Facebook’s data sharing is now under criminal investigation, and the company had a bad night with its services intermittently down across the globe, Dropbox is cracking down on freeloaders, Silicon Valley wants to build a monument to itself, and Google makes a π Day statement. Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website Links: Facebook’s Data Deals Are Under Criminal Investigation (NYTimes) Google launches Android Q Beta 1 (Venture Beat) Telegram gained three million new users during Facebook ...
Mar 14, 2019•17 min
Spotify files a pretty timely anti-trust complaint against Apple, Microsoft tries to get a jump on Google’s steaming video game announcement, is Google scaling back its hardware ambitions, what is Discord and why is it going mainstream all the sudden, and maybe you already knew this, but scientists think they’ve proven that there’s no such thing as objective reality. Sponsors: Tiny.website Wix.com/podcast DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Spotify files EU antitrust complaint against Apple (Reuters) ...
Mar 13, 2019•17 min
Facebook self owns by taking down Senator Warren’s ads, Spotify will now give you Hulu for free, why the Bay Area is no longer the best place for startups, and the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Facebook backtracks after removing Warren ads calling for Facebook breakup (Politico) Apple’s March 25th event is official: ‘It’s show time’ (9to5Mac) Spotify Premium now includes Hulu for no extra cost (The Verge) Amazon’s Alexa has 80,000 Ap...
Mar 12, 2019•17 min
Nvidia buys Mellanox, Tesla reverses course, a handy primer on how TikTok is different, and we check in on the smart takes from last week’s big stories. Subscribe to the Premium, Ad-Free Podcast Feed! Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website Links: Nvidia to Buy Mellanox for $6.9 Billion in Data Center Push (Bloomberg) Landlords to Tesla: You’re Still on the Hook for Your Store Leases (WSJ) How TikTok Is Rewriting the World (NYTimes) Facebook vs. Apple (Slate) Facebook has a big, terrifying...
Mar 11, 2019•24 min
Sometimes the bonus episodes are for getting news in areas that I might have missed or might not have made our show, but I still find interesting. This week I reached out to Brady Dale of Coindesk, because I know he’s a listener and I knew he could give us some more background on Facebook’s recent moves in crypto, but also some other crypto news we haven’t gotten to and just the state of the crypto-space generally. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Tiny.website Subscribe to the Premium, Ad-Free Podcas...
Mar 10, 2019•21 min
You know MG Siegler. Once upon a time, he was one of the most prominent tech journalists in the land, when he wrote for TechCrunch. Now-a-days he is a prominent venture capitalist at GV. But he still likes to talk about gadgets. Maybe you’ve heard him do so on Gruber’s podcast. Today’s bonus episode is nothing sophisticated, no deep-dive level of journalism… it’s just two dudes looking at the recent slate of foldable phones and deciding if we want one. Logianalytics.com/ride Linkedin.com/ride Su...
Mar 09, 2019•24 min
Senator Warren proposes breaking up big tech, Airbnb buys HotelTonight, why the big platforms are taking down vaccine content, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Subscribe to the Premium, Ad-Free Podcast Feed! Sponsors: Logianalytics.com/ride Metalab.co Links: Here’s how we can break up Big Tech (Warren For President) Airbnb Wanted Travelers To Stay In Homes. Now It's Buying HotelTonight. (BuzzFeed News) Three Reasons Behind Airbnb’s Deal for HotelTonight (The Information) Turniti...
Mar 08, 2019•22 min
Facebook pivots to privacy, Huawei follows through on suing the US government, Duplex rolls out wide, and Bird’s white label scooter scheme. Sponsors: Lightstream.com/ride Metalab.co Links: A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking (Mark Zuckerberg) A 'privacy-focused' Facebook would kill Zuckerberg's business model (The Guardian) Facebook’s Privacy Cake (Ben Thompson/Stratechery) Mark Zuckerberg Tried Hard To Get Facebook Into China. Now The Company May Be Backing Away. (Buzzfeed News) Ama...
Mar 07, 2019•17 min
Fitbit unveils a new smartwatch and lowers prices across the board, Samsung is working on two more foldable phones, Grab grabs $1.4 billion from Masa Son and Waymo finally found a way to make money. Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Metalab.co Links: Fitbit’s new $160 Versa Lite is a stripped-down version of its entry-level smartwatch (The Verge) Fitbit kills Alta, Alta HR, Flex 2, and Zip (VentureBeat) Samsung Working on Two More Foldable Smartphones (Bloomberg) WANT A FOLDABLE PHONE? HOLD OUT F...
Mar 06, 2019•16 min
The NSA program Snowden revealed might be done, Microsoft is readying a Windows Lite, poor iPhone sales are hitting Foxconn workers hard, a big strategic look at Netflix and why one seemingly random password is a poor choice if you care about your security. Sponsors: Metalab.co Logianalytics.com/ride Links Disputed N.S.A. Phone Program Is Shut Down, Aide Says (NYTimes) Microsoft is creating Windows Lite for dual-screen and Chromebook-like devices (The Verge) Apple acquires patent portfolio of fa...
