America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 126 We will be recorded in history forever!

After talking about Facebook, Eric looked at Robert Mirren and Howard Hughes.

"How is the development progress of Lionheart and YouTube?"

Robert Mirren plugged the plug into his computer, then clicked on an icon with a lion's head. MGM's classic opening animation appeared, and two seconds later it jumped to a video website page.

Compared to the simplicity and cleanliness of Facebook, Lionheart, as a streaming media platform, has much flashier images.

At the top are categories, including action, suspense, romance, comedy, etc.

Pulling down the interface, a movie poster is arranged, including "Saw", "Legally Blonde", "Hart's Battle", "Annie Hall", "Hannibal" series and other movies.

These are all MGM-owned films, classics or not too old, and the most important thing is that they do not involve any copyright disputes.

For example, some joint venture movies, such as 007 Die Another Day, which was released last year, certainly cannot be used directly because they involve Universal's investment.

Naturally, the same cannot be said for other people's works. This is not Africa. If you infringe copyright blatantly, you may be sued and go bankrupt.

Continuing down are some less famous or older movies.

"Robert, how many movies are in here now?" Eric asked.

"A total of 1,955 movies and about 8,000 episodes of TV series, accounting for almost half of MGM's film library."

"It will take some time to upload them all to Lionheart."

“During this process, the biggest feeling I felt was the impact of network speed. We had to compress the video and sacrifice image quality to ensure speed. The result was that the video definition was greatly reduced, making it worse than watching DVDs on TV. "

"How to increase the speed? Can we equip more servers? Can these videos be uploaded to the Internet completely?"

Robert shook his head: "This approach can only alleviate it, but it cannot improve the root cause, because the bandwidth limitations are there. If the video is too large, the loading time will become longer when users watch it online."

"We can only choose between loading time and video clarity. This is a limitation of the times and cannot be solved before the breakthrough of broadband technology."

"Click on one and let me take a look."

Robert followed the instructions and opened "Legally Blonde", and the screen jumped, with a cartoon lion jumping around on the screen.

He clicked a few times on the little lion, and the lion immediately made a few moves, which looked quite interesting.

"Boss, this is to prevent users from getting bored while waiting for the video to buffer. The fun little interaction I added may not be of much use, but at least it can kill time."

“Hmm, that’s an interesting idea too.

It took about ten seconds for the movie to finish buffering and officially start playing.

Eric frowned slightly: "Although the clarity has indeed declined, it is still acceptable. Pull it back and try."

The mouse pulled the progress bar directly to the middle, and the little lion jumped out again. This time, it buffered for almost half a minute before the video resumed playing.

Compared to Facebook, which can be accessed with just one swipe, this speed is indeed a bit slow.

"Robert, if there are no jumps in the middle, how many buffering lags will there be on average in a movie if you watch it normally?"

Robert looked through his notebook: "On average, it's only once, but this data is from a regional network, and there are too few survey templates. If it is expanded to millions of people watching at the same time, the frequency of lags will definitely increase."

"Is there really no way to solve it?" Eric was a little unhappy.

"No, this problem cannot be solved unless the problem of Internet speed is solved. Moreover, the United States is already the country with the fastest Internet speed in the world. If even we can't solve it, other countries will have no solution. They will only become slower and more stuck. The clarity is also lower."

"Internet speed! Internet speed!" Eric's fingers tapped on the table.

Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind.

"Robert, the speed of the civilian network is not good. What if it is a military network? According to our simple thinking, the efficiency of the military network will definitely be higher."

As soon as he said this, Robert Mirren looked at Eric with wide eyes.

He really couldn't imagine why his boss always found so many brilliant ideas and had such wild ideas in his head.

He wiped the dust on his glasses and stammered: "Theoretically, it is true. The military network is different from the civilian network. The transmission cables alone are not at the same level at all, and the speed differs several times or even ten times. "

"Because the military network is facing war. For example, when a reconnaissance aircraft flies around the position, the image data transmitted back is immeasurable. Not only does it require speed, but also quality."

"If the military network can be used for commercial purposes, all problems can be solved. The only thing we face is the capacity of the server. It may require a room, an office building or even an entire building as a data storage center. "

"But boss, I have never heard that military networks can be transferred to civilian use. Will there be any security issues involved? And the Ministry of National Defense will not allow it."

Eric took a sip of water: "You don't have to worry about it. This is the problem I need to solve. There is no precedent in this area because no one has proposed it. There is always a need for a pioneer in any field."

"Okay, keep talking."

Robert hummed: "Boss, in addition to the limitation of network speed, another difficulty lies in the algorithm."

"According to your request, we have been simulating the development of Netflix's user preference recommendation algorithm, but the progress is not enough. As far as I know, Netflix took more than a year from research to launching this function, and Improvements are ongoing and we need more time.

The algorithm Eric asked to develop is actually equivalent to the big data recommendation of future generations. It remembers the user's preferences and continuously pushes similar content to increase user stickiness.

Although Netflix is ​​still in the video rental business, it developed similar functions a few years ago.

As long as you log in to their official website and click to purchase and consume, as the number of times increases, the website will recommend the same type of videos to you when you log in later.

Needless to say how important this function is, especially for streaming media platforms and YouTube, and even short videos after the arrival of the mobile Internet era, it is the core technology.

"With our current R\u0026D team, how long will it take to develop this algorithm?"

Faced with this question, Robert did not give a definite answer, but was hesitant and speechless.

"Robert, what's wrong with you? Have you suddenly lost confidence?"

After thinking for a while, Robert gave a vague answer hesitantly.

"Next year, I think it will most likely be the second half of next year. Please forgive me, I really can't determine the specific month."

"Boss, your request is more accurate and precise than Netflix's recommendation algorithm, which requires the logic operation behind it to be improved by an order of magnitude."

