The charges against Pavel Durov in France, the differences between encrypted messaging apps and Telegram, the philosophical questions underlying moderation scrutiny, and thoughts on Mark Zuckerberg's letter to the House Judiciary Committee this week.
Answering listener questions about Disney's massive investment in cruises, follow-ups on Canva and Sarbanes-Oxley, a new Chick-Fil-A streaming service, Perplexity’s advertising strategy, and lots more.
A conversation about Canva and lessons from its growth story, the future of graphic design and visual learning, and a word about tech IPOs in the modern era. At the end: The injunction blocking the launch of a new streaming service, follow-ups on surgeon groupchats, and an emailer makes Sharp Tech history.
Answering listener questions on the BNPL model for smartphones, whether Apple employees hate the App Store policies, Apple Intelligence and search, and lots more.
The history of PCs and smartphones as context for Google's integrated strategy for Android, and reactions to Apple's plans for the NFC chip and its approach to Patreon and payment processing. At the end: Final thoughts on Peacock and the Olympics, Amazon’s Whole Foods experiment, and a listener requests a tour of Ben’s cord bag.
The implications and inherent tensions of this week’s verdict in U.S. v. Google, Apple and a mountain of services revenue suddenly in jeopardy, and emails on aggregators, Elon Musk’s latest lawsuit, Crunchyroll and more.
What Nike's recent struggles can teach us about maintaining culture and competing in e-commerce, plus questions on Amazon and Temu, Meta's threat to AI incumbents, and the pricing strategy of AI cloud providers. At the end: The implication of recent Netflix news, NBC's pricing strategy for Peacock, Google's new Gemini commercial, and more.
Meta debuts a powerful new LLM, Mark Zuckerberg makes the case for an open approach to AI, and Ben explains the Crowdstrike mess and why this episode highlights fundamental tensions between security and competition. At the end: Updated thinking on Netflix and what it wants from the ad business, and marveling at Apple's spending spree in Hollywood.
Projecting antitrust policy in a second Trump administration and explaining the splintered interests among little tech and big tech, checking in with the state of X under Elon Musk, and two ChatGPT testimonials help explain the status quo. At the end: Both hosts choose new jobs and new favorite teams.
Ben and Andrew return with thoughts on Apple's calculus in the EU, why better App Store policies may not have mattered, perspectives from US and EU citizens, and follow-up to Ben's article on various EU regulatory ambitions. Then: The news that neither Apple nor Microsoft will take observer seats on the OpenAI board, Paramount's merger and an endorsement of irrational Hollywood, Apple unveils its F1 movie, bubble tea takes, and President Mr. Beast.
Perplexity and the choices facing publishers in the AI era, revisiting the decisions and structural forces that led to media struggles in the online economy, and an emailer from the EU who wonders about the costs of the expansive language in the digital markets act. At the end: Ice cream, and a few interview recs for the break.
Lessons from the FTC's lawsuit alleging that Adobe has violated consumer protection laws in its cloud services business, a question about the vibes at WWDC and other tentpole keynotes across big tech, and a few more notes on Apple, including Facebook's data calculus, the DRI model, and stress-testing the developer concerns with respect to the Vision Pro.
Answering listener questions in the wake of WWDC, including thoughts on AI for Outlook, whether Apple competitors will allow data access to Apple Intelligence, cloud questions, chip questions, and more.
Reviewing all things WWDC in 2024, including the introduction of Apple Intelligence, why Apple's vision for mainstream AI was compelling, the Apple partnership with OpenAI, questions about Private Cloud Compute, and lots more.
A look at Microsoft Recall and the implications of the security changes that were announced this weekend, follow-up questions on what Netflix may build in its advertising business, and a few countervailing notes on the possibility of a dark GPU sequel to the dark fiber story after the dot com bubble.
A look at Walmart’s challenges and opportunities as it builds an ad business, how Walmart became a differentiated competitor to Amazon, and a question about AI skepticism spawns extended discussion of life in the middle of a bubble. At the end: Picks for the NBA Finals.
A question about generative AI and the hardware powering voice assistants, projecting the GPU future with the dot com bubble as context, and thoughts on Amazon’s capital expenditures and the state of AWS and Amazon Supply Chain. At the end: An Elon hater reviews the Cybertruck.
A question about the spectrum between LLMs and AGI spawns a conversation about where and how AI might introduce upheaval in the workplace, what TSMC can teach us about probabilistic LLMs, whether AI will be a feature for all big companies or a differentiating product for one winner, and frustrations at the barriers to entry that have thus far allowed big tech to retain control of AI's mainstream applications. Also: An important note about Scarlett Johannson.
The Microsoft Build conference and the introduction of Copilot+ PCs, the potential for Windows as an AI platform that gives developers more certainty, and reactions to Scarlett Johansson's statement about her negotiations with Sam Altman and the launch of GPT-4o.
A variety of notable Netflix developments over the past few weeks, Hollywood's continued move to a (kinda) rebundled future, and what sports leagues are learning as internet realities take hold across entertainment. At the end: Andrew finally watches "Her" and shares his review.
Reactions to two hours of Google on stage this week, thoughts on what an AI makeover for search will mean for businesses that rely on Google for customer acquisition, and answers to mailbag questions on Google Cloud, Apple's rumored partnership with OpenAI, Amazon, and the continued ascent of SpaceX and Starlink.
Reactions to the GPT-4o demo, a reminder that OpenAI looks more and more like a consumer tech company, and questions about a potential partnership with Apple. At the end: A follow-up on Apple’s ads, and an emailer defends the Bumble CEO.
The iPad commercial that made the Internet angry this week, a question about Google search spawns thoughts on the various futures of Google's business, and a few observations on the Tom Brady roast as a reflection of Netflix strategy. Plus: A final word on the iPad and its utility.
A question about Apple sentiment in China spawns memories of Apple's entrance to Japan, the utility of the iPad as a Mac replacement (and why the Vision Pro would be the better option for that job), plus Apple acquisitions, Apple's growth premium, and where, exactly, Meta is spending all that money in the Metaverse.
Parsing the latest reports on the battle for the NBA's next round of broadcast rights, a question about the NBA schedule and how the league should think about competing with the NFL, and the implications of an increasingly bleak outlook for regional sports networks.
Ben proposes a potential update to Clayton Christensen's theory of disruption, why the latest round of Meta market skepticism is not as crazy as the last few episodes, questions about Facebook and Apple, and an emailer wonders whether Uber is the future aggregator for transportation and beyond.
Why TikTok makes more sense for Wal-Mart and Amazon than Oracle and Microsoft, and the FTC's ban on noncompete agreements prompts reflections noncompetes in Silicon Valley and the decline of trust across society. At the end: A question about Bluey and purchasing power for streamers, and an update on Drake's AI freestyle.
A closer look at Netflix after news that the streamer will stop reporting subscription numbers in 2025, a question about Meta’s AI ambitions, and the case for Google making a play to compete with the iPhone. At the end: Drake’s use of AI Tupac in a rap battle.
Celebrating 10 years of Stratechery as a subscription business with 10 questions about analysis, creating on the Internet, what's coming with AI, and what it was like on day 1.
The advertising possibilities that AI can unlock for Meta, Google and Amazon, why TikTok is interested in AI to create digital influencers, and looking to past technologies to predict the impact that AI will make on the economy. At the end: Two questions about chips, a story about EVs and British mechanics, and Scrabble.
