In this week’s episode we follow-up on Episode 15’s console discussion, and then dive into the Apple Watch introduction. We cover why we were disappointed in the presentation, and discuss the luxury market in Asia and why the Edition will cost thousands of dollars. And then we go back for seconds. And thirds. (Note: This is an updated version that removes a gap present in the previous version) Links Ben Thompson: Gaming and New Market Disruption – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Friction – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple Watch: Asking Why and Saying No – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Whither Liberal Arts? – Stratechery Benjamin Clymer: A Watch Guy’s Thoughts On The Apple Watch After Seeing It In The Metal – Hodinkee Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode we follow-up on Episode 15’s console discussion, and then dive into the Apple Watch introduction. We cover why we were disappointed in the presentation, and discuss the luxury market in Asia and why the Edition will cost thousands of dollars. And then we go back for seconds. And thirds. (Note: There is a gap at around the 12:30 mark due to an editing error. We apologize) Links Ben Thompson: Gaming and New Market Disruption – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Friction – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Apple Watch: Asking Why and Saying No – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Whither Liberal Arts? – Stratechery Benjamin Clymer: A Watch Guy’s Thoughts On The Apple Watch After Seeing It In The Metal – Hodinkee Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode we discuss James’ first ever trip to Burning Man, ugliness in modern culture and on the Internet, the new divide in politics, and ultimately why we have hope for the future. Links Grover Norquist: My First Burning Man: Confessions of a Conservative from Washington – The Guardian Devin Faraci: Why I Feel Bad For – And Understand – The Angry #GamerGate Gamers – Badass Digest Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode we discuss whether or not consoles will be disrupted. This episode was recorded a week ago (immediately after last week’s episode), before Ben wrote his pieces Games and Good Enough and Games and New Market Disruption. Links Ben Thompson: How Apple TV Might Disrupt Microsoft and Sony – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Games and Good Enough – Stratechery Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Gaming and New Market Disruption – Stratechery Medallia Receives $50M in New Funding to Meet Growing Market Demand for Software that Makes Companies More Customer Centric – Medallia Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode we spend a good bit of time revisiting the native ads discussion, then dive into the different ways that Twitter and Facebook have handled the news this week. From there we discuss Twitter’s timeline changes, the realities of venture capital, and whether or not our entire economic system will survive the automation revolution. Yes, it gets deep quickly! Links Ben Thompson: Print, Chinese Walls, and “Objective” Journalism – Stratechery (members only) Clay Shirky: Last Call – Medium Jay Rosen: When Quoting Both Sides and Leaving it There is the Riskier Call – PressThink Hamilton Nolan: Time Inc. Rates Writers on How “Beneficial” They Are to Advertisers – Gawker Derek Willis: New Republican Leader Finds New Friends, and Quick Cash – New York Times Marco Arment: I’ll Never Fly Amazon Again – Marco.org Ben Thompson: Twitter is Great for Unprofitable News – Stratechery (members-only) Mathew Ingram: Twitter vs. Facebook as a news source – GigaOm Matt Buchanan: The Twitter of Tomorrow – New Yorker Humans Need Not Apply – YouTube Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode we discuss feedback about Ben’s Android criticism, then dive into Andreessen Horowitz’s $50 million investment into BuzzFeed. Is there a real business here? We also discuss native advertising: Ben is quite a bit more optimistic than James. Links Ben Thompson: Is BuzzFeed a Technology Company? – Stratechery Chris Dixon: BuzzFeed – Chris Dixon’s Blog Marc Andreessen: Introducing our new venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz – Blog Pmarca Ben Casselman: Corporate America Hasn’t Been Disrupted – 538 Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback

In this week’s episode we discuss how the Internet is enabling not only big winners, but also small, focused niche players, and why that’s exciting. We also discuss the impact this transition will have on society, follow up on last week’s integrated/modular discussion, and in a special “After Dark” segment briefly discuss Ben’s recent experience with Android and theorize that the Android/iOS are at equilibrium. Links Ben Thompson: Daily Update: Micromax Wins on Local Taste – Stratechery (members-only) Rohin Dharmakumar: Can Micromax Become India’s Leading Smartphone Maker? – Forbes India Ben Thompson: How Technology is Changing the World (P&G Edition) – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Christmas Gifts and the Meaning of Design (includes a reference to P&G’s design process in the footnotes) – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Pleco: Building a Business, not an App – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Smartphone Truths and Samsung’s Inevitable Decline – Stratechery Anita Elberse: The Way of The Blockbuster – Harvard Magazine Albert Wenger: It is OK to Worry about Work (& Doesn’t Make you a Luddite or Socialist) – Continuations Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes Twitter Feedback

In this episode we discuss this tweet of Ben’s: Apple has a monopoly on the iOS market. And monopolies are profitable. — Ben Thompson (@monkbent) July 25, 2014 We also discuss the news that OKCupid and Facebook are running tests on their users. Links Fabian Giesen: What I mean when I say “I think VR is bad news” – Github Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes Twitter Feedback

In this episode we discuss feedback about Uber and pricing, then discuss Ben’s recent articles on Microsoft and Apple/IBM. Ben Thompson: It’s Time to Split Up Microsoft – Stratechery Ben Thompson: Big Blue and Apple’s Soul – Stratechery (Note: We recorded this show before this piece was written) We had some technical difficulties while recording this show, so we apologize in advance if there are any issues. Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes Twitter Feedback

In this episode we first defend surge pricing before continuing our debate from last week: is society better off when corporations try to innovate, or would we be better off if we left the innovation to startups? Your answer to this question may change your opinion of Silicon Valley. Nick Kokonas: Tickets for Restaurants – Alinea Restaurant James Allworth: Heavy Rain and Black Cars – Medium Note: In the podcast Ben talks about owning a lot of Microsoft stock; to be clear that was while he was an employee. As a matter of policy he does not hold any individual stocks currently. Hosts Ben Thompson, @monkbent, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes Twitter Feedback