{"data":{"id":17941,"title":"Portfolio: microTech","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/spectrum-dispatch\/17941-Portfolio-MicroTech","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/17941","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/17941","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"News Update","images":[{"id":26463,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/weozjmuuh3hwh\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":843046,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2019-09-19T15:49:32+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26463\/similar"},{"id":26603,"name":"MicroTech-Low-Angle.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/x1bc2w1jikhn5r\/source\/MicroTech-Low-Angle.jpg","alt":"","size":1672370,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2021-01-04T19:04:41+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26603","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26603\/similar"},{"id":27892,"name":"source.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/media.robertsspaceindustries.com\/w3o9r4zgppm77\/source.jpg","alt":"","size":900916,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2021-09-06T14:48:40+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/27892\/similar"}],"images_count":8,"translations":{"en_EN":"This portfolio originally appeared in Jump Point 7.11.\nInspirational. Visionary. Ruthless. Much has been said and written about microTech founder Magnus Tobin, who was the driving force behind the empire\u2019s most essential piece of wearable tech, mobiGlas. Broadly perceived as a reclusive tech genius, Magnus\u2019 fascinating life de\ufb01es such easy categorization.\n\nMagnus Tobin was born on Earth in 2756. His parents devoted their time to running a prosperous textile manufacturing business and left the rearing of their three sons (Fikri, Magnus, and Camryn) to au pairs. Magnus\u2019 eldest brother, Fikri, was a formative in\ufb02uence who taught him how to hack high-end electronics. Magnus\u2019 technological obsession led to his elite private high school expelling him for poor grades and attendance. Instead of enrolling in a new school, Magnus convinced his parents to let him work full time for the family business while studying for the Equivalency.\n\nFree from school, Magnus passed his Equivalency at an extraordinary pace after bypassing the daily lesson limits and creating his own algorithm to analyze trends in past exams. Meanwhile, Magnus spent his days working in the information technology department of his family\u2019s company. He learned all he could about its operation before presenting his parents with a comprehensive plan to overhaul and update its technical infrastructure. Impressed with his vision, his parents signed off on the plan and assigned Aleena Tressler, a trusted senior advisor, to officially oversee it. The project improved efficiency and generated massive pro\ufb01ts for the company.\n\nMAKING MICRO MACRO\nMagnus became the heir apparent to the family business but shocked his parents by rejecting the role. Instead, he convinced them to fund a small technology start-up that sold a modi\ufb01ed version of his business software. microTech officially incorporated in 2782 but struggled to turn a pro\ufb01t. Eventually, he asked former mentor Aleena Tressler to join the company and offered her a percentage of the pro\ufb01ts. Her extensive list of contacts and cutthroat business acumen brought the growing microTech more orders for custom software than they could handle \u2013 an enviable position to be in as the overthrow of the Messer regime in 2792 sent shockwaves through the empire\u2019s economy.\n\nMagnus felt fortunate that microTech survived the economic upheaval, but Aleena argued that the company could only succeed long term if it diversi\ufb01ed. Magnus went on a hiring spree, courting numerous notable engineers and developers by guaranteeing them autonomy over their projects. He also believed that the next great idea could come from anyone within the company. He organized hack-a-thons to identify new talent and kept one week clear in his schedule every quarter so anyone in the company could pitch him their idea. Even today, microTech remains renowned for nurturing and developing good ideas from any of its employees.