Podcast

I go on and on about Google.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #110: The Profit Algorithm.

Horace builds on his discussion of Google from the previous episode in light of the Nest acquisition news. We also look at the relatively unreported news regarding China lifting its 13-year ban on game consoles and the variables it introduces to a "big niche" industry.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #109: Google Ventures.

On a recent podcast I noted that Google was perceived as invulnerable. In contrast, Apple is seen as temporarily enjoying a stay of execution. ((The list of Apple Achilles' Heels is so long and creatively composed that it would take ages to compile, but here are just a few: the Mac (vs. Windows), Digital Rights Management (which kept the iPod alive), dozens of lawsuits (including from The Beatles), the Mac (when it ran Windows), PlaysForSure, Music Labels retaliation, the Zune, Android and clones, the Kindle and Amazon in general, more Mac, iTunes, iPod and iPhone and iPad killers than can be counted; Steve Jobs is ill, Jony Ive will quit, Tony Fadell quit, Rubinstein quit, Forstall was fired, etc. Feel free to add more through comments. See also Apple Death Knell Counter.)) This is not necessarily a bad thing for Apple. The more gushing the loathing or scorn, the more likely it's a reaction to love and attraction. A brand dies not from hate but from apathy.

But nor is it necessarily a good thing for Google be be seen as invulnerable. There might be no "Google death knell counter". There might not be a "Google is doomed" trope. If an executive from Google quits or is fired there is no investor panic. If a product is withdrawn there is no mourning. There are no journalists pursuing Pulitzer prizes by describing some seamy underside of Google. But there are no overt displays of affection either. Google is seen, on balance, as benevolent and hopeful. The discussion on business robustness is simply missing.

I suspect the absence of scrutiny comes from Google being seen as an analogy of the Internet itself. We don't question the survival of the Internet so we don't question the survival of Google -- its backbone, its index, and its pervasive ads which, somehow, keep the lights on. We believe Google is infrastructure. We don't dwell on whether electric grids are vulnerable, or supplies of fuel, or the weather(!)

Too complex, too pervasive. These are systems, not things. And people are not designed to contemplate systems. We leave that to experts, or better yet, computers.

The reason Apple is contemplated at all is that it's not seen as a system. Even the suggestion that Apple is a system is implicitly treated as an impossibility. Because it's not a system it's fragile. It's a person, or an idea, or a product or a singular "key" to something. It is, ultimately, mortal. The only debate is when it will die and points are earned for calling it sooner rather than later.

But what if Apple were a system? And what if Google were a person (or three?)

 

With new ChromeOS and Chromebook data, Horace returns us to the topic of Google. How do they define and view their customers, products, and businesses? Who actually serves whom? What user data is collected, how is it used, and why?

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #108: Chief Magical Officer.

I join Moisés to discuss 4K, 8K, and the future of the displays we use to consume our content. Will presentation quality ever be "king" again, or is cheap, short, indexable content the new ideal? We dive a bit more into YouTube, my favorite TV disruptor.

via 5by5 | Screen Time #49: The Next Stage.

This the the first of hopefully a series of talks on Bitcoin. The hope is to assess it as a disruption but first we need to understand the differences between a store of wealth, a currency and money. Then we need to understand what jobs each of these is hired to do and whether Bitcoin is better or worse than the incumbents and whether it has "headroom" to get better in those cases where it's not good enough.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #106: Can Bitcoin Be Money?.

Horace unpacks the rumored, denied, and seemingly inevitable arrival of iPhone on China Mobile. Reflecting on smartphone adoption in the US, where does the unconventional logic take us from here?

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #105: Subsidize This.

Fresh off of back-to-back AirShows, Horace discusses the future of his "cinematographic" presentation style and announces Airshow World Tour. We also look at episode #103's prescient prediction of Amazon's move into delivering their own products.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #104: Cinematic Presentations.

A history of retail as a series of innovations in transportation. How to think about Amazon in a continuum of changing consumer behavior. The source of Amazon's market power and its hypothetical disruption. What would Amazon do and not do to improve its business.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #103: The Amazon Electric Car.

(Note:  This recording took place a few days before  Amazon announced the drone-based Prime Air prototype service.)

A history of Cinema as seen through disruptive lenses. How did the medium evolve from novelty to experimentation to establishment of a predominant business model to concentration of power, regulation and ultimate stagnation. How to measure "performance" of a medium via the median age of the audience and how that affects the advertiser's calculus.

via 5by5 | The Critical Path #102: The Advertiser's Dilemma.

I joined Benedict Evans and Ben Bajarin on their Cubed podcast to discuss innovation and cultures that breed innovation. We also discuss some updates on our thinking of the curious case of the android tablet ghosts toward the end.

Show Notes

The Meaning of Really Cheap Android

The Innovators Curse

Dark Matter

Android as the Platform For Commodity Electronics

Harvard Business Review – How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity  (subscription required)

via Cubed Episode 010: The Process of Innovation | Cubed Podcast.