Five years ago this week… TikTok‘s parent company ByteDance launched its foray into VR by acquiring Chinese headset maker Pico, signaling the company’s intentions to boost consumer engagement by adding hardware to the mindless scroll of TikTok, while stepping on the toes of headset manufacturers and entertainment platforms pushing into VR in the West. Since then, ByteDance has struggled to shift Pico VR headsets beyond Chinese borders. While the company is launching its Project Swan headset in late 2026, success will likely remain in Pico’s dominant share of its domestic market. Quickplay plops AI in control room: Quickplay, AT&T’s erstwhile streaming offspring, has launched Live Operations, a centralized control plane for live broadcast and OTT channels, spanning scheduling, signal control,…