\n\nMeanwhile, Aleena led an initiative to buy struggling businesses with intriguing intellectual property. Industry observers deemed their combined spending as \u2018reckless\u2019, but the talent and technology microTech acquired eventually led to many of their signature products. The only company Magnus insisted on purchasing was Empiric Education. An intense bidding war soured Aleena on the company, but it became their most important purchase. microTech now owned a major producer of education software, and Magnus had big plans for it.\n\nAfter the purchase of Empiric Education, Magnus revealed an upgrade that signi\ufb01cantly streamlined the code and enhanced its security. He had been developing it since hacking his own Equivalency prep in his youth, but knew he needed to own the underlying code to monetize it. Beyond the surface-level improvements, he had also included additional background software meant to securely manage every detail of a student\u2019s life to increase their productivity. Aleena noticed that early adopters used these software features well beyond studying and saw the promise in it. She encouraged Magnus to develop it as standalone software.\n\nThe initial Glas software was a hit and quickly became one of the top productivity software on the market. However, to fully and comfortably utilize all the features, users needed to bounce between their datapads and wearable comps, often necessitating carrying both with them. Year after year Magnus and his team tried to improve the existing available interface, but the most popular devices of the time were limited by their screen size, and anything larger might as well have been a datapad. The breakthrough came when Magnus climbed into a simpod only for it to malfunction and project a small screen in front of his face. Now he knew what he had to do \u2013 call his siblings.\n\nSAFE AND SECURE\nMagnus contacted Camryn, his younger brother and current CEO of the family business, and worked with him on designing and sourcing the right materials for a wrist-wearable device. If Glas was really going to succeed, Magnus knew that microTech was going to have to begin building their own hardware with Glas transitioning into a full-blown operating system. Meanwhile, he hired his older brother, Fikri, to try and hack his software, trusting no one but him to test its security. Aleena believed it to be out of family loyalty, but later claimed that Magnus con\ufb01ded in her Fikri\u2019s extensive credentials, including playing an instrumental role in the hack that broadcast shocking images of the Massacre of Garron to their system and helped topple the Messers.\n\nSimply, Magnus understood the importance of security on a device meant to manage someone\u2019s entire life. The wearables market was saturated with products plagued by security concerns. Following the fall of the Messers, it was revealed that wearable manufacturers were forced to build a backdoor into their devices so the government could access their network. Even years later, this drove some consumers to not use wearables due to ethical concerns, while others questioned whether these backdoors were ever closed. Magnus hammered home this point in the mobiGlas\u2019 \ufb01rst ad campaign, which featured a pixelated \ufb01gure hacking every wearable on the market only to be sti\ufb02ed by the mobiGlas. The effective ad combined with the device\u2019s intuitive interface and competitive price point made the mobiGlas an instant success upon release in 2818. Its popularity only increased over the years until it became the ubiquitous wearable worn across the empire today.\n\nAleena retired after the successful mobiGlas release, but Magnus continued to employ her aggressive business strategy, sometimes in ways that observers deemed dangerous or unethical. He poured pro\ufb01ts into developing a wide range of new devices, including a revolutionary new simpod design and a line of ship computers. He even bought massive swaths of cheap real estate in extremely cold biomes across the empire to park the ever-growing army of microTech servers. When microTech quietly began selling this land, industry observers believed it signaled a corporate shift away from server management. Instead, Magnus used the capital for his biggest and boldest deal to date, the purchase of Stanton IV.