Exponent

Ben and James discuss cloud computing and why Google fell behind AWS, and how the company is taking a very wise strategy in catching up. Note: Due to a recording error Ben’s track quality is poor. Our apologies. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: How Google is Challenging AWS — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Amazon Re:Invent, Google vs AWS vs IBM vs Microsoft — Stratechery Daily Update Steve Yegge: Stevey’s Google Platforms Rant — Google Plus Ben Thompson: The Amazon Tax — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple’s Organizational Crossroads — Stratechery Transcript: @Chamath At StrictlyVC’s Insider Series — Semil Shah Blog Ben … Continue reading Episode 097 — Google Versus AWS

Ben and James discuss the fake news epidemic on Facebook, from its structural causes to its effects. Then, Facebook committed sins of omission; the tech industry ought not do the same. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Fake News — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Aggregation Theory — Stratechery How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News — BuzzFeed Facebook fake-news writer: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me’ — Washington Post Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery Viral Fake Election News Outperformed Real News On Facebook In Final Months Of The US Election — BuzzFeed … Continue reading Episode 096 — Sins of Commission and Omission

Ben and James discuss the Trump election, filter bubbles, and the responsibility of the tech industry. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Donald Trump is the President-Elect, Tech Under Trump, The Big Picture — Stratechery Daily Update Episode 085: Ballots and Guillotines — Exponent Ben Thompson: The Brexit Possibility — Stratechery James Allworth: Brexit, Trump, and the Ultimatum Game — Medium Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery “Day One in Trump’s America” — Twitter Moments Kim-Mai Cutler: “The best way to have the stickiest and most lucrative product? Be a systematic tool for confirmation bias.” — Twitter Ben Thompson: … Continue reading Episode 095 — The Backlash Has Arrived

Ben and James discuss when acquisitions make sense, why Apple shouldn’t buy Tesla, and debate whether they should or should not buy Netflix. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Apple Should Buy Netflix — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why Apple Shouldn’t Buy Netflix — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Best — Stratechery Ben Thompson: It’s a Tesla — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Netflix and Aggregation Theory — Stratechery Daily Update The Netflix Backlash: Why Hollywood Fears a Content Monopoly — Hollywood Reporters Ben Thompson: Netflix’s Earnings —Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Everything as a Service — Stratechery Steve Blank: Why Tim Cook … Continue reading Episode 094 — Should Apple Buy Netflix?

Ben and James discuss the difference between the IT era and the Internet Revolution, first in the context of newspapers and then in the context of society broadly. Presented by MailChimp Links Jack Shafer: What If the Newspaper Industry Made a Colossal Mistake? — Politico Ben Thompson: The IT Era and the Internet Revolution — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Snapchat Changes Publisher Monetization — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Sports Linchpin — Stratechery Ben Thompson: TV Advertising’s Surprising Strength — and Inevitable Fall — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery Barack Obama, Neural Nets, Self-Driving Cars, and the Future of the World … Continue reading Episode 093 — The Disruption of Everything

Ben and James discuss what Consumerization of IT means in the context of Workplace by Facebook, Skype Teams, and Slack. Note: This podcast originally had a dead spot at the 8:13 mark. It has been fixed. To update please delete the podcast and re-download. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Chat and the Consumerization of IT — Stratechery David Moschella, Doug Neal, Piet Opperman, John Taylor: The ‘Consumerization’ of Information Technology — CSC Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery John Gruber: Blackberry vs iPhone — Daring Fireball Peter Bright: Going all-in: Ars interviews Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer — … Continue reading Episode 092 — Defining Consumerization of IT

Ben and James discuss the history of Android and why Google’s new phone signifies such a profound shift for the company. Presented by MailChimp Links Farhad Manjoo: MailChimp and the Un-Silicon Valley Way to Make It as a Start-Up — The New York Ttimes Ben Thompson: The Android Detour — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Truth About Windows Versus the Mac — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The State of Consumer Technology at the End of 2014 — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Google’s Go-to-Market Gap — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why Google’s Pixel-Android Strategy is Smart, Samsung Buys Viv, Google Home — Stratechery Ben Thompson: … Continue reading Episode 091 — Google’s New Business Model

