Beyond Devices Podcast

This is the week's News Roundup episode. We'd hoped to have a Question of the Week for you too, but we had a technical hitch in recording and it'll be out at some point in the next couple of weeks instead, with a deep dive on Apple earnings as usual next week. For today, we cover two other companies' earnings: Twitter and Amazon. Both offered more of the same, albeit in very different ways, with Twitter seeing more revenue declines and anemic user growth, while Amazon posted rapid growth but a big drop in margins. We also talk about Apple's culling of the iPod line and the iPod's historical significance, and Adobe's announcement of the end of life for Flash. As usual, the show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives. News stories we covered: • Twitter Earnings: 1. Release from Twitter: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-2F526X/3731695548x0x951003/11DEB964-E7A5-43F8-96E2-D074A947255B/TWTR_Q2_17_Earnings_Press_Release.pdf 2. Jan's take: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/0

Here's our News Roundup episode for the week, with a deeper dive on a few of the big news items from the past few days. We kick off earnings season with a discussion of Netflix earnings and what if anything it has to worry about in future. Secondly, we discuss Lyft's announcement that it's working on a self-driving system, as a complement to recent announcements on working with partners on this area. Third, we talk about the rebirth of Google Glass as an enterprise and industrial product, and the broader implications for related products like Microsoft's HoloLens and AR headsets in general. We wrap things up with a discussion of abuse and harassment on Twitter, which continues to be a problem despite the progress the company touted this week. As usual, the show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives. News stories we covered: • Netflix Earnings (Jan's take on Tech Narratives – a free post): https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/17/★-netflix-q2-earnings-later-house-of-cards-launch

After a couple of weeks' break, we're back with another Question of the Week, this time focused on Apple's health and wellness products and services and the ecosystem it's built around them. Jan attended a set of briefings last week in which Apple laid out its portfolio and that of its device and software partners, and it makes for a good jumping off point for an evaluation of the breadth of Apple's portfolio in this space, and the value third parties add. We run through a brief history of Apple's efforts in this area, then discuss the current state of things across five major domains – Activity, Mindfulness, Nutrition, Sleep, and Medical. Lastly, we talk about where things might go from here. Here are some links relevant to today's discussion: • Jan's Techpinions column summarizing the recent briefings is here: https://techpinions.com/apples-health-and-fitness-push-accelerates-as-it-turns-3/50536 Jan also mentioned the new Tech Narratives Podcast, which you can find on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/us

Once again, there's no Question of the Week episode this week, but here's our roundup of the major news of the week. We start with Microsoft's push to expand access to broadband in the rural United States through the use of wireless technology running in white spaces spectrum. The second item is Amazon's third annual Prime Day and what it's likely to mean for the company. Third, we discuss Uber's capitulation in the Russian ride sharing business and its decision to merge its operations there with those of Yandex, the dominant market player. And lastly, we talk about the report from Bloomberg that Facebook's Oculus is working on a standalone VR headset for next year. As usual, the show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise stated): • Microsoft broadband plans: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/11/★-microsoft-announces-plan-to-help-provide-broadband-in-rural-america/ • Amazon Prime Day: https://www.technarrati

There's no Question of the Week episode this week, but here's our roundup of the major news of the week. We kick things off with a discussion of Jawbone's reported liquidation and what it might mean for the broader wearables market. Secondly, we discuss preliminary disclosure of financial or operating results from Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, which emerged this week. Third is a quick evaluation of a report from CIRP that Amazon now has 85 million Prime subscribers in the US, which Jan is skeptical of. And last is a discussion of the reports this week that Apple might ditch the Touch ID sensor in at least one of this fall's new iPhones. As usual, the show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise stated): • Jawbone liquidation: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/06/jawbone-has-begun-liquidation-proceedings/ • Samsung preliminary results: www.technarratives.com/2017/06/27/fa…active-users/ • LG preliminary results: htt

