Tech Brew Ride Home

Facebook rolls out that Spotify integration. Roku accuses Google of making anticompetitive demands for YouTube TV. iOS 14.5 rolls out, and with it that App Tracking Transparency tool. Apple plans a big new campus in North Carolina. And DoNotPay’s latest service helps protect your selfies from the global panopticon.  Sponsors:   CalderaLab.com use code TECHMEME (all caps one word) at checkout Kiwic...

Figuring out the AirTags play. New iMac lust. And a deep discussion of the Apple Podcasts Subscription thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spotify looks like it’s going to quickly counter Apple with a Podcasts Subscription competitor that might be extremely creator friendly. The mystery of the driverless Tesla car crash. Worth noting how quickly things have been turned around for the better over at Snapchat. And of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: Tovala.com/ride AirMedCareNetwork.com/tech offer code TECH Links: A...

Dish partners with AWS to build the first public cloud-based 5G network. iPadOS 15 might let you go full widget on the home screen. Some of those stolen schematics suggest we will be getting the MacBook Pros we deserve. I’ve got an interesting raise for a product every Product Manager should know about. And the first reviews of the Apple Air Tags are in. Sponsors: PingIdentity.com NewYorker.com/te...

The EU proposes a big new regulatory framework for AI. A ransomware gang threatens to release Apple product schematics unless they get paid off. Fallout from yesterday’s Apple event including what you can and cannot put on your AirTags. Netflix has disappointed Wall Street, and Amazon is expanding its “pay with your palm” program to more Whole Foods locations. Sponsors: Skiff.org/ride Tovala.com/r...

All of the headlines from Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event. All of the announcements Mark Zuckerberg made in that Discord room yesterday. Binance hires a former regulator to be its new CEO. And Fitbit wants to sell you a fashion forward Fitness Tracker. Sponsors: ManlyBands.com/techmeme Kracken.com/techmeme Classified: RobBettis.com Links: Apple updates 11" and 12.9" iPad Pros with M1, 8-core GPU, Th...

Mon. 04/19 – Facebook To Announce Going Big On Audio, Via Audio? Facebook has probably just outlined its plans to go big on audio, via a digital audio room. Clubhouse has officially announced that big new raise, probably in reaction to that, to some degree, A16Z did indeed triple down, and I try to outline all the threads for you. Britain might block ARM’s sale to Nvidia. And what to expect from t...

Chris Fralic of First Round Capital was involved in funding such companies as Ring, Hotel Tonight, Warby Parker, Rec Room, and as you’ll hear today, Roblox. But in addition to being a legend, as you’ll hear, Chris is just an all around good dude... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest semiconductor companies in the world warn than the global chip shortage might roll on for years. Could that recent batch of Facebook accounts showing up on the dark web lead to the dreaded maximal GDPR action? Apple says it pays artists more than Spotify does, but is that really true? Depends on how you run the numbers. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Skiff....

Jeff Bezos pens his farewell to the troops, and also, the shareholders. A big Google Earth update. Some thoughts on yesterday’s Coinbase debut. DJI updates its mid-level workhorse drone. And Ford is taking baby steps to that sort of super cruise control that I really want while we’re wait for full autonomy. Sponsors: AirMedCareNetwork.com/tech offer code TECH AwayTravel.com/techmeme Links: Jeff Be...

Wed. 04/14 – Now It’s the FBI Doing The (Legal?) Hacking The FBI hacked into some Exchange servers to prevent further hacking of Exchange servers. Ming-Chi Kuo thinks the iPhone mini and the notch are both going away after this year. Sony wants you to think of their phones as cameras first. Oculus gets a key new wireless update. And yes, those Boston Dynamics robot dogs have been spotted on the st...

Everyone announced something today. A new Surface Laptop 4. New Nvidia things. New Roku things. Something new from Spotify literally called Car Thing. Oculus is going to hold a product event. Siri leaked the next Apple event. And Grab is going public via a SPAC. Sponsors: LinkedIn.com/ride Fundrise.com/techmeme Links: Microsoft announces Surface Laptop 4 with choice of Intel or AMD processors (The...

Microsoft acquires the biggest name in speech tech. Apple is maybe developing some home gadgets I feel like they should have done years ago. Might we see new iPads by the end of the month? Google wants to stop you from walking and texting. And a review of the new Mercedes-Benz entrant into the EV wars.  Sponsors: Skiff.org/ride Netgear.com/bestwifi and promocode:tech10  Links: Microsoft buys speec...

