Facebook’s Virtual Reality Boy Wonder Departs
Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of Oculus VR, had been sidelined for several months after series of scandals
Facebook Inc. said Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of Oculus VR who had been sidelined for several months after a series of scandals, is leaving the company.
Mr. Luckey’s last day at Oculus, the virtual reality startup Facebook acquired three years ago, is Friday, a Facebook spokeswoman said. She declined to explain the reasons behind his departure.
“Palmer will be dearly missed,” Facebook said in a statement. “His inventive spirit helped kickstart the modern VR revolution and helped build an industry.”
Mr. Luckey’s departure comes after a series of gaffes that strained his relationship with virtual-reality developers and Facebook, which bought Oculus for more than $2 billion.
Mr. Luckey, 24, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks-virtual-reality-boy-wonder-departs-1490908869
Facebook ‘banter’ trolls from sick groups set up new secret pages 10 MINUTES after being removed – as site struggles to keep track of ‘ghost’ groups
Banter18+ and PureBanter18+ were both recreated shortly after being removed last night.
Almost 900 people have already joined Banter18+, which boasts: “As featured in The Sun.”
The groups have been set to “secret” and do not show up if you search the name on Facebook.
www.thesun.co.uk/news/3216302/facebook-banter-trolls-from-sick-groups-set-up-new-secret-pages-hours-after-being-removed-as-site-struggles-to-keep-track-of-ghost-groups/
Uber Executive Invokes Fifth Amendment, Seeking to Avoid Potential Charges
SAN FRANCISCO — An Uber executive accused of stealing driverless car technology from his former employers at Google is exercising his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, according to his lawyers.
The lawyers for Anthony Levandowski, the former head of Google’s self-driving car project who is now leading a similar effort at Uber, said he was broadly asserting his Fifth Amendment rights because there was “potential for criminal action” in the case, according to court transcripts obtained on Thursday.
The legal maneuver adds even more intrigue to the high-profile fight between two of the technology industry’s largest companies, which are squaring off in the race to put driverless cars on the road.
Mr. Levandowski is at the center of a lawsuit between Uber and Waymo, which was spun out from Google to become its own Alphabet subsidiary. Waymo has accused Mr. Levandowski of stealing documents and poaching employees before quitting Google and then colluding with Uber to use that technology to advance driverless car efforts at the ride-hailing service.
www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/technology/uber-waymo-levandowski.html