Google uses AI to train the "headphone cable" to realize most functions of touch screen

Google has never stopped developing wearable devices, such as the smart jacket Commuter Trucker launched in collaboration with Levi 's.

 A sensor is added to the cuff on the clothes, and the user can interact with it through a Bluetooth link.

 You can double click, slide and other operations to cut songs and other operations.

 To make persistent efforts, Google hopes to make the device smaller and more functional.

 Google then stared at the headphone cable.

 Google AI engineers have developed an electronic interactive knitting (E-Textile), which allows people to realize most of the functions of previous touch screens by pinching, rubbing, holding, and shooting gestures.

 Operations such as volume control and changing songs are not to mention. Google 's new features point to the next step of perceptual interaction, and the ultimate goal is to liberate our hands.

 Gesture dataset training process

 The device developed by Google is a combination of machine learning algorithms and sensor hardware, and the headphone cable is just the load.

 In fact, the cable is not an ordinary headphone cable, it is a flexible electronic material, and the sensor is woven into it, so human-computer interaction is possible.

 If you like, hoodies can also be transformed.

 First, Google recruited 12 participants for data collection, made 8 gestures each and repeated 9 times, a total of 864 experimental samples.

 In order to solve the drawback of too small sample size, the researchers used linear interpolation to resample each gesture time series.

 Each sample extracts 16 features, and finally obtains 80 observation results.

 Each user's trained gesture recognition can enable 8 new discrete gestures.

 Not only are there quantitative figures, but also the personal experience of the participants, the researchers hope to provide a human-centered interactive experience.

 Participants also provided qualitative feedback through rankings and comments. Participants also proposed a variety of interaction methods, including sliding, flicking, pressing, pinching, pulling, and squeezing.

 Quantitative analysis results show that the perceived speed of the interactive knitwear is faster than the existing headset button controls, and the speed is comparable to that of the touch screen.

 Qualitative feedback also shows that electronic textile interaction is more popular than headphone wire control.

 Considering different usage scenarios, researchers have developed different devices for different usage scenarios:

 Electronic textile USB-C earphones are used to control media playback on mobile phones; hoodies draw cord to add music control to clothes invisibly.

 Algorithm for precise recognition of gestures

 Google 's ability to make an electronic braid is not a machine learning algorithm, but a gesture capture and interaction on the headset line.

 Due to volume considerations, braids such as earphone cords cannot be equipped with large and numerous sensors, and their sensing and resolution capabilities are very limited.

 The second is the ambiguity and ambiguity of the hand gestures, such as how to distinguish between pinch and grab, and how to distinguish between slap and pull?

 Google engineers use 8 electrodes to form a sensor matrix, and divide the data set into 8 times as training data and 1 time as test data, and get 9 gesture transformations.

 They found that there is an inherent relationship in the sensor matrix, which is very suitable for machine learning classification algorithms, which allows the classification algorithm to be trained with a limited data set. It takes only about 30 seconds to realize a gesture recognition.

 The final accuracy rate is 93.8%. Considering the size of the data set and the training time they use, this accuracy is enough for daily use.

 The next step in headset control

 Google's training of the headset line involves gesture gesture recognition and micro-interaction.

 On touch screen devices, the space below the screen can accommodate many sensors, such as Apple's 3D Touch recognition module.

 But in external devices such as earphone cables, it may not be so easy, because the number and volume of sensors must be limited.

 During the experiment, the engineers found that multiple trainings for multiple gestures were required, and different individual gestures required multiple captures of motion.

 This study shows the possibility of achieving accurate small-scale movements in a compact form factor, and we can look forward to the development of intelligent, interactive braids.

 one day.  The micro-interaction of the wearable interface and the smart fabric can be used arbitrarily, and finally the external device can follow the shadow, interact at any time, and finally liberate our hands.

 Are you looking forward to this day?

Baidu's real crisis is coming? "Headline" announced: a new search engine is here

ByteDance is challenging Baidu's core business.

 In the search business, the competition between ByteDance and Baidu has become increasingly fierce.  On April 30, ByteDance officially launched the "Headline Encyclopedia" beta version with the domain name "www.baike.com".

 According to the official introduction, Toutiao Encyclopedia is a Chinese online encyclopedia under Toutiao today.  Users can search for entries on the headline encyclopedia to obtain information services, and can also create, edit, and revise entries to share professional knowledge.  According to the headline Wikipedia homepage, its brand slogan is "Come here, know the world!".

 Positive "just" with Baidu!  ByteDance launches headline encyclopedia

 As early as July 31, 2019, today's Toutiao, Douyin parent company ByteDance's WeChat public account "ByteDance Recruitment" released the recruitment message "Here is an opportunity to build a new search engine. Do you want it?  ", Announced that the byte beating search department has been established.

 According to reports, the ByteDance search team is a powerful "behind-the-scenes supporter" of many well-known and well-known apps such as Toutiao, Douyin, Watermelon, Volcano, Zhidi, etc., supporting the search function of ByteDance's full line of products  .

 The ByteDance search team said it is building a universal search engine with a more ideal user experience.

 The 21st Century Business Herald reporter used the headline encyclopedia to search for the keyword "headline encyclopedia" and found that the entry was founded on April 26 and has been edited 17 times so far.  According to the introduction, the encyclopedia entry contains the following parts: abstract and summary map, basic information, entry text, video, atlas, entry intra-link, reference materials, etc.

 In order to ensure the authenticity and content quality of encyclopedia entries, only entries that meet all the enrollment rules of Encyclopedia Encyclopedia are suitable for being written into encyclopedia. Specific inclusion rules include: 1, standardized entry names, 2, objective facts, 3  1. The source can be verified. 4. Complete entry structure.

 As of January 2020, Toutiao Encyclopedia has included more than 18 million entries, covering people, science, nature, culture, history, entertainment and other categories.

 The reporter learned that the domain name "www.baike.com" was originally the domain name of Interactive Encyclopedia, which was acquired by ByteDance in September 2019.  On March 1 this year, Interactive Encyclopedia issued a website service upgrade announcement, saying that from April 30, the original interactive encyclopedia website user service will be offline, and at the same time, Encyclopedia Mall will also be offline.

 In fact, encyclopedia content is the content most commonly used by users in search engines, and the launch of Toutiao encyclopedia is also an important supplement to Toutiao search ecology.

 Last year, ByteDance launched the headline search, the product directly benchmarked Baidu search, which also means that ByteDance and Baidu's competition shifted from information flow products to Baidu's core business.  Previously, ByteDance relied on products such as Toutiao, Wukong Q & A, and micro-headlines, making Toutiao search a relatively rich content ecosystem as soon as it was launched.

 Baidu panic?

 As soon as the headline search information came out last year, some Baidu employees began to say, panic?

 Indeed, the search engine business is the foundation of Baidu's life. Baidu was one of the most brilliant Internet companies in China. The phrase "Baidu, you will know" has indeed become a daily operation for many people.  Even Li Yanhong once said, "Search is all the secrets of Baidu's success."

 However, in recent years, with the fermentation of questioning bidding rankings and profit methods, Baidu's search has been criticized by users. Although the profit is full, the user's favorability is getting lower and lower.

