Image by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash
FAANG, with a combined value of $10 trillion, has made a significant impact on how we connect, work, and entertain. If you don’t know what FAANG is, no worries. It’s an acronym that stands for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. Everyone has heard of these companies, but no one really understands the extent of influence that these Fortune 500 companies have had or what exactly influenced them in the past.
The early internet provided people with a glimpse of what the internet would look like in the future. With the rise of modems and routers, people began experimenting with how far they could take this technology. At just twelve years old, Mark Zuckerberg created ZuckNet, a communication system between his house and his parents’ dental office. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed the first Macintosh computer in their garage in Silicon Valley.
The work of these early pioneers was more than just a hobby; it was a serious endeavor. Early computers and chips let people discover the potential of both hardware and software. Similar to how early medical advancements laid the groundwork for modern medicine, it’s clear how past technology has grown and laid a foundation for modern technology.. For example, the first MRI, developed in 1970, with technology provided by quantum mechanics and the later invention of computers, allowed scanning to take place.
One of the most impactful technologies developed in the 21st century is artificial intelligence. What many are unaware of, however, is that AI has been a topic of interest since the 1950s. The Turing Test provided people with an idea of how we can make computers “think”. It was a software experiment designed by Alan Turing in 1950. It asked people to choose one of two options: one written by humans and the other by computers. Depending on the human’s choice, the computer would save the answer, and throughout multiple repetitions of the experiment, the computer gradually “learned”. This laid the foundation for modern neural networking and machine learning for ChatGPT, Apple’s Siri, Amazon Alexa, and many other revolutionary machine learning systems we see now.
Virtual reality and augmented reality are said to be the next thing. With the unveiling of Apple’s Vision Pro, people quickly realized the power of having a screen displayed only for you–everywhere you go. With maps, messages, entertainment, and the internet presented right before your eyes, smart headwear is the future of communication. As said by Mark Zuckerberg, he believes smart headwear (glasses) will replace smartphones by the next decade. This is not said lightly: with the unveiling of Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses, the bulky AI headwear is no longer needed. As said by their promotional page and many other tech vloggers, the eyewear is small, light, and has features such as texting and maps. Although there aren’t as many features as Apple’s Vision Pro, this is just beginning. It was only eight months ago that a prototype for Meta’s Ray-Ban AI eyewear was revealed at Meta Connect; since then, smart eyewear has become lighter, smarter, and more affordable.
FAANG’s impacts show how early technology innovations created a platform for digital giants, setting the stage for the metaverse. The metaverse is not a sudden innovation; rather, it’s an idea that has evolved over decades of research, innovation, and building. By connecting ideas of early pioneers with those of today’s needs, the metaverse is always evolving, connecting everyone.
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