1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: He there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and listener Charlie Kniehouse 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: tweeted to the show a couple of weeks back, asking 6 00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: that I do an episode covering the company Niantic, which 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: is arguably most famous for bringing the game Pokemon Go 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: to the world. And that's a great idea. In fact, 9 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: it's so good that it's going to be two episodes. 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,279 Speaker 1: This is just episode one. Now. I'm pretty sure that 11 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,280 Speaker 1: tech Stuff way back in the day covered Pokemon Go 12 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: when it first came out, But there is a lot 13 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: more to talk about now. Plus now I actually know 14 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: what Pokemon's are and as they say, you got to 15 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: get all of them. But I kid the millennials, This 16 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,680 Speaker 1: old Gen X podcaster is gonna die into the story 17 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,039 Speaker 1: of Niantic, the games that has produced, and the tech 18 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,759 Speaker 1: that makes it all possible. We'll talk a bit about 19 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:12,640 Speaker 1: augmented reality, GEO location and combining online in real world experiences, 20 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: and in the next episode will also cover stuff like 21 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: micro transactions too, because those will also come into play, 22 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 1: and they're incredibly important. But first, let's learn the history 23 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: of the company. Our story begins in eighteen forty nine. Okay, 24 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:32,680 Speaker 1: not really, but I do want to cover the origin 25 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: of the name, which actually comes fairly late in our story. 26 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: But I want to talk about the origin itself first 27 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 1: because it's a neat story that I did not know 28 00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 1: until I looked into this, you know topic. So back 29 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: in the mid nineteenth century, the gold rush was in 30 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: full swing out in California, and it brought people from 31 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: all over North and Central America and beyond, and nearly 32 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: two hundred fifty fortune hunters from Panama boarded a ship 33 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: named the Niantic. Now the Niantic was originally built in 34 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: Connecticut and was quickly finding that this would be a 35 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: very lucrative business transporting people to California. So this ship 36 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: was originating out of Panama bound for San Francisco, and 37 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 1: the ship made it to San Francisco safely, and all 38 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: the passengers jumped on out to search for gold, and 39 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: shortly after that most of the crew left as well. 40 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,960 Speaker 1: In fact, each day that passed more crew were deserting 41 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 1: the ship, and the crew were just convinced they had 42 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: a better chance of making their fortune if they looked 43 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: for gold rather than, you know, try and sail on 44 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: a boat. So they the owners had a couple of choices. 45 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: They could try to recruit a new crew, but that 46 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: was hard to do. Everyone wanted to go search for gold. 47 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: Or they could just say, yeah, how about we look 48 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:58,440 Speaker 1: for gold too, So they made the decision to beach 49 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: the vessel at the corner of Clay and Sandso Streets. 50 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,800 Speaker 1: Now these days that intersection is about five blocks away 51 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 1: from the piers at San Francisco. However, back in eighty 52 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: nine they were part of the shoreline for the city. 53 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: The Niantic became a store for a little while. Then 54 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: it was built into a hotel, like you had the 55 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: front of a boat sticking out of this hotel. But 56 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: the Great Fire of eighteen fifty one burned the ship 57 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,160 Speaker 1: down to the waterline, along with much of San Francisco. 58 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: The city rebuilt, and they used a lot of the 59 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: debris and rubble to create a landfill, and they built 60 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: the shoreline out. It extended out several blocks from where 61 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: it had been, and the remains of the Niantic were 62 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: buried underneath the new Land. So under that intersection there 63 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:52,600 Speaker 1: are the remains of the ship Niantic. What does this 64 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: have to do with the company, Well, it's you know 65 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: where the name came from. But otherwise I admit that 66 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,480 Speaker 1: this was a tangent. However, I thought it was way 67 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: too knee to pass up. Why should Nolan Ben get 68 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: all the fun over at ridiculous history? The story of 69 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: the company itself, you could argue, would begin with Google 70 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,480 Speaker 1: right around twenty ten. And I should add that there 71 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: are a series of articles on tech Crunch written by 72 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: Greg Komparek that were absolutely pivotal for my research. Komparek 73 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: did an amazing job and I'm just gonna lightly skimmed 74 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: the surface of some of the stuff he covered, So 75 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,040 Speaker 1: I highly recommend checking out those articles if you want 76 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: to learn more. They are behind a paywall, but you know, 77 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 1: good content is worth paying for anyway. I also should 78 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: add I don't have any affiliation with him. I don't 79 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 1: know him, never met him, but I really like these articles. 80 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: Let's get back to it. The Google of twenty ten 81 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: was a bit different from the Google of today. It 82 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: was well on its way to being a mega corporation 83 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: that was already in the cards. It had already launched Android, 84 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,799 Speaker 1: it had already released Google Chrome, it had purchased YouTube, 85 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: but Eric Schmidt was still CEO back then, and the 86 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: company had incentives in place to encourage employees to innovate 87 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: and work on things outside their normal work projects. In fact, 88 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:15,920 Speaker 1: until Google had an official policy that said employees could 89 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: use up to twenty percent of their work hours to 90 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: work on their own projects, many of which would evolve 91 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 1: into official Google projects or get incorporated into existing ones. 92 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: The company also encouraged employees to come up with startup ideas, 93 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: turning Google into a sort of incubator for startups. It 94 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,159 Speaker 1: gave employees who had ideas the support they needed to 95 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: experiment and see if their concepts could be viable businesses, 96 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,360 Speaker 1: and most importantly, it kept them at Google. They wouldn't just, 97 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: you know, leave to go and do it themselves. One 98 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: of those employees was John Hank, who, spoiler alert, would 99 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: go on to found Niantic. And Hank's story is a 100 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: bit more complicated than just saying he was a Google employee. 101 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: He actually worked for a different company that got fired 102 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: by Google several years earlier. In fact, let's spend some 103 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: time to learn about Hank. He was born in nineteen 104 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 1: and he grew up in Texas. He attended Cross Plains 105 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: High School. He enrolled at the University of Texas at 106 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: Austin to get his undergrad degree, and a few years 107 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:21,760 Speaker 1: later he enrolled in grad school at the University of California, Berkeley. 