It's normal to develop some black technology in the future, right?

Chapter 435 New Lion City

As the leader and true pioneer of the entire smart glasses industry, Facebook has always been paying close attention to the dynamics of the entire smart glasses industry. Regardless of whether the manufacturer behind the product is a technology giant or an unknown small company, they will conduct internal research.

Products like Matrix Glass, which broke through the circle so quickly and became a phenomenal product, attracted even more attention. There is a team of at least 20 people tracking this product internally.

By the way, although Google was the first manufacturer of smart glasses and launched Google Glass in 2012, it was an immature product after all and did not really lead the trend.

It’s just like there were products similar to smartphones before Apple, but Apple created the definition of smartphones.

Facebook wasn't the first, but it was a pioneer.

After the 20-person team got the matrix glass and studied it carefully, the engineer from China in the team couldn't help but ask the following question:

"The core application of the Matrix Glass product is too Chinese-inspired. Is the product manager behind it Chinese?"

He saw too much Chinese thinking in the core logic of this product.

"It's still unclear. You know, the Alpha behind the matrix is ​​like a fog. We know much less about it than the Chinese technology giants.

Wang, why do you say its product manager is Chinese? "

“Because it looks too much like an application that a Chinese product manager would create.

Do you know what the most popular applications are developed by independent developers in China?" the engineer surnamed Wang asked his Indian colleague.

“Plant identification app?”

“No, the most applications they develop are efficiency tools.

Time management lists, various notes, etc., these are the favorite applications of independent developers in China.

Now the core application of Matrix Glass, the so-called self-management tool, is essentially the culmination of China's efficiency tool products.

Including the one set for teenagers, where parents pay in advance on their behalf to buy reward products. Isn’t this behind China’s intimate payment? Only Chinese payment apps have this thing.”

It's not that other countries don't have intimate payment. In Europe and the United States, this thing is called the secondary card of the credit card. After applying for a credit card, you give the secondary card to your children. You can set a credit limit for it, check consumption records, etc. It is similar to the intimate payment of China's payment application.

However, there is no similar function to Qinmi Pay in foreign electronic payment software.

“At its core, it’s like helping you make a detailed plan.

You know, before coming to American, I was an independent developer for a while. I made an application similar to a time management checklist, which had about 50,000 downloads at its peak.

So I carefully studied many similar applications on the market and communicated with many users.

The common problem faced by all these applications is that they still require users to have a certain degree of subjective initiative and self-control. You have to make your own plan, then record in detail whether you acted according to the plan, and finally make a summary.

We can provide this complete workflow to users who stick with it, but they account for less than one-tenth of the total number of users," said Engineer Wang.

The Indian guy yelled: "Why do they download it?"

"It's obviously for self-consolation, as if after downloading it, I can improve my self-control and achieve something in life, work and study.

The most powerful thing about the core function of matrix glass is that it only requires you to set a goal, and once you have set it, the rest of the steps will be taken care of by it.

It helps you make plans, it monitors your completion and helps you record it, and it helps you set rewards.

Including setting rewards. If you are a student, your parents will help pay. If you are an individual, you can set it up in advance, and the company will automatically place an order for you after completion.

Maybe you even forget that you bought this thing, but it will buy it for you, which can also be a surprise for the user.

This logic is so powerful that it can help users build a strong positive feedback mechanism.

If we develop smart glasses, we are thinking about how to improve its entertainment value, how to make it more fun, how to build interaction with the world, to break through the boundaries between reality and cyberspace, and allow some electronic games to extend more possibilities in the real world.

So Alpha Technology is creating a self-improvement tool, or even a productivity tool.

This is really outrageous. It is totally unlike the product design logic of Southeast Asian technology giants.

In other words, Southeast Asia’s tech giants have such design capabilities that if Hornbill’s shopping function was set up in advance for this app, then their idea of ​​building an ecosystem was too early, two years in advance.”

The Indian engineer was quite dissatisfied after hearing this, because in his opinion, the other party's remarks were pure racial discrimination.

What do you mean the technology giants in Southeast Asia can never do? This is simply the arrogance of the Chinese.

What happened to Southeast Asia?
Indian engineers have heard similar remarks many times during the time they have worked with the other side. Although they have never directly despised India, they will stop talking every time India is mentioned. Don't think I don't know what you mean.

When Engineer Wang said this, the Indian guy silently made a note of it in his mind, waiting to settle the score with his Indian boss, and then get rid of the boss on the grounds of racial discrimination, so that he could be promoted to the boss's position instantly.