This week's News Roundup episode focused on three major news items, plus one smaller related one. First up, we discuss the European Commission's action against Google over Google Shopping integration in search, including a 2.4 billion Euro fine. Secondly, we discuss Facebook's announcement of 2 billion monthly active users and its significance, as well as a subtle shift recently in Facebook's focus. In the context of those two items about giant companies, we also talk briefly about the Canadian Supreme Court's ruling that Google needs to take down links in search to IP-infringing product listings not just in Canada but globally and the ramifications of that ruling. Lastly, we discuss both the formal reviews released this week of Amazon's Echo Show and Jan's own first impressions on using the device for a couple of days. As usual, the show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives. News stories we covered: • Google & EU: Jan's Tech Narratives piece (no paywall): https://www.technarra

This is our Question of the Week episode for this week, with our News Roundup to follow on Friday. This week's question is "Is Voice the Next Big User Interface, and is Amazon Really Winning? " The question comes from the prevailing narrative in the media, which often seems to hold both that voice is going to be the user interface that replaces current ones like touch screens and smartphones, and that Amazon is dominating that voice interface market. We pour some cold water on both assertions and use survey and other data to evaluate the true state of the market, what's really going on, and whether anyone is really "winning". Here are some links relevant to today's discussion: Various voice surveys that Jan mentioned: USA Today survey: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2017/06/05/alexa-fun-siri-because-typing-hard-survey/102436072/ Creative Strategies Survey: http://creativestrategies.com/voice-assistant-anyone-yes-please-but-not-in-public/ Siri as mobile search engine: http://searchengineland.

This is our first episode for two weeks, as Jan's been traveling, and since Aaron is now busy this is a solo News Roundup from Jan on some of the big news stories from the last two weeks. On the agenda today are all the big Uber news including the Holder Report and the resignation of Travis Kalanick as CEO; Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods; a new Xbox from Microsoft; the hiring of two former Sony TV execs by Apple; and an end to email scanning for the purposes of targeting ads by Gmail. As usual, the show notes below include links to all these stories on Tech Narratives. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise noted): Uber: • Holder investigation: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/13/★-uber-investigation-recommends-many-changes-travis-kalanick-takes-leave-of-absence/ • Emil Michael leaves: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/12/uber-svp-emil-michael-leaves-company-and-board-gets-a-new-female-member-from-nestle/ • Travis Kalanick resigns: https://www.technarratives.com/2

Following our deep dive on Apple’s WWDC news on Monday, here is our News Roundup episode for the week. We kick things off with a bunch of Uber news, much of it involving hiring and firing of executives and others, in a sign that Uber may finally be taking its cultural problems seriously. Secondly, we talk about Alphabet’s sale of its Boston Dynamics and Schaft robotics businesses to SoftBank. And third, we talk about two other bits of Apple news from later in the week: Apple’s launch of Business Chat, and news that it won’t include “gigabit” modems in its next iPhones. As usual, you'll find links to other relevant material in the show notes below: News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise noted): Uber fires Anthony Levandowski: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/30/★-uber-fires-anthony-levandowski-for-refusal-to-cooperate-in-lawsuit/ Uber hires Frances Frei: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/05/uber-hires-harvard-business-school-professor-to-help-with-culture-and-strategy/ Ub

This is our annual deep-dive episode on announcements from Apple's WWDC developer conference. We handle the news from today's keynote in more or less chronological order: • Introduction, tvOS, watchOS • macOS and new Mac hardware • iOS and iPad • HomePod. We discuss each of the announcements and share our thoughts and what we think the implications and prospects are for the products announced. Here are two links relevant to today's discussion: Jan's media comment on WWDC: https://jackdawresearch.com/2017/06/05/apple-hosts-its-most-hardware-centric-wwdc-in-years/ Apple's Newsroom, with press releases on all of today's announcements: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/ You can also find the podcast on iTunes (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyon…ast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/be…odcast/id1002197313), or in your podcast app of choice. As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email (jan@jackdawresearch.c

