Worldwide smartphone shipments dropped for the first time. That means we’re about it hit, if we haven’t already, the peak smartphone era. What that means, and what gets us excited, is it’s the setup for the NEXT BIG THING. In this show we talk about possible next big things and implications or the smartphone industry. Show notes are below.
327: Disruptive Innovations And Tone Deaf Redesigns
Sometimes a product requires a new look or feature. Sometimes the change is seen as a disruptive innovation and people love it. Sometimes it’s seen as a tone deaf redesign that inspire people to write petitions agains the change. This week we look into the latest changes from Snapchat and talk about it in the context of other changes like the Facebook timeline, Digg v4 and and iOS change. The show notes are below.
326: Is Elon Musk the best, or the Greatest?
Last week SpaceX launched Falcon Heavy into space. It was only a test flight, but it lit the imagine of millions of people and gave a glimpse of where space travel is headed. In this episode, we gush a little about Elon Musk and SpaceX.
325: Is the Right To Repair A Privilege?
The right to repair question centers around one seemingly unlikely tech company: John Deer. It turns out that tractors are some of the most sophisticated machines (dare we say, robots) with hundreds of sensors, computer components, and software to run all facets of the machine. As a result, repairs have become more complicated and companies like John Deer are choosing to lock down their software to prevent unauthorized repairs.
Of course, this presents a problem for farmers. Not only do authorized dealer repairs tend to cost more, they’re also not always conveniently close to the farm. To them, it feels like the big companies are simply trying to squeeze them for more money.
It’s a debate that has implications on all hardware/software devices: your phone, computer, washing machine, refrigerator, car, and more. This week we dive into it… and spoiler alert… we don’t really come to any hard conclusions. It’s complicated.
324: Exploring Unintended Consequences
This week we explore the unintended consequences of decisions different tech companies, and their leaders, make. For example, Strava published a cool map of user activity and accidentally showed secret military bases. IKEA flat packed furniture to save money, which turned out to increase customer love for their products.
We then look at decisions made last week that will probably also have unintended consequences. For example, will raising the fee music steamers have to pay impact how Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Google strike deals to musicians. Will Elon Musk’s new compensation plan cause him to play short-term gain plans? Will Snapchat’s decision to open their walled garden doom their company? We look at each of these in this week’s show. The details for each are in the show notes below.
323: Intel is Melting Down Over Spectre
It turns out that PC processors have a bug. A bug called Meltdown, which allows hackers to get control of your PC and access all sorts of information. Intel, and others are melting down over this particular problem because it’s not an easy fix. You can patch it, but it will probably slow your computer down. We go into the story of what it is, how it was discovered, and how companies are melting down reacting to it. See below for the show notes and articles.
322: The Rollercoaster of CES 2018
CES 2018 just happened! In this episode we take you on a wild rollercoaster ride by sharing the best and worst tech gadgets shared at the show. Then, as a bonus, we share one big trend/theme of the show (hint: it’s not Apple). See below for the show’s articles.
321: Concrete Predictions for 2018
It’s the beginning of 2018 and that means it’s time for us to provide concrete predictions of what will happen in tech this year. We managed to keep the show under an hour, which is amazing. We talk about larger tech trends (telling you the theme for the year), we cover the big 5 oligopolies (Apple, Alphabet, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft), plus discuss some small players (Snap, Elon Musk, Snap, Disney). It’s a great show and will give you a concrete foundation for the year. See the show notes below.
320: 2017 Happened Exactly As We Predicted (Mostly)
It’s our seasonal finale where we review our predictions for the year and review what happened. There’s a lot packed into the 45 minute show (the prediction show, #275, was 3 hours!) Each of the predictions are captured below.
319: What Were The Dumbest Inventions Of 2017?
It’s the end of the year and that means the most important question we need to answer is: What were the dumbest inventions of 2017? From useless inventions to inventions that aren’t actually inventions at all, we cover a list of the worst ideas people based entire business around.