Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson episodes:

• 05.07.2024

  (Preview) Apple in China and Japan, The iPad as a Mac Replacement, Apple and the Growth Premium

  A question about Apple sentiment in China spawns memories of Apple's entrance to Japan, the utility of the iPad as a Mac replacement (and why the Vision Pro would be the better option for that job), plus Apple acquisitions, Apple's...

  
• 05.02.2024

  (Preview) The NBA Creates a Rights Bidding War, The Optimal NBA Schedule, RSNs and the Future of Customer Acquisition

  Parsing the latest reports on the battle for the NBA's next round of broadcast rights, a question about the NBA schedule and how the league should think about competing with the NFL, and the implications of an increasingly bleak outlook...

  
• 04.29.2024

  (Preview) Virtual Reality and the Innovator's Solution, Meta Embraces the Android Approach, Uber as an Aggregator

  Ben proposes a potential update to Clayton Christensen's theory of disruption, why the latest round of Meta market skepticism is not as crazy as the last few episodes, questions about Facebook and Apple, and an emailer wonders whether Uber is...

  
• 04.25.2024

  (Preview) TikTok and the E-Commerce Giants, The FTC Moves to Ban Noncompete Agreements, 'Bluey' and Streaming Leverage

  Why TikTok makes more sense for Wal-Mart and Amazon than Oracle and Microsoft, and the FTC's ban on noncompete agreements prompts reflections noncompetes in Silicon Valley and the decline of trust across society. At the end: A question about Bluey...

  
• 04.22.2024

  (Preview) What Taylor Swift Can Tell You About Netflix, What Meta Wants from Generative AI, Google and the Moonshot

  A closer look at Netflix after news that the streamer will stop reporting subscription numbers in 2025, a question about Meta’s AI ambitions, and the case for Google making a play to compete with the iPhone. At the end: Drake’s...

  
• 04.18.2024

  10 Years of Stratechery: Best and Worst Takes, Creating on the Internet, AI as a Threat, and Memories of Day 1

  Celebrating 10 years of Stratechery as a subscription business with 10 questions about analysis, creating on the Internet, what's coming with AI, and what it was like on day 1.

  
• 04.15.2024

  (Preview) When AI Hits Digital Advertising, What the IT Era Can Teach Us About AI's Impact, Chip Questions and EV Mechanics

  The advertising possibilities that AI can unlock for Meta, Google and Amazon, why TikTok is interested in AI to create digital influencers, and looking to past technologies to predict the impact that AI will make on the economy. At the...

  
• 04.11.2024

  (Preview) Mailbag: AI Hardware, NBA Newsbreakers as Aggregators, Reels vs. Shorts, The Best Approach to Age Verification

  Andrew and Ben turn to the emailers and answer questions on Jony Ive's post-Apple adventures, structural parallels between tech and the rise of journalists Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski, Instagram's strategy for Reels, the information environment surrounding Neuralink, and the...

  
• 04.08.2024

  Amazon and the “Just Walk Out” Parable, Mythbusting on Meta and TSMC, The XZ Backdoor and Its Implications

  Updated thoughts on Amazon rolling back “just walk out” in grocery stores, context for a viral Meta tweet and a year of pessimism surrounding TSMC in Arizona, and Ben walks through what happened with the XZ backdoor and the changes...

  
• 04.02.2024

  (Preview) Apple Flunks a Vision Pro Test, Microsoft Unbundles Teams from Office, AI and Energy Consumption

  Ben reviews Apple’s latest immersive video demo, what a paucity of VR content says about Apple’s commitment to the AVP, Microsoft’s move to globalize its response to EU regulators, and various thoughts and questions on energy consumption and its role...

  
• 03.28.2024

  New Laws to Regulate Big Tech, The Distinction Between Platforms and Aggregators, Apple’s API and Accessories

  Follow-up on Apple and the DOJ, including new antitrust laws Ben would like to see, distinctions between platforms and aggregators in a regulatory context, and both sides of the Apple API argument. At the end: attempts to bridge antitrust confusion...

  
• 03.25.2024

  (Preview) US v. Apple, Specific Allegations and Broad Implications, The Decisions that Made Apple a Target

  A closer look at the US v. Apple complaint, including the good and bad of the introductory rhetoric, debate over the notion that consumers have co-signed Apple's control of the app store, text messaging technology, smartwatches, what Apple has always...

  
• 03.21.2024

  Nvidia Searches for a Moat at AI Woodstock, The Blackwell B200, Microsoft’s Deal with Inflection AI

  An AI day for Sharp Tech. Topics include: Nvidia’s GTC and the Blackwell B200 GPU, Nvidia’s strategic calculus after achieving product market fit, whether Google missed a chance to market TPUs to a wider audience, the logic underlying Microsoft’s bizarre...

  
• 03.18.2024

  (Preview) Monetizing WhatsApp, Big Companies and Big Company Incentives, Why the New York Times Has a Podcast App

  A closer look at Meta's strategy with WhatsApp, why Disney's failure to buy Google in 1999 shouldn't be surprising, Apple's doomed car project and attendant AI ambitions, and a question about the New York Times spawns discussion of the podcast...

  
• 03.14.2024

  (Preview) Reddit Goes Public, Reddit and Evolution on the Internet, The Company that Should Buy TikTok

  A look at Reddit’s business as well as the company’s message board DNA, examining some of the opposition to this week’s TikTok legislation, and at the end, identifying the company that should buy TikTok.

  
• 03.11.2024

  (Preview) Congress and TikTok, Listening to China to Understand the TikTok Concerns, Empty First Amendment Arguments

  The latest legislative push to address TikTok’s relationship to ByteDance, Ben’s 2020 analysis of the threats posed by the app, the arguments and interests opposing a ban, and why US freedoms may ultimately be the best defense against a foreign...

  
• 03.07.2024

  (Preview) Elon Musk Sues OpenAI, Apple’s Bizarre Epic Misstep, What Microsoft Could Teach Google

  A closer look at Elon Musk’s lawsuit, why it will probably fail, and the OpenAI concerns Musk highlights that remain relevant. Then: Apple’s latest App Store crusade, some amateur psychology, and an emailer’s Google observation yields a Microsoft history lesson.

  
• 03.05.2024

  The Road to Personalized LLM Answers, The AI Risk for Aggregators, Anthropic Releases a ‘Near-Human’ Claude 3

  The challenges posed by AI as aggregators like Meta and Google deploy models around the around, why personalized LLM output might be a long term solution, and reactions to the latest release from Anthropic and the current pace of AI...

  
• 02.29.2024

  (Preview) Pichai's Gemini Letter, Nvidia and TSMC and Market Structure, The End of the Apple Car

  The letter from Sundar Pichai in the wake of a Gemini’s disastrous week, the relationship between TSMC and Nvidia (and why Intel is part of the conversation), and an emailer asks Ben to compare Apple’s now-abandoned car ambitions with Google’s...

  
• 02.26.2024

  (Preview) AI and the Big Five, Google and the Ongoing Gemini Catastrophe, The Stakes (or Lack Thereof) for Chatbot Output

  An email about AI losers spawns a check-in on the AI efforts of the big five, Google’s Gemini rollout prompts a history lesson and questions about the culture, while the debates over Gemini highlight the limits of chatbots and signal...

  
• 02.21.2024

  (Preview) The History of Consoles, The Murky Present for Microsoft and Xbox, The Gaming Future for Sony and Meta

  How the gaming market went from PlayStation to Microsoft Game Pass, the fundamental tensions underlying Microsoft’s current strategy in games, and thoughts on the future for Sony and Meta’s Quest 3 as a gaming console.

  
• 02.15.2024

  A Sports Super Bundle, The Next Challenge for Digital Advertising, Zuckerberg Reviews the Apple Vision Pro

  A look at the questions surrounding the sports streaming bundle that’s coming from Fox, Disney, and Warner Brothers Discovery, including the challenge of targeting video ads on the internet, why Disney’s bet on sports is a bet on ads, and...

  
• 02.08.2024

  (Preview) The Vision Pro and the Newton, The Case Against AVP as an Entertainment Device, The Most Valuable Tech Product of All

  Ben and Andrew begin with a note about a recent Stratechery announcement before to turning their attention to a variety of emails about the Apple Vision Pro.

  
• 02.06.2024

  First Impressions of the Vision Pro: What It Is, What It Might Have Been, and a Note About Guest Mode

  Ben and Andrew share first impressions after Andrew demos a Vision Pro and Ben spends 24 hours exploring the AVP at home. Plus: Venting about Apple’s user-hostile guest mode process.

  
• 02.01.2024

  Mailbag: A Navy SEAL on the Vision Pro, Reading 10-Qs, Apple Follow Up, Netflix and Books, Unsolicited Parenting Advice

  A new mailbag featuring a comparison between the Vision Pro and night vision goggles, Ben’s process for digesting quarterly earnings news, and some final thoughts on Apple’s approach to the App Store.