 The official launch of the headline encyclopedia may further increase the competition between byte beating and Baidu.  According to the official introduction of Baidu Encyclopedia, as of August 2019, the number of entries included in Baidu Encyclopedia exceeded 16 million. From the number of entries currently disclosed by Headline Encyclopedia, the gap with Baidu Encyclopedia is not large.

 As the content ecology of Toutiao search continues to improve, the difference between users using Toutiao search and Baidu search is gradually narrowing, will the pattern of the search market change?

the future of India

Where capital and growth can best be generated, capital will always flock.

 "Where consumer demand grows, it makes sense to build a supply chain."

 This sentence by Wharton management professor Saikat Chodou is also accurately reflected in the Indian market.  At present, India already has 40,000 emerging companies and nearly 40 unicorn companies.  Among the many investments, only 10% came from India, and 90% of the funds came from the United States, China, Japan and Singapore.  It is also worthy of the name of the third largest emerging enterprise ecosystem after the United States and China.

From apparel retail to mobile phone manufacturing, from e-commerce to cultural entertainment, multinational companies and capital giants have come to the Indian market to race, what kind of charm does India have?  In the process of Nuggets India, what confusions and problems do companies have?

 01 Xiaomi's feast is over in India?

 If you ask which industry in China has achieved the most dazzling results in India, it must be smartphones.

 In 2019, India becomes the world's second largest smartphone market after China, while domestic mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Realme, etc. account for more than 60% of the Indian smartphone market, with more than 450 million users.

 This all began when the Modi government took office in 2014 to implement the "Made in India" national strategy.  The Indian government has given great policy concessions to attract foreign investment. Millet represented by vivo, OPPO, Gionee, Lenovo, OnePlus and other domestic mobile phone brand manufacturers, without exception, built large factories in India's horse race.  Compared with the fiercely competitive and shrinking demand in the domestic market, the Indian market has become a new engine for Chinese mobile phone manufacturers.

 According to data from the fourth quarter of 2019, Xiaomi's share in the Indian market continues to be the first with a 29% market share, followed by Samsung, vivo, Realme, OPPO and Apple.  It is worth noting here that Apple has achieved its best performance in India, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 200%.

 Over the years, Apple has struggled to capture India 's market share, but its high price has discouraged many Indian consumers.  Disappointing performance in the fast-growing Indian market has been one of the reasons why Apple 's performance has been weak.  It seems that Apple's multiple price reduction strategies in the Indian market have achieved remarkable results.

 As India still has a large number of poor people, the Indian smartphone market is very price sensitive.  IDC data shows that the average selling price of mobile phones in June 2019 was $ 159.

 On the other hand, Xiaomi's entry into the Indian market soon won the craze of Indian consumers-Xiaomi's mobile phone "glitters" like an iPhone, but the price is only 1/3 of it.

 However, the new crown epidemic, which began in early 2020, put the good momentum on the brakes.

 When the epidemic spread globally, India also had to implement a 21-day national blockade that began on March 25, and then extended to May 3.  Subsequently, Samsung, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Hon Hai and other mobile phone manufacturers closed their factories in India, and all offline mobile phone stores in India were also closed.

 According to market research agency Counterpoint Research, India 's blockade will cause shipments in the Indian mobile phone market to fall by nearly 60%, and the Indian smartphone industry is expected to lose approximately $ 2 billion in revenue.

 To make matters worse, due to the inversion of the tariff structure, the GTS tax rate for mobile phones has increased from 12% to 18% from April 1, which means that the profit margin of smartphone manufacturers in the Indian market will be greatly compressed.

 Manu Jain, general manager of Xiaomi India, said that due to the increase in goods and services tax, all smartphone manufacturers will be forced to increase prices.  For the price-sensitive Indian market, this may reduce demand and weaken the mobile phone industry's "Made in India" plan.

 Counterpoint Research deputy director Tarun Pathak believes that when the new crown epidemic brings great uncertainty to the entire electronics industry supply chain, the price increase means that some users will become second-hand mobile phone users, or even turn to the gray market.

 The global shipments of smartphones have become saturated, while India still maintains strong growth, so the Indian market has always been regarded as the key to the success of any smartphone company.

 When sales in the Indian market stalled and economic life gradually recovered after China's domestic epidemic was under control, these domestic mobile phone manufacturers had to put sales hope back into the country.

 However, the outlook for the Indian market does not seem pessimistic.

 Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of the Indian Mobile Data and Electronics Association (ICEA), said a few days ago that the prolonged closure of India will obviously increase the losses of mobile phone manufacturers, but it is not a bad thing in the long run.

 Mohindroo said: "Everything is now in an uncertain period, but what is certain is that after the closure of the city, people understand the importance of smartphones because they see that only a smartphone can survive a business. Our  Education is also turning online, and many people learn through smartphones. "

 He also said: "People are now finally realizing the huge value of it (mobile phones). Therefore, we don't think the demand will drop. Feature phones will still have a good market, because people who don't have smartphones will start buying now.  "

 According to Mohindroo, Chinese companies have a considerable share of the Indian market and will eventually be able to cope with the challenges they face.  For Indian companies or smaller manufacturers, the challenge is very severe.

 02 Uniqlo's "second battlefield"

 Speaking of Indian clothing, many people may have the impression of exoticism.  However, in the past decade, India's demand for modern clothing has grown rapidly, and international fast fashion brands have finally begun to taste a little sweetness in the Indian market.

 Although it is not too early for international fast-fashion brands to enter the Indian market, it is only a matter of recent years that good development momentum has emerged.

 Among the three largest apparel companies in the world, ZARA, owned by Inditex, seized the opportunity to enter the Indian market in 2010.  At that time, India's fast fashion market was immature, but Indians had long lost interest in some fashion brands that had been operating in the Indian market for nearly 20 years. As soon as Zara appeared, it showed amazing sales.  Zara's opening of stores in the Indian market is not fast, and it has only been profitable after operating in India for seven years.

 In 2015, H & M entered India. At this time, the Indian market has quietly changed. H & M entered the Indian market for six months and achieved profitability.  In the four years of entering the Indian market, H & M's annual sales have exceeded 11 billion rupees, becoming the fastest-growing fast fashion brand in India.  At the same time, India has become one of the strongest growth points in the H & M global market.

 After 10 years of thinking, Uniqlo finally began to enter the Indian market.  The Japanese retailer's first store opened in New Delhi in October 2019.  When it opened for business on the first day, nearly 400 people queued for shopping.  A month later, Uniqlo opened a second store in India.

 This made the CEO of Uniqlo's parent company, Liu Jingzheng, ten years of deliberate thoughts, and said, "In order to seize India's diversified and growing potential consumers, the company is ready to make unlimited investments in the Indian market.

 What made fast fashion brands start to value the Indian market?

 In the past, due to the particularity of India 's economy and society, Indian natives preferred cheaper, comfortable clothing, and would not choose too fashionable clothing.  The changes in lifestyles and the increase in disposable income have spawned brand-conscious middle-class consumers, local brands have brought contemporary international fashion into Indian stores, and well-known international brands are doing business in India. These factors ultimately promoted Indian people 's  Perception and pursuit.

