Exponent

In this week’s episode, Ben and James discuss Dick Costolo stepping down as CEO of Twitter, Apple’s seeming war on Google, and the concerning launch of Apple Music. Links Ben Thompson: Dick Costolo Out as Twitter CEO, Costolo’s Key Shortcoming, Twitter’s Next CEO — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Ben Thompson: Twitter Needs New Leadership — Stratechery Chris Sacca: What Twitter Can Ben — Lowercase Capital Mary Meeker: Internet Trends 2015 (Slide 47) — KPCB Ben Thompson: Apple Enables Ad-Blockers — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Ben Thompson: Apple Music and Apple’s Focus — Stratechery Charlie Warzel: Apple’s Junk Drawer Problem — … Continue reading Episode 048 — An Exhausting Week

In this week’s episode, Ben and James briefly discuss Jony Ive’s promotion, the future of Apple, Google I/O, and Tim Cook’s speech on privacy. Links Ben Thompson: The Apple Car and Jony Ive — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Google IO: Android and Serving the World; Photos, Google Now, and the World’s Information; Google’s Turning Point — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: The Funnel Framework — Stratechery Matthew Panzarino: Apple’s Tim Cook Delivers Blistering Speech On Encryption, Privacy — TechCrunch Ben Thompson: Tim Cook’s Unfair and Unrealistic Privacy Speech, Strategy Credits, The Privacy Priority Problem — Stratechery Daily Update Ben … Continue reading Episode 047 — Apple, Google, and Privacy

In this week’s episode, Ben and James discuss ad-blockers, both personal ones and the rumored carrier-implemented one, as well as Internet.org and the moral quandary that is the Internet. Links Ben Thompson: Carriers to Implement Ad-Blocking — Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) Laura McGann: How Ars Technica’s “experiment” with ad-blocking readers built on its community’s affection for the site — Nieman Lab Ben Thompson: Open Source Apps — Stratechery Ben Thompson: The Changing — and Unchanging — Structure of TV — Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback Stratechery … Continue reading Episode 046 — Everything Has a Price

In this week’s episode, Ben finally has an Apple Watch: James has lots of questions about it. (And yes, we should have talked about Google Now.) Links Horace Dediu: The Battle for The Wrist — Asymco Ben Thompson: Mobile Makes Facebook Just an App; That’s Great News – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Why Now for Apple Watch – Stratechery John Gruber: Watch, Apple Watch – Daring Fireball Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss why Twitter needs new leadership, its massive potential, and why Google probably should acquire it Links Ben Thompson: Twitter Needs New Leadership – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Twitter’s Marketing Problem – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed – Stratechery Ev Williams: Sometimes Things Stay Stuck – Medium Ben Thompson: Twitter Acquires MoPub – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Peak Google – Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss the prospects for Google’s Project Fi as well as Facebook’s decision to change their News Feed algorithm Links Project Fi – Google Ben Thompson: Google Launches Project Fi – Stratechery Daily Update (members-only) How Google’s Project Fi pricing stacks up to the competition – Ars Technica Ben Thompson: Google to Become MVNO? – Stratechery Daily Update Google Fiber plans expansion, then TWC makes speeds six times faster – Ars Technica Ben Thompson: Facebook and the Feed – Stratechery Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed … Continue reading Episode 043 – Project Fi and Facebook’s Feed

In this week’s episode Ben and James thank John Siracusa then dive into the EU’s antitrust investigation of Google and discuss whether or not antitrust is more or less important in technology. Links John Siracusa: OS X Reviewed – Hypercritical John Siracusa: OS X 10.10 Yosemite Review Conclusion – Ars Technica Ben Thompson: Growing Apple at WWDC – Stratechery Danny Sullivan: Analyzing the EU’s Antitrust Charges Against Google Over Shopping Search – Search Engine Land Chris Dixon: Proprietary Services vs Open Protocols – Medium Ev Williams: Sometimes Things Stay Stuck – Medium Exponent Episode 005: The World Has Changed – … Continue reading Episode 042 — Monopolizing Your Ears

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss whether or not there is a bubble, as well as a bit on the Apple Watch. Please note this was recorded before the Apple Watch reviews were released. Links Ben Thompson: It’s Not 1999 – Stratechery The Unicorn List – Fortune Ben Thompson: The Multitudes of Social – Stratechery Bill Gurley: Investors Beware: Today’s $100M+ Late-stage Private Rounds Are Very Different from an IPO – Above the Crowd Turd on the Front Porch – The Talk Show Ben Thompson: Apple Watch’s Bad Messaging – Stratechery (members-only) David Pierce: iPhone Killer: The Secret … Continue reading Episode 041 – Bubbles

In this week’s episode Ben and James discuss BuzzFeed in the context of the Brother Orange story, then talk about Amazon’s Dash Button and Home Services initiative, along with a dive into the technical details of Amazon’s balance sheet (sorry, it’s a bit dry) and why Ben is nervous. Links Matt Stopera: I Followed My Stolen iPhone Across The World, Became A Celebrity In China, And Found A Friend For Life – BuzzFeed Ben Thompson: Why BuzzFeed is the Most Important News Organization in the World – Stratechery Matt Stopera: Who Is This Man And Why Are His Photos Showing Up … Continue reading Episode 040 – BuzzFeed and Amazon

In this week’s episode Ben and James follow up on last week’s episode, introduce the Toilet Bowl philosophy of career development, and then dive into the future of publishers in the world of Facebook. Due to some technical issues there is a rather abrupt stop at the end – sorry about that! Links Ben Thompson: The Facebook Reckoning – Stratechery How Vox.com Approaches Publishing on Facebook – Vox Marketing Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback