Episodes

May 31, 2019

Fri. 05/31 - Does Amazon Want To Be A Mobile Carrier?

Might Amazon get into the cellular carrier game and thus make a Sprint/T-Mobile merger more palatable? Uber’s first quarterly report as a public company, what to expect from WWDC next week, and of course, the weekend longrea…
May 30, 2019

Thu. 05/30 - Google Tells Adblockers To Jump Off A Bridge

Microsoft brings the Xbox Game Pass to PCs, Google gives the finger to adblockers (and all of us), the DOJ will only approve the Sprint/T-Mobile merger if there’s no actual market consolidation, GoGo wants to bring 5G to air…
May 29, 2019

Wed. 05/29 - Riders Can Now Get Banned From Uber

Amazon has a new Echo Show to go after the Google Nest Home Hub, the NYC subway is entering the mobile era, Uber says it will now ban RIDERS who get bad Uber ratings, and Microsoft outlines its vision for a modern operating …
May 28, 2019

Tue. 05/28 - The iPod touch Lives!

The iPod touch lives (and got an update), Dell’s whole laptop lineup got an update, the apocalypse is coming for small vendors on Amazon, MacKenzie Bezos signs the Giving Pledge, and why a laptop infested with malware sold f…
May 27, 2019

Helvetica® Now With Monotype's Charles Nix

Nerds and tech folk have always had a special fascination with typeface and font design, and especially with the venerable Helvetica. Today we're going to talk to Charles Nix, who's foundry Monotype had the challenge of upda…
Guest: Charles Nix
May 24, 2019

Fri. 05/24 - iFixit Tears Down the MacBook Keyboard Tweaks

The Facebook cryptocurrency could be here in about six months, SpaceX launches its first batch of internet satellites, iFixit tears down the MacBook keyboard tweaks, the robots are coming for MLB umpires, and a supersized we…
May 23, 2019

Thu. 05/23 - An Indie Game Boy for the 21st Century

The Playdate is a Game Boy for the 21st Century, GitHub launches a Patreon for open source developers, Amazon is working on a health app that can monitor emotions, Door Dash is emerging at the leader in the food delivery war…
May 22, 2019

Wed. 05/22 - The Huawei Mess Metastasizes

The Huawei mess metastasizes, the EU goes after Google again, Qualcomm loses to the FTC, and Comcast—of all people—is getting into health tech. Sponsors: AirTable.com/techmeme Tech.FidelityCareers.com The Castro Podcast Ap…
May 21, 2019

Tue. 05/21 - Has Apple fixed the MacBook keyboard problem?

Has Apple fixed the MacBook keyboard problem? Huawei gets a 90 day reprieve, Instagram wants to copy Snapchat AND TikTok, the first self-driving mail trucks, and why would your smart car want to tell people if you’ve gained …
May 20, 2019

Mon. 05/20 - Why 5G Could Ruin Weather Forecasting

Why Google ghosting Huawei might lead to a chain reaction for all of tech, the Sprint/T-Mobile merger gets a shot in the arm, GM sort of gets the point of software, I guess, and why 5G might be horrible for weather forecasti…
May 19, 2019

The Streaming Wars With Eric Jackson

Eric Jackson is an investor at EMJ Capital Ltd. He’s deep in the media space, he’s deep in the streaming wars, as I think I say in this episode, he’s shaped a ton of my thinking about the streaming wars. So… where are we? Wh…
Guest: Eric Jackson
May 18, 2019

Jay and Farhad Show Reunion Part II

You know them, you love them, Jay Yarrow of CNBC, Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times. It’s another Jay and Farhad Show Reunion! Today’s topics: Uber’s IPO, the Streaming Wars, and Game of Thrones! These are my favorite epis…
May 17, 2019

Fri. 05/17 - Is Minecraft Earth The Killer App For AR?

Can Minecraft Earth be the killer app for AR? Are the best and brightest shunning working at Facebook? Has drone maker DJI beaten GoPro at its own game? And do I have some killer weekend longreads suggestions? You better bel…
May 16, 2019

Thu. 05/16 - The Hammer Comes Down on Huawei

The hammer is coming down on Huawei, China blocks Wikipedia, Google clarifies the Works with Nest shutdown, a 1TB microSD, more 5G rollouts, what should we think of Quibi and you didn’t fall for that porn scam did you? Spons…
May 15, 2019

Wed. 05/15 - Is Google Effectively Deprecating Search?

There’s a new major chip flaw called ZombieLoad, the major tech companies sign on to the so-called Christchurch Call to Action, San Francisco bans facial recognition tech, is Google effectively deprecating search, and did Be…
May 14, 2019

Tue. 05/14 - The Insane WhatsApp Flaw

WhatsApp discovered one of the craziest flaws I’ve ever heard about in mobile, Disney now controls all of Hulu, now we’ve got folding laptops, the One Plus 7 Pro is another strike against $1,000 phones and is bitcoin back? S…
May 13, 2019

Mon. 05/13 - The App Store Has A Supreme Court Problem

A Supreme Court ruling might spell trouble for Apple and others, Amazon is automating the boxers out of a job, Discord is doing some serious MAU’s, what the death of Nest means for IOT, and a LITERAL Bitcoin treasure hunt. S…
May 12, 2019

The Rise of Huawei with Dexter Thillien

Not too long ago I did a longreads suggestion about Huawei and listener Dexter Thillien got in touch, because he’s a telecoms analyst, and he was actually quoted in the article. Over email, he educated me about some of my mi…
May 11, 2019

Is Uber A Good Business? With Shira Ovide

I knew Uber was going public this week, and it occurred to me that since this podcast started, my default position has been: Uber: super cool company, but a lot of people have a lot of doubts about them. But I realized, I ha…
Guest: Shira Ovide
May 10, 2019

Fri. 05/10 - The Uber IPO

Uber’s big IPO had some issues, smartphone shipments are at a 5 year low, do you need an app for unsubscribing to things and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: MacStadium.com/ridehome Metalab.co Links:…
May 9, 2019

Thu. 05/09 - Chris Hughes Wants To Break Up Facebook

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes says it’s time to break up Facebook, more developer details from I/O, Uber has an arbitration problem, shoe tech is real, and get ready for 64 megapixel smartphone cameras. Sponsors: Wix.com…
May 8, 2019

Wed. 05/08 - The Pixel 3a and Flagship "Lite" Phones

Google is talking big on privacy, but going after cookies helps their bottom line as well, why the Pixel 3a might usher in a new era of flagship “lite” phones, the huge Binance bitcoin hack and why does Bird want to sell you…
May 7, 2019

Tue. 05/07 - All The Headlines From Google I/O

All the news that I could possibly grab from Google’s I/O keynote, again, Alexa IS spying on you, Cruise Automation raises a big round... and will we ever actually see the Galaxy Fold? Sponsors: Lightstream.com/ride Metalab…
May 6, 2019

Mon. 05/06 - Headlines From Microsoft's Build Conference

All the announcements from Microsoft’s Build 2019, Mozilla fixes the Firefox snafu, we think, a grab-bag of Apple rumors and why Netflix’s competitive resiliency might be here to stay. Sponsors: Legacybox.com/ride Metalab.c…