108 00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: That's where he earned his m b a. He also 109 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: worked at three d O as a producer for a 110 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: couple of years. I did a full episode about three 111 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: d O last year titled The Tragedy of three d OH. 112 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: So I'm not going to go into a full rundown 113 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: of what happened at that company here, However, I'll give 114 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: you a quick overview the three d O. The console 115 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: was really more of a set of specifications, which meant 116 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 1: that the company behind it created the design for how 117 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,160 Speaker 1: the console would work from a functional standpoint, but then 118 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: they licensed that out to manufacturers who would then make 119 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: their own version of that console. Ideally, this would mean 120 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: you could buy I in a version of the three 121 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: d O console form you could buy it from like 122 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:09,280 Speaker 1: LG or Pana Sonic or whatever, and each version would 123 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: have its own look to it based on what the 124 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: manufacturer made, but they should all be able to play 125 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: the same games that have been made for the three 126 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: D O platform. Unfortunately, this business approach failed to catch on, 127 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: and not long after Hank joined the team, the company 128 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 1: was all but extinct, but Hank co founded a new 129 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 1: company called The Big Network and served as its chief 130 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: operating officer. The Big Network served as sort of a 131 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: nexus of casual games online stuff like you know, puzzle games, 132 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: card games, trivia games, that kind of thing. It was 133 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: meant to appeal to a wide spectrum of people, not 134 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: just those who refer to themselves as gamers. The company 135 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: aimed to create an interactive online space where people could 136 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: get together and play these games. Not long after they 137 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: founded The Big Network, another company came around with an 138 00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: acquisition offer. That company was e Universe, a retail company 139 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:07,120 Speaker 1: that mainly sold music and video media. The company would 140 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: go on to become Intermix Media, Incorporated, which would arguably 141 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: be best known for being part of one of the 142 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: worst acquisitions in tech history. That would be when Rupert 143 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 1: Murdock's News Corporation acquired Intermix for more than half a 144 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:25,720 Speaker 1: billion dollars around two thousand five, and that was mostly 145 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: because Intermix happened to own a little social media site 146 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,679 Speaker 1: called MySpace. But of course we know that deal didn't 147 00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: work out so well for dus core, but this isn't 148 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:38,079 Speaker 1: a story about them. And anyway, the e Universe acquisition 149 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: of Big Network meant Hank, as a co founder, came 150 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: into a decent amount of money. His next venture was 151 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: to co found a new company called Keyhole, and even 152 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: that is oversimplifying things a bit, as Keyhole itself grew 153 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:55,880 Speaker 1: out of a separate company called Intrinsic Graphics. And I 154 00:08:55,920 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 1: know stories are complicated, all right, So Intrinsic Ethics existed 155 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:04,560 Speaker 1: independently before John Hank got involved. It was a pre 156 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: existing company and the company's main goal was to create 157 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,080 Speaker 1: a cross platform video game engine. So, in other words, 158 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,680 Speaker 1: it would be an underlying technology that would allow game 159 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: developers to create games on top of it, and those 160 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: games could run on different types of machines like Mac 161 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: and PC and game consoles, which would mean that game 162 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: developers would be able to create games, or at least 163 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: the foundation of games that would then be able to 164 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: run on all these different systems in a more efficient 165 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,960 Speaker 1: way than just contracting the job out to some other 166 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,480 Speaker 1: company to make a port of their video game. Well, 167 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,520 Speaker 1: one of the things that Intrinsic Graphics made was a 168 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,839 Speaker 1: demo in which you could see a zoom dealt view 169 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,679 Speaker 1: of the Earth and then you could zoom into it 170 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: like a lot. You could go from an orbital altitude 171 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 1: to a satellite view of your home. And the demo 172 00:09:56,800 --> 00:09:58,679 Speaker 1: was a really big hit. In fact, it was big 173 00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: enough that Intrinsic Games decided to spin off the demo 174 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: as the cornerstone of a new company. That company would 175 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,400 Speaker 1: be Keyhole, the one that John Hank would join right 176 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: at the start in two thousands, so he was a 177 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: co founder. Though he came into the team, he was 178 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: not part of the Intrinsic Graphics group. So Intrinsic Graphics 179 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,680 Speaker 1: made tools that could work on multiple platforms, but that 180 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:27,120 Speaker 1: tool was really expensive and it was ahead of its time. 181 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: Other companies would later make this their core business, but 182 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 1: at the time in two thousand it was really untenable, 183 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: and Intrinsic Graphics faltered and shut down in two thousand 184 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,400 Speaker 1: three and sold off its assets. But the leaders at 185 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 1: Keyhole were able to spin off from Intrinsic Graphics and 186 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 1: they were able to keep things moving by themselves. However, 187 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,720 Speaker 1: it wasn't easy. The company was not generating a ton 188 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:54,120 Speaker 1: of revenue, and from the sound of things, was flirting 189 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: with following in intrinsic Graphics footsteps and shutting down prematurely. 190 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,400 Speaker 1: Keyhole landed a few contracts that kept things moving, including 191 00:11:03,480 --> 00:11:07,200 Speaker 1: one with the US Central Intelligence Agency or c i A. 192 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,640 Speaker 1: But it was really touch and go for a while, 193 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: and then Google decided it just had to have Keyhole, 194 00:11:15,200 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: and Google pounced on it in two thousand and four, 195 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,839 Speaker 1: and that is how John Hank became a Googler. He 196 00:11:22,880 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: went along with Keyhole to Google. Now. According to Hank, 197 00:11:26,440 --> 00:11:28,800 Speaker 1: he thought he would be at the company for about 198 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 1: six months, and it turned out it was more like 199 00:11:31,600 --> 00:11:35,360 Speaker 1: a decade. Keyhole would become the core of the Google 200 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:38,520 Speaker 1: Earth product, and Hank, over time would go on to 201 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: oversee Google's GEO products, so stuff like Google Maps and 202 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: Google Earth. And that brings us back up to the 203 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: year twenty ten. That was the year that Google CEO 204 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,320 Speaker 1: Schmidt announced that Marissa Meyer would shift her focus from 205 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: the search division at Google to the GEO division, and 206 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: Hank felt like he was in a bit of a squeeze. 207 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: He was already overseeing that division and felt that there 208 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: really wasn't enough room from a leadership standpoint for both 209 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:11,000 Speaker 1: Meyer and himself. And one of these days I'll have 210 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: to do a full episode about Marissa Meyer, because she 211 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: is a very important person in technology. She's been involved 212 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: in some pretty massive stories, some of them really rocky ones. 213 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: But I should also add that Hank never criticized Meyer. 