GeekWire

We are now decades into the digital revolution, so why haven't high-tech audio streams caught up to old-fashioned radio waves?

That was my question on last week's GeekWire Podcast, after conducting an experiment inspired by the tradition of tuning into the play-by-play announcers while watching a baseball game in the stands.

During a Seattle Mariners game at T-Mobile Park, I found that the audio streams from various smartphone apps, were at least 30 seconds behind the action on the field, and sometimes even further behind. That compared to a lag of just a few seconds when listening on a $22, battery-powered AM transistor radio.

I offered my theories about the reasons for this, and heard from a bunch of people who listened to the podcast or read the article last week. One was streaming media veteran Rob Green, who was group manager of Microsoft's Digital Media Division from 1998 to 2006, a pivotal era for the industry. He went on to lead a variety of tech and digital media startups, including a past role as CEO of Seattle-based Abacast, which streamed broadcast radio stations online.

Green is a longtime GeekWire reader who emailed me after last week's post: "Simply put, streaming requires buffers to work correctly, hence the delay you experienced," he wrote. "Broadcast expects a perfect network, and streaming expects an imperfect network, and they are respectively architected accordingly."

I jumped on the line with him to learn more, and you can hear his comments on this week's episode, along with an explanation from Major League Baseball, and a fun story about the early days of live-streaming baseball games from Seattle tech veteran Daryn Nakhuda.

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On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, recorded on location at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, we pit old-fashioned terrestrial radio against a newfangled digital audio stream for play-by-play in the stands. Then, we debate pros and cons of baseball analytics and robot umpires. And finally, we experience the highs and lows of Amazon's latest retail technology at the tech giant's hometown stadium.

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Amazon is one of the most extraordinary business stories of our time. Many people in the tech industry have a general understanding of this story, picking up bits and pieces of its lore and culture over the years.

But what are the real reasons for Amazon's success? What can today's startup entrepreneurs learn from what Jeff Bezos did? And where is the company headed next? Two investors spent the better part of two months researching Amazon in their spare time to answer questions like those, and they just shared what they learned.

Ben Gilbert, managing director at Seattle-based Pioneer Square Labs, and David Rosenthal, a San Francisco-based angel investor, this week released an episode of their podcast, Acquired, that spans nearly 4-and-a-half hours, providing a deeper understanding of Amazon and new insights into how the company works.

Gilbert joins us on this week's episode of the GeekWire Podcast to discuss some of the key takeaways and highlights from their Amazon deep dive.

With Todd Bishop and John Cook. Edited and produced by Curt Milton. Theme music by Daniel L.K. Caldwell. 

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Seattle investor and business leader Tom Alberg, who died last week at the age of 82, was a key figure in the e-commerce and wireless industries, and in the Seattle startup community, through his roles as an early Amazon investor and longtime board member, executive at McCaw Cellular, and co-founder of Madrona Venture group.

On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Todd Bishop and John Cook share their own insights from Alberg's life. See our earlier coverage for more on Alberg’s legacy; read tributes from his friends and colleagues; and see Madrona’s LinkedIn post for more remembrances from those who worked with and knew Alberg during his life and career.

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This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we play highlights and share takeaways from the recent earnings calls of Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet, seeking a clearer understanding of what's next for the tech economy. With GeekWire co-founders Todd Bishop and John Cook; audio editing and production by Curt Milton. 

Related headlines and links:

• Microsoft earnings come up short, hit by global economic trends and cutbacks
• Amazon stock rises 10% as tech giant beats revenue expectations amid ‘inflationary pressures’
• CNBC: Alphabet misses on earnings and revenue for second quarter
• The Verge: Facebook reports drop in revenue for the first time
• Marketwatch: Apple raises $5.5 billion in debt after upbeat earnings, iPhone sales offset fears of a consumer pullback

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Tributes and memories have been pouring in from longtime friends and colleagues of Cranium creator Richard Tait since the Seattle entrepreneur's death on July 25 the age of 58 from complications due to COVID-19.

A passionate and visionary entrepreneur known for being tough, Tait had a generous spirit, effusive personality, and rare ability to connect with people he encountered.

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we're listening back to a conversation that Tait recorded with Fuel Talent CEO and founder Shauna Swerland in 2018 for her podcast, What Fuels You. It's inspiring, insightful, and bittersweet, and we're grateful to Shauna for allowing us to share it with you here.

Read our earlier coverage for more on Tait's life and career, and memories from friends and colleagues.

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Amazon's head of global corporate affairs, Jay Carney, the former White House press secretary under President Obama, made some news of his own this week, announcing that he's leaving the Seattle-based tech giant after more than seven years to join Airbnb. This week on the GeekWire Podcast, in light of the news, we're listening back to highlights from our 2019 interview with Carney at the GeekWire Summit.

RELATED COVERAGE: Jay Carney checks out of Amazon, lands at Airbnb: Inside ex-White House press secretary’s tech career

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Do people on your team multitask in meetings, or focus intently on the person speaking? The answer to that question will help to how much your organization prioritizes attention, which is one of the "7 Forms of Respect" in the framework and book of that name by Julie Pham.

Don't worry, this isn't about setting rules. Pham is not giving advice on having laptops open or closed in meetings, for example. Instead, she's providing a way to establish and communicate the priorities of different people, teams, and companies — defining organizational culture not by abstract concepts but by desired behaviors.

That insight is key to understanding and benefiting from the new book by Pham, a Seattle-based entrepreneur, marketer, consultant, journalist, historian, and former non-profit executive. It's called 7 Forms of Respect: A Guide to Transforming Your Communication and Relationships at Work.

On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, Pham discusses the practical applications and benefits of the "7 Forms of Respect" with GeekWire co-founder John Cook.

Audio editing and production by Curt Milton.  

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“Astro is our first consumer robot. It’s not going to be our last.”

Ken Washington, the executive in charge of Amazon’s first home robot, speaks confidently about the future despite mixed reviews and early skepticism about Astro’s usefulness. A nuclear engineer by training, Washington was chief technology officer at Ford Motor Co., overseeing initiatives including autonomous vehicles, before joining Amazon as VP of consumer robotics last year.

He sat down with us at Amazon re:MARS in Las Vegas.

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Microsoft President Brad Smith, like many in tech and the broader world, hoped 2022 might bring a bit of a break in the onslaught of national and global challenges. Halfway through, the reality has been anything but.

"This has been another year where, to use an old phrase, we have to borrow from our sleep in order to get everything done," the Microsoft president said in an interview this week in his office in Redmond. "I don't think any of us thought, when the year began, that we'd find a major war in Europe."

But helping to defend Ukraine in the Russian cyberwar is just one issue on Microsoft's radar.

In the first six months of the year, the company has made a series of moves driven by the turbulent economy, new state and national legislation, growing pressure from employees and investors, a shifting labor market, regulatory challenges, and a pending acquisition that would be the largest in its history.

• Microsoft boosted employee compensation, significantly reduced its use of non-compete agreements, and announced plans to publicly disclose salary ranges in job posts nationally starting next year.
• The company commissioned an outside review of its sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies and practices, and announced plans for a civil rights audit, joining a larger industry movement. It also removed confidentiality clauses from agreements involving internal allegations of misconduct.
• Microsoft pledged a new approach to the prospect of labor unions in its current and future workforce, seeking in part to appease regulators weighing the company's proposed $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard.
• The company has continued to press ahead on its climate initiatives in the midst of all of this, attempting to navigate the challenge of higher energy prices while focusing on the environmental crisis.

And then there's the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade. That's where we started our wide-ranging conversation with Smith this week.

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