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Latest Episodes:

Wed. 11/04 – Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, et al Win In California Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

Californians pass Proposition 22, and voters in Massachusetts strike a blow for the right to repair. You no longer need a phone to listen to Spotify on your watch. And why Walmart might partner with Comcast to make TVs, countries might force Netflix to produce content inside their own borders, and Hollywood is losing visual effects talent to Silicon Valley.

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Uber, Lyft Win California Bid to Keep Drivers as Contractors (Bloomberg)
Massachusetts voters pass right-to-repair expansion opening up car data (Engadget)
Wish Spotify streamed on Apple Watch? The time has arrived for many (9to5Mac)
China Tells Ant It Can’t Go Public Until Capital Shortfall Fixed (Bloomberg)
Comcast, Walmart in Talks to Develop and Distribute Smart TVs (WSJ)
Canada to Force Netflix, Amazon Prime to Pay for Local Content (The Hollywood Reporter)
Big Tech Snags Hollywood Talent to Pursue Enhanced Reality (WSJ)

Link for tomorrow night's Listener Call In Episode:

https://zoom.us/j/94445550255

Tue. 11/03 – Apple Silicon Coming To MacBook Pros Already? Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

So, that November 10th Apple event might see a full slate of Mac laptops with Apple Silicon inside. Why has Ant Group’s IPOs been called off? Why has Walmart called off plans to allow robots to roam its store aisles? And someone explain to me why Spotify’s proposed new algorithm changes aren’t a modern form of Payola?

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Links:

Apple to Launch MacBooks With Own Chips Next Week (Bloomberg)
China Halts Ant Group’s Blockbuster I.P.O. (NYTimes)
China Halts Ant’s Record IPO, Throwing Ma’s Empire Into Turmoil (Bloomberg)
AWS launches its next-gen GPU instances (TechCrunch)
Walmart Scraps Plan to Have Robots Scan Shelves (WSJ)
NASA objects to new mega-constellation, citing risk of “catastrophic collision” (ArsTechnica)
Spotify will now allow artists and labels to promote tracks in your recommendations (TechCrunch)

Mon. 11/02 - Raspberry Pi Launches the Raspberry Pi 400 Nov 02, 2020

Show notes

Raspberry Pi launches the Raspberry Pi 400. All the big platforms’ plans for election day and beyond. Huawei is gonna make its own chips because it has to. Gaming continues to lead the way into the future in so many ways. And the Kafkaesque nightmare of Google locking you out of all your accounts.

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The Raspberry Pi 400 is a compact keyboard with a built-in computer (The Verge)
What to Expect From Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on Election Day (NYTimes)
Huawei develops plan for chip plant to help beat US sanctions (Financial Times)
Tencent claims record 100M daily users on mobile game Honor of Kings (TechCrunch)
What it's like to get locked out of Google indefinitely (Business Insider)

Fri. 10/30 – Netflix Raises Prices Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

Netflix raises prices. Because they can—and maybe because they should. Google wants to give you a free VPN. Samsung helps you find your galaxy of Galaxy things. A rundown of yesterday’s big day of tech earnings. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Netflix is raising the price of its most popular plan to $14 today, premium tier increasing to $18 (The Verge)
Google One’s 2TB+ plans adding Android VPN, coming to iOS & Mac/Windows soon (9to5Google)
SmartThings Find app can track down lost Samsung Galaxy devices (Engadget)
Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results (Apple Newsroom)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The 100X Club: Software Startup Valuations Skyrocket Despite Small Revenue (The Information)
How Discord (somewhat accidentally) invented the future of the internet (Protocol)
The Tech Antitrust Problem No One Is Talking About (Wired)
Streaming was part of the future — now it’s the only future (The Verge)
The Elysium effect: The coming backlash to the billionaire 'NewSpace' revolution (Space.com)

Thu. 10/29 – Troubling Ransomware Attacks On Hospitals Oct 29, 2020

Show notes

Major warnings about a rash of ransomware attacks on US hospitals. The new AMD chips. MOAAR consolidation in the chip industry. Can I introduce you to Quantum Computing as a Service? And a reminder that as Hollywood moves to streaming first, you don’t own anything. Seriously. You’re just renting.

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Links:

Building wave of ransomware attacks strike U.S. hospitals (Reuters)
AMD’s new Radeon RX 6800 XT promises to go head to head with Nvidia’s RTX 3080 (The Verge)
It’s Official- Marvell Acquiring Inphi For $10B That Boosts Its Cloud And 5G Opportunities (Forbes)
Honeywell announces its H1 quantum computer with 10 qubits (TechCrunch)
Honeywell introduces quantum computing as a service with subscription offering (ZDNet)
Microsoft plans big Windows 10 UI refresh in 2021 codenamed 'Sun Valley' (Windows Central)
Samsung posts highest-ever quarterly revenue as demand roars back (CNET)
Kuo: iPhone 12 Pro Demand Higher Than Expected (MacRumors)
Genshin Impact made $245m in its first month on mobile alone (GamesIndustry.biz)
Amazon Argues Users Don't Actually Own Purchased Prime Video Content (The Hollywood Reporter)

Wed. 10/28 – Does The iPhone 12 Have A Secret Reverse Wireless Charging Feature? Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

Does the iPhone 12 have secret reverse wireless charging just waiting to be turned on? More signs Apple might be building its own search engine. The headlines from today’s Section 230 Senate hearing. Is the DOJ gonna prevent Visa from acquiring Plaid? And how much would you pay Elon Musk to beam you internet from Space?

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Tue. 10/27 – AMD Buys Xilinx for $35 Billion Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

AMD does indeed buy Xilinx for $35 billion dollars. The UK bans locked phones. Tinder rolls out video dating. Zoom finally rolls out encryption. A major breakthrough in OLED technology has major implications for VR and for porn. And why the no-code movement might actually usher in the true computing revolution we were promised all along.

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Links:

AMD Acquiring Xilinx In Bold, $35B Semiconductor Mega-Deal (Forbes)
UK announces ban on sale of network-locked phones (Android Authority)
Face to Face, Tinder's opt-in video chat feature, is now rolling out globally (TechCrunch)
Zoom’s end-to-end encryption has arrived (The Verge)
Porn is about to get uncomfortably high-res thanks to new OLED tech (Input)
The No-Code Generation is arriving (TechCrunch)

Mon. 10/26 – New AirPods And AirPods Pro This Spring? Oct 26, 2020

Show notes

New AirPods and AirPods pro coming as soon as the spring? Facebook launches streaming gaming everywhere but guess where? Ant is the biggest IPO in history. SAP seems to be having Covid issues. And are you still working from home? Well, maybe keep an eye on your ISP’s data caps.

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(Bonus) Joshua Schachter And The del.icio.us Story Oct 24, 2020

Show notes

Joshua Schachter is mostly known these days as a prominent angel investor, but his claim to fame is as the founder of del.icio.us, one of THE sites and startups that convinced me and a lot of other people that the internet space wasn’t dead, in the wake of the dotcom bubble. So, consider this in the spirt of the longreads. A profile of a key startup and entrepreneur, that got the web and the world to where we are today.

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Fri. 10/23 – What If PayPal Goes Big In Crypto? Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

Is PayPal making moves to become a major player in Crypto? A look at the two big ballot initiatives in California that Silicon Valley cares about and which the rest of the country might be affected by. Why YouTube is this election’s go-to place for campaigns to run ads, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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