Meta VR Event; Google Pixel Event; WhatsApp Chat Surveys; Musk Fretted Over WW3

October is shaping up to be busy for tech product rollouts. Meta Connect will be October 11th. It’s a virtual event, bowing Meta’s next steps in VR and AR. According to uploadvr.com, we should see the new high-end Quest Pro standalone headset that CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently teased. Meta has put on Connect yearly since 2014 touting Facebook’s (and before that Oculus’) AR and VR vision. The reveal of the Quest Pro standalone headset should make this Connect the biggest ever. 

October 6th will be the date that Google will show off the Pixel 7 and the Pixel Watch. 9to5google.com reports that it will be live streamed starting at 10 am Eastern, from the company’s in-person event in Brooklyn. This will be the first in person event from Google in 2 years after going all virtual during the pandemic. Quite a bit has leaked out about the phones and the watches, but the real reveal-as usual- will be the new, AI-backed software that Google has baked into the phones. 

As if SurveyMonkey surveys and other ‘quick’ email link surveys weren’t enough, WhatsApp is now working on developing a chat style in-app survey to get feedback from users. Androidpolice.com says that at least it’s an opt in item, and that you can block the WhatsApp Surveys account just like you would any other account. So far, it’s just been spotted in a beta for iOS, but you can be sure they will be putting it on Android as well. It appears the surveys will not be used to ask users for desired features or other big changes to the platform, but it more for checking how things are going for beta testers during development.

Attorneys for Twitter are saying that Elon Musk’s desire to bail out of the Twitter deal was not about ‘bots…it was because  “… it won’t make sense to buy Twitter if we’re headed into World War 3.” According to engadget.com, that remark came from a text Musk sent to his banker at Morgan Stanley. Meanwhile, Twitter cast former head of security Pieter Zatko as a ‘disgruntled employee’ with a ‘huge ax to grind,’ while the Musk team called Zatko’s credentials ‘decorated.’ They claim Twitter purposely hid damaging information. “Why didn’t we discover this in diligence,” Musk’s lawyer said, referencing Zatko’s whistleblower complaint. “They hid it, that’s why.” “We’ll never know, right,” the judge responded. “Because the diligence didn’t happen.” Yes, the judge pointed out that they had WAIVED due diligence! The drama slogs on….