\n\nMagnus officially retired following microTech\u2019s purchase of Stanton IV, but to the dismay of some, remained deeply involved in the company\u2019s operations. He oversaw the design and construction of New Babbage, microTech\u2019s primary landing zone, and was even given veto power over any new device or corporate initiative that he believed didn\u2019t align with the company\u2019s core values. After decades of being hailed as visionary, his increased stranglehold on the company was beginning to tarnish his image. A series of high-level leaks revealed just how unhappy employees were with his continued involvement and that several key decisions he had recently made had cost the company millions. In response, Magnus went on a media blitz to whitewash his image, even hiring a ghostwriter to pen a fawning autobiography. The campaign painted Magnus as a tech-focused force within the company that existed above the questionable business practices. This led to the sterile image of him as a reclusive tech genius that persists to this day.\n\nWhen Magnus Tobin died in 2912 people hailed him as one of the most important \ufb01gures of the 29th century. Despite his undeniable in\ufb02uence on technology, his greatest achievement may be creating a company that has thrived without him. microTech\u2019s ownership of a planet, ever-expanding product line, and constant quality of life updates to the mobiGlas has the company well-positioned to be just as in\ufb02uential in the next century as it was in the last.","de_DE":"Dieses Portfolio erschien urspr\u00fcnglich in Jump Point 7.11.\nInspirierend. Vision\u00e4r. R\u00fccksichtslos. \u00dcber den microTech-Gr\u00fcnder Magnus Tobin, der die treibende Kraft hinter dem wichtigsten Wearable-Tech-Produkt des Imperiums, dem mobiGlas, war, wurde schon viel gesagt und geschrieben. Das faszinierende Leben von Magnus, der allgemein als zur\u00fcckgezogenes Tech-Genie wahrgenommen wird, entzieht sich dieser einfachen Kategorisierung.\n\nMagnus Tobin wurde im Jahr 2756 auf der Erde geboren. Seine Eltern widmeten sich der Leitung eines florierenden Textilunternehmens und \u00fcberlie\u00dfen die Erziehung ihrer drei S\u00f6hne (Fikri, Magnus und Camryn) Au-pairs. Magnus' \u00e4ltester Bruder, Fikri, war ein pr\u00e4gender Einfluss, der ihm beibrachte, wie man High-End-Elektronik hackt. Magnus' Technikbesessenheit f\u00fchrte dazu, dass seine private Eliteschule ihn wegen schlechter Noten und Anwesenheit von der Schule verwies. Anstatt sich an einer neuen Schule einzuschreiben, \u00fcberzeugte Magnus seine Eltern, ihn Vollzeit f\u00fcr das Familienunternehmen arbeiten zu lassen, w\u00e4hrend er f\u00fcr die Equivalency studierte.\n\nFrei von der Schule, bestand Magnus seine Equivalency in einem au\u00dfergew\u00f6hnlichen Tempo, nachdem er die t\u00e4glichen Unterrichtsstunden umgangen und seinen eigenen Algorithmus zur Analyse von Trends in vergangenen Pr\u00fcfungen entwickelt hatte. In der Zwischenzeit verbrachte Magnus seine Tage damit, in der Informationstechnologie-Abteilung des Unternehmens seiner Familie zu arbeiten. Er lernte alles, was er \u00fcber den Betrieb wissen konnte, bevor er seinen Eltern einen umfassenden Plan zur \u00dcberholung und Aktualisierung der technischen Infrastruktur pr\u00e4sentierte. Beeindruckt von seiner Vision, stimmten seine Eltern dem Plan zu und beauftragten Aleena Tressler, eine vertrauensw\u00fcrdige Seniorberaterin, mit der offiziellen \u00dcberwachung. Das Projekt verbesserte die Effizienz und generierte massive Pro\ufb01ts f\u00fcr das Unternehmen.\n\nMIKRO ZU MAKRO MACHEN\nMagnus wurde der offensichtliche Erbe des Familienunternehmens, schockierte aber seine Eltern, indem er die Rolle ablehnte. Stattdessen \u00fcberzeugte er sie, ein kleines Technologie-Start-up zu finanzieren, das eine modifizierte Version seiner Gesch\u00e4ftssoftware verkaufte. microTech wurde 2782 offiziell gegr\u00fcndet, hatte aber Schwierigkeiten, einen Gewinn zu erzielen. Schlie\u00dflich bat er seine fr\u00fchere Mentorin Aleena Tressler, in die Firma einzusteigen und bot ihr eine prozentuale Beteiligung an den Gewinnen an. Ihre umfangreiche Kontaktliste und ihr ausgepr\u00e4gter Gesch\u00e4ftssinn brachten dem wachsenden MicroTech mehr Auftr\u00e4ge f\u00fcr kundenspezifische Software ein, als sie bew\u00e4ltigen konnten - eine beneidenswerte Position, als der Sturz des Messer-Regimes im Jahr 2792 Schockwellen durch die Wirtschaft des Imperiums sandte.