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Facebook’s “big” opportunity in the Metaverse. We’ll know tomorrow. The gullibility of humans.

Facebook has always puzzled me. Tomorrow may be key

In the beginning I didn’t understand its appeal. Then I didn’t understand how it and all its platforms (including my favorite Instagram) morphed into a top advertising platform, though still a third the size of Google.

Now it’s accused of holding people’s attention with anger making stuff — in order to sell them more stuff. Surprise. Surprise.

More worrying for investors is the science of large numbers. Facebook has three billion (that’s billion, with a b) active users. There are 7.9 billion people on earth. There ae probably some people in Australia who will never get on Facebook.

Hence Facebook’s new focus — the Metaverse.

Tomorrow Facebook holds Connect 2021 — where you can “Explore the infinite possibilities of augmented and virtual reality with events streaming on October 28 and on-demand sessions for developers.”

The conference kicks off Thursday at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. Learn more here.

There’s clearly a huge business opportunity in the Metaverse. But how big? Watch with me and we’ll see.

The New York Times has a piece:

Are We in the Metaverse Yet?
Crypto people say they’re building it. Gamers might already be living in it. The art world is cashing in on it. Web veterans are trying to save it. But what is it?

For the NYTimes piece, click here.

More techie stuff

+ When things go awry, reboot. Turn it of, count to 20 and turn it on. This applies to everything from laptops to cars, from routers to washing machines. Everything has chips in them. And they all get messed up by spikes in electricity, blackouts, etc. or just plain software stupidity.

+ The new AirPods 3rd generation are the ones you should buy. They sound better and fit better. They still fall out of your ears but less frequently. Be wary of sinks and toilets.

+ Which new laptop should I buy? First, you should get a new fast one. Second, you should get Mac or Windows depending on what you’re using now. Switching from one to another is not for you and me. Third, I find the keyboard is most important. That’s because I type a lot. I find Lenovo ThinkPad’s center-keyboard red pointing stick to be far more useful that dragging my fingers over a mousepad. I do, however, like Logitech mice.

How I saved $3500

I went on YouTube and figured how to fix my two Miele dishwashers.

The $3,500 is somewhat fantastical since I couldn’t buy two replacement dishwashers — even if I wanted to.

Miele is backordered up the wazoo — at least a year at last count.

I visited a Miele store in central Amsterdam last week. They had no idea when their German factory would deliver American dishwashers. I mean they were totally clueless. Nice shop, however.

This is priceless (from CNBC.com)

A gamechanger for healthcare

SAN JOSE, CALIF. — A representative for Betsy DeVos’s family office told jurors in the Elizabeth Holmes criminal trial that the former Theranos CEO provided misleading financials and details about the company’s technology in soliciting an investment.

DeVos, the former education secretary in the Trump administration, invested $100 million in Theranos in 2014. Lisa Peterson, who oversees private equity investments at RDV Corp. and handled the Theranos deal, testified on behalf of the family on Tuesday.

Peterson said that (Elizabeth) Holmes “was hand picking five or six private families to invest in her firm” and “was inviting us to participate in this opportunity.”

She told jurors that Theranos shared financial projections, showing the company would have revenue of $140 million in 2014 and $990 million in 2015. Peterson said she didn’t know that Theranos had no revenue in 2012 and 2013.

Holmes also said that the blood tests were being processed on Theranos’ homegrown technology, when in reality the company was using third-party systems.

Investors dumped a total of more than $900 million into Theranos, a then-buzzy blood-testing start-up led by a charismatic Stanford dropout who promised to change the future of health care. In addition to DeVos, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, the Walton family and Atlanta’s Cox family all put in money.

Holmes is on trial on allegations of misleading investors, patients and doctors about the capabilities of Theranos’ blood-testing technology. Holmes and her co-conspirator and company president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. They have both pleaded not guilty, and Balwani will be tried separately next year.

Peterson said she was asked to work on the Theranos deal because she had prior experience in health care and “it intrigued” her. The DeVos family planned to invest $50 million in Theranos, but Peterson told jurors that they decided to double their investment after meeting with Holmes.

Peterson said she initially thought “this was going to be a game changer for health care.”

Read the whole piece here. 

The gullibility of humans has no limits.

Before DWAC started trading

On Tuesday, an hour before trading began, Donald Trump issued a lengthy statement about his plans for the new social media app he intends to roll out and other aspects of his new company.

“To take on Big Tech censorship, we are creating a ‘Big Tent’ platform: Truth Social,” Trump said. “We are inviting people of all political stripes, and all different viewpoints, to come and participate once again in the great American debate. That’s what our country is supposed to be about.”

“Unlike with the Big Tech platforms, there will be no shadow-banning, throttling, demonetizing, or messing with algorithms for political manipulation,” he added. “We will not be treating users like lab rats for social experiments, or labeling alternative views as `disinformation.'”

Here’s the last few days of DWAC (which to my tiny mind sounds very much like dreck)

My favorite sculpture park is Art Omi

Look what I saw on Sunday. It’s a Dutch house with reflections from a canal in Amsterdam. Or that’s what it reminded me of.

Nice to come home to autumn leaves

The little white box at the bottom of the picture is our Generac, whose stock is up nearly 5% today. Yipee.

Ditto for Microsoft and Google. Yipee, again. Enphase is up 27% today. That’s a triple Yipee.

Today in the market

It started out strongly. Then took a big dive around 2 PM. I’m not quite sure why. (I never am.)

TSLA is up a little today, but easing in the afternoon. PayPal is down. I don’t like the way it’s trading. It’s down 24% from its high at the end of July.  I’m mulling lightening up.

Watch the Facebook Metaverse conference. Let me know if you think there’s a huge business opportunity here.

Harry Newton