Mar 05, 2019•16 min
Facebook lets randos look you up by your phone number; Huawei is about to sue the U.S. government; a Vermont law exposes more than 100 data brokers; USB 4 is announced; Facebook offers a way to log in with your face...kind of; and the W3C has a new standard that promises to do away with passwords forever. Sponsors: Keeps - https://keeps.com/techmeme MetaLab - https://metalab.co Links: Facebook won’t let you opt-out of its phone number ‘look up’ setting (TechCrunch) Scammers abused Facebook phone...
Mar 04, 2019•21 min
So, I hope you read the piece I mentioned in the long reads, Called Outgrowing Advertising, by Andreessen Horowitz's general partner Connie Chan. Link in the show notes. Again, I think this points a way forward for the one trick pony-ism that I've bemoaned on this podcast. A model for new startups now that the low hanging fruit of "let's just get to a billion users and throw some ads up" is kinda, sorta, done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Mar 03, 2019•22 min
It's rare that I've seen an investigative piece get as much pickup as The Trauma Floor, Casey Newton's look at the secret lives of Facebook content moderators. It was all anyone could talk about at the beginning of the week. Hope you've read it. If not, link in the show notes. So... simple. We're gonna talk to Casey and dig a bit deeper. How did this story happen? What has the reaction been? And a couple of the implications of the piece, at least to me. THE TRAUMA FLOOR (The Verge) Learn more ab...
Mar 02, 2019•21 min
Lyft officially files for its IPO and do the numbers reveal concern for Uber, New York wants Jeff Bezos to reconsider, Tesla slashes prices, physical sales trump downloads when it comes to music, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Tiny.website DatadogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Lyft's financials show a $911 million loss ahead of its IPO (CNBC) Amazon stops selling Dash buttons, goofy forerunners of the connected home (CNET) U.S. Music Industry Posts Third Straight Year of Double-Digit G...
Mar 01, 2019•18 min
Amazon Day gives you the ability to schedule your Prime Deliveries, Motorola teases more details about the foldable resurrection of the Razr phone, the state of the smartwatch market, and seemingly every messaging platform might soon have a crypto coin. Sponsors: Tiny.Website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Amazon Prime members can choose a weekly delivery date with launch of 'Amazon Day' (TechCrunch) Motorola confirms its foldable phone is coming (Engadget) Apple self-driving car layoffs hit 190 ...
Feb 28, 2019•15 min
Fast flash storage for phones, TikTok passes a billion downloads, FedEx rolls out its own delivery bot, why you might be overpaying for cloud computing and why China wants to map the faces of pigs. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Samsung's new 512GB flash chip is twice as fast as its predecessor (Engadget) TikTok was bigger than Instagram last year after passing the 1 billion download mark (Business Insider) Machine learning can boost the value of wind energy (Google's The K...
Feb 27, 2019•15 min
The Game of Thrones when it comes to modern tech platforms is very much up in the air, Satya Nadella defends making the HoloLens for the US Army, could the FTC undo previous tech mergers and that big Casey Newton piece about Facebook content moderators. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Apple Music Integration Possibly Coming to Google Home Devices (MacRumors) Apple Plans Sleep Tracking Feature for Future Watch (Bloomberg) Microsoft CEO defends US military contract that some e...
Feb 26, 2019•16 min
It’s a whole slew of headlines from Mobile World Congress: more foldable phones, dates for 5G chip sets and 5G coverage rollouts, and Microsoft unveils its HoloLens2. Plus: why Wikidata proves the bots still need us. Sponsors: Wix.com/podcast DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: MICROSOFT’S HOLOLENS 2: A $3,500 MIXED REALITY HEADSET FOR THE FACTORY, NOT THE LIVING ROOM (The Verge) Huawei Launches the Mate X: Folding in a New Direction (AnAndTech) I held the future in my hands, and it was foldable (TheV...
Feb 25, 2019•16 min
Taylor Lorenz, over at the Atlantic has the influencer beat down. I’ve told you about so many of her stories, often as longreads. You think influencers… the universe of YouTube stars, Instagram stars, social media stars generally is a niche thing? No way. This is already a huge industry with a ton of money sloshing around in it, and Taylor covers it better than anyone else. Sponsors: Bubble.is (coupon code "ride") Burrow.com/tech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Feb 24, 2019•23 min
Last week there was a bunch of gaming news, and if you’ll recall, I put a shout out to see if anyone could tell me what the heck is going on in the gaming space. Well, Jason Schreier, the news editor of Kotaku answered my Bat Signal, and so, here it is. The state of the video game industry, how has Fortnite changed it, does Fornite have a competitor in Apex legends, and even… what is the state of VR gaming? Sponsors: Burrow.com/tech Bubble.is (coupon code "ride") Learn more about your ad choices...
Feb 23, 2019•20 min
Facebook is shutting down its controversial Onavo app, Google’s streaming gaming service might get some hardware to go along with it, the most acquisitive unicorns and the weekend longreads suggestions. Here’s what you missed today in the world of tech. Sponsors: The Castro Podcast App Legacybox.com/ride Lighstream.com/ride Links: Facebook will shut down its spyware VPN app Onavo (TechCrunch) Samsung will extend Bixby button remapping to premium Galaxy phones running Android Pie (The Verge) Sour...
Feb 22, 2019•19 min
Take-aways from all the hands-on reports with the new Samsung Galaxy S10 phones, hands-OFF reports about the Galaxy Fold, Apple teams up with Goldman Sachs on a new credit card, YouTube faces yet another scandal running ads on horrible content, and a look at how law enforcement grabbing location data from Google using "reverse location search warrants." Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Castro Podcast App Links: Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ hands-on (Engadget) You can remap the Bixby button on Sam...
Feb 21, 2019•15 min
The foldable phone is here! And some regular new Galaxies too. Other stuff... (I'm late posting today... sorry! In a rush!) Sponsors: Castro Podcast App DataDogHQ.com/ridehome joybird.com/RIDE - 25% off your first order using code RIDE Links: Samsung’s foldable phone is the Galaxy Fold, available April 26th starting at $1,980 (The Verge) Xiaomi's triple-camera Mi 9 has a fast 20W wireless charger (Engadget) Google says the built-in microphone it never told Nest users about was 'never supposed to...
Feb 20, 2019•15 min
Qualcomm unveils a second gen 5G chip, Huawei’s founder hits back at the US, his biggest investors push back at Masa Son, and why emoji are causing problems in increasing numbers of court cases. Sponsors: The Castro Podcast App Promocode Ride at Vistaprint.com Links: Before the first 5G phone is out, Qualcomm is already moving on to its second-gen 5G modem (The Verge) The US cannot crush us, says Huawei founder (BBC News) How Huawei Targets Apple Trade Secrets (The Information) Walmart’s US e-co...
Feb 19, 2019•16 min
Parliament calls Facebook a “digital gangster,” Australia’s Parliament was hacked, a full year of Apple lineup rumors, and since it’s a holiday here in the US, a mini longread segment. Sponsors: The Castro Podcast App Flatironschool.com/techmeme Links: UK parliament calls for antitrust, data abuse probe of Facebook (TechCrunch) Australia's major political parties hacked in 'sophisticated' attack ahead of election (The Sydney Morning Herald) Kuo: 16-inch MacBook Pro, 31-inch 6K display, iPhones w...
Feb 18, 2019•18 min
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the reporter who gets Apple scoops like no other. Quick catch up with Mark about his recent scoops, but also some Apple analysis in general: Apple has spent as much as 3 billion dollars on its original content for its new streaming service. But… they have probably fewer than 10 original movies locked and loaded. When it comes to “Project Titan,” Apple’s self driving car project, Apple still doesn’t have any idea where any of this is headed. I was skeptical we’d actually...
Feb 17, 2019•20 min
Remember that first weekend longread from yesterday, from NBC’s Tech Correspondent Jacob Ward? As I said, it triggered some things that I’ve been thinking about for a while. About data and data harvesting and data capitalism. So, I reached out to Jacob to delve further, and I’m glad I did. Super provocative deeper dive into the ideas of THIS piece: Why data, not privacy, is the real danger (NBC News) Sponsors: Capterra.com/ride LinkedIn.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....
Feb 16, 2019•19 min
More fallout and analysis of Amazon ghosting NYC, more signs of blockchain actually taking hold on Wall Street, Samsung’s lineup of gadgets leaks and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: The U.S. government and Facebook are negotiating a record, multibillion-dollar fine for the company’s privacy lapses (The Washington Post) Amazon’s Escape From New York (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Copyright Office Refuses Registration for 'Fresh Prince' ...
Feb 15, 2019•19 min
Amazon says thank you, but no thank you, to New York City, JP Morgan has its own crypto token, Google might try to come at the iPhone on price, and the legendary Lee Clow retires. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters (NYTimes) JP Morgan is rolling out the first US bank-backed cryptocurrency to transform payments business (CNBC) Google plans cheaper smartphone to draw users into internet empire (Nikkei Asian Review) Software p...
Feb 14, 2019•17 min
An Apple event focused on services, a former Apple Vice President charged with insider trading, the larger gaming industry is having issues, and why your GPS device might have issues on April 6th of this year. Sponsors: Tiny.website Wix.com/podcast DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Apple Plans News Event For March 25 (BuzzFeed News) Publishers Chafe at Apple’s Terms for Subscription News Service (WSJ) The former Apple lawyer who was supposed to keep employees from insider trading has been charged wi...
Feb 13, 2019•18 min