\n\nMagnus sch\u00e4tzte sich gl\u00fccklich, dass microTech den wirtschaftlichen Umbruch \u00fcberlebt hatte, aber Aleena argumentierte, dass das Unternehmen langfristig nur erfolgreich sein konnte, wenn es sich diversifizierte. Magnus ging auf eine Einstellungsrunde und umwarb zahlreiche namhafte Ingenieure und Entwickler, indem er ihnen Autonomie \u00fcber ihre Projekte garantierte. Er glaubte auch, dass die n\u00e4chste gro\u00dfe Idee von jedem innerhalb der Firma kommen k\u00f6nnte. Er organisierte Hack-a-thons, um neue Talente zu identifizieren und hielt jedes Quartal eine Woche in seinem Terminkalender frei, damit jeder im Unternehmen ihm seine Idee vorstellen konnte. Auch heute noch ist microTech daf\u00fcr bekannt, gute Ideen von jedem seiner Mitarbeiter zu f\u00f6rdern und zu entwickeln.\n\nIn der Zwischenzeit leitete Aleena eine Initiative zum Kauf von angeschlagenen Unternehmen mit faszinierendem geistigen Eigentum. Branchenbeobachter hielten ihre kombinierten Ausgaben f\u00fcr \"r\u00fccksichtslos\", aber das Talent und die Technologie, die microTech erwarb, f\u00fchrten schlie\u00dflich zu vielen ihrer charakteristischen Produkte. Die einzige Firma, auf deren Kauf Magnus bestand, war Empiric Education. Ein intensiver Bieterkrieg machte Aleena sauer auf das Unternehmen, aber es wurde ihr wichtigster Kauf. microTech besa\u00df nun einen bedeutenden Hersteller von Bildungssoftware, und Magnus hatte gro\u00dfe Pl\u00e4ne mit ihm.\n\nNach dem Kauf von Empiric Education enth\u00fcllte Magnus ein Upgrade, das den Code deutlich vereinfachte und die Sicherheit erh\u00f6hte. Er hatte es entwickelt, seit er in seiner Jugend sein eigenes Equivalency Prep gehackt hatte, aber er wusste, dass er den zugrunde liegenden Code besitzen musste, um es zu monetarisieren. Neben den Verbesserungen an der Oberfl\u00e4che hatte er auch zus\u00e4tzliche Software im Hintergrund eingebaut, die jedes Detail im Leben eines Sch\u00fclers sicher verwalten sollte, um seine Produktivit\u00e4t zu steigern. Aleena bemerkte, dass fr\u00fche Anwender diese Software-Funktionen weit \u00fcber das Studium hinaus nutzten und sah das Versprechen darin. Sie ermutigte Magnus, sie als eigenst\u00e4ndige Software zu entwickeln.\n\nDie anf\u00e4ngliche Glas-Software war ein Hit und wurde schnell zu einer der Top-Produktivit\u00e4tssoftware auf dem Markt. Um jedoch alle Funktionen vollst\u00e4ndig und bequem nutzen zu k\u00f6nnen, mussten die Benutzer zwischen ihren Datenpads und den tragbaren Computern hin- und herwechseln, so dass sie oft beide mit sich f\u00fchren mussten. Jahr f\u00fcr Jahr versuchten Magnus und sein Team, die vorhandene Oberfl\u00e4che zu verbessern, aber die beliebtesten Ger\u00e4te dieser Zeit waren durch ihre Bildschirmgr\u00f6\u00dfe begrenzt, und alles, was gr\u00f6\u00dfer war, h\u00e4tte genauso gut ein Datapad sein k\u00f6nnen. Der Durchbruch kam, als Magnus in einen Simpod kletterte, nur damit dieser eine Fehlfunktion hatte und einen kleinen Bildschirm vor sein Gesicht projizierte. Jetzt wusste er, was er zu tun hatte - seine Geschwister anrufen.\n\nSICHER UND GEBORGEN\nMagnus kontaktierte Camryn, seinen j\u00fcngeren Bruder und derzeitigen CEO des Familienunternehmens, und arbeitete mit ihm an der Entwicklung und Beschaffung der richtigen Materialien f\u00fcr ein am Handgelenk zu tragendes Ger\u00e4t. Wenn Glas wirklich erfolgreich sein sollte, wusste Magnus, dass microTech mit dem Bau eigener Hardware beginnen musste, um Glas zu einem vollwertigen Betriebssystem zu machen. In der Zwischenzeit heuerte er seinen \u00e4lteren Bruder Fikri an, um zu versuchen, seine Software zu hacken und vertraute niemandem au\u00dfer ihm, um die Sicherheit zu testen. Aleena glaubte, dass dies aus famili\u00e4rer Loyalit\u00e4t geschah, behauptete aber sp\u00e4ter, dass Magnus ihr Fikris umfangreiche Referenzen anvertraute, einschlie\u00dflich der Tatsache, dass er eine entscheidende Rolle bei dem Hack spielte, der schockierende Bilder des Massakers von Garron auf ihr System \u00fcbertrug und half, die Messers zu st\u00fcrzen.\n\nMagnus verstand einfach, wie wichtig die Sicherheit bei einem Ger\u00e4t ist, das das gesamte Leben eines Menschen verwalten soll. Der Markt f\u00fcr Wearables war ges\u00e4ttigt mit Produkten, die von Sicherheitsbedenken geplagt waren. Nach dem Sturz der Messers wurde aufgedeckt, dass Wearable-Hersteller gezwungen waren, eine Hintert\u00fcr in ihre Ger\u00e4te einzubauen, damit die Regierung auf ihr Netzwerk zugreifen konnte. Selbst Jahre sp\u00e4ter brachte dies einige Verbraucher dazu, Wearables aufgrund ethischer Bedenken nicht zu verwenden, w\u00e4hrend andere in Frage stellten, ob diese Hintert\u00fcren jemals geschlossen wurden. Magnus unterstrich diesen Punkt in der ersten Werbekampagne des mobiGlas, die eine verpixelte Figur zeigte, die jedes Wearable auf dem Markt hackte, nur um vom mobiGlas gestoppt zu werden. Die effektive Werbung in Kombination mit der intuitiven Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che des Ger\u00e4ts und dem g\u00fcnstigen Preis machten das mobiGlas bei seiner Ver\u00f6ffentlichung im Jahr 2818 zu einem sofortigen Erfolg. Seine Beliebtheit stieg im Laufe der Jahre immer weiter an, bis es zu dem allgegenw\u00e4rtigen Wearable wurde, das heute im ganzen Reich getragen wird.\n\nAleena zog sich nach der erfolgreichen Ver\u00f6ffentlichung des mobiGlas zur\u00fcck, aber Magnus setzte weiterhin ihre aggressive Gesch\u00e4ftsstrategie ein, manchmal auf eine Art und Weise, die Beobachter f\u00fcr gef\u00e4hrlich oder unethisch hielten. Er steckte Pro\ufb01ts in die Entwicklung einer breiten Palette neuer Ger\u00e4te, darunter ein revolution\u00e4res neues Simpod-Design und eine Reihe von Schiffs-Computern. Er kaufte sogar riesige Fl\u00e4chen billigen Grundbesitzes in extrem kalten Biomen im ganzen Imperium, um die st\u00e4ndig wachsende Armee von microTech-Servern zu parken. Als microTech in aller Stille begann, diese Grundst\u00fccke zu verkaufen, glaubten Branchenbeobachter, dass dies eine Abkehr des Unternehmens von der Serververwaltung signalisierte. Stattdessen verwendete Magnus das Kapital f\u00fcr seinen bisher gr\u00f6\u00dften und k\u00fchnsten Deal, den Kauf von Stanton IV.\n\nMagnus zog sich nach dem Kauf von Stanton IV durch microTech offiziell zur\u00fcck, blieb aber zur Best\u00fcrzung einiger tief in die Gesch\u00e4fte des Unternehmens involviert. Er \u00fcberwachte das Design und den Bau von New Babbage, microTechs prim\u00e4rem Landeplatz, und erhielt sogar ein Vetorecht \u00fcber jedes neue Ger\u00e4t oder jede Unternehmensinitiative, die seiner Meinung nach nicht mit den Grundwerten des Unternehmens \u00fcbereinstimmte. Nachdem er jahrzehntelang als Vision\u00e4r gepriesen wurde, begann sein zunehmender W\u00fcrgegriff auf das Unternehmen sein Image zu tr\u00fcben. Eine Reihe von hochrangigen Lecks enth\u00fcllte, wie unzufrieden die Mitarbeiter mit seiner fortgesetzten Beteiligung waren und dass mehrere wichtige Entscheidungen, die er k\u00fcrzlich getroffen hatte, das Unternehmen Millionen gekostet hatten. Als Reaktion darauf ging Magnus auf eine Medienkampagne, um sein Image zu besch\u00f6nigen, und engagierte sogar einen Ghostwriter, der eine schmeichelhafte Autobiografie schrieb. Die Kampagne stellte Magnus als eine technikorientierte Kraft innerhalb des Unternehmens dar, die \u00fcber den fragw\u00fcrdigen Gesch\u00e4ftspraktiken stand. Dies f\u00fchrte zu dem sterilen Bild von ihm als einem zur\u00fcckgezogenen Tech-Genie, das bis heute anh\u00e4lt.\n\nAls Magnus Tobin 2912 starb, feierten ihn die Menschen als eine der wichtigsten Pers\u00f6nlichkeiten des 29. Jahrhunderts. Trotz seines unbestreitbaren Einflusses auf die Technologie besteht seine gr\u00f6\u00dfte Leistung vielleicht darin, ein Unternehmen zu schaffen, das auch ohne ihn gedeiht. microTechs Besitz eines Planeten, die st\u00e4ndig wachsende Produktlinie und die st\u00e4ndigen Aktualisierungen der Lebensqualit\u00e4t des mobiGlas haben das Unternehmen in eine gute Position gebracht, um im n\u00e4chsten Jahrhundert genauso einflussreich zu sein wie im letzten.","zh_CN":"This portfolio originally appeared in Jump Point 7.11.\nInspirational. Visionary. Ruthless. Much has been said and written about microTech founder Magnus Tobin, who was the driving force behind the empire\u2019s most essential piece of wearable tech, mobiGlas. Broadly perceived as a reclusive tech genius, Magnus\u2019 fascinating life de\ufb01es such easy categorization.