214 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,040 Speaker 1: He said he actually thought she was a really good leader, 215 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: a good boss, and he liked her. But his concern 216 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: was that her job and his job would overlap so 217 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 1: much that he would largely be made redundant, like there 218 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't be enough work for the two of them. So 219 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: Hank announced in January eleven that he was going to 220 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: depart Google and the GEO division. So his original plan 221 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: was to resign from Google and concentrate on creating some 222 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,360 Speaker 1: sort of new business. Larry Page Over at Google didn't 223 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: want to see Hank leave. Google never wants to see 224 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,360 Speaker 1: people leave if they can help it, unless it's on 225 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: Google's terms, So the two set down to talk things over. 226 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: Hank spoke about an idea he had that would marry 227 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,200 Speaker 1: two of the things he had worked on in the past, 228 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:15,880 Speaker 1: gameplay and geolocation features, so this conversation would include elements 229 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,000 Speaker 1: that would ultimately find their way into the game. Ingress 230 00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:21,440 Speaker 1: and we'll talk more about that in a little bit. 231 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:26,079 Speaker 1: Page convinced Hank to do that work to create geolocation 232 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:29,640 Speaker 1: games with an element of augmented reality to them. Within 233 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: Google itself. The company would create the environment within which 234 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 1: Hank could develop his idea. So Hank agreed to stay 235 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: on with Google. This coincided with work being done by 236 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,480 Speaker 1: others at Google who had been trying to create that 237 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: incubator program I mentioned earlier. See Google had this problem 238 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: with developers leaving to go and do their own thing. 239 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,000 Speaker 1: After a while, people would get experience, they would build 240 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,840 Speaker 1: up some wealth at Google. Then they would resign and 241 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,760 Speaker 1: go found startups so that they could do whatever it 242 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,720 Speaker 1: was they were passionate about, and they would be totally 243 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: independent from the old company. And losing talent is always tough. 244 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: The vacuum that's left behind is hard to fill. So 245 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 1: Google had a vested interest in creating ways for people 246 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:16,840 Speaker 1: to pursue startup ideas without you know, actually leaving the company. 247 00:14:16,960 --> 00:14:20,440 Speaker 1: Hank's project would be one of the early ones. Hank 248 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: got a budget, and a deadline of two years to 249 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:27,040 Speaker 1: bring his startup idea to fruition. The parties agreed eventually 250 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: to a contract extension, so it went out a little 251 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: beyond two years, and Hank made certain that when the 252 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: time was up, when this expired, no matter what state 253 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:40,200 Speaker 1: his startup might be in, he would be the one 254 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:42,960 Speaker 1: who would have the authority to say if the group 255 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: we're going to stay with Google, or if it would 256 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: spin off to become its own thing. He was able 257 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: to get that assurance. His project included people who had 258 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: worked with him way back in the Keyhole days, but 259 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: it also included lots of other people as well, people 260 00:14:57,720 --> 00:14:59,920 Speaker 1: who found the idea of creating a company that may 261 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:04,800 Speaker 1: games that mixed augmented reality and geolocation applications together to 262 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: be really compelling. So Nanti Labs came together, but it 263 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: did not have that name yet. One of the earliest 264 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: projects the team worked on was a proof of concept 265 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,960 Speaker 1: game they called Battle s f As in San Francisco, 266 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: and the idea was that you would go visit physical 267 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: locations in the city of San Francisco, and you would 268 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:28,840 Speaker 1: use this game to link your physical location to your 269 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,680 Speaker 1: in game location, and you would use a virtual military 270 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: force to try and take over the area you were in. 271 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: Your physical location determined where within the game you were, 272 00:15:39,360 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: so after a successful attack, you might walk a few 273 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: blocks and try to take over that neighboring region. Other 274 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: players could try to take over your territory, so you 275 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: had to revisit locations to defend yourself or shore up 276 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: your forces. As a game, it was fairly bare bones, 277 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: but it was really interesting and the team felt reas 278 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: heard that they were onto something. But Battle SF was 279 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,800 Speaker 1: far too limited to be a viable public release. I mean, 280 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: I just checked. Uh. It turns out that there are 281 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: a lot of people, um most of them, as it 282 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 1: turns out, they don't even live in San Francisco. But 283 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 1: the group was just getting started. I've got a lot 284 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:31,360 Speaker 1: more to say, but let's take a quick break. One 285 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,080 Speaker 1: fun story that compart It covers in his piece about 286 00:16:34,120 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: Neantic is that the internal gain that Battle SF also 287 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,280 Speaker 1: gave rise to neantics first cheater, and the story goes 288 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: that one employee figured out how to trick his phone 289 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: into thinking he was at a different physical location than 290 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: his real one. It's called spoofing, or it's a type 291 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 1: of spoofing. There's actually lots of different types of spoofing. 292 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: It all involves tricking technology and to think you are 293 00:17:00,440 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: somewhere or someone else than you really are, and this 294 00:17:04,520 --> 00:17:06,680 Speaker 1: would be something that Meantick would have to deal with 295 00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 1: further down the road. It's a common issue with games 296 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:13,680 Speaker 1: that involve geolocation elements, and there are a lot of 297 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: different ways to do this, to use tricks that convince 298 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,439 Speaker 1: your device that you're actually somewhere other than where you 299 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: really are. In fact, I even did this myself way 300 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 1: back in the day. It was so that I could 301 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: participate in a game connected to the J J Abrams 302 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 1: Star Trek reboot. That game required you to visit real 303 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: world locations in places that were, let's say, inconvenient to 304 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: my home in Atlanta, So I cheated because I wanted 305 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,200 Speaker 1: to see what else the game had to offer. Otherwise 306 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: I would have had to travel out to California a lot, 307 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 1: and while I like California, I don't like it enough 308 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: to jump on intercontinental flights multiple times if I don't 309 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: have to do it. Anyway, this employee was spoofing in 310 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,239 Speaker 1: order to play the game late at night, but not 311 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: actually going to location, so this person wasn't getting up 312 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: at one in the morning to go across town. They 313 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,760 Speaker 1: were just using different tricks to have their phone think 314 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:13,120 Speaker 1: they were across town. And that was an early queue 315 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: to Niantic that this could be something they would have 316 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:18,239 Speaker 1: to keep in mind in the future. Next on the 317 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: timeline was a game project called field Trip. This idea 318 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: was to locate places that might be interesting. Perhaps they 319 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: could be an art installment, or it could be a 320 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:32,760 Speaker 1: historic building. You know, it could be anything that is 321 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: worth looking at and knowing about. But they would be 322 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:39,199 Speaker 1: kind of like hidden gems, stuff that you might not 323 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:41,879 Speaker 1: be aware of because you never happened to look that way. 324 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,640 Speaker 1: And then they wanted to map that data against users 325 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 1: typical routes. So let's use my typical route as an example. 326 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:53,600 Speaker 1: So when I go into the office, which admittedly I 327 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,919 Speaker 1: don't do nearly as frequently these days, but when I 328 00:18:56,960 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: do go in, I walk there, and it's a three 329 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: mile walk from my house. Takes me about an hour 330 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,880 Speaker 1: to go there. One way. My walk takes me through 331 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,360 Speaker 1: a pretty funky part of Atlanta called Little Five Points, 332 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,639 Speaker 1: and then I end up connecting to a big pedestrian 333 00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: and cyclist path called the belt line, and I take 334 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,240 Speaker 1: that up the rest of the way to Pont City Market, 335 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,640 Speaker 1: which is where our office is. So to go home, 336 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,000 Speaker 1: I just walked that same path, but in reverse. Now 337 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: there's some interesting things to see along my pathway, but 338 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:30,679 Speaker 1: there could be a lot of other stuff that I 339 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 1: would find fascinating or enriching that might just be a 340 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: block out of my way, or maybe down an alternate 341 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: path that would still get me to work more or 342 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,879 Speaker 1: less at the same time, but it would bring me 343 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:45,840 Speaker 1: through areas I otherwise wouldn't see. That was the goal 344 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:48,960 Speaker 1: of Field Trip, to create a product that would encourage 345 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: people to explore a bit off their normal beaten path. 346 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,199 Speaker 1: The team partnered with a publishing house called Arcadia to 347 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 1: create a database of interesting locations, but then they needed 348 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,439 Speaker 1: to geo tag those locations. It was one thing to 349 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: know about them, it's another thing to link them too 350 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: physical locations in the world and have that represented within 351 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:17,840 Speaker 1: the app. Ultimately, they had to manually geo tag these 352 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:22,639 Speaker 1: locations after attempts at automation fell short. That actually limited 353 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: how much they could do because it is hard to 354 00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 1: operate at a global scale when it's falling to manual tagging. 355 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: But it was in this process that they learned about 356 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: the Niantic, the ship I talked about at the top 357 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,440 Speaker 1: of the show, so that's when they took their name 358 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 1: from that ship, and they officially became known as Niantic Labs. 359 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: Field Trip would launch as a smartphone app in although 360 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,679 Speaker 1: originally it was supposed to be a Google Glass app, 361 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: but Google Glass obviously did not take off quite in 362 00:20:55,359 --> 00:20:58,920 Speaker 1: the way that people had hoped, so they were able 363 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 1: to pivot and make it a smart phone application. However, 364 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: the user experience wasn't um It wasn't particularly well designed 365 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: because users found that as they were just trying to 366 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 1: go from one place to another in their daily lives, 367 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,680 Speaker 1: their phone notifications kept going off to say things like, hey, 368 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: you should really go this way a couple of blocks, 369 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: and that became more disruptive than interesting. So while people 370 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,160 Speaker 1: thought the idea was cool, the actual experience became something 371 00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: of an irritation, and folks would tend to turn the 372 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: app off after they lived with it for just a 373 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: little bit. But this was a learning experience for Niantic. 374 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: Field Trip, like I said, launched in twelve It was 375 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: by most estimates of failure, but the team learned a lot, 376 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:45,959 Speaker 1: and they realized that by combining elements of Battle SF 377 00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:49,640 Speaker 1: and things they had built into Field Trip, they might 378 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: make a compelling game that reaches beyond San Francisco. So 379 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: the idea was that it would be a real world 380 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: multiplayer game played through smart phones. The game would have 381 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,840 Speaker 1: two factions, and players would have a choice of joining 382 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 1: one or the other and try to swing control of 383 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 1: regions in the real world to their own faction that 384 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: would be represented in fiction through the smartphone, so both 385 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 1: an augmented reality and an alternate reality style game. The 386 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,760 Speaker 1: control points where you would actually try and do this 387 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,400 Speaker 1: would center around interesting places in the real world, kind 388 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,520 Speaker 1: of like Field Trip. So in other words, the real 389 00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,640 Speaker 1: world exploration elements of Field Trip would match with the 390 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 1: regional control gameplay of BATTLESF. And the result was a 391 00:22:39,080 --> 00:22:43,119 Speaker 1: new project of the group titled Ingress. The plot behind 392 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: Ingress sounds like it comes from a Neil Stevenson novel. 393 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,960 Speaker 1: A research institute discovers a new kind of matter called 394 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: exotic matter, or XM. The two factions have a fundamental 395 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: disagreement about exotic matter. One side, called the Enlightened, wants 396 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:03,399 Speaker 1: to exploit XM to Humanity's advantage right away. The other side, 397 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: the Resistance sees x M as a potential existential threat 398 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: that could lead to humanity's extinction and does not want 399 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: to go down that path, at least not immediately. And 400 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,680 Speaker 1: when I played, I played as enlightened. These days, I 401 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:22,679 Speaker 1: might actually side with the Resistance anyway. That was the 402 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: basis for the game, which launched in late twent Gameplay 403 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: centered around in game sites called portals, which were anchored 404 00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:34,280 Speaker 1: to real world points of interest. I remember walking to 405 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 1: work and I would play this game. I would interact 406 00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 1: with portals along the way and try to take them 407 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 1: from the Resistance. As I made my way to the office, 408 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,879 Speaker 1: my trip takes me past a lot of murals and 409 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: street art, much of which had been tagged and put 410 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: into the game as portals. Controlling portals would give one 411 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,920 Speaker 1: faction more control over a region than the other faction had, 412 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:00,440 Speaker 1: and I saw control shift several times, though I played 413 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:01,919 Speaker 1: the game for a few months before I kind of 414 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: fell off of it. The original version of Ingress is 415 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: no more. Niantic sunset it in September