The Diff
Byrne Hobart
The Diff is a newsletter exploring the technologies, companies, and trends that are making the future high-variance. Posts range from in-depth company profiles, applied financial theory, strategy breakdowns and macroeconomics.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 11, 2021 • 17min
Understanding Coinbase
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - Understanding Coinbase
(12:15) - Security
(13:25) - Different Abstractions
(15:15) - Facebook Futurism
(16:13) - SPAC Apathy
Mar 5, 2021 • 24min
IBM: The Center of Gravity
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - IBM: The Center of Gravity
(15:47) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(16:21) - Price Signals
(17:28) - Texas Energy's Banking Crisis
(18:43) - Greensill's Arbitrage(s)
(20:05) - Which Long Run?
(21:29) - The Supply-Side/Demand-Side Seesaw
Feb 26, 2021 • 27min
What Happened in Texas
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - What Happened in Texas
(19:38) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(20:39) - Technology Prosthetics
(21:47) - Brutal Coopetition
(22:58) - From Quotation System to Market-Maker
(24:29) - GameStop Risk
(25:37) - The Bull Market in Conservation
Feb 19, 2021 • 15min
Three Bull Cases for Starlink
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - Three Bull Cases for Starlink
(09:11) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(09:49) - Distributed Business Clusters
(10:27) - More on Texas
(12:07) - The India Model
(13:06) - Clean Shipping
(13:40) - Price Discrimination
Feb 16, 2021 • 7min
Why Did One Internet Subculture Spot Covid-19 So Early?
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - Why Did One Internet Subculture Spot Covid-19 So Early?
(04:37) - Deep Freeze
Feb 12, 2021 • 14min
An Airline IPO? In This Economy?
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - An Airline IPO? In This Economy?
(08:17) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(08:40) - Facebook vs Bullying
(09:19) - Scale and AI
(10:09) - Chip Shortage Updates
(11:30) - Decarbonization
(12:07) - Supermicro, Redux
(13:35) - The Value of Safety: A Natural Experiment
Feb 5, 2021 • 22min
Four Refoundings
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - Four Refoundings
(15:50) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(16:03) - The Other Bitcoin Standard
(17:16) - Carbon Updates
(18:23) - Loyalty and Information
(19:02) - The Chip Shortage
(20:51) - Stimulus: How Much is Too Much?
Jan 29, 2021 • 18min
Messaging Wars, Round Two
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - Messaging Wars, Round Two
(08:38) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(09:16) - GameStop
(12:55) - Too Much of a Good Thing
(14:48) - Controlled Boom
(15:39) - Decarbonizing
(16:11) - Taiwan and China
(16:42) - Local News
Jan 22, 2021 • 28min
The Road Not Taken: Stripe, Ant, PayTM & Defi
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - The Road Not Taken: Stripe, Ant, PayTM & Defi
(21:26) - A Word From Our Sponsors
(21:57) - Facebook's Outsourcing Moderation
(22:47) - Amazon's Outsourced SEO
(23:40) - Scarce and Free Resources
(24:35) - Moderating Social (Pt 3)
(25:28) - Business Travel and Veblen
(26:24) - Intel's Semi-Hack
Jan 15, 2021 • 12min
The Technocrats' Recovery
This is an audio version of the free newsletter. Read the newsletter at thediff.co, and subscribe for an additional 3 posts (and podcasts!) per week.
(00:00) - The Technocrats' Recovery
(06:51) - Big Tech Sees Like a State Update
(08:08) - Why Don't Car Subscriptions Work?
(08:53) - Taylorism-as-a-Service
(09:53) - The Semiconductor Boom
(10:38) - R&D and the Genius Problem
