Hyped AR Tech Firm Blippar Collapses Into Administration (bbc.com) 65
One of the great hopes of the UK tech sector, Blippar, has collapsed into administration over a funding row. BBC News reports: The augmented reality firm was co-founded by Ambarish Mitra, and its technology was used in a partnership with the BBC's Planet Earth II series. Blippar was one of the UK's tech "Unicorns" -- start-up businesses that are worth $1bn or more. Mr Mitra became a brand ambassador for the UK to promote British innovation around the world. He claimed to have founded his business from a Delhi slum, leading him to be dubbed a "real-life Slumdog Millionaire". However, the Financial Times ran a profile disputing many of Mr Mitra's claims about his birth and his business development.
It seemed to be one of the brightest stars in London's tech firmament, raising big sums from American and Malaysian backers who bought into the message that augmented reality was the next big thing. So why has the Blippar bubble burst? A few years ago it did appear to have something groundbreaking -- you could point its phone app at everyday objects and they would animate into action, give you useful information or serve up an advert.
But the business appeared to depend on a very fickle set of customers -- advertising agencies wanting to use its augmented reality tools in their campaigns. Not only are much bigger firms offering similar technology but big brands seem to have concluded that it's a gimmick whose time may already have passed. What's more Blippar suffered from a lack of focus, trying out a range of ideas -- making an app for Google Glass, opening a Silicon Valley office, launching a facial recognition service.
It seemed to be one of the brightest stars in London's tech firmament, raising big sums from American and Malaysian backers who bought into the message that augmented reality was the next big thing. So why has the Blippar bubble burst? A few years ago it did appear to have something groundbreaking -- you could point its phone app at everyday objects and they would animate into action, give you useful information or serve up an advert.
But the business appeared to depend on a very fickle set of customers -- advertising agencies wanting to use its augmented reality tools in their campaigns. Not only are much bigger firms offering similar technology but big brands seem to have concluded that it's a gimmick whose time may already have passed. What's more Blippar suffered from a lack of focus, trying out a range of ideas -- making an app for Google Glass, opening a Silicon Valley office, launching a facial recognition service.
What's with these crap names (Score:2)
A random collection of characters would be superior to suggesting that you will be a blip at best.
Has anyone ever heard of these guys? Blipper indeed.
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You might be interested to know that the UK does pump out a lot of rifles and guns. This isn't some gun free haven like slashdot might have you believe. Our laws are roundabout in line with a lot of US states mostly.
No they aren't. At all.
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Yeah, I'm with you...as far as I know in the UK, even if you 'can' privately own at home, semi-auto rifles/handguns....
I doubt seriously over there that you can:
1. Own all guns you want, without having to register them with any government entity.
2. Don't have to ap
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I can't think of any other company which could make the back of a Lucky Charms cereal box be animated when viewed with a smartphone.
I don't see how this can make big bucks though.
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A random collection of characters would be superior to suggesting that you will be a blip at best.
Has anyone ever heard of these guys? Blipper indeed.
It's even worse... Blippar... Which is an absolutely terrible name for a UK company as that word does not fit comfortably into any UK accent. Company deserves to die for that alone.
British words are funny (Score:5, Funny)
Better watch out for all the depressed hedge fund managers jumping in front of lorries or taking the lift and jumping out of the first floor window onto the concrete below. It's all a bit sticky.
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"Gone into administration" means that a third party has been appointed to oversee the emergency rescue/shutdown of the company. I'm not sure how that's less intuitive than saying "Gone into chapter 7"...
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Yea the British words annoy me, specifically always calling things a 'row', but it is a less sensational headline to just say a company we never heard of went 'bankrupt', less clicky click baits by confused non-british-persons.
'Row' is a bit of Tabloidese, it's nice and short compared with dispute, argument, disagreement or whatever, plus it sounds a bit fighty.
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Voluntary administration is not the same thing as bankruptcy. This is slashdot - being correct matters.
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Arrays of floors start at ZERO!
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Oi, are you taking the piss there, you cheeky cobber?
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When you're a small startup you concentrate on one thing and do it well. You don't throw money at a wall and see where it sticks. Sure , when you're a multi billion dollar company like Google then you can blow all the money you like on pie in the sky, but when you've got bank loans and/or vencture capitalists on your back you need to make damn sure you concentrate all your resources on producing a working product.
