The Campfire Project

In about a decade, Facebook has gone from connect students on college campuses to building laser-equipped drones to beam the internet down to people in places that lack connectivity. It’s a monolith, so large and imposing that many see it as not only their front door to the web, but the web itself. And that’s exactly why the company’s yearly developer conference, F8, is so important - because as Facebook’s story changes, so too do the stories of over a billion people across the planet using its services. So today, on Episode 89 of The Campfire Project, a rundown of Facebook’s 10 year roadmap and how it will help us tell better stories.

The smart home has long been a dream. Think of how much simpler, easier – cooler – it would be to have a personal assistant help you manage all the daily chores, everything from raising the temperature to locking the doors. Just a few more little things you’d no longer have to think about. The poster child for bringing this connected vision to reality is Nest, the home automation company that burst onto the scene a few years ago and was soon acquired by Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Led by Tony Fadell, the man behind the iconic iPod, the tech sphere had high hopes for the company. But the company is failing, and with it, so too is the idea of a smart home.

Instagram's new algorithm.

Presidential election cycles aside, the reality of day-to-day life can be a little, well, dull. We fill our down time with games and movies and Facebook, but those experiences, while positive in their own ways, can’t quite measure up to the immersive experience of reality itself. They’re worlds are too small, too fragile, too easily shattered. But what if you could build whole new realities? Ones with just as much depth as our own, where you can jump from story to story and be the hero in a thousand different worlds? That’s the power of virtual reality, and it’s one that we finally seem to be on the cusp of achieving.

Two weeks ago, we discussed Donald Trump’s improbably rise to the top of the Republican field for the US Presidency, and how, after a series of primary wins, it was looking increasingly unlikely that the other candidates would be able to catch up. Earlier this week, protestors in Chicago decided to take matters into their own hands, protesting both in and outside of a Trump rally where the frontrunner was scheduled to speak. Things got ugly, the speech was cancelled. In part 2 of this story, a look at how a country seems to be coming apart.

Donald Trump entered the already crowded Republican presidential race mid-way through June of last year, and immediately began making waves. Trump launched his campaign by accusing Mexican immigrants of being criminals and rapists, and the incendiary rhetoric only ramped up from there. No one thought it a serious challenge. Yet here we are, several months and 4 primary states later. Trump is winning. The party is scrambling, and no one’s sure what will happen next. Could this be the defining political story of our time?

After the attack in San Bernardino last fall, law enforcement began combing for clues that could shed insight into the events leading up to the murders. Among other things recovered was an iPhone 5C, given to one of the attackers through his work - a device which could possibly hold crucial information for the investigation. However, it’s also locked. And the one man who knew the passcode is dead. Now, the federal government is asking Apple to assist in breaking through the phone’s security features. And while this case may make the choice seem obvious, the precedent set could have far reaching effects on our connected lives.

Back in July of 2015, a certain podcaster made a bit of a fuss when he published an article noting that he was saying goodbye to his friends, family and loved ones on Facebook. He’d still be available elsewhere online - Twitter for instance - but would no longer be held hostage by the big blue F. Now it’s a new year, and that podcaster - our own Chris Domico - is back on the Book. So this week, Chris takes us through his decision to leave and return to Zuckerberg’s app, and wonder if you can really exist on the web without it.

The definition of work is changing, and with it so are the tools we used to get things done. With the rise of powerful smartphones and large-screen tablets, people are free to work untethered from the old office cube on the same devices they use to unwind after a hard day. So today, on Episode 81 of The Campfire Project some thoughts on how our devices change the way we get things done.

In April of 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan switched its water supply from nearby Detroit to the Flint River in a cost-cutting measure meant to save the city millions after its economic fall. The consequences were immediate, and disastrous, but through secrecy, denial and bungled management, nothing was done. Two years later, there’s a state of emergency in an American city - its residents mostly poor - cannot drink the water that flows out of their taps, and messages both leaked and released show that the city knew well before any steps were taken.