\n\nMagnus Tobin was born on Earth in 2756. His parents devoted their time to running a prosperous textile manufacturing business and left the rearing of their three sons (Fikri, Magnus, and Camryn) to au pairs. Magnus\u2019 eldest brother, Fikri, was a formative in\ufb02uence who taught him how to hack high-end electronics. Magnus\u2019 technological obsession led to his elite private high school expelling him for poor grades and attendance. Instead of enrolling in a new school, Magnus convinced his parents to let him work full time for the family business while studying for the Equivalency.\n\nFree from school, Magnus passed his Equivalency at an extraordinary pace after bypassing the daily lesson limits and creating his own algorithm to analyze trends in past exams. Meanwhile, Magnus spent his days working in the information technology department of his family\u2019s company. He learned all he could about its operation before presenting his parents with a comprehensive plan to overhaul and update its technical infrastructure. Impressed with his vision, his parents signed off on the plan and assigned Aleena Tressler, a trusted senior advisor, to officially oversee it. The project improved efficiency and generated massive pro\ufb01ts for the company.\n\nMAKING MICRO MACRO\nMagnus became the heir apparent to the family business but shocked his parents by rejecting the role. Instead, he convinced them to fund a small technology start-up that sold a modi\ufb01ed version of his business software. microTech officially incorporated in 2782 but struggled to turn a pro\ufb01t. Eventually, he asked former mentor Aleena Tressler to join the company and offered her a percentage of the pro\ufb01ts. Her extensive list of contacts and cutthroat business acumen brought the growing microTech more orders for custom software than they could handle \u2013 an enviable position to be in as the overthrow of the Messer regime in 2792 sent shockwaves through the empire\u2019s economy.\n\nMagnus felt fortunate that microTech survived the economic upheaval, but Aleena argued that the company could only succeed long term if it diversi\ufb01ed. Magnus went on a hiring spree, courting numerous notable engineers and developers by guaranteeing them autonomy over their projects. He also believed that the next great idea could come from anyone within the company. He organized hack-a-thons to identify new talent and kept one week clear in his schedule every quarter so anyone in the company could pitch him their idea. Even today, microTech remains renowned for nurturing and developing good ideas from any of its employees.\n\nMeanwhile, Aleena led an initiative to buy struggling businesses with intriguing intellectual property. Industry observers deemed their combined spending as \u2018reckless\u2019, but the talent and technology microTech acquired eventually led to many of their signature products. The only company Magnus insisted on purchasing was Empiric Education. An intense bidding war soured Aleena on the company, but it became their most important purchase. microTech now owned a major producer of education software, and Magnus had big plans for it.\n\nAfter the purchase of Empiric Education, Magnus revealed an upgrade that signi\ufb01cantly streamlined the code and enhanced its security. He had been developing it since hacking his own Equivalency prep in his youth, but knew he needed to own the underlying code to monetize it. Beyond the surface-level improvements, he had also included additional background software meant to securely manage every detail of a student\u2019s life to increase their productivity. Aleena noticed that early adopters used these software features well beyond studying and saw the promise in it. She encouraged Magnus to develop it as standalone software.\n\nThe initial Glas software was a hit and quickly became one of the top productivity software on the market. However, to fully and comfortably utilize all the features, users needed to bounce between their datapads and wearable comps, often necessitating carrying both with them. Year after year Magnus and his team tried to improve the existing available interface, but the most popular devices of the time were limited by their screen size, and anything larger might as well have been a datapad. The breakthrough came when Magnus climbed into a simpod only for it to malfunction and project a small screen in front of his face. Now he knew what he had to do \u2013 call his siblings.