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Tue. 09/17 - The iPhone 11 Reviews Are In Sep 17, 2019

Show notes

WeWork’s IPO is off for now, Amazon Music HD is going after Tidal, the Streaming Wars mean big price tags for Seinfeld and Big Bang Theory, and a wrap up of all the iPhone 11, Pro and Pro Max reviews.

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Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Resigns From MIT Over Epstein Comments (Motherboard)
WeWork delays IPO after frosty investor response (Reuters)
SoftBank Backers Rethink Role in Next Vision Fund on WeWork (Bloomberg)
Amazon Music rolls out a lossless streaming tier that Spotify and Apple can’t match (The Verge)
Snapchat is adding a 3D Camera Mode, the latest salvo in its feature race with Instagram (TechCrunch)
Netflix Lands 'Seinfeld' Rights in $500M-Plus Deal After Losing 'Friends' and 'The Office' (The Hollywood Reporter)
‘The Big Bang Theory’ to Show on New Streaming Service HBO Max (WSJ)
NBCUniversal’s Streaming Service Is Called Peacock and It’s Launching Next April (Vulture)
APPLE IPHONE 11 REVIEW: THE PHONE MOST PEOPLE SHOULD BUY (The Verge)
Apple iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max review: Better, but not groundbreaking (Engadget)
Review: The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 do Disneyland After Dark (TechCrunch)
Review: Apple iPhone 11 Pro (Wired)
IPhone 11 and 11 Pro Review: Thinking Differently in the Golden Age of Smartphones (NYTimes)
Apple Arcade's best selling point: Games you'll actually want to play (Engadget)

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Mon. 09/16 - Did Amazon Change its Algorithms to Make Itself More Profitable? Sep 16, 2019

Show notes

If Amazon wants to tip-toe past the regulators, headlines like those from today can’t help, October is going to be filthy with major tech launch events, is TikTok showing us the future of the Chinese web in worrying ways, and let’s pour one out for MoviePass!

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(Bonus) Building AI We Can Trust With Gary Marcus Sep 15, 2019

Show notes

As I mentioned in the Weekend Longreads segment, Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis had an op ed in the times that has changed the way I think about the state of AI. But they’re also the authors of a great new book, Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust. There’s a reason people remain fearful about AI… it hasn’t earned our trust yet. In all sorts of ways that we get into on this episode. And also, the interesting ways AI development needs to change to take the state of the art to the next level.

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(Bonus) iPhone Event Debrief With John Voorhees of MacStories Sep 14, 2019

Show notes

We had the big iPhone announcement this week, so to break it down, our good friend at MacStories, John Voorhees is here to dive into… why so much backlash to this event? Was it boring? What did we actually get from Santa Tim? And why we might look back at this as the pivot point where Apple events changed into something new...

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Fri. 09/13 - Cloudflare IPO: Good. WeWork IPO: (???...) Sep 13, 2019

Show notes

Cloudflare has a successful IPO, but will WeWork’s planned IPO be considered a success even if it actually has one? Is another investment bubble popping in the AR/VR space? Will the streaming wars kill the back-end deal in Hollywood? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Cloudflare stock pops 20% in first day of trading (CNBC)
WeWork’s valuation could fall to below $15 billion in IPO, down from $47 billion private valuation (CNBC)
House lawmakers ask Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google to turn over trove of records in antitrust probe (The Washington Post)
Another high-flying, heavily funded AR headset startup is shutting down (TechCrunch)
J.J. Abrams Officially Closes Sizable WarnerMedia Film, TV Partnership (The Hollywood Reporter)
The end of the backend? Disney wants to limit profit participation on its new TV shows (Los Angeles Times)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

How to Build Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust (NYTimes)
As sex toys continue to get hacked, the definition of sexual assault is under question (Screen Shot)
What Happened to Urban Dictionary? (Wired)
TONY HAWK ON HOW HIS GAMES CHANGED SKATEBOARDING (The Verge)
From Communism To Coding: How Daniel Dines Of $7 Billion UiPath Became The First Bot Billionaire (Forbes)
Human speech may have a universal transmission rate: 39 bits per second (Science)

Thu. 09/12 - Uber: We're NOT in the Ride Hailing Business! Sep 12, 2019

Show notes

Uber says the California contractor law doesn’t apply to it because it is… checks notes… not technically in the ride hailing business, will France block Libra in the EU, dark mode comes to Slack, crowd-sourced answers come to Alexa, and, some news on the Fermi Paradox front.