Ben and James follow-up on Facebook versus the media, and then dive into Spectacles and what makes for a compelling product. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Facebook Tweetstorm — Twitter Ben Thompson: How the Snap Spectacles Story Broke, Facebook Overestimated Video Metric — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Economic Power in the Age of Abundance — Stratechery Warren Buffett: 1991 Letter to Shareholders — Berkshire Hathaway Ben Thompson: Snapchat Spectacles and the Future of Wearables — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Snapchat’s Ladder — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Facebook, Phones, and Phonebooks — Stratechery Seth Stevenson: Snapchat Releases First Hardware Product, Spectacles … Continue reading Episode 090 — Fashionable to Be Cynical

Ben and James discuss Oracle’s prospects in the crowd and how the Internet has changed the enterprise. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Oracle’s Cloudy Future — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Is AWS a Commodity? — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Presented by MailChimp

Ben and James discuss Facebook’s latest run-in with the media: both are wrong but for different reasons. Presented by MailChimp Links Ben Thompson: Facebook Versus the Media — Stratechery Espen Egil Hansen: Dear Mark. I am writing this to inform you that I shall not comply with your requirement to remove this picture. — Aftenposten Ben Thompson: What the Media Misses About Facebook, Facebook’s Missing Humans — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Presented by MailChimp

Ben and James discuss James’ adventurous summer and the recent Apple event and what it says about the future of Apple. Presented by MailChimp Links Wolverine Misses Exponent — Twitter James Allworth: So You’re Thinking About Doing a 10 Day Silent Vipassana Meditation Retreat? — Medium Naked People — Exponent Ben Thompson: Beyond the iPhone — Stratechery Farhad Manjoo: What’s Really Missing From the New iPhone: Cutting-Edge Design — New York Times Ben Thompson: Apple’s Organizational Crossroads — Stratechery Tim Cook, the interview: Running Apple ‘is sort of a lonely job’ — The Washington Post Ben Thompson: Apple’s PR Push, Maps and … Continue reading Episode 087 — Meditations on Courage

Ben and James discuss Facebook Live and Pokémon Go. Please note that this episode was podcast five days ago, on Saturday, July 16. Links Ben Thompson: A Technical Glitch — Stratechery The Laborers Who Keep Dick Pics and Beheadings Out of Your Facebook Feed — Wired Mat Honan: Why Facebook And Mark Zuckerberg Went All In On Live Video — BuzzFeed Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Pokémon Go Phenomonan, Nintendo’s Pivot, Additional Notes on Pokémon Go — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Activision Blizzard Buys King Digital — Stratechery Daily Update Aaron Levie: Nintendo’s … Continue reading Episode 086 — Following a Pokémon Off a Cliff

Ben and James discuss why the sociopolitical factors underlying the Brexit vote and their relationship to technology and a system of the future. Links Ben Thompson: The Brexit Possibility — Stratechery Ben Thompson: TV Advertising’s Surprising Strength — And Inevitable Fall — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Follow-up: The Big Picture — Stratechery James Allworth: Brexit, Trump, and the Ultimatum Game — Medium Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Sponsorship Inquiry

Ben and James discuss how the TV industry and the companies that advertise on TV are interconnected, and how they will rise and fall together. Links Ben Thompson: TV Advertising’s Surprising Strength — and Inevitable Fall — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Cord Cutting Fantasy — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why Disney and ESPN Will Be OK — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Old-Fashioned Snapchat — Stratechery Ben Thompson: How Technology is Changing the World (P&G Edition) — Stratechery Ken Doctor: The Macy’s Factor — Politico Ben Thompson: Cars and the Future — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Publishers and the Smiling Curve — Stratechery Ben … Continue reading Episode 084 — The Old World Order

Ben and James discuss Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn and Apple’s WWDC announcements, and figure out why they feel so differently about the two of them. Links James Allworth: Who’s going to be having sleepless nights after Microsoft’s LinkedIn deal? — Medium Ben Thompson: Microsoft and Apple Double Down — Stratechery Ben Thompson: How Satya Nadella Killed Windows Phone — Stratechery Microsoft’s Nadella Manages Legacy of Ballmer-Board Split — Bloomberg Ben Thompson: The Deal That Makes No Sense — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Curse of Culture — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple’s Organizational Crossroads — Stratechery James Allworth: The Blessing of Failure … Continue reading Episode 083 — Microsoft & LinkedIn versus Apple & WWDC

Ben and James discuss the present and future of podcasts, and how media companies need to take a holistic approach to their businesses. Links Ben Thompson: The Future of Podcasts — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why Web Pages Suck — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Publishers and the Smiling Curve — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Grantland and the (Surprising) Future of Publishing — Stratechery Ezra Klein Show: Ben Thompson on How to Make it in the Media in 2016 — Vox Marco Arment: Apple’s Actual Role in Podcasting: Be Careful What You Wish For — Marco.org Podcasts Surge, but Producers Fear Apple Isn’t Listening … Continue reading Episode 082 — A Podcast About Podcasts

Ben and James explain why Alexa is an even bigger deal than it seems, and why both Apple and Google should fear Amazon. Plus, why Microsoft’s challenges are only beginning. Links Ben Thompson: The Amazon Tax — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Jeff Bezos at the Code Conference — Stratechery Daily Update Jeff Bezos Intervew at the Code Conference: Video, Podcast, Live Blog Now We’re Talking: Amazon Alexa Comes to Pebble Core — Pebble Ben Thompson: Twilio Files for IPO — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Google’s Go-to-Market Gap — Stratechery James Allworth: The Blessing of Failure — Medium Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook … Continue reading Episode 081 — We Have Always Been at War with Amazon

Ben and James discuss briefly revisit last week’s discussion on Facebook, then discuss the Peter Thiel versus Gawker affair, and the implications for tech broadly. Then, how culture helps and hurts at Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Links Ben Thompson: The Real Problem with Facebook and the News — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Peter Thiel, Comic Book Hero — Stratechery (note: this was written after the podcast) When the Most Personal Secrets Get Outed on Facebook — Wall Street Journal Ben Thompson: The Curse of Culture — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Google’s Go-to-Market Gap — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Everything as a Service — … Continue reading Episode 080 — Multiple Full Circles

Ben and James discuss the allegations that Facebook is censoring conservative news, and renew their ongoing debate about Facebook’s power. Then, why Google’s current situation is similar to Microsoft, even though the long-term looks good. Links Want to Know What Facebook Really Thinks of Journalists? Here’s What Happened When It Hired Some. — Gizmodo Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News — Gizmodo Nilay Patel: Let’s Say Obvious Things About Facebook and Conservative News — The Verge Ben Thompson: The Voters Decide — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Real Problem with Facebook and the News — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Defending … Continue reading Episode 079 — Twerk the Algorithm

Ben and James discuss how the world will change, how change happens in companies and society, and debate whether or not we have crossed the rubicon to a new world. Links Ben Thompson: Everything as a Service —  Stratechery Ben Thompson: Friction — Stratechery Farhad Manjoo: The Uber Model, It Turns Out, Doesn’t Translate — The New York Times Ben Thompson: Intel Restructures — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Microsoft’s Mobile Muddle — Stratechery Max Wessel: Path Dependency, Infrastructure, and Entrepreneurship — LongLogic Too Much of a Good Thing — Economist Ben Thompson: Facebook and New Market Disruption — Stratechery … Continue reading Episode 078 — Bending Trees