two, nineteen, but 416 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:14,639 Speaker 1: an updated version with a slightly different backstory launched in 417 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:18,919 Speaker 1: this one's called Ingress Prime, and the story of the 418 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: game actually incorporates the original Ingress game into it as 419 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,040 Speaker 1: part of its own canon. So, in other words, Ingress 420 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,479 Speaker 1: Prime says, there was a game called Ingress, but that 421 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,640 Speaker 1: game was really a cover for what's really going on. 422 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: There are layers within layers and the illuminatis behind it all. 423 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 1: I tells you, Okay, not really, but you know, it's 424 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: kind of that that flavor. But getting into the fine 425 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: details of all the game stuff would require numerous episodes 426 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:48,120 Speaker 1: to explain that plot, and I'm not sure I can 427 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,040 Speaker 1: really follow all of it, and none of it really 428 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,760 Speaker 1: matters as far as explaining the evolution of Niantic and 429 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,399 Speaker 1: the tech that the company used. So we're going to just, 430 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,919 Speaker 1: you know, jump past that. But let's talk about the 431 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: tech for a second. So these early projects like Battle, 432 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 1: sf Field, Trip, and Ingress all had elements of geolocation 433 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 1: and augmented reality incorporated into them, and the a R 434 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: stuff was a bit more subtle than what I typically 435 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:18,000 Speaker 1: think about when I hear the term augmented reality. Now, 436 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but when I think of 437 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: a R, I think about wearing some sort of headset 438 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,879 Speaker 1: or special glasses, and I think about looking at the 439 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: world around me and seeing it transform in some way 440 00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: through digital overlays on those lenses that are acting like 441 00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: transparent displays. Maybe I get a data redoubt of the 442 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:43,560 Speaker 1: area around me. Maybe I'm seeing on screen directions that 443 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:45,840 Speaker 1: guide me to my next turn as I go to 444 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:49,680 Speaker 1: a different location. Maybe I'm seeing a list of businesses 445 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:53,360 Speaker 1: that are inside a particular building. Maybe I'm looking at 446 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 1: a historic representation of what my surroundings would have looked 447 00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: like a century ago. You get the idea, I'm seeing 448 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: some sort of digital augmentation of my view of the world. 449 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:06,680 Speaker 1: But if I take my glasses off, I just see 450 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: the world as it really is around me. Stuff like 451 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,680 Speaker 1: field Trip and Ingress were a bit more subtle when 452 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: it comes to augmented reality. In the case of field Trip, 453 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:19,720 Speaker 1: it was more about giving you digital information that would 454 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: nudge you to explore your surroundings a little bit more, 455 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: perhaps allowing you to come across an interesting location you 456 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: otherwise would have just passed right by. It wasn't so 457 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,880 Speaker 1: much about augmenting your experience at your location, but rather 458 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:37,920 Speaker 1: inviting you to explore. Ingress would do a similar thing, 459 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,199 Speaker 1: but couched it in the form of a game. You 460 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: would see within the app where nearby portals were, and 461 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 1: once you've got to those physical locations, you could then 462 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: interact with the portal within the game. But those physical 463 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 1: locations were also the sites of interesting stuff, So if 464 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: you took time to look up from your screen, you 465 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 1: could potentially you appreciate something you might not otherwise have seen. 466 00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: It was an augmented reality, but it wasn't hitting you 467 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,760 Speaker 1: over the head with it. And it was all made 468 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: possible by the fact that the Neantick team could geo 469 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: tag locations and the users smartphones that how's the game 470 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: had GPS capabilities. That combination of having a system that 471 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 1: could detect where players are in the world and then 472 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,399 Speaker 1: guide those same players to interesting locations in that world, 473 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,639 Speaker 1: that was the heart of ingress, the story and the conflict. 474 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: We're all window dressing. It was interesting and sometimes convoluted 475 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: window dressing, but still window dressing all the same. And 476 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:43,919 Speaker 1: it might help if we think for a moment about 477 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: how GPS works now. In the old days, before smartphones 478 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: had GPS receivers, location information relied solely upon signals from 479 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: cell towers, a phone would ping out to nearby towers 480 00:27:56,840 --> 00:27:59,920 Speaker 1: and receive a response. And towers are stationary, having the 481 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,919 Speaker 1: established location, so those are anchor points. You know exactly 482 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:07,120 Speaker 1: where they are right. They don't move around, so they 483 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: have actual, you know, location data associated with them. The 484 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: amount of time it would take for a signal to 485 00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 1: go from a tower and arrive to the phone would 486 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: give your phone an indication of how far away you 487 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 1: were from that cell tower. If you get a pin 488 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: from a couple of cell towers, you could have a 489 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: rough estimate of where you were in relation to those towers, 490 00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: but it's not the most accurate way to determine physical location. 491 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: It can give you a rough idea of where you are, 492 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 1: but you might be off by a bit, like in 493 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: some places like a city with tall buildings that interfere 494 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: with signal propagation. A little bit could be a couple 495 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: of blocks, which is not terribly useful if you're doing 496 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: things like you know, using a ride hailing app. If 497 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: the app thinks you're you know, two blocks west of 498 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: where you are, you're not going to see a car 499 00:28:56,680 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: stop for you because the cars stopping two blocks away. 500 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: But what about GPS, Well, the global positioning system is 501 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:07,640 Speaker 1: made up of two dozen satellites, plus you know some 502 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,240 Speaker 1: standbys that provide a global coverage of service. The coverage 503 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,800 Speaker 1: means that any time your receiver is within the line 504 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:18,720 Speaker 1: of sight of four of those satellites way up in orbit. 