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| | December 1, 2015 | |
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| | I remember when digital cameras were the perennial next hot product. Any day now they were going to be big. They weren't and weren't and weren't—until they were. Now, come to think of it, they aren't anymore—defenestrated by the smartphone—but I digress. Virtual reality feels that way now. When Facebook spent $2 billion to buy virtual-reality headset maker Oculus VR in 2014, the purchase seemed a little kooky. Google's cheeky response a year later, a cardboard VR viewer called Cardboard that sells for around $20, suggested something was up. It just wasn't clear what. There is anecdotal evidence that in fact virtual reality is closer than ever to becoming something. The New York Times recently conducted an impressive experiment by filming short documentaries in virtual reality and distributing Google viewers to more than a million subscribers. The business case isn't even complicated: General Electric sponsored the effort, slapping its logo on the viewers and producing a brand-burnishing VR ad of its own. On Monday, the stub of Nokia, the part that remained independent from Microsoft, introduced a $60,000 professional-quality VR camera, the Ozo. Its target market is Hollywood, which Nokia figures will pay for the latest technology if it means attracting and retaining audiences. That seems like a fair bet. Hollywood, usually much maligned for its Luddite ways, always has invested heavily on the latest storytelling devices. If investment momentum alone were the measure, VR certainly would be on the cusp. A new report says investors have plowed nearly $4 billion into aspiring VR companies since 2010. Predictably, these will be volatile investments. A "lifestyle medicine" company called Alphaeon recently bought a laser manufacturer called Lensar for $59 million. (Surgeons hope to use VR to visualize unseen parts of the body.) That wasn't a great outcome for Lensar's investors, who had sunk $191 million into the company over a decade. That's how exciting new technologies often work: Hype, excitement, progress, disappointment, repeat. That will likely be the reality of virtual reality for at least the foreseeable future. It's a reality that won't be dull.
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| | BITS AND BYTES | |
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| | Cyber Monday sales near $3 billion, topping previous records. , it looks like yesterday was the biggest day ever for U.S. e-commerce. The overall value of transactions was up about 12% compared with last year, although average order sizes were smaller. The number pales in comparison, however, to the $14.3 billion that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba generated from online shoppers this year on Nov. 11, its annual "Singles Day" event. (Fortune, Wall Street Journal) Samsung's mobile chief cedes day-to-day control. The move, disclosed as part of an annual personnel shuffle, names mobile research chief Donjin Koh as president in charge of Samsung's struggling smartphone business. The previous leader, J.K. Shin, will lead long-term strategy. Koh was behind the launch of the Galaxy S6. Samsung is still the smartphone market leader, but it is losing share to Apple and Chinese rivals Xiaomi and Huawei. (Reuters) Breach at electronic toymaker VTech exposes data for more than 200,00 children. The attacker, who boasted about the break-in to magazine Motherboard, stole images as well as personal data such as names and birth dates. The information was stored on servers for Learning Lodge, which sells apps, games, and e-books to go along with VTech devices. The fear is that the information will be used to create fraudulent identities. (Fortune) Swatch picks Visa as smartwatch payments partner. The world's biggest watchmaker has been slow to jump into the smartwatch market. Its answer to Internet-enabled devices, called Bellamy, will include a chip that allows Visa account holders to make cashless payments at cash registers that support near field communications (NFC) technology. (Computerworld) Fidelity marks up value of tech unicorn holdings. Last month, the mutual fund manager reduced the paper value of its investments in numerous tech unicorns, private companies with valuations of more than $1 billion. Its outlook has brightened again for some of those companies, including Dropbox, Nutanix, Roku, Snapchat, and Zenefits. (Fortune) Microsoft simplifies mobile app development. The software giant Monday introduced a new software platform called PowerApps, which helps businesses create mobile apps for internal software systems, such as the ones controlling employee benefits or expense management. The templates can be used by non-programmers. What's more, the apps aren't confined to Windows devices. (Fortune) Expect another big financing round for software startup AppDynamics. The company, which specializes in optimizing software application performance, could disclose another $158 million in funding as early as Tuesday, reports The New York Times. The move comes just two months after AppDynamics named a new CEO, former Adobe executive David Wadhani. (New York Times) | |
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| | THE DOWNLOAD | |
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| | Have an HR question? This company has an answer Among the dozens of technology companies vowing to disrupt human resources management and workflows through cloud software, ThinkHR offers a unique twist. The 10-year-old organization, which recently raised $12 million in new equity financing to accelerate its growth, is nurturing a database that HR professionals can use to research compliance regulations and other procedural questions that might have different answers from state to state. Fortune contributor Heather Clancy reports on why ThinkHR is winning business alongside insurance brokers. (Fortune) | |
| | MORE FORTUNE TECH COVERAGE | |
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| | Zara is going to install iPads in its changing rooms by Geoffrey Smith Here's why Microsoft wants to host your next business meeting No, NSA phone spying has not ended by Robert Hackett Why Nvidia is entering the mobile eSports arena by John Gaudiosi What two computers that cost less than a movie ticket say about innovation by Stacey Higginbotham Why BlackBerry is leaving Pakistan by Michal Addady Driverless cars to get their own Formula One-style races by David Z. Morris Why European tech IPOs have bigger first-month pops by Kif Leswig
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| | ONE MORE THING | |
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| | Can Japan become a leader in artificial intelligence? The nation is known for its leadership in robotics and autonomous vehicle components. Startup Preferred Networks, already allied with Toyota and Panasonic, is spurring nascent interest in machine learning software. (Wall Street Journal) | |
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| | This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Heather Clancy:
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