Down Round
Down Round is a podcast about technology, business, and culture. It is hosted by James "JR" Hennessy and Raph Dixon. The show examines the startup ecosystem, tech industry trends, and the broader cultural forces shaping them. It offers candid conversations and analysis for listeners interested in how technology and business intersect.
Episodes
R.I.P The Free Internet
Reddit's CEO has stated that the forum site will move to “a logged-in-only experience”, and has pointed the finger at AI for forcing this change. When you ask google "Best Computer to buy 2026 Reddit" it now gives you the reddit consensus in it's summary, you're no longer browsing Reddit and giving them precious ad revenue. Is this the last domino to fall for the death of the 'free int
A Monumentally Important Episode
Years in the future historians will cite this humble podcast episode as a first hand account of an irreversible shift. There is now only the before and the after. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
BONUS: Richard Cooke Book Launch Interview
Friend of the pod Richard Cooke has published his new book - The Last Best Place on the Internet: A Human History of Wikipedia. At his book launch in Sydney, James and Raph of Down Round podcast fame sat down for a discussion of the work, the human interest story behind it, and of course AI. Grab yourself a copy of the book here: https://richardcooke.com/books Recorded live at Gleebooks Sydney on
Tesla Roadster And Apple Home
Elon Musk and his cronies over at Tesla had an event last week where they showed off the latest version of the Roadster. You may be thinking 'hey, didn't they announce that car like 8 years ago?' Yes, they did, yet it remains unreleased. Tesla have also kicked that can down the road another 2 years, announcing a 2028 release. Who better to detangle this web of theatrics than Henno and the Riph Rap
The Firmus IPO Disaster
Over the course of a week, Aussie neocloud company Firmus went from expecting a $40B IPO to cancelling it all together. The company and its Co-CEO Oliver Curtis have, to some, become a punching bag for the media and online critics alike. On the other hand, some are suggesting that Australia's 'tall poppy syndrome' may be obscuring a key opportunity for the country to get a slice of the AI pie. In
Hallowed Be Thy Tokens
Some higher-up from Anthropic tried to talk the Pope into conceding that AI agents have a consciousness. Your hosts, Henno and The Riph Raph, discuss why they would make this claim, whether it's a possibility, and what it really means to be sentient.Get your tickets for the Richard Cooke Book launch AKA Down Round LIVE: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1647769If you like the pod, chu
Did Sam Altman Steal My Medicare Card?
OpenAI "hacked" an Australian Government website and said NOTHING!? Well, sort of?Albo pulled up his big boy pants and stormed up to New York on Thursday to tell the world and Sam Altman that he was displeased with OpenAI's recklessness in allowing their bots to scrape the "Medicare statistics reporting service portal". But, it didn't necessarily break any laws - it didn't use any passwords or wor
AI for the Normies
Raph and James sit down to answer a simple question: what the hell does an average person need an AI agent for?This question arises from the recent launch of Joe Schmoe-targeted agentic AI platforms like Instinct and Meta's Muse. Until now, AI agents have been the pipe dreams of techno sickos, who aim to use them for nefarious means like booking pickleball courts. Are the normies ready to start ag
I Don't Wanna Be A Paperclip
After a former Anthropic employee went on a press tour telling everyone he quite because the stuff they're cooking up is big and scary, a whole new round of discourse has hit the proverbial fan. Many of the big players have come out to say "yes, we SHOULD be pumping the breaks!" but only in a particular way and without too much government intervention? There's a whole lot to dig through and a whol
AGI is here?
Artificial General Intelligence. Computers using computers. Computers getting Raph a coffee because he yelled "me coffee". Computers curing diseases before we even discover them. Computers discovering the infinite money glitch and creating a work-free utopia. Sound familiar? Well, it should! Because clearly, since the release of OpenAI's GPT-6: Astra, Artificial General Intelligence has been achie
Flock Cameras: Safety or Surveillance?