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When you're a small startup you concentrate on one thing and do it well. You don't throw money at a wall and see where it sticks. Sure , when you're a multi billion dollar company like Google then you can blow all the money you like on pie in the sky, but when you've got bank loans and/or vencture capitalists on your back you need to make damn sure you concentrate all your resources on producing a working product.
In any other industry, a 'small startup' wouldn't be valued at a billion dollars, and wouldn't give the founders anything like the same delusions of grandeur.
The only things these firms have in common... (Score:2)
... with Unicorns is that they're both fantasy.
Just who are the clueless financial fuckwits who value these companies? Whoever they are I do hope they're not involved in managing my pension pot.
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... with Unicorns is that they're both fantasy.
A unicorn company is really a donkey with a dead carrot tied to its forehead.
http://pbfcomics.com/comics/the-last-unicorns/
That's the beauty of the term (Score:2)
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Here you go....
https://www.ft.com/content/d9b... [ft.com]
Can we get normal super-summaries (Score:2)
Can we go back to one sentence summaries (or maybe even multisentence summaries) that aren't just verbatum pulled from the article. For instance, "Blippar, once valued at the unicorn level of over a billion dollars, is bankrupt because they couldn't get more VC funding". You could even go on "Two hypothesized causes are that AR is no longer a technology VCs believe will be exciting, and Blippar hopped on every bandwagon tangentially related to AR because they lacked direction."
How hard is that?
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Only thing that puzzled me was the phrase "collapsed into administration". What does that even mean? Their new product line helps administrators?
but a commentator upstream said it's a British phrase, meaning a third-party administrator is appointed and now running the show to avoid bankruptcy.
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It's literally the first line of the article (or the caption under the picture at the top of the article.) If it's going to be copied, at least be honest enough to put it in blockquotes.
VR/AR (Score:3)
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That is patently false. Both VR and AR are successfully being used in business applications right now, and many average citizens could benefit from the technology as well if it were more affordable. What is probably if not provably true is that it's too soon to sell it to the general public, because neither the utility nor the novelty justifies the price.
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Oh let me guess: car manufacturers are using AR so the workers don't have to consult paper manuals when building/servicing cars?
That's a thing, and it's a real thing. As you would know if you ever serviced cars, going back and forth between the vehicle and the documentation can eat up significant amounts of time. But there are lots of other ways in which AR could be a benefit while working with your hands. What if the current measurement from a digital caliper would show up on your display? What if you could simply look at a part number and have the application pop up? I can do this all day.
Here Bob, put this $5000 AR headset on so you don't have to walk away to consult a $100 paper book.
Paper documentation sets for many vehicles
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Definitely a real thing. I saw it in the marketing brochure.
Sounds like that's the closest you've been to auto maintenance. Let us know when you have some relevant experience so we can start paying attention to your opinions.
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No I see auto mechanics walking around with $5000 AR goggles quite a bit.
Wow, you've seen a mechanic! Clearly you're a qualified source on what would be useful to one! Thanks for making Slashdot great again!
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well then ... (Score:2)
... I mean administrators do kind of reek of failure but really, this isn't called for ...
(Yes, I know it's Brit speak. It was a joke. I'll show myself out.)
Blimey! (Score:3)
So why has the Blippar bubble burst?
Beginning to believe that the Blippar bubble burst because it was being blatently balderdash, bless your heart!
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So why has the Blippar bubble burst?
Beginning to believe that the Blippar bubble burst because it was being blatently balderdash, bless your heart!
Blatantly bollocks.
Blip? (Score:2)
What? (Score:2)
"...Collapses Into Administration"
Wat does that mean? Is that similar to bankruptcy or Chapter 11?
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Administration in that context in the UK is when you've fucked up your company too bad and other people have to come in to liquify your assets etc and pay as much of your debt as possible because you can't be trusted to do it yourself. Dunno who pays them though.
Ahhh, thank you. I figured it was something along those lines but I appreciate the clarification.
It's similar to what the government here is doing to Trump's 'charitable' foundation, which was charitable only to him.
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What a surprise (Score:2)