505 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: That's good because you need three satellites to find your 506 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: position on the Earth's surface. These satellites rely on atomic clocks, 507 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 1: which keep time with incredible precision. They also have to 508 00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:33,720 Speaker 1: factor in the effects of relativity. To get into all 509 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,560 Speaker 1: of that would require another episode, And in fact, I've 510 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 1: done episodes about satellites and the effects of relativity, So 511 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: I'll just say that stuff like gravity and the speed 512 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: at which you're moving relative to some other body affects 513 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: the relative passage of time between those bodies. Getting more 514 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: into detail would require another episode. So these satellites regularly 515 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: send out little signals to Earth, and each signal includes 516 00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:02,960 Speaker 1: the time stamp at which it was sent out by 517 00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: that satellite. So the GPS receiver in your phone gets 518 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,280 Speaker 1: a signal from satellite number one, it's got a time 519 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: stamp attached to it that tells your phone when that 520 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: signal was sent. The signal had to travel a really 521 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:18,600 Speaker 1: good distance to get to you. So by the time 522 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: it gets to your phone, your phone's clock, which also 523 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: has to be really accurate in order for all this 524 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,960 Speaker 1: to work. Your phone's clock sees how much time has 525 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: passed between when the signal was sent and when it 526 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: was received. You take that difference in those times and 527 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: you multiply that by the speed of light, and while 528 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: you now know how far you are from satellite one, 529 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,080 Speaker 1: but that doesn't give you a location, It just gives 530 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: you a distance from that satellite. So now you get 531 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,719 Speaker 1: data from satellite too, and that tells you how far 532 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: away you are from satellite to Knowing how far you 533 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: are from these two satellites creates a range of locations 534 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 1: that you could potentially be on the surface of the Earth, 535 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,960 Speaker 1: but you need a third satellite to reduce that range 536 00:31:03,040 --> 00:31:07,880 Speaker 1: to a specific point on the Earth. Technically speaking, there 537 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,880 Speaker 1: are two points where you could be in relation to 538 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: those three satellites based on this data, but one of 539 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,800 Speaker 1: them happens to be out and outer space, so we 540 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: can just discard that one for most of us. Most 541 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 1: of us are not astronauts, so we just ignore that 542 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: and we only focus on the location that actually makes 543 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: contact with the surface of Earth. It's through comparing the 544 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: data of how long it took the signals from these 545 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: three different satellites to get to your phone that your 546 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:39,080 Speaker 1: phone is able to figure out where you are, which 547 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: is pretty nifty stuff. When we come back, we will 548 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: continue to learn about Neantic's story, but first let's take 549 00:31:46,560 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: another quick break. So Neantic launched Ingress and it saw 550 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,400 Speaker 1: some modest success, and it seems weird for me to 551 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: call it modest. The app had more than twenty million downloads, 552 00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 1: but when we look ahead and we look at Pokemon Go, 553 00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: that number seems quaint by comparison. Neantic even began to 554 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:18,719 Speaker 1: crowdsource potential locations for portals within the game. Remember, those 555 00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: portals were linked to physical locations in the real world, 556 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,160 Speaker 1: and they were supposed to be once that had some 557 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 1: sort of cultural or social significance. So users who had 558 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 1: good standing inside the game could submit a location as 559 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,960 Speaker 1: a potential portal, and usually that included a GEO tag 560 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 1: and a photo of the location. Neantics team would review 561 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: the submissions and determine if they fit the criteria to 562 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,320 Speaker 1: be a portal, and if they did, they added it 563 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: to the list of locations. Tied to the game world, 564 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:50,840 Speaker 1: and now you had a new spot where you could 565 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:55,320 Speaker 1: battle the other team for dominance. The Neantic team also 566 00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:58,560 Speaker 1: did some real groundwork when it came to getting player feedback. 567 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: They would organize little real world events to attract players 568 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: to specific locations, and then they would just talk to 569 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: those players and find out what they liked or didn't 570 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: like about the game. Gradually, Neantic would build these events 571 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: up to go well beyond just user feedback. They became 572 00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:19,480 Speaker 1: in game events that could affect the actual game itself, 573 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: and they took place in the real world. It would 574 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:25,480 Speaker 1: bring together the community of players, and the company would 575 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:29,480 Speaker 1: use this same data in its next big project. But 576 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: it was around this time that Neantic was closing in 577 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 1: on the end of that agreement with Google, the one 578 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: that would prompt a decision about whether the team would 579 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,680 Speaker 1: stay on with Google or they would spin off to 580 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 1: become an independent company, and the future was uncertain in 581 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:50,360 Speaker 1: either direction. At that point, Neantic wasn't really making any 582 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:53,720 Speaker 1: money Ingress was not a huge revenue generator. They did 583 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: use some ad revenue, and I'll talk more about that 584 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: in the next episode, but it wasn't exactly raking in 585 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: the big bucks, So there was a chance that if 586 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,200 Speaker 1: they stayed with Google, Google might just shut down the 587 00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 1: project or incorporate bits of it into the work of 588 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,920 Speaker 1: other Google products. That kind of stuff happens all the 589 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: time at Google. I've done episodes about projects that Google 590 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:19,360 Speaker 1: launched and then later shut down, so that was a 591 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:24,560 Speaker 1: real possibility. However, spending off would mean that the company, Niantic, 592 00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:27,319 Speaker 1: would need to get investors on board to help cover 593 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: initial costs. Plus there was the question of how to 594 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:35,400 Speaker 1: deal with the patented technologies that Niantic had developed while 595 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:38,160 Speaker 1: it was part of Google, because Google was listed on 596 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: those patents. So in either case, either option was, you know, 597 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:47,120 Speaker 1: kind of a little scary. But then people at Niantic 598 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 1: had a killer idea, the idea that would not just 599 00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:54,000 Speaker 1: make Niantic a viable business, it would turn Niantic into 600 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: a true phenomenon, a breakout success, a multibillion dollar company. 601 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: And it all had its roots in a joke, an 602 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: April Fool's joke in fact, so back in the Google 603 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:12,640 Speaker 1: Maps team launched their April Fools gag. If you're not familiar, 604 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:17,280 Speaker 1: Google over the years has done multiple April Fools goofs 605 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 1: and jokes, and the Google Maps teams in particular tend 606 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: to have some really good ones. There was one year 607 00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,920 Speaker 1: where it turned Google Maps into a game of pac Man. 608 00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 1: So if you pulled up a map of your location, 609 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: all the streets would become pathways that you could guide 610 00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: your little pac Man player down and ghosts would chase you. 611 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,520 Speaker 1: It was really clever. But this year team was different. 612 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:42,480 Speaker 1: If you opened up Google Maps on April Fools, you 613 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: would see Pokemon hidden throughout the maps, and if you 614 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,200 Speaker 1: clicked on the Pokemon, or if you were using a smartphone, 615 00:35:49,200 --> 00:35:52,360 Speaker 1: if you tapped the Pokemon, it would add them to 616 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,799 Speaker 1: your collection. And if you collected all one fifty one 617 00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:58,720 Speaker 1: of the little critters, Google would send you a business 618 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:02,720 Speaker 1: card with your name on it and the title Pokemon Master. 619 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: To promote the joke, the team released a video that 620 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:10,560 Speaker 1: showed people in real world locations seeking out their Pokemons. 621 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: It was a gag, but it was a gag that 622 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:16,640 Speaker 1: gave the Niantic team the inspiration to pitch the idea 623 00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: for a real life Pokemon game, one that would have 624 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:23,319 Speaker 1: players go out into the real world to seek and 625 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:28,240 Speaker 1: capture Pokemon. It wasn't long before Niantic put together a team, 626 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 1: including a member of the Google Maps team who had 627 00:36:30,640 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 1: actually worked on this April fool's joke, and they headed 628 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,240 Speaker 1: to Japan to meet with executives at the Pokemon Company. 629 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: They pitched their idea and they also showed off Ingress 630 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,760 Speaker 1: to the execs to give them an idea of how 631 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: the concept would work, and before a week had passed, 632 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:50,560 Speaker 1: they got word that the Pokemon Company wanted to pursue 633 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,200 Speaker 1: the possibility of making such a game. One thing the 634 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:58,319 Speaker 1: Pokemon Company really wanted, though, was a more streamlined and 635 00:36:58,480 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: simpler form of gamel A Ingress got a bit dense, 636 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:06,360 Speaker 1: and that would possibly be a barrier to entry for 637 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,279 Speaker 1: new Pokemon players. And this was a decision that was 638 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,920 Speaker 1: probably for the best because the Niantic team was really 639 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,880 Speaker 1: leaning towards spinning off from Google at this point that 640 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:21,040 Speaker 1: had not actually happened yet. The Pokemon deal started while 641 00:37:21,120 --> 00:37:24,759 Speaker 1: Niantic was still under the Google umbrella, and the process 642 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:28,200 Speaker 1: of splitting from the mothership was a complicated one, and 643 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,719 Speaker 1: it also meant the size of Niantics team was effectively 644 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:34,880 Speaker 1: cut in half because not everyone was ready to leave 645 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 1: Google to join a startup company, especially a startup company 646 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,840 Speaker 1: that did not yet have a successful revenue track record 647 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:46,520 Speaker 1: behind it, and for very similar reasons. It was challenging. 648 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:51,000 Speaker 1: In fact, Niantic found it impossible to get enough investors 649 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:56,239 Speaker 1: on board to cover costs. Miraculously, the Pokemon Company executives 650 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,640 Speaker 1: did not pull the plug on the project once they 651 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,279 Speaker 1: learned that Niantic was playing thing to spin off into 652 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 1: its own company and separate from Google. Heck, the Pokemon 653 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,600 Speaker 1: Company actually increased their investment in the project in order 654 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:12,160 Speaker 1: to help out, as did Nintendo, which itself had a 655 00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:16,680 Speaker 1: substantial stake in the Pokemon Company. Niantics spun off from 656 00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:20,719 Speaker 1: Google in October. That meant that Hank would have spent 657 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 1: more than a decade at Google, which is a pretty 658 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 1: good stretch from the six months that he had originally 659 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:32,320 Speaker 1: imagined the Pokemon Company. And Nintendo fronted twenty million dollars 660 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:35,399 Speaker 1: to Niantic in order to work on Pokemon Go, with 661 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:40,239 Speaker 1: another ten million dollars promised once the company hit certain milestones. 662 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,480 Speaker 1: So the Pokemon game largely focused on a few pretty 663 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:48,280 Speaker 1: simple ideas. Players could move around the world and find 664 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:53,120 Speaker 1: these little Pokemon monsters wandering around their physical locations, but 665 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: they could do that within the game. It's not so 666 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: magical that you can actually, you know, see these fictional 667 00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:02,279 Speaker 1: critters moving around in your real world, but you could 668 00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:05,520 Speaker 1: see them through the app of your game, and then 669 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:09,839 Speaker 1: you could attempt to capture said Pokemon. Capturing them would 670 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:14,920 Speaker 1: add the Pokemon to your collection, and Jim's g y 671 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:19,360 Speaker 1: M s that's the Pokemon's version of Ingressive portals would 672 00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:24,000 Speaker 1: become places where the factions within the Pokemon world could 673 00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:26,760 Speaker 1: battle it out in order to try and control the space. 674 00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:31,360 Speaker 1: Many features were planned that weren't part of the initial launch, 675 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,920 Speaker 1: such as the ability to battle other Pokemon trainers directly 676 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 1: in head to head contests, or to trade Pokemon critters 677 00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:42,840 Speaker 1: maybe you captured one and your friend needs one you 678 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:45,880 Speaker 1: want to trade. That was not supported at launch, and 679 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 1: some of the game features at launch would actually need reworking. 680 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:52,799 Speaker 1: But despite losing half the team once Niantics spun off 681 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 1: from Google, the young company was able to launch the 682 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,240 Speaker 1: game less than a year later. Pokemon Go went live 683 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:06,360 Speaker 1: on July sixth, two thousand sixteen, kind of because then 684 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:11,440 Speaker 1: it crashed and came back up, then crashed again. You see, 685 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,759 Speaker 1: Pokemon is a pretty darn popular I p which is 686 00:40:15,800 --> 00:40:19,640 Speaker 1: putting it mildly. There are numerous video games in the 687 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: Pokemon franchise, all of which are on Nintendo consoles and 688 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,839 Speaker 1: handheld devices. There's also a trading card game. There are 689 00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,799 Speaker 1: numerous toys and other types of merchandise, and all of 690 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:34,120 Speaker 1: these things sell incredibly well. People who grew up with 691 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: a franchise frequently have a deep love and nostalgia for it. 692 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:40,200 Speaker 1: They also tend to be younger than I am, so 693 00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:44,200 Speaker 1: I admit I don't totally get it. But demand was 694 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:49,160 Speaker 1: really high. In fact, it was too high. The crush 695 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,880 Speaker 1: of people trying to sign up for the game and 696 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:57,440 Speaker 1: get into the game and play the game overloaded Giantics servers, 697 00:40:57,560 --> 00:41:01,799 Speaker 1: or more specifically, the servers that Giantic was renting in 698 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: order to run this game. They were actually using Google 699 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,560 Speaker 1: Cloud services for this, so the company spent a lot 700 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: of the early days just trying to get servers back 701 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,080 Speaker 1: online and adding more machines to the system in order 702 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,880 Speaker 1: to handle the load. According to Niantic, the demand was 703 00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:22,799 Speaker 1: about fifty times higher than their worst case scenario projections. 