Beyond Devices Podcast

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Episode 76 – 2017 Predictions and 2016 Predictions Review Dec 21, 2016

Show notes

This episode is all about predictions. First off, we review the predictions we made a year ago for 2016, including a raft of Apple-related predictions as well as some other company-specific ones and then some industry level forecasts. But most of the episode, from about 15 minutes onward, we focus on predictions for the year ahead. We again start with some company-specific predictions, concerning Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, and Snapchat. But we also include some industry-level predictions again. As last year, the predictions are a mix of those where we feel we're on solid ground, and those where we're sticking our necks out a bit. This will be our last episode until sometime in the New Year, so happy holidays!

Episode 75 – 2016 Year in Review, AirPods Dec 15, 2016

Show notes

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. We start with a second week in a row of Amazon news, this time the announcement of a drone-based delivery trial in Cambridge, England. Next, we discuss a couple of pieces of news about autonomous driving – Google's restructuring of its self-driving car efforts into Waymo, a separate entity under the Alphabet umbrella, and Uber's self-driving cab testing in San Francisco. Lastly, the news of yet another massive Yahoo hack. Our usual Question of the Week segment this week becomes Questions of the Year, as our way of looking back on 2016. We answer a set of questions about the year that's ending soon, from what surprised us the most this year to which companies we changed our minds about during the year. Next week, we'll follow up with predictions for 2017 (and a review of last year's predictions for 2016). Our short third segment is a quick discussion of Apple's delayed AirPods launch and the AirPods themselves, which Jan has been using this week. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 74 – Music Streaming, Are Gadgets Dead? Dec 07, 2016

Show notes

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, T-Mobile's announcement of Digits, a service which will allow customers to use their single number on multiple devices, or multiple numbers on a single device. Second, we discuss two news items relating to Apple and AI: the announcement that its researchers will now be able to publish their research, and second the slides from its talk this week at an AI conference. Third, Amazon's announcement of Amazon Go, a sort of grocery store of the future. Our Question of the Week is "How is streaming changing the music industry?" Jan talks about the size and composition of the music industry and its revenues, and the rise of streaming. We discuss the differences between ad-supported and paid streaming, and what's happening with each. And we talk about where the industry will go from here. Our third segment is a conversation about Farhad Manjoo's article this week in the New York Times about the increasingly tough landscape for hardware vendors, and whether we agree with his conclusions. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a holiday gift guide recommended by Aaron. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 73 – Apple Structure, State of Smartwatches Dec 02, 2016

Show notes

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, two stories about home assistants, with a report that Amazon will make an Echo with a screen, and another that Microsoft will add features to Windows 10 to allow PCs to serve as ambient voice assistants. Secondly, two pieces of news from the digital video market, with AT&T launching the long-awaited DirecTV Now service, and Netflix announcing a download feature. Lastly, we discuss Bloomberg's report that Apple will begin using drones for mapping data. Our Question of the Week is "Should Apple change from a functional organization to a divisional structure?" Aaron talks us through the differences in these two organizational structures and the conventional wisdom on which is better for different kinds of businesses, and then we discuss how these arguments apply (or don't) to Apple. We don't come to a firm conclusion one way or another, but hopefully you'll be better armed to make up your own mind about this topic by the end of the discussion! Our third segment is a conversation about the state of smartwatches, in which we talk about Fitbit's reported acquisition of Pebble, Motorola's announcement that it won't be making any more Android Wear watches in the near term, and the Apple Watch, including Aaron's recent experience trying one for a while. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a book recommended by Jan. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 72 – Cord Cutting, Tech Thanksgiving Nov 22, 2016

Show notes

This week's episode is a special Thanksgiving episode for our listeners here in the US. Our News Roundup covers three stories. The first two are WiFi-related, with Google making its new Google Wifi devices available for sale and providing a self-made review of sorts as well, and Bloomberg reporting that Apple will discontinue its line of AirPort WiFi routers. Our third story is Instagram's launch of both live video and disappearing photos. Our Question of the Week is "What is the state of cord cutting in the US pay TV market?" Jan talks through the research and analysis he does each quarter and some of the numbers on the current state of the US pay TV market and cord cutting. But we also discuss cord nevers and cord shaving, two other phenomena affecting the pay TV industry in the US, and the implications of all this for the players in the market. Our third segment is our Thanksgiving special, in which both Aaron and Jan share three technology things they're thankful for. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a movie recommended by Aaron. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 71 – Samsung buys Harman, MacBook Pro Review and Apple Design Nov 16, 2016