All I can say is that the engineer surnamed Wang has not been in America from China long enough. I don’t know that many times, even if you think so in your heart, it may be true, but if you dare to say it out loud, it is a form of racial discrimination.

There are still too many socialists among the older Chinese. Nine out of ten people, especially students from prestigious universities with a background in science and engineering, have a socialist mindset.

"Alpha behind Matrix is ​​a giant. You can't look at it from the perspective of a Southeast Asian company."

That’s right, an absolute giant.

If there had not been the existence of Light Armor Aerospace, if the arrival of the Age of Discovery had not been so clear, and the competition between China and America in the aerospace field had not attracted most of the attention, the popularity and influence of Alpha Technology would definitely not be at its current level.

Cooperation with Tencent could wipe out half of Alibaba's market value, and cooperation with Microsoft could force Amazon to resort to despicable tactics. It would enable it to firmly control the entire Southeast Asian and Latin American markets. In addition to search engines and e-shopping, it would also extend its tentacles to industrial Internet and consumer electronics.

He even personally organized the farewell ceremony for the Li family in Lion City and became the new master of Lion City.

Describing it as a giant is even a bit of an understatement of this giant hidden beneath the surface.

“But it is still a Southeast Asian company, although its way of doing things is certainly not very Southeast Asian.

Samad's style is also very similar to that of the founders of China's first-tier Internet companies."

"Who?"

"Huang from PDD is also a big shot who hides himself, but Samad hides himself more deeply than Huang."

Turning his perspective from Facebook back to Singapore, Peter Tim looked at the electronic products on the display stand one by one, including mobile phones, smart glasses, watches, headphones, and tablets.

He then picked up the watch and asked, “The watch should also be able to work with the glasses’ app, right?

Because some people may have sports goals, which involves using a watch to record their exercise time. "

George nodded: "Yes."

After coming out of the matrix store, you’ll see a convenience store with the matrix logo just a few steps away.

"Alpha Technology is still doing this business?" Peter took George in to take a look, then asked after buying a bottle of Starbucks glass bottle coffee.

George explained: "This is Edward's business. Edward bought all the convenience stores in Singapore from 711-Eleven convenience stores, and then cooperated with Alpha Technology. It is equivalent to Alpha Technology licensing the matrix brand to the original 711-Eleven Singapore Company.

Of course it has now been renamed matrix convenience store.

However, judging from the apparent equity structure, Matrix has nothing to do with it.”

Peter was secretly shocked because Alpha Technology did not hide the fact that it owned Lion City at all.

To him, this was a fact.

Whether it is the unique position of Matrix smartphones in the consumer electronics subsidies in Lion City, or the announcement of its presence through convenience stores in the streets and alleys, or the big logo on the advertising billboards in Changi Airport, they are all declaring themselves the masters of Lion City.

The airport is for people from all over the world who come to Lion City to see, the convenience stores on the streets are for the people of Lion City to see, and Lion City’s subsidies are a declaration of its existence from the government level.

According to this logic, the only areas left should be finance and education, right?
Alpha Technology should declare its presence in all these fields.

"Oh, you mean the financial industry? Of course. I heard that Alpha Technology's CEO Oraz has been in Singapore for a while, just to acquire a bank in Singapore.

Sir, you know that the financial industry in Singapore is very developed, but in fact the supervision is very strict.

To set up a new bank in Singapore, capital requirements, governance structure, business capabilities and experience, and risk management capabilities are not difficult for Alpha Technology.

But the biggest difficulty is that obtaining a license from MAS requires rigorous review that can take several years. Alpha Technologies can speed up this process, but they cannot completely eliminate this process. No matter how fast it is accelerated, it will take at least a year.

It now appears that Alpha Technologies does not want to wait.

Now DBS Bank is seeking to cooperate with Alpha Technology, which will be renamed Matrix Bank, and Vanguard Group is vigorously promoting this.

In addition, Hong Kong's Whampoa Group is undergoing a comprehensive strategic contraction, and they intend to sell Singapore Gulf Bank to Alpha Technology.

In addition, there are some rumors that United Overseas Bank is planning to cooperate with Alpha Technologies.

In short, there is a lot of information on the news, and there is also a lot of interference noise, so it is difficult to judge whether it is true or false. However, it is certain that Alpha Technology hopes to obtain a controlling stake in a bank as soon as possible.

