Category Archives: Gaming

Amazon, Apple, Episodes, Gaming, Google, Microsoft, News Roundup, Uber

Week 99 News Roundup – Uber Changes, Amazon Whole Foods, New Xbox, Apple TV Execs, Gmail Scanning

This is our first episode for two weeks, as Jan’s been traveling, and since Aaron is now busy this is a solo News Roundup from Jan on some of the big news stories from the last two weeks. On the agenda today are all the big Uber news including the Holder Report and the resignation of Travis Kalanick as CEO; Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods; a new Xbox from Microsoft; the hiring of two former Sony TV execs by Apple; and an end to email scanning for the purposes of targeting ads by Gmail.

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:

  • Uber:
    • Holder investigation: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/13/★-uber-investigation-recommends-many-changes-travis-kalanick-takes-leave-of-absence/
    • Emil Michael leaves: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/12/uber-svp-emil-michael-leaves-company-and-board-gets-a-new-female-member-from-nestle/
    • Travis Kalanick resigns:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/21/★-uber-ceo-travis-kalanick-finally-does-the-right-thing-and-resigns/
  • Amazon-Whole Foods and related topics:
    • Amazon-Whole Foods:

    ★ Amazon Announces Intention to Buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion


    • Walmart Bonobos:

    Walmart to Acquire Online Men’s Clothing Retailer Bonobos for $310 million


    • Amazon Prime Wardrobe:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/20/amazon-launches-prime-wardrobe-a-mix-of-home-try-on-and-clothing-box-service/

  • New Xbox: https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/12/★-microsoft-debuts-xbox-one-x-smallest-and-most-powerful-xbox-at-es/
  • Apple Sony TV execs:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/16/apple-poaches-two-sony-tv-execs-to-lead-video-programming/
  • Gmail email scanning:
    https://www.technarratives.com/2017/06/23/gmail-will-stop-scanning-emails-to-target-ads-due-to-enterprise-confusion/

Additionally:

  • Episode 85 was our deep dive on Uber – find it in your podcast app or on the site at: podcast.beyonddevic.es/2017/03/episo…um-mac-vs-pc/

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.

Episodes, Facebook, Gaming, Live Video, Microsoft, Mobile gaming, Pokemon Go, Surface, Twitter

Episode 55: Pokemon Go Prospects, Facebook Live Video

Our News Roundup this week covers Amazon’s Prime Day, Twitter’s recent deals and experiments around professionally produced live video, and Microsoft’s announcement of Surface as a Service.

Our Question of the Week is “What do the economics of the mobile gaming industry tell us about the future of Pokemon Go?” The game has burst dramatically onto the scene, and already provided a nice boost for Nintendo’s share price, but past experience suggests massive hits can be short-lived in the mobile gaming market. We discuss the potential hurdles and challenges for the game, and for Nintendo as it finally embraces the mobile gaming market. We also talk about the implications for augmented reality.

Our third segment is about Facebook Live Video and how it’s been used in recent weeks for some harrowing footage very different from what it was originally conceived to do, and in contrast to the type of live video Twitter is now pursuing. We talk about the responsibilities that come with such power for Facebook, and the benefits to society from the increased openness the technology brings.

As always, we wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which is an app recommendation from Aaron.

Programming note: we’ll be taking a two-week break while Jan is on vacation, but we’ll be back the first week of August.

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.

BlackBerry, Differential privacy, Episodes, Gaming, Headphone jack, Instagram, iPhone, iPhone 7, macOS, Privacy, Supercell, Tencent, WWDC, WWDC2016

Episode 52 – Differential Privacy, macOS Sierra Reviews, iPhone 7 Reports

We returned to our usual format this week, kicking things off with a News Roundup, and including a Question of the Week and Weekly Pick.

Our News Roundup covered three topics: Instagram’s release of user numbers, including 500 million monthly active users and 300 million daily active users; Tencent’s acquisition of a majority stake in Supercell for $8.6 billion; and BlackBerry’s earnings.

Our Question of the Week is: “How can differential privacy make my life better?” Aaron did a bunch of homework on this concept, which Apple introduced to many of us at WWDC last week but has actually been around for much longer. He tells us what differential privacy is, what some of the real-world applications are, and the benefits and limitations of this approach. We’ve included some links to some of Aaron’s reading material in the show notes.

Lastly, we discussed some other topics relating to WWDC which we didn’t get to last time or which have emerged since last week’s episodes, including the reviews of the macOS Sierra release which came out this week, and reports from the Wall Street Journal that Apple’s next iPhone will largely stick to the iPhone 6 and 6s form factor while ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack. We wrapped up the episode with our Weekly Pick, this week a 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.

Apple, Apple TV, Apple Watch, Episodes, Events, Gaming, iPad, iPhone

Episode 14 – Apple September Event First Take

This is our quick take on Apple’s September event, which was recorded with Jan sitting outside the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, immediately following the conclusion of the Apple event. As such, the audio on this episode is not up to our usual standards. It’s also shorter than most of our episodes and doesn’t follow our usual format. Instead, you’ll hear about 25 minutes of quick conversation following the chronological order of Apple’s event, with some tidbits from the hands-on experience. We’ll do a deeper dive next week, hopefully with our usual audio quality!

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 now 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.

Android Wear, Apple, Apple TV, Consoles, Developers, Episodes, Gaming, Google, iPhone

Episode 13 – Apple Event Preview, Apple TV as Game Console, Android Wear and iPhone

Ahead of Apple’s big event next week, we spend the majority of our time previewing the likely announcements. The conversation kicks off with a general discussion of what we’re expecting with regard to new iPhones, iPads, and the new Apple TV, including a brief discussion of the reporting and in particular the scoops some publications seem to be getting very good at, notably Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac. We then do a deep dive on the Apple TV, as Aaron answers our Question of the Week: “How would the new Apple TV compete as a gaming console?” Aaron talks through the technical capabilities of the device and the developer program Apple is likely to build around the Apple TV and how these compare to the leading consoles in the market today, and we also discuss the controller(s) for gaming on the Apple TV, content restrictions, and social gaming. Our final brief topic is the announcement this week that Android Wear devices will now work with iPhones, albeit in a very limited fashion. Jan wraps things up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is an app, for the first time.

The SoundCloud player for the episode is embedded below, and underneath that you’ll find some links to related content, including Jan’s piece today on the Apple TV for Techpinions.

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 now 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.