 On the other hand, money in the Chinese market is getting worse and worse.

 Forever 21, founded by the Korean couple Zhang Dongwen, entered the Chinese market in 2008. Since the end of 2018, it has closed stores in Tianjin, Hangzhou, Beijing and Chongqing.  In 2014, New Look, one of the British fashion retail giants, entered the Chinese market in the form of direct sales; after entering 2017, New Look's performance turned from profit to loss, and the debt-ridden New Look had to slow down its expansion plan in the Chinese market.  In October 2018, New Look announced its formal exit from the Chinese market.

 In recent years, quite a few brands have broken out of the Chinese market.  With the changing consumer habits of Chinese consumers and the overall impact of e-commerce on physical businesses, including fast fashion, the Chinese market has already passed the stage where anyone can share a slice of the cake.

 With a population of more than 1.3 billion consumers, it is not surprising that the Indian market has become a must-have for these fast fashion companies.

 However, it is still too early to conclude whether the Indian market is a piece of sweet meat.  According to the "Indian Business Fashion Report 2018", although the demand for modern clothing is growing, traditional Indian clothing still accounts for 70% of women's clothing sales in 2017 and is expected to drop to 65% within 5 years.  For these fashion brands, the Indian market is not a good bite.

 At the same time, e-commerce giants are also in a fierce collision with traditional business models in India.  Under the wheel of the times, no one can escape.  The same is true for the Indian market.

 Only by recognizing the times, keeping up with the market and embracing change can we be invincible.

 03 Amazons are still on thin ice

 In 2019, India surpassed the United Kingdom and France to become the fifth country in the global GDP ranking.  With the rapid economic growth, India's Internet industry has also begun.

 From a global perspective, the two countries with the best development in the Internet industry—China and the United States—have one thing in common, that is, a large population base.

 In recent years, the Internet penetration rate in India has exceeded 40%.  According to public data, the number of Internet users in India was 355 million in 2016, second only to China, and by September 2018, the number of Internet users in India had grown to 560 million.  According to the prediction of the World Bank, India's demographic dividend will continue. It is estimated that by 2025, the number of mainstream Internet users between the ages of 14 and 48 will reach 800 million.

 Although the percentage of 40% seems to be low compared to the 76% penetration rate in the United States, considering the large population of India, this still represents 500 million consumers.

 In addition, compared with other major markets such as China and the United States, India's population is relatively young.  In terms of specific structure, 85% of people under the age of 54 in India, 65% of people under the age of 35, and the proportion of people aged 0-24 far exceed China.

 Indian millennials are mostly well-educated and have strong purchasing power. This generation will be the main driving force of digital consumption.  Consumer brands are also well aware of this truth, and use the Indian millennials as the main population for traffic capture.

 With a population of 1.3 billion and a purchasing power of 9.7 trillion US dollars, India is bound to be an ideal market for emerging economies such as e-commerce, social media, and digital content.

 Tik Tok's overseas version of Tik Tok and social platform Facebook, both owned by ByteDance, have the world's largest user base in India.  Against the background of the Chinese market, major streaming vendors have diverted to India, including streaming giants such as YouTube, Amazon, Netflix, Disney and local platform Jio. Currently, there are more than 30 global streaming media gathered in India.

 However, the Indian market is not like no one.

 In 2015, the social media giant Facebook launched a program called Free Basics in India. This program recommends some applications to users for free by working with some network service providers.  However, India banned the project in 2016 because it violated India 's network neutrality rules, which require network service providers to treat all online content equally.

 However, the good news finally came. On April 22, according to the British "Financial Times", Reliance Jio and Facebook, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, announced that Facebook will invest $ 5.7 billion in Reliance Jio and own Reliance Jio 9.99  % Equity, making it the largest minority shareholder of this Indian telecommunications operator.  With attractive service prices, Reliance Jio has become the most popular mobile operator in India, with approximately 370 million users.

 With 300 million Facebook users and 400 million WhatsApp users in India, what does the world's largest social media giant want?  The obvious answer is the next billion users.

 Jio has a large number of entertainment applications to attract users, including online movies Jio Cinema, live TV Jio TV and online music Jio Saavn, what Jio lacks is Facebook's social media genes.  It is said that before Facebook, Google also tried to acquire a stake in Reliance Jio.

 Although the "next billion users" are right in front of us, the differences in concepts and culture cannot be ignored, and the e-commerce platform represented by Amazon and the chain retailer represented by Wal-Mart have a headache.

 With a market share of less than 1% in China, Amazon sees India as the biggest opportunity after the saturated US market.

 But Indian retail shop owners did not agree.  In New Delhi 's largest wholesale market, former competitors have united unprecedentedly against this giant "intruder".  They claim that these intruders are engaged in predatory pricing, which violates the government's policy to protect local businesses.  According to media reports, as many as 700 protests against Amazon and Wal-Mart.

 "Amazon is the second East India company." Praveen Kandelval, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Merchants, said at the Madrid protests.  "The motivation of these big companies is not to do business, but to monopolize."

 After Walmart announced the acquisition of Flipkart, Indian shop owners accused Amazon and Flipkart of circumventing the rules through predatory pricing and large discounts.  Due to too much resistance, companies such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour almost gave up their plans to open stores of the same name in the country.

 In 2019, the government introduced regulations to tighten the sales of goods on e-commerce platforms, which forced Amazon to withdraw thousands of products from its platform and reorganize most of its local businesses.

 It seems that Indians still need time to accept online shopping.  The data shows that the sales of ubiquitous traditional couple shops in India are still growing.  According to data from consulting firm Technopak Advisors, although e-commerce and large retail chain stores have seized market share since 2014, and the total retail share of these stores has declined, the Indian consumer market has expanded so fast that  The absolute consumption value of the husband and wife shop still increased by nearly 60%.  Modern retail chain stores account for only 10% of the Indian retail market.

 Large retailers and e-commerce companies have found that it is almost impossible to compete with this traditional business model in India.  Morgan Stanley's data shows that by 2026, India's e-commerce sales are expected to reach 160 billion US dollars.  Compared with China 's daily sales of major platforms in the Double 11 event in 2019, which reached 500 billion yuan, the Indian market, which has a roughly equivalent population, is indeed a virgin land to be reclaimed.

 04 Flying pigs in the sky, money can not sleep

 Why is India?

 Li Hui (pseudonym), a private entrepreneur who made an investment in Myanmar ten years ago, told Yidian Finance that in 2011 Myanmar's anti-China was serious, infrastructure was poor, government corruption was serious, many central enterprise projects were stopped, and private entrepreneurs were even more  It has long been withdrawn from Myanmar.  Now he has withdrawn to the country and contracted 300 acres of blueberry cultivation in Dehong, near Myanmar in Yunnan Province.

 Li Hui said that although Myanmar's low labor cost is an advantage, but comprehensive consideration, the final cost of the enterprise is actually more.  "Now everyone has changed a game. Many manufacturing companies in the mainland moved to Dehong, Yunnan to build factories, and then hired Burmese to reduce costs."

 Compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, India seems to have more advantages.

 With a strong economic growth, a young population structure, low labor costs, a favorable policy environment, an education-oriented talent training system, and a huge internal consumer market, India is the most attractive market among emerging markets in terms of comprehensive consideration.

 Especially since 2014, the slogans of "Made in India", "Indian entrepreneurship, the rise of India" and "Digital India" proposed by the Modi government have greatly promoted the entrepreneurial boom in India.

 In the face of huge opportunities, various venture capital forces gathered in India, hoping to share market dividends: international VC represented by Tiger, Sequoia, DST, and the speed of light, Chinese giants represented by Tencent and Ali, and Kalaari capital  The Indian VC represented by India, and Chinese startups represented by ByteDance and UC together constitute the territory of the Indian venture capital market.

 In the wave of investment boom that emerged around 2014, due to the relatively blind investment decisions at that time, the entry of funds did not spur the birth and growth of unicorns.  In the context of the gradual decline of China Mobile's Internet growth dividend, gold rushing to India has once again become a common choice for all capitals.

 There is a saying in the investment circle: Everyone is betting on the future of India, whether there will be the next Alibaba, JD.com, Alipay, Tencent, and Vipshop.

 Among them, Chinese capital is particularly active in India.  According to IT Orange statistics, behind the 20 Indian unicorns, more than 10 have investors from China, of which Alibaba and Tencent are the most shot institutions.  Alibaba's cumulative investment exceeded US $ 3 billion, and Tencent's investment exceeded US $ 2 billion.

 India and China have a similar urban-rural dual structure and a considerable population. These opportunities give Chinese capital a unique advantage with reference to the history of China 's Internet development, copying China 's mature model and seizing the Indian market gap.

 Therefore, for Chinese investors, the difficulty for Chinese investors to understand Indian projects is far less than the difficulty for American investors to understand Chinese entrepreneurial projects more than a decade ago.  To a certain extent, this means that Chinese investors who are familiar with the Chinese Internet industry model can better and faster identify potential projects in India.

 But the status quo that cannot be ignored is that YouTube, Google, and Facebook-based products WhatsApp are still popular applications in the Indian application market. American Internet company products are still the channel overlords. Chinese Internet companies need to work harder to go to India.

 05 Conclusion

 The Indian market is such a love and hate, no one can ignore this huge market, but nowhere to start this gold mine.

 But remember that old saying, where growth and profit are best, capital will always flock.

 Entrepreneurs who have grown up in China's reform and opening up have seen the imprint of China's development from India's development, but we don't know whether India will also experience the setbacks that Chinese entrepreneurs have experienced, nor do we know whether India can successfully break through.

 The competition of various capitals in the Indian market has just begun. In the end, is this a paradise for entrepreneurs or their "desperate land"?  Just waiting for the epidemic to pass, the more fierce melee in the Indian market will finally come to the fore.

What company is Tesla?

"Automobile companies" and "technology companies" will be the answer that many people will blurt out.  Tesla's automobile products are squandered around the world and are regarded as "catfish" in general, but few people will focus on Tesla's energy products.

 In fact, energy products have been written in Tesla's route planning.  In August 2006, Musk 's "Secret Car Plan" mentioned the Tesla route that is now widely known: it will make a small but expensive car to attract high-end users, and use the money to sell cars to develop lower prices.  Of medium-sized cars are sold, and capital is returned to make affordable mass cars.

 Musk also wrote eloquently that Tesla 's primary goal is to "accelerate the transition from a hydrocarbon economy to a solar and electricity economy."

 Unlike the route taken by electric cars, Tesla's solar road began with acquisitions.  "Tesla will sell other sustainable energy products together with other companies," Musk wrote in the plan, enough to prove that Tesla's vision for solar products is not 100% self-developed, and it is very likely that Tesla  It will also be a third party that undertakes brand sales.

This idea is being subverted.  After a lapse of 14 years, Tesla's detours on solar photovoltaics and the layout of energy storage products are far more than we thought.

 Save the Musk family wealth

 For solar photovoltaics, Musk seems too paranoid.  In 2016, Musk stood at the opposite of all shareholders and insisted on acquiring Solarcity, a home photovoltaic power generation company, for US $ 2.6 billion.

 At that time, Tesla's highlight moment, Model S / X has been verified by the market, Tesla announced the release of Model 3, the current star product, and ushered in the third quarter of the year.  The first quarterly profit.  The enthusiastic shareholders are not willing to take over the hot potato of Solarcity.

 The Musk called "a transaction without thinking", which caused Tesla's stock price to drop by 10% on the day of completion of the acquisition.

 What moved Musk was that from 2013 to 2015, taking advantage of the policy, Solarcity has grown into the largest solar photovoltaic roof company in the United States.  In order to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, California launched the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) a long time ago to encourage more users to deploy power generation facilities by subsidizing electricity prices.  Under the government subsidy, the usage cost of Solarcity roof is 1/4 lower than the price of the public power grid, which has harvested the first wave of customers who received photovoltaics.

 The controversy of people standing on the opposite side of Musk is whether Solarcity's business model can continue: rent solar panels, implement the first free installation for users, and users pay solarcity long-term electricity charges.  The payment is very slow. In order to solve the problem of cash flow, Solarcity converted the lease contract into securities. However, due to the interest rate and interest rate increase, the company's bond value has been declining.

 At the same time, power generation subsidies are both temptation and poison.  Too much reliance on government subsidies to stimulate demand. In Solarcity's leasing model, in order to earn a difference in electricity bills, more installations are required, but it also amplifies upfront expenses.

 Before being acquired, Solarcity was actually insolvent. In 2016, the loss reached 820 million US dollars, carrying a cash flow of 2.6 billion US dollars, and the installation volume continued to decline.  Based on the expectations of shareholders.

 Musk's vision after the acquisition of solarciy is also a win-win situation: Tesla will transfer solar panels to store sales, reduce its own cost of sales, and stop the difficult leasing model; Solarcity can also help Tesla fill upstream  To solve the charging problem in the early stage of the popularization of electric vehicles.

 This "sorrow" is not understood by most people, and after so many years, the linkage of the two businesses is rarely shown to the public.

 More people will be willing to interpret it as a rescue operation for the Musk family.

 The clue is that at the end of 2015, Solarcity's market value had shrunk by about 60%, and Musk had held Solarcity's US $ 100 million bonds and 22 million shares as early as 2014, and became a major shareholder of the company.

 In addition, in addition to Musk's brother, Kimbal Musk, several members of Tesla's board of directors cross-share Solarcity and Space X. The founder of Solarcity is not an outsider. It is Musk's watch.  Brothers Lyndon Rive and Peter Rive-If Solarciy is allowed to go bankrupt, Musk and his family are undoubtedly the biggest "victims".

 Another focus around the outside and Tesla's board of directors is whether the valuation at the time of Solarcity's acquisition is too high.  This is one of the largest single acquisitions since Tesla was established so many years ago, which is equivalent to Musk buying most of his own assets at a high price with the hard work of everyone.  The lawsuit triggered by the financial rescue wrapped in the acquisition of sugar coatings has not ended yet.

