September was a big “virtual event” month for a number of tech giants. Facebook announced the new Oculus 2 (yours truly has one ordered) while Apple held on any AR related announcements likely until their next event in October.
Hype around Tesla’s Battery Day fell flat with investors, after it was announced that the technology would not be in mass production until 2023. Google announced a new degree program for fields in user experience design, data analytics and project management.
Finally, a number of you have asked about my digital studio business. I’ve had a quiet summer overall and am looking to expand my network. Call it friends of friends introductions and connections, and would love your help. To make things easy for you see links below that you can simply copy and paste for introductions. I will provide financial incentives for any new client business you help me with. Links for email connections and compensation thank you for your support.
I have otherwise been spending time co-founding another start-up with an ambitious mission and potential large opportunity. It’s a little secretive at the moment, but more details will follow when I’m able to share.
Happy Reading!
Google Announces New Degree Programs
Google's new Career Certificates program is changing higher education by offering a new alternative to traditional four-year university degrees. Google is trying to solve the mismatch between the jobs that are available and the people who need them.
The search giant said it considers the certificates as the equivalent of a four-year degree for related roles in data analytics, project management, and UX design certificates.
Google said that 58% of IT Certificate learners identify as Black, Latino, female or veteran, all groups that are underrepresented in the tech industry.
The Big Picture: There is a growing need to break from the four year tradition for some specialized positions in, data analytics, project management and ux design. College is extremely expensive for American families and out of reach for more than half of the population. Resumes and jobs requiring degrees are missing diverse backgrounds and opinions. Some of the best developers I have hired in my career were self taught, others had majored in areas that had very little to do with the job they were hired for.
Facebook Connect AR Event
Facebook introduced a number of new products at their recent Facebook Connect event. The main announcement centered on the new Oculus 2. Two other research projects - “Project Aria” and EMG Bracelet - also shared the stage at the two hour event.
The Oculus Quest 2 launches on Oct. 13, priced at $299 for the 64GB model and $399 for the 256GB model.
“Project Aria” is a research product Facebook is using to help plan their eventual “Smart Glasses” technology, with a number of Facebook employees walking around with glasses that can collect data out in the world.
The Big Picture: Google Glass was launched in May of 2014. It’s surprising that after that length of time, there is still a big opportunity for someone to lead the market. These days the more significant hurdle seems to revolve around user privacy and less with the actual technology limitations. I ordered an Oculus 2 and will post a review at a later date.
Tesla Battery Day Falls Flat
Tesla’s much anticipated Battery Day announcements failed to meet the expectations of investors after new timelines for the production were announced.
Tesla’s new batteries would be 56% less expensive to manufacture and are being developed entirely in-house.
Bringing down the cost of battery production is part of Tesla's plan to eventually sell 20 million vehicles annually -- about fifty times more than they sell now.
Part of that 20 million vehicle goal will come from a Tesla model the company is planning to sell for $25,000, expected to be available in about three years.
The Big Picture: Elon Musk said it will take between a year and 18 months to fully ramp up production, and even longer for the technology to show up in actual vehicles. While short-term investors might be disappointed with the 6% drop in stock price, leveling expectations of a volatile stock may be the best move to finally get into the S&P 500.
News Product Alliance Group Launches
A new community of support and practices for news product professionals and product thinkers launched in September.
The goal of the News Product Alliance is to offer training, networking and career-development opportunities for news product professionals and product thinkers.
Building a sustainable, digital-first news organization is hard work; you must continually align editorial, audience, technology and revenue goals to maintain a successful business model.
NPA’s interim steering committee includes people from a number of news organizations, including CalMatters, Gannett and McClatchy.
The Big Picture: News organizations need more leaders from immigrant, indigenous and other marginalized communities, but too often, product strategy developed by people of color and women in engagement or audience roles goes underappreciated or unacknowledged. Product professionals at news organizations throughout the world often deal with similar challenges, so the collective approach with this initiative will lead a much better chance for success.
NYTimes AR partnership with Facebook
The New York Times and Facebook have struck a multi-year partnership to co-develop augmented reality (AR) filters and effects on Instagram that help users access and contextualize New York Times journalism.
Although Facebook will be providing financial and technical support for the project, it will not have any influence on the editorial or design side.
Facebook has begun to invest in its relationship with publishers, in part because it's conceded that its users care a lot about consuming news on its platforms.
The Big Picture: While there is no mention of the costs of the program, this is another example of publishers adding huge value to big tech companies that are drowning in mistrust and controversy. NYTimes was the first partner to pull out of Facebook Instant Articles; the tables have now turned and Facebook is realizing how important these partnerships are to its future.
JOBS IN MY NETWORK
For anyone qualified and looking for referrals, recommendations, introductions for any of the below roles I am happy to help.
The Washington Post - Senior Product Manager
Video Elephant - Director of Business Development
The New York Times - Head of Product Design
Wirecutter - Director of Marketing
Conde Nast - Data Engineer
If you would like to have your open role(s) featured in next months newsletter, please get in touch.
WHAT TO WATCH
The Social Dilemma is a powerful exploration of the disproportionate impact that a relatively small number of engineers in Silicon Valley have over the way we think, act, and live our lives.