Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 09/29 – Is Amazon’s Astro Robot… Ready?

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

Amazon’s Astro Robot apparently has a tendency to throw itself down stairs. Netflix acquires its first game studio. The interesting company that acquired Genius and now Imgur. Explaining Facebook’s interest in the Tween audience. And Angellist wants to offer founders startup foundation as a service. Sponsors: BankNovo.com/ride TinyCapital.com Links: Leaked Documents Show How Amazon’s Astro Robot Tracks Everything You Do (Motherboard) Netflix acquires its first game studio in deal with Oxenfree creator Night School Studio (VentureBeat/GamesBeat) Imgur has been bought by the owner of Kik, Genius, and WorldStarHipHop (The Verge) Microsoft opens its Windows store up to third-party app stores (The Verge) Facebook’s Effort to Attract Preteens Goes Beyond Instagram Kids, Documents Show (WSJ) AngelList returns to its founder-focused roots, with a twist (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Wednesday, September 29th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, Amazon's Astro Robot apparently has a nasty tendency of throwing itself down the stairs. Netflix acquires its first game studio, the interesting company that acquired Genius and now Imger, explaining Facebook's interest in the tween audience, and Angelus wants to offer Founders' Startup Foundation as a service. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. Let's talk about Amazon's Astro, shall we, that robot that Amazon announced at the event yesterday. Much like Apple is rumored to be planning on a high-end, expensive pair of AR glasses as their first foray into the market, so that they can learn what the product is actually good for before going mass market. Amazon clearly hopes we'll look back one day at Astro and see it as the historic first foray into a new consumer product category. but also they're looking to learn. Perhaps as evidenced by the rough edges around this product, VICE's motherboard outlet was reporting on internal documents that detail Astro's use of facial recognition and sentry mode. Sources who worked on Astro say it is a, quote,

privacy nightmare, among other issues, quoting motherboard. In its announcement video, Amazon says Astro is designed to give peace of mind to its owners. First and foremost, Astro is a surveillance device that tracks you and everyone who enters your home. When a user purchases the $999 robot, customers are asked to enroll their face and voice, as well as the faces and voices of anyone who is likely to be in a home, so Astro can learn who is supposed to be there. One of the internal documentation files presented in a development meeting and obtained by motherboard describes how Astro patrols an owner's home and tries to identify people it encounters. Other files refer to Sentry. The components and software that can

control the device's security features. Sentry software includes integration with ring cameras and Alexa guard, Amazon's home security service. The meeting document spells out the process in a much blunter way than Amazon's cutesy marketing suggests. Quote, Vesta, that's the internal code name for Astro at Amazon, slowly and intelligently patrols the home when unfamiliar persons are around, moving from Scanpoint to Scanpoint, the best location and pose in any given space to look around, looking and listening for unusual activity, one of the files reads. Vesta moves to a predetermined scan point and pose to scan any given room looking past and over obstacles in its way. Vesta completes one complete patrol when it completes scanning all the scan points on the floor plan, end quote.

If the robot detects what it thinks is something out of the ordinary, such as seeing a person it doesn't recognize or a sound like glass breaking or a fire alarm, it will investigate further, including following an unidentified person around the house. The file reads, quote, Sentry is required to investigate any unrecognized person detected by it or audio event in certain set of conditions are met. One file reads, the weird grammar there is there is not mine. Quote, Sentry should first try to identify the person if they are not still unrecognized for as long as 30 seconds. When the person is identified as unknown or 30 seconds has passed, Sentry should start following a person until Sentry mode is turned off, and quote. But that's not the only issue with Astro apparently, quote. Astro is terrible and will almost certainly throw itself down a flight of stairs if presented the opportunity. The person

detection is unreliable at best, making the in-home security proposition laughable. A source who worked on the project said, the device feels fragile for something with an absurd cost. The mast has broken on several devices, locking itself in the extended or retracted position, and there's no way to ship it to Amazon when that happens. They're also pushing it. it as an accessibility device, but with the mass breaking and the possibility that at any given moment it'll commit suicide on a flight of stairs, it's at best absurdist nonsense and marketing, and at worst, potentially dangerous for anyone who'd actually rely on it for accessibility purposes, the source said. Another source who worked on the project mentioned privacy and

navigation as chief concerns, quote, as for my personal opinions on the device, it's a disaster that's not ready for release, they said. They break themselves and will almost certainly fall downstairs in real-world users' homes. In addition, it's also, in my opinion, a privacy nightmare that is an indictment of our society and how we trade privacy for convenience with devices like Vesta, end quote. Netflix is serious about gaming, so much so that the company has acquired its first game studio, night school studio, which was founded back in 2014 and is probably best known for the game oxen-free, quoting Venture Beat. The Glendale, California-based game studio has 21 people and history of pushing the boundaries for storytelling in games. It published Oxen Free in 2016 and has been

working on Oxen Free 2 lost signals for the Switch. And yes, this means that Netflix is serious about moving into games and it isn't just focusing on mobile as the company hinted in an earlier earnings call. The original Oxen Free is available across eight platforms on mobile, console, and PC. We're in the early stages of creating a great gaming experience for our members around the world, so we're excited to announce today Night School Studios is joining Netflix, said Mike. Verdu, head of games at Netflix, and a blog post. Verdue noted, no in-app purchases and no ads will appear in any Netflix games, which will be available via subscription to Netflix, end quote.

