Down Round

Down Round
  • 5.0 (96)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Down Round

The number one podcast about tech business and culture, from James "JR" Hennessy and Raph Dixon.

  1. 4 DAYS AGO

    The StarCraft Losers Club

    Today's ep is the first and last edition of the Down Round Book club. We're talking about Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, by Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier. It documents the story of Blizzard Entertainment, the developer behind WarCraft, Diablo and StarCraft which is as of last year a subsidiary of Microsoft. James read it last week and felt it hit on some interesting Down Round areas, namely: The evolution of monetisation Why eSports was never going to work The tension between art and commerce in creative businesses Laundry powder, which we discuss for at least 5 minutes See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    51 min

  2. 5 DAYS AGO

    BONUS: Arming The Rebels (feat. James Chin Moody)

    We're lauching a bonus episode this week to officially welcome in the silly season (commences mid October). We're joined by James Chin Moody, CEO of Sendle, a virtual courier service who is quite likely responsible for some proportion of the treats you receive via mail. We discuss the Australia Post monopoly, the funding environment and the future of ecommerce. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    40 min

  3. 15 OCT

    Unpacking Tesla's Robotaxi Fantasy

    It's another Tesla event, folks. At the tail end of last week, Elon Musk got up on stage and showed off the CyberCab, the company's attempt at a robotaxi. He also gave us some updates on Tesla's humanoid robot, Optimus, and even had some of these evil computer men walking around the event and serving beers. But there was some digital trickery afoot, and not everything was as it seemed. In this episode, we discuss. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    52 min

  4. 3 OCT

    Talking About The Computer While Talking About The Computer (PREVIEW)

    This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. Fun times create happy people, happy people create lovely times, lovely times create fun people. It's another loose, shot from the hip premium ep, folks. ChatGPT’s voice mode is finally here, while OpenAI itself s going through more weird palace intrigue for us to pick through.  A digression into AI podcasts. Meanwhile, all the VCs and founders are arguing about drugs. So we will too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 min

  5. 1 OCT

    The Society of the Spectacles

    In last week's premium episode, we sounded off about the state of VR and smart glasses. In true Down Round fashion, Meta had already announced its concept product, a pair of AR-enabled smart glasses named Orion, by the time the ep aired. We will never admit we were wrong. Instead, we press forward. In this ep, we talk about Orion, Meta's plans, and why it seems like everyone is now locked in on the idea that smart glasses are the smartphone successor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    45 min

  6. 24 SEPT

    Intel Outside

    Intel may have more or less invented modern digital computing, but it hasn't been going so crash hot lately. Following decades of strategic missteps and blunders, it's now experiencing weakening earnings and stock price declines as it attempts to engage in the mother of all turnaround jobs with a little help from the US government. Now, the sharks are circling, with Qualcomm popping up as a potential acquirer. In this ep, we discuss what brought Intel to this point, what might happen next, and some general microchip chatter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    47 min

  7. 19 SEPT

    How Many Rs Are There In Strawberry? (PREVIEW)

    This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. After 2 months of cringe-posting references to strawberries, OpenAI have released their latest model: o1. And AI heads are losing their minds. Ostensibly, it's intended for the kind of thorny math and reasoning problems that LLMs tend to struggle with. The guts aren't public, but it seems to use chain-of-reasoning prompts to really force itself to 'think'.  So, is it any good? Is this a huge step change on the path to AGI. We investigate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    5 min

  8. 17 SEPT

    Accelerating The iPhone Supercycle

    We didn't cover the Apple iPhone keynote last week because it wasn't particularly exciting and there were virtually no surprises. But, having been given a week to ruminate on it, we have thoughts. In this ep, we talk about why analysts have been obsessed with an AI-driven iPhone supercycle, why Apple has backed itself into a corner by overcharging for RAM, and the slow death of the smartphone. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    36 min
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Hosts & Guests

5
out of 5
96 Ratings

About

The number one podcast about tech business and culture, from James "JR" Hennessy and Raph Dixon.

Information

  • Creator
    Down Round
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2024
  • Episodes
    205
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Down Round
  • Show Website
    Down Round

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