Zuckerberg’s Legendary Misadventure

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Happy Friday, Future Party. We may all be taking for granted the incredible deep-space photographs high-powered telescopes have captured over the decades. But with so many private satellites now orbiting Earth, it’s becoming harder for the Hubble Telescope to get clean images. Instead, its snapshots are increasingly criss-crossed by satellite trails. NASA estimates that nearly 40% of its pictures could be ruined by this light pollution over the next decade. So, if you get annoyed when strangers photobomb your pictures, NASA feels you.

Meta’s big bet on the metaverse — Mark Zuckerberg did change the name of his company to Meta, after all — is coming up short, prompting a major budget cut for its Reality Labs division next year.

The Big Picture: Reality Labs has lost more than $70 billion since 2021, sparking concern from Wall Street analysts and major shareholders. While Zuck has stopped mentioning the metaverse in earnings calls, he reportedly still believes in a future digital world where people work and play. But the breakneck AI race is now consuming most of the company’s resources.

Behind The Cuts: Meta plans to cut up to 30% of Reality Labs’ budget in 2026.

Closing Thoughts: Facebook’s rebrand to Meta may go down as the biggest “putting the cart before the horse” corporate move in Silicon Valley history. While the metaverse was hyped during COVID, competition in the space never really materialized, and the public wasn’t all that interested. In fact, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth wrote in a memo a year ago saying 2025 would be critical for tech’s future at the company, openly wondering if it would be a “legendary misadventure.”

While Bosworth may have been proven right, part of the savings from the metaverse cuts will be redirected to other projects within Reality Labs that are working. That includes AI glasses (its Ray-Ban partnership has been a bright spot) and immersive entertainment (it’s making 3D projects with James Cameron). In fact, Meta just hired top Apple designer Alan Dye to head up a new design studio that will blend hardware, software, and AI. Talk about a pivot.

The Future: While wide adoption of the metaverse may never come to fruition, Reality Labs might still have the goods to lead the development of mixed-reality entertainment… especially as Apple quietly backs away from expanding the Vision Pro.

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3D volumetric video startup Arcturus has raised a fresh round of funding to expand its ability to transform live sports into immersive 3D experiences.

Why It Scores: Sports rights are now the hottest (and most expensive) line item for any broadcaster or streaming service. So, every brand is looking to level up its offerings to consumers to justify raising prices for access.

Behind The Tech: Arcturus is using the combined brainpower of veterans from Microsoft, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Pixar, and Unity to reboot how we watch live sports.

Final Round: So, how does this tech actually work? According to Axios, Arcturus uses sensors to “capture multiple viewpoints of live game,” which the company then turns into “a high-definition 3D reconstruction that could be shown on TV broadcasts or viewed interactively on mobile, desktop, and virtual reality devices.”

In simpler terms, CEO Steve Sullivan (who led R&D at ILM for a decade) says it’s a “3D copy of the game,” so it can be viewed at literally any angle. That could prove useful not only to audiences but also to coaches, referees, and umpires looking to review plays.

Next Game: By putting audiences literally in the game, sports fans may exponentially increase their subscription budgets. Who doesn’t want to watch a game from the POV of inside the catcher’s mitt? (Yeah, that’s a real thing Sullivan says can happen.)

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37.4% of you voted I prefer traditional, linear storytelling. in yesterday’s poll: How do you feel about choose-your-own-adventure storytelling in movies, TV shows, or games?

“Really, what’s the point if you get to set the flow of a story? There can only be ‘so many’ variables anyway. It’s just a special feature to try and get people to watch.”

“I loved choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid, and that translated to my love of RPGs as an adult. You want a high degree of agency in a video game, so that it actually feels like you’re part of the story. But TV shows and movies are meant to be a guided experience with a singular vision. Fracturing the narrative only weakens the impact.”

“I wonder if younger generations who grew up on games where you can interact, build, and change things (e.g., Minecraft, Roblox) will feel differently from those of us who had to run the path that was set. I might not like this, but interaction feels inevitable for engagement. It might be too soon for a horror — but let’s see!”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🚀 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman explored buying startup Stoke Space to compete with SpaceX.

🚚 California is considering reversing its ban on autonomous trucks.

🤖 It turns out you can trick chatbots into doing illegal things if you tell them to do so through poetry.

🎙️ The New York Stock Exchange has struck a deal with video podcast TBPN to give people an inside look into the public market.

🎨 Pantone’s color of the year is “Cloud Dancer”… a shade of white.

👟 Adidas has prevailed in court against a lawsuit that alleged the footwear giant hid Ye’s behavior.

🎮 Roblox is getting into esports with an LA-set “Creator Showdown” that has a prize of $50,000.

📱 TikTok is testing a new feed called “Nearby Feed,” which serves content near where you’re located.

🫠 Grok is doxxing random X users. Yikes.