This fell through the cracks yesterday, but Image Sharing Service Imager has been acquired by Media Lab, which also owns Kick, Whisper, Genius, as we told you about recently, World Star, hip-hop, and other brands. Imager says it has 300 million users. but what's really interesting to me at this point is the acquirer, Media Lab, quote, what exactly the acquisition means for the future of Imager is unclear, but it's hard to read this as positive news for the site. Media Lab isn't explicit about its business model. You won't find much information on their website, but it seems to be mainly focused on acquiring

ailing brands with sizable but stagnant communities. Presumably, the goal is to bundle together traffic from these properties to sell ads or data while cutting costs by sharing the work of keeping the sites running. For example, the once-hyped genius was bought by Media Lab earlier this month for $80 million, reportedly less than what it had raised in venture capital over the years. Kick and Whisper were similarly once hot properties that have since faded from prominence. Imager's blog post announcing the acquisition reads, like something close to a farewell note, quote, it's been an absolute honor to create this corner of the internet alongside this incredible community, end quote, even though the company insists its, quote, journey is far from

over, end quote. So I'm going to try to learn some more about Media Lab. It's not often that a company attempts to find success by creating a sort of conglomerate or holding company of underappreciated digital companies. By far, the exemplar of this is IAC, of course, but IAC clearly had a vision for a time when subscription services were the hotness, which has come to pass. It's unclear to me what stitching together all of these arguably failed digital assets would accomplish for Media Lab. Microsoft has opened the Windows App Store to third-party app stores. Amazon and Epic Games will be the first storefront apps in the coming months, quoting the Verge. Just like any other app, third-party storefront apps will have a product detail page,

which can be found via search or by browsing, so that users can easily find and, install it with the same confidence as any other app in the Microsoft store on Windows, explains Georgio Sardo, general manager of the Microsoft Store. Today we are sharing that Amazon and Epic Games will bring their storefront apps to the Microsoft Store over the next few months, and we look forward to welcoming other stores as well in the future, end quote. The news comes months after Microsoft announced some major changes to the Microsoft store. Not only is the store being overhauled for Windows 11 and eventually Windows 10, but Microsoft will also let developers keep 100% of the revenue from apps if they use alternative payment platforms.

The only exception is that this doesn't apply to games. While Steam, for example, isn't on the list yet, it could still arrive in the future. Microsoft's commitment to being an, quote, open store for an open platform will now allow for any third-party storefront apps to be listed in the Microsoft store on Windows. That doesn't mean separate apps and games from rival stores will be discoverable and installable, but the storefront apps will be listed in search results. The only difference here is with Microsoft's partnership with Amazon. Microsoft is bringing Android apps to Windows 11, and that includes the ability to discover and search the Amazon App Store directly from within the Microsoft Store. A preview of this integration will be available for Windows Insiders

soon, end quote. More internal Facebook documents from the Wall Street Journal. According to the docs, Facebook was, quote, exploring playdates as a growth lever, including engaging tweens as they hang out together. Remember, this is all about the fact that Facebook wanted more growth, and they saw tweens as the most fertile ground to go after. And this was about competition as well. Since Facebook is testifying before Congress about this issue tomorrow, I thought it was worth understanding why this was the route that they thought was important to go down. Quote, internal Facebook documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the company formed a team to study preteens, set a three-year goal to create more products for the

them and commissioned strategy papers about the long-term business opportunities presented by these potential users. In one presentation, it contemplated whether there might be a way to engage children during playdates, quote, Why do we care about tweens? said one document from 2020. They are a valuable but untapped audience, end quote. Facebook isn't the only technology company to court children and face scrutiny for doing so. Virtually every major social media platform, including bite dances, TikTok, and YouTube, has confronted legal or regulatory problems related to how children children use its products. Federal Privacy Law forbids data collection on children under 13, and lawmakers have criticized tech companies for not doing more to protect kids online from predators and harmful

content. The Facebook documents show that the competition from rivals, in particular Snap incorporated Snapchat and TikTok, is a motivating factor behind Facebook's work. Over the past five years, Facebook has made what it called big bets on designing products that would appeal to preteens across its services, according to a document from earlier this year. more than a dozen studies over that period, the documents show Facebook has tried to understand which products might resonate with children and tweens, ages 10 through 12, how those young people view competitors' apps and what concerns their parents. Quote, with the ubiquity of tablets and phones, kids are getting on the internet as young as six years old. We can't ignore this,

