Category Archives: Samsung

Apple, Episodes, Google, Netflix, News Roundup, Pixel, Samsung

Week 116 News Roundup – Samsung Developer Conference, Pixel 2 Reviews, Netflix Earnings, iPhone Rumors

On this week’s News Roundup, we kick things off with Samsung’s Developer Conference and the announcements the company made there, which were more strategic and big picture in nature than most of its hardware announcements. Secondly, we talk about the reviews for Google’s Pixel 2 smartphones, which were published this week and were a surprisingly mixed bag, especially with regard to the displays on the larger phones. Third, we cover Netflix’s earnings, which kicked of the Q3 earnings season earlier this week, and lastly we talk about the two big sets of iPhone supply and sales rumors currently floating around.

As always, you’ll find links to these stories and other things we discussed underneath the SoundCloud player embedded below.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise stated):

The piece I wrote about shutting down Tech Narratives (and about my other work) is here.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email (jan@jackdawresearch.com).

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach the individual hosts on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast. And we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes or in your podcast app of choice.

Amazon, Apple, Episodes, iPhone, Jawbone, LG, News Roundup, Samsung, Xiaomi

Week 101 News Roundup – Jawbone; Samsung, LG, Xiaomi in Q2; Amazon Prime Subs; Touch ID Reports

There’s no Question of the Week episode this week, but here’s our roundup of the major news of the week. We kick things off with a discussion of Jawbone’s reported liquidation and what it might mean for the broader wearables market. Secondly, we discuss preliminary disclosure of financial or operating results from Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, which emerged this week. Third is a quick evaluation of a report from CIRP that Amazon now has 85 million Prime subscribers in the US, which Jan is skeptical of. And last is a discussion of the reports this week that Apple might ditch the Touch ID sensor in at least one of this fall’s new iPhones.

As always, you’ll find links to these stories and other things we discussed underneath the SoundCloud player embedded below.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode (Tech Narratives links unless otherwise stated):

  • Jawbone liquidation:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/06/jawbone-has-begun-liquidation-proceedings/
  • Samsung preliminary results:
    www.technarratives.com/2017/06/27/fa…active-users/
  • LG preliminary results:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/07/lg-preliminary-q2-results-suggest-revenue-and-earnings-miss-despite-growth/
  • Xiaomi Q2 smartphone shipments:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/07/xiaomi-claims-70-quarter-on-quarter-smartphone-shipment-growth/
  • Amazon Prime subscribers:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/07/amazon-said-to-have-85-million-prime-subs-in-the-us-but-probably-has-fewer/
  • Touch ID reports:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/07/03/kgi-and-bloomberg-report-leaks-on-iphone-8-security-features/

 

 

Additionally:

  • Jan mentioned the new Tech Narratives Podcast, which offers a daily roundup of the big tech news on weekdays. You can find it on SoundCloud here, iTunes here, and Overcast here, and which should be available in many other podcast apps too.

As ever, we welcome your feedback via Twitter (@jandawson / @aaronmiller), the website (podcast.beyonddevic.es), or email (jan@jackdawresearch.com).

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach the individual hosts on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast. And we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes or in your podcast app of choice.

Amazon, Apple, Earnings, Episodes, Google, Google Home, Netflix, News Roundup, Samsung, Voice recognition

Week 91 News Roundup – Apple tidbits, Google Home Multi-user, Netflix Earnings, S8 Reviews

Earlier this week, we did our Question of the Week episode, which covered the Facebook F8 announcements, so this News Roundup episode covers some of the other big news for the week:

  • Several Apple news tidbits, including a set of environmental announcements, hires of satellite experts from Google, the purchase of a music documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival, web embedding of Live Photos, and purported shots of the chassis for the next iPhone
  • Google Home announcing multi-user support, as well as two announcements relating two Amazon Echo and Alexa
  • Netflix Q1 2017 earnings
  • Samsung Galaxy S8 reviews, which came out this week, and news that Google Music will be the default music service on the devices.

As always, you’ll find links to these stories and other things we discussed underneath the SoundCloud player embedded below.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links):
    • Apple’s environmental news:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/20/apple-makes-big-environmental-push-for-earth-day/
    • Apple hires Google satellite execs:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/21/apple-hires-google-satellite-execs-likely-for-mapping-or-broadband/
    • Apple acquires a music documentary:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/20/apple-acquires-first-movie-at-tribeca-film-festival/
    • Apple enables web embedding of Live Photos:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/20/apple-enables-web-embedding-of-live-photos-for-developers/
    • Google Home multi-user support:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/20/★-google-home-now-recognizes-multiple-users-by-voice/
    • Amazon opens Lex platform to all developers:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/19/amazon-scales-alexa-back-end-by-opening-lex-voice-and-text-service-to-all-developers/
    • Amazon bans most ads in Alexa Skills:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/21/amazon-bans-almost-all-ads-in-alexas-third-party-skills-apps/
    • Netflix reports Q1 2017 earnings:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/17/netflix-reports-q1-2017-gains-5m-subs-makes-first-profit-internationally/
    • Galaxy S8 reviews:
      https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/18/samsung-galaxy-s8-reviews-say-hardware-is-great-software-not-so-much/

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach the individual hosts on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast. And we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes or in your podcast app of choice.

Apple, Assistants, AT&T, Autonomous Driving, Episodes, Health, LeEco, News Roundup, Samsung, Spectrum, T-Mobile, Uber

Week 90 News Roundup – Spectrum, Apple R&D, Uber Finances, Bixby Delay, LeEco

There won’t be a Question of the Week episode this week as we’ve both been busy. Here is this week’s News Roundup episode, in which we cover the following five topics in quick-fire order:

  • Spectrum news including the conclusion of the FCC’s spectrum auction and AT&T’s proposed purchase of Straight Path
  • Two pieces of news about Apple R&D efforts: it appeared on the California DMV’s list of companies with permission to test self-driving cars on public roads, and CNBC reported that it’s been working on glucose monitoring technology for several years
  • Uber released some of its finances for 2016 to Bloomberg, while The Information reported on a Lyft-hacking program called Hell Uber used to run, and the company’s PR head left
  • Samsung announced that its Bixby voice assistant won’t ship with the Galaxy S8 and S8+ when they’re released next week in the US
  • LeEco announced the end of its bid to acquire Vizio and the killing off of its EcoPass content service, and was also reported to have fallen far short of its revenue targets in the US last year.

As always, you’ll find links to these stories and other things we discussed underneath the SoundCloud player embedded below.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • News stories we covered (Tech Narratives links):
    • FCC spectrum auction: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/13/t-mobile-dish-and-comcast-among-big-winners-in-fcc-spectrum-auction/
    • AT&T buys Straight Path: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/10/att-buys-straight-path-in-1-6-billion-deal-for-5g-arsenal-bloomberg/
    • Apple self-driving cars license: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/14/apple-receives-permission-to-test-autonomous-vehicles-in-california/
    • Apple glucose monitoring story: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/12/apple-has-been-working-on-glucose-monitoring-technology-for-diabetes-for-five-years/
    • Uber shares finances with Bloomberg: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/14/uber-shares-partial-flattering-financial-data-for-2016-with-bloomberg/
    • Uber’s Hell program: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/13/uber-had-a-program-called-hell-designed-to-undermine-lyft/
    • Uber PR head leaves: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/11/uber-comms-head-rachel-whetstone-is-departing-recode/
    • Samsung Bixby voice delay: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/11/samsung-says-bixby-voice-assistant-wont-ship-with-galaxy-s8-axios/
    • LeEco Vizio deal falls through: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/10/leecos-acquisition-of-vizio-officially-called-off-variety/
    • LeEco US sales fall short: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/10/leeco-is-said-to-miss-u-s-sales-forecasts-plan-more-job-cuts-bloomberg/
    • LeEco kills off content subscription: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/04/14/leeco-kills-ecopass-video-streaming-and-services-subscription-plan/

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach the individual hosts on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast. And we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes or in your podcast app of choice.

Apple, Comcast, Earnings, Episodes, Facebook, Mac, News Roundup, Samsung, Wireless

Week 89 News Roundup – Apple GPU and Mac, Comcast Mobile, Facebook Content, Samsung Results

Here is this week’s News Roundup episode, which is a solo effort from Jan as Aaron is traveling. This week, we cover:

  • Two unusual announcements of future plans from Apple: its intention to build its own GPU, and its roadmap for pro Macs
  • Comcast’s announcement of its wireless service, Xfinity Mobile
  • Facebook’s testing of a tab surfacing recommended content not shared by your friends
  • Samsung’s preliminary financial results for Q1 2017.

As always, you’ll find links to these stories and other things we discussed underneath the SoundCloud player embedded below.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach the individual hosts on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast. And we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes or in your podcast app of choice.

Episodes, Events, QotW, Samsung, Smartphones, Virtual reality

Week 88 QotW – Samsung Galaxy S8 Event

This is the second week of our new split format, and this is the Question of the Week episode. This week’s News Roundup should follow on Friday.

This week’s question is “What do you make of the Samsung announcements this week?” Samsung held an event on Wednesday in New York City at which it announced its latest smartphones, the Galaxy S8 and S8+, as well as several other accessories, including updated Gear 360 and Gear VR devices, and a new mesh WiFi router-plus-IoT-hub called Connect Home. Jan, who was at the event, talks through some obvious questions about the new devices and the other announcements from today’s event.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

This week’s links are all to Tech Narratives pieces Jan wrote about the Samsung announcements:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Advertising, Apple, Apps, Assistants, Bixby, Episodes, Google, News Roundup, Samsung, Twitter, YouTube

Week 87 News Roundup – YouTube boycott, Samsung Bixby, Twitter subs, Apple news

This is the first of our new News Roundup episodes, which will usually appear on Fridays and discuss several of the week’s top tech news stories. This week, we cover:

  • Advertisers in the UK and now the US boycotting YouTube and to some extent Google more broadly over ads appearing next to undesirable content
  • Samsung’s pre-announcement of its Bixby virtual assistant, which will ship with the Galaxy S8 smartphone it’s expected to announce next week
  • Twitter testing a paid subscription service for power users, apparently built around Tweetdeck and costing $20 per month
  • Apple releasing a new, cheaper, 9.7″ iPad and a video creation and editing app called Clips, and its acquisition of Workflow.

