This is a preview of a premium episode of Down Round. To subscribe and listen to this episode and our full archives, go here. Twitch, the venerable video game livestreaming platform which has repeatedly attempted to become the livestreaming platform for everyone, recently announced a slew of layoffsf. It also confirmed that the company, owned by Amazon, has never been profitable.  Today, we're talking about Twitch: what it is, the escalating troubles it has faced, and why it and the...

Apple is releasing its Vision Pro mixed reality headset in the US next month. But some of the biggest platforms in the world – from Netflix to Spotify – have announced they aren't supporting it from the get go. That's partially because it's a niche device with an uncertain chance of success... but could it also be a rebuke of Apple's notorious developer policies, which have pissed off many people over the past decade and a half? We discuss. Links Apple’s Testy Developer Relationships...

The age of the AI device is upon us. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the undisputed star was the Rabbit R1, a standalone AI companion device which uses a 'large action model' to understand the things you like doing on your apps and platforms, and does them for you.  Will it work? Who knows. But Raph bought one. We discussed the hype about the Rabbit, as well as some of the other currents in AI devices which have emerged since the last time we talked about them. Links Say Hello...

Over the Xmas break, the New York Times announced it would be suing OpenAI for copyright infringement, alleging that its GPT platform is trained on copyrighted NYT content. This has become a problem, according to the NYT, because OpenAI is now a direct competitor. We dive into the lawsuit, and chat a bit about the media, AI and what the future of content looks like. If you're holding out for the last episode of The Down Round Experience... fear not, it's coming this week. Links The Times...

Happy New Year! We trust you're all well. Today, we're looking back on the 2023 that was – diving into some of the episodes we recorded and checking in how those things landed at the end of the year. These include: Afterpay/BNPL Crypto and NFTs Tech layoffs Instant groceries Dating apps See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is part 3 of Down Round's Christmas and New Years production, all recorded in one session. To get every part, sign up to Premium here. The Down Round Community is overflowing with geniuses. The next trillion dollar company will no doubt be founded by someone who is currently paying us $7 a month, representing one of the highest ROI investments anyone could make. For today's episode of the Down Round Experience, we're taking your pitches. Our Discord community came with the ideas, and...

This is part two of our marathon holiday record. This is a preview – the full episode is available for premium subs. Sign up here. The Down Round holiday episodes continue. As the beers continue to flow, we turn our critical attention to another major tech event of December: the hack and leak of Insomniac Games, a first-party developer owned by Sony.  Links Insomniac finally responds to hack that leaked ‘Wolverine’ game and more – The Verge GTA 6 hacker handed indefinite hospital order –...

Welcome to our holiday special. We have recorded a marathon 4 hour podcast with much holiday spirit (we got drunk), and will be dropping it in parts throughout the holiday season. We started with a quick reflection on the latest news: Bird Scooters has gone under, and Adobe's planned acquisition of Figma has collapsed.  Plus, due to listener demand, we explain our not particularly complex recording and editing process. Our original Adobe episode. Descript audio/video editor See...

We had it all planned out. A huge Xmas bonanza episode featuring guests, fun, laughs and all you could ever want from a Down Round variety show. But then Raph was struck by a mystery illness and we had to delay it by several days. So, until then, enjoy this delightful backup episode where we dig into the world's biggest companies by market cap, and opine on our future. It isn't financial advice. But we would not blame you if you took it that way. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

This is a preview of a premium post. To subscribe and get the full episode, go here. For many years, Apple has enforced iPhone dominance by refusing to adopt modern text messaging standards, meaning group chats and multimedia messages between iPhones and Android devices has been fundamentally broken. But last month, Apple announced it would adopt the RCS standard. But at the same time, it came down hard on Beeper Mini, an app which purported to bring the locked down iMessage experience to...

Poor Google. What used to be possibly the best business in human history has taken a few heavy body blows after the rise of generative AI, with the folks in Mountain View no longer looking like the obvious winners of the internet age. Though they were instrumental in building our current AI moment, companies like OpenAI are hogging the limelight. But they've been trying to wrestle that crown back. This month, Google announced Gemini, the model it hopes will challenge OpenAI. But will it? It...

This is a preview of a premium post. To subscribe and get the full episode, go here. You probably know the story by now. Elon Musk replied positively to a weirdo's anti-Semitic post, which led to an advertiser exodus and Elon melting down at the New York Times DealBook conference. Now, X seems increasingly loaded up with crap tier chum advertising, which is never usually a good sign for a platform. Is the company spiralling? Is it at death's door? Who knows, but it's fun to talk about with...

