It's downloading a zipped JScript file, still trying to figure out what it does. It looks like they took an unmodified copy of a normal JS library and wrapped it in an try/catch block so when it errors from not being in the right environment the "error reporter" kicks in and evals some JS is downloads from 582e.call.pgee.org (which appears to be non-functional)
I just dropped a message to the CEO via LinkedIn, hope they can check on it.
Didn't pop-up for me, either adblock or just being enabled for a sample of the visitors.
Back in the day I worked at MetaCreations née MetaTools[0]. We had a web browser plugin that rendered streaming, progressive, interactive 3D - well before WebGL et. al. It shipped with IE and was available for other browsers as well. The MetaStream logo[1][2][3] was surprisingly similar to the Meta one.
There's a fun blast from the past! InfiniD was my first serious 3D graphics software package when I did that for a while way back when on the Mac. I'm trying to remember how I even discovered that one, I vaguely recall Ambrosia Software used it for creating the sprites in Escape Velocity? I think one of my first personal learning projects was using it to make my own ships and plug-ins for EV (all done by hand with ResEdit) which felt pretty neat at the time. Thanks for your part in what MetaCreations did back then, what a wild time that was.
I worked in a lab four years ago, where Kai (the designer of MetaTools) was an investor, but it didn't work out as although the tech was impressive and cool, it lacked the other components that are needed for a startup. They are still operating and building stuff in Edinburgh [0]. Sadly, they didn't release anything yet.
Sadly, there's been a lot of that over the years - really neat and beautiful ideas which were either ahead of their time, or didn't quite find a use or market fit.
Separately, some various Kai Krause related links.
We had some incredible folks creating cutting-edge graphics algorithms, UI frameworks, etc.
It was sad to see the company disintegrate due to mis-management, but the diaspora has gone on to all the top companies and have continued to do strong work elsewhere.
While I am not a fan of Facebook/Meta, I actually hope that they do not lose this case. If you want to name your company after a word that is in common usage, then you should have to deal with the fact that others may use the same word for their own purposes. JP Morgan seems like a name that hardly limits anyone trying to name their company. Apple or Meta are just words in common usage.
Their argument hinges on the fact that both companies operate in the VR space, and I agree with Meta.is here.
Trademark law is pretty clear about protecting a brand name within a given market. "Apple" and "Meta" are just words, yes, but if a second computer company named "Apple" were to appear, this would pretty clearly infringe on the Apple trademark, as opposed to say Apple T-Shirt Company.
> "Apple" and "Meta" are just words, yes, but if a second computer company named "Apple" were to appear, this would pretty clearly infringe on the Apple trademark, as opposed to say Apple T-Shirt Company.
Which is exactly why Apple was called Apple Computers, Inc for a long time, because Apple already existed in computer space and Apple Computers was constantly sued by the original Apple until they finally came to an agreement and the original Apple gave the trademark to Apple Computers.
Since it is such a common and useful word, I hope Facebook looses this case, as I would find it sad if that word is associated with their company by most people for the foreseeable future.
Broadly, though - trademark law specifically makes note of how "evocative" the particular word is. Which is to say, "Apple" for computers is more permissible than "Apple" for e.g. a food company.
Not sure where I'd put "Meta" here though, it's so generic for anything.
There was a spat between Domino's Pizza and Domino Sugar. For a while, Domino's Pizza had to use their full name, not just "Domino's", in advertising and even when they answered the phone. That seems to have changed, so maybe some new agreement was reached.
Apple Computer still paid $80,000 to Apple Corps [1] even though it was 2 decades before they entered the music space. I don't think apple is a good example for your point.
Yeah, I don't think these holding companies mean much to people inside or outside the company. No random person on the street knows what Alphabet or Meta is, they know Google and Facebook. I certainly don't put "Alphabet" on my resume. I worked there and I don't even know what it meant exactly.
I'm not sure about that. Whenever our public TV or radio station, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, makes reference to Google or Facebook in a corporate sense they always clearly mention the parent company.
