Exponent

Ben and James discuss the origins of the First Amendment, what a culture of free expression means, and Facebook’s ad policy. Links Ben Thompson: Tech and Liberty — Stratechery Randall Munroe: Free Speech — xkcd Pat Kerr: Why I think xkcd is wrong about Free Speech — Medium Ben Thompson: The China Cultural Clash — Stratechery The Federalist Papers : No. 84 — Yale Law Rep. Ocasio-Cortez questions Mark Zuckerberg on when Facebook will fact check — YouTube Jon Gertner: The Very, Very Personal Is the Political — The New York Times Magazine United States v. Alvarez — Casetext Julia … Continue reading Episode 177 — Principle Stacks

Ben and James discuss how the Internet’s impact will be like the printing press’s, and what that means for how we should think about Facebook. Note: We apologize for the slight audio discrepancy between Ben and James Links Ben Thompson: The Internet and the Third Estate — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Zuckerberg’s Speech, Facebook Versus China, The Structure of Free Expression — Stratechery Ben Thompson: TV Advertising’s Surprising Strength — And Inevitable Fall — Stratechery Perry Link: China: The Anaconda in the Chandelier — ChinaFile Mark Zuckerberg Stands for Voice and Free Expression — Facebook The Federalist Papers: No. 47— Yale … Continue reading Episode 176 — The Second Estate Era

Ben and James discuss the NBA and Apple in China and the long-term implications of doing business with authoritarian governments. Links Ben Thompson: The China Cultural Clash — Stratechery r/HongKong: List Of Companies Under China’s Censorship Orders (So Far). Credit To U/Lebe — Reddit Sam Dastyari Quits As Labor Senator Over China Connections — The Guardian Rejected three times due to fear of Beijing, controversial book on China’s secret influence will finally be published — Business Insider Ethan Strauss: Can Steve Kerr and the NBA do better on China? — The Athletic Ben Thompson: Apple Pulls Hong Kong App, Tim … Continue reading Episode 175 — The Abyss Stares Back

Ben and James discuss Facebook from multiple angles, including child sexual abuse material, encryption, Oculus, and a leaked all-hands meeting.   Links Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery The Internet Is Overrun With Images of Child Sexual Abuse. What Went Wrong? — New York Times Ben Thompson: Child Sexual Abuse Material Online, The Problem With Community, Towards More Friction — Stratechery Casey Newton: Read The Full Transcript of Mark Zuckerberg’s Leaked Internal Facebook Meetings — The Verge Ben Thompson: Facebook’s All-Hands Leak, Facebook Versus Warren, Zuckerberg’s Culture — Stratechery Attorney General Bill Barr Will Ask Zuckerberg To Halt Plans For End-To-End … Continue reading Episode 174 — Distracted at Facebook

Ben and James discuss Cloudflare and what it is like going through an IPO, as well as what has gone wrong with WeWork.   Links Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Cloudflare’s S-1 — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: AWS and the Impact on Venture Capital — Stratechery Ben Thompson: WeWork Delays IPO — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: The WeWork IPO — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why WeWork Isn’t AWS — Stratechery Ben Thompson: What Is a Tech Company? — Stratechery Hosts   Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review … Continue reading Episode 173 — The Exponent IPO

Ben and James discuss WWDC keynote and why it was so important for Apple to move past the iPhone.   Links Ben Thompson: Apple’s Audacity — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple’s Middle Age — Stratechery Letter from Tim Cook to Apple investors — Apple Ben Thompson: Strategy Credit — Stratechery Updates to the App Store Guidelines — Apple Ben Thompson: Antitrust, the App Store, and Apple — Stratechery Hosts   Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review   Podcast Information   Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss the U.S.-China trade war and the fundamental issues facing both countries generally and tech specifically. Links Ben Thompson: China, Leverage, and Values — Stratechery We Were Pirates, Too — Foreign Policy How China Uses High-Tech Surveillance to Subdue Minorities — New York Times Ben Thompson: The Pollyannish Assumption — Stratechery Ben Thompson: More on Values (and Facebook) — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Open, Closed, and Privacy — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss the Zoom and Slack IPOs in the context of Microsoft’s current success and long-term challenges. Links Ben Thompson: Microsoft, Slack, Zoom, and the SaaS Opportunity — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The State of Technology at the End of 2018 — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Google Fights Back — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The End of Windows — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Microsoft’s Earnings, Microsoft’s Growth Opportunities — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Microsoft Build, Microsoft’s Strategic Clarity, An Interview with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Cost of Developers — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Google Fights Back — Stratechery Geoffrey Moore: … Continue reading Episode 170 — A Perfect Meal

Ben and James discuss Disney’s recent announcements on streaming and what it says about not just TV but strategy broadly in the Internet era. Links Ben Thompson: Disney and the Future of TV — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Disney and the Value of the Consumer Relationship, Disney’s Consolidation of Hulu, Comcast and AT&T — Stratechery Daily Update Disney CEO Bob Iger Unveils Details on Disney+ Streaming Service — CNBC Ben Thompson: Airbnb and the Internet Revolution — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss why Internet regulation is coming, why it is probably necessary, and how it should be targeted. Links Ben Thompson: A Regulatory Framework for the Internet — Stratechery New Livestreaming Legislation Fails to Take Into Account How the Internet Actually Works — The Conversation Out of the Clouds and Into the Weeds: Cloudflare’s Approach to Abuse in New Products — Cloudflare Unpacking the Stack and Addressing Complaints about Content — Cloudflare Ben Thompson: Mark Zuckerberg’s Proposal, The Copyright Directive and Sunk Costs, You Say You Want Some Regulation — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery … Continue reading Episode 168 — A Community of Loonies

Ben and James discuss the question of YouTube, why it’s similar and different from Facebook, and why engagement is both alluring and a potential problem. Links YouTube Executives Ignored Warnings, Letting Toxic Videos Run Rampant — Bloomberg Ben Thompson: Apple’s Services Event — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Mark Zuckerberg’s Proposal, The Copyright Directive and Sunk Costs — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: YouTube and Toxic Videos, YouTube’s Problematic Incentives, Sins of Omission and Commission — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Pollyannish Assumption — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Wall Street Journal and Apple News, The Problem with Regulating … Continue reading Episode 167 — YouTube and the End of Friction

Ben and James discuss Senator Warren’s proposal to break up Big Tech, including why its history is wrong, why details matter, and what needs to be done instead. Plus, Spotify’s antitrust complaint against Apple. Links Senator Elizabeth Warren: Here’s how we can break up Big Tech — Medium Ben Thompson: Where Warren’s Wrong — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Amazon’s Price Parity Provision, The Amazon Marketplace Question — Stratechery Daily Update Five Fast Facts About Apple’s Anti-competitive Behavior — Time To Play Fair (Spotify Website) Ben Thompson: Spotify Files Antitrust Complaint Against Apple, Spotify and Warren, More Amazon Marketplace Changes — Stratechery Daily … Continue reading Episode 166 — Fence-building vs. Axe-wielding

Ben and James discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s latest missive, whether Facebook is actually changing anything, and wonder if the company will ever tell the unvarnished truth. Links Mark Zuckerberg: A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking — Facebook Ben Thompson: Facebook’s Privacy Cake — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Facebook, Phones, and Phonebooks — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Social/Communications Map — Stratechery After an “identity crisis,” Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya says he’s taught himself how to be happy again — Recode Ben Thompson: The Audacity of Copying Well — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Messaging: Mobile’s Killer App — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Open, Closed, and … Continue reading Episode 165 — Mark Zuckerberg’s Projected Self

Ben and James discuss Amazon, Walmart, and groceries, Google Cloud versus AWS, and why understanding value chains helps evaluate business opportunities. Links Ben Thompson: The Value Chain Constraint — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Walmart’s Earnings, Walmart’s Grocery Business, Amazon’s Grocery Stumbles — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Amazon the Black Swan — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Amazon’s New Customer — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Walmart and the Multichannel Trap — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Google Cloud Changes CEOs, Layers of Surprise (or Not), The VMWare Analogy — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Amazon Tax — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact — … Continue reading Episode 164 — Valuing Value Chains

Ben and James discuss Apple News as it is today, where Apple wants to take it in the future, and why publishers should push back. Links Ben Thompson: The Cost of Apple News — Stratechery Ben Thompson: What Direct-to-Consumer Publishers are Selling — Stratechery Daily Update Apple News’s Radical Approach: Humans Over Machines — New York Times Publishers Chafe at Apple’s Terms for Subscription News Service — Wall Street Journal Ben Thompson: Apple Should Buy Netflix — Stratechery The Report of the 2020 Group — New York Times Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast … Continue reading Exponent 163 — Publishers vs Apple News

Ben and James discuss Spotify’s move into podcasts and integration and modularity in value chains. Links Ben Thompson: Spotify’s Podcast Aggregation Play — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Lessons From Spotify — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Podcasts, Analytics, and Centralization — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Future of Podcasting — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The BuzzFeed Lesson — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss Apple vs Facebook (and Google!). Links Josh Constine: Facebook Pays Teens to Install VPN That Spies on Them — TechCrunch Facebook’s Onavo Gives Social-Media Firm Inside Peek at Rivals’ Users — Wall Street Journal Ben Thompson: Facebook Versus Apple — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Manifestos and Monopolies — Stratechery Andrew Bosworth Memo — BuzzFeed Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss Netflix, why it is an Aggregator, and why Disney isn’t actually a competitor Links Ben Thompson: Netflix Flexes — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple Should Buy Netflix — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why TV Has Resisted Disruption — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why Disney and ESPN Will Be OK — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss open source in a cloud world, how enterprise value chains have changed, and AWS versus Microsoft. Links Ben Thompson: AWS, MongoDB, and the Economic Realities of Open Source — Stratechery Ben Thompson: How Google is Challenging AWS — Stratechery Satya Nadella on Microsoft — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

Ben and James discuss Apple’s revenue warning and the company’s shift to services. Links Ben Thompson: Apple’s Errors — Stratechery Letter from Tim Cook to Apple Investors — Apple Ben Thompson: Two Bears — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple’s China Problem — Stratechery Ben Thompson: CES and the Unification of Computing and Consumer Electronics, Google Assistant and Integration, The Modular Competition — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: The Android Detour — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple Should Buy Netflix — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback