From Zoom to audio, VR boom

If the future of working is to be a hybrid of home and office, tech is doing its best to achieve a more realistic semi-presence for employees now they will have to meet in a combination of conference rooms and back bedrooms.

Janina Conboye describes an average work day at home in London: “It is raining, but I am busy in a world of tropical islands suspended mid-air over a blue ocean, jotting notes on a whiteboard during a brainstorming session. Later I teleport to the ‘rooftop’ bar to shoot hoops and drink a virtual beer with my fellow collaborators.”

She is describing Gemba’s VR world, where, through an Oculus headset, immersive executive masterclasses and other collaborative meetings are enhanced by 3D presentations, virtual Post-it notes and whiteboards. The VR tools are designed to help avoid Zoom fatigue and encourage more natural exchanges — or “water cooler” moments.

Richard Waters reports Zoom is responding to this challenge (and a more pressing one from Microsoft’s Teams) by spending $100m on nurturing its ecosystem. It will invest in apps that tie in to its video meeting service, putting between $250,000 and $2.5m into each start-up that builds new ways for Zoom users to “meet, communicate and collaborate”.

Meanwhile, Facebook has unveiled its own answer to Zoom fatigue, in the shape of a suite of features that will allow users to host audio conferences and podcasts.

Its chief Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday that the social network planned to roll out live audio rooms for its users as well as new tools allowing them to search for, create and earn money from podcasts over the next three to six months.

While users may indeed be tiring of having to be constantly on camera for meetings, the move seems more of an immediate threat to the audio start-up Clubhouse than to Zoom. Facebook has never been afraid to copy a social success and Clubhouse became the fastest-growing social media app in the world earlier this year by providing a platform to discuss topics such as entrepreneurship, politics and the latest news events.

The Internet of (Five) Things

1. Tesla’s China challenge, Oz lithium merger
Chinese carmakers are launching more than a dozen models at the Shanghai motor show this week, in their attempt to topple Tesla’s Model 3 saloon as the country’s best-selling electric car. Elsewhere, Australian mining groups Orocobre and Galaxy Resources plan to merge in a A$4bn (US$3.1bn) deal that would create one of the world’s largest lithium producers, as rising demand for electric vehicles turbocharges prices for the batteries metal.

2. UK looks at digital currency
The Treasury and Bank of England announced on Monday a joint task force to evaluate the creation of a central bank digital currency to future proof sterling against cryptocurrencies and improve the payments system.

3. Britain to probe Arm-Nvidia deal
The UK has opened a formal investigation into Nvidia’s planned $40bn takeover of Arm, the British chip designer, after the government said the deal could create national security concerns. In the US, the deal is already under review by the Federal Trade Commission.

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4. Tan to grab big controlling share
Malaysian internet entrepreneur Anthony Tan is set to increase dramatically his control over his company Grab when the south-east Asian tech group joins Nasdaq later this year. In a move that would be the envy of his Silicon Valley peers, the Grab chief executive and co-founder will have 60.4 per cent of the voting power in the company while owning a stake of just 2.2 per cent.

5. Chewy grooms pet business for post-Covid success
Chewy, which sells everything from treats to remote healthcare for pets, has emerged as a big online winner during the pandemic as Americans turned to animals for comfort. Its annual revenues rose 47 per cent to $7.2bn and its shares are trading at around triple their pre-pandemic price. Dave Lee says it has a post-lockdown strategy for continued success.

Tech week ahead

Monday: Tech earnings season gets under way with IBM reporting after the bell this evening.

Tuesday: Investors will be focused on new member additions when Netflix updates after it reached subscriber numbers of about 200m at the end of 2020, adding 37m paying customers during the lockdown-plagued year. The video-streaming pioneer is also looking to expand its customer base in markets such as India, where it is rolling out its biggest roster yet of local films and shows, as it fights for an edge over fast-growing rivals Disney and Amazon Prime. Apple is expected to unveil new iPads at its Spring Loaded event at 10am Pacific time.

Wednesday: The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a nomination hearing for Lina Khan, President Biden’s pick to join the Federal Trade Commission. She has been a vocal critic of Amazon and Big Tech. A Senate Judiciary Committee panel will hear from Apple and Google on app stores. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) provider UiPath will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange after its IPO on Tuesday. The European Commission is due to release a follow-up to its white paper on artificial intelligence.

Thursday: Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker by revenues, reports first-quarter earnings after the market close. Camera app Snap also has results.

Tech Tools — Sage’s Pizzaiolo

The Pizzaiolo claims to be the only domestic benchtop oven to replicate the searing 400ºC of a brick pizza oven, writes Jonathan Margolis:

“It’s also foolproof: even my cack-handed first runs featuring badly made dough and chronic topping overload were delicious, with leopard-spotted, gorgeously charred bases and ingredients ready in two minutes. Despite the Hades-like temperature, they were also fresh and juicy.

“Heat is applied to the pizza in three algorithm-co-ordinated ways. The deck — a circle of cordierite stone — applies conductive heat to the underside of the base. There’s a source of radiant heat directed at the outer ring of the upper crust, and ambient convective heat, focused by parabolic deflectors, to cook the toppings without burning them.”