Meta "Zuck Bucks" over Cryptocurrency

While the cryptocurrency industry continues to struggle for its "worth", I think the virtual reality world may have a quicker breakthrough into shifting the currency exchange systems and personal transactions. By taking Meta for instance, if Meta establishes rules that are aligned with the real world systems, then people will more likely make exchanges in Meta world especially upon initial meetings. This is something to watch.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/04/project-zuck-bucks-meta-plans-virtual-coin-after-cryptocurrency-flop/

Review: Facebook's Hermes

Wow, look at FB becoming more involved with the developer community eco-system! This makes sense because FB is more concerned about their mobile app experience for users. So, they are doing whatever it takes to make their mobile apps the best for all users no matter the device used. Specifically, they seemed to be focused on mobile devices, smartphones in particular. Hence, why they are creating code solving mobile app issues on smartphones including ReactJS and GraphQL.

Thanks to the author for this article:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-just-released-a-new-open-source-javascript-engine/

Facebook's Hermes

Website - https://hermesengine.dev/
Code - https://github.com/facebook/hermes

Conferences

Chain React Conference 2019 (Jul)

https://infinite.red/ChainReactConf

GraphQL Summit 2019 (Oct)

https://summit.graphql.com/

Facebook Developer Conference "F8" 2019 (May)

https://www.f8.com/

References

https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/12/facebook-open-sources-hermes-javascript-engine-to-improve-react-native-android-app-performance/

Reminder: Tech Giants providing Future of Education

Just in case you are like me and still wondering how long public schools (or any school in some states) will take to catch up with restructuring their schooling system to the workforce demand, here's a resourceful website by Google on Education.

https://edu.google.com/code-with-google/?modal_active=none&story-card_activeEl=enhance-any-subject

Google isn't the only one, however. Microsoft has their own resourceful website focused on One Hour of Code. Apple has Everyone can Code. For young students specifically, Apple also has an education site called Teaching Code. Even Amazon is aware of the educational crises and creating their own online schooling resource: AmazonInspire. Of course, the other tech giant Facebook has their own with Facebook Education.

Rather than wait for our government or public sector to provide the skills and education that our world demands, I think I'll take the initiative with using resources from such leading companies and encourage my family, friends, and neighbors to learn ahead. After all, home schooling is on the rise and many families are supplementing their social education via faith institutions, sport clubs, city clubs, etc.

In Addition

From this GitHub post, I can even see how hackathons boost the learning levels of students better than coursework in computer science. If students begin to take on this project-based assignment (i.e. learning skills through projects rather than test-based assignments), then students will end up not only learning more but also remembering more. This could spark a new kind of homeschooling or custom learning path. Why not just learn on your own at your own pace and then pass a universal, online high school exam for a degree? Wouldn't that be nice?!

Quick References

• https://edu.google.com/code-with-google/
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/digital-skills/hour-of-code
• https://www.apple.com/everyone-can-code/
• https://www.apple.com/education/teaching-code/
• https://www.amazoninspire.com/
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000412651
• https://www.facebook.com/education/
• https://education.fb.com/
• https://education.fb.com/get-connected/
• https://www.nheri.org/homeschool-population-size-growing/
• https://github.blog/2019-07-17-survey-results-better-computer-science-learning-through-hackathons/

Review: Facebook's F8 2019

"The Future is Private." - Mark Zuckerberg

Security, Privacy, Virtual Reality, & "Personal" Social Services

Per his words, "this is the next chapter" in the world of technology. Although FB is focusing more on privacy and have even outlined 6 new principles that the company will apply to all FB technologies developed, I do like how they are advancing the world of virtual reality (like Microsoft) especially in gaming and how they are trying to enhance the social services on platform like FB like the SecretCrush. On Instagram, people will be able to shop. On WhatsApp, people can send payments. On Messenger, SMS will be much faster and secure. There's also Spark AR and Portal.

Addressing Concerns

To some, these technologies may sound damaging on the perspective of encouraging people to have face-to-face interactions. This concern is valid considering that humans are not only social species but also a physical touch species. As such technologies intend to advance how humans interact and steer society (including in political elections), humans will need to figure out how to live with these technologies and use them as substitutes for the necessities of well-being.

Cryptocurrency (and Blockchain)

Another area I found interesting is Facebook Payments (via WhatsApp) and an announcement after F8 Conference called Libra (i.e. the FB cryptocurrency). Here's a short clip by ColdFusion TV although I don't agree with the author and believe that in some countries this currency will actually benefit society (i.e. countries that struggle with currency regulations).

FB 2019 - Six Principles

If you're interested, here are the principles of FB vision in 2019:

1. Private Interaction
2. Encryption
3. Reduced Performance
4. Safety
5. Interoperability
6. Secure Data Storage

Cheers!

Review: Google's Glass, FB's Oculus Quest, and MS prediction

A few years ago, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella made a profound prediction on the next three technologies that will revolutionize our worlds. The first one was on virtual reality (VR) including mixed reality and augmented reality (AR). In this review, I'll quickly give an update on how I believe Mr. Nadella's prediction is spot-on.

Microsoft

If you have watched the Microsoft Build 2019, then you will have seen the mixed reality highlight where multiple people collaborating on a project were sharing the same "Spatial" (as Microsoft called it). In this Spatial, a mixed reality allows people on various devices to experience a discussion around a project while not having to be physically present in the same room.

Facebook

If you're keeping up with Facebook, then I hope you have seen this video clip below where FB is making big advances in the gaming and entertainment world with connecting friends even more than just on social media. They are providing a fun experience in addition to the social aspect. How cool is that?

Google

If you're wondering where Google is, then you should check out this article. What was once thought (and advertised) as a project discontinued - is actually a surprise to consumers as this Glass product is re-announced in its next version.

Read Article

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/20/18632689/google-glass-enterprise-edition-2-augmented-reality-headset-pricing

Conclusion

So, whether we like it or not, virtual reality seems to be the first next technology that is making advances to reshape our society. Stay tuned and I hope you get to experiment with these technologies before it becomes mainstream. Ready Player One is closer than we think.

Get Ready, Player!

Review: Facebook's Aroma ML for Code Recommendation

I actually don't need to say much here except you should also read this article.
https://ai.facebook.com/blog/aroma-ml-for-code-recommendation/

Fascinating and useful!

I definitely have my days where I find myself digging through too many StackOverflow (or other Developer Forum sites) to find great coding answers to my problems. Thank you, Facebook!