America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 124. We will be forever recorded in history!

After finishing his discussion about Facebook, Eric looked at Robert Mirren and Howard Hughes.

"What is the development progress of Lionheart.com and YouTube?"

Robert Mirren plugged the power cord into his computer, then clicked on a lion's head icon. MGM's classic opening animation appeared, and two seconds later he was redirected to a video website.

Compared to Facebook's clean and simple design, Lionheart.com, as a streaming media platform, has a much more flashy and colorful visual style.

At the top are the categories, including action, suspense, romance, comedy, and more.

Pull down the screen to see a series of movie posters, including titles such as *Saw*, *Legally Blonde*, *Hart's War*, *Annie Hall*, and the *Hannibal* series.

These are all MGM-owned films, either classics or relatively recent, and most importantly, they do not involve any copyright disputes.

For some co-produced films, such as the James Bond film "Die Another Day" released last year, since it involves Universal's investment, it certainly cannot be used directly.

Of course, you can't infringe on other people's works either. This isn't Africa. Blatant copyright infringement here could lead to being sued and going bankrupt.

Further down are some lesser-known or older films.

"Robert, how many movies are in here now?" Eric asked.

"A total of 1955 films and about 8000 episodes of TV series, which is roughly half of MGM's film library."

"It will take some time before we can upload everything to Lionheart.net."

"The biggest takeaway for me during this process was the impact of internet speed. We had to compress the video and sacrifice image quality to ensure speed, which resulted in a significant reduction in video clarity, making it less efficient than watching DVDs on TV."

"How can we improve the speed? Would it be possible to add more servers? Could we ensure that these videos are uploaded to the network completely?"

Robert shook his head: "This approach can only alleviate the problem, but it cannot solve it at its root, because the bandwidth limitations are there. If the video is too large, the loading time will be longer when users watch it online."

"We can only choose between loading time and video clarity; this is a limitation of our time that cannot be solved until broadband technology makes a breakthrough."

"Let me click on one and take a look."

Robert turned on "Legally Blonde" as instructed, and the screen changed to a cartoon lion jumping around.

He tapped the lion cub a few times, and the lion immediately made a few movements, which looked quite interesting.

"Boss, this is a fun little interaction I added to keep users entertained while waiting for the video to buffer. It might not be very useful, but at least it can help pass the time."

"Hmm, that's an interesting idea."

After about ten seconds, the movie finished buffering and officially started playing.

Eric frowned slightly: "While the clarity has indeed decreased, it's still acceptable. Let's try zooming it out a bit."

I dragged the progress bar to the middle, and the little lion jumped out again. This time, it buffered for about half a minute before the video resumed playback.

Compared to Facebook, which loads with a single swipe, this speed is indeed a bit slow.

"Robert, if we watch a movie normally without skipping any parts, how many times on average will there be buffering or stuttering?"

Robert glanced at his notebook: "On average, it only happens once, but this data is from a local area network, and the survey template is too limited. If it were expanded to millions or tens of millions of people watching at the same time, the frequency of buffering would definitely increase."

"Is there really no way to solve this?" Eric asked, somewhat annoyed.

"No, if the internet speed issue can't be resolved, then this problem can't be solved. Besides, the United States already has the fastest internet speed in the world. If even we can't handle it, other countries will be even less able to. Their internet will only be slower, more choppy, and the picture quality will be even lower."

"Internet speed! Internet speed!" Eric tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

"Robert, civilian networks aren't fast enough. Would military networks work? In our naive thinking, military networks would definitely be more efficient, right?"

Upon hearing this, Robert Mirren stared wide-eyed at Eric.

He couldn't believe that his boss could always find so many brilliant ideas and come up with such imaginative thoughts.

He wiped the dust off his glasses and stammered, "Theoretically speaking, that's true. The networks used by the military are different from those used by civilians. The transmission cables alone are on a completely different level, and the speeds differ by several times or even more than ten times."