\n\nSAFE AND SECURE\nMagnus contacted Camryn, his younger brother and current CEO of the family business, and worked with him on designing and sourcing the right materials for a wrist-wearable device. If Glas was really going to succeed, Magnus knew that microTech was going to have to begin building their own hardware with Glas transitioning into a full-blown operating system. Meanwhile, he hired his older brother, Fikri, to try and hack his software, trusting no one but him to test its security. Aleena believed it to be out of family loyalty, but later claimed that Magnus con\ufb01ded in her Fikri\u2019s extensive credentials, including playing an instrumental role in the hack that broadcast shocking images of the Massacre of Garron to their system and helped topple the Messers.\n\nSimply, Magnus understood the importance of security on a device meant to manage someone\u2019s entire life. The wearables market was saturated with products plagued by security concerns. Following the fall of the Messers, it was revealed that wearable manufacturers were forced to build a backdoor into their devices so the government could access their network. Even years later, this drove some consumers to not use wearables due to ethical concerns, while others questioned whether these backdoors were ever closed. Magnus hammered home this point in the mobiGlas\u2019 \ufb01rst ad campaign, which featured a pixelated \ufb01gure hacking every wearable on the market only to be sti\ufb02ed by the mobiGlas. The effective ad combined with the device\u2019s intuitive interface and competitive price point made the mobiGlas an instant success upon release in 2818. Its popularity only increased over the years until it became the ubiquitous wearable worn across the empire today.\n\nAleena retired after the successful mobiGlas release, but Magnus continued to employ her aggressive business strategy, sometimes in ways that observers deemed dangerous or unethical. He poured pro\ufb01ts into developing a wide range of new devices, including a revolutionary new simpod design and a line of ship computers. He even bought massive swaths of cheap real estate in extremely cold biomes across the empire to park the ever-growing army of microTech servers. When microTech quietly began selling this land, industry observers believed it signaled a corporate shift away from server management. Instead, Magnus used the capital for his biggest and boldest deal to date, the purchase of Stanton IV.\n\nMagnus officially retired following microTech\u2019s purchase of Stanton IV, but to the dismay of some, remained deeply involved in the company\u2019s operations. He oversaw the design and construction of New Babbage, microTech\u2019s primary landing zone, and was even given veto power over any new device or corporate initiative that he believed didn\u2019t align with the company\u2019s core values. After decades of being hailed as visionary, his increased stranglehold on the company was beginning to tarnish his image. A series of high-level leaks revealed just how unhappy employees were with his continued involvement and that several key decisions he had recently made had cost the company millions. In response, Magnus went on a media blitz to whitewash his image, even hiring a ghostwriter to pen a fawning autobiography. The campaign painted Magnus as a tech-focused force within the company that existed above the questionable business practices. This led to the sterile image of him as a reclusive tech genius that persists to this day.\n\nWhen Magnus Tobin died in 2912 people hailed him as one of the most important \ufb01gures of the 29th century. Despite his undeniable in\ufb02uence on technology, his greatest achievement may be creating a company that has thrived without him. microTech\u2019s ownership of a planet, ever-expanding product line, and constant quality of life updates to the mobiGlas has the company well-positioned to be just as in\ufb02uential in the next century as it was in the last."},"links_count":0,"comment_count":13,"created_at":"2021-01-06T03:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"5 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-07 20:29:06","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":17940,"next_id":17943}}