For Alpha, changing their name is the easiest, and MASS will approve it within three days at most. "

Mas: Lion City’s financial management department
"As for the education sector you mentioned, I haven't heard any news yet."

After listening to George's brief introduction, Peter realized that it was no wonder that the Donkey Party and the capital behind them had set their sights on Alpha Technology. This piece of cake was too delicious.

The annual profits brought by synthetic sand technology, combined with Alpha Technology’s strong technical strength, are enough to turn Singapore into a new Silicon Valley, or even an enhanced version of Silicon Valley.

After the territories of Lion City and Johor were combined, Johor developed the manufacturing industry while Lion City developed the financial industry, service industry and high-tech industry.

It's a perfect combination.

Taking over Alpha Technology means that this piece of cake will belong to the donkey party.

This is so delicious.

After the two left the airport, they sat in the back seat of the Mercedes S-Class that George had come to pick him up in. George handed Peter his phone and said, "This is a video on TikTok that introduces matrix glass."

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

I saw a white guy above. He opened the door in the morning and there was a package piled at the door.

There was a card on it that read:

"David, you are awesome! You have successfully completed your goals, which is the best proof of your hard work and persistence. Although there may be some minor flaws in the process, this does not in any way obscure your great achievements. Every journey towards a goal is a journey of self-challenge, and those shortcomings will be embellishments on the road to success. Believe in yourself, you have unlimited potential, and this experience will become a solid foundation for you to climb higher in the future. Please keep working hard.

Matrix”

Then the white guy named David exclaimed to the camera: "Oh my God, this is the reward that Matrix gave me after I completed the task! I almost forgot that it is really difficult to not smoke dama for a month! I really did it!
Eh? Why are they Apple headphones? I remember the reward I set for myself for completing my goal was a Steam handheld game console, right?" David was full of questions.

Then David opened the new Bing app on his iPhone and asked, "Shouldn't I be rewarded with a Steam deck for not smoking dama for a month? Did you swallow the reward my dad gave me?
I haven’t smoked a single dama this month!”

The voice from the phone clearly appeared in Peter's ears: "Sorry David, you didn't wear the matrix glass on July 7th. On July 18st, you and your friends were chatting and said that you couldn't hold it in any longer, so you took off the matrix glass and went out to party all night, and you said that I couldn't find it. So the reward was reduced to the second level."

The white guy blushed as if his lie had been exposed, and then he slammed the table in annoyance: "Damn Bing, you eavesdropped on me?"

Peter was stunned and looked at George with shock on his face.

George nodded: "Yes, it is so smart that other competitors can never catch up with it.

Facebook, Google, and Tencent are all making similar applications of their own, but none of them can achieve this level.

This is why.”

"You told me that it can give you graded rewards, and can judge your completion status based on your words and the length of time you use the matrix glass. It will also write a paragraph of encouragement on the gift given to you.

It can actually do this?"

George said, “Yes, this is Alpha Technology.

The Federal Department of Education is currently considering incorporating Matrix Glass into federal teaching tools.

Matrix is ​​invincible at the software level, and it is light enough at the hardware level, and the experience is good enough.

In the field of self-management, Matrix is ​​far ahead of other manufacturers.”

Peter remained silent. As a former professor of philosophy at Stanford, he knew very well that federal education was in a systematic state of collapse. Needless to say, public schools were in chaos and had nothing to do with education. Private colleges and universities had also gradually collapsed. If parents did not intervene in education, they would be in trouble.

The collapse of America's education system is much more serious than that of Western European countries. Only colleges and universities can rely on international students from all over the world for support and can live off their past achievements. If they relied entirely on North American students, American colleges and universities would have been doomed long ago.

Having matrix glass is definitely a good thing. It may not completely cure the problem, but at least for some people, it can help them build a positive cycle.

Even if I can help a small number of people quit dama, it would be good.

It's just possible that Washington meant well, but the execution was botched.

Similar things have happened too many times in the past.

You think it is a way to subsidize all teenagers. The original price of Matrix Glass is $199, and the federal government gives you a subsidy of $100, which means you can get it for only $99.

With 100 million teenagers every year, that only amounts to a budget of $1 million.

But in reality, Matrix Glass, Google Glass and Meta Glass all appeared on the federal procurement list, and their original prices were $200, $300 and $500 respectively.

现在联邦统一采购，采购价变成500、800、1000美元，然后卖给学生们是300、500、800美元。

Yes, the federal subsidy price can be more expensive than the retail price.