  
• 01.30.2024

  (Preview) Google’s Lumiere, The App Store and Lost Innovation, The Tension Between Property Rights and Public Interests

  A question about AI video and what sectors it might disrupt, and the latest attempt at Apple regulation promos a conversation about Apple’s property rights and the future of the App Store.

  
• 01.25.2024

  Why Netflix Bet on Wrestling, The Future of Watching Sports, Recapping a Week at the World Economic Forum in Davos

  Introducing the Sharp Tech YouTube Channel, understanding why Netflix choose the WWE for its first live rights partner in sports, more on the Vision Pro and watching sports in VR, and recapping Ben’s week in Switzerland at the World Economic...

  
• 01.23.2024

  (Preview) Apple's Latest App Store Gambit, iTunes and Macworld Context, Vision Pro Developers on Strike

  Apple’s new App Store rules inspire plenty of familiar complaints, while some of the biggest tech companies in the world tell Apple to launch Vision Pro without them.

  
• 01.16.2024

  (Preview) The Peacock Playoff Experiment, Revisiting the OpenAI Lawsuit, Big Picture Questions After the Boeing Mess

  Peacock makes history as the first streaming service to broadcast an NFL playoff game, an emailer asks Chat GPT licensing deals, and Boeing follow-up spawns questions on the future of free markets and humans vs. software.

  
• 01.10.2024

  (Preview) Another Max Mess for Boeing, Boeing as a Case Study, ESPN and the Vision Pro

  The latest failures at Boeing invite fresh scrutiny of the incentive structure, strategy lessons embedded in the company's decline, and why Boeing exemplifies the same mistakes and challenges that the rest of the American industrial base will confront in the...

  
• 01.08.2024

  The New York Times Sues OpenAI, Napster History vs. ChatGPT Future, Copyright Enforcement at the Aggregator Level

  A word about the Packers and microchips, and then reactions to the New York Times suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, the similarities and differences between past copyright cases with Google and Napster, and a question about automated copyright...

  
• 12.22.2023

  (Preview) Sharp Tech Holiday Hoopla: Streaming Mergers, Kitchen Tech, Worst Decisions, MBA Advice, Mac vs. PC and More

  Celebrating the end of the year with a few reactions to Wednesday’s Paramount-Warner Brothers rumors and a wide variety of mailbag questions. Happy holidays from the entire Sharp Tech team!

  
• 12.20.2023

  Apple Gets a Patent War for Christmas, Europe's Ability to Hijack the Regulatory Process, Systemic Questions After Adobe-Figma

  The patent dispute that has Apple ready to take Apple Watches off the market, the expanding powers of the EU regulatory regime, why the Adobe-Figma acquisition raised legitimate competition concerns, and the uncertainty for the startup ecosystem as mergers become...

  
• 12.13.2023

  Mailbag: Google and Antitrust Festivus, Credit Card Dominance, AI for Movies and Writing, Shohei’s Contract

  Epic vs. Google spawns a victory lap for Ben and some obligatory arguments with Andrew, a closer look at the FinTech revolution that never quite materialized, and the AI possibilities in journalism and Hollywood. At the end: Shohei Ohtani's bizarre...

  
• 12.11.2023

  (Preview) Google's Killer Instinct, The Gemini Demo and AI Unknowns, Notes on College Football and Mark Cuban

  Bull and bear cases for Google's long term prospects, why navigating the AI era may require leadership and culture changes, and thoughts on college football's success and Mark Cuban's sale of the Dallas Mavericks. At the end: Select wisdom from...

  
• 12.07.2023

  Why the Internet Is Getting Worse and Why That Might Be Good for Society

  Ben’s article on “Regretful Accelerationism,” the differences between today’s Internet and that of 10 years ago, AI articles at Sports Illustrated as digital media continues its decline, and why the increasingly bleak outlook for social media might be healthy for...

  
• 11.30.2023

  (Preview) Elon at the DealBook Summit, The Strategic and Technical Failures at X, What Musk Might Be Getting Right

  Elon Musk has some choice words for advertisers who abandon his platform, a look at longstanding advertising deficiencies at X and more recent flaws in Musk’s business strategy, and thoughts on Musk and the good, bad and maddening aspects of...

  
• 11.27.2023

  (Preview) Altman Returns to OpenAI, Governments and the AI Ecosystem, Q* Questions and Hitchhiking Robots

  What appears to be a resolution to last weekend’s OpenAI saga, plus questions about who controls the future of AI, why governments are reliant on private actors in this area, and whether Q* is the first major step toward AGI....

  
• 11.21.2023

  OpenAI and Microsoft, Human Nature and the Not-So-Effective Altruists, Imperfect Information and the Cult of Sam Altman

  Reactions to one of the most extraordinary weekends in the history of the tech industry, the blindspots that were exposed among both the OpenAI board and Microsoft, the non-profit model for development and OpenAI's recruiting prowess, and a groundswell of...

  
• 11.16.2023

  A Stratechery, Sharp Tech, and Sharp China Crossover on the Chip Ban, Taiwan, TikTok and More

  After one year of Sharp Tech and Sharp China, a summit with Ben Thompson, Bill Bishop and Andrew Sharp to discuss podcasting, the chip ban, the US-China relationship and beyond.

  
• 11.15.2023

  Will We Speak to Chatbots or Write to Them?, Obstacles for Apple and OpenAI, Follow-Up on Tech and Real Estate

  An emailer makes the argument for text over voice as the AI interface of the future, the introduction of Humane's AI pin, and questions for Apple and OpenAI as the AI ecosystem evolves. At the end: A few clarifications from...

  
• 11.09.2023

  Waiting for Immersive ChatGPT, ChatGPT and the Consumer Challenge, OpenAI’s Enterprise vs. Consumer Balancing Act

  The possibilities of a universal chatbot for the future, the challenges for any new consumer tech company trying to match the scale of incumbents, and the strategic questions facing OpenAI as its leadership allocates resources and considers a move into...

  
• 11.06.2023

  (Preview) The Future of Buying and Selling Houses, Two Price Fixing Lawsuits, The In-Season Tournament and Ronald Reagan

  A verdict in Missouri portends big changes in the real estate industry, why real estate is a natural fit for an aggregator, and divergent outcomes from two tech-adjacent price-fixing cases. At the end: The NBA and streaming, and Ronald Reagan’s...

  
• 11.02.2023

  Biden’s Executive Order on AI, Innovation and the Steve Jobs Approach, Balancing AI Risks and Upside

  The White House executive order on AI, the accidental lesson of all the analogies to nuclear technology, what Steve Jobs and Bill Gates can teach us about innovation, and a look at the competing systemic priorities that create AI questions...

  
• 10.31.2023

  (Preview) 100th Episode Mailbag: New MacBooks, CarPlay Closure, Dennard Scaling and the Chip Ban, Netflix and a Prestige Tier, Hardware as a Service

  Celebrating 100 episodes of Sharp Tech with quick thoughts on Monday night's Apple event, a second look at GM's foray into software, the tech CEO that should be the next NBA commissioner, and more emails from listeners.

  
• 10.26.2023

  Netflix Revives the Monoculture, The NBA and Its Rights Fee Future, The Bidding Calculus for Amazon and Disney

  A Netflix letter to shareholders that doubles as a message to the rest of Hollywood, the NBA’s precarious negotiating posture as the cable bundle crumbles, and one way Amazon could make the NBA a worthwhile investment.

  
• 10.23.2023

  (Preview) Google’s Calculus with Mobile Search, What US v. Google Makes Clear About Apple, Two Types of Regulation

  The Maps history that undergirds Google’s partnership with Apple, whether the Apple and Google app stores should be regulated like modern day utility companies, and a question about regulation and ideological consistency. At the end: iPhone etiquette, a Delta update,...

  
• 10.19.2023

  (Preview) The New York Times, Fake News, and Seven Years of Misdirected Energy

  Memories of an article in 2016, a reminder that the impact of fake news is generally correlated to the speaker, not the speech, and a question about harm yields an answer about the importance precision and principles.

  
• 10.17.2023

  College Students and Chips, The Future of Computing (and the Limits of Physics), Formula 1 and Apple

  An emailer recommends ignoring college students on Twitter, the strategic logic of America’s ban on the sale of advanced chips to China, and a few different questions about AI and our digital future. At the end: Apple’s rumored F1 interest...

  
• 10.12.2023

  The Hamas Attacks and Social Media, Competing Public Interests, Efforts to Stay Sane in a New Information Ecosystem

  In the wake of the Hamas terror attacks over the past week, a conversation about tech and war, social media moderation, and strategies for maintaining sanity as society grapples with an unprecedented avalanche of information.