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At its annual Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View next week, Google will try to rally developers around one of its next big bets: Android XR. Later this year, Samsung is set to release the first VR headset powered by the spatial computing operating system, and Google is aiming to attract as many developers as possible to build apps for the device. Thats no small task for a company whose history with AR and VR has been marked by inconsistency. Google was among the first to experiment with AR glasses, gave millions their first taste of VR through low-cost mobile viewers, and even launched a stand-alone immersive VR headset before Metaonly to abandon each project in rapid succession, leaving partners frustrated. Google has burnt a lot of bridges in the XR community, cautions an industry insider who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. Still, theres a sense of cautious optimism among AR and VR developers that this time might be different. One reason: the competitive landscape has changed. With Apple and Meta investing tens of billions into immersive technology, the pressure is on. Android XR also aligns with Googles current strengths, particularly in AI and in its push to expand Androids reach. A Google spokesperson declined to comment for this story. Daydreams and Glassholes Googles first foray into AR/VR remains one of the industrys most infamous missteps. Unveiled in 2012, Google Glass paired a camera with a tiny display and was touted as a peek into a post-smartphone world. Instead, it became a cautionary tale. Critics were unnerved by the devices always-on camera, dubbing users glassholes. A $1,500 price tag and limited usefulness sealed its fate, and Google soon dropped its consumer ambitions for Glass. Despite that bruising experience, the company didnt fully retreat from the space. In 2014, Google introduced Cardboard, a DIY viewer that turned smartphones into rudimentary VR devices. That effort later evolved into Daydream, a more comfortable headset with a controller, supporting immersive videos and simple games. Cardboard and Daydream did reach millions of users, but their reliance on smartphones made them impractical for sustained use. We were looking for that spark of adoption, says a former Google employee who worked on Daydream. (Former employees were also granted anonymity by Fast Company out of fear of reprisal.) That spark never came. It never became a toothbrush use case, the employee adds, referencing the goal of making the device something people use daily, like brushing their teeth. Over time, Google did achieve that with many of its products: Billions now use Gmail, Chrome, and Maps every day. But that success may have distorted expectations for VR. You tend to forget how hard it is to get billions of users, says a second former Google employee involved in VR. Expecting too much too soon may have doomed these projects. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy, the first former employee says. A Long List of Cancelled Projects Google eventually moved beyond smartphone-based VR with a stand-alone headset built in partnership with Lenovo in 2018. Running Daydream, the device had potential to compete with Metas Quest, but Google scrapped it a year later. When it didnt become a huge success overnight, they pivoted, says the industry insider. Daydream joined a growing list of abandoned Google AR/VR efforts: the immersive storytelling series Spotlight Stories, the cloud-based video platform Jump and its professional camera line, the 3D modeling tool Blocks, the asset platform Poly, and several consumer VR cameras created with hardware partners. Some of these projects were open-sourced upon cancellation. The popular VR painting app Tilt Brush, for example, lives on as a community-driven project on Metas Quest. Others survived the internal shakeups: Owlchemy Labs, acquired by Google in 2017, still thrives. Its whimsical title Job Simulator remains one of the best-selling games on Quest. Many of Googles early AR/VR projects had real potentialif only the company had stayed the course. Google had all these weird, cool, fun projects and acquisitions that they made very early, but they just didn’t follow through with them, says the industry insider. A Lack of Conviction Beyond high expectations, insiders point to a deeper issue: Googles hesitation to publicly commit to AR and VR. Google was not willing to put a shoe on the ground the same way Meta has, says the first former employee. The difference was that Mark [Zuckerberg] was out there, publicly saying: Im staking my future on this, agrees the second. I never felt that we had that type of conviction from [Google CEO] Sundar [Pichai]. Zuckerbergs enthusiasm for VR and the metaverse has been widely mocked, but Metas persistence has paid off. The company has sold tens of millions of Quest headsets, and its Ray-Ban smart glasses have found surprising success. Apples Vision Pro and its reported investments in smart glasses further validate the space. Now Google is returning with big ambitions of its own. Having turned Android into the worlds most widely used mobile OS, the company wants to replicate that success with Android XR. Unlike Apple and Meta, Google plans to build this future through partnershipsstarting with Samsungrather than relying on in-house hardware. Theres precedent for this kind of turnaround. After an underwhelming start, Googles Android TV platform eventually matured into one of the top smart TV ecosystems, with over 270 million monthly active users on Google TV-powered devices. Googles Assets: Android and AI To replicate that success in XR, Google will once again leverage its mobile ecosystem. Google will look to work with developers to port existing Android apps to Android XR, much like the way Apple brought iPadOS apps to the Vision Pro, says CCS Insight analyst Gebbie. This could give Google an advantage over Meta. Googles massive AI investments could also prove pivotal. The company has already demonstrated how AI can enhance AR glasses, and Gebbie believes AI will be key in simplifying interaction within spatial computing systems. With the tech in place, Googles future in XR hinges on one factor: commitment. This time around, Google must fully commit to Android XR if it is to seriously try and build an ecosystem, says Gebbie. If Google makes another false start, then its partners may look elsewhere. As long as Google has conviction, I would never bet against them, agrees the second former employee.
