By Jennifer A. Kingson, Joann Muller, Erica Pandey and Bryan Walsh ·Aug 19, 2021
Bored of Zoom meetings? (Need we ask.) This morning, Facebook debuts an app that will let you join those meetings in virtual reality (the better to snicker about your boss' avatar). Ina Fried gives us the full dope, below.
Also! Please keep sending us your fabulous pictures for our daily What's Next photo competition. Find a shot you took that says something about how we're going to work, live and get around in the future: whatsnext@axios.com.
Normally we put today's winners at the bottom, but today we are throwing a different photo surprise at the end, because Jennifer wanted to.
Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,028 words ... 4 minutes.
1 big thing: How Facebook aims to move work meetings to VR
Mark Zuckerberg, speaking to reporters in a VR meeting using Facebook's Horizon Workrooms software. Photo: Axios screenshot
Facebook is pitching a new option for distant coworkers who want to gather and regain some of the spontaneous creative space lost in a world of Zoom meetings: Strap on a VR headset, writes Ina Fried of Axios Login.
Why it matters: Facebook is debuting Horizon Workrooms, a free app that is part of the company's effort to create a broad "metaverse" in which physical distance is removed as a barrier for those who want to interact with one another.
The app, being released in beta form today, allows people with an Oculus Quest 2 headset to gather in a conference room-like space using the headset's internal cameras to replicate hand motions and other visual cues.
It also uses spatial audio to link each person to their physical spot in the virtual room, another way to make it feel more like a real gathering.
Participants can collaborate on a shared whiteboard as well as bring in photos and other documents.
People can also bring their PC or Mac screen into the experience and take notes on the keyboard, using the device's pass-through camera to see their fingers typing.
Doing so allows people to take notes as well as to do other things they would at an in-person meeting — like surreptitiously surf the web when the boss starts yammering on. (Others can't see what you are doing on your virtual computer.)
In a briefing with reporters this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dropped in, first via video chat and then in VR using his avatar. "We shouldn't really have to physically be together to feel present or collaborate or brainstorm," Zuckerberg said. "We think it is going to be a big use case for VR."
Participants can bring a virtual version of their computer screen and keyboard into a meeting, allowing for note-taking and web browsing. Image: Facebook
Between the lines: The technology is clearly in beta for a reason. When Zuckerberg initially entered the VR meeting, his mouth wasn't moving, which another Facebook executive said was creepy. He encouraged his boss to exit and re-enter —which he did, solving the problem.
Battery life remains a significant issue for VR headsets, with my demo unit down to a quarter of its charge by the end of the hourlong meeting.
Go deeper: Here is a video of Zuckerberg showing off the technology and touting its promise.
There's a lot of pent-up demand for overseas travel, but one thing holding Americans back is the worry that they'll be stranded in a foreign country if they contract COVID-19 while traveling, Joann Muller writes.
Why it matters: The U.S. requires all arriving air passengers — vaccinated or not, including Americans — to test negative for COVID-19 no more than three days before their trip.
Isolating for an extra 10 days in a hotel room, even in paradise, can be expensive — not to mention risky, if you get really ill and need medical care in a foreign country.
What's happening: A company called Covac Global will send a medical jet, helicopter or even a speed boat — "whatever it takes," they say — to rescue COVID patients in other countries and bring them home for care.
Some vacation destinations are even partnering with Covac to prevent infections from spreading in their country.
The Bahamas government is a client, doing weekly evacuations to transport positive visitors off the island, the company says.
The intrigue: It's not trip insurance — it's a membership-based service.
Membership for a 15-day trip is $675 per person; a 30-day trip costs $995. Annual membership is $2,400, for unlimited trips up to 90 days each.
Non-members are eligible too, but it could cost as much as $250,000 door-to-door, depending on where they are.
The bottom line: Since launching the service early in the pandemic, Thompson says Covac has sold "tens of thousands of memberships" and performs "about a dozen" evacuations per month.
"All they have to do is wait in the hotel, and we pay for the whole thing, up to a million dollars, to take them home," CEO Ross Thompson tells Axios.
Mastercard is saying goodbye to the magnetic stripe that's donned the back of debit and credit cards for decades, Courtenay Brown writes in Axios Closer.
With it goes the ability to swipe a card at checkout.
Why it matters: The industry is moving toward "more secure or convenient alternatives like chips and contactless payments," The Verge reports.
Mastercard will phase out the magnetic stripe starting in 2024 for regions like Europe.
In the U.S., it'll be 2027, when banks are no longer required to issue cards with stripes.
A message from General Motors
Driving the future of America
From designing the revolutionary new Ultium Platform to the first electric vehicles it will power, General Motors is investing billions not just in EVs and AVs, but in American manufacturing itself.
If you can pass a driver's test, you can get an operator's license. But there is no corresponding test for autonomous vehicles, Joann writes.
Why it matters: Unless Congress acts, it'll be up to tech companies and carmakers — not the government — to determine when self-driving cars are safe for public roads. "Just trust us" isn't a viable answer to earn public acceptance.
What's happening: One self-driving tech company, Aurora, argues that publicly sharing its work — through a series of layered safety claims along with detailed evidence to back up each one — is the best way to determine when the technology is safe.
This "safety case framework" is a structured argument that gives engineers a roadmap for developing the tech while also offering much-needed transparency to the public.
Go deeper: Explore Aurora's interactive framework here and an explanation of how it works here.
5. Coming up: The "shard of the year" sea glass contest
This turquoise sea glass bottle stopper, found by Suzanne Bisiakowski, took top prize in the 2018 "shard of the year" contest. Photo: The North American Sea Glass Association
The North American Sea Glass Association — which has a lovely photo gallery that appeals to beach glass nerds like me — had to skip its annual convention last year because of the pandemic but will be running a virtual one this weekend, Jennifer A. Kingson writes.
My thought bubble: Beachcombing is a perfect pandemic activity (provided the beach isn't too crowded).
What's happening: The NASGA Virtual Festival will include a sea glass photo competition — instead of gathering people together to show off their shards in person.
This 2010 New York Times article about the festival (which I assigned) described sea glass collecting as "a hobby that seems an odd mix of amateur archaeology, environmental monitoring and antique collecting, with a little chemistry thrown in."
A message from General Motors
Driving the future of America
From designing the revolutionary new Ultium Platform to the first electric vehicles it will power, General Motors is investing billions not just in EVs and AVs, but in American manufacturing itself.
It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.
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