{"id":8028,"date":"2018-10-09T09:01:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T22:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/?p=8028"},"modified":"2018-10-09T09:02:35","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T22:02:35","slug":"facebooks-portal-is-the-videophone-of-your-nightmares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/news\/facebooks-portal-is-the-videophone-of-your-nightmares\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook’s “Portal” is the videophone of your nightmares"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Facebook has created a new way to videochat with your Facebook friends. It’s not an app, nor is it some awkward virtual-reality playpen. It’s a device called Portal, and it’s meant to sit in your living room and serve as a two-way conduit for conversations with faraway friends and family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The company that invades your life in every way is today asking you to stick a stationary camera in your living room and pay for the pleasure.<\/p>\n
I can only assume this is meant for people who A) have no concern for the privacy what-so-ever and B) don’t own a smartphone.<\/p>\n
The Portal is available in two varieties, a larger 1080p version for US$349 and a smaller 720p for US$199. Both have AI built-in that Facebook claims is self-contained and does not<\/em> send data back to the mothership that utilising the 140 degree camera can track the caller as you get up and walk around the room, zoomed in on the user.<\/p>\n
While Facebook are hardly the first to bring a device like this to market, Amazon’s Echos do a similar thing, they are the ones I’m least likely to allow<\/em> into my living room giving their practices and continual user data issues.<\/p>\n