This usage in modern words traces its way back to an analogy to metaphysics transcending physics. In Greek, meta meant with or after and the book metaphysics was named because it came after physics. The Greek word has related etymology to the Old English mið (or mid) which was subsumed into the meaning of with (an original usage of the word with can be found in the word withstanding).
One may notice words that come from the original Greek meaning if they start with meth or met + some vowel except a (although words with this original sense) and modern words (eg in zoology) also exist based on the old Greek meaning, as well as other irregular constructions (in geology words beginning with meta relate to metamorphosis).
Notwithstanding the broken origins of the sense you describe, it is indeed a good word/prefix.
The word Alphabet didn't go away when Google renamed their parent company, and I'm confident that the word meta will also prove stronger than its SV appropriation.
In think in the case of Alphabet, they wanted to insulate the Google brand and company from their other ventures, and they’ve successfully done that. Facebook was doing somewhat the opposite. They wanted to insulate their other brands from the Facebook brand. There’s also some suggestion that Mark Zuckerberg sees VR as the whole future of the company, and wanted that reflected in the name.
Extremely stupid decision to rename it. Out of all their products only Oculus has overwhelmingly positive brand name, I don't know why they will want to change that. Would make more sense to build stuff around the Oculus name.
Whatsapp is overwhelmingly popular, no? I'd guess much more so than Oculus.
And anecdotally, IG users seem to feel very positively about it in a way that isn't true for fb or Twitter users. Most of the handwringing about IG that I've seen comes from commentators
Weird how name/brand recognition works. Facebook the company rebranding had zero impact/change on me. I think of their properties first and the name of the parent company never. It doesn't really matter.
It's perfect name for Facebook because now when we hear stories of "FBI Data collection was just the Meta Data" it will mean everything about you, your friends, your call voice data, pictures of your genitals and everything else!
In the sense that people are gaming the game (min-maxing and optimising) then it makes perfect sense to me.
Some people seem to spend more time in the meta-game of coming up with the ideal strategy than they do actually playing the game. People who just copy the latest strategy aren’t really playing the meta-game, but English is ambiguous and playing the meta is obvious from context.
It’s not as bad as the people who use IP as a synonym for documentation.
Reminds me of eToys vs eToy in the late 90s. Hacking groups targeted eToys and caused many late nights for the ops team. I joined eToys shortly after as a Perl dev and decided to nmap scan ToysRUs and eToys cybersecurity team was on a hair trigger after the eToy hacks. Someone literally came thumping down the hallway and walked straight into my office. I put my hands up and started apologizing profusely and they let it slide.
The term “metaverse” was first used in Neil Stevenson's 1982 novel Snow Crash. IANAL but it seems dubious to me that anyone besides Neil gets to claim dibs on the word "meta" as used in the context of VR.
There's loads of companies out there with extremely similar names. It's hard to come up with something totally unique. I believe, legally, it just can't be identical to a name already registered in the same state. When I was trying to name my own business, it was amazing to see how many names were already taken just in my state. Not that it makes it right for Meta/Facebook to do whatever they want but any rebranding they chose would probably have stepped on someone's toes.
When I was trying to name my own business, it was amazing to see how many names were already taken just in my state.
It's slightly more complicated than that.
It has to be a name that hasn't already been registered to cover one of the pre-existing business categories for your state.
And, it also has to be a name that isn't registered nationally to cover one of the federal pre-existing business categories.
It's possible, and very common, to register a trademark within a single state only. I've done it about a half-dozen times in two state. You do it if you have a product or service that you never expect to go national.
It's how you can have multiple unrelated "#1 Quick Mart" and "Danny's Cleaners" in different parts of the nation.
However, in this case, the complainant is in Iceland, so the American rules you and I know don't apply.
> Not that it makes it right for Meta/Facebook to do whatever they want but any rebranding they chose would probably have stepped on someone's toes.
Exactly why I hope Facebook looses this case. Every other startup is being forced to come up with weird unique names, Facebook shouldn't get a pass just because they're big.
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Viewing source their wordpress for sure has been hacked.
Obfuscated JS at the bottom of every static js file. Must be something random that it targeted me. cant seam to make it trigger again.