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OpenAI: I'm sorry, I can't help with that request Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

Wow! We're checking in on OpenAI again. Reporting over the weekend confirmed that the company is on track to book over $1 billion of revenue this year – suggesting this whole AI thing might have an actual consumer base. Meanwhile, the company released a handful of new features for ChatGPT which demonstrate just how hard they're going for it. We discuss.

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SpaceX: Two idiots go to Mars Oct 17, 2023

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Elon Musk may be a complete weirdo these days, but SpaceX is still a pretty cool company. Started to assist mankind in its journey to Mars, it has been the leading company in the world of private spaceflight, and the undisputed king of satellite tech.

In this ep we talk about SpaceX, Starlink, the various forces which made it successful, and speculate on what jobs we will have on Mars.

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YouTube: Please, hit that like and subscribe Oct 10, 2023

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YouTube is indisputably the king of online video, and has been virtually since it launched in 2005. It's part of the infrastructure of the internet, and has imprinted itself on the culture through a combo of its algorithmic recommendations engine and sheer scale. But in the age of TikTok, can YouTube be toppled?

In this episode, we talk through YouTube's history, key points in its development, and what its future might look like. Also, sadly, YouTubers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Audio & Video Production: Boops, bleeps, etc (PREVIEW) Oct 05, 2023

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This is a preview of a premium episode. To subscribe and get an extra episode every week, go here.

These days it seems just about everyone can make professional looking video. Thanks to the video production tools available to the average user of TikTok, Zoomers are better at editing video than millennials ever were. It leaves the question: what are the classic pro video platforms like Avid, Adobe Premiere and Apple Final Cut Pro doing?

At the same time, music production seems like a harder problem to make simple for the masses. In this ep, we dive into the current situation around audio and video production.

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Bill Gates tries to install Movie Maker – Internal Tech Emails

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AI Devices: Hitting the discotheque in your Facebook Ray-Bans Oct 04, 2023

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Among the numerous announcements made at this year's Meta Connect was a new generation of its smart glasses, developed with Ray-Bans. Aside from the usual stuff about capturing photos and listening to audio, Mark Zuckerberg casually dropped that he thinks they will soon be an interface into conversational AI.

It comes as there are rumours of other companies considering AI devices, like OpenAI working with former Apple design boss Jony Ive. In this ep, we dive in.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Digital identity: Show us yer licence, guvna (PREVIEW) Sep 28, 2023

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Digital identity references a simple idea: how much a computer system knows about you. But, just like everything else, it's a bit weird these days. People have increasingly fractious online identities, even as the platforms we use and our own governments collect more and more data about us.

This episode, we discuss changes in digital identity, and Raph gets to go off about his deep and unabiding love of the surveillance state.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phone Cameras: But like... what is a photo, man? Sep 26, 2023

Show notes

The smartphone camera arms race seems to be a little less intense these days, but the quality of a phone camera remains one of the major reasons people choose to upgrade – especially when most iPhone and Android devices have been basically the same black glass rectangle for a decade now.

But there's only so much circuitry and lens technology you can cram into a phone. So much of the development has been software level, with machine learning and AI doing heavy algorithmic work to make your photos pop. This ranges from automatic red eye removal and saturation adjustment all the way up to faked photos of the moon.

So we ask the bold question: where does smartphone photography go from here? And does it really matter if the photos your phone is taking don't really reflect reality?

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flexport: Container go on ship (PREVIEW) Sep 21, 2023

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If you pay any attention to tech or VC Twitter, Flexport will have crossed your radar. A freight forwarding business which wants to do for supply chains what Stripe did for payments, Flexport (and its founder Ryan Petersen) has become one of the most hyped startups among a certain flavour of tech poster. Petersen also became a well-known talking head during the COVID supply chain crisis.

The company is in the news because Petersen sacked his successor, former Amazon logistics boss Dave Clarke, and has returned to the helm amid a revenue collapse. In this ep, we talk about Flexport, logistics, and what the heck's going on.

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unity: How to piss off developers with one simple trick Sep 19, 2023

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Unity is one of the most popular game engines in the world, powering everything from a solid chunk of the mobile gaming universe to bigger console and PC games. Last week, it managed to annoy basically all of its customers by announcing a new, highly extractive pricing model.

In this episode, we dive into what a game engine does, the rise of Unity, and why making everyone who uses your product homicidally angry is the bold marketing move of 2023.

Links

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social Audio: Kicked out of the Clubhouse (PREVIEW) Sep 14, 2023

Show notes

This is a preview of a premium episode. To sign up for Down Round Premium and get an extra episode every week, go here.

This week brought news that Clubhouse, the social audio streaming platform endlessly hyped during the early pandemic, has pivoted away from its original purpose and is now trying to become sort of a group chat for audio instead.

It's as good a time as any to talk about social audio, the way people share audio online, and why it's such a tough nut to crack.

Links

Clubhouse reinvents itself as an audio messaging app - The Verge

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