and we have a responsibility to figure it out, said a 2018 document labeled confidential. Quote, imagine a Facebook experience designed for youth, end quote. quote, global teen penetration on Facebook is low and acquisition appears to be slowing down a March 2021 document states in the U.S. The daily number of teens using Facebook has fallen by 19% of the past two years. Another document noted and would likely fall by an additional 45% by 2023. A Pew Research Center survey from 2020 found that among 9 to 11 year olds, 30% said they used TikTok, 22% said they used Snapchat, 11% said they used Instagram, and 6% Facebook. A Facebook team studying preteen set a three-year goal to figure out how to provide young people with social media

products built just for them. They noted that figuring out how to reach them would be just half the challenge. Convincing their parents that the products are safe would be the other half. The team focused on the benefits, mostly around connecting more easily with friends and family, that they believed social media could bring to the younger generation. Quote, We have a historic opportunity for youth to experience the same positive benefits we have through social media and more. One of the members of the youth team wrote in a document. Facebook also created a $1 million research fund to study tech's long-term impact on children. A Facebook spokesman said the company recently announced it was supporting the creation of a digital wellness lab at Boston Children's Hospital.

Social media's uncomfortable relationship with children was on display at a Facebook event in June. when star Instagram influencer Jojo Siwa blurted out during a question and answer session that she had been active on the platform for almost a decade. Ms. Siwa is 18 years old. Quote, I don't want to hear it, replied Mr. Mosseri, Instagram's head, who was conducting the online event. Ms. Sewa said she had fans and followers under age 13 and wanted to be able to make content for them. She said young kids are drawn to the bright, quick nature of content on Instagram and that she hoped there would be a product built for them. Quote, the key thing is making sure you keep kids safe, Mr. Mosseri said. But like you said, you can lie about your age now, so our hope is to build a version that's designed for kids, end quote.

Finally today, you know that I launched the ride home fund on Angelist, because Angelist has this insane platform that just lets you turnkey launch your own fund. It's pretty miraculous what they do. They do all the paperwork, the incorporation, the organizing of LPs, calculation of return, tax paperwork, etc. It's fundraising and management as a service. But that's inside baseball talk. What's more relevant to you probably out there listening, who are more likely to be founders yourselves, is that Angelis wants to do this same sort of turnkey thing, the same sort of just let's set it up for you thing, for founding a company. They've launched Angel List Stack, a set of tools to help founders start and run their companies, including end-to-end in corporation

and banking services. So essentially, think of this as startup founding as a service, quoting TechCrunch. The new software will cover four bases, end-to-end incorporation, business banking, advisor equity grants, and cap table management. Every time you actually go to start a company, you start off with this optimism, said Angelus CEO Avloc Koli. You have this idea, you're super confident, and you want to go do it, and then there is all this mundane stuff that you have to figure out, end quote. The idea with Angelus Stack is to take some of those mundane and arcane processes of starting a company and make it simpler, said Coley, who was a repeat founder before joining Angelist. The end-to-end incorporation service will help founders figure out the paperwork of actually starting a company, from which state to incorporate

in, to what kind of business classification to pursue. It will also help founders track and file 83B filings, a niche but important document for those with equity that can cost millions in back taxes if done wrong. The banking tool has two parts, deposit accounts, with interest and debit cards. Both accounts make it easier for founders to automatically accept wire transfers from investors, which can then blend into Angel's new cap table tool. The cap tool will include issuing digital shares, safes, reporting, 409A's, and employee option grants. Quote, founders can raise their first safe round entirely on stack by sending a link to investors to digitally sign the safe, the company said in a statement. Once the funds arrive in the bank account,

investors are automatically added to the cap table, end quote. Angelus stack has echoes of Carta, formerly named e-shares. While Angelus launched with a focus on Angels and Venture, Carter broke out with a focus on employees and founders. Over time, both pursued scale with Carter taking over Cap Table Land and Angelus taking over syndicates and fund operations. As both companies mature, they are overlapping in their vision to be an end-to-end stack for venture and startups.

Angelus, comparatively, is a smaller organization than Carta with only $26.2 million in venture capital raised to date per crunch base. While the ability to raise capital doesn't necessarily illustrate the ability of a company to be successful, it can give the startup runway when its customers, other startups face volatility. Both companies had layoffs amid the early innings of the COVID-19 pandemic for signals of how much has changed since. Angelis says that it has nearly doubled its staff to 95 people over the past year to keep up with its product roadmap. And Karta recently valued its own capital table management and valuation service at $7.4 billion. At launch, Angelus Stack services are

free, but Angelus will eventually monetize through SaaS management fees or through transaction fees on its financial tooling, end quote. No Twitter space tonight. Chris is traveling, and also we have part two of the World Cup of Entrepreneurs in the bag for this weekend, so we'll see you on Twitter tonight, but we'll talk to you as always tomorrow.