Tech Brew Ride Home

Quibi is exploring its options, as they say. The Google Antitrust suit could come next week. Why do you have to return the entire Apple Watch if your wristband doesn’t fit? The CIA has a new plan to compete with Silicon Valley for talent. The SEC and OCC sign off on stablecoins. And the strategy behind Microsoft’s big play for Bethesda.

Sponsors:

Links:

It looked like we had a TikTok deal the president liked. Then ByteDance went and pointed out they still had control. Now, I dunno where we’re at. Microsoft buys Bethesda. The founder of Nikola steps down in murky circumstances. And Amazon wants to use your Echo and Tile devices for a true Internet of Things network.

Sponsors:

Links:

The Commerce Department officially has brought the hammer down. WeChat is banned on Sunday. TikTok banned on Sunday too, but it’s complicated. PayTM is banned from the Google Play Store in India. Facebook decides that Facebook is too toxic for its own workers to use. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:

Links:

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

We have the launch date and price for the Playstation 5. An update on the TikTok and WeChat situations. Why the Snowflake IPO was such a big deal, and such a big success. Red Ventures is affiliate marketing on steroids. And what if I told you the coolest new bit of gear that people got turned on to during the last Apple event was an office chair. But it is Jony Ive’s favorite office chair.

Sponsors:

Links:

Subscribe to the ad-free feed and support the show directly!

Facebook unveils the Oculus Quest 2, as a part of its Facebook Connect (formerly Oculus Connect) event. Amazon Music gets podcasts. Spotify puts the Apple One bundle on blast. Developers have found yet another reason to get pissed at Apple. And AT&T is not only bringing advertising to HBO, they want to add ads to you phone as well.

Sponsors:

Links:

A full rundown of the Time Flies event from Apple. New Apple Watches, including an Apple Watch SE. Refreshed iPad, but redesigned iPad Air that is giving the iPad Pro a run for its money. An Apple Fitness+ subscription program. An Apple One subscription bundle. And meanwhile, Sony cuts PlayStation 5 production, we have a date for Google’s Pixel 5 launch and why it might actually be a good idea to put your data center at the bottom of the ocean.

Sponsors:

Links:

Has Oracle saved TikTok, in the US at least? Let me explain why it’s not actually buying anything, probably isn’t solving the security problem Microsoft says it would have, and China is keeping its hands on the algorithm. On a normal day, news of Nvidia buying ARM would have been the headline. Airtable is an interesting raise. And who has more pie on their face: OnePlus or US Customs agents?

Sponsors:

Links:

The TikTok saga. It’s gonna end. Or it’s gonna happen. Or it’s gonna… something in the next few days. Will it be sold? Will it not be? Will it be banned in the US. There are so many angles here. So many interesting ways to tease out something that is unprecedented in the world of Tech. Alex Kantrowitz pinged me to talk about it and he’s a good dude to do so because he wrote a book about the big tech platforms, and, as we get into… this is so rare. A big up and coming platform that is just, for weird a-historical reasons, being offered up on a platter for the other powers that be to… maybe take over? I quoted Alex when he was at Buzzfeed for years. But as we discuss at the end, Alex has gone solo! Check out his newsletter Big Technology. Check out his podcast, Big Technology.

Microsoft warns that hackers working for Russia, China and Iran are escalating their attacks surrounding the upcoming US Presidential election. I lied…. Apple has blinked in the Epic Games/App Store battle, at least a little bit. A profile of everyone’s favorite note taking startup, Roam. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:

Links:

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Facebook goes back to its roots by going back to school with Campus. The Long-Term Stock Exchange is ready for its closeup. The former head of the NSA is joining Amazon’s board. The second-gen Motorola Razr is here. And an in-depth review and assessment of whether or not Microsoft’s Surface Duo knows what it wants to be.

Sponsors:

Links: