Tech Brew Ride Home

Latest Episodes:

Mon. 09/28 – Roku’s New $130 Streambar and Updated $100 Roku Ultra Sep 28, 2020

Show notes

Roku launches a Streambar and an Ultra with Dolby Vision. Dell updates the XPS 13 lineup. TikTok is still ticking, as of this moment. Will we see the return of the mini moniker, with an iPhone 12 Mini that might not actually be that small? Amazon Prime day lives again, but the days are numbered for the original Farmville.

Sponsors:

Links:

Roku’s Streambar is a compact soundbar with built-in streaming smarts (The Verge)
Roku Unveils Redesigned $100 Ultra Streaming Box, Will Add Ability to Stream HBO Max via Apple AirPlay (Variety)
Dell updated its 13-inch XPS laptops with 11th-gen Intel CPUs (Engadget)
TikTok Wins Reprieve From U.S. Ban (NYTimes)
Prepare for the ‘iPhone 12 mini,’ suggest recent leaks (The Verge)
LinkedIn launches Stories, plus Zoom, BlueJeans and Teams video integrations as part of wider redesign (TechCrunch)
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites could make US Army navigation hard to jam (MIT Technology Review)
Amazon Prime Day set for Oct 13 and 14 after coronavirus delayed original summer date (CNBC)
The original FarmVille on Facebook is shutting down at the end of the year (The Verge)

(Bonus) TikTok's Secret Sauce With Eugene Wei and A16Z's 16 Minutes Podcast Sep 26, 2020

Show notes

Eugene Wei and Sonal Chokshi explain plainly how and why TikTok is an evolutionary (and algorithmic) step beyond the social graph.

Eugene's original essay, TikTok and the Sorting Hat
Subscribe to 16 Minutes News by a16z (podcast)

Fri. 09/25 – Amazon Announces The Luna Cloud Gaming Service Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

All the headlines from Amazon’s hardware event. New Echo devices. Amazon is getting into cloud gaming with Luna. And ring has a literal drone that will fly around the inside of your house for the purposes of sentry duty. Interesting acquisition from Apple continues to point to them doing something big in podcasts. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:

Links:

A closer look at Luna, Amazon's cloud gaming service (Engadget)
Amazon announces all-new Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Dot with Clock (CNBC)
AMAZON’S NEW ECHO SHOW 10 MOVES TO LOOK AT YOU (The Verge)
Ring’s latest security camera is a drone that flies around inside your house (The Verge)
Amazon’s Bizarre Home Drone Flies Around Inside Your House (Wired)
Apple Buys Startup That Creates Radio-Like Stations for Podcasts (Bloomberg)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Thu. 09/24 – The Rebel Alliance Forming To Battle App Stores Sep 24, 2020

Show notes

The Rebel Alliance has a name: The Coalition for App Fairness. Microsoft will make office available without a subscription. Software as a purchase, if you will, instead of a subscription. Radical. Say hello to the Galaxy S20 FE. And does the gaming industry make pre-orders and console launches so messy on purpose?

Sponsors:

Links:

Epic, Spotify and others ally against Apple and Google app policies (Engadget)
New Microsoft Office on the way for people who don't want a subscription (Windows Central)
The Samsung Galaxy S20 FE brings some flagship specs at a $699 price (The Verge)
Google Maps gets a COVID-19 layer (TechCrunch)
Sneaker Platform Goat Group Raises $100 Million to Fund Expansion Plans (WSJ)
How a marked-up term sheet and messy rollout threw TikTok deal into disarray (Reuters)
THE GAMING INDUSTRY KEEPS FAILING MISERABLY AT SELLING ITS MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCTS (The Verge)

Wed. 09/23 – Microsoft “Exclusively” Licenses GPT-3 Sep 23, 2020

Show notes

All the announcements and headlines from Microsoft’s Ignite 2020. Microsoft is exclusively licensing Open AI’s GPT-3. Google has debuted an Airtable rival called Tables. Ming-Chi Kuo thinks we’ll see an iPad with mini-LED by the end of the year. What happened during Tesla’s “battery day.” Pinterest has launched Story Pins and how Spotify is enabling SEO spam in audio form.

Sponsors:

Links:

Microsoft challenges Twilio with the launch of Azure Communications Services (TechCrunch)
Azure Orbital launches Microsoft into cloud-based space race with Amazon (GeekWire)
Microsoft Teams is getting virtual commutes and Headspace meditation (VentureBeat)
Google launches a work-tracking tool and Airtable rival, Tables (TechCrunch)
Swift language tools now available for Windows 10 (iMore)
Kuo: Mini-LED Displays to Debut in Apple's Next iPad Pro (MacRumors)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk says company can build a $25,000 self-driving car within three years (CNBC)
Elon Musk promises $25,000 Tesla and says Model S 'Plaid' is coming soon (CNN)
Pinterest officially launches new Story Pins format in beta (TechCrunch)
Why Spotify Has So Many Bizarre, Generic Artists Like ‘White Noise Baby Sleep’ (OneZero)

Tue. 09/22 – Quibi Is “Exploring Options” Sep 22, 2020

Show notes

Quibi is exploring its options, as they say. The Google Antitrust suit could come next week. Why do you have to return the entire Apple Watch if your wristband doesn’t fit? The CIA has a new plan to compete with Silicon Valley for talent. The SEC and OCC sign off on stablecoins. And the strategy behind Microsoft’s big play for Bethesda.

