroom with these paint-splattered decorator sheets.
MZ: Yeah, I saw that. It’s a bit creepy tbh
TC: Go on and get all taped up. We’ll wait.
[sound of Mark calling Priscilla to bring the tape dispenser]
[Portal’s camera jumps out to assimilate Priscilla Chan into the domestic scene, showing a generous vista of the Zuckerbergs’ living room, complete with kids playing in the corner. Priscilla, clad in an oversized dressing gown and with her hair wrapped in a big fluffy towel, can be seen gesticulating at the camera. She is also coughing]
Priscilla to Mark: I already told you — there’s a camera cover built into into Portal. You don’t need to use tape now
MZ: Oh, right, right!
Okay, going dark! Wow, that feels better already
[sound of knuckles cracking]
TC: So, Mark, let’s talk hardware! What’s your favorite Amazon Echo?
MZ: Uh, well…
TC: We’d guess one with all the bells & whistles, right? There’s definitely something more than a little Echo Show-y about Portal
MZ: Sure, I mean. We think Alexa is a great product
TC: Mhmm. Do you remember when digital photo frames first came out? They were this shiny new thing about, like, a decade ago? One of those gadgets your parents buy you around Thanksgiving, which ends up stuck in a drawer forever?
MZ: Yeah! I think someone gave me one once with a photo of me playing beer pong on it. We had it hanging in the downstairs rest room for the longest time. But then we got an Android tablet with a Wi-Fi connection for in there, so…
TC: Now here we are a decade or so later with Portal advancing the vision of what digital photo frames can be!
MZ: Yeah! I mean, you don’t even have to pick the pictures! It’s pretty awesome. This one here — oh, right you can’t see me but let me describe it for you — this one here is of a Halloween party I went to one year. Someone was dressed as SpongeBob. I think they might have been called Bob, actually… And this is, like, some other Facebook friends doing some other fun stuff. Pretty amazing.
You can also look at album art
TC: But not YouTube, right? But let’s talk about video calling
MZ: It’s an amazing technology
TC: It sure is. Skype, FaceTime… live filters, effects, animoji…
MZ: We’re building on a truly great technology foundation. Portal autozooming means you don’t even have to think about watching the person you’re talking to! You can just be doing stuff in your room and the camera will always be adjusting to capture everything you’re doing! Pretty amazing.
TC: Doing what Mark? Actually, let’s not go there
MZ: Portal will even suggest people for you to call! We think this will be a huge help for our mission to promote Being Well — uh, I mean Time Well Spent because our expert machine learning algorithms will be nudging you to talk to people you should really be talking to
TC: Like my therapist?
MZ: Uh, well, it depends. But our AI can suggest personalized meaningful interactions by suggesting Messenger contacts to call up
TC: It’s not going to suggest I videchat my ex is it?
MZ: Haha! Hopefully not. But maybe your mom? Or your grandma?
TC: Sounds incredibly useful. Well, assuming they didn’t already #deletefacebook.
But let’s talk about kids
MZ: Kids! Yeah we love them. Portal is going to be amazing for kids
TC: You have this storybook thing going on, right? Absent grandparents using Portal to read kids bedtime stories and what not…
MZ: Right! We think kids are going to love it. And grandparents! We’ve got these animal masks if you get bored of looking at your actual family members. It’s good, clean, innovative fun for all the family!
TC: Yeah, although, I mean, nothing beats reading from an actual kid’s book, right?
MZ: Well…
TC: If you do want to involve a device in your kid’s bedtime there are quite a lot of digital ebook apps for that already. Apple has a whole iBooks library of the things with read-aloud narration, for example.
And, maybe you missed this — but quite a few years ago there was a big bunch of indie apps and services all having a good go at selling the same sort of idea of ‘interactive remote reading experiences’ for families with kids. Though not many appear to have gone the distance. Which does sort of suggest there isn’t a huge unmet need for extra stuff beyond, well, actual children’s books and videochat apps like Skype and FaceTime.
Also, I mean, children’s story reading apps and interactive kids’ e-books are pretty much as old as the hills in Internet terms at this point. So, er, you’re not really moving fast and breaking things are you!?