"Because the military network deals with war, for example, when a reconnaissance plane flies around the position, the amount of image data transmitted back is immeasurable. Not only is speed required, but quality is also essential."

"If we can use the military network for commercial purposes, all the problems can be solved. The only problem we face is the capacity of the server. We may need a room, an office floor, or even an entire building as a data storage center."

"But boss, I've never heard of military networks being converted for civilian use. Does this involve security issues? And the Ministry of National Defense wouldn't allow it."

Eric took a sip of water: "You don't need to worry about it. This is the problem I need to solve. There's no precedent for this because no one has brought it up. Every field needs a pioneer."

"Alright, continue."

Robert nodded: "Boss, besides the limitation of internet speed, another difficulty lies in the algorithm."

"As per your request, we have been simulating the development of Netflix's user preference recommendation algorithm, but progress is still insufficient. As far as I know, Netflix took more than a year from research to launch of this feature, and it continues to improve it. We need more time."

The algorithm that Eric requested to develop is essentially equivalent to big data recommendation in later generations. It remembers users' preferences and continuously pushes similar content to increase user engagement.

Although Netflix is ​​still primarily a video rental service, it developed a similar feature several years ago.

Once you log in to their official website and make a purchase, the website will recommend similar videos to you every time you log in.

The importance of this feature is self-evident, especially for streaming platforms and YouTube, and even for short videos in the mobile internet era, it is a core technology.

"With our current R&D team, how long would it take to develop this algorithm?"

Faced with this question, Robert did not give a definite answer, but hesitated and could not speak.

"Robert, what's wrong? Have you suddenly lost your confidence?"

After thinking for a while, Robert gave a vague answer hesitantly.

"Next year, I think it will most likely be the second half of next year. Please forgive me, but I really can't be sure about the exact month."

"Boss, your requirements are more accurate and precise than Netflix's recommendation algorithm, which requires an order of magnitude increase in the underlying logical operations."

"In fact, many people in our tech circle believe that artificial intelligence will definitely become prevalent in the future, and perhaps one day it will even develop self-awareness."

"It will be able to learn, recognize, and even evolve autonomously, just like HAL the robot in '2001: A Space Odyssey'."

"The algorithm you requested to develop can be understood as a prototype of this type of artificial intelligence. Creating such a thing is extremely difficult."

"I'm sorry, my explanation might be a bit disorganized, but it's actually quite difficult. Do you understand?"

Robert Mirren is the kind of tech geek that is generally perceived as traditional. He only knows how to stay in his room and do development, and he has little interest in socializing. Over time, he has even begun to fear socializing.

Seeing his flustered and incoherent state, Eric comforted him, "Relax, Robert. I'm not putting pressure on you. Relax, okay?"

Robert Mirren took a deep breath and calmed himself down: "Boss, basically, when a website can recommend suitable products to users, then it's essentially a salesperson with its own consciousness."

"If you compare Netflix's algorithm to a new employee, it needs the same customer to buy things 10 times before it can figure out their preferences."

"I want to make this number nine times. It seems like it only reduces one time, but the amount of computation required behind it increases exponentially."

Eric rubbed his temples. He didn't understand the technical stuff, so he simply asked, "What about adding Howard's team? The algorithms of Lionheart and YouTube should be compatible, right?"

Howard Hughes pressed down on Robert Mirren's wrist, signaling him to stop.

How could Eric possibly understand what you're saying? They're providing so much funding because they want results!

"Boss, the basic architecture of the algorithm can be universal, but there are differences in the details. YouTube is more complex."

"So I've been working with Robert's team, but even with joint development, progress has been slow."

"If you want to see the algorithm released by the end of this year, the only way is to increase manpower. I suggest hiring another batch of technical personnel."

Eric nodded to himself. Howard's speech was much clearer and more logical. He hadn't even mentioned a timeframe, yet Howard had already set a deadline of the end of the year.

