The Existential Crisis of a Tech Enthusiast

Tech conferences used to solve real problems for everyday users—think back to the original iPhone announcement. Today, keynotes target investors, creators, and competitors instead of regular people. How does that shape what gets built? In this episode, host Former Big Tech Product Manager, and XR Start-Up Founder Clorama sits down with XR producer and Zero to Start podcast host Siciliana Trevino....

Meta delivered Horizon Worlds VR users a 90-day eviction notice...then walked it back to soften the blow. Days later, Rec Room announced its own shutdown. And the social VR community is left managing an unexpected but very real grief over virtual identities, digital worlds they built, and communities they called home with no other (virtually) real place to go and rebuild. In this episode, Clorama...

Why did AI take off so quickly, while XR, despite years of promise and investment, never quite caught the same fire? And where have all the community led VR/XR Developer communities gone? In this episode, I chat with Neilda Pacquing Gagné, former XR founder turned AI ecosystem builder, she shares her experience growing Ottawa’s AI community from just 3 to over 1,500 in two years. And what becomes...

Why did AI take off so quickly, while XR, despite years of promise and investment, never quite caught the same fire? In this episode, I sit down with Neilda Pacquing Gagné, former XR founder turned AI ecosystem builder, to explore a simple but powerful idea: it’s not just the hardware technology that makes something grow, it’s the people and communities who build for it. Neilda shares her experien...

As smart glasses become more recognizable in everyday life, early signs of social backlash are already emerging and they resemble the same kind of reactions that led to sinking Google Glass. However, nearly every major tech company is preparing to launch AI-powered smart glasses at full speed ahead, combining wearable cameras, AI assistants, and potentially facial recognition. All this, despite th...

In this episode, Clorama Dorvilias (Former PM at Meta/Google, XR Entrepreneur and Dev) teams up again with Siciliana Trevino (Former PM at AlcoVR, XR Designer, and Women and XR/AR Allies) take a step back from the hype to examine the assumptions behind the smart glasses push. Discussion ranges from cultural readiness and privacy concerns to most impactful use cases and current market appetite thes...

In this series, former PM and industry insider Clorama Dorvilias (that's me!) explores the growing tension inside the tech industry and the widening gap as enthusiasts begin questioning their role, their return on investment, and their place in the ever-shifting promises of XR and emerging tech. From “prototype-as-product” launches to bewildering “standout features,” to disappearing partnerships a...

Welcome to the first episode of the series, this conversation, XR Veterans Siciliana and Clorama explore the future of VR and AR , and the business landscape surrounding these technologies with a product management lens. They discuss the hype versus reality of VR, the importance of sustainability in business, and the impact of technology on society, particularly in education. The conversation emph...