 Another way to go, Musk will honor

 Solarcity's spring did not appear after being taken over by Tesla.

 Musk's idea of ​​integrating Solarcity business five years ago is not being fulfilled as expected-in Tesla's expanding charging pile system, in addition to a small part of the energy source is from photovoltaic power, more is directly powered by the urban power grid.

 After the acquisition of Solarcity, Tesla soon released a solar roof of its own. The photovoltaic power generation device is placed in the roof tiles. When the user lays the roof of the house, it is equivalent to laying a  Rows of photovoltaics.

 In 2018, Tesla also cut off several solar installation centers and withdrew its agreement to sell solar panels with Home Depot, the largest building materials manufacturer in the United States, which means that Tesla has actually indirectly abandoned Solarcity's once the industry's first position.  ——Cooperating with roof builders is the most direct way for every rooftop solar manufacturer to promote its business and sell products. The top three in the industry, "Sunrun" and "Vivint Solar", have adopted this cooperation.

 According to Renewables data, Tesla's residential solar installation market share has dropped from 33.5% during the peak period in 2015 to 9.1% in 2019.  Today, Solarcity still drags down Tesla's finances.

 The market share trend of Tesla solar roof, Sunrun and Vivint Solar, the top three PV companies in the United States

 Tesla is working hard to revitalize its solar roof business.

 After cutting off all third-party cooperation, Tesla was forced to "self-reliance" and vertically integrated solar roof sales in car-operated stores. Last year, it also resumed the original overthrowing solar rental service, and users only needed $ 50 per month.  You can install a solar panel system on the roof.

 Unlike before, with the sales of Tesla vehicles, Tesla's cash reserves have been driven, and financial parties have been introduced. The leasing model can also have solid cash support.

 Tesla did not hesitate to rare price reductions to recover photovoltaic customers, allowing customers to participate in product quotations, and finally finalized the price of 2 dollars / watt.  This price has fallen by 20% compared to the previous price, which is 40% lower than the national average price of residential solar systems ($ 2.85 / watt).

 A fire pressed the deceleration button of Tesla Solar roof in the United States.

 In June 2018, Walmart, a supermarket chain, publicly sued Tesla for choking to remove the solar roof installed in 240 stores because it found that a fire broke out even after the roof was disconnected from the system.  Wal-Mart listed several of Tesla's crimes: the electrical and solar systems were not properly connected, the product had obvious technical defects, there were no regular maintenance personnel, and lack of professional knowledge.

 Subsequently, Amazon, another important Tesla partner, also stated its position, saying that no more Tesla solar systems will be installed.

 All the safety issues are red lines. The voices of the two major business giants have pushed Tesla's solar roof business into an impasse. At present, many insiders predict that this business will be divested by Tesla again.

 At least Musk would n't think so. He slapped his head and announced on Twitter: Go to Europe and China.

 Tesla China disclosed in early March of this year that it was already recruiting for the development of solar rooftops in China.  A person familiar with the matter told 36 krypton, "solar roof has already contacted two listed companies in the photovoltaic industry in China and will purchase domestic components."

 However, this time when entering China, Tesla's photovoltaic business is far less fortunate than its electric vehicles in China. The domestic photovoltaic market is not completely blank. The penetration rate in third- and fourth-tier cities is very high, and the cost has been able to be extremely low.  .

 According to his prediction, Tesla may next mainly target high-end users with villas and roofs, supplemented by small industrial and commercial enterprises, and rural users are not Tesla's target users.

 For wealthy high-end users, energy conversion rate and installation time are the key factors that affect the choice.

 "Recently the domestic photovoltaic market has fully recovered, and Tesla's pricing will definitely be higher than domestic competitors." He has reservations about whether Tesla's photovoltaic business can be well implemented in China. He believes that "special  Sela 's marketing and brand are very powerful. It may be bundled with electric vehicles. The profit of photovoltaics is not high. Tesla 's photovoltaic brand premium must reach at least 10%, otherwise it is difficult to make profits.  Hard to say."

 Another bargaining chip: Tesla Power Bank

 The prospect of solar photovoltaic roofs is not yet clear, and Tesla has actually dropped a few early on the energy board.

 What is the biggest problem of solar energy?  Musk's answer is-"The sun does not come out at night."  (The obvious problem with solar power is the sun does n't shine at night.)

 In April 2015, Tesla has released a series of plans for solar energy storage products, including Powerwall's household battery energy products, which can be charged when the demand for electricity is low, and when the price and demand for electricity are high  Output electric energy, the maximum stored energy is 10 kilowatts, which is equivalent to the electricity of an ordinary family working continuously for 10 hours.

 In addition to home use, Musk 's ambition is to expand the PowerPack and advanced Megapack for commercial and public energy storage products. The idea is very simple. Multiple Powerwall components are connected in series, and the basic power can reach 100  Times (10,000 kW) or even higher.

 Musk once boasted that "only 160 million Powerpacks can cover electricity in the entire United States" and "the super energy storage equipment formed by multiple Megapacks in series is enough to provide 6 hours of electricity for every family in San Francisco."

 Solar capacity + energy storage + electric vehicles as power terminals, Tesla's layout is also an energy closed loop.  But at present, it seems that the priority of energy storage products will be higher than solar roof.

 Compared with solar roof's price cuts, the price of entry-level Powerwall has been rising.  Although it has risen from $ 5,900 to $ 6,700 in recent years, it cannot stop Tesla from setting a new record of 415Mwh energy storage deployed in Q2 in 2019.

 Moreover, energy storage can resonate better with Tesla's car making than capacity: Powerwall also uses a thermal control system, battery pack and architecture similar to the Tesla Model S.  In addition, with the increase of electric vehicles and the growth of service life, the recycling of electric car batteries in the future is also a problem that many car companies are now tackling.  The idea of ​​using the batteries of scrapped vehicles in Tesla's energy storage products is very reasonable. Nissan and BMW have done this before.

 Of course, with the habit of making the best use of Musk, he is also increasing the coordination of the automotive business and the photovoltaic business. In addition to installing solar roofs in several super factories, Tesla 's first electric pickup, Cyberrtuck, was launched last year.  For the first time, the car is equipped with solar panels.

 Although car companies do not start with solar panels in cars, Toyota Prius and Hyundai Sotana Hybrid are equipped with solar panels that charge the hybrid system and the top cover. These solar panels are at best icing on the cake.  Solve the energy problems of vehicle components.

 Tesla previously said that the optional Solar Panel has increased the endurance of Cyberruck, which will also make it the first mass-produced solar car.  According to official data, as of April, orders for this car have exceeded 600,000.

 Whether it is an SUV, a sedan, or a smaller and more subdivided pickup truck, Tesla's electric vehicle growth trend is no doubt, so what is the next potential growth point?

 Perhaps it is energy.  The silence of the past decade is due to the difficult climb in Tesla 's production capacity. All forces are concession to the main channel of the automotive business. By the beginning of 2018-2019, in order to support the capacity growth of Model 3, Tesla still needs  Reduced energy storage package products and roof production.  However, after a short time, Musk jumped out and shouted, "2019 is the year of solar roof and Powerwall."

