In one of our special "2x" episodes of 16 Minutes (32ish minutes;) -- our show where we quickly cover the headlines and tech trends, offering analysis, frameworks, explainers, and more -- we cover the algorithm that powers TikTok, the short video-sharing platform that grabbed massive marketshare in cultures and markets never experienced firsthand by the engineers and designers in China, beating out other apps in the United States. Now, with talk of U.S. ownership/partnership for TikTok, what hap...
Sep 18, 2020•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast We cover the latest coming out of Apple's event yesterday, focusing on their new watches (including a lower price model); new sensors (including blood oxygen); and services for healthcare. Is always-on, (relatively) low-cost, passive monitoring for fitness and mainstream consumers really, finally the wedge into data for clinical applications as well? What features -- cost, efficacy, battery power, convenience, data, business model -- do and don't matter when it comes to filling in the gaps betwe...
Sep 17, 2020•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of 16 Minutes, we cover the recent news around the FDA's Emergency Use Authorization approval of Abbott Lab's latest COVID-19 test , which takes 15 minutes and will cost $5. At that speed and price point -- as well as the fact that it doesn't require lab equipment at point of care -- it should definitely increase testing capacity, making it a potential " game changer " in this pandemic... But does it truly democratize coronavirus testing (in an available-to-everyone-everywhere wa...
Sep 02, 2020•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of 16 Minutes -- our show where we cover recent headlines; tease apart what's hype/ what's real; and help orient where we are, trends-wise, on the long arc of innovation -- we cover the merger of Teladoc and Livongo, which was announced just a few days ago. The $18.5B deal is a big deal not just because of the dollars and validation in public markets, but because it's aimed at creating " the first true health tech giant ", and an end-to-end digital health platform at scale. Howev...
Aug 10, 2020•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this special "2x" explainer episode of 16 Minutes -- where we talk about what's in the news, and where we are on the long arc of various tech trends -- we cover all the buzz around GPT-3, the pre-trained machine learning model that's optimized to do a variety of natural-language processing tasks. The paper about GPT-3 was released in late May, but OpenAI (the AI "research and deployment" company behind it) only recently released private access to its API or application programming interface ,...
Jul 29, 2020•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast This holiday break episode of 16 Minutes on the News (#36) covers two timely and still developing-news topics: #1 The National Science Foundation could rebrand as the National Science AND Technology Foundation -- as well as get up to $100B more in funding for 10 focus areas among other things -- if a new bipartisan proposal called the "Endless Frontiers Act" (inspired by the name of this Vannevar Bush memo that led to the NSF being created 70 years ago) goes through. What does this mean for U.S....
Jul 10, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast A number of features were announced at Apple's WWDC/ Worldwide Developers Conference this week, but this episode of 16 Minutes on the News focuses on just one: Apple's "App Clips" coming to iOS14. Because App Clips -- small, lightweight, fast, parts of a full app that can quickly execute just one specific action for users in context, when and where they need them -- and App Clip Codes -- stickers that encode a URL and incorporate an NFC tag so the code can be scanned by camera, much like QR code...
Jun 29, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The FDA just approved the first ever videogame that can now be legally marketed and prescribed as a medicine. It's a game called EndeavorRX (formerly known as Project EVO and developed by Akili Interactive based on technology licensed from a neuroscience lab at the University of California San Francisco) -- and is for 8-12 year olds with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. So where does this fit in the broader category of "digital therapeutics", which have proven to be effective as...
Jun 21, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast At last week's Snap Partner Summit, a number of announcements -- including a navigation redesign and Bitmoji for Games -- have broader implications for the gaming industry and beyond. Especially when such messaging games, built on HTML5 and "mini programs" or apps-within-apps (as discussed by Connie Chan in context of WeChat and more), merge the key trends of mobile, social, and cloud gaming; in fact, they: could be a serious contender in the " cloud gaming " wars, but coming at it from the low ...
Jun 21, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this special "2x" episode (#32) of our news show 16 Minutes -- where we quickly cover the headlines and tech trends, offering analysis, frameworks, explainers, and more -- we cover the tricky but important topic of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The 1996 law has been in the headlines a lot recently, in the context of Twitter, the president's tweets, and an executive order put out by the White House just this week on quote- "preventing online censorship". All of this is playing...
