by
Mark Ollig
I
received an email recently about an F8 conference hosted by Facebook.
My mind associates F8 with a keyboard shortcut; what could Facebook’s
F8 mean?
After
performing due diligence research, yours truly learned Facebook held eight-hour
“hackathon” sessions for software programmers and code developers.
These
eight-hour hackathon sessions became a Facebook tradition known as F8.
The
first Facebook F8 developer conference was in 2007, a year after Facebook
became publicly available online.
Mark
Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, spoke at this year’s F8 conference last week at the
Fort Mason Center, located on the north end of San Francisco, on Pier 2.
I
signed up on a Facebook website, www.fbf8.com, to watch the live-streaming
video coverage of F8.
This
website also showed the building layout for the conference, including the
“hacker tent” located just outside the Herbst Pavilion, where the keynote
speech by Zuckerberg was given.
Twitter
used the hashtag #F82016, for folks posting photos, video, comments, and other
information related to Facebook F8.
“The
line for coffee and one-hour-early mob waiting to get into the keynote. @ Fort
Mason...” one hashtag tweet, posted by @curiouslee said.
An
attached Instagram link, showed two photos of people waiting outside of the
Fort Mason Center.
A
reported 83 countries were represented at this year’s F8.
So,
what happens during a Facebook F8 conference?
For
one, the software application (app) developers and writers of computing code,
spend time in breakout lab sessions, and “development garages,” where they
experiment with, and create new software apps.
One
phrase heard during F8 was, “Code to Connect.”
The
software coders and developers write the programming code which becomes the
working software apps used on the Facebook platform.
Facebook
uses apps to enhance our online experience, and generate statistical
information.
Some
apps employ social graphical interface programs, which monitor our Facebook
activities.
Apps
generate revenue for the businesses using them, the developers who created
them, and, of course, for Facebook.
These
Facebook apps offer tempting links for us to click on.
We’re
drawn to them because they’re personalized to suit our own individual tastes.
Facebook
currently serves more than 1 billion users.
The
present population of our planet, according to Worldometers’ data, is estimated
to be a little more than 7.4 billion.
Some
4 billion people in the world have no access to the Internet; let alone
Facebook, so there is still much work to be done in getting everyone on this
planet connected.
Last
Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the F8 conference stage amidst
loud applause.
He
addressed the 2,600 in attendance with, “Hey everyone! Welcome to F8.”
“Today,
we’re going to do something different. We’re going to walk through our roadmap
for the next 10 years,” he told the attentive audience.
Zuckerberg
put emphasis on how connectivity will become available to everyone, not just
the one-third of the people in the wealthiest countries, and that all will have
access to the opportunities of the Internet.
“We
stand for connecting every person, for a global community, for bringing people
together, for giving all people a voice, for a free flow of ideas and culture
across nations,” Zuckerberg said.
The
following statement appeared in large font size on the display screen behind
Zuckerberg “Give everyone the power to share anything with anyone.”
The
10 year roadmap focused on Facebook’s platform and associated apps, along with
its Instagram, Messenger, and video products.
Zuckerberg
pointed out their WhatsApp Messenger service, sends some 60 billion messages
each day.
The
roadmap included technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), virtual
reality (VR), and AR (augmented reality).
Software
developers have made over a million apps for Facebook’s platform.
Zuckerberg
acknowledged 70 percent of the software apps Facebook uses are created by
developers in communities outside the US; citing India and Africa as two of
these developer communities.
“A
lot of things we think about today as physical objects, like a TV in the living
room, will just be $1 apps,” Zuckerberg predicts.
These
types of apps will have us wearing what looks to be a regular pair of
eyeglasses; with no ancillary device or gadgets attached to its frame, like
Google Glass had.
VR/AR
eyeglasses will cause us to believe we are seeing and speaking with someone, or
even throwing a ball back and forth with them, as if they were physically in
the same room; even though the person could actually be located on the other
side of the world.
Zuckerberg
also showed video from Facebook’s VR app, Oculus Toy Box.
In
one scene, two people appear to be playing ping-pong with each other; even
though both are physically located on opposite sides of the Earth.
“I
think that virtual reality has the potential to become the most social
platform, because you actually feel like you are right there with another
person,” Zuckerberg said.
Yours
truly foresees future VR/AR apps providing people total sensory immersion from
inside virtual-reality venues.
Conceivably,
these virtual-venues could contain anywhere from one, to tens of thousands of
people sharing the same VR experience.
After
all, it’s about bringing people together; even though it’s within a virtual
reality.
Follow
my somewhat virtual adventures via @bitsandbytes on Twitter.