Here was our Twitter Space from this week. We ended up talking all about Coinbase, helped by some great analysis from Romeen Sheth, who I think you’ll recall I quoted from when we talked about this on Wednesday. You can follow Romeen on twitter @RomeenSheth, link in the show notes. And also, he has a great podcast called Square One, where he interviews founders and investors, folks like Anthony Po...

The counting is finally happening, and not to be all Nate Silver, but it’s looking fairly certain that Amazon won its big union battle. Apple and Epic Games are making their first arguments in that big lawsuit. A big new scraping hack, this time for half a billion LinkedIn users. Neurolink shows a monkey playing Pong with its brain. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Block...

If the chip shortage is now biting even Apple, things are getting real, y’all. Twitter apparently took a run at buying Clubhouse. Facebook has a new Clubhouse like product called Hotline. Lenovo’s new phone convinces me gaming phones are truly a thing. And are there signs we’re finally gonna see those Apple AirTags… or do the tea leaves reveal the exact opposite? Sponsors: Calderalab.com code TECH...

Coinbase has revealed the number behind their business, and they are brain exploding emoji. A big Patreon raise shows the moneybags are serious about this creator economy thing. Nobody is crying at Plaid over that failed Visa merger. There’s a new king of the gaming laptop hill. And I try my best to unravel the twisted tale of the latest Facebook data scandal. Sponsors: Kiwico.com, Promocode ride...

Clubhouse isn’t messing around when it comes to flipping the monetization switch. TikTok translation might make that platform even more global. Yahoo Answers circles the drain. Are NFT prices already dropping? And with the new digital Yuan, would the Chinese government be able to literally turn off the money in your wallet? Sponsors: Today In Digital Marketing Podcast Kraken.com/techmeme Links: Cl...

The Supreme Court has ruled on APIs in a way that should make most developers happy. Though, the punted on the President blocking people on Twitter. LG is exiting the smartphone business. And we already knew half a billion people’s Facebook data was out in the wild, but now that we’ve SEEN it in the wild, I’ll tell you why you should take notice. Sponsors: Blockchain.com NewYorker.com/techmeme pro...

We didn’t go as long as last time because after about 45 minutes, somehow no one could hear me, even though I was the space commissar, or whatever they term it. Anyway, as you’ll hear, we ended up talking about that big AR story with Microsoft and the HoloLens and the Pentagon. Robert Scoble, who has been on this beat for years showed up serendipitously, to give us some schooling in the space. Enj...

Coinbase is going public and sharing its numbers ahead of time, which is rare and probably a sign of confidence. The App Store has started rejecting apps ahead of that big new privacy change. Has Tencent’s gaming studio become the biggest in the world? Another Clubhouse clone, this time from Discord. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: MasterWorks.io promocode ride GivingMu...

Microsoft’s big HoloLens deal with the Pentagon is maybe the big bang for the augmented reality industry. Amazon says their folks can come back to work soon, and in fact, they’d prefer if you did. Bearish signs for the work remotely movement? Why these are boom times for chip makers. And why Siri’s new voices think of gender as a spectrum. Sponsors: Today In Digital Marketing Podcast AirMedCareNet...

Facebook has announced News Feed changes to bring chronology back. LinkedIn is working on a Clubhouse rival and I think that makes total sense. Apple actually leads an interesting investment round. Deliveroo has a disastrous first day on the public markets. And how about Roblox, but inside the Unreal Engine? Sponsors: PingIdentity.com TinyCapital.com Links: Facebook Adds New 'Most Recent' Timeline...

It’s actually a nutso butso news day. Spotify is launching a Clubhouse competitor. Amazon is spinning up a new line of custom silicon. Big updates to Google Maps. We know the dates for WWDC. Amazon seems to be doing some Twitter sock puppetry. A bunch of new phones from Xiaomi. Substack is raising another big round. And that’s not all. There’s so much that happened today in the world of tech, that...

New York, Japan, China and the EU are all gonna try out digital vaccine passports. Visa is gonna try out a stablecoin to settle transactions. The official PHP Git repository was hacked. Boston Dynamics has a new robot that isn’t as scary… unless you’re a warehouse worker. And what is Amazon’s aggressive PR recently all about? Sponsors: Fundrise.com/techmeme Grammarly.com/techmeme Links: New York l...