Description
Oh Snap: The next generation of Snapchat Spectacles has arrived, and they look a lot like…the first pair of Spectacles. But Snap has made some notable changes to the guts of the glasses, even if they still have that I-just-came-back-from-Coachella aesthetic, so Arielle and I took both the old and the new Spectacles to a theme park and tried them on for size. On this week’s episode we discuss why Snapchat is still committed to making hardware despite an unspectacular first attempt, why Arielle should probably replace Evan Spiegel as Snap’s CEO, and what the ephemerality of photos in 24-hour “stories” will mean for people who someday might want those snaps and grams for posterity.
Some notes: You can find all of our Snapchat coverage right here, including Lauren’s first impressions of the new product, a wild roller coaster ride with Spectacles, and Arielle’s piece on why Snap needs Spectacles right now.
Also, we’re getting ready to dive into developer conference season, with Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Apple all hosting their annual conferences in the coming weeks, so get ready for a lot of pod-chats about apps, AI, AR, VR, and privacy issues.
Recommendations this week: Sandra, a new podcast from Gimlet Media about an AI of the same name; Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer, the artist’s latest album (and accompanying short film); this episode of Recode Media with Peter Kafka, in which Peter interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Emily Steel about the story that took down Bill O’Reilly.
Send the hosts feedback on their personal Twitter feeds. Arielle Pardes is @pardesoteric, Lauren Goode is @laurengoode, and Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. Our theme song is by Solar Keys.
How to Listen
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We’re also on Soundcloud, and every episode gets posted to wired.com as soon as it’s released. If you still can’t figure it out, or there’s another platform you use that we’re not on,
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