 Since last year, there have been more and more actions on these two product routes: in 2019, we cooperated with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG & E), one of the largest power companies in the United States, to deploy several Megapacks in California; an advanced version was launched  Solar roof V3 has improved greatly in terms of installation efficiency, cost and capacity efficiency. In March 2020, Tesla said that it will build 224 Megapacks on the island of Hawaii. After landing in 2022, it will be the latest giant in the world.  Battery system ...

 Tesla's blueprint for those rich fans is like this.  Install a Solarcity solar roof that can convert solar energy into electrical energy on the villa, store the electrical energy in the home battery Powerwall, and charge your own Tesla electric car.  Is the car running out of electricity?  Not afraid, the solar panel on the car can help the car to recharge at any time.  Power failure during peak hours?  Not afraid, the owners of their own "microgrid" for electric cars and batteries can also sell electricity back to the public grid.

 From this perspective, in the future, Tesla is not an automobile company, but an energy company.

WILL PICO SURVIVE?

In 2020, the rapid development of 5G has brought hope for profitable VR headset startups who have long burned money. However, the sudden outbreak of the Coronavirus epidemic accidentally poured a basin of cold water.

In an exclusive interview with 36kr, Pico founder Zhou Hongwei said that Pico originally planned to achieve profitability this year, but due to the epidemic, there is great uncertainty as to whether this goal can be achieved. The epidemic affected not only Pico's domestic market, but also overseas markets. If the June epidemic can be controlled globally, Pico will still have a chance in the second half of the year.

However, Zhou Hongwei believes that Pico has now stood at a better point in time. Even if it is not profitable this year, it will only lose a small part, and it will definitely be profitable next year.

Recently, Pico Neo 2 officially launched for sale. This is a VR headset that supports 6DoF tracking of the head, and benchmarks Oculus Quest. 6DoF refers to 6 degrees of freedom. Compared with 3DoF, there are more degrees of freedom in up, down, forward, and left and right. Therefore, in addition to turning the head in different directions, it can also detect the spatial displacement of the head. This way you can move freely in the virtual reality world. 3DoF VR devices are more suitable for watching videos, and 6DoF devices are more suitable for playing VR games.

The release of Oculus Quest last year brought the 6DoF VR all-in-one to the fast lane, driving the development of the VR game console ecosystem.

Zhou Hongwei believes that the Oculus Quest application experience will become a mainstream direction for VR users. Oculus sales will grow explosively, and 6 DoF VR game consoles will also have a rapid growth.

In the next three to five years, the domestic VR game console market will grow exponentially, from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, or even millions of units a year. The market volume climbing to 500,000 to 1 million units will be an inflectionpoint. "In fact, from 1 million to 3 million and 5 million is very fast, but climbing to 500,000 to 1 million in front will be a challenge. Depending on the product experience, brand, marketing, and content, traditional Internet or The involvement of some giants of the gaming platform, either investment or cooperation. "

But for now, the high price of more than 4,000 yuan is not close to the people, and the choice of first-generation content is relatively limited. Zhou Hongwei expects Noe 2 to have sales of 50,000 units this year.

Although early sales expectations were not high, Zhou Hongwei believes that this will not affect the enthusiasm of overseas developers for transplanting this headset into Chinese. Many high-quality VR games have already made money in Quest, and the cost of porting across platforms is not high. It only takes one or two engineers to work in three or five days to complete.

Most importantly, China is a very promising market. Quest users are growing at a high speed. SuperData data shows that Quest shipments reached 705,000 units in 2019. Zhou Hongwei predicts that Quest users may reach 10 million in three years. Correspondingto the Chinese market, it should be about 1/2 or 1/3 in the future. China will also have an ecosystem of millions of users, which is still attractive to developers.

The following is a conversation with Pico founder Zhou Hongwei in an interview with 36 kr, edited by 36kr:

New product

36kr: Recently we released the new product Neo 2. What is your expectation on the sales volume of this product, and how much will it reach in 2020?

Zhou Hongwei: I am very optimistic about the future big market, but for this year, I dare not expect the domestic market to be too high. The price of more than 4,000 is not an entry-level product, and it is a small circle in the entire user base. Players who are willing to spend 10,000 yuan or 20,000 yuan to buy a computer or game book, these people may spend more than 4,000 yuan to buy a VR is not a problem, but this circle will be relatively small. I personally think that there may be 50,000 units this year, and more than 50,000 users are already good.

36kr: In fact, the sales of 50,000 units is still a very niche market.

Zhou Hongwei: It is the first-generation product. In addition, the content of the first-generation product is relatively limited. There is no particularly good content for you to choose. From the perspective of this industry, Oculus Quest is the first year in 2019, and Pico Noe 2 is the first year in China in 2020. We think that such a high price in the early stage compared to the first-generation product has this amount (still okay) . If the price of this product quickly drops to around 3,000 yuan, and the content is extremely rich, I think it will soon be able to amount to 200,000 to 500,000 units.

36kr: If the price reaches 3000 yuan, can we still make money?

Zhou Hongwei: If it is definitely not profitable to 3000 yuan now, but in the future, I think with the increase in volume and cost optimization, even if we sell more than 3000 yuan, we still have a certain profit, which is possible.

36kr: Domestic 6 DoF headsets with annual sales of 1 million or 10 million units, what kind of conditions need to be met?

Zhou Hongwei: I personally think that the market for VR game consoles in the next 3 to 5 years will be an exponential curve of rapid growth, from tens of thousands of units to hundreds of thousands of units in a year to millions and millions of units. When is a turning point in quantity? I think it might be 500,000 to 1 million. In fact, from 1 million to 3 million and 5 million is very fast, but climbing to 500,000 to 1 million in front will be a challenge. Depending on the product experience, brand, marketing, and content, traditional Internet or games may be required. The involvement of some of the platform's giants, either investment or cooperation, we will look at this path, but we are relatively certain that this market demand is there.

For example, I predict that the Oculus Quest platform will reach 10 million users in three years. Corresponding to China, 10 million overseas, China should reach 2 to 3 million. There won't be any special ones in this market, maybe just one or two, and we certainly hope that Pico will be in it. At that time, did Pico introduce other large Internet companies from the perspective of capital or cooperation, and we are also working hard or thinking in this direction.

How can I get to 500,000? The first is to do a good job of the product and experience, so that the future can only be achieved by users. The second is to control the cost well. For example, in the future, if the cost is about 3000 yuan or about 3000 yuan, you will have the opportunity to reach 500,000 units. In addition, there must be a lot of good content, which is supported by word of mouth and marketing.

36kr: Do we now seek such cooperation with giants?

Zhou Hongwei: There are a lot of exchanges, but I think the focus of their entire strategy is not necessarily prioritizing VR so high. But as long as the overall entertainment trend (for the better), especially if overseas Quest can sell 5 million units, including the content of the game, forming a positive earning ecology. Some domestic game and Internet giants, I think they will definitely pay attention and invest. We hope that at that time Pico will be the best, whether it is a collaborator with them or an investment target.

Epidemic

36Kr: Under the influence of the epidemic, have the companies resumed work now?

Zhou Hongwei: Some people are working from home, some are in the office, not everyone can go to the office, and the Qingdao office has all resumed work. The return of the Chinese New Year in February was affected by some shortages. Some of the next batch of goods supplemented production in February. At present, China's impact is relatively small. Domestic OEMs, including our foundry companies, have basically resumed work.

36kr: How will the epidemic affect the promotion and sales of new products?

Zhou Hongwei: In terms of promotion, one is that it affects us offline, and the offline ones have basically stopped. Another one has a great impact on the pace of our entire product release. Before the Spring Festival holiday, we also planned to say that there will be a press conference in February, but we found that the situation was very bad at the end of January. The next press conference is also changed to this online media promotion, including some live broadcasts in e-commerce, similar to Tmall and JD.com, and of course, like games. In general, online promotion has been strengthened and offline promotion has been weakened.

From a sales perspective, offline must have been greatly affected. In addition, a large part of domestic To B, especially education-related, has been significantly negatively affected in February and March because schools are not open. Fortunately, most of Pico's sales are done through online To C. Online sales have never stopped. Online sales are better than when there is no epidemic. The data of user activity and duration of use are actually Better.

36kr: Has the epidemic brought some new demands and opportunities to the VR industry?

Zhou Hongwei: We are seeing some new requirements for VR's new gameplay. For example, can we take a class in a virtual classroom, with students at home and teachers at home? With VR, a virtual classroom can be realized. In the future, our product line in To B is also developing some new versions internally to support everyone to use VR to use virtual classrooms. This was originally a direction our To B was doing, but now it is speeding up.

In the next one to two years, I think that due to the epidemic situation, this kind of virtual and more immersive VR application on the line should be promoted, which will lead to many opportunities.

36kr: Has Pico made money since the company was founded? How much has the epidemic affected progress towards profitability?

Zhou Hongwei: We haven't made any money so far. We originally expected to make money this year, but this year's epidemic is really annoying. It not only affects the domestic market, but also greatly affects our overseas market, including the market of B and the market of operators. This year is generally not optimistic. We originally planned for this year at the end of last year, or we want to make a profit this year. Now we can say that there is a lot of uncertainty. If the entire epidemic is controlled worldwide in June, and then in the second half of the year, if you drive the economy or high investment, Pico will still have a chance. I said that there is still a chance.

36kr: What is the proportion of domestic and foreign markets for Pico VR headset shipments?

Zhou Hongwei: In terms of our G2 last year, domestic and foreign are almost the same, because overseas operators bought a lot of G2 things. From this year, there should be more domestic.

36kr: If the situation changes, do we have Plan B?

Zhou Hongwei: We have adjusted, we are still controlling costs, and we are also controlling costs for profit this year. At present, our adjustment is also fine-tuning. Even if we have not made a profit this year, the result may be a small loss of money, or it is basically close to supporting ourselves. In fact, in this industry, it is already very good in this special year. We don't want to lose such an opportunity. We think that even if it is affected this year, VR will grow at a high speed next year. I think we will definitely be profitable next year.

In such difficult times, the more difficult it is, the more we must adhere to the quality of our products and be sustainable. We do not want to lose such opportunities because of the epidemic, because we reduce our investment. We are now standing at a good point in time, just need to go to the market and give us a chance, give me a boost, we are a good company with positive cash flow in this industry.

VR content, developer ecology

36kr: How to solve the problem of too little VR content?

Zhou Hongwei: Many games with good experience have slowly come to VR, and many are already on the way. In the past year, many studios, including some very small ones, that have switched from traditional games to VR games, have made money quickly by developing VR games, and they have made good money, and they are not one. For example, Valve Software (the developer of the VR half-life game) has made tens of millions of dollars, and small ones have made hundreds of thousands of dollars and millions of dollars. We have already seen positive content for VR. A boost, many VR content developers are willing to invest in VR games, because he may foresee a good return.

36kr: For overseas developers, if our Neo 2 sales are about 50,000 units, plus the conversion rate, can this offset the cost of Chinese implantation?

Zhou Hongwei: In fact, all VR is better, the logic behind them is that they are optimistic about the future of VR games. These good games should have made money in the Quest platform. They actually have to make a choice here. I think the logic behind them is to be optimistic about Pico's entire product, not just from the perspective of 2020. The content should consider the next 2 to 3 years. There are users in China, and the growth of Quest users from tens of thousands to 700,000 to millions, if it falls to China, it should be about 1/2 or 1/3 in the future. China will also have an ecosystem of millions of users, which is still attractive to him. As far as this market is concerned, its investment in transplantation is still small.

In addition, the cross-platform migration of such content is actually a relatively small workload, basically one or two engineers work for three to five days. Of course, we have provided good support to reduce the cost of his transplant and improve the overall efficiency. Combining these two aspects, a developer who spends three or five days working as an engineer can be ported to a potential platform in China. I think it is still attractive.

36kr: What kind of payment model do we have with these overseas developers?

Zhou Hongwei: Generally speaking, it ultimately depends on sales.

What 5G means to VR

36kr: 5G's experience with this VR headset and what changes can the entire VR industry bring?

Zhou Hongwei: There are two kinds of relationships, one is the significance of 5G to VR, and the other is the significance of VR to 5G. In the past year or so, when global operators launched 5G, they were looking for things that could drive 5G trafficconsumption. VR is currently the most direct and fastest technology for 5G to land quickly and expand users. Whether it is from several major operators in South Korea to the three major operators in China, they have clearly proposed to bring VR into 5G applicationscenarios to expand more 5G users and also expand VR users.

On the other hand, will 5G help VR? In fact, the current S-class products are mainly WiFi, and 5G is not used directly. In the future, we think that VR with 5G connectivity is an inevitable trend, but it is not currently.

5G or Gigabit broadband still improves the VR experience, mainly in bandwidth. I am optimistic about a trend now. In fact, 5G mobile phones are used as a standard terminal and VR accessories are used. We think this is more related to 5G. We also seethat operators are fully pushing the integration of VR products in the form of Glass glasses with 5G mobile phones. We believe that the popularity of 5G users and the growth of 5G mobile phones will promote the rapid uptake of VR products in this form. From both perspectives, I think it's a mutually reinforcing situation.

36kr: The VR Glass released by Huawei is in line with the trend of VR accessories, but the response after this product was released was not very good. What do you think is the problem?

Zhou Hongwei: I think there are three aspects to the problem. One is that the experience itself is still lacking. After all, it is the first generation product and can have an understanding and tolerance. The second price is too expensive, such a price is not acceptable to the mass consumers. The third is the content of VR. Huawei is a very strong hardware or technology company, but the content of Huawei's entire VR is still relatively limited. Several factors have caused the first-generation products to sell poorly. But we should not deny this trend in the future.

36kr: How do you think Huawei, a mobile phone giant, has entered the VR market? How to meet their competition?

