Episodes

May 6, 2023

(Bonus) @semaforben On The Golden Age Of Digital Media And His AMAZING New Book About It

This is the book I've been dying for someone to write! This is how digital media happened for 20 years! Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral. Yay to finally having Ben Smith on the po…
May 5, 2023

Fri. 05/05 – Can Open Source Win Out Over Open AI? (Corrected)

Apple earnings recap. A new, free code generating AI tool. Which, actually, lots of people are starting to ask the question: will open source AI actually come out on top in the AI revolution? And, of course, the weekend long…
May 4, 2023

Thu. 05/04 – The Regulators Come For AI

The regulators have not been sleeping on the AI revolution. Everybody wants to get in on the blue checkmark game. But this time, with actual utility. Airbnb now offers to rent out single rooms. Can ChatGPT out invest profess…
May 3, 2023

Wed. 05/03 – How A Pixies Song Broke Google Assistant

Google releases a new feature to put another nail in the password coffin. Malware merchants are using generative AI. A deep dive into what Bluesky is like right now. The best explainer of quantum computing I’ve ever seen. An…
May 2, 2023

Tue. 05/02 – The Writer’s Strike Inspired By AI

Looks like that Hollywood strike inspired by AI fears is a go. Apple and Google want to set a new standard to prevent modern digital stalking. Pornhub is boycotting Utah. Mastodon is trying to make it less confusing to give …
May 1, 2023

Mon. 05/01 – Why Hollywood Fears AI

Gurman says the big Apple Watch OS overhaul is nigh. I can already tell you what the biggest tech IPO of 2023 is going to be. Are there signs tech earnings have turned or a corner, or, at least, have bottomed out? And why th…
April 30, 2023

(IHP Bonus) Mike Slade on Steve Jobs' Return To Apple

Another bonus episode from the Internet History Podcast. As promised, Mike Slade is back to tell stories from the period 1998 through 2004, when he was Special Assistant to Steve Jobs. Background details on the iMac, the iPo…
April 29, 2023

(IHP Bonus) Mike Slade on NeXT and Steve Jobs' Return to Apple

Another bonus episode from the Internet History Podcast. I originally wanted to talk to Mike Slade about Starwave, the innovative company that launched some major names onto the web, including ESPN.com, ABCNews.com, MrShowbi…
April 28, 2023

Fri. 04/28 – Microsoft Gets Out Of The Mice Business

More signs that vital communications infrastructure is abandoning Twitter. Reddit is testing Discord-like chat channels. Big layoffs at Clubhouse. Microsoft exits the peripherals business after 40 years. And, of course, the …
April 27, 2023

Thu. 04/27 – Meta Does Good

Meta reported earnings that surprised investors in the good way. But that doesn’t mean they’re backing off the Metaverse. Global smartphone shipments continue to plummet. Might congress ban children from social media? Amazon…
April 26, 2023

Wed. 04/26 - The UK Is Blocking Microsoft’s Activision Acquisition

The UK is blocking Microsoft’s Activision Acquisition. A quick rundown of Microsoft and Alphabet earnings. The new Mavic drone is a beast. Cruise has actually expanded its self-driving taxi service. And a look at the mountin…
April 25, 2023

Tue. 04/25 – The AI Revolution Comes For Drake

Methinks Coinbase is orchestrating laying the groundwork for a showdown with US regulators. Slack rolls out Canvas, which seems pretty cool. AI Guardrails from Nvidia. A browser built for AI tools from Opera. And I delve int…
April 24, 2023

Mon. 04/24 – And More Twitter Stuff

Would you believe me if I told you there was more Twitter chaos over the weekend. More details on the Apple headset. Is ARM about to abandon its Switzerland strategy? Interesting data about how Netflix dominates TV watching.…
April 23, 2023

(Bonus) Chamath Palihapitiya Interview

Again, my Internet History Podcast interview with Chamath Palihapitiya of the All In podcast from 2016.
April 22, 2023

(Bonus) Jason Calacanis Interview

Again, this is a republishing of my Jason Calacanis interview from the Internet History Podcast.
April 21, 2023

Fri. 04/21 – Twitter Stuff

More… I dunno… Twitter things are happening. Google is consolidating its AI efforts. We now have a hint about what that startup Humane might be creating. The US wants to get a jump start on 6G technology. And pour one out fo…
April 20, 2023

Thu. 04/20 – Elon’s Having A Heck Of A 4/20

Are Elon and Microsoft fully at war at this point? Does Coinbase already have one foot out the country at this point? Is OpenAI careening toward a run-in with GDPR? And, Stability AI’s big play to compete with Chat GPT.
April 19, 2023

Wed. 04/19 – The End Of Netflix’s Red Envelopes

That Netflix ad tier seems to be paying off. But it’s also the end of the road for those famous red envelopes. We’re about to see a foldable Pixel phone. More layoffs from Meta. More links in bio for Instagram. And forget da…
April 18, 2023

Tue. 04/18 – Is The AI Era Kicking Off A New Generation Of Silicon?

Is the AI revolution going to kick of a silicon revolution with a whole new generation of chips? Coinbase would consider leaving the US if it can’t get clarity from regulators. Is the Apple savings account the savings accoun…
April 17, 2023

Mon. 04/17 – Is Google About To Lose Samsung?

Hey everybody, back from Ireland, and man, the universe dumped all the news on me this morning. Google is rushing to add AI to search because they’re afraid Samsung is about to jump ship to Bing. More chaos at Twitter. Meta …
April 14, 2023

Fri. 04/14 - AWS Enters the Gen AI Race

AWS has begun offering customers access to LLMs made by Anthropic, Stability AI, and AI21 Labs, as they look to be a neutral platform for generative AI features. WhatsApp is rolling out new verification and protection featur…
April 13, 2023

Thu. 04/13 - They're Trying Their Damnedest To Ruin The HBO Brand

The stocks of Apple suppliers Cirrus Logic and AAC are down after reporting that iPhone 15 Pro models won’t have solid-state buttons after all. IBM is reportedly looking into selling The Weather Company, for quite a bit less…
April 12, 2023

Wed. 04/12 - Twitter Inc. No Longer Exists?

Elon Musk did a big spontaneous interview with the BBC last night on Twitter Spaces, but here’s two things that didn’t make the interview: Twitter appears to be working on generative AI for reasons yet unknown and Twitter In…
April 11, 2023

Tue. 04/11 - China's ChatGPT Competitors Are Here

Alibaba revealed its ChatGPT-style bot, and mere hours later the Cyberspace Administration of China announced plans to require security reviews of generative AI tools before they’re released. The Winklevoss twins made a $100…