Daily Tech Snippet: Wednesday, April 13

• Facebook Bets on a Bot Resurgence, Chattier Than Ever: On Tuesday, Facebook underlined the rise of bots at its annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco. Facebook said it was opening up Messenger, its own messaging app, so that any outside company — from Applebee’s to Zara — could create a bot capable of interacting with people through the chat program. With the move, Facebook is aiming to usher in a new era of customer service by bringing together the 900 million regular monthly users of Messenger with the more than 15 million businesses that have an official brand page on Facebook. Facebook is kicking off the project with partners like Spring, 1-800-Flowers, a weather and travel app called Poncho and news partners like CNN. Facebook is also testing advertising on chatbots as a potential source of revenue. “We’re conversational creatures,” David A. Marcus, vice president of messaging at Facebook, said of chat. “That’s the way our brain functions. That’s the way we’re wired. As a result, it’s probably the most natural interface there is.” Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, also sketched out his grand vision at the conference for the company’s future over the next five, 10 and 15 years. Under his plan, people would accompany Facebook as it builds out a comprehensive global system of communications, virtual reality and shopping. “We all have a desire to be understood and relate to each other,” Mr. Zuckerberg said. “We’re always trying to get closer to capturing the purest form.” Facebook’s push into chatbots, which is part of that vision, follows other recent signs of bot life. Late last month, Microsoft released a bot called Tay that was designed to have discussions with people on Twitter — only to curtail the effort when people taught the software to repeat racist and other offensive remarks. Still, Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella,trumpeted bots days later at a developer conference, saying the software could be used to produce new methods of interaction.

• Facebook built a 360-degree video camera, and it’s giving away the plans: Facebook finally shipped its new Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, a niche product that will likely be as cool as the games and videos you’re able to use with it. That means that Facebook has extra incentive (pressure?) to get people making great content for VR. At its F8 developer conference on Tuesday Facebook plans to unveil part of its plan to do just that: A new camera specifically for filming 360-degree videos, the kind of video that lets you pan or rotate within a scene so you can get a full 360-degree perspective. On top of the hardware, Facebook built a software program to stitch all the video together to create seamless 360-degree views of anything the filmmaker shoots. There’s just one catch: You can’t actually buy this camera anywhere. That’s because Facebook isn’t mass producing or selling the camera to the public. Instead, it’s open sourcing the camera’s specs and design, meaning the info needed to build the camera will be available to the public so that anyone with the time and money could build it on their own. So why would Facebook build a fancy 360-degree video camera and hand over the blueprints? Because Facebook has no interest in mass producing another piece of hardware. It wants 360-degree video content, but it doesn’t need to manufacture a camera to get it. It just needs to show others how to make the camera instead. Oculus did something similar with the first version of its VR headset. Facebook is into all kinds of video content, not just 360-degree video. It’s also making a big push into live video,paying celebrities and media companies to use it new live video feature and putting the tool front and center in its main Facebook app in hopes more people will use it. The idea behind all of this is that getting more people to watch videos on Facebook will help the company sell video ads, which are more lucrative than static or banner ads.It isn’t the only company interested in 360-degree video either. Google partnered with GoPro a year ago for its own 360-degree camera, and it has been delayed by almost six months. Perhaps not coincidentally, Facebook’s 17-lens camera is one lens larger than Google’s 16-lens camera. Apparently size matters, even if you’re handing out the blueprints for free.

• Vietnam's young tech talent pulls foreign funds to booming startup scene: Vietnam's tech startups are emerging as a force to be reckoned with as foreign private equity funds bet the country's talented young brains will yield more successes like the international hit game Flappy Bird. Just last month, financial powerhouses Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered PLC raised their investment in the operator of e-wallet MoMo by $28 million, while Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist 500 Startups announced a $10 million Vietnam-focused fund. One of 500 Startups' shoestring investments is in automated marketing service Beeketing, founded by college drop-out Truong Manh Quan, 26, who estimates revenue this year of $2 million predominantly from customers in the United States. The startup boom is the latest chapter of Vietnam's growing presence in the global tech industry. In the three years since Hanoi-based .GEARS released Flappy Bird, Vietnam emerged from relative obscurity to become the Southeast Asian production hub of South Korean giant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. Meanwhile, global tech firms that have long had factories in Vietnam - such as LG Electronics Inc, Panasonic Corp, and Toshiba Corp - have also been expanding into research and development. Part of Vietnam's appeal is a cheaper workforce than in China, as well as membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc and free trade deals with the European Union, plus incentives aimed at luring investment away from neighbors. Of particular interest to venture capitalists, however, is Vietnam's tech-savvy population with a median age of just 30.

• Alibaba Expands in Southeast Asia With $1 Billion Lazada Deal: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is making its largest overseas investment with a $1 billion deal for control of Lazada Group SA, taking the Chinese e-commerce giant to Southeast Asia and closer to a goal of shedding its home-market reliance. China’s largest online emporium will pay $500 million for new shares in the closely held company and purchase an equal amount from existing investors, Alibaba said in a statement. Investors selling include Germany’s Rocket Internet SE, British supermarket chain Tesco Plc and Investment AB Kinnevik. The Chinese company is buying its way into a region on the cusp of an online shopping boom, as fast-growing mobile and Internet usage propels consumer spending. Billionaire Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma has set a goal of getting at least half the company’s revenue from overseas, with the Lazada deal adding sales of clothing and electronics in six Southeast Asian markets. While the deal is Alibaba’s biggest deal abroad to date, the e-commerce giant is no stranger to mega-acquisitions. It agreed to pay about $5 billion to take full control of Chinese video service Youku Tudou Inc. in 2015. Alibaba shares were little changed in U.S. trading at $77.86 and have dropped 4.2 percent this year. The agreement values Lazada at $1.5 billion, Rocket said in a separate statement. It’s selling a 9.1 percent stake in Lazada and keeping an 8.8 percent slice. Alibaba’s deal values its entire stake in the company at about 15 times its total invested capital of 18 million euros ($21 million), the German technology company incubator said.