Category Archives: Google

Amazon, Apps, Assistants, Cortana, Echo, Episodes, Google, Google Assistant, QotW, Voice, Voice recognition

Week 100 QotW – Voice and Amazon

This is our Question of the Week episode for this week, with our News Roundup to follow on Friday. This week’s question is “Is Voice the Next Big User Interface, and is Amazon Really Winning? ” The question comes from the prevailing narrative in the media, which often seems to hold both that voice is going to be the user interface that replaces current ones like touch screens and smartphones, and that Amazon is dominating that voice interface market. We pour some cold water on both assertions and use survey and other data to evaluate the true state of the market, what’s really going on, and whether anyone is really “winning”.

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.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, 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.

Apple, Apple News, Episodes, Google, Google Assistant, LeEco, Microsoft, News Roundup, Surface

Week 96 News Roundup – New Surface Pro, LeEco Meltdown, Assistant Ads, Apple News Editor

This is our News Roundup episode for the week. Having discussed the week’s big Google news in the Question of the Week deep dive episode, this one covers the other tech news, including Spotify’s 2016 financials, developments in the Uber/Waymo lawsuit, and a grab bag of Apple news including its acquisition of Lattice Data, reports of Tim Cook wearing an Apple Watch-connected glucose monitor, and manufacturing iPhones in India.

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:

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.

Developers, Episodes, Google, I/O, QotW

Week 95 QotW – Google I/O 2017

For the second week in a row, our Question of the Week episode focuses on a developer event, this time around Google’s I/O conference. We focus mostly on the first day keynote, which covered a ton of ground in two hours, from a general pitch around Google’s AI and machine learning capabilities to the Google Assistant and Home, Google Photos, YouTube, Android, and VR and AR. We discuss most of these things and the overall structure and focus and what it says about Google’s strategy.

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.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.

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.

AI, Amazon, Artificial Intelligence, Assistants, Episodes, Google, Google Home, Hulu, Intel

Episode 86 – State of AI, News Roundup

This week’s format is a little shorter than usual – we dispense with our third segment and stick to just the News Roundup and Question of the Week, partly in preparation for some format changes we’re planning. More about this in the episode, but we’re considering a split of the News Roundup and Question of the Week portions into separate episodes. That change – or something like it – should be happening in the next week or two, so look out for that.

This week’s News Roundup covers our usual trio of topics. First up, Intel’s proposed acquisition of Israeli tech company Mobileye for its autonomous driving technology. Secondly, a few additional details that have emerged about Hulu’s over the top pay TV service which is launching soon. And lastly, a pair of home speaker-related announcements: Google plays its first ad on Google Home, while Amazon puts Alexa in the Amazon app on iPhones.

Our Question of the Week is “What is the state of AI?” There’s been a bit of a backlash recently agains the alleged overuse of “AI” to describe all kinds of technologies, and certainly evidence that the term has been used increasingly on earnings calls and elsewhere. So what is the definition of AI, and what counts and what doesn’t? Is it being overused (or underused)? And what is it actually being used for today?

Our Weekly Pick is a TV show recommended by 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, Facebook, Fake News, Google, Hacking, Mac, Microsoft, Nest, PCs, Uber, Wikileaks

Episode 85 – Uber’s Ethical Vacuum, Mac vs PC

This week’s News Roundup covers the Wikileaks CIA leak on device hacking and the misreporting that’s been happening around it this week; two “fake news” stories – Facebook’s commencement of its flagging of fake news and Google’s failure to surface true news in its search snippets feature; and reports that Nest is working on some new smart home gear.

Our Question of the Week is “Can Uber be saved from itself?” Uber has been through the ringer the last few weeks as a result of a set of mishaps largely of its own making, but there’s also a long history of questionable, immoral, and illegal behavior as well as poor treatment of both employees and drivers at Uber. Aaron walks us through the ethical shortcomings that lead to behavior like this, and how Uber could change for the better, based on experience from other companies and his expertise as an ethics expert.

Our Third Segment is a conversation about the narrative that seems to be emerging about Windows PCs gaining on the Mac and to some extent becoming “cool” based on a few recent articles. We have a brief discussion about how much of this is real and how much of it is confined to a narrow set of users who happen to be influential.

Our Weekly Pick is a TV show 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.

Advertising, AT&T, Episodes, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Sprint, T-Mobile, Uber, Verizon, Wireless

Episode 83 – State of Online Advertising, US Wireless Market Update

Our News Roundup this week covers former Uber employee Susan Fowler’s revelations about how she was treated as a female engineer at the company, and the subsequent announcement of an investigation by a semi-independent panel; Waze’s expansion into becoming a carpooling service; and Microsoft’s launch of Skype Lite, an innovative low-bandwidth version of Skype for emerging markets which launched in India this week.

Our Question of the Week is “What is the true state of online advertising?” We’ve all heard lots about Google and Facebook’s massive revenues from online advertising, and their increasing dominance of the space, but we’ve also seen recent news about increasing calls for independent audits of their advertising metrics, and questions from big advertisers about the effectiveness of online advertising. So Aaron takes us through some of the complex dynamics, challenges, and prospects for the online advertising industry and the potential for companies like Snap, Twitter, and Yahoo/AOL under Verizon.

Our Third Segment is an update on the US wireless market following last week’s announcements by Verizon and AT&T that they will begin offering unlimited plans broadly after several years of trying to kill them off. We talk about the likely impact on these companies of offering these plans and potentially opening the floodgates to higher usage, as well as the competitive impact on the two smaller carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Our Weekly Pick is a puzzle app 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.

Alphabet, Android, Android Wear, Apple, Apple Watch, Episodes, Google, Smartwatches

Episode 73 – Apple Structure, State of Smartwatches

Our News Roundup this week covers three topics. First, two stories about home assistants, with a report that Amazon will make an Echo with a screen, and another that Microsoft will add features to Windows 10 to allow PCs to serve as ambient voice assistants. Secondly, two pieces of news from the digital video market, with AT&T launching the long-awaited DirecTV Now service, and Netflix announcing a download feature. Lastly, we discuss Bloomberg’s report that Apple will begin using drones for mapping data.

Our Question of the Week is “Should Apple change from a functional organization to a divisional structure?” Aaron talks us through the differences in these two organizational structures and the conventional wisdom on which is better for different kinds of businesses, and then we discuss how these arguments apply (or don’t) to Apple. We don’t come to a firm conclusion one way or another, but hopefully you’ll be better armed to make up your own mind about this topic by the end of the discussion!

Our third segment is a conversation about the state of smartwatches, in which we talk about Fitbit’s reported acquisition of Pebble, Motorola’s announcement that it won’t be making any more Android Wear watches in the near term, and the Apple Watch, including Aaron’s recent experience trying one for a while.

We wrap up with our Weekly Pick, which this week is a book 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.