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by danabramov·12y ago·view on hn ↗
>even if the Rift universe they built is beeing crapped on by like buttons

Why do a lot of people keep repeating this? Does Google create self-driving cars to show ads on the windshields? I just don't get it. What on the earth makes you think Facebook bought Oculus to show ads and like buttons inside your games? If, if VR becomes the Next Big Thing, will the like buttons “from the old Facebook“ matter as much, or will the social need to be re-imagined anyway?

6 comments
> What on the earth makes you think Facebook bought Oculus to show ads

Zuckerberg himself [0].

Quote:

> so that this becomes a network where people can be communicating and buying things and virtual goods, and there might be advertising in the world

"might" is good enough for me in that case, because it means it's clearly an option. I'm not really fond of the idea that the Rift is becoming a VR Habbo Hotel.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7471699

He's not saying “stick it in your games”, is he? He is talking different kinds of applications. Also, I wouldn't mind ads on the streets in a game city because I'm sort of used to them in the real world. Ads actually look better in a 3D world than on web pages.
oh, you already bought a google car? how is it?

no one has a clue what google will do with that tech, least of all google. but ad financed cars would not exactly hurt their company strategy, which is getting eyeballs on ads. same with glass.

and now we're at oculus.

both facebook and google are ad financed companies. and ads ruin any cool product. they cheapen it, are a nuisance and distraction. ads in games? suck. ads in your feed? suck. ads on the radio? suck.

now imagine ads that follow you around, all day. you get up, read the news, an ad for stresspills appears. you get in the car to commute to work, the same ad is sprinkling you. you want to escape by playing halo on your oculus/glass? there is the stress pill again. at the end of the week you buy the pill cause you're so stressed out by the fucking ad.

So when you get that Google self-driving car and it drives you past McDonalds when you're hungry, are you going to wonder it McDonalds paid Google for that access?
> Does Google create self-driving cars to show ads on the windshields?

What do you think people will be doing on the boring non-interactive self-driven commute? The same thing they do on long bus or train rides. Surf the internet. That's always been Google's goal.

The intersection of people with cars and people with internet connected smartphones is huge. Get people's eyes off the road and onto a Google product is the idea.

Is it? Because I don't buy that. You're trying to apply a consumer product strategy like this was a business decision. This is clearly a pet interest from Brin or Page or both. And besides, it seems far more lucrative to monetize the tech itself. If we sold 5 million self driving cars a year (just a fraction of the total domestic market) and Google sold the whole rig to automakers at $5k, that's $25bn in sales. Worldwide the market for cars is 10x that so it's $25bn w/ room to grow.
> And besides, it seems far more lucrative to monetize the tech itself. If we sold 5 million self driving cars a year (just a fraction of the total domestic market) and Google sold the whole rig to automakers at $5k, that's $25bn in sales. Worldwide the market for cars is 10x that so it's $25bn w/ room to grow.

Either way, doesn't matter. People won't just stare off into space for their hour commute while the car does the driving. They'll want to do something. Hell people who are in the act of driving can barely keep their attention on task for more than 10 minutes.

What's better, licensing the tech to get people's faces looking at screens, or building your own cars to get people's faces looking at screens?

Because Zuckeberg is in charge. I just don't think he could thing of anything interesting. FB was just a landgrab. The product has a/ stagnated b/ gone worse depending on why you ask.
Have you seen Paper?
aka Flipboard by Facebook?
Execution is king.
Why is Hacker News hating on Paper? I'm genuinely curious.

Three downvotes for mentioning it in response to

>the product is stagnating

Does anybody use Paper?
Absolutely. You only have to look at the number of reviews to know it is very popular.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paper-stories-from-facebook/...