> Mozilla acquires the team behind Pulse, an automated status updater for Slack
> Pulse in its initial guise was a “virtual office” platform called Loop Team, but after honing the idea for a couple of years it pivoted and rebranded last November. Pulse, essentially, was an automated status-updating tool that used signals based on pre-configured integrations and preferences set by the user.
> For example, users could synchronize Pulse with their calendar and Slack, setting rules to stipulate what their status and corresponding emoji should be based on keywords in their calendar event title. If their schedule for a particular time says “hair appointment” from 12-1pm, then the person’s Slack status update might display a scissors emoji alongside the word “haircut.” Or, it might say “birthday” alongside a cake emoji if that’s what is in their calendar.
> For example, users could synchronize Pulse with their calendar and Slack, setting rules to stipulate what their status and corresponding emoji should be based on keywords in their calendar event title. If their schedule for a particular time says “hair appointment” from 12-1pm, then the person’s Slack status update might display a scissors emoji alongside the word “haircut.” Or, it might say “birthday” alongside a cake emoji if that’s what is in their calendar.
As far as Slack statuses go, I only check if it is Green, Red, or Do Not Disturb. I have never actually read someone's status message, much less used it as a birthday indicator.
I am, self admittedly, completely out of touch with the start up culture. I work outside of it and have no experience in it. I simply can't understand how Pulse has raised 4.7 million dollars to create automated slack status updates. Even more, I can't understand why Pulse has made three acquisitions earlier this year, with that 4.7 million dollars, in order to accomplish that goal.
Cheap capital and VC funds employees that are compensated on how many investments they've made. (or they're penalized for not allocating the fund under management)
Sometimes it's best to check the incentives to understand why people behive in a non-logical way.
Also can be a sneaky way to steal some money from the company, by acquiring something meaningless. I've heard about 2 such cases.
Or rather, they probably didn't raise those $4.7m to create automated Slack updates, but to solve a problem they think enough future customer are (or would be) having. You have to distinguish deliverable (software) from product (problem-solving offering).
Most companies have humble beginnings and it is difficult to tell which companies will be giant. A air bed and breakfast where strangers stay in your home sounded ridiculous 10 years ago. Or a company that live stream's the life of a single person 24/7 (Justin.tv/Twitch.tv) also seemed ridiculous to be a billion dollar company.
> A air bed and breakfast where strangers stay in your home sounded ridiculous 10 years ago
No, couchsurfing (the site) had already proven the market for staying in other peoples homes and airbnb was similar but with payment.
> live stream's the life of a single person 24/7
IIRC justin.tv did not take in funding until they were already building a platform for others to livestream on. Their funding was not for just justins stream.
Watching Mozilla making decisions is incredibly depressing. I still love Firefox, but it is clear that the browser wars are going extremely badly for Mozilla. And yet they do things like buy a Slack status updater company instead of not firing their core developers.
I don't feel anything personal towards inanimate things like software and corporations, even less so do I want them to treat me personally. For I know that all such plausible pretensions are in fact nothing but mercenary.
Mozilla, why won't you ask your users if they need your products to be personal?
Listen to the echoing silence from Mozilla; the users built them, but they don't talk to the users. Not even on the bugtrackers. They're a bit like FIFA, or the International Olympic Committee - they've discovered that they're totally immune to criticism, so they get more and more bold.
What does it take to make a failing corporation go broke?
Agree, but this announcement kinda makes me think they're working on either money-making enterprise tools a la Teams/Slack/etc OR maybe even exploring ML recommendation engines as an entrypoint to creating their own search engine. Definitely not their core competency but they've been having to get creative with their offerings/business because honestly making incremental improvements to a browser with 3% market share isn't going to get them the userbase they need to fund their efforts.
Can we crowd-fund a campaign to buy Firefox and let the Mozilla Corp focus on whatever the shit it thinks its core competency is? I want the people that thought that what they really really was another Pocket to be liberated from the burden of that legacy browser that they have to think about sometimes.
I think it's too late but I'd love to see it happen and would donate.
Mozilla had one job: keep Firefox going as long and as sustainably as possible. And they've utterly failed in my eyes. I'm sure they don't see it that way. But, they could have had a well paid engineering group, a small marketing group and invested all the rest of the cash they got over the years from Google to support themselves for a really long time. No ridiculous purchases, no stupid products, no executive pay packages. They've been searching for profit they didn't need, they could have just sat on their endowment.
They effectively killed their golden goose, a lovely goose that everyone else wanted to pet.
I actually have, and a decent job of this has been done by Iceweasel, but forks aren't allowed to use the branding, let alone the official websites and update mechanism etc.
Also, buying would be just as much about taking control from them as it would be about gaining control. I don't like incompatibilities, but I really hate when extraneous shit gets added to my browser along with the security updates and bugfixes.
From the blurb it looks like an acquihire to bring Product Managers that employ Machine Learning and are experienced with recommendation engines.
The "making the world a better place" boilerplate is just damage control for the reputational cost of doing this altogether, and making a risky bet with regards to the bottom line.
Acquirire: a neologism which describes the process of acquiring a company primarily to recruit its employees, rather than to gain control of its products or services.
> to enhance our machine learning capabilities, including personalization, in Pocket, a fantastic product that has only just scratched the surface of its ultimate potential.
Does anybody even use Pocket? (yes, probably, of course) Do you need ML in that? Personalized recommendations? What is the potential? Becoming Google News but from Mozilla?
I use Pocket and I like the article recommendations. I've found some interesting article through it. I'd be happy if they continue to improve that. It means I won't have to turn to sites like Google News or even Reddit.
Readit News
> Mozilla acquires the team behind Pulse, an automated status updater for Slack
> Pulse in its initial guise was a “virtual office” platform called Loop Team, but after honing the idea for a couple of years it pivoted and rebranded last November. Pulse, essentially, was an automated status-updating tool that used signals based on pre-configured integrations and preferences set by the user.
> For example, users could synchronize Pulse with their calendar and Slack, setting rules to stipulate what their status and corresponding emoji should be based on keywords in their calendar event title. If their schedule for a particular time says “hair appointment” from 12-1pm, then the person’s Slack status update might display a scissors emoji alongside the word “haircut.” Or, it might say “birthday” alongside a cake emoji if that’s what is in their calendar.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/01/mozilla-acquires-the-team-...
That's not AI, that's a big "If" statement
Also can be a sneaky way to steal some money from the company, by acquiring something meaningless. I've heard about 2 such cases.
Or rather, they probably didn't raise those $4.7m to create automated Slack updates, but to solve a problem they think enough future customer are (or would be) having. You have to distinguish deliverable (software) from product (problem-solving offering).
No, couchsurfing (the site) had already proven the market for staying in other peoples homes and airbnb was similar but with payment.
> live stream's the life of a single person 24/7
IIRC justin.tv did not take in funding until they were already building a platform for others to livestream on. Their funding was not for just justins stream.
Because otherwise Google-owned Chrome/chromium would effectively be the only browser on the market without FF.
I can’t be alone in thinking this is pretty much the _last_ thing I want from Mozilla.
I don't feel anything personal towards inanimate things like software and corporations, even less so do I want them to treat me personally. For I know that all such plausible pretensions are in fact nothing but mercenary.
Mozilla, why won't you ask your users if they need your products to be personal?
What does it take to make a failing corporation go broke?
Mozilla had one job: keep Firefox going as long and as sustainably as possible. And they've utterly failed in my eyes. I'm sure they don't see it that way. But, they could have had a well paid engineering group, a small marketing group and invested all the rest of the cash they got over the years from Google to support themselves for a really long time. No ridiculous purchases, no stupid products, no executive pay packages. They've been searching for profit they didn't need, they could have just sat on their endowment.
They effectively killed their golden goose, a lovely goose that everyone else wanted to pet.
Also, buying would be just as much about taking control from them as it would be about gaining control. I don't like incompatibilities, but I really hate when extraneous shit gets added to my browser along with the security updates and bugfixes.
Dead Comment
The "making the world a better place" boilerplate is just damage control for the reputational cost of doing this altogether, and making a risky bet with regards to the bottom line.
Deleted Comment
Does anybody even use Pocket? (yes, probably, of course) Do you need ML in that? Personalized recommendations? What is the potential? Becoming Google News but from Mozilla?
Do they even care about Firefox anymore?