Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson

Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson

How technology works, and the ways it is impacting the world

  • 13 minutes 15 seconds
    (Preview) Monday Mailbag: Netflix and Its Mike Tyson Adventures; WBD Settles with the NBA; Lessons from Building Passport

    The Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight and what might have gone wrong for Netflix on Friday night, a resolution of the NBA's months-long contract dispute with Warner Bros. Discovery, and Ben explains what Passport can do for creators and shares a few takeaways from his experience building the product over the past few years.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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    Netflix’s Tyson-Paul Boxing Bout Gets 65 Million Viewers at Peak — Bloomberg

    Warner Bros. Discovery, NBA Settle Legal Battle Over TV Rights — Wall Street Journal

    An Interview with Dylan Patel and Doug O’Laughlin About the Current State of Semiconductors and SemiAnalysis — Stratechery Interview

    Post by Tim Urban — X: @waitbutwhy

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    18 November 2024, 2:15 pm
  • 12 minutes 21 seconds
    (Preview) Today’s Internet and Tomorrow’s AI Innovation, Progress Reportedly Slowing for New LLMs, The Vision Pro as a Productivity Device

    An emailer wonders whether 30 years of Internet investments and data were the bootloader for an AI transformation in the real world. Ben offers his take on recent reports that OpenAI and Google are seeing diminishing returns from their latest LLMs, and the arrival of Ultrawide capabilities leads to refined takes on the Vision Pro and advice for Apple moving forward.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    OpenAI, Google and Anthropic Are Struggling to Build More Advanced AI — Bloomberg

    Apple Earnings; AI, Capex, and R&D; The Vision Pro Gets a Killer App — Stratechery Update

    Meta Meets Microsoft — Stratechery

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    14 November 2024, 2:00 pm
  • 15 minutes 38 seconds
    (Preview) What Trump 2.0 Could Mean for Tech, Questions on Antitrust, EU and Growth, Elon Musk and the Election

    Looking to President Trump's first term for clues about what tech policy might look like for the next four years. Topics include: Apple's balancing act with the U.S. and China, why Meta and Google might have fared better under Kamala Harris, the implications for "Little Tech," an open question on M&A policies, unresolved tensions with EU regulators, TikTok, crypto policy, the case for growth, and thoughts on Elon Musk and the role that X played in the election.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    Apple’s E.U. Fine, Apple’s Next Case? — Stratechery Update

    President Trump, Take Two; Big Tech, Little Tech, Chips, and Hardware; Elon Musk’s Triumph — Stratechery Update

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    7 November 2024, 1:30 pm
  • 18 minutes 24 seconds
    (Preview) Monday Mailbag: The James Harden of Tech; Bandwidth and the Video Takeover; Gen AI and Ads; Political Donation Texts

    An email comparing James Harden to a tech company spawns several other tech and basketball crossovers. Then: A brief history of the bandwidth buildout that made it possible for video to take over the internet, an email about generative AI and digital advertising, a listener cries for help over political donation solicitations, and Ben aborts an experiment with the Google Pixel.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    4 November 2024, 3:00 pm
  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    Meta and an Abundance of AI Opportunities, When AI Integrates Into the Feed, AI for UI and One Emailer's Dismay

    Talking through Ben's piece on Meta and Abundance, including the past, present and future of Meta's value proposition to e-commerce advertisers, plans to incorporate AI-generated content into news feeds, and questions about augmented reality and the next phase of user interfaces. At the end: An emailer highlights potential downsides of the vision Meta is selling.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    Meta’s AI Abundance — Stratechery

    Meta sees AI spending accelerating as earnings top forecasts — Financial Times

    Meta’s going to put AI-generated images in your Facebook and Instagram feeds — The Verge

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    31 October 2024, 12:24 pm
  • 12 minutes 51 seconds
    (Preview) Monday Mailbag: AI Abundance and Enterprise Questions; Automated Podcasts; Big Tech and China Tariffs; Reading Habits

    The open questions about competition in AI and enterprise software, emails regarding text-to-voice podcasts and replacing Andrew with an AI agent, and a question about Amazon and the proposed tariffs on consumer goods from China. Plus: Apple Intelligence, OpenAI's naming strategy, and the daily media intake for both hosts.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    An Interview with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff about AI Abundance — Stratechery Interview

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    28 October 2024, 1:30 pm
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    Understanding Stablecoins and Their Utility, Why Stripe is Buying Bridge, Virtual Reality for NFL Quarterbacks