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Like other famous structures of similar dimensions, the 48-story Transamerica Pyramid, a revolutionary 70s modernist skyscraper and San Francisco icon, has a bit of history buried beneath its ground floor. [Photo: Nils Huenerfuerst/Unsplash] A recently unearthed time capsule, buried in 1974 and discovered during a recent round of renovations, offers a picture of San Francisco’s past. The site of the structurethen a parking lotwas initially part of the original shoreline of the city that reeked of historical significance, from the citys growth as a shipping and banking capital. The capsule even contains a recipe for Pisco Punch, a cocktail that was invented at the nearby Bank Exchange Saloon, site of the citys original stock exchange. [Photo: courtesy SHVO] Part of an exhibit in the building lobby opening May 18, the time capsules contents are timeless: pictures of the buildings steel frame beginning to stretch skyward, or vintage news clippings and images of the city after its last 60s flowering. But within the cylindrical steel capsule, which looks a bit like a large propane tank, theres also a narrative about building in America, and how thats radically changed in the last 50 years. [Photo: courtesy SHVO] The battle over the permitting and construction of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco from 1969 to 1972 offers a flashback to a different time in development, real estate, and construction. The tower was proposed and built in just three years, a sprint compared to the time it takes today to build a signature part of a city skyline. Construction alone for the One World Trade in New York City took eight years; the Comcast Tech Center in Philadelphia, which had issues with cracks in some of the steel frame, took five years; and the St. Regis in Chicago took four years. An analysis of high-rise buildings by Construction Physics found building speeds decreased significantly over the past century, in many cases extending the time it takes to finish by roughly 50%. [Photo: courtesy SHVO] Buildings are more complex and require more permitting today, including complicated environmental review processes. This time-consuming process of development has led to backlash against what opponents call stifling building regulations. It has also led to more engagement from architects around code reform issues including elevator rules and exit stairs, and the formation of the abundance agenda, a center-left push by pundits like Ezra Klein to get the nation building fast again. The pace of the approval and the construction here is unbelievable, says developer Michael Shvo, who paid $650 million to acquire the Transamerica Pyramid in 2020, at the depths of the COVID office freeze.. The Mayor was very determined to get this thing approved, and Transamerica was very determined to get a building built, and with all the controversy, once they got the green light, they ran as fast as possible. They built it in two years, we couldnt do that today. [Photo: courtesy SHVO] A more humane debate Transaerica was then a massive business conglomerate with interests in banking, financial services, and insurance. According to former public relations staffer John Krizek, who worked for Transamerica during the pyramids construction and ultimately created the time capsule, the back-and-forth between protestors and developers at the time was more humane, more respectable, and more amusing. The conversation around the Transamerica Pyramid was, at the time, a larger debate about images, architecture, and aesthetics. The tower was not just a unique shape, but would tower above the skyline. It was to be the citys tallest building, and wouldnt be surpassed until 2018s Salesforce Tower. [Photo: courtesy SHVO] Artists and community members protested the building for aesthetic reasons, and general distrust of large corporations. Posters passed around the city at the time proclaimed San Francisco Gets the Shaft or Artists Against the Icicle. The citys then planning director called the pyramid, designed by architect William Pereira, inhumane. [Photo: courtesy SHVO] During early street protests in front of the companys office, Transamerica execs sent secretaries to bring ice tea to the protestors lining up outside. During another protest, Krizek and his colleagues printed up fake fortune cookies at a nearby Chinatown bakery, frantically stuffing messages like TransamericaNot a square outfit or People who protest pyramid seek Che-ops publicity. Krizek recalled that the company was