MZ: Actually we’re more focused on stable infrastructure these days
TC: And hardware too, apparently. Which is a pretty radical departure for Facebook. All those years everyone thought you were going to do a Facebook phone but you left it to Amazon to flop into that pit… Who needs hardware when you can put apps and tracker pixels on everything, right?!
But here you are now, kinda working with Amazon for Portal — while also competing with Alexa hardware by selling your own countertop device… Aren’t you at all nervous about screwing this up? Hardware IS hard. And homes have curtains for a reason…
MZ: We’re definitely confident kids aren’t going to try swivelling around on the Portal Plus like it’s a climbing frame, if that’s what you mean. Well, hopefully not anyway
TC: But about you, Facebook Inc, putting an all-seeing-eye-cum-Internet-connected-listening-post into people’s living rooms and kids’ bedrooms…
MZ: What about it?
[MZ speaking to someone else in the room] Does the speaker have an off switch? How do I mute this thing?
TC: Hello? Mark?
[silence]
[sound comes back on briefly and a snatch of conversation can be heard between Mark and Priscilla about the need to buy more diapers. Mark is then heard shouting across the room that his Shake Shack order of a triple cheeseburger and fries plus butterscotch malt is late again]
[silence] 
[crackle and a congested throat clearing sound. A child is heard in the background asking for Legos]
MZ: Not now okay honey. Okay hon-, uh, hello — what were you saying?
TC: Will you be putting a Portal in Max’s room?
MZ: Haha! She’d probably prefer Legos
TC: August?
MZ: She’s only just turned one
TC: Okay, let’s try a more direct question. Do you at all think that you, Facebook Inc,
might have a problem selling a $200+ piece of Internet-connected hardware when your company is known for creeping on people to sell ads?
MZ: Oh no, no! — we’ve, like, totally thought of that!
Let me read you what marketing came up with. Hang on, it’s around here somewhere…
[sound of paper rustling]
Here we go [reading]:
Facebook doesn’t listen to, view, or keep the contents of your Portal video calls. Your Portal conversations stay between you and the people you’re calling. In addition, video calls on Portal are encrypted, so your calls are always secure.
For added security, Smart Camera and Smart Sound use AI technology that runs locally on Portal, not on Facebook servers. Portal’s camera doesn’t use facial recognition and doesn’t identify who you are.
Like other voice-enabled devices, Portal only sends voice commands to Facebook servers after you say, ‘Hey Portal.’ You can delete your Portal’s voice history in your Facebook Activity Log at any time.
Pretty cool, huh!
TC: Just to return to your stable infrastructure point for a second, Mark — did you mean Facebook is focused on security too? Because, well, your company keeps leaking personal data like a sieve holds water…
MZ: We think of infrastructure as a more holistic concept. And, uh, as a word that sounds reassuring
TC: Okay, so of course you can’t 100% guarantee Portal against hacking risks, though you’re taking precautions by encrypting calls. But Portal might also ‘accidentally’ record stuff adults and kids say in the home — i.e. if its ‘Hey Portal’ local listening function gets triggered when it shouldn’t. And it will then be 100% up to a responsible adult to find their way through Facebook’s labyrinthine settings and delete those wiretaps, won’t it?
MZ: You can control all your information, yes
TC: The marketing bumpf also doesn’t spell out what Facebook does with ‘Hey Portal’ voice recordings, or the personal insights your company is able to glean from them, but Facebook is in the business of profiling people for ad targeting purposes so we must assume that any and all voice commands and interactions, with the sole exception of the contents of videocalls, will go into feeding that beast.
So the metadata of who you talk to via Portal, what you listen to and look at (minus any Alexa-related interactions that you’ve agreed to hand off to Amazon for its own product targeting purposes), and potentially much more besides is all there for Facebook’s taking — given the kinds of things that an always-on listening device located in a domestic setting could be accidentally privy to.
Then, as more services get added to Portal, more personal behavioral data will be generated and can be processed by Facebook for selling ads.
MZ: Well, I mean, like I told that Senator we do sell ads
TC: And smart home hardware too now, apparently.
One more thing, Mark: In Europe, Facebook didn’t used to have face recognition technology switched on did it?