As always, you’ll find links to these stories and other things we discussed underneath the SoundCloud player embedded below.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach the individual hosts on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast. And we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes or in your podcast app of choice.

Apple, Earnings, Episodes, Samsung, Snapchat

Episode 79 – Apple Employee Departures, Q4 2016 Earnings Preview Part 2

This week, our News Roundup features three topics: the conclusion and announcement of the findings of Samsung’s Note7 investigation; Samsung and LG’s earnings for Q4 2016; and Snap’s various preparations and signs of increasing maturity ahead of an IPO.

Our Question of the Week is “Are the recent departures from Apple a sign of trouble?” Aaron talks us through some of the recent departures across several parts of Apple’s business, talks about possible explanations, provides some historical context with a discussion of earlier departures, and draws some conclusions about the significance of the current round. We also talk particularly about the Apple-Tesla poaching war.

Our third segment is part 2 of our preview of Q4 2016 earnings season, with a brief discussion of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter and what they’re likely to report in the next couple of weeks.

Lastly, our Weekly Pick is a book recommendation from Jan.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

  • News Roundup:
  • Question of the Week:
    • Article on the effects of Apple’s privacy stance
    • Article on Matt Casebolt’s departure to Tesla
    • Article on Tesla’s PR hire from Apple
    • Article on the Tesla-Apple poaching war
    • MacRumors interview with Chris Lattner
    • Article on Apple hiring Dropcam founder Greg Duffy
  • Jan’s Weekly Pick was Go Like Hell, by AJ Baime (Amazon affiliate link), which recounts the Ford-Ferrari rivalry in racing in the 1960s.

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Alphabet, Android, Apple, Apps, Autonomous Driving, Cars, Episodes, Hulu, Microsoft, Netflix, Samsung

Episode 78 – Autonomous Driving, Q4 2016 Earnings Preview Part 1

This week, we’re back to our usual format. Our News Roundup features three topics: in streaming video, Netflix reported earnings this week and Hulu indicated that its download feature is coming soon; in the Android world, The Information reported that Android One might be coming to the US, while Pixels are still in short supply; and in the ongoing saga of Apple and its pro users, Apple updated Logic Pro X and GarageBand for iOS.

Our Question of the Week is “what is the state of autonomous driving and where does it go from here?” We do a deep dive into the definitions and current state of play when it comes to self-driving cars, talk about when we might see various levels of autonomous driving, and discuss the many barriers and hurdles that have to be overcome for autonomous driving to become a reality. All of this builds off Jan’s recent in-depth research on the topic.

Our third segment is part 1 of our preview of Q4 2016 earnings season, with a discussion of Samsung, Alphabet and Microsoft and what they’re likely to report next week. We’ll likely follow up with more next week of both preview and review of Q4 earnings.

Lastly, our Weekly Pick is a double book recommendation from Aaron.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.

Apple, Cars, Design, Episodes, Facebook, Google, Harman, M&A, Samsung, Snapchat, Twitter

Episode 71 – Samsung buys Harman, MacBook Pro Review and Apple Design

This week’s episode is back to our usual format, with a News Roundup to kick things off, a Question of the Week, and a third segment, followed by a Weekly Pick.

Our News Roundup covers three stories: firstly, Snap (nee Snapchat) released its Spectacles hardware and reportedly confidentially filed IPO documents with the SEC; secondly, Twitter introduced some muting options to help combat abuse and harassment, while also kicking several figures from the “alt-right” movement off the service’; and thirdly, the fake news story we discussed last week continued to evolve this week with Facebook and Google both making news.

Our Question of the Week is “What are the implications of Samsung buying Harman International?” Aaron did some research this week into this acquisition and its implications, and answers questions about what exactly Samsung is buying, what Harman’s connected car business does, and how the two companies might bring their assets together, and lastly how this is likely to impact consumers and the broader tech industry. (We also weigh in on the idea that Apple should have bought Harman instead).

Our third segment combines a couple of Apple-related items: Jan shares a summary of his MacBook Pro review from earlier this week, and we also discuss the new coffee table book Apple launched this week about its design.

We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a movie recommended by Jan.

As usual, you’ll find some links to related content as well as other ways to listen to the podcast beneath the embedded Soundcloud player below.

We invite listeners to submit questions for subsequent weeks in the comments below, on Twitter (@jandawson, @aaronmiller), or via email (jan at jackdawresearch dot com). We also have a dedicated Podcast Twitter handle at @BDPcast.

As ever, you can also find the podcast on iTunes, in the Overcast app, or your own favorite podcast app. Here is the RSS feed for the podcast if you want to add it manually to your app of choice.

Show notes:

Here are some useful links relating to this week’s episode:

Please leave us a comment or get in touch via Twitter to give us feedback. We’d love to hear from you. Also, we’d love it if you would leave a review of the podcast on iTunes.