Originally, $1 million could subsidize 100 million students, but now it costs billions of dollars. The money has been spent on subsidies, but the glasses purchased are too expensive and no one buys them. In the end, they "rot" in the warehouse, and the depreciation disappears directly.

In fact, it was not bought at all. It is on the books, but it does not actually exist.

During the entire policy promotion, the gods in China couldn't help but snort. The Americans have equipped every teenager with a system. What can you Chinese use to fight the Americans? Investing in teenagers is investing in the future.

When it was implemented, I was dumbfounded. How could it be more expensive than what I bought on the official flagship store of Amazon in America? Where did the subsidy go? In Commissioner Smith's pocket, right?
But the gods can’t see it.

Peter knew that the federal government's operations were bold enough, but he didn't expect them to be so bold. He thought the Elephant Party wanted to make some achievements in the field of education.

The Donkey Party thinks that Alpha Technology, the company behind Matrix, will soon be acquired by us. By incorporating Matrix Glass into the federal education system, I am benefiting my own company in advance.

Peter, an elite among the elites who spans Silicon Valley and Washington, can only think of the first level, but in fact Washington is at the fifth level. It can be seen that the deep state is already a different species from the outside world.

Matrix is ​​also very popular on the simplified Chinese Internet, but it shows a polarized trend.

On TikTok, a bunch of parents are complaining about what? They are complaining about other classmates in their children's class using matrix glass, and the parents of that child don't tell everyone, hiding it in various ways, and even try to ask the other party to help buy it for them, but they also make excuses in various ways.

The family’s children are in junior high school or high school, and they are afraid that their children’s classmates will find out.

On Xiaohongshu, there are many bloggers who specialize in teaching people how to use matrix glass to better build a system unique to themselves, and how to train Hornbill so that it can develop a more practical and more efficient system.

Young people are sharing.

The essence behind this is not that young people are willing to share and have a helpful spirit, while older people with children are selfish.

This is because the evaluation system for young people is multidimensional, not a zero-sum game, while the school system for children is a zero-sum game with a single evaluation system. There must be someone first and someone last.

Auxiliary props like this that can help children build a positive cycle system are worthy of being described as magic tools. Of course, I hope my children can enjoy them exclusively.

On the way from Changi Airport to Marriott Hotel, Peter found that traces of matrix were everywhere in the streets and alleys, and its presence was overwhelming:
"That is?"

Peter saw a place that looked neither like a convenience store nor any Matrix electronic product displays inside. It looked more like a bank branch, but the sign had the official Lion City logo on the left and the Matrix logo on the right.

“That is the service centre in Singapore, which mainly provides various basic services to Singaporeans, such as identity card registration or renewal, passport renewal, application for financial assistance, application for the Housing Development Board’s public rental scheme, renewal of health care cards, declaration of personal income tax, management and repayment of HDB housing loans, etc.

Generally, this can be done online, but offline outlets also exist, with two in the north, one in the northeast, and three in the east.

I just came to Singapore and I often went to the service center." George said after taking a look.

Peter asked, "Alpha Technology acquired the service center?"

This thing can also be sold in Lion City? Peter's first reaction.

George explained: "Of course not, it's just because Alpha Technology is helping the Lion City to transform its e-government capabilities.

You know that Alpha Technology's strongest point is artificial intelligence technology. They plan to use artificial intelligence technology to help Singapore completely reconstruct its e-government system.

In short, you have to know that Alpha is involved in every aspect of Lion City.

It is different from what foreigners or foreign media report.

Because of the existence of the New Lion City plan and the influx of hot money from all sources, the people of Lion City are very accepting of Alpha's blatant behavior.

After all, synthetic sand generates tens of billions of cash flow every year, and the future potential is even hundreds of billions of dollars. This business is located in Lion City, which is Gold Mountain. As people who have experienced the Authoritarian Era, they are very accepting of the Lee family's replacement by Alpha.

The only thing that is unacceptable is that Alpha's founder, Samad, is a Malaysian. If he were Chinese or white, the Singaporean public would be more accepting. "

The whole world is looking forward to what the new Lion City announced by Alpha will look like.

The whole of Singapore is also looking forward to how many HDB flats can be added in the new Singapore and whether everyone’s living environment can be improved.

But in the eyes of Peter Thiel, who came to Lion City for the first time after the turmoil, the current Lion City is already the new Lion City.

(End of this chapter)