What a great employee it is to put so much pressure on themselves!

As the boss, I can't be stingy either.

How many people do you want?

"At least 150!"

Eric didn't hesitate at all: "Okay, then I'll give you 150. I'll arrange for people to recruit as soon as possible. You two will participate, or you can directly suggest anyone you're interested in. If they're from other companies, poach them!"

"I want to see your results before Christmas 2003, understand?"

Howard and Robert exchanged a glance and simultaneously patted their chests, promising to complete the mission.

"Boss, what about the launch of Lionheart.com and YouTube?"

"Once the basic functions are complete, we will launch it normally. Other functions will be improved later. One more thing, I want to mention that I require accounts to be interoperable across the three platforms. Users only need to register once to log in to all three platforms. Is it difficult to implement this function?"

Heisenberg smiled and said, "No, it's very simple. As long as the architecture is similar and the database storage is adjusted to the same format, it's easy to achieve."

"It's that simple?" Eric asked incredulously.

"Yes, it's really simple."

"Then why can't accounts be linked across Google's products? I thought it was a technical issue."

Howard shook his head: "It has nothing to do with technology. It's probably due to profit distribution. Many of Google's software programs are owned by different subsidiaries."

"Some of these subsidiaries are wholly owned by Google, while others are only partially owned by Google."

"Once accounts are interconnected, it will greatly benefit users and drive the flow of traffic, like breaking up the forks of two rivers."

"Once traffic increases, profits will rise, and then the issue of distribution will arise."

"Even Google's wholly owned subsidiaries are managed by different teams, factions, and cliques, and there is fierce competition among them."

"What's more, those holding companies also have to face the demands of their partners; just negotiating alone is enough to be agonizing."

Knowing the reason, Eric chuckled: "In that case, we've essentially set a precedent in the industry again."

"Yes, boss. Under your leadership, the absence of internal strife will be a major advantage for us, so Heisenberg, Robert, and I are all willing to follow you."

"We firmly believe that under your leadership, the company will become a new generation of internet giant, a super giant comparable to Google and Microsoft!"

Eric tapped the table lightly: "Then it's settled. Today is May 24th. Go back and prepare diligently. Facebook will officially launch on June 1st."

"At that time, we can proudly announce one thing: the world's first social network has been born!"

"And you, my friends, you are all heroes! You will all be forever recorded in history!"

On the way back to Silicon Valley, the three teams chatted amongst themselves on the bus.

Most of them are not very good at interpersonal communication, but they get along very well with their colleagues. One of the girls on Howard's team has become a couple with a young man on Heisenberg's team.

"Hey! Have you guys noticed? Eric Cooper may not understand technology, but he's really amazing. His ideas always hit the nail on the head when it comes to our interests."

"Charlie, that's what creativity is all about. That's why some young people can become bosses, while we can only write code," sighed a nearly thirty-year-old programmer.

"I heard he's also a director. Directors are all people with incredibly vivid imaginations. No wonder he could come up with Lionheart.com, Facebook, and YouTube, and how they complement each other and can provide resource support to one another. Eric Cooper is simply a genius!"

"Haha, more important to me than his genius is his position as vice president of MGM. Without financial support, even the best ideas can't be realized."

"Boss, since Eric is a big shot in Hollywood, could you ask him for a suggestion to invite a few celebrities to the company for a celebration at the end of the year?" A young man wearing a baseball cap asked Howard Hughes.

Howard smiled and said, "If you can come up with the algorithm before Christmas, I'll go and ask Eric for it, how about that?"

"Agreed! I hope it's Julia Roberts, I absolutely love her Notting Hill."

"Julia Roberts' mouth is too big. Cameron Diaz is much better. Her Charlie's Angels is really sexy."

"Are you kidding me? Can't you guys talk about some young actresses? I think Jessica Alba is much better."

"Discrimination! Why are they all actresses?! You bunch of nerds, I like Orlando Bloom."

(End of this chapter)