• Cryptocurrency
  • Earnings
  • Enterprise
  • About TechBooky
  • Submit Article
  • Advertise Here
  • Contact Us
TechBooky
  • African
  • AI
  • Metaverse
  • Gadgets
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
  • African
  • AI
  • Metaverse
  • Gadgets
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
TechBooky
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Home Research/How to do it

This Is Facebook’s Building 8 Where Attempts Are Being Made To Make Brains Type And Skins Hear

TechBooky by TechBooky
May 11, 2017
in Research/How to do it
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

It looks like just another beige office park building next to a dental office in Menlo Park, California. Yet Building 8, across the street from Facebook‘s main campus, houses the social network’s biggest bets on out-there products.

The tech industry has a term for what people inside Building 8 work on: moonshots. Think potentially groundbreaking projects that could reshape Facebook’s long-term future and even how all of us communicate.

regina-dugan-facebook-building-8-9996-1
                    Regina Dugan heads Facebook’s skunkworks

 

CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled Building 8 (named for the number of letters in Facebook) at last year’s F8 developer conference. He also revealed he’d recruited Regina Dugan from Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group to head Facebook’s skunkworks efforts, as part of Zuckerberg’s 10-year strategic plan.

Since then, Facebook has given tantalizing hints about Building 8’s mission, saying only that it’s focused on “seemingly impossible” hardware in augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence, connectivity and “other important breakthrough areas,” with “clear objectives for shipping products at scale.” The one thing we knew for sure: The company had been amassing a dream team of hardware veterans from the likes of Apple, Motorola, Google and other industry heavyweights.

Some of that secrecy faded Wednesday, when the group unveiled its first two projects: a “brain-to-computer interface” that would allow us to send thoughts straight to a computer, and technology to “hear” or absorb language through vibrations on our skin.

“If I’m doing my job well, we should deliver things people didn’t know to ask for,” Dugan — who previously headed Darpa, the Defense Department’s famed tech arm — tells me Monday from a working space on Facebook’s campus. “There’s the risk of failure. But that’s precisely the price you pay for the honor of working on something new.”

You might not expect off-the-wall hardware products from a social network known for the Like button, status updates and baby photos shared among nearly 2 billion people each month. Yet the company already has its hand in everything from virtual reality headsets to massive drones meant to blanket the earth with Wi-Fi signals. It can’t afford to let up.

That’s because Silicon Valley is on a constant quest to find the next big thing. Like Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and other major tech players, Facebook’s future depends on ambitious moonshots that could open new business opportunities.

“Even if the technology is out there and never gets turned into a product, the R&D work that goes into it can often be used for things being created in the real world right now,” says Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research. Just as important, moonshots “attract and retain smart employees,” says Dawson.

In the Valley, that’s a competitive advantage in its own right.

“OK, computer”

Building 8’s brain-to-computer project comes straight from the top. “One day, I believe we’ll be able to send full, rich thoughts to each other directly using technology,” Zuckerberg said in a Q&A on Facebook two years ago.

“You’ll just be able to think of something and your friends will immediately be able to experience it too, if you’d like,” he said.

Read more from CNET 

Related Posts:

  • smart building design
    Top 7 Reasons To Use Smart Buildings
  • 1da44d50-06ce-11ed-bfbf-42179b0f8391
    Microsoft Launches Viva Engage, A Facebook-Like App…
  • Meta's COO Sheryl Sandberg Is Leaving The Company
    Meta's COO Sheryl Sandberg Is Leaving The Company
  • Facebook data sharing
    Step By Step Guide On How To Delete Your Personal…
  • link building
    Top 5 Effective Ways Of Link Building
  • Meta Changes Its Ticker Symbol From "FB" To "META" As It Bids The Facebook Era A Final Goodbye
    Meta Changes Its Ticker Symbol From "FB" To "META"…
  • Five Facts About The Metaverse You Need to Know
    Five Facts About The Metaverse You Need to Know
  • 1
    Top 5 websites to buy Facebook accounts

Discover more from TechBooky

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Tags: building 8facebookresearch
TechBooky

TechBooky

BROWSE BY CATEGORIES

Select Category

    Receive top tech news directly in your inbox

    subscription from
    Loading

    Freshly Squeezed

    • AI Helps Google One Reach 150 Million Subscribers May 16, 2025
    • FT Lists Paymenow, TymeBank & Omnisient Among Africa’s Fastest-Growing Firms May 16, 2025
    • MoonPay and Mastercard Partner to Advance Stablecoin Payments May 16, 2025
    • Google Gemini Advanced Users Can Now Link to GitHub May 16, 2025
    • TikTok Accused of Violating EU Internet Content Rules May 15, 2025
    • Activists and Users Criticize NCC & Telcos Over Customer Penalties May 15, 2025

    Browse Archives

    May 2025
    MTWTFSS
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    262728293031 
    « Apr    

    Quick Links

    • About TechBooky
    • Advertise Here
    • Contact us
    • Submit Article
    • Privacy Policy

    Recent News

    AI Helps Google One Reach 150 Million Subscribers

    AI Helps Google One Reach 150 Million Subscribers

    May 16, 2025
    FT Lists Paymenow, TymeBank & Omnisient Among Africa’s Fastest-Growing Firms

    FT Lists Paymenow, TymeBank & Omnisient Among Africa’s Fastest-Growing Firms

    May 16, 2025
    MoonPay and Mastercard Partner to Advance Stablecoin Payments

    MoonPay and Mastercard Partner to Advance Stablecoin Payments

    May 16, 2025
    Google Gemini Advanced Users Can Now Link to GitHub

    Google Gemini Advanced Users Can Now Link to GitHub

    May 16, 2025
    TikTok Accused of Violating EU Internet Content Rules

    TikTok Accused of Violating EU Internet Content Rules

    May 15, 2025
    Activists and Users Criticize NCC & Telcos Over Customer Penalties

    Activists and Users Criticize NCC & Telcos Over Customer Penalties

    May 15, 2025
    • Login

    © 2021 Design By Tech Booky Elite

    Generic selectors
    Exact matches only
    Search in title
    Search in content
    Post Type Selectors
    • African
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Gadgets
    • Metaverse
    • Tips
    • About TechBooky
    • Advertise Here
    • Submit Article
    • Contact us

    © 2021 Design By Tech Booky Elite

    Discover more from TechBooky

    Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

    Continue reading

    We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok