NEXT with John Koetsier

Mobile app spend in Q1 2020 was the highest in history. And mobile app use was up 20%.

In this episode of TechFirst with John Koetsier, I talk about a story I just published at Forbes based on a new App Annie report. Lots of apps, especially social, education, business, and fitness, are up and to the right.

But will this last?

Coronavirus is leaving our elders alone, lonely, and frightened. In this episode of TechFirst, we dive into the tech you need to stay connected.  

I talk to photographer and technologist George Krieger about the tech he's set up for his dad, who built the Iomega Zip drive. It includes a remotely controllable PC, a camera, a TV that shows who he's talking to on a large screen, a wearable device called Tempo from Care Predict, an Echo Show from Amazon, and smart plugs to control lighting.  

The result: much more peace of mind. Less stress for seniors, and much more connection and safe socialization, even when you're shut out of the care home thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instacart is getting record downloads. Uber and Lyft are seeing record lows.

How is Coronavirus impacting the app economy?

Will Coronavirus be the death -- or the savior -- of our digital economy? Welcome to TechFirst with John Koetsier.  

COVID-19 is changing everything. When it comes to mobile apps, some industries are way up, and some are way down. With us today to discuss which is which is Adam Blacker from Apptopia.  

Airlines are in tough. So are hotels, but the drops are not completely consistent. And Uber and Lyft are experiencing record lows for app installs and usage.  Delivery apps like Instacart, however, are way up, breaking download records every day for about four days straight. But ready-to-eat food delivery apps are down, Blacker says.

Is technology making us lonely, stressed out, insecure, and narcissistic? In this TechFirst with John Koetsier we dive into a 2,000-person study on the impact of technology and mobile devices on: 

 - mental health 

 - loneliness 

 - narcissism 

 - social isolation

The news is not great ...

I chat with futurist Nikolas Badminton and researcher Nick Black to go through their study.

Coronavirus is changing how we work ... most tech companies are now telling their employees to work from home.  

Well, if you work from home, you need tools to do that.  

One company says it’s going to offer a free productivity suite to everyone. Zoho created a product literally this week called Remotely, which it is offering for free for all.  

We’re chatting with Raju Vegesna, the Chief Evangelist at Zoho.

What is it like to be living and working in China right now, during the coronavirus epidemic? What's different?  

We chat with James Ren, who’s currently living and working in Beijing, China. He leaves his home every three days for food and hasn't seen his family for weeks, but he's trying to do business, meet clients virtually, and keep working through the crisis.

What we talk about: 

What’s the status in Beijing right now? 

Are there any conferences that you’re planning to go to? Or, have they been canceled? 

Are you restricting your movement? Meetings? 

What information are you getting from medical authorities on what to do and what not to do? 

How are you continuing with business? 

What’s the impact on your business? 

How long do you anticipate this continuing?

Ad fraud costs billions each year.  

Why does that matter to you … and how can we stop it?  Welcome to Tech First Draft, with John Koetsier  

Ad fraud is huge ... I’ve seen estimates from $10B to even $40B a year, globally. Just today, Google kicked 600 apps with 4.5B downloads out of Google Play.  

Luke Taylor, the founder and COO of TrafficGuard, is going to tell us how it works ... and … how to stop it. And yes … we’ll even talk about how ad fraud impacts you, or any average person.  

The types of fraud we'll talk about include:  

- App install farms  

- SDK spoofing  

- Misattribution (i.e. click spam, click injection; where ~80% of ad fraud occurs)  

- Domain spoofing  

- Cookie stuffing  

- Hidden ads/ads stacking  

- Bots & servers 

 - Malware engagement

We now have almost 8 billion people on the planet ... what kind of digital growth are we seeing from those billions on social, mobile, and the internet as a whole?

Welcome to Tech First Draft, with … yours truly ...  John Koetsier

Hootsuite just put together a massive series of reports -- 200+ pages -- about everything, basically, in terms of digital growth … social adoption … mobile penetration … top social networks ... emerging trends ... you name it.

So we’re going to dive into all that … we’re going to chat with: Simon Kemp, who wrote the report, and Henk Campher, a VP at Hootsuite.

Are your headphones not providing the quality sound that they might actually be capable of? Can you get audiophile quality sound with hardware that doesn’t cost thousands of dollars?   

This company says it can make your headphones better … with software.  

Welcome to Tech First Draft.   

See all TFDs here: https://johnkoetsier.com/category/tech-first-draft/ 

My guest, Matthias, is from Dirac: https://www.dirac.com  

My name is John Koetsier, and today we’re speaking with Mathias Johansson, the CEO of Dirac.  

He’s fixing crappy audio with software, and we’re going to find out how ...  

What we talk about:  

- You’re on a quest to fix bad audio. Why?  

- What is the problem with most headphones/earbuds sold today?  

- You are trying to fix it in software … via an app. How? 

- What headphones or earbuds do you support right now? Will you eventually support all brands?  

- Your software learns or adjust to different hardware … how? Do you test all different types of hardware in the studio?  

- How close are you right now … you’re in beta still, right?  

- When I tested, it sounded great. But podcasts had some echo … perhaps because of lower-quality recordings?