Exponent

Latest Episodes:

Episode 048 — An Exhausting Week Jun 13, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode, Ben and James discuss Dick Costolo stepping down as CEO of Twitter, Apple’s seeming war on Google, and the concerning launch of Apple Music.

Links

Ben Thompson: Dick Costolo Out as Twitter CEO, Costolo’s Key Shortcoming, Twitter’s Next CEO — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only)
Ben Thompson: Twitter Needs New Leadership — Stratechery
Chris Sacca: What Twitter Can Ben — Lowercase Capital
Mary Meeker: Internet Trends 2015 (Slide 47) — KPCB
Ben Thompson: Apple Enables Ad-Blockers — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only)
Ben Thompson: Apple Music and Apple’s Focus — Stratechery
Charlie Warzel: Apple’s Junk Drawer Problem — BuzzFeed News
dfbclark: Apple Music is a new Music Label — Stratechery Forum (members-only)

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 047 — Apple, Google, and Privacy Jun 06, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode, Ben and James briefly discuss Jony Ive’s promotion, the future of Apple, Google I/O, and Tim Cook’s speech on privacy.

Links

Ben Thompson: The Apple Car and Jony Ive — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Google IO: Android and Serving the World; Photos, Google Now, and the World’s Information; Google’s Turning Point — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: The Funnel Framework — Stratechery
Matthew Panzarino: Apple’s Tim Cook Delivers Blistering Speech On Encryption, Privacy — TechCrunch
Ben Thompson: Tim Cook’s Unfair and Unrealistic Privacy Speech, Strategy Credits, The Privacy Priority Problem — Stratechery Daily Update
Ben Thompson: Strategy Credit — Stratechery
Anna Garvey: The Oregon Trail Generation — Social Media Week

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 046 — Everything Has a Price May 22, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode, Ben and James discuss ad-blockers, both personal ones and the rumored carrier-implemented one, as well as Internet.org and the moral quandary that is the Internet.

Links

Ben Thompson: Carriers to Implement Ad-Blocking — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only)
Laura McGann: How Ars Technica’s “experiment” with ad-blocking readers built on its community’s affection for the site — Nieman Lab
Ben Thompson: Open Source Apps — Stratechery
Ben Thompson: The Changing — and Unchanging — Structure of TV — Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 045 — It’s a Watch that Does Stuff May 15, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode, Ben finally has an Apple Watch: James has lots of questions about it. (And yes, we should have talked about Google Now.)

Links

Horace Dediu: The Battle for The Wrist — Asymco
Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News – Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Why Now for Apple Watch – Stratechery
John Gruber: Watch, Apple Watch – Daring Fireball

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 044 — Up in the Clouds with Twitter Apr 30, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss why Twitter needs new leadership, its massive potential, and why Google probably should acquire it

Links

Ben Thompson: Twitter Needs New Leadership – Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Twitter’s Marketing Problem – Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed – Stratechery
Ev Williams: Sometimes Things Stay Stuck – Medium
Ben Thompson: Twitter Acquires MoPub – Stratechery
Ben Thompson: Peak Google – Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 043 – Project Fi and Facebook’s Feed Apr 24, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss the prospects for Google’s Project Fi as well as Facebook’s decision to change their News Feed algorithm

Links

Project Fi – Google
Ben Thompson: Google Launches Project Fi – Stratechery Daily Update (members-only)
How Google’s Project Fi pricing stacks up to the competition – Ars Technica
Ben Thompson: Google to Become MVNO? – Stratechery Daily Update
Google Fiber plans expansion, then TWC makes speeds six times faster – Ars Technica
Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed – Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 042 — Monopolizing Your Ears Apr 17, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode Ben and James thank John Siracusa then dive into the EU’s antitrust investigation of Google and discuss whether or not antitrust is more or less important in technology.

Links

John Siracusa: OS X Reviewed – Hypercritical
John Siracusa: OS X 10.10 Yosemite Review Conclusion – Ars Technica
Ben Thompson: Growing Apple at WWDC – Stratechery
Danny Sullivan: Analyzing the EU’s Antitrust Charges Against Google Over Shopping Search – Search Engine Land
Chris Dixon: Proprietary Services vs Open Protocols – Medium
Ev Williams: Sometimes Things Stay Stuck – Medium
Exponent Episode 005: The World Has Changed – Exponent.FM

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 041 – Bubbles Apr 10, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss whether or not there is a bubble, as well as a bit on the Apple Watch. Please note this was recorded before the Apple Watch reviews were released.

Links

Ben Thompson: It’s Not 1999 – Stratechery
The Unicorn List – Fortune
Ben Thompson: The Multitudes of Social – Stratechery
Bill Gurley: Investors Beware: Today’s $100M+ Late-stage Private Rounds Are Very Different from an IPO – Above the Crowd
Turd on the Front Porch – The Talk Show
Ben Thompson: Apple Watch’s Bad Messaging – Stratechery (members-only)
David Pierce: iPhone Killer: The Secret History of the Apple Watch – Wired
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance – YouTube
Ben Thompson: Apple Watch: Asking Why and Saying No – Stratechery

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 040 – BuzzFeed and Amazon Apr 03, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss BuzzFeed in the context of the Brother Orange story, then talk about Amazon’s Dash Button and Home Services initiative, along with a dive into the technical details of Amazon’s balance sheet (sorry, it’s a bit dry) and why Ben is nervous.

Links

Matt Stopera: I Followed My Stolen iPhone Across The World, Became A Celebrity In China, And Found A Friend For Life – BuzzFeed
Ben Thompson: Why BuzzFeed is the Most Important News Organization in the World – Stratechery
Matt Stopera: Who Is This Man And Why Are His Photos Showing Up On My Phone? – BuzzFeed
Peter Osborne: Why I have resigned from the Telegraph – OpenDemocracy
Introducing Amazon Dash Button – Amazon
Introducing Amazon Dash Replenishment Service – Amazon
Amazon Home Services – Amazon
Ben Thompson: Losing my Amazon Religion – Amazon
Timothy Green: Amazon.com Inc. Is Losing More Money Than You Think – Motley Fool
Marc Bain: Consumer culture has found its perfect match in our mobile-first, fast-fashion lifestyles – Quartz

Hosts

Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery
James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review

Podcast Information

Episode 039 – Lando Calrissian Publishers Mar 27, 2015

Show notes

In this week’s episode Ben and James follow up on last week’s episode, introduce the Toilet Bowl philosophy of career development, and then dive into the future of publishers in the world of Facebook.

Due to some technical issues there is a rather abrupt stop at the end – sorry about that!

Links