Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, published a 5,800 word article (12 pages if typed out) on the future of Facebook. Basically, he wants to go beyond simply connecting everyone and build communities that are supportive, safe, informed, civically engaged, and inclusive. It’s a lofty goal that’s still a little fuzzy. Functionally, it means you’ll see less sensationalized (ie. fake) news on the site. The rest of the stories are below, including a really cool one about future telescopes.
Mobile 2.0 is underway. The fundamental assumption is that everyone has access to high-speed mobile internet, and a computer in their pocket. If that’s the case, what kinds of services and devices would you make? For one, you get Snap’s Spectacles. You get Android Wear 2.0. You also get things like Amazon’s Echo and DJI Drones. We should continue to see further unbundling of services and hardware in the coming years.
Oh yeah, and solar is now less expenses than traditional coal power. So that’s awesome. See below for all the stories.
Oh Snap! That ephemeral photo sharing company is going to IPO in March! That’s right, Snapchat (or Snap, or those really cool) shared more of their details this week. To be honest, not all the numbers look great. For example, after Facebook copied their Stories product, Snapchat’s growth stalled almost immediately. For a company that’s still losing money, that’s not great. That story and more below.
Congrats to Amazon on the Oscar nominations. They’re proving that streaming companies can make just as good of movies and traditional studios. Exciting times! Twitter, on the other hand, has not received as high of marks for their recent update with the “explore” tab. Oh yeah, and Elon Musk is building a tunnel from SpaceX to LAX. That guy…
This week Tesla and Samsung deal with disasters that happened last year. A report showed that Tesla’s vehicle did everything it could to avoid a fatal accident. Samsung’s report showed that their batteries were the cause of the explosion and they have a new 8-point safety check to avoid it in the future.
We also talk about the improvements of the Raspberry Pie computer, how micro-software companies are the future, Airbus getting into flying cars, and how Google discovers malware. See below for all the stories.
Can you believe the iPhone was announced 10 years ago? It’s a device that changed our lives forever. It’s hard to image how something that seems so obvious today was actually risky when it was first introduced.
Speaking of introductions, Nintendo announced their next gaming platform: The Switch. It’s both a portable console and can also be played on your TV. They’re definitely no longer competing against the PS4 or Xbox. The real question remains if there’s room for Nintendo and the others.
See below for the rest of the stories.
Did you know that Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for describing a deluge of rain? It’s usually associated with the Hawaiian Islands, hence the pineapple. Since this is CES week, we got a deluge of consumer tech.
There were a few trends this year. For example, Amazon’s Alex played a huge role in helping make devices smart. Just wait – you’ll be able to talk to everything in the future. 4K TVs are normal now and the next big battle ground is over HDR content. PCs are also making a comeback with some really interesting options. One gaming PC has 2 screens that slide out to give you 3 screens at once! Cars are also getting smarter and automated driving creeps closer to reality.
See the whole list below of the cool products from CES this year.
BTW, the picture is the tripod thing Matthew was talking about during the show.
To kick off 2017 we spend over 3 hours talking about our predictions for the year. We cover the big guys: Apple (big expectations for the 10th anniversary of iPhone) Alphabet (AI. AI. AI.), Facebook (VR & M), Microsoft (keep kicking butt and taking names) and Amazon (Echo refresh, something crazy and new). Then we move into the smaller companies like Uber, Twitter, HPI, Tesla, Space X, and Snapchat. We then talk about broader topics like gaming, AI, IoT, AR/VR, and autonomous vehicles. It’s a jam packed show!
There aren’t any show notes to go with this show. So sit back, get comfortable and enjoy.
This in special year-end episode we look back at what happened during the year. Specifically, we look back at our predictions for the year and grade ourselves. Honestly, it’s shocking how well we do. Below is a reference for all the events we covered from 2016. It was a busy year!
Uber started testing their driverless cars in San Francisco last week. It turns out that they didn’t get proper permission from the DMV, who sent Uber a nice message asking them to stop. Uber didn’t listen and the justice department got involved. This is Uber’s MO: seek forgiveness instead of permission. The rest of the stories, and their links are below.