Beyond Devices Podcast

This episode is all about predictions. First off, we review the predictions we made a year ago for 2016, including a raft of Apple-related predictions as well as some other company-specific ones and then some industry level forecasts. But most of the episode, from about 15 minutes onward, we focus on predictions for the year ahead. We again start with some company-specific predictions, concerning Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, and Snapchat. But we also include some industry-level predictions again. As last year, the predictions are a mix of those where we feel we're on solid ground, and those where we're sticking our necks out a bit. This will be our last episode until sometime in the New Year, so happy holidays!

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. We start with a second week in a row of Amazon news, this time the announcement of a drone-based delivery trial in Cambridge, England. Next, we discuss a couple of pieces of news about autonomous driving – Google's restructuring of its self-driving car efforts into Waymo, a separate entity under the Alphabet umbrella, and Uber's self-driving cab testing in San Francisco. Lastly, the news of yet another massive Yahoo hack. Our usual Question of the Week segment this week becomes Questions of the Year, as our way of looking back on 2016. We answer a set of questions about the year that's ending soon, from what surprised us the most this year to which companies we changed our minds about during the year. Next week, we'll follow up with predictions for 2017 (and a review of last year's predictions for 2016). Our short third segment is a quick discussion of Apple's delayed AirPods launch and the AirPods themselves, which Jan has been using this week. As usual, yo

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, T-Mobile's announcement of Digits, a service which will allow customers to use their single number on multiple devices, or multiple numbers on a single device. Second, we discuss two news items relating to Apple and AI: the announcement that its researchers will now be able to publish their research, and second the slides from its talk this week at an AI conference. Third, Amazon's announcement of Amazon Go, a sort of grocery store of the future. Our Question of the Week is "How is streaming changing the music industry?" Jan talks about the size and composition of the music industry and its revenues, and the rise of streaming. We discuss the differences between ad-supported and paid streaming, and what's happening with each. And we talk about where the industry will go from here. Our third segment is a conversation about Farhad Manjoo's article this week in the New York Times about the increasingly tough landscape for hardware vendors, and whether we ag

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, two stories about home assistants, with a report that Amazon will make an Echo with a screen, and another that Microsoft will add features to Windows 10 to allow PCs to serve as ambient voice assistants. Secondly, two pieces of news from the digital video market, with AT&T launching the long-awaited DirecTV Now service, and Netflix announcing a download feature. Lastly, we discuss Bloomberg's report that Apple will begin using drones for mapping data. Our Question of the Week is "Should Apple change from a functional organization to a divisional structure?" Aaron talks us through the differences in these two organizational structures and the conventional wisdom on which is better for different kinds of businesses, and then we discuss how these arguments apply (or don't) to Apple. We don't come to a firm conclusion one way or another, but hopefully you'll be better armed to make up your own mind about this topic by the end of the discussion! Our third se

This week's episode is a special Thanksgiving episode for our listeners here in the US. Our News Roundup covers three stories. The first two are WiFi-related, with Google making its new Google Wifi devices available for sale and providing a self-made review of sorts as well, and Bloomberg reporting that Apple will discontinue its line of AirPort WiFi routers. Our third story is Instagram's launch of both live video and disappearing photos. Our Question of the Week is "What is the state of cord cutting in the US pay TV market?" Jan talks through the research and analysis he does each quarter and some of the numbers on the current state of the US pay TV market and cord cutting. But we also discuss cord nevers and cord shaving, two other phenomena affecting the pay TV industry in the US, and the implications of all this for the players in the market. Our third segment is our Thanksgiving special, in which both Aaron and Jan share three technology things they're thankful for. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick

This week's episode is back to our usual format, with a News Roundup to kick things off, a Question of the Week, and a third segment, followed by a Weekly Pick. Our News Roundup covers three stories: firstly, Snap (nee Snapchat) released its Spectacles hardware and reportedly confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC; secondly, Twitter introduced some muting options to help combat abuse and harassment, while also kicking several figures from the "alt-right" movement off the service'; and thirdly, the fake news story we discussed last week continued to evolve this week with Facebook and Google both making news. Our Question of the Week is "What are the implications of Samsung buying Harman International?" Aaron did some research this week into this acquisition and its implications, and answers questions about what exactly Samsung is buying, what Harman's connected car business does, and how the two companies might bring their assets together, and lastly how this is likely to impact consumers and the b

