Truly unlocking competition in tech means increasing interoperability; an absolutist approach to privacy is doing the exact opposite.
Ben Thompson
Twitter’s Analyst Day, The Interest Graph, Super Follows
Super Follows made the news, but Twitter’s Analyst Day was interesting for more reasons than that.
The Automotive Chip Shortage, Cheap and Complex, A Useful Crisis
The chip shortage facing the automobile industry has more to do with the auto industry’s failure to understand chips than a lack of U.S. capacity; still, a crisis in one area might fix another.
More from Daniel Ek; Creation, Consumption, and Clubhouse; Facebook and Australia, Continued
More on Spotify via interviews with Daniel Ek; then, Facebook and the Australian government come to an agreement that still entails paying off publishers.
Spotify Stream On, Spotify’s Advertising Play, Additional Notes on Stream On
Spotify’s Stream On event advertised Spotify’s ambitions to become an Aggregator. The plans were impressive, but should Spotify go even further?
Nonfungible Tokens, NBA Top Shot, The Creation of Consumption
NFTs are useful not simply because they are unique, but because they are an easy-to-understand way to understand the importance of blockchains.
Google Makes Deal With News Corp, Facebook Blocks News in Australia, Microsoft’s Cynicism
Google gives in in Australia, not to the government, but to News Corp. Facebook, meanwhile, pulls out; they are right on the merits, but terrible at the politics.
Ben Thompson on the Good Time Clubhouse Show
A recording of Ben Thompson on Good Time, February 16, 2021
Clubhouse and AirPods; Twitter, Meerkat, and Clubhouse; Clubhouse Monetization
More on Clubhouse, including the importance of AirPods, why it is different than Meerkat, conflict between privacy and competition, and monetization options.
Clubhouse’s Inevitability
Clubhouse will do for audio what Twitter, Instagram Stories, and TikTok did for text, images, and video.