happy Tuesday!

As my life becomes increasingly consumed by XR and the Metaverse I couldn't be happier. It's nice to have a sense of direction for my career that's aligned with a major trend in the tech space.

I came in late enough in the last wave of tech that I wasn't part of the beginning. I just rode the white water after the wave had already crested.

XR and the Metaverse on the other hand are in the same place as crypto, NFTs, and a few other technologies.

The wave has formed, it's full of potential energy that's just now being released as a rush of kinetic energy.

XR is just beginning to properly crest, everyone in it is surfing the wide open face of a massive wave.

The whole XR industry is jazzed, it feels like it's really taking off. But that's largely due to Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.

Still not sure what XR is? Check out the guide I wrote:
​XR explained in 5 minutes

Mark's Metaverse

This last Thursday Facebook made the biggest announcement of their history and shook the tech world.

They're going all in on XR and the Metaverse, like. ALL. IN.
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They're changing their name to Meta and focusing efforts on the Metaverse. Facebook the social network has been relegated to an app within a company that's now singularly focused on dominating the next wave of computing.

If you didn't watch the 90 minute keynote prerecorded video then I'll save you the time, watch this 3 min video and you'll get the gist.

Here's the thing, everything they showed is pretty close to what many of us have imagined about the Metaverse for some time now.

It's like Mark Zuckerberg knows what this thing could or should be. He's showing the community what they want, but do they want it from him? I think a lot of people are rightfully leery. Their presentation doesn't quite feel like the Metaverse I imagined. It's too clean and corporate.

I'm not a Facebook hater, nor am I a fanboy — I'm fairly neutral on the company. I don't think that our current political, social situation is Facebook's fault. It was inevitable that social media would evolve, it was inevitable it would begin to impact society the way it has.

I don't even think that Zuckerberg is rebranding to dodge the current political fallout around Facebook. I think he rightly sees the next big wave and he wants to be a part of it.

Is that a good thing? Does it help or does it hurt the Metaverse? Is it just inevitable?
I don't know.

My hope and dream is that a company like Facebook Meta can effectively pave the way for people to experience the wonder of XR and a Metaverse-like experience. I hope that Mark's version of the Metaverse speeds up consumer and business adoption and shows the world the power of the potential for THE Metaverse, but that he doesn't end up controlling it. That the decentralized Metaverse concept is too strong and the community creates it anyways. Zuckerberg's part of it just becomes a large node towards the center of the Metaverse.

Oculus has already done so much for XR by bringing untethered VR into more hands, Zuckerberg could be immensely helpful for the Metaverse. It could be his tech redemption.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

2 crazy things ✌

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🌮 Space tacos

NASA astronauts have conducted the most difficult plant growth experiment to date, Hatch Chiles, due to the germination and growing time — they've been growing since July.

https://twitter.com/Astro_Megan/status/1454190385190907912

🤔 Definitely understanding NFTs

please watch this whole clip, it's hilarious, just click to go through to the tweet.
https://twitter.com/yayalexisgay/status/1455624899255586819

Oh and follow her too!

Thoughts on the FB ➡ Meta change

What do you think?
Let me know. Just hit reply, I read and respond to everyone!
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Have an awesome week and see you next Tuesday!

Daniel
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Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts … A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data.
Neuromancer by William Gibson

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