In this week's episode, we cover two topics: technology and the US presidential election, and a review of Google's three new hardware products: Home, Pixel, and Daydream View. Our first topic, which takes up a little over the first half of the episode, is this week's US presidential election. We do share our personal thoughts on the outcome briefly, but most of this segment is devoted to the role technology and particularly social media played in the election, and then the likely outcome of the election for tech policy. We specifically discuss trade, M&A activity and the media, net neutrality, and repatriation of overseas profits. Our second topics is our Question of the Week, in which Jan shares his first impressions of Google's Home, Pixel and Daydream View hardware, which he's been using for a while now. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each piece of hardware, as well as Jan's overall views on Google's first hardware efforts. We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a camping stove

This week's episode is a review of earnings for the biggest tech companies that have reported earnings for Q3 2016 so far: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, and Twitter. We cover each for a few minutes in alphabetical order, discussing the highlights and trends they suggest. As usual, you'll find some links to related content on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

This week's episode is all about Microsoft and Apple's two big events this week. We first talk through Microsoft's announcements, including the Windows 10 Creators Update, various creativity software, Microsoft's first VR play, and more. Then we discuss Apple's big announcements including the new TV app for Apple TV, iPhone, and iPad, and the new MacBook Pros. For the last part of the episode, we compare the announcements and discuss the broader significance of what each company is doing, and how they will compete going forward. Next week, we'll likely do an earnings-focused episode. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

This week's News Roundup is a little longer than usual as we do a deeper than expected dive into three topics. First off, we discuss the US coming-out party for LeEco, a Chinese consumer technology company that's taking a content-centric approach. Secondly, we discuss reports that Apple is scaling back and refocusing its car initiative. And lastly, we talk about Google's apparent deal with CBS as part of its planned YouTube-based over-the-top TV service. Our Question of the Week this week is all about Q3 earnings and what to expect from seven of the top consumer technology companies: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Samsung, and Twitter. Jan talks through each of these companies in turn and talk about what he's watching out for, and what to expect in both the numbers and the discussion by executives on earnings calls. Our third segment is a brief roundup of the reviews that came out this week for the Google Pixel smartphone, whose launch we discussed a couple of weeks ago. The reviews were larg

Our News Roundup returns this week with three topics: first off, the latest installment of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 saga; secondly, Amazon's launch of two new streaming music services and the implications for the sector; and thirdly, the figures on iOS 10 adoption and what they tell us. Our Question of the Week is "What is the human impact of mineral sourcing in consumer electronics?" Aaron talks us through the meaning and significance of the phrase "conflict minerals", but he also explains the latest reporting from the Washington Post on two additional minerals used in consumer devices: cobalt and graphite. We talk about the implications of all this for device manufacturing, as well as what we as consumers can do about it. Our third segment is a discussion of a topic Jan writes about this week for Techpinions, which he refers to as the de-democratization of online publishing. Essentially, new platforms such as Google's AMP, Facebook Instant Articles, and Apple news make it harder for smaller publishers to

This week's episode dispenses with our usual format and focuses exclusively on Google's event. We kick off the episode with a discussion about Google's AI message and the Google Assistant, and the role of AI in differentiation, both for Google services and the new hardware. We then discuss the Pixel phones, the positioning, the strategy, and the devices themselves. Lastly, we talk about Google Home and its entry into a market currently dominated by Amazon, and its prospects there. As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

Our News Roundup this week covers BlackBerry's announcement that it will stop making its own hardware; Twitter's announcement that the creation of Moments is now open to everyone, in addition to the ongoing rumors of a Twitter acquisition; and Elon Musk's plans to colonize Mars in the coming decades through his SpaceX company. Our Question of the Week is "What is Snapchat?" We've discussed Spotify once or twice before on the podcast, but this is a deeper dive than we've done before, and seeks to address this question from at least a couple of angles, namely Snapchat as an app, and Snapchat (now Snap Inc.) as a company. We discuss how Spotify actually works, and how its features have evolved over time. But we also talk about the company's evolving conception of itself, and the way its founders have described the app and the company since its launch five years ago. And of course we do all this in the context of the launch of Snap's Spectacles over the weekend. Our third segment is a discussion of a series of

Our News Roundup this week covers the reports that Apple has been considering an investment in or outright acquisition of British supercar manufacturer McLaren; the release of Google's Allo messaging app; and Comcast's announcement that it will finally launch its long-rumored cellular wireless service sometime in 2017. Our Question of the Week this week is "What can the research on past product recalls teach us about the Samsung Galaxy Note7 recall?" We've talked several times previously about Samsung's recall of the Note7, but this week Aaron spent some time looking at the history of product recalls and reading some of the academic research on the topic with a view to understand a couple of things. Firstly, we talk about what the history suggests about how Samsung will be impacted by the recall, and secondly we discuss the general lessons for product recalls that come out of the research. Our third segment is a review of the new iPhone 7 Plus and Watch Series 2, both of which Jan has been using for the pas