May 31, 2020•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast While governments, policymakers, and employers around the world are all figuring out how to reopen the economy, contact tracing -- which includes identifying and warning contacts of exposure in order to stop chains of transmission -- is a key strategy for preventing further spread of a disease like COVID-19. But approaches vary from manual to automated. And different regions have different frameworks, whether combined with GPS (location data) and CCTV as in South Korea -- or mainly Bluetooth-bas...
May 23, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast As calls for better, faster, cheaper, portable testing for COVID-19 disease are heard around the world -- given the important role of test-trace-isolate in re-opening the economy! -- the FDA recently issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a CRISPR-based diagnostic. It's the first authorized use of CRISPR technology for an infectious disease test. So we discuss this topic in this week's episode of 16 Minutes -- our show where we cover the news headlines, tease apart what's hype/what's re...
May 17, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Zoom has not only experienced unprecedented, rapid growth (from 10M to 200M daily active users) due to the coronavirus pandemic and shelter-in-place -- but is also seeing a shift in use cases from primarily enterprise to more consumer as well. At the same time, there have been several security issues and concerns around Zoom, including " zoombombing " porn; home-grown encryption ; and key-management systems , servers, and engineers in China. The company had to correct and clarify the record as a...
Apr 12, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast If the best way to know whether a medicine is effective is through a clinical trial, then where does (and doesn't) real-world data and real-world evidence come in? The topic is always top of mind in drug development, with additional focus as of 2016 thanks to the 21st Century Cures Act -- but is especially heated lately given recent concerns and claims around particular drugs in the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic. So in this short-but-deep dive episode of 16 Minutes on the News, a16z ...
Mar 29, 2020•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast The U.S. Federal Reserve recently made a range of moves -- from cutting interest rates to near zero (which it also did in the 2008 financial crisis) and using other tools -- to support "the flow of credit to households and businesses, thereby promote its maximum employment and price stability goals" during this current pandemic and public health crisis. However... what does this mean for small businesses, which may be most impacted? What's the difference between monetary and fiscal policy here; ...
Mar 22, 2020•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of 16 Minutes on the News covers the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' " historic rules " to provide patients more control of their data. They've been a long time coming, and despite recent fights over them , the final rules are now finally here as of this week. So in this short but deep dive, a16z bio experts -- general partner Julie Yoo and Venkat Mocherla in market development (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi) -- go into: 0:47 how the rules fit into our healthcare ...
Mar 14, 2020•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers: Google could bring Steam support to Chrome OS , according to an earlier unconfirmed report , and what that could mean for the broader gaming ecosystem, developers as well as devices -- with a16z general partner Andrew Chen and Jonathan Lai on the consumer team; New York restaurants and retail establishments can no longer reject cash payments under legislation that was passed by the City Council there; what this says about the banking system more bro...
Mar 08, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers: all the recent fintech acquisitions! from Intuit announcing it's acquiring Credit Karma this week to Morgan Stanley announcing it's acquiring E-trade last week to Visa acquiring Plaid last month, and so on -- what’s going on, why, and why now? -- with a16z general partner Anish Acharya; recent hearing on SEC's complaint against Telegram , which turns out not to be about cryptocurrency at large, a particular subset of cryptocurrencies, or whether a c...
Feb 28, 2020•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode covers the latest updates since our previous deep-dive on the novel coronavirus outbreak. We cover the latest developments -- new name, new declarations, new numbers, new definitions -- as well as: practical implications for the U.S. healthcare system given how it works today, and where we might go in the future -- with a16z general partner Julie Yoo , given our vantage point in tech; and how the rt-PCR test works, and other updates about what the data do and don't tell us , and whe...
Feb 19, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers: FICO credit score changes , what are they, do they matter? -- with a16z fintech general partners Angela Strange and Anish Acharya; electronic health record provider Epic's letter urging hospitals to oppose government regulations that would make it easier for patients and companies to access medical information, and where is the Plaid of healthcare? -- at 10:19 with a16z bio general partner Julie Yoo; ...in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. Background...
Feb 07, 2020•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of 16 Minutes on the news from a16z is all about the recent coronavirus outbreak -- or rather, a new type of coronavirus called 2019-nCoV for 2019 novel coronavirus. Since it's an ongoing and fast-developing news cycle, we take a quick snapshot for where we are, what we know, and what we don't know, and discuss the vantage point of where tech comes in. Topics covered include: definition of a virus, categories of coronaviruses origins and spread how this stacks up so far against SARS...
Jan 30, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of our news show teases apart what was just a concept, what's near from the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2020). Board partner Steven Sinofsky (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi) takes us on a quick tour of the based on his annual field trip report from the floor. Topics covered include: folding screens and 8K displays 5G, wi-fi 6, new millimeter wave 5G transportation: cars, voice, micromobility smart home automation and security batteries and USB-C Articles/ headlines in ...
Jan 18, 2020•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this 19th episode of our news show, where we cover recent headlines from our vantage point in tech, we cover the following news items (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi): recent moves to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) software including the White House's recent guidance (and op-ed from the U.S. CTO) on AI in general, as well as limits to exports of specific AI software that went into effect this week -- with operating partner Frank Chen (whose talk was cited in an earlier White House ...
Jan 13, 2020•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast For our first episode of 2020 -- #18 of our show 16 Minutes , where we cover recent headlines, the a16z way, from our vantage point in tech, and especially what's hype/ what's real -- we do one of our special deep-dive episodes on a single topic: personal genomics. It’s a turn of the decade — and January-appropriate! — look backward/ look forward given recent and past retrospective and prospective pieces in the media on the promise, and perils, of the ability to sequence one’s DNA and what it me...
Jan 06, 2020•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this show, we cover recent headlines, the a16z Podcast way -- what’s hype, what’s real; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and this week, we cover the following news (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi): Star War trailer premieres in... Fortnite? What's the significance of the latest Star Wars trailer debuting inside a video game over a movie theater or TV or even YouTube and Facebook? It has to do with the bigger picture of games, social networks, and virtual worlds; so what a...
Dec 21, 2019•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the 16th episode of 16 Minutes, our news show where we cover the top headlines, the a16z Podcast way: what’s real / what’s hype; why they matter from our vantage point in tech. This week, we cover the following news (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi): NYSE & SEC back and forth over direct listings -- The NYSE recently proposed allowing companies to raise capital during direct listings (currently, they're different than IPOs in that there is no offering); the SEC rejected it; and they j...
Dec 16, 2019•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the 15th episode of 16 Minutes, our news show where we cover the top headlines, the a16z Podcast way: what’s real / what’s hype; what's interesting from our vantage point in tech. This week (after a brief hiatus for our annual innovation event and November holidays), we cover the following news... in conversation with Sonal Chokshi: use of alternative data in credit underwriting -- Five federal regulatory agencies (the Federal Reserve Board, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the ...
Dec 16, 2019•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the 14th episode of 16 Minutes, our weekly-ish news show where we quickly cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z Podcast way: what’s real, what’s hype from our vantage point in tech. This week, we cover the following news -- with a16z experts general partner Julie Yoo and market dev partner Venkat Mocherla from the bio team, and former CSO/ a16z security operating partner Joel de la Garza -- in conversation with Sonal Chokshi: UPS drones deliver prescriptions -- For the first time...
Nov 15, 2019•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the 13th episode of 16 Minutes, our weekly-ish news show where we quickly cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z Podcast way: what’s real, what’s hype from our vantage point in tech. This week, we cover the following news -- with a16z experts general partner Connie Chan and D'arcy Coolican from the consumer team, and former CSO/ a16z security operating partner Joel de la Garza -- in conversation with Sonal Chokshi: OK Boomer meme and meaning -- What makes this meme news, given cur...
Nov 04, 2019•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the 11th episode of 16 Minutes, our weekly news show where we quickly cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z Podcast way: what’s real, what’s hype from our vantage point in tech. This week, we cover the following news -- with a16z experts managing partner Scott Kupor and general partner in fintech Angela Strange, respectively, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi: crypto & regulation/policy updates from the SEC and IRS -- including the SEC releasing an announcement that it settled c...
Oct 20, 2019•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
