Author: Ben Thompson

Ben and James discuss Apple versus the FBI. Links James Allworth: The U.S. has Gone F&*%ing Mad — Medium James Allworth: How the Apple/FBI Fight Risks the Whole U.S. Tech Industry — Harvard Business Review Ben Thompson: Apple, The FBI, and Security — Stratechery Radley Balko: Surprise! Controversial Patriot Act Power Now Overwhelmingly Used in Drug Investigations — The Washington Post Exclusive: Apple CEO Tim Cook Says iPhone-Cracking Software ‘Equivalent of Cancer’ — ABC News More Support for Justice Department Than for Apple in Dispute Over Unlocking iPhone — Pew Research Center Solid Support for Apple in iPhone Encryption Fight: … Continue reading Episode 068 — Binary Backdoors

Ben and James discuss the mistakes made by Zenefits, when to challenge regulation, and the problem with short-term thinking. This podcast was recorded before the Apple/FBI news broke; we currently plan to cover that next week. Links Ben Thompson: Fidelity Reprices Again — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Zenefits and Regulation — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Follow-up to The Reality of Missing Out — Stratechery Daily Update James Allworth: High Frequency Trading and Finance’s Race to Irrelevance — Harvard Business Review Here is the letter the world’s largest investor, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, just sent to CEOs everywhere — Business Insider … Continue reading Episode 067 — Weighing and Voting

Ben and James discuss winner-take-all dynamics and its implications for advertising, bubble talk, and venture capital. Plus, what Facebook and Marc Andreessen got wrong about Free Basics and India. This episode is sponsored by Wunder Capital. Make a good investment and do good at the same time through Wunder Capital’s solar investment opportunities. Create an account for free at WunderCapital.com/exponent. Links Ben Thompson: The Reality of Missing Out — Stratechery Leslie Picker and Peter Eavis: Deal Shows Investors Are Willing to Make a Blind Bet on Uber — The New York Times Mike Isaac: Delivery Start-Ups Face Road Bumps in … Continue reading Episode 066 — You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Ben and James discuss Apple earnings, Twitter’s troubles, and whether or not the Internet is over-rated. This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/exponent. Links Ben Thompson: Apple’s Good Earnings, Apple is Not a Services Company — Stratechery Daily Update Paul Carsten: China Smartphone Glory Days Are Over as Apple, Xiaomi Face Tough Times — Reuters Ben Thompson: How Facebook Squashed Twitter — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Twitter Follow-up — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Twitter’s Marketing Problem — Stratechery James Allworth and Ben Thompson: Check Facebook Time — … Continue reading Episode 065 — Competing Against Non-Consumption

Ben and James discuss the Donald Trump and inequality, then FANG, Aggregation Theory, and Disruption. This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/exponent. Links Michael Brendan: How an Obscure Adviser to Pat Buchanan Predicted the Wild Trump Campaign in 1996 — The Week John Gruber and Phil Schiller: Live From WWDC 2015, with Special Guest Phil Schiller — The Talk Show Ben Thompson: The FANG Playbook — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Netflix Goes Global — Stratechery Daily Update … Continue reading Episode 064 — Disrupting Trump

Ben and James discuss the future of cars and transportation. This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Ben Thompson: Cars and the Future — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Car Follow-up, The Apple Car, Uber’s Financials — Stratechery Daily Update Ben Thompson: Why Uber Fights — Stratechery Lee Gomes: Driving in Circles — Slate Melena Ryzik: How Uber Is Changing Night Life in Los Angeles — The New York Times Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed iTunes SoundCloud Twitter Feedback … Continue reading Episode 063 — Driving Into the Future

Ben and James discuss Paul Graham’s essay on inequality and the politics of technology. This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Ben Thompson: A Politics for Technology — Stratechery Paul Graham: Economic Inequality — Stratechery Ezra Klein: A Top Venture Capitalist Thinks Startups are Causing Inequality. He’s Wrong. — Vox Noam Scheiber and Patricia Cohen: For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions — The New York Times Gregory Ferenstein: The Unusual Politics of Silicon Valley, Explained — Vox Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, … Continue reading Episode 062 — Give Some to Get Some

Ben and James discuss OpenAI’s new mission and what it says about capitalism. Or is it just a strategy credit that we are reading too much into? This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Ben Thompson: “Yep, broken.” — Twitter James Allworth: Is OpenAI Solving the Wrong Problem? — Harvard Busines Review Introducing OpenAI — OpenAI Steven Levy: How Elon Musk and Y Combinator Plan to Stop Computers From Taking Over — Backchannel Ben Thompson: OpenAI, Artificial Intelligence and Data, Data and Recruiting — Stratechery Daily … Continue reading Episode 061 — OpenAI and Strategy Credits

Ben and James discuss when disruption theory is useful — and when it isn’t. Note: We apologize for some mic fuzz issues on this podcast. This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Clayton Christensen: What is Disruptive Innovation? — Harvard Business Review Ben Thompson: Beyond Disruption — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Obsoletive — Stratechery Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery Ben Thompson: Tesla and Beyond Disruption — Stratechery Daily Update Hosts Ben Thompson, @benthompson, Stratechery James Allworth, @jamesallworth, Harvard Business Review Podcast Information Feed … Continue reading Episode 060 — Beyond Disruption

Ben and James touch on Twitter’s new “Like” button before diving into what might be a new model for publishing. Then, a discussion of bundle economics and Stratechery’s future. Buckle up! This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent. Links Ben Thompson: Grantland and the (Surprising) Future of Publishing — Stratechery Todd VanDerWerff: 2015 Is the Year the Old Internet Finally Died — Vox Episode 012: The Internet Rainforest — Exponent Chris Dixon: How Bundling Benefits Sellers and Buyers — cdixon blog Ben Thompson: Ballmer’s Bad Bundle Economics … Continue reading Episode 058 — The Attention Market