In the past few years, Flock Safety have peppered the United States with their license plate reading cameras. Together, they form a lattice network capable of tracking anyone with pinpoint accuracy across a wide area. Lately, they have become the subject of widespread backlash, as citizens raise numerous concerns including privacy, misuse by law enforcement (including ICE), and the cameras being l
Cameras on Everything: Hardware in 2026
That damned rumour mill is spinning up again with word that the next AirPod Pro model will feature cameras in the ear buds. Is this really true? Kind of, but probably not the way you think. James and Raph sat down to discuss the prevalence of cameras and surveillance in modern tech/our lives. But first, Raph gives James a gift? If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choic
AI Markers: The Scarlet Letter
The EU is making AI companies put identifiable markers in their AI generated content, so that they can be easily spotted as such. A lot of the big hitters have played ball, but it opens up an interesting discussion about how much AI use earns the title of slop, who stands to benefit from it, and whether or not the models' outputs are going to be worse as a result. If you like the pod, chuck
Demis Hassabis and Google's AI Plan
Demis Hassabis has stepped up/down/around from his position as CEO of Google Deepmind, becoming Chair of Deepmind and Chief Scientist at Alphabet. "Henno and the Riph Raph" discuss how this reflects on Google and it's AI landscape as a whole. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS a
Wunderkind No More
Eminent babychild/investor Leopold Aschenbrenner has been in the news lately as his over-leveraged AI fund "Situational Awareness" collapsed in a dramatic fashion. Interestingly, the portfolio shares striking ideological similarities with the Down Round Investment Fund™️... If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up
The Future of Computers ft. Dan Nolan
One of the oldest friends-of-the-pod, Dan Nolan returns triumphant, joining James and Raph for some victory laps and speculation on the future of AI and computing. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform
Battle Lines are Drawn
President Xi has weighed in on the AI chat, touting the virtues of open source models as a great equaliser for AI as a tool across the world. Some American AI heads are shitting and pissing their pants because of the threat open source could pose to their business models. James and Raph discuss the potential road map for a future where China's powerful and cheap models take a dominant position in
OpenAI: New App, New Lawsuit, New Beef
🥚 I WANT TO CONSULT THE EGG. 🥚 In a grab-bag style, James and Raph plunge into the murky waters of OpenAI's current state. They're being sued by Apple for [allegedly] doing corporate espionage, they've released a new desktop app which is alienating parts of their audience, and Sam "Scam Altman" Altman is on twitter chatting a bunch of shit about his competitors. Where is this all going? STAY TUNED
Bending Spoons' Spending Boons
Bending Spoons, a company you may not have heard of, went public last week and had a decent pop. Some people are attributing this as a short bet on software. The boys sit down to discuss the market dynamics at play and dissect the company's playbook. PLUS! Cow chat. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get
Don't Tread on GPT
We're back to discuss this whole Anthropic Mythos thing again, this time with a focus on one question: Should the U.S. government exercise control over the AI companies, deciding what is and isn't suitable for release? Also, Raph sings a song. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extr
Snap Specs
Glasses/goggle chat is so back, folks. Today our hosts convene to discuss Snap, the company best known for creating Snapchat. You know, the app for teenagers and perverts alike. Last week they announced their new 'SPECS', a chunky pair of AR glasses. They make some big promises, but a high price tag and a few obvious hurdles brought them wide skepticism and ridicule online. Paradigm shift coming?
Anthropic's Fable is TOO POWERFUL
Anthropic has been talking up their world-threateningly powerful new Mythos model, suggesting it needs to be held back from the public because we cretins can't be trusted with it. So they gave us a nerfed version called 'Fable', but the US government got tipped off, said "Not today, champ" and forced Anthropic to take it back down. James and Raph come together this week to discuss why this all hap
WWDC 2026
Apple's annual World Wide Developer Conference happened on Monday. It was an odd one, with a large emphasis on safety and trust, with a little bit of mea culpa sprinkled in after their promised AI features from a few years ago have still failed to ship. Did they announce any cool new features coming to your iPhone in the coming months? Well, that depends if you think protecting children from gore
Anthropic: Might IPO Maybe Sometime Eventually?