determined to break ground in December 1969. The building plan was announced in January of that year, and there was a tax break worth approximately $750,000 expiring at the end of December. Since Krizek and his coworkers knew that as soon as the company was given approval to build, there would be an appeal, they planned to move fast and break ground before paperwork was filed. To head off any challenges, they staged a tractor and truck near the site and sent someone to pick up the approval during the midday lunch break; they were able to get a time-stamped photo of someone digging at site while those opposing the project saw their appeal delayed as staffer enjoyed their lunch. The emotions around this building, Ive never seen this for any other building in the world, says Shvo. The debates today are more practical; this structure will block my view or cast a shadow. You cant say that about this building, it was a pyramid designed to let the light down to the street level. It didnt block views, the only thing people could complain about was this idea of the Manhattanization of San Francisco. Originally, Pereiras design was meant for a new building for ABC in New York City. The network passed on the project, deeming the design too futuristic, and went with another architects vision. Today, the Transamerica Pyramid stands as an icon in San Francisco, with 80% of the space leased in a challenging office market. The building ABC picked instead? Its since been demolished.
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Students are still setting fire to their Chromebooks for TikTokand now they’re facing the consequences. Fast Company first reported on the #ChromebookChallenge trend last week, following a series of school evacuations caused by students igniting laptop fires. The fires are started by inserting items such as pencils, paper clips, and pushpins into the charging ports of school-issued Chromebooks. This can cause the battery to overheat, potentially sparking a fire or explosion that releases toxic fumes. The #ChromebookChallenge reportedly began in Connecticut and has since spread rapidly. Newington High School was the first to evacuate students on May 1 after a laptop caught fire and the fire department was called. Since then, two students at Southington High School were arrested in connection with a separate laptop fire on May 7. The teens were charged with reckless burning, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, and second-degree breach of peace. On May 8, a Plainville middle school student was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and is now facing criminal charges for deliberately causing the incident. That same day, Belleville High School in New Jersey was evacuated after a laptop fire started outside a classroom. Responding officers and firefighters found a charred Chromebook just outside the building. A 15-year-old student has since been charged with arson and criminal mischief. The trend has spread westward: As of late last week, Denver Public Schools had received 30 reports of students attempting to ignite their laptops, according to Axios. The Colorado Springs Fire Department has reported at least 16 similar incidents. With no sign of the trend slowing, schools across the countryincluding in California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Washingtonhave issued warnings about the reckless challenge. Parents and guardians are also being urged to talk to their children about fire safety and the dangers of blindly following social media trends. A TikTok spokesperson tells Fast Company that it takes down content that violates the platforms Dangerous Activities and Challenges policy. The company is currently working closely with the National PTA to fund programs in high schools about online safety and civility. In addition, searching for the term Chromebook challenge on TikTok brings up a safety warning: “Some online challenges can be dangerous, disturbing, or even fabricated,” it reads. “Learn how to recognize harmful challenges so you can protect your health and well-being.” However, the trend is still circulating under other hashtags, such as #ChromebookDurabilityTest and #FStudent. Many of these videos go viral, garnering thousands of views and comments from fellow students and baffled adults. The clips often feature a sound bite from fitness podcaster Ben Azoulay: The F students are inventors, Azoulay says. Theyre so creative that they couldnt sit in class. Now theyre sitting in jail cells.
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