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Uber argues its drivers aren’t core to its business, won’t reclassify them as employees (The Verge)
FACEBOOK’S LIBRA CRYPTOCURRENCY WILL BE BLOCKED IN EUROPE, FRANCE SAYS (The Independent)
Slack's desktop apps get dark mode options (Engadget)
The FBI is investigating a venture capital fund started by Peter Thiel for financial misconduct (ReCode)
Exclusive: Amazon will let anyone answer your Alexa questions now (Fast Company)
Healthy.io raises $60 million to help patients complete urine tests on their phone (Venture Beat)
An Exoplanet Like No Other Yet Found (The Atlantic)

Wed. 09/11 - California Borks The Gig Economy (?) Sep 11, 2019

Show notes

Will a California law change the entire landscape of the gig economy? Can Dutchie build a Shopify-like ecommerce platform for cannabis? Will Switzerland be less welcoming to Libra that Facebook hoped? And a rundown of the fallout from yesterday’s iPhone event.

Sponsors:

Tinycapital.com
Jobs At WillowTreeApps.com: bit.ly/swiftjob

Links:

California Bill Makes App-Based Companies Treat Workers as Employees (NYTimes)
Uber lays off 435 people across engineering and product teams (TechCrunch)
Amazon’s Quantum Ledger Database is now generally available (Silicon Angle)
These brothers just raised $15 million for their startup, Dutchie, a kind of Shopify for cannabis dispensaries (TechCrunch)
Switzerland warns Facebook's Libra it will face extra scrutiny (Reuters)
IPHONE 11 PRO AND 11 PRO MAX: HANDS-ON WITH APPLE’S NEW FLAGSHIP PHONES (The Verge)
iPhone 11's ultra-wideband chip helps you AirDrop with the right person (Engadget)
Editorial: Apple just told you that they aren't going to make an 'iPhone SE 2' any time soon (Apple Insider)
Apple’s Biggest Surprise: More Aggressive Device and Services Pricing (Bloomberg)

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Tue. 09/10 - The iPhone 11 Event Sep 10, 2019

Show notes

All the news from the iPhone launch. Also, the Attorneys General officially go after Google… but why is California sitting this one out? And… is Masa Son pressuring WeWork to cancel its IPO or is it full speed ahead?

Sponsors:

Tinycapital.com
Jobs At WillowTreeApps.com: bit.ly/swiftjob

Links:

Apple reveals the powerful new iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max (Engadget)
Apple reveals iPhone 11 with a dual-camera system, Night mode, and new colors (The Verge)
Apple Watch Series 5 has an always-on display and comes in titanium or ceramic finishes (The Verge)
Apple unveils entry-level 2019 iPad with a 10.2-inch screen (Venture Beat)
Apple TV+ costs $4.99 per month and launches on November 1 (Venture Beat)
Apple Arcade is launching on September 19th for $4.99 a month (The Verge)
Google faces a new antitrust probe by 50 attorneys general (CNBC)
48 states are probing Google on antitrust grounds. Why isn’t California? (LATimes)
SoftBank urges WeWork to shelve IPO (Financial Times)

Mon. 09/09 - Apple Hides Its Own Apps (Sorta) Sep 09, 2019

Show notes

The MIT Media Lab director steps down, Apple sort of hides its own apps in App Store searches, why big tech should worry about the states as much as Uncle Sam, reviews of the Google Nest Hub Max and why hands-free games actually make you a better driver.

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Director of M.I.T.’s Media Lab Resigns After Taking Money From Jeffrey Epstein (NYTimes)
How an Élite University Research Center Concealed Its Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein (New Yorker)
How Apple’s Apps Topped Rivals in the App Store It Controls (NYTimes)
Facebook, Google face off against a formidable new foe: State attorneys general (Washington Post)
GOOGLE NEST HUB MAX REVIEW: BIGGER SCREEN, BETTER SOUND, AND A CAMERA (The Verge)
Drivetime raises $11 million for interactive audio games like Jeopardy in the car (Venture Beat)
Daimler brings driverless truck tests to public roads in Virginia (Venture Beat)

Fri. 09/06 - Sonos Goes Portable and Apple Music Goes To The Web Sep 06, 2019

Show notes

Apple might have just given us the final reason to delete iTunes, Sonos has its first portable speaker, the Attorney’s General are targeting Facebook as well, it’s duplicating Google services all the way down, and, of course, the Weekend Longreads suggestions.

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Links:

Apple Music launches a public beta on the web (TechCrunch)
Sonos’ first portable speaker is the $399 Move (The Verge)
Streaming makes up 80 percent of the music industry’s revenue (The Verge)
New York attorney general is investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations (CNBC)
Google Assistant’s Ambient Mode turns Android devices into smart displays (The Verge)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Uber Undone (The Baffler)
Coming Soon to a Battlefield: Robots That Can Kill (The Atlantic)
Amazon’s Next-Day Delivery Has Brought Chaos And Carnage To America’s Streets — But The World’s Biggest Retailer Has A System To Escape The Blame (BuzzFeed News)
Coming Soon to a Small Screen Near You: Short Cuts (WSJ)
‘Hey, Google! Let me talk to my departed father.’ (Washington Post)
‘NCAA Football’ Is Still Alive, Because One Online Community Won’t Let the Game Die (The Ringer)

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