Our News Roundup this week covers the ongoing fallout from the Samsung Galaxy Note7 battery problems; the story that Amazon is going to be experimenting with a 30-hour work week for some of its employees; and the expansion of comment filtering functionality to all users by Instagram. We discuss each of these topics for a few minutes and talk about the context and implications. We'll likely do a Question of the Week next week on consumer product recalls using the Note7 recall as a jumping-off point. Our Question of the Week this week is "What is Verily and what does it do?" This question builds on a piece Jan wrote for Techpinions Insiders contrasting Alphabet and Apple's approaches to the healthcare space, with Verily being Alphabet's Life Sciences subsidiary (formerly Google Life Sciences). We talk through what Verily is, who runs it, what it's intended to accomplish, its internal projects and its partnerships with other organizations, and lastly how it's perceived within the broader life sciences community

This week's episode is entirely taken up with a discussion of Apple's September 2016 iPhone and Apple Watch event. Jan attended in person and Aaron watched remotely, and we recorded this discussion a couple of hours after the conclusion of the event while Jan was still in San Francisco. We talked about the event in the order in which it unfolded, with the first 10 minutes of our discussion devoted to Tim Cook's various up-front "Updates" and then an in-depth discussion of the Apple Watch Series 2 and iPhone 7. Jan refers to several videos he captured of demos in the hands-on area, which you can find links to at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

In our News Roundup this week, we talk about the EU's action against Apple with regard to its Irish tax arrangements; Facebook's firing of the editors who used to handle its Trending Topics section, and the somewhat predictable results; and the news from the first day of German tech trade show IFA, which kicked off on Wednesday. Our Question of the Week this week is a little different, in that instead of asking each other questions as we usually do, we've brought a guest on. Alison Faulkner is the creator of the Alison Show, who's an event producer, a writer and an Instagram and social media personality. We had Alison on because she knows far more about social media and making money on social media than either of us do (she has over 80,000 Instagram followers and 15,000 YouTube subscribers, among other things). Aaron interviewed Alison – who happens to be a neighbor of his – and asked her about what she does, how she does it, and the business of social media. Our third segment is a preview of Apple's event

Our News Roundup this week covers the Backchannel article about Apple's AI efforts; Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora's attempts to negotiate new rights deals with music labels; and the shutdown of John Gruber's Vesper note-taking app for iOS (and what it says about the state of the App Store and the app economy more broadly). Our Question of the Week is "How should we view Tim Cook's first five years as Apple CEO?" and builds off the blog post Jan did this week with lots of charts comparing Apple at the beginning and end of Tim Cook's first five years. We talk about how Apple has changed, what Tim Cook has done differently (notably increasing R&D spend), and his biggest successes and failures during his time as CEO. There's a link to the post in the show notes for today's episode. Our third segment is a discussion of Intel's announcements from its big developer event last week. We talk about the emphasis on specialized silicon and non-traditional devices for Intel, the focus on sensors and their many applicatio

Our News Roundup this week covers the Samsung Note7 reviews that came out this week; Google's launch of its Duo video calling app for Android and iOS; and Apple's announcement of an R&D center in China. Our Question of the Week is "Why does Twitter seem stuck, and how can it unstick itself?" Jan answers questions about what makes Twitter seem stuck, from its user growth to monetization in the US to its product; why Twitter seems to be executing so slowly on its strategic priorities; and what Twitter can and should do to fix itself and get past its current stagnation. Our third segment is a bit of a departure from our usual pattern, in that it's just us talking about the technology – hardware, software, and services – that we use in our daily work and personal lives. Lastly, we wrap up with a Weekly Pick, which is a book recommendation from Aaron. As usual, you can find relevant links and other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.

We're back to our usual format this week, with a News Roundup, Question of the Week, and a third topic, as well as a Weekly Pick. In our News Roundup, we cover what's been happening with Nintendo's share price recently, this week's reports about Apple devices due in the fall, and the acquisition of Jet.com by Wal-Mart. Our Question of the Week this week is a little unusual in that it's focused on a new book of which Aaron is a co-author, on the subject of business ethics. We talk about the book but also about ethics in business more generally, and some tech-specific examples, as well as discussing why we should be ethical in the first place. Our third topic is the recently announced acquisition of the core Yahoo internet business by Verizon, which had previously acquired AOL. This week's Weekly Pick is a movie recommendation from Jan. As always, you can find relevant links and other ways to listen to the podcast on the website at podcast.beyonddevic.es.