Zoom Rooms are the new conference rooms
After a year of phenomenal growth that helped keep the economy moving even during the Pandemic, how does Zoom continue to stay on top of the video conferencing market? Zoom Rooms, the new name for the office conference room when empowered by the new Zoom software. Zoom Room software counts the number of bodies in a room and helps remind participants how to social distance, or reminds them that too many bodies are in the room to maintain safe air quality. The software also features new controls that turn the smart phone into the presentation remote — providing control to those outside the room, and enabling people in the room to not have to touch the same device. CNET
dis-rup-shun: We are still thinking of Zoom calls as a substitute for meetings in conference rooms, but that is about to change as video conferencing becomes the norm — even with people in the same building. Joining conferences by meeting in the same room will be the new exception to the norm — and will be seen as nice but not necessary. Zoom will need to push the envelope of video conferencing to stay ahead of competitors anxious to close the gap between themselves and the category leader, Zoom.
SpaceX SN9 rocket test ends in fiery crash
Elon Musk’s pursuit of placing humans on Mars continued with another test of the SN9 rocket, which lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas for a successful trip to 10 kilometers. The trip down resulted in a crash, as the craft was not able to right itself for a gentle return to Earth. CNET
dis-rup-shun: SpaceX had a banner year last year, as it twice ferried astronauts to the International Space Station, and back. You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelette, or in this case, wreck a few rockets to get to Mars, so we can rack this up as progress. Musk was also quick to point out that these tests are stressing the bureaucracy at the FAA, which may also need to be cracked in order to accommodate an innovator such as SpaceX.
Microsoft to Australia “I will never leave you”
Last month Google threatened to pull the plug on the country of Australia if it did, in fact, pass legislation requiring Google to pay news publishers a fee to link to their content. Microsoft took advantage of the public relations opportunity by assuring Australians that Microsoft would never pull its search engine, Bing, from down under. Bing holds only 3.6% of the Australian search market. CNBC
dis-rup-shun: While news organizations and media companies have long been the whipping posts of the freedom of information afforded by the internet, it is unlikely, and unwise, for governments to attempt to curtail market forces. As Parler, Trump, Facebook and Twitter are learning daily, restrictions on the posting of news and opinions is a difficult and murky business which continues to lack rules and guidelines. The blurring distinctions between social media providers and news providers will continue to vex modern civilization until credible organizations develop a transparent and public standard that defines news. It may be awhile.
Canon AI driven camera makes photographers optional
Canon’s robotic PowerShot PIC is a camera mounted on a swivel, infused with AI. It follows its subjects and takes pictures either on command or as it calculates it should. This is the ultimate selfie camera, as it makes the production all about you. TechCrunch
dis-rup-shun: The camera industry is an amazing shrinking phenomena and it must reinvent itself or be nearly completely subsumed by the smartphone. Canon is working hard to redefine the camera and create new use cases and form factors, but even so, these new use cases are peripheral to the central role of our smartphones as our “camera for all occasions.” Just like Kodak, brands such as Canon and Nikon will have to hasten their diversification and reinvention to stay relevant.