Sponsors:

Links:

Quibi Explores Strategic Options Including Possible Sale (WSJ)
Justice Department expected to brief state attorneys general this week on imminent Google antitrust lawsuit (Washington Post)
PSA: New Apple Watch Owners Have to Return Entire Device for Ill-Fitting Solo Loop or Braided Solo Loop (MacRumors)
A $50 Phone is Ambani's Weapon to Dominate India Telecom Market (Bloomberg)
SEC, OCC Issue First Regulatory Clarifications for Stablecoins (CoinDesk)
CIA’s new tech recruiting pitch: More patents, more profits (MIT Technology Review)
You can now stream your Xbox One games to your Android phone for free (The Verge)
Microsoft to Buy Bethesda for $7.5 Billion to Boost Xbox (Bloomberg)
Microsoft to acquire Elder Scrolls, Fallout, other hit games in $7.5B deal for Bethesda Softworks parent (GeekWire)
Watch a demo of Royole’s new folding phone, on sale today for roughly $1,500 (The Verge)

Mon. 09/21 – ByteDance Says It Won. Trump Says Not So Fast. TikTok Continues… For Now. Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

It looked like we had a TikTok deal the president liked. Then ByteDance went and pointed out they still had control. Now, I dunno where we’re at. Microsoft buys Bethesda. The founder of Nikola steps down in murky circumstances. And Amazon wants to use your Echo and Tile devices for a true Internet of Things network.

Sponsors:

Links:

Fri. 09/18 – WeChat Officially Banned On Sunday. TikTok Only Kinda Banned. Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

The Commerce Department officially has brought the hammer down. WeChat is banned on Sunday. TikTok banned on Sunday too, but it’s complicated. PayTM is banned from the Google Play Store in India. Facebook decides that Facebook is too toxic for its own workers to use. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:

Links:

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Exclusive: The Billionaire Who Wanted To Die Broke . . . Is Now Officially Broke (Forbes)
‘Interactive entertainment is the standard bearer of the entertainment business’ (Protocol)
Remote Work Is Killing the Hidden Trillion-Dollar Office Economy (Marker)
Your Teenage Email Account Is a Lost Time Capsule (One Zero)
Why the Apple II Didn’t Support Lowercase Letters (Vintage Computing And Gaming)
This unheard Steve Jobs tape is part of an amazing trove of tech history (Fast Company)

Thu. 09/17 – PS5 Details Revealed. But Good Luck Pre-Ordering! Sep 17, 2020

Show notes

We have the launch date and price for the Playstation 5. An update on the TikTok and WeChat situations. Why the Snowflake IPO was such a big deal, and such a big success. Red Ventures is affiliate marketing on steroids. And what if I told you the coolest new bit of gear that people got turned on to during the last Apple event was an office chair. But it is Jony Ive’s favorite office chair.

Sponsors:

Liftoff.to
PayPal App
MarketingPlay.com; email info@marketingplay.com

Links:

PlayStation 5 preorders: Sony reveals release date and price (VentureBeat)
The PS5 will launch on November 12th for $499.99 (The Verge)
Sony confirms PS5’s first-party launch lineup and free game upgrade plans for PS4 titles (The Verge)
Oracle’s TikTok Bid Leaves Open Some U.S. Security Concerns (Bloomberg)
Pro Rata Newsletter (Dan Primack/Axios)
Snowflake IPO Spurs Flood of Wealth for Silicon Valley Elite (Bloomberg)
‘Helping people discover information’: How Red Ventures grew into a giant (Digiday)
Sit Like an Apple Engineer in This 70s-Era British Office Chair (Gear Patrol)

Subscribe to the ad-free feed and support the show directly!

Wed. 09/16 – Facebook Unveils The Oculus Quest 2 Sep 16, 2020

Show notes

Facebook unveils the Oculus Quest 2, as a part of its Facebook Connect (formerly Oculus Connect) event. Amazon Music gets podcasts. Spotify puts the Apple One bundle on blast. Developers have found yet another reason to get pissed at Apple. And AT&T is not only bringing advertising to HBO, they want to add ads to you phone as well.

Sponsors:

Links:

Oculus Quest 2 delivers standalone VR with sharper 90Hz screens for $299 (Engadget)
OCULUS QUEST 2 REVIEW: BETTER, CHEAPER VR (The Verge)
Snowflake is largest software IPO ever (Axios)
Amazon Music Joins Podcasting Fray (WSJ)
Driver Charged in Uber’s Fatal 2018 Autonomous Car Crash (NYTimes)
Spotify says Apple One bundle is a 'threat to collective freedom' (Apple Insider)
Apple accuses Epic of ‘starting a fire and pouring gasoline on it’ in new Fortnite filing (The Verge)
Apple surprised iPhone users with a next-day iOS 14 release. App developers are pissed. (Mashable)
Exclusive: AT&T considers cellphone plans subsidized by ads (Reuters)
AT&T Plans Lower-Priced Version of HBO Max With Advertising (Bloomberg)

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected