Facebook Building 8 Skunkworks Development Group Preps For Big Spring Hardware Unveil
Facebook may be getting ready to divulge its innermost technology secrets. Building 8, the company’s famously tight-lipped skunkworks hardware development group, will likely unveil some of their projects at Facebook’s big spring developer event. This theory is thanks to roughly 60 job postings that recently appeared on the B8 website.
B8’s job postings indicate that the group may be ready to bring their products to market sooner rather than later. Building 8 is currently hiring for positions in market development, product marketing, customer operations, customer support and localization, and global sales. Most of the positions are centered around their Menlo Park location near San Francisco, California.
Facebook's B8 team has not been forthcoming about their products, however, many have made educated guesses based off of other job listings and other subtle hints. This past winter, the team was looking for a "Neural Imaging Engineer”, “Haptics Engineer”, and “Brain-Computer Interface Engineer”. It is rumored that the group is developing augmented reality glasses, a new consumer drone, a brain-scanning device, and a “medical” device. Facebook currently only currently boasts one consumer hardware product, the Oculus Rift. Facebook acquired the Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion USD.
No one outside of the B8 team really knows what the group does. The job descriptions state that B8’s mission, in particular, is to develop “seemingly impossible products that define new categories that advance Facebook's mission of connecting the world”. In 2015, Zuckerberg mentioned that Facebook could be working on a brain-controlled, telepathic communication device. The program has also recently hired Mark Chevillet, a former program manager of applied neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, and Regina Dugan, the former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAPRA).
The Facebook (F8) developer conference is scheduled for April 18th-19th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. The conference will include announcements, interactive demos, and sessions on best practices. You can sign-up for F8 here.
B8’s job postings indicate that the group may be ready to bring their products to market sooner rather than later. Building 8 is currently hiring for positions in market development, product marketing, customer operations, customer support and localization, and global sales. Most of the positions are centered around their Menlo Park location near San Francisco, California.
Facebook's B8 team has not been forthcoming about their products, however, many have made educated guesses based off of other job listings and other subtle hints. This past winter, the team was looking for a "Neural Imaging Engineer”, “Haptics Engineer”, and “Brain-Computer Interface Engineer”. It is rumored that the group is developing augmented reality glasses, a new consumer drone, a brain-scanning device, and a “medical” device. Facebook currently only currently boasts one consumer hardware product, the Oculus Rift. Facebook acquired the Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion USD.
No one outside of the B8 team really knows what the group does. The job descriptions state that B8’s mission, in particular, is to develop “seemingly impossible products that define new categories that advance Facebook's mission of connecting the world”. In 2015, Zuckerberg mentioned that Facebook could be working on a brain-controlled, telepathic communication device. The program has also recently hired Mark Chevillet, a former program manager of applied neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, and Regina Dugan, the former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DAPRA).
The Facebook (F8) developer conference is scheduled for April 18th-19th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. The conference will include announcements, interactive demos, and sessions on best practices. You can sign-up for F8 here.