This is our News Roundup episode for the week. Our three topics this time around were the Essential Phone and related products and services announced by Android creator Andy Rubin; the Nest Cam IQ announced by Nest; and a set of minor news items regarding Apple, including a report from late last week about a dedicated AI chip, another that manufacturing has begun on Apple's home speaker; and two press releases from Apple around Swift Playgrounds and $70 billion paid out to developers cumulatively. As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise noted): Essential Phone: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/30/★-andy-rubins-essential-announces-yet-another-phone-claiming-to-change-the-market/ Nest Cam IQ: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/31/nest-launches-smarter-security-camera-for-inside-homes/ Apple AI Chip: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/26/★-apple-is-developing-a-dedicated-ai-chip/ Apple Sir

We skipped last week's Question of the Week but it's back this week with a deep dive on Kleiner Perkins analyst Mary Meeker's annual deck on Internet trends, which was delivered at the Code Conference run by Recode. It's a massive deck with 355 slides and 11 separate topics, but Aaron spent some time pulling out some of the most interesting insights on three topics: Mobile, China, and India, and shares both those and some thoughts on how to approach the deck with us. Here's a link to the deck and video of Meeker's presentation: https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15693686/mary-meeker-kleiner-perkins-kpcb-slides-internet-trends-code-2017 You can also find the podcast on iTunes (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyon…ast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/be…odcast/id1002197313), or in your podcast app of choice. As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email (jan@jackdawresearch.com).

This is our News Roundup episode for the week and also our only episode, as we didn't have time for a Question of the Week episode this week. This was something of a quiet week with only a couple of major announcements, but we still found some stuff to cover. We talked about Microsoft's new Surface Pro, LeEco's US retrenchment, Google execs' comments about monetization Assistant and Home, and Apple News hiring its first Editor in Chief. As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise noted): Microsoft Surface Pro Announcement: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/23/★-microsoft-announces-new-surface-pro-custom-windows-10-for-chinese-government/ LeEco US Retrenchment: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/23/★-leeco-cuts-70-of-us-staff-refocuses-on-chinese-speaking-americans/ Google Assistant Monetization: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/24/google-execs-say-assistant-will-monetize-through-e-commerc

This is our News Roundup episode for the week. Having discussed the week's big Google news in the Question of the Week deep dive episode, this one covers the other tech news, including Spotify's 2016 financials, developments in the Uber/Waymo lawsuit, and a grab bag of Apple news including its acquisition of Lattice Data, reports of Tim Cook wearing an Apple Watch-connected glucose monitor, and manufacturing iPhones in India. As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise noted): Spotify financials: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/18/★-spotifys-losses-widen-revenue-per-paying-user-drops-in-2016/ Uber/Waymo lawsuit: • Preliminary injunction: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/15/waymo-uber-injunction-made-public/ • Uber threatens to fire Levandowski: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/19/uber-threatens-to-fire-levandowski-if-he-doesnt-comply-with-court-orders/ Waymo/Lyft partnership: https://ww

For the second week in a row, our Question of the Week episode focuses on a developer event, this time around Google's I/O conference. We focus mostly on the first day keynote, which covered a ton of ground in two hours, from a general pitch around Google's AI and machine learning capabilities to the Google Assistant and Home, Google Photos, YouTube, Android, and VR and AR. We discuss most of these things and the overall structure and focus and what it says about Google's strategy. The following three posts may also be of interest to you: • Jan's media comment on the Google I/O announcements: https://jackdawresearch.com/2017/05/17/google-io-announcements-reflect-reduced-role-of-android/ • Jan's Techpinions column on Google I/O: https://techpinions.com/googles-fading-focus-on-android/50103 • Several Tech Narratives pieces on the announcements: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/17/★-google-makes-assistant-and-home-announcements-at-io/ https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/17/google-photos-hits-500m-maus