704 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:28,160 Speaker 1: Let's let that sink in for a second. Imagine that 705 00:41:28,239 --> 00:41:31,799 Speaker 1: you are an app developer and it's getting close to 706 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,360 Speaker 1: launch day, so you need to estimate the demand for 707 00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:37,960 Speaker 1: your service so that you have the right assets in 708 00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:42,240 Speaker 1: place to handle the workload. Now, you don't want to overestimate, 709 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,600 Speaker 1: because then you're going to be dedicating more assets than 710 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:49,399 Speaker 1: what you actually need, which means you're spending money when 711 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,799 Speaker 1: you don't need to, and spending money, by and large, 712 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,000 Speaker 1: is something that businesses like to keep a tight lea shan. 713 00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,759 Speaker 1: I mean they'll do it, but like they're totally not 714 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,520 Speaker 1: happy about it. So you don't want to rent more 715 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,919 Speaker 1: servers than you need. For example, So you estimate how 716 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,360 Speaker 1: many downloads you think you're going to see within a 717 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:11,800 Speaker 1: given amount of time, like the first couple of weeks, 718 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,439 Speaker 1: and then you take that estimate and you pad it out. 719 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,200 Speaker 1: Maybe your app will make the news cycle, right or 720 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:21,839 Speaker 1: maybe it's going to be a featured app on an 721 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:24,120 Speaker 1: app store and you might get a boost that way. 722 00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:26,360 Speaker 1: So you want to make sure you can handle any 723 00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:30,120 Speaker 1: extra adoption. So you look to put in place more 724 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,160 Speaker 1: assets than you think you're actually going to need, but 725 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:35,839 Speaker 1: not by too much. That way, if it turns out 726 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:39,920 Speaker 1: you underestimated things, you've still got some breathing room. Niantic 727 00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:44,680 Speaker 1: tried to do that, but they grossly underestimated the rapid 728 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:49,120 Speaker 1: demand of Pokemon fans. And by grossly underestimated, I mean 729 00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: that at peak demand, they were looking at figures that 730 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:57,000 Speaker 1: were fifty times larger than those worst case projections. Heck, 731 00:42:57,239 --> 00:43:00,279 Speaker 1: even people who had never once played a Pokemon game 732 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:04,279 Speaker 1: like yours truly signed on to play this one. I mean, 733 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:07,359 Speaker 1: I had played Ingress and I thought that it was neat, 734 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:10,920 Speaker 1: but the idea of stumbling across virtual pokeman's out in 735 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,840 Speaker 1: the real world and being able to capture them really 736 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:17,600 Speaker 1: appealed to me. So I was an early adopter. So 737 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:20,719 Speaker 1: the company started to beef up the back end, and meanwhile, 738 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 1: as they rolled out the service to other countries, they 739 00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: saw the same story. On repeat, demand was so heavy 740 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:31,520 Speaker 1: that servers would get overloaded and crash. It's almost a 741 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:35,120 Speaker 1: good problem to have, except it is a problem, and 742 00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:38,239 Speaker 1: the longer it takes you to fix the problem, the 743 00:43:38,280 --> 00:43:41,200 Speaker 1: more people you're gonna see drop off the service because 744 00:43:41,400 --> 00:43:45,439 Speaker 1: of the experience they had or black thereof. So it's 745 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:48,440 Speaker 1: also a problem that ultimately takes care of itself if 746 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:50,960 Speaker 1: you're not careful, But it takes care of itself in 747 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,799 Speaker 1: the bad way, in the sense that, well, now you're 748 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:57,520 Speaker 1: not overloaded because nobody's using your service anymore. You don't 749 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,439 Speaker 1: want that to happen. So to solve this problem, called 750 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:04,279 Speaker 1: up his former workmates over at Google. The game was 751 00:44:04,360 --> 00:44:08,200 Speaker 1: running on Google Cloud servers, and Google was a stakeholder 752 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:12,160 Speaker 1: in Niantic. When the company spun off from Google, Google 753 00:44:12,239 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 1: retained a and a share of ownership, you know, a 754 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:20,000 Speaker 1: percentage of ownership in Niantic. So with some cooperation, they 755 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,080 Speaker 1: saw more core servers joined the project, and the game 756 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,200 Speaker 1: finally had enough resources to meet the demand from players. 757 00:44:26,640 --> 00:44:29,600 Speaker 1: According to people inside Google, this was a really big 758 00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:32,400 Speaker 1: project on their side too, and it was obviously this 759 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:35,160 Speaker 1: game was a huge initial hit. If you lived in 760 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:39,000 Speaker 1: a city, you likely saw evidence of this yourself. Maybe 761 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,400 Speaker 1: you were playing the game, in which case you probably 762 00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:44,279 Speaker 1: encountered lots of other people who are also playing it, 763 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,080 Speaker 1: or maybe you just noticed that there were a lot 764 00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,080 Speaker 1: more folks just kind of wandering around with their smartphones 765 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:54,360 Speaker 1: out and gathering in public spaces. They were everywhere. I 766 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,320 Speaker 1: remember my walks home included seeing a lot more people 767 00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:00,000 Speaker 1: out and about, and sure enough, many of them were 768 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:02,640 Speaker 1: clearly playing the game. I remember back when I was 769 00:45:02,680 --> 00:45:04,879 Speaker 1: still playing it that I was trying to take over 770 00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:08,000 Speaker 1: a gem from my faction. When a group of hoodlums 771 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:10,799 Speaker 1: by that, I mean some nice people were probably ten 772 00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:13,720 Speaker 1: years younger than I am. They stopped across the street 773 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,200 Speaker 1: and they clearly contested me for that same gym, and 774 00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:22,000 Speaker 1: I'm happy to say that those jerks one anyway, it 775 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 1: was also becoming something of a safety concern. I mean, 776 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:27,640 Speaker 1: the whole philosophy behind these games included that idea that 777 00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:30,640 Speaker 1: you would get out into the real world and that's 778 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:34,040 Speaker 1: where you would, you know, interact with reality. You would 779 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:38,080 Speaker 1: see really interesting places, you'd get to appreciate art and 780 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:41,879 Speaker 1: architecture and history. But in my experience, it was far 781 00:45:41,960 --> 00:45:44,200 Speaker 1: more likely that you would see people looking down at 782 00:45:44,239 --> 00:45:46,719 Speaker 1: their screens and then just rushing from one place to 783 00:45:46,760 --> 00:45:49,600 Speaker 1: the next without you know, looking up to see what 784 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:53,040 Speaker 1: they were actually at, including when it came time to 785 00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:56,520 Speaker 1: cross the street, no joke. Some cities even took to 786 00:45:56,760 --> 00:46:01,040 Speaker 1: writing along curbs to remind people to look up and 787 00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:03,839 Speaker 1: pay attention to traffic, and some of them, like in 788 00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:06,239 Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, I think it was they even included 789 00:46:06,239 --> 00:46:11,080 Speaker 1: Pokemon imagery in that those messages to remind people, hey, 790 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:14,440 Speaker 1: don't just step out into the street without looking, because 791 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,600 Speaker 1: people were being a little bit unsafe about the whole thing. 792 00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:21,160 Speaker 1: The title was clearly a huge hit and there would 793 00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:24,160 Speaker 1: be a lot of consequences that would follow. I will 794 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,520 Speaker 1: soon do a follow up to this episode to talk 795 00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:30,040 Speaker 1: more about Pokemon Go and its impact and its revenue 796 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:33,719 Speaker 1: model and the other projects that Neantick has tackled in 797 00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:36,400 Speaker 1: recent years, to talk about, you know, the other stuff 798 00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:40,360 Speaker 1: that they have done and how they've become a multibillion 799 00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:43,720 Speaker 1: dollar company. H A lot of that can be pointed 800 00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:46,360 Speaker 1: directly at Pokemon Go, but we'll cover that more in 801 00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:49,600 Speaker 1: the next episode. Meanwhile, if you would like me to 802 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,800 Speaker 1: cover a specific topic in a future tech Stuff episode, 803 00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:55,600 Speaker 1: please reach out to me on Twitter. The handle for 804 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:58,400 Speaker 1: the show is tech Stuff HSW. That's how we got 805 00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:01,560 Speaker 1: these episodes. I love to hear your thoughts and I'll 806 00:47:01,560 --> 00:47:10,000 Speaker 1: talk to you again really soon. Y Text Stuff is 807 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:13,200 Speaker 1: an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I 808 00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:16,879 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 809 00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,000 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.