Show notes

This week's episode is back to our usual format, with a News Roundup to kick things off, a Question of the Week, and a third segment, followed by a Weekly Pick. Our News Roundup covers three stories: firstly, Snap (nee Snapchat) released its Spectacles hardware and reportedly confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC; secondly, Twitter introduced some muting options to help combat abuse and harassment, while also kicking several figures from the "alt-right" movement off the service'; and thirdly, the fake news story we discussed last week continued to evolve this week with Facebook and Google both making news. Our Question of the Week is "What are the implications of Samsung buying Harman International?" Aaron did some research this week into this acquisition and its implications, and answers questions about what exactly Samsung is buying, what Harman's connected car business does, and how the two companies might bring their assets together, and lastly how this is likely to impact consumers and the broader tech industry. (We also weigh in on the idea that Apple should have bought Harman instead). Our third segment combines a couple of Apple-related items: Jan shares a summary of his MacBook Pro review from earlier this week, and we also discuss the new coffee table book Apple launched this week about its design. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a movie recommended by Jan. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 70 – Election & Tech, Google Hardware Review Nov 11, 2016

Show notes

In this week's episode, we cover two topics: technology and the US presidential election, and a review of Google's three new hardware products: Home, Pixel, and Daydream View. Our first topic, which takes up a little over the first half of the episode, is this week's US presidential election. We do share our personal thoughts on the outcome briefly, but most of this segment is devoted to the role technology and particularly social media played in the election, and then the likely outcome of the election for tech policy. We specifically discuss trade, M&A activity and the media, net neutrality, and repatriation of overseas profits. Our second topics is our Question of the Week, in which Jan shares his first impressions of Google's Home, Pixel and Daydream View hardware, which he's been using for a while now. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each piece of hardware, as well as Jan's overall views on Google's first hardware efforts. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a camping stove recommended by Aaron. As usual, you'll find links to related material including where to find Aaron's Weekly Pick on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 69 – Q3 2016 Tech Earnings Review Nov 02, 2016

Show notes

This week's episode is a review of earnings for the biggest tech companies that have reported earnings for Q3 2016 so far: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and Twitter. We cover each for a few minutes in alphabetical order, discussing the highlights and trends they suggest. As usual, you'll find some links to related content on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 68 – Microsoft and Apple October Events Oct 28, 2016

Show notes

This week's episode is all about Microsoft and Apple's two big events this week. We first talk through Microsoft's announcements, including the Windows 10 Creators Update, various creativity software, Microsoft's first VR play, and more. Then we discuss Apple's big announcements including the new TV app for Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad, and the new MacBook Pros. For the last part of the episode, we compare the announcements and discuss the broader significance of what each company is doing, and how they will compete going forward. Next week, we'll likely do an earnings-focused episode. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Episode 67 – LeEco, Project Titan, Q3 Earnings Preview, Pixel Reviews Oct 19, 2016

Show notes

This week's News Roundup is a little longer than usual as we do a deeper than expected dive into three topics. First off, we discuss the US coming-out party for LeEco, a Chinese consumer technology company that's taking a content-centric approach. Secondly, we discuss reports that Apple is scaling back and refocusing its car initiative. And lastly, we talk about Google's apparent deal with CBS as part of its planned YouTube-based over-the-top TV service. Our Question of the Week this week is all about Q3 earnings and what to expect from seven of the top consumer technology companies: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, and Twitter. Jan talks through each of these companies in turn and talk about what he's watching out for, and what to expect in both the numbers and the discussion by executives on earnings calls. Our third segment is a brief roundup of the reviews that came out this week for the Google Pixel smartphone, whose launch we discussed a couple of weeks ago. The reviews were largely consistent, but we discuss some of the areas of disagreement as well as the interesting trends that are emerging from these and other recent reviews. We wrap up the episode with a Weekly Pick, which this week is a our first Twitter account recommendation, from Aaron. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

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