Entertainment Episodes

Twitter’s return to the office is a real covid era milestone. Ok, how about Disney+ but with ads? Is crypto usage in Russia actually falling? Something something, wasn’t this the original use case for crypto? Are NFT prices falling? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Why a dumb agent string bug may break some big named websites soon. Is Circle about to become the biggest pure play crypto company to hit public markets? Spotify buys basically the only remaining pieces of the podcast puzzle missing from their toolbelt. And the interesting raise from a company buying up YouTube back catalogs.

Forget how’s my driving, Uber lets you know how you’re riding. Meta workers are now formally known as Metamates. Is Paramount quietly doing better in the streaming wars than we thought? So much so, as to warrant a name change too? And what happens when your bionic eye implants are no longer supported by the manufacturer?

Rogangate rolls on. Why a controversy in the Ethereum Name Service community might be even more interesting, because of what it might teach us about the viability of DAOs. Twitter is, oddly, testing ways to make it easier for folks to DM you. And rumors of a new entry level MacBook Pro.

Summing up the whole Joe Rogan brouhaha from over the weekend. Meta joins a crypto legal alliance and takes a page out of Alphabets book by planning to break out reporting of its metaverse business. And the dotcom bubble called and wants its headlines back: wash trading might be rampant on NFT marketplaces, and a look at the six startups trying to succeed, where Kozmo.com failed.

When Adele says jump, Spotify apparently says how high? Is Apple Watch slipping in market share? All the crypto miners who fled China have landed in Russia, Kazakhstan and… Texas? And an explanation for why buying bots will either ruin, or save your holiday gift buying.

Netflix’s growth has hit a wall, and so here come the games. What to do about a problem like those NSO hacks? Samsung’s next Unpacked event is announced. One of the biggest crypto raises of all time. And will Apple ever join the Android ecosystem and kill off SMS once and for all?

Netflix hires a big name gaming executive. Twitter retires Fleets. Facebook wants to make it rain for creators. TSMC says the chip shortage is starting to ease. Amazon launches serialized storytelling. And one of the biggest unicorns in the world, just 6x’d in less than a year.

Amazon buys James Bond. Is Valve working on a Nintendo Switch clone? Google’s new campus in San Jose will make the Googleplex look puny. Tesla is dropping radar. The new standard for USB is beefing up power-wise. And is Microsoft moving on from Windows 10 branding? Sponsors:Masterworks.io promocode RIDECybereason.com Links:Amazon to buy MGM Studios for $8.45 billion (CNBC)Exclusive: Valve is making a Switch-like portable gaming PC (Ars Technica)Google's San Jose mega-campus wins city approval. Will it change Bay Area development? (San Francisco Chronicle)Tesla is already shipping cars without radar sensors (The Verge)USB-C power upgrade delivers a whopping 240W for gaming laptops and other devices (CNET)Lightrun raises $23M for its debugging and observability platform (TechCrunch)Microsoft support for Linux GUI apps on Windows 10 coming later this year (ZDNet)Microsoft unveils developer-focused Teams, Outlook, and Search updates (VentureBeat)

Apple Music and Amazon Music HD bring better audio quality to everyone. AT&T throws in the towel on Warner Media by doing a shotgun marriage with Discovery. GitHub now lets you add video. Jane Manchun Wong says the subscription service is going to be called Twitter Blue. And what we might be able to expect from Google’s I/O tomorrow.

Last week, the great Ed Zitron (@edzitron) , head of the media relations firm EZPR, put out a post that got a lot of chatter where he laid out a bear case for Clubhouse. So I tweeted out, did anyone want to do a bull case for clubhouse so we could do a bull/bear debate episode? And the great Joseph Flaherty (@josephflaherty) of Founders Collective raised his hand and said he’d be game to do it, so this is what we have today. An episode of two halves. First, Joe makes the bull case, then after the break, Ed gives the bear take. And that’s it? Great conversation. Great points made by both guys. Enjoy. Here is Ed's piece that we refer to throughout: Clubhouse and Audio's Feature Not A Product Problem (And How It Might Possibly Be Meerkat 2)

