108: ‘Malaprops’ With Guest Ben Thompson

Topics include Apple’s pseudo “sabbaticals” (employees who leave the company but then return after a year or two); Google’s cultural similarities to Microsoft; the ways that Apple (and iOS users) might miss Scott Forstall; accessibility as a high priority for Apple; Instagram’s success (and how they effectively ate Hipstamatic’s lunch); a debate on just how “simple” Twitter is; Box’s successful IPO, and Dropbox’s support for Yosemite’s official Finder integration for such services; MIT economist Jonathan Gruber pissing in my Google juice; Chromebooks; Amazon’s overall strategy, and the colossal failure of their Fire Phone; and, lastly, a good chunk on Microsoft’s Windows 10/HoloLens event last week.

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Links:

• Ben Thompson’s Stratechery website and Exponent podcast.
• Mark Bylok’s The Whiskey Cabinet, an excellent new book.
• Duet Display — iPad app that turns your iPad into a second display for your Mac.
• Box’s IPO.
• Tim Cook’s tweet on Box’s IPO.
• Hipstamatic
• Jibe vs. Jive vs. Gibe
• Michael Jackson’s death.
• Austin Carr’s excellent story for Fast Company on the development of Amazon’s Fire Phone.
• Amazon Echo — the standalone always-listening AI assistant, with a three-month backlog.
• Joanna Stern on Windows 10
• HoloLens.