We last updated you on the OpenAI drama a couple of weeks ago, right in the middle of it. Back when it looked like Sam Altman was gone, and the future of AI was up in the air. Ah well! Now that the dust has settled, we're reflecting on what we know about what went down, internet arguments about accelerationism vs decelerationism, and what the near future might hold for OpenAI and AI generally. Links Microsoft to Become Non-Voting Observer in Latest Shake-up of OpenAI Board – The...

Welcome...to the silly season. We answer a bunch of your questions which allows us to prognosticate about the future with less constraints than the few there are usually. Topics covered include: Will AI stagnate? Biden's AI regulation framework Can I have $20? How many beers do we typically drink before a podcast? Will VC stop funding boneheads, or is it built into the system? Sorry if we didn't get to your question, join the discord and ask in there! See omnystudio.com/listener for...

The day James left for honeymoon, the unthinkable happened; Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, got boned by his board of directors like a dog. How can a man who took a product from 0 to 100 million users in less than a year, who is on top of the world be so unceremoniously dumped by a board of AI doomers and safety dorks? Well, we dragged James away from the margaritas and discussed all the crazy happenings in the first official Down Round emergency pod.  (Also our first remote...

This is a preview of a premium post. To become a member and get access to more episodes plus our lovely Discord server, go here. Since the last time we did an episode about Airbnb, the company has both done well and faced deeper problems. Earnings look pretty good. But it has also faced political problems – like being functionally banned in NYC – plus a general perception that it has gotten shittier.  So, CEO Brian Chesky says he's going to fix it. That means two things: AI, and putting the...

Once again we’re brought back to the world of AI. Sorry, there’s simply no escape. A few things have happened over the past week: Elon Musk announced Grok, the first model for his new company xAI OpenAI released a new model as well as a host of new consumer features for ChatGPT - many of which put them in direct competition with the developers who are their API customers. We discuss whether the future of OpenAI is as an API, or a consumer tech play. Humane finally announced its ‘AI Pin’....

One of the very first things people realised they could do online was sell their crap. Since that realisation, e-commerce has gotten a little more advanced. But online marketplaces like Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree still kick along, promising you the opportunity to find great deals as long as you're willing to drive 40 minutes to some guys house. We go through a whirlwind tour of the online marketplace, how it got to where it is, and the forces making them less essential. See...

It's official: Sam Bankman-Fried is GUILTY of committing fraud while running his doomed crypto empire at FTX. The crazy-haired freak took down the credibility of the whole sector while doing it.  The trial -- particularly the testimony of Sam's fellow execs at FTX and Alameda -- turned up all sorts of juicy little details. In this ep, we go through them and reminisce on the crypto exchange that was. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a preview of a premium episode. To become a member and get access, go here.   It's been a minute since we've checked in on Twitter/X, which has become a playground for whatever Elon Musk thinks is cool at any given moment and yet still has many millions of users. But it certainly hasn't collapsed as some predicted. That said, the situation doesn't look great. The ads haven't come back, users seem to be slipping away, investors are writing down their stake – all while the...

Snitch Tech. One of the weirdest trends in tech over the last decade has been the spread of surveillance tech for consumers. Everything from Ring doorbells from Amazon to facial recognition AI and family location tracking software has made it a breeze to film, track and trace your fellow citizens. But it goes deeper. Social networks for ratting out your neighbour. Weird Nextdoor threads. Number plate recognition software for landlords. We're coining it SNITCH TECH, and we're talking about...

This is a preview of a premium episode. To become a member of Down Round Premium, head here. Nintendo has made some of the most popular consumer products of all time, and also invented Mario. Pretty great run! But it's also an interesting business, with a relatively unique approach within the gaming industry and beyond. As the rumoured announcement of the Switch 2 draws ever nearer, we chat about the House of Mario and what makes it tick. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first iPad was released over a decade ago and pitched as a bold new frontier for consumer computing. It helped kill the netbook and spawned generations of copycat tablets from Android manufacturers and Microsoft. But it hasn't really played out all that well. In fact – despite selling a healthy number of them – the iPad sometimes seems like a mostly forgotten product range, with confusing options and not much by way of innovation. What gives? Are tablets in general a dead end? We...

Wow! We're checking in on OpenAI again. Reporting over the weekend confirmed that the company is on track to book over $1 billion of revenue this year – suggesting this whole AI thing might have an actual consumer base. Meanwhile, the company released a handful of new features for ChatGPT which demonstrate just how hard they're going for it. We discuss. Links OpenAI’s Revenue Crossed $1.3 Billion Annualized Rate, CEO Tells Staff - The Information DALL·E 3 See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Elon Musk may be a complete weirdo these days, but SpaceX is still a pretty cool company. Started to assist mankind in its journey to Mars, it has been the leading company in the world of private spaceflight, and the undisputed king of satellite tech.  In this ep we talk about SpaceX, Starlink, the various forces which made it successful, and speculate on what jobs we will have on Mars. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.