The Future is Virtual

9

October

2021

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Perhaps you have come across the term ‘metaverse’ when reading an article, maybe you have heard tech nerds mention it, or you might not be familiar with this word at all. This concept, which has yet to come to life, is said to be our future. Essentially, the metaverse refers to the adaptation of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) into everyday life. People often think of science fiction movies when they see examples of a metaverse, but it is actually something that will become reality. Currently, VR has been mostly implemented in video games where one puts on a headset in which they are fully immersed into a 3D environment of the game. However, the future of the metaverse promises advancements in various arenas of life. It can reinvent the nature of businesses and individual consumer lifestyles. For instance, e-commerce can come to life for consumers through 3D environments where they can view products in a more realistic way and payments can be made.

This idea began with the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, with the vision of taking the social foundations of the Facebook platform into a virtual reality where users can interact with one another as if it were real life. Everyone has personal avatars that are used in this virtual world. It is also thought to be a playground of sorts in which people can play various games together. This is called “Facebook Horizon” and only has a beta version right now (Stein, 2020). Facebook has also created a work environment, along with business groups in VR headsets, so that firms can collaborate remotely in a way that is as close as possible to reality (Stein, 2021). Though this idea is still not widely implemented or developed, it has enormous potential for the future.   

References

Stein, Scott (August 27, 2020). “We Toured Facebook Horizon, a Social Vr Playground Entering 

Beta with Lots of Unknowns.” CNET

https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/we-toured-facebook-horizon-a-social-vr-playground-entering-beta-with-lots-of-unknowns/.

Stein, Scott (October 7, 2021). “Facebook Is Investing Millions into a User-Created Metaverse, 

but It’s Not Here Yet.” CNET

https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-is-investing-millions-into-a-user-created-metaverse-but-its-not-here-yet/.

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When Technology Fails

4

October

2021

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Technology has provided the world with so many invaluable discoveries and advancements. It has helped firms and companies grow to levels previously unmatched. Another important function of technology, specifically the internet, has been to connect people across the globe through social media and messaging platforms. This new form of connecting with people has become the norm in today’s society. Rather than sending mail by post, we send an email or a text message. Instead of using the landline or even our mobile phones, we more frequently use the video call function of platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Viber, WhatsApp, FaceTime, among others. Even firms have made the switch from traditional billboard signs toward Instagram advertisements and promotions. These media applications have become so integrated into everyday life, that it would be hard for individuals, as well as businesses, to survive without them. 

So, what happens if these platforms are taken away? This question arose on October 4, 2021, when there was a sudden global outage of some primary media applications. These were the Facebook-owned services: Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Workplace, and Facebook. A Domain Name System (DNS) error was responsible for this event (Duffy & Lyngaas, 2021). 

If you ask anyone how this time was for them, you will easily understand that the impact of this outage was significant. Families trying to get a hold of one another from different countries were unable to reach their loved ones. Companies were unable to deliver on pre-planned promotions or launches for their products/services on Instagram. Some were unable to attend appointments because they could not communicate with the other party. In fact, with these sites being down, other websites such as Twitter were impacted by experiencing an overload of traffic to their pages as a result (Clark, 2021). In addition, Facebook has been impacted financially, as evidenced by its falling stock prices (Duffy & Lyngaas, 2021).

At the time of writing this article, the issue is still not resolved and the sites continue to be down. This event has clearly shown that society is so deeply enveloped and dependent on technology, that when it fails, people are almost unable to function in certain areas of life. Therefore, it is essential that companies prioritize their IT and network infrastructure, and constantly update their systems to ensure that consumers are receiving the best experience at all times.

References

Clark, M. (2021, October 4). “Twitter, is it down, and tons of other sites are struggling due to the Facebook outage”. The Verge. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/4/22709123/facebook-outage-down-detector-cloudflare.

Duffy, C., & Lyngaas, S. (2021, October 4). “Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp Go Down.” CNN, Cable News Network. Retrieved 4 Oct. 2021, from https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/04/tech/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-outage/index.html

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