
Wed. 02/27 - TikTok Bigger Than Instagram?
Fast flash storage for phones, TikTok passes a billion downloads, FedEx rolls out its own delivery bot, why you might be overpaying for cloud computing and why China wants to map the faces of pigs. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Samsung's new 512GB flash chip is twice as fast as its predecessor (Engadget) TikTok was bigger than Instagram last year after passing the 1 billion download mark (Business Insider) Machine learning can boost the value of wind energy (Google's The Keyword Blog) FedEx unveils autonomous delivery robot (The Verge) Threads emerges from stealth with $10.5M from Sequoia for a new take on enabling work conversations (TechCrunch) As AWS Use Soars, Companies Surprised by Cloud Bills (The Information) Containers may be leading to cloud computing cost overruns (ZDNet) Rotten Tomatoes tweaks audience ratings system to thwart online trolls (The Los Angeles Times) China’s Tech Firms Are Mapping Pig Faces (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
27 Feb 201914min

Tue. 02/26 - Might the FTC Undo Some Tech Mergers?
The Game of Thrones when it comes to modern tech platforms is very much up in the air, Satya Nadella defends making the HoloLens for the US Army, could the FTC undo previous tech mergers and that big Casey Newton piece about Facebook content moderators. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Apple Music Integration Possibly Coming to Google Home Devices (MacRumors) Apple Plans Sleep Tracking Feature for Future Watch (Bloomberg) Microsoft CEO defends US military contract that some employees say crosses a line (CNN Business) New FTC task force will take on tech monopolies (The Verge) Coinbase Lists Controversial Cryptocurrency XRP, Price Jumps 10% (Fortune) This 18,000mAh battery has a phone in it (The Verge) THE TRAUMA FLOOR (The Verge) Facebook Grappling With Employee Anger Over Moderator Conditions (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 Feb 201915min

Mon. 02/25 - Mobile World Congress Headlines
It’s a whole slew of headlines from Mobile World Congress: more foldable phones, dates for 5G chip sets and 5G coverage rollouts, and Microsoft unveils its HoloLens2. Plus: why Wikidata proves the bots still need us. Sponsors: Wix.com/podcast DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: MICROSOFT’S HOLOLENS 2: A $3,500 MIXED REALITY HEADSET FOR THE FACTORY, NOT THE LIVING ROOM (The Verge) Huawei Launches the Mate X: Folding in a New Direction (AnAndTech) I held the future in my hands, and it was foldable (TheVerge) Sprint’s 5G network launches in May (The Verge) T-Mobile delays full 600MHz 5G launch until second half of 2019 (CNET) microSD Express unlocks hyper-fast data speeds for mobile devices (Engadget) SanDisk and Micron announce the world’s first 1TB microSD card (MSPowerUser.com) The latest Android devices now let you log into apps without requiring a password (The Verge) INSIDE THE ALEXA-FRIENDLY WORLD OF WIKIDATA (Wired) Princeton Tech Meetup Details Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
25 Feb 201915min

The "Influencers" Beat With Taylor Lorenz
Taylor Lorenz, over at the Atlantic has the influencer beat down. I’ve told you about so many of her stories, often as longreads. You think influencers… the universe of YouTube stars, Instagram stars, social media stars generally is a niche thing? No way. This is already a huge industry with a ton of money sloshing around in it, and Taylor covers it better than anyone else. Sponsors: Bubble.is (coupon code "ride") Burrow.com/tech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 Feb 201922min

The State of The Gaming Industry With Jason Schreier @jasonschreier
Last week there was a bunch of gaming news, and if you’ll recall, I put a shout out to see if anyone could tell me what the heck is going on in the gaming space. Well, Jason Schreier, the news editor of Kotaku answered my Bat Signal, and so, here it is. The state of the video game industry, how has Fortnite changed it, does Fornite have a competitor in Apex legends, and even… what is the state of VR gaming? Sponsors: Burrow.com/tech Bubble.is (coupon code "ride") Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
23 Feb 201919min

Fri. 02/22 - The Most Acquisitive Unicorns
Facebook is shutting down its controversial Onavo app, Google’s streaming gaming service might get some hardware to go along with it, the most acquisitive unicorns and the weekend longreads suggestions. Here’s what you missed today in the world of tech. Sponsors: The Castro Podcast App Legacybox.com/ride Lighstream.com/ride Links: Facebook will shut down its spyware VPN app Onavo (TechCrunch) Samsung will extend Bixby button remapping to premium Galaxy phones running Android Pie (The Verge) Source: Google plans to announce long-rumored ‘Yeti’ hardware at GDC event (9to5Google) Airbnb, Automattic, And Pinterest Top Rank Of Most Acquisitive Unicorns (Crunchbase News) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Late Night Linux Podcast HOW APPLE’S ENTERPRISE APP PROGRAM BECAME THE NEW WILD WEST OF MOBILE APPS (The Verge) “SHE NEVER LOOKS BACK”: INSIDE ELIZABETH HOLMES’S CHILLING FINAL MONTHS AT THERANOS (Vanity Fair) It Started With a Jolt: How New York Became a Tech Town (NYTimes) Guidemaster: The least-awful Android phones (Ars Technica) The curse of the Twitter reply guy (Mashable) YouTube Story 1: Study blames YouTube for rise in number of Flat Earthers (The Guardian) YouTube Story 2: YouTube Unleashed a Conspiracy Theory Boom. Can It Be Contained? (NYTimes) YouTube Story 3: How YouTube helps flat-earthers organize (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 Feb 201918min

Thu. 02/21 - YouTube's Ad Problem (Again) and Galaxy Reactions
Take-aways from all the hands-on reports with the new Samsung Galaxy S10 phones, hands-OFF reports about the Galaxy Fold, Apple teams up with Goldman Sachs on a new credit card, YouTube faces yet another scandal running ads on horrible content, and a look at how law enforcement grabbing location data from Google using "reverse location search warrants." Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Castro Podcast App Links: Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10+ hands-on (Engadget) You can remap the Bixby button on Samsung’s Galaxy S10 to do whatever you want (The Verge) The Galaxy Fold makes no sense as a consumer device yet (The Verge) Apple, Goldman Sachs Team Up on Credit Card Paired With iPhone (Wall Street Journal) Nestle, Disney Pull YouTube Ads, Joining Furor Over Child Videos (Bloomberg) On YouTube, a network of paedophiles is hiding in plain sight (Wired UK) Youtube is Facilitating the Sexual Exploitation of Children, and it's Being Monetized (2019) (Matt Watson, YouTube) YouTube terminates more than 400 channels following child exploitation controversy (The Verge) Close Enough (Slate/Future Tense) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
21 Feb 201914min

Wed. 02/20 - Galaxy Fold!
The foldable phone is here! And some regular new Galaxies too. Other stuff... (I'm late posting today... sorry! In a rush!) Sponsors: Castro Podcast App DataDogHQ.com/ridehome joybird.com/RIDE - 25% off your first order using code RIDE Links: Samsung’s foldable phone is the Galaxy Fold, available April 26th starting at $1,980 (The Verge) Xiaomi's triple-camera Mi 9 has a fast 20W wireless charger (Engadget) Google says the built-in microphone it never told Nest users about was 'never supposed to be a secret' (Business Insider) Google Set To Unveil Netflix-Like Game Streaming Service (Fortune) Apple Plans on Combining iPhone, iPad, Mac Apps by 2021 (Bloomberg) Princeton Tech Meetup 69 w/ Brian McCullough Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Feb 201914min