This is our News Roundup episode for the week, in which we discuss the announcement of Amazon's Echo Show device with a screen; Snap's first earnings as a public company; and Uber's failure to have its court case with Waymo settled in arbitration and related news. Aaron's away this week, so this is a solo effort from Jan. As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links): Amazon Echo Show: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/09/★-amazon-announces-echo-show-an-echo-with-a-screen-and-video-calling/ Alexa Calling and Messaging: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/09/amazon-announces-alexa-calling-and-messaging-coming-to-other-echo-devices/ Snap Earnings: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/10/★-snap-inc-reports-more-slow-user-growth-growing-losses-minimal-spectacles-sales/ Uber Court Case: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/11/ubers-bid-to-move-waymo-case-to-arbitration-fails/ As ever, we welcome your feedback via T

This is our Question of the Week episode, with a deep dive on Microsoft's Build developer conference and the announcements it made there. As Aaron is away this week, Jan – who attended Build in person – talks through the major announcements from the two keynotes. The first part of the episode discusses the first-day keynote, which focused on cloud and AI as well as Satya Nadella's new vision for the company, which is all about the Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge. The second half of the episode discusses the second day's keynote, where the focus was on Windows and Microsoft's vision for mixed reality. The following three posts may also be of interest to you: • Jan's comment on Tech Narratives about the day 1 keynote announcements: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/10/★-microsoft-makes-cloud-cortana-iot-announcements-at-build-conference/ • Jan's comment on Tech Narratives about the day 2 keynote announcements: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/11/★-microsoft-makes-windows-and-device-centric-a

Earlier this week, our Question of the Week episode was our quarterly deep dive on Apple's earnings. This News Roundup episode covers some of the week's other big tech news: • The first eighteen minutes or so of the episode are a discussion of Microsoft's education-focused event in New York, and we talk both about Windows 10 S and the Surface Laptop, and Jan shares his theory about what's really going on with Windows 10 S. • Our second topic is Hulu's long-awaited launch of its Live TV offering, which was announced this week and which sparks a discussion about the state of online pay TV, which Jan also wrote about this week • Lastly, we have a brief discussion on two other TV announcements made this week by Twitter and YouTube, both of which unveiled new shows for their respective platforms. As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links): Microsoft Windows 10 S launch: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/02/★-microsoft-

This is our Question of the Week episode, with the question being what we should make of Apple's March quarter earnings, reported on Tuesday this week, so this is our quarterly deep dive on Apple's earnings. We talk through each of the major product segments – iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch (and wearables generally), Mac, and Services, and also talk a little about trends in China and in R&D spending, among other things. You might also be interested in Jan's Tech Narratives post (free even if you're not a subscriber) on Apple earnings – https://www.technarratives.com/2017/05/02/★-apple-reports-continued-revenue-growth-slight-dip-in-iphone-strong-services/ – or his tweets immediately after the earnings call, in this thread: https://twitter.com/jandawson/status/859500780776112128 You can also find the podcast on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-devices-podcast/id1002197313), in the Overcast app (https://overcast.fm/itunes1002197313/beyond-devices-podcasthttps://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-d

Earlier this week, we did our Question of the Week episode, which covered the state of retail, while this News Roundup episode covers some of the week's big tech news: • Three Amazon topics: its announcement of the Echo Look fashion-focused device; its launch of its "Subscribe with Amazon" hub; and its Q1 earnings • Recode's report that Apple is working on a peer to peer payments service a la Venmo and possibly also a debit card • Mobile earnings from Verizon (last week), AT&T, and T-Mobile, and a brief discussion on bundling and TV too • Twitter's earnings, which featured the best user growth in two years but also the first year on year revenue decline for the company. As always, you'll find links to these stories and other things we discussed below. News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links): Amazon Echo Look Launch: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/26/★-amazon-announces-echo-look-which-adds-a-camera-and-fashion-advice-to-echo-for-20/ Subscribe with Amazon launch: https://www.technarratives.