It’s actually a nutso butso news day. Spotify is launching a Clubhouse competitor. Amazon is spinning up a new line of custom silicon. Big updates to Google Maps. We know the dates for WWDC. Amazon seems to be doing some Twitter sock puppetry. A bunch of new phones from Xiaomi. Substack is raising another big round. And that’s not all. There’s so much that happened today in the world of tech, that I can’t even promo it all, so let’s just get to it. Sponsors:TinyCapital.comMetalab.com Links:Spotify is launching its own Clubhouse competitor (The Verge)Spotify acquires Betty Labs, creator of live audio app Locker Room (Axios)Amazon Steps Up Silicon Ambitions With New Networking Chip (The Information)Google is making some big upgrades to directions in Google Maps (The Verge)Apple officially announces virtual WWDC 2021 for June, iOS 15 and more expected (9to5Mac)Amazon is sending employees into the trenches on Twitter as it battles its first union vote and reports about workers peeing i…

Netflix is cracking down on password sharing. Apple sues a former employee for allegedly stealing trade secrets. Masa Son is back, baby! I guess we have to watch ads on our $1500 smart tvs now, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.EditorX.comThoughtWorks Technology Podcast Links:Netflix Begins Test to Crack Down on Password Sharing Outside Your Household (The Streamable)Apple sues former employee for stealing trade secrets, leaking information to the media (9to5Mac)SoftBank-Backed Coupang Prices U.S. IPO Above Target (Bloomberg)I guess I have to watch ads everywhere on my $1,500 LG TV now (The Verge) Weekend Longread Suggestions:Interview: Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe (Noahpinion.substack.com)TWITTER IS REINVENTING ITSELF (The Verge)Excel Never Dies (Not Boring)How Facebook got addicted to spreading misinformation (MIT Technology Review)Bilibili: How a Chinese site dedicated to anime subculture grew up with its Gen Z users to become a mainstream succe…

Square is acquiring a majority stake in Tidal, and either this makes little sense, or it’s a watershed moment in this NFT/creator economy phenomenon that’s suddenly washing over all of us. Apple walks the walk in terms of data portability. But they’re facing serious new anti-trust scrutiny in the UK and Arizona. And our year of Covid, at least measured in internet traffic numbers. Sponsors:Masterworks.io, promocode rideLinkedIn.com/ride Links:Square acquires majority of Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service, in $297 million deal. (NYTimes)Apple Launches Service for Transferring iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos (MacRumors)Apple Probed by U.K. as App Store Payments Scrutiny Mounts (Bloomberg)Arizona App Store Bill (The Verge)Ethereum now an option on Amazon’s managed blockchain service (The Block)Comcast: Pandemic drove peak internet traffic up 32% in 2020 (VentureBeat)

Spotify’s new HiFi subscription tier. Clubhouse has security concerns. Apple is king of the smartphone hill once again. Maybe the biggest survival story of the Covid-19 era is about the IPO. And is the Facebook news ban pushing Australians into the arms of the news publishers themselves? Sponsors:ManlyBands.com/techmeme code: techmeme for 20% NewYorker.com/techmeme promocode: techmeme Links:Spotify HiFi is a lossless streaming tier coming later this year (The Verge)Clubhouse Chats Are Breached, Raising Concerns Over Security (Bloomberg)Apple Surpassed Samsung as World's Largest Smartphone Maker in Fourth Quarter (MacRumors)Restaurant-Software Provider Toast Prepares for IPO (WSJ)Google fires another AI ethics leader (Axios)Australia’s ABC News shot to the top of the App Store charts following Facebook’s news ban (The Verge)

Clubhouse has become a unicorn in, what… nine months? Google is making its facilities available as vaccine centers, while its workers are union organizing globally. Apple wants you to get up and walk. And why the SPAC frenzy could potentially transform the startup ecosystem over the coming months. Sponsors:Uber.com/techmemeKiwico.com promocode: ride Links: Clubhouse announces plans for creator payments and raises new funding led by Andreessen Horowitz (TechCrunch) Big Revolution - Inside the Clubhouse (Big Revolution) Google will turn some of its offices into COVID-19 vaccination sites (Engadget) Google Maps and Search to show COVID-19 vaccination locations (LaptopMag) Exclusive: Google workers across the globe announce international union alliance to hold Alphabet accountable (The Verge) Apple officially launches new ‘Time to Walk’ feature for Apple Watch and Fitness+ (9to5Mac) Apple warns iPhone 12 and MagSafe accessories can interfere with medical devices (Silicon Angle) SPAC bo…

Disney+ is about to get a bit more expensive, but you’re also gonna get a lot more stuff to watch. Are we in a tech IPO bubble? X64 emulation comes to Windows. Apple whispers that it will likely be dropping Qualcomm like it dropped Intel. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors:Amazon.com/ridehomeTinycapital.comLinks: Disney Plus is increasing its price to $8 a month starting in March 2021 (The Verge) ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Pinocchio’ and More as Disney Leans Sharply Into Streaming (N...

As promised, here’s Recode’s Peter Kafka, the dean of the media reporters, someone we should have had on the podcast a long time before this. Do checkout his podcast, Recode Media with Peter Kafka. Sponsors: ProtonMail.com/techmeme VistaPrint.com/techmeme DoubleUp.agency

Another monumental crack across the land as Warner Brothers has maybe signaled the death of the business model Hollywood has relied on for 100 years. Is Stripe signaling it wants to completely rewire the global monetary system? Have Chinese scientists achieved Quantum Supremacy? Would you be interested in deep sea tourism? And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Fundrise.com/techmeme VistaPrint.com/techmeme Links: Warner Bros. will release all of its new 2021 movies simulta...

Cloning Snapchat isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? Cloning TikTok. Even Snapchat has joined the bandwagon with Spotlight. Are people fleeing ads in feeds because the market is saturated? I break down all of last week’s big moves in Digital Media. And why the Covid Tracking Project deserves a friggin Nobel Prize. Sponsors: ProtonMail.com/techmeme Amazon.com/ridehome Links: Snapchat launches a TikTok-like feed called Spotlight, kick-started by paying creators (TechCrunch) Facebook Ads Could Be ...

So wait, is TikTok facing shutdown again, as soon as tomorrow or… what? Some analysis on how well those M1 chips might actually perform. Ring doorbells are catching fire. The Hyperloop takes its first passengers for a ride. And does China now ALSO think that big tech has gotten too big? Sponsors: VistaPrint.com/techmeme TinyCapital.com Links: TikTok hasn’t heard from the Trump administration in weeks, prompting latest CFIUS petition (CNBC) Apple Announces The Apple Silicon M1: Ditching x86 - ...

Netflix raises prices. Because they can—and maybe because they should. Google wants to give you a free VPN. Samsung helps you find your galaxy of Galaxy things. A rundown of yesterday’s big day of tech earnings. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors:Monday.com/rideMailmanhq.comLinks: Netflix is raising the price of its most popular plan to $14 today, premium tier increasing to $18 (The Verge)Google One’s 2TB+ plans adding Android VPN, coming to iOS & Mac/Windows soon (9to5...

Quibi’s dead baby. Quibi’s dead. Jony Ive is going to design stuff for… Airbnb? The Mate 40 Pro is the best flagship smartphone you’ll probably never want to buy. What if Snapchat conquers India? The Bahamas launches the first official cryptocurrency for an entire country. And look out cause Tesla is turning on the self-driving beta starting now… Sponsors: Monday.com/ride NewYorker.com/techmeme Links: Quibi's Open Letter Quibi Is Shutting Down Barely Six Months After Going Live (WSJ) In defen...

Apple wants to you to want your A-MTV. iMTV? I dunno. Apple has launched a music videos channel. The new Samsung Galaxies might be coming sooner than ever. The company bringing AR to car windshields. And why Japan saying it’s getting on the regulate tech bandwagon might be the tipping point for the entire sector. Sponsors: ExtraHop.com/techmeme Monday.com/ride Links: Apple Launches ‘Apple Music TV,’ a 24-Hour Music Video Livestream (Variety) iPhone 12 mini has 2,227 mAh battery, new models wi...