In the second half of the 2010s, Big Tech looked unstoppable from a financial perspective. Revenue growth rates were through the roof. The biggest problem found with hiring was finding enough office space. New headquarters were the rage. Under the hood, ambitions knew no limits with most of Big Tech looking well beyond their core competencies for future growth opportunities.

Then the pandemic hit. Instead of putting an end to the growth…

Out of all the changes Elon Musk has pushed through at Twitter, rebranding the company to X fits him best. It’s not a business model change, such as pushing paid subscriptions, or a new product feature like allowing longer tweets. Instead, it’s the most outward example of Musk putting his stamp on the company.

In coming up with rationale for the rebranding, Musk put forth an argument of Twitter evolving into something…

The fact that the Hollywood actor and writer strikes (the first time both have gone on strike at the same time in more than 60 years) have not led the online news cycle speaks volumes. Simply put, consumers now have viable video alternatives to Hollywood. In the past week, none of my video content consumption came from professional actors or writers. That isn’t meant to be a knock on such professions but…

The Text Social Wars Will Be Overrated

The video and audio wars have been unfolding for the past decade. In video, we have various battles being waged in paid, free, and algorithm-driven verticals. In audio, podcasts are being used as a way of improving music’s lack of attractive streaming economics for the distributor. These battles, including all the accompanying ups and downs, have been well-telegraphed and chronicled. Set within this content landscape…

The Reddit / Apollo Fiasco

The all-out feud between Reddit and Apollo has offered onlookers a little bit of everything. We have independent developer versus Big Business tension. Reddit, a social news network with approximately 60 million daily users, is looking to IPO later this year. Apollo, a third-party Reddit client for iOS and iPadOS, has become a symbol of much larger themes that transcend a third-party client. Questions are swirling regarding…

TikTok vs. Pixar

Last weekend, Disney saw its second-weakest box office opening for a Pixar film. “Elemental” brought in just $30 million domestically during opening weekend. This has led to various accusations being thrown at Disney CEO Bob Iger, who just saw his CFO resign last week, as to what happened. Talk about a tough stretch.

In what have become perennial excuses, some are saying Disney’s issue is relying too much on…

Criticism facing Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro headset has centered around a consistent theme: Isolation. Wearing the headset has raised concerns for some that society is headed in the wrong direction as we are increasingly removed from our surroundings. This isolation concern is said to be found with those wearing the headset, as well as those wanting to share experiences with headset wearers. A scene of a dad wearing Vision Pro to capture…

Earlier this week, Apple unveiled Vision Pro, its first headset. After spending 30 minutes using the headset at Apple Park, it was clear that the technology powering Vision Pro is going to change the world. Entire industries will implode while new ones will be born. Spatial computing headsets will not be a novelty toy only found in tech circles. Instead, we are going to see the headsets usher in new competitive battles…

Last week, NVIDIA’s market capitalization rose by $183 billion. The post-earnings move represented the third-largest daily market cap shift to date. It was close to winning the title for the all-time largest daily move. It was very on point for such a remarkable occasion to be connected to the AI craze that has swept over Silicon Valley, and increasingly Wall Street, in 2023. The way ChatGPT came on the scene and got…

Disney finds itself in an awkward place. From a financial perspective, things are humming along. Disney Parks are busy printing cash. Linear networks are offsetting ongoing losses in streaming.  From a PR perspective, the Disney train is off the rails. Bob Iger is embroiled in an all-out feud with Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida. Caught in the crosshairs: Disney Imagineering – one of the storied groups within the company, responsible for customer-facing…

The 2010s was a fascinating decade for the digital publishing space. As hundreds of millions of people embraced smartphones for the first time and social media giants found their footing, the way we consume media began to change. Vice Media was a key player in this shift. Put on the map by intriguing video reporting from Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, Vice rode the new media wave to the top, getting…

It’s been six months since Elon Musk took over Twitter. Given seemingly daily crises and shocking revelations, it feels much longer than six months. One thing is for sure: Musk is shaping Twitter to his liking. The number of Twitter employees has been reduced by a whopping 90%. The blue check mark era ended abruptly. A war on tweets with outward links has been waged.

Along with those user-facing changes, Musk has…

Ahead of this year’s MLB (Major League Baseball) season, there was genuine concern that a pitch clock would ruin the game. A month into the shortened-game era, and it’s tough to find much of a debate about the pitch clock. Fans love it. The change is a great example of how live sports are being impacted by other uses for our time, including social media and free streaming video. One can’t shake…

The media universe was shaken to its core earlier this week as news of Tucker Carlson getting fired from Fox News was followed within minutes of CNN firing Don Lemon. Both were arguably their network’s most outspoken talking heads. Bad news is said to come in threes. One day later, Nate Silver was out at ABC News, torn away from his 538 blog that he started in 2008.

While there are stark…

Earlier this week, Apple unveiled a new high-yield savings account in partnership with Goldman Sachs. The arrangement’s underpinnings point to a development in fintech land that can’t be ignored: Tech giants leveraging legacy financial institutions to offer new age financial services to their existing users. In the process, customer acquisition costs are kept to a minimum. This dynamic creates a scenario that will make it that much harder for what has been…

GM sent shockwaves through the auto and tech industries last week by saying it was moving away from Apple CarPlay and Android Auto for future electric vehicles unveiled in 2024 and beyond. The auto industry had been displaying a surprising amount of order in recent years considering the amount of change that was said to be coming. GM’s decision has likely interrupted assumptions about where the competitive battle lines will be found.

Bob Iger isn’t wasting time attempting to put Disney on his preferred track. Yesterday, the WSJ reported that Iger had axed Disney’s metaverse and membership teams – two initiatives in their infancy that were spearheaded by Bob Chapek. This follows a reorganization a few weeks back that returned power to the company’s creative executives. Disney is just one of a handful of companies that have been changing strategies to get a better…

Talk of there being a “tech recession” has picked up in recent months. Weakness in advertising, slowing revenue growth in cloud services, and even declining digital goods commerce has fueled the tech recession talk. Amidst all the chatter, one development that has flown under the radar is just how tough it’s become in the consumer gadget space.

The stage needs to be set before going any further. The consumer gadget space has…

Last week, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), known for its 35-year relationship with the tech start-up scene, imploded. It's very easy, and maybe even tempting, to position Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse as something bigger - a canary in the coal mine for Peak Tech. Such thinking breaks down into the following:

In the electric vehicle (EV) space, some of the most interesting observations aren’t found with Tesla or legacy auto. Instead, we need to turn to an EV startup called Rivian.

With a lineup consisting of the $73,000 R1T pickup (accepting reservations with deliveries expected later this year) and the $78,000 R1S SUV (accepting reservations with deliveries expected in 2024), Rivian learned from those who came before it by skipping smaller sedans and…