MZ: We had it on pause for a while
TC: But you switched it back on earlier this year right?
MZ: Facebook users in Europe can choose to use it, yes
TC: And who’s in charge of framing that choice?
MZ: Uh, well we are obviously
TC: We’d like you to tap on the Portal screen now, Mark. Tap on the face you can see to make the camera zoom right in on this mask of your own visage. Can you do that for us?
MZ: Uh, sure
[sound of a finger thudding against glass]
MZ: Are you seeing this? It really is pretty creepy!
Or — I mean — it would be if it wasn’t so, like, familiar…
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to testify before a joint hearing of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill, April 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
[sound of a child crying]
Priscilla to Mark: Eeeew! Turn that thing off!
TC: Thanks Mark. We’ll leave you guys to it.
Enjoy your Shake Shack. Again.
Portal: Thanks for calling Mark, TechCrunch! Did you enjoy your Time Well Spent?
Via Natasha Lomas https://techcrunch.com
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tcccxm042680-blog · 7 years ago
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Cute TC Questions
1. do you know any of their favorite shows, movies, books, ect? what are they? Shows:GOT,BBT,South Park. Books:GOT.
2. what type of drunk do you think they’d be (silly, sleepy, ect)? Flirty and sleepy
3. are they a cat or a dog person? or neither?? if you don’t know, what do you think they are? Dog person
4. one day they’re asking for music recommendations bc their playlist has been dry. what song(s) do you suggest them? Idk we love the exact same artists
5. what’s their color? not race wise, but if they were a color of the rainbow, what would they be? Green
6. what spongebob character would they be? (bonus: what spongebob character would you be?) None
7. what was the last thing they said to you? how long ago was it? “You shouldn’t be hurting yourself, your the last person who should be hurt.”
8. have you ever gotten them something for their birthday? if not, would you get them something in the future? what would you get & why? I got her a rock necklace from Arizona. Cause I know she loves Vegas and Arizona
9. what hogwart’s house are they (or what house do you think they’d be?)? Hufflepuff
10. have you ever dreamt about them? were there any cute dreams? or really weird, odd dreams? scary dreams? ect ect. I had flirty dreams.
11. what language(s) do they speak? English
12. what is your fondest memory of them? Her doing jumping jacks for a minute for an assignment. And her hugs💕
13. do you have any nicknames for them? Yea
14. do you see them being a night owl or an early bird? or both? or neither?? Early bird she wakes up at 5
15. what’s their zodiac sign(if you know it)? what’s yours? are y’all compatible? She’s Taurus. I’m Sagittarius
16. are you friends with them on facebook? follow them on instagram or twitter? any other social media they have that you know of? On Twitter
17. what kink do you bet they’re secretly into? Dom
18. do you have a song for them? a song tucked in the back of your mind that always makes you think of them? Anybody Home-Our Lady Peace
19. they come up to you one day and ask, “what’s your favorite meme?” how do you respond lol?? “Two bros sitting in a hot tub two feet apart cuz their not gay!”😂
20. if they were in a band, what instrument would they play? Drums cuz she doesn’t like being in stage
21. do any of your friends or family know about your crush? Yes 😢😥
22. if they found out you had a crush on them, how do you think they’d react & respond? She knows and she thinks it’s cute
23. when was the last time they laughed in front of you? who/what made them laugh? what’s their laugh like? She said I looked cute in a snap pack and I said she looked cuter everyday. Her laugh was beautiful
24. how do you think they deal with stress? She twiddles her thumbs a bunch
25. what do you think their favorite holiday is? She told me her fav holiday is Christmas
26. what are they like when they get angry? is it adorable? a little terrifying? were they ever angry with you? It’s terrifying! It kinda scares me. She’s never been at me ever!
27. what do you think their favorite disney movie is? do any disney characters remind you of them? She likes Little Mermaid. She reminds me of Auroa from Sleeping Beauty
28. do they play any instruments? what instruments do you imagine them playing (if any)? She started play piano again after 20 years
29. do you know any of their fears? what do you think they’re secretly afraid of? That her kids aren’t happy. And clowns
30. when was the first time you realized you had a crush them? When I thought she was a grade twelve student on the first day of school
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