    A closer look at the emergence of stablecoins, their utility in crypto and cross-border payments, progress in the crypto space that could lead to more widespread adoption, and the strategic logic of Stripe's plan to buy Bridge, a stablecoin platform, for a reported $1.1 billion. At the end: Updates on the Apple Vision Pro, and the secret behind the success of Jayden Daniels in Washington, D.C.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

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    Stripe Confirms Plans to Acquire Stablecoin Platform Bridge — Bloomberg

    Stripe Acquires Bridge, Stablecoins, Platform of Platforms — Stratechery Update

    Tim Cook on Why Apple’s Huge Bets Will Pay Off — Wall Street Journal

    Apple Sharply Scales Back Production of Vision Pro — The Information

    Jayden Daniels’ growth with VR simulation has Commanders embracing mind games — The Athletic

    The German VR ‘flight simulator’ behind LSU QB Jayden Daniels’ Heisman-caliber 2023 season — The Athletic

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    24 October 2024, 12:39 pm
  • 12 minutes 51 seconds
    (Preview) Monday Mailbag: The Value of the ChatGPT Brand; OpenAI and Its AGI Clause; Bitter Lesson Follow-Up; Orion and Big Tech Recruiting

    OpenAI's latest valuation and the value of the ChatGPT brand, the AGI clause in the OpenAI-Microsoft partnership, a follow-up on Waymo's data and the Bitter Lesson, a twist in the AI device form factor conversation, and a question about Orion and the importance of elite talent in big tech.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    OpenAI’s New Model, How o1 Works, Scaling Inference — Stratechery Update

    OpenAI DevDay, OpenAI’s Wrenching Transition, Lonely At the Top — Stratechery Update

    Microsoft and OpenAI’s Close Partnership Shows Signs of Fraying — New York Times

    Elon Dreams and Bitter Lessons — Stratechery

    An Interview with Hugo Barra About Orion and Meta’s AR Strategy — Stratechery Interview

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    21 October 2024, 12:30 pm
  • 1 hour 4 minutes
    Tesla and the Road to True Autonomy, Strategy that Starts with the Dream, Regulation and Market Questions

    Understanding Tesla’s approach to an autonomous driving future, why some observers think Tesla is ahead of Waymo today, and questions about market structure and regulation concerns as the future of transportation takes shape. At the end: An additional note on politics as a zero sum game, and a few thoughts on the rest of the F1 season.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    Elon Dreams and Bitter Lessons — Stratechery

    The Bitter Lesson — Incomplete Ideas

    An Interview with Hugo Barra About Orion and Meta’s AR Strategy — Stratechery Interview

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    17 October 2024, 5:20 pm
  • 14 minutes 47 seconds
    (Preview) Monday Mailbag: A Moment for SpaceX; After the End of the Beginning; Tesla's 'We, Robot' Event; Waymo Follow-Up

    Explaining the SpaceX breakthrough over the weekend and why it mattered, an email about the next decade in tech, Tesla's 'We, Robot' event and the challenge of analyzing Elon Musk, a few more Waymo emails, and watches.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    In an engineering feat, mechanical SpaceX arms catch Starship rocket booster back at the launch pad — AP

    SpaceX Starship Flight 5 — YouTube

    The End of the Beginning — Stratechery

    An Interview with Gregory Allen About Transforming U.S. Defense — Stratechery Interview

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    14 October 2024, 12:00 pm
  • 11 minutes 30 seconds
    (Preview) Google and the Search for Antitrust Remedies, Network Effects and Natural Monopolies, Waymo vs. Tesla for the Future of Transportation

    An injunction in the wake of the Epic v. Google case highlights the value of network effects in the app store market and the limits of antitrust law to restore competition, the DOJ proposes a break-up of Google that may run into similar problems in the search market, and Ben explains why Tesla's taking a different approach to autonomous driving than Waymo.

    To email the show: [email protected]

    @SharpTechPodcast Channel — YouTube

    @Stratechery Channel — YouTube

    Google Must Make It Easier for App Stores to Compete on Android, Judge Rules — Wall Street Journal

    Google’s Play Store Remedies, The Injunction, The Power of Network Effects — Stratechery Update

    US Weighs Google Breakup in Historic Big Tech Antitrust Case — Bloomberg

    Tesla’s Robotaxi Event, Tesla Self-Driving 12.5 Experience, Starlink and Airlines — Stratechery Update

    Get all episodes of Sharp Tech, Sharp China, Stratechery Updates and Interviews, Greatest of All Talk and the Dithering Podcast as part of Stratechery Plus for $15/month or $150/year.

    10 October 2024, 6:30 pm
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