Monthly Archives: March 2016

Apple, Bots, Conversational UI, CSR, Developers, Episodes, Google, Microsoft

Episode 40 – Apple & Google CSR Initiatives, Build 2016

This week’s News Roundup covers three topics:

  • Music News – Tidal had its one-year anniversary and announced 3 million subscribers, while SoundCloud launched its paid subscription, SoundCloud Go.
  • The FBI/Apple case regarding the San Bernardino shooter finally ended as the FBI announced it had been able to access the phone with help from a third party
  • Foxconn finalized its acquisition offer for Sharp.

Our Question of the Week tackled the corporate social responsibility efforts of Apple and Google and what other companies can learn from them. Aaron, who is a business professor who specializes in business ethics, talked us through the history of CSR and how it’s evolved, and then covered three different areas in which Apple and Google have been involved in CSR – corporate giving/philanthropy, environmental initiatives, and what Aaron called core competencies. Aside from calling out the positive things both companies have been doing, we also discussed some criticisms of Apple and Google in this area.

Our third topic was a discussion of Microsoft’s Wednesday morning Build keynote, and especially Microsoft’s new conversations as a platform or bots initiative. We talked about Microsoft’s strategy here as well as some of the challenges it faces. And Jan’s Weekly Pick was a TV show.

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, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, iPhone SE

Episode 39 – Apple’s March 2016 Event

This episode of the podcast is a slight departure from our usual pattern. We dispensed with our News Roundup, Question of the Week, and Weekly Pick segments and simply spent the whole episode talking about today’s Apple event in Cupertino. Jan was at the event, and so we recorded with Jan sitting in a car just outside 1 Infinite Loop – as such, apologies for any audio issues this time around. We covered the content of the event pretty much in order, with a discussion up front of the three non-product-related topics: privacy and security, the environment, and health; followed by discussions of the Apple Watch News, iPhone SE, and iPad Pro. We’ll be back to our usual structure (and a broader range of topics beyond Apple)  in next week’s episode.

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, Apple News, Episodes, Events, Health, iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, iPhone SE, Virtual reality, Windows 10, Windows Phone

Episode 38 – Apple Event Preview, Apple News Opens Up

Our News Roundup this week covers:

  • The announcement by navigation company HERE that it will discontinue its apps for Windows 8 and Windows 10
  • Sony’s big PlayStation VR announcement
  • A Recode article about a healthcare startup that’s working on an electrocardiogram that will work with the Apple Watch (and is led by Vic Gundotra, who formerly ran Google+).

We decided to forgo our usual Question of the Week this week and instead make a preview of Apple’s event next week our main topic for discussion. We discussed Jan’s Techpinions post last week about the iPhone SE and how that might be priced and positioned, and also talked about the prospects for a revamped iPad Air. Our final topic for the week was the announcement about Apple News being opened to all comers. We realized we haven’t really discussed Apple News much on the podcast so far, so we had somewhat of a broader discussion about its prospects too. Next week, Jan will be at the Apple event in person, and we hope to do a quick episode shortly after the event ends focused on the day’s announcements.

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.

5G, Amazon, Android, Apple, eBooks, Episodes, Google, Samsung, Smartphones, Wireless

Episode 37 – A 5G Primer and Samsung’s New Phones

Our News Roundup this week covers three new items: Android’s early developer preview of Android N; the conclusion of the Apple eBooks trial; and the debut of Amazon’s first live TV show. Our Question of the Week is “What is 5G? And should you care?” and piggybacks on an article Jan wrote for Techpinions on Monday offering something of a primer on the technology. We talk through the first four Gs briefly, and in particular talk about what’s unique about 4G, before moving on to where the process of defining 5G has got to, and when you’re likely to be able to actually use it. Our third topic is Samsung’s new phones, which were reviewed by many publications this week. We discuss the consensus from the reviews as well as what the phones seem to signify about the state of Samsung. We wrap up as ever with our Weekly Pick, which is another cooking-themed 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, Episodes, FBI

Episode 36 – Explaining the All Writs Act, AT&T’s New Video Offerings

Our News Roundup covers three topics, triggered by two news stories each:

  • Yahoo – stories about Verizon being the most likely buyer for the core business, and indications that Yahoo may have to further write down the Tumblr asset
  • Live video – Twitter is focusing heavily on live in general and live video specifically in 2016, while there are also signs Facebook is getting increasingly serious about this space
  • Mobile payments – there are reports MasterCard will expand Apple Pay into several new markets this year, and Google is trialling a new “Hands Free” payment technology in the Bay Area.

Our Question of the Week is: “What’s the broader significance of the Orenstein court order?” and refers to the decision this week from a New York District Court in a case involving Apple and the FBI, which has some similarities to the San Bernardino case. Aaron draws on his legal background to dissect the decision and its legal basis, and talks us through the logic and the implications for the California case.

Our final topic is AT&T’s announcement of several new video offerings that it will launch later this year under the DirecTV brand, all of which are app-based rather than satellite or cable-based. We discuss the attractions of these new offers along with some of the shortcomings, and the reasons why AT&T felt the need to pre-announce them seven months or more before they’ll be available. We wrap up the episode with our Weekly Pick, which is another movie 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:

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.