Zhou Hongwei: I think Huawei's VR has its inherent logic: Huawei itself is a communications company, a 5G company, and Huawei's first demand for VR is that it has so many 5G operator customers around the world, operators have a problem 5G base stations have been built, how can 5G bring benefits to operators?

Huawei has been recommending VR. In the early days of 5G, VR is a path that can help operators attract users, drive traffic, and increase sales. Therefore, it is not surprising that Huawei does VR. In terms of competition, I think Huawei's focus is still on the system and mobile phones. VR will not be a big strategy. This requires a dedicated team to do everything from technology, products, and content. And we see Huawei The product form is connected to the mobile phone in this way. I don't think Huawei will make products such as all-in-ones.

36kr: Is there a possibility of explosive growth of VR in the C-end market?

Zhou Hongwei: We have seen an explosive growth trend, driven by two factors, one is 5G, or a channel such as 5G operators is driving the growth of VR users. Another driving force is VR game consoles. In fact, behind a large game console ecosystem, the biggest driving force is Oculus. Everyone will soon discover that Oculus Quest application experience will become a mainstream direction for VR users, Oculus sales will grow explosively, and 6 DoF VR game consoles will also have a rapid growth.

SpaceX's Rival OneWeb Bankruptcy: Outbreak Caused Directly; Many Top U.S. Universities Form Alliance with Microsoft: Supercomputer and AI Overcome New Crown

[Titanium Media Comprehensive] News on March 29. Recently, OneWeb, a satellite broadband company invested by Japan's SoftBank Group, reported bankruptcy application. According to the latest news from foreign media, the company explained in detail the reasons for applying for bankruptcy protection in an official statement.

OneWeb was founded in 2012 by technology entrepreneur Gregory Thane Wyler. OneWeb wants to provide people around the world with affordable high-speed Internet access by deploying hundreds of low-orbit satellites, which are also needed for data growth from 5G, the Internet of Things, autonomous driving, and other new technologies.

Foreign media said that the company's bankruptcy was unexpected because they were competing with Musk's SpaceX company to provide online services for people in remote areas. A week ago, the company sent nearly 34 satellites into orbit, bringing the total number of satellites to 74.

However, launching satellites is a costly endeavor, and OneWeb's own hematopoietic capacity is insufficient, relying heavily on external financing. OneWeb has raised funds many times since its establishment: In 2015, it received US $ 500 million in financing from investors such as Qualcomm, Virgin Group, and Airbus; in 2016, OneWeb raised US $ 1.2 billion, of which SoftBank Group invested US $ 1 billion. But at present, SoftBank is unable to continue to invest in OneWeb due to various debts, and the company is still facing a huge funding gap.

A few days ago, OneWeb CEO Adrian Stocker took the ongoing New Crown Virus pneumonia as a "Chapter 11 bankruptcy application" (not a liquidation company, but to provide bankruptcy debt protection) to the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District ofNew York. reason.

OneWeb introduced that the company has been seeking new funding since the beginning of 2020, but has failed to finalize the transaction. "Although the company is close to obtaining financing, the process has not progressed due to the financial impactand market turmoil associated with the spread of the new crown virus . "

Titanium media sound:

We know from studies of other coronaviruses that viruses can acquire this mutation and then they become more pathogenic. This explains why the virus spread so easily and caused the current pandemic. Surface protein mutations may have triggered the pandemic,but the weaker version of the virus has been circulating in the population for years, even decades, before accumulating to the present.

Our analysis, and others, point to an earlier origin than that (Wuhan). There must be some cases in Wuhan, but by no means the source of the virus.

-Robert Gary, Professor, Tulane University School of Medicine

It is extremely painful to implement high social isolation. I call it "closed." There is no middle choice. It is difficult to say that you will not infect others or be infected. Until we determine that the number of people infected is at a minimum, even if you tell everyone you can buy a house, a car, a restaurant, etc., I still very much doubt that people will really do it. People want to protect the elderly and their parents.

In short, the sooner we "take medicine", the sooner the highest-level medicine, the sooner we will get out of trouble and never return to it again.

--Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft

获取 Outlook for Android

ALI's next move: online education APP, Banban Answer

Editor's note: This article is from the micro-channel public number "Tech Planet" (ID: tech618), Author: Chen Qiaohui

Under the epidemic, online education has always been a hot industry today. Answering and counseling products such as homework help, little ape search questions, and Xue Bajun are all popular, and major Internet companies are stepping up their efforts in this area.

Tech Planet (WeChat ID: tech618) was exclusively informed that Ali recently launched a product called "Help Answer", a paid question and answer platform for primary and secondary school students' academic problems. This is the first independent product launched by Ali in addition to the online education features launched by Ali.

According to the sky eye inspection, the developer of "Bang Bang Da" is Zhuoyi Changyou (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., and the suspected actual controlling shareholder is Alibaba Culture and Entertainment Co., Ltd.

Tech Planet (WeChat ID: tech618) found that "Help and Answer" can get course tuition through online payment. Supports quick explanations on topics that you do not understand by taking pictures, voices, videos, etc. If you don't have a problem, you canpublish a reward through the app to let more professional teachers teach online.

Open "Help and Answer", and you can find that the login methods are mobile phone number, Alipay, and WeChat. Remove the QQ, a third-party login method that is more popular with students, which is quite surprising.

After registration, there will be two options, one is the questioner and the other is the answerer. The user selects the identity and fills in the basic information to officially enter the app. At present, the scope of the questioner's identity is limited to primary school to high school students, and the scope of the answerer's identity ranges from undergraduate to postdoctoral, which means that the answerer is not limited to whether or not he is a teacher, but to answer the question with the undergraduate as the starting point.

Taking the questioner as an example, you can choose to take a picture or write a picture with a narrative to write down the question, and then select the grade corresponding to the question, write a commission, and post it. Questions posted need to be reviewed. If no one takes orders within 10 minutes after passing the review, you can get answers for free.

As the answerer, the homepage will display the questions to be answered, for the answerer to choose. After entering the answer interface, the answerer can discuss in words or record a video to answer. It is worth noting that the knowledge points involved in the related questions need to be evaluated before solving the questions, and the answers can be obtained after the assessment is completed.

The questioner checks the answer. After passing, the system will give the responder a certain percentage of commission and evaluation. In order to regulate the answering attitude of the respondents, the platform has established a credit score system for the respondents, and the quality of the answers is linked to it. If the credit score is 0, it cannot be restored and the account will be blocked.

At present, the "help and answer" is still in the testing stage, so the entire product is very simple in terms of design and function. Compared with the online education brand "job help", which is also a competitive product, there is less parent-level supervision, live answering and Community functions, it is not ruled out that such functional requirements will be increased in the later stage.

According to AiMedia Consulting's analysis of domestic online education users, the number of online education users in China will reach 305 million in 2020, and the new education model of "Internet + Education" is continuously expanding. As various onlineeducation platforms continue to develop and sink the market, the basic market of the online education market is directly expanded, and the number of online education users will further expand in the future.

Under the guise, Ali's introduction of "help and answer" also took advantage of the trend. This time, online education is in the second spring of the industry, and changes in the industry pattern after the epidemic are inevitable. In the end, who will come out on top still needs users to choose.