"Actually, in our technical circles, many people believe that artificial intelligence will definitely become popular in the future, and perhaps one day self-awareness will be born."

"It will be able to learn, recognize, and even evolve autonomously, just like the robot Hal in "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"And the algorithm you are asking to develop can probably be understood as the prototype of this type of artificial intelligence. It is very difficult to create such a thing."

"Sorry, my expression may be confusing. In short, it is difficult. Can you understand?"

Robert Mirren is a relatively traditional technology nerd in public perception. He only knows how to stay in his room and develop. He has little interest in social interaction. Over time, he even began to fear social interaction.

Seeing him running around and talking incoherently, Eric comforted him: "Relax Robert, I'm not putting pressure on you, just relax, okay?"

Robert Mirren took a deep breath and calmed down: "Boss, in short, when a website can recommend suitable products to users independently, then it is equivalent to a salesperson with independent awareness."

"If you compare Netflix's algorithm to a newbie who has just joined the job, it needs the same customer to buy things 10 times before it can identify the other person's preferences."

"And I want this number to be changed to 9 times. It seems that it is only reduced by 1 time, but the amount of calculations required behind it increases geometrically."

Eric rubbed his temples. He couldn't understand such technical things, so he simply asked: "What about adding Howard's team? The algorithms of Lionheart and YouTube should be universal."

Howard Hughes pressed Robert Mirren's wrist to signal him to stop first.

How could Eric understand what you are saying? People provide so much money and all they want is results!

"Boss, the basic structure of the algorithm can be universal, but the details are different. YouTube is more complicated."

“So Robert’s team and I have been collaborating, but even with joint development, the progress is still slow.”

"If you want to see the algorithm released before the end of this year, the only way is to increase manpower. I suggest hiring another group of technical personnel."

Eric nodded secretly, and Howard's speech became much clearer. He didn't even mention the time, so he gave the end of the year time limit.

Put a tight ring on yourself, what a great employee.

As a boss, you cannot be stingy.

"How many people do you want?"

"At least 150!"

Eric didn't hesitate: "Okay, I'll give you 150, and I will arrange people to recruit as soon as possible. You two will also participate, or interested people can directly submit their applications. If they are from other companies, hire them for me." come over!"

"I want to see your results before Christmas 2003, do you understand?"

Howard and Robert looked at each other and patted their chests at the same time to ensure that they would complete the task.

"Boss, what about the launch of Lionheart.com and YouTube?"

"After the basic functions are completed, we will go online normally, and other functions will be improved later. Another point is that I require the accounts of the three platforms to be interoperable. Users only need to register once to log in to the three platforms. Is it difficult to implement this function?"

Heisenberg smiled: "No, this is very simple. As long as the architecture is similar and the database storage is adjusted to the same format, it is easy to implement."

"Is it that simple?" Eric couldn't believe it.

"Yes, it's very simple."

"Then why are Google's products still unable to interoperate accounts? I thought it was a technical reason."

Howard shook his head: "It has nothing to do with technology at all. It should be due to profit distribution. Many software under Google belong to different subsidiaries."

"Some of these subsidiaries are fully owned by Google, and some are only partially owned by Google."

"Once the accounts are interconnected, it will be greatly convenient for users, and it will promote the flow of traffic, like breaking up the bifurcation of two rivers."

"Once the traffic increases, it will drive the profits to rise. After the profits rise, we will face the problem of distribution."

"Google's wholly-owned companies are still managed by different teams, different factions, and different hilltops, and there is severe competition between them."

"What's more, those companies that hold shares also have to face the requirements of their partners. Just negotiating is torture enough."

Knowing the reason, Eric chuckled: "It seems that we have created a precedent in the industry."

"Yes, boss, under your leadership, the absence of internal struggles will be a major advantage for us, so Heisenberg, Robert, and I are willing to follow you."

"We always believe that under your leadership, the company will become a new generation of Internet giants, comparable to the super giants of Google and Microsoft!"

Eric knocked on the table lightly: "Then it's settled. Today is May 24th. When we get back, we will seriously prepare for it to be officially launched on the market."

"At that time, we can proudly announce one thing. The world's first social network was born!"

"And you, my friends, you are all heroes! You will all be recorded in history forever!"

On the way back to Silicon Valley, the three teams sat on the bus and chatted.

Most of them are not very good at interpersonal communication, but they get along very happily with each other. One of the girls in Howard's team has become a couple with a young man in Heisenberg's team.

"Hey! Did you find out? Although Eric Cooper doesn't understand technology, he is really good. The ideas he puts forward can always hit our points of interest accurately."

"Charlie, this is called creativity, so people can be bosses at a young age, but we can only write code." An old coder in his late thirties sighed.

"I heard that he is also a director. Directors are a group of people with full imagination. No wonder he can come up with Lionheart, Facebook and YouTube, and the three are mutual horns and can provide each other with resource support. Eric Cooper is simply He’s a genius!”

"Hahaha, compared to being a genius, I think his attribute of being the vice president of MGM is more important. Without financial support, no matter how good the idea is, it cannot be realized."

"Boss, since Eric is a big boss in Hollywood, can you ask him to make a suggestion and invite a few stars to come to the company at the end of the year to have a lot of fun." A young man wearing a baseball cap looked at Howard Hughes and asked .

Howard smiled: "As long as the algorithm can be produced before Christmas, I will go to Eric to make a request. How about it?"

"Agreed! I hope it's Julia Roberts, I loved her Notting Hill."

"Julia Roberts' mouth is too big. Cameron Diaz is better. Her "Charlie's Angels" is so sexy."

"Are you mistaken? Can you tell me about the young actresses? I think Jessica Alba is great."

"Discrimination! Why are they all actresses! You otakus, I like Orlando Bloom."