Anthropic have confidentially filed for an IPO, slipstreaming in behind SpaceX in the race to be the first AI shop to go public. Whether or not you are claude-pilled, the move could shed some light on the guts of the company and give us a peek at how these AI companies are running things. Also, a humanoid robot thesis is born. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice
SpaceX IPO: $1.7 Trillion for What?
Elon Musk's SpaceX is hurtling towards and IPO and have dropped their S1 document. James and Raph come together to elucidate what the hell is going on in there, and how the company attempts to justify a $1.7 Trillion valuation.If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every w
Elon vs OpenAI: Pt. 1
Across timezones and many oceans, our intrepid boys commune via video chat to dig into the top story of the last week or so - Musk vs OpenAI. You may recall that Musk was a part of OpenAI in it's infancy as an AI safety org. Well, now it's gone from a not-for-profit organisation to a public benefit corporation, and Musk reckons he's owed his slice of the pie. Idk something along those lines, I don
Kick Streaming: Degenerate Playground
You've heard of Twitch, formerly Justin.tv, the website where you watch sweaty guys play Fortnite. But are you aware that there is a dark and twisted bizarro Twitch called 'Kick'? It's where some of our planet's greatest degenerates have decided to call home, with extremely lax terms of service allowing them to do and show much more than they could on the comparatively draconian purple app. Your c
Manus and Meta: Forbidden Lovers
Meta bought this company called Manus AI which is like some sort of computer thing? It's from China but they moved to Singapore? Anyway the deal was basically done but then the Chinese government was like "actually, nah". Kinda nuts.Jimmy H and Rapho had a chat about that AND the new Deep Seek drop being a bit of a nothing-burger. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of ch
Tim Cook Is Out
ALERT, ALERT: Timmy Cook is officially stepping down from his CEO position, but it's more like a step to one side as he shifts into chairman mode. His replacement has been announced as John Ternus, Apple's current senior vice president of hardware engineering. So, what legacy is big Cookie leaving behind, and what will change with Ternus at the helm?ALSO, a quick run down on that Allbirds AI thing
Zuckerbot Agrees With Us
Remember when Zuck chucked a hissy fit and started headhunting a bunch of AI weapons and offered them 9 figure salaries to work at Meta AI? Well, this crack team of computer geeks have gone and announced their first AI model. James and Raph pick through the details and try to discern just where Meta might fit in this whole AI debacle.Plus, they made an AI clone of Mark Zuckerberg for their staff t
Scam Altman
So, OpenAI bought a podcast? For possibly hundreds of millions? Most importantly, it wasn't us?Our spurned hosts come together to question the decision with the jealous contempt of an ex-lover. Moving through the stages of grief, we also interrogate Sam Altman's character, and whether he even deserved us in the first place, as some have recently called him duplicitous and sociopathic. Lose our num
Claude Down Under
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has graced the land of plenty this week, opening an office in Sydney before swinging by Canberra to put the fear of god into our elected officials on big, spooky, scary AI bots coming to take your job and wife. The boys use this as a springboard to examine Australia's relationship with AI and data centres, whether these execs are trying to 'pull the ladder up behind them
Sora? I Hardly Know 'Er!
Another week, another episode about OpenAI. The eponymous chatbot company has announced that it's video generation/social media app Sora is shutting up shop as they seem to be chasing Anthropic's enterprise focused success. This is important to discuss because it means the boys were sort of right again? They also dipped their toes into the sloppy waters of AI Fruit Love Island, and wrapped back ar
State of Play Pt.1
Week two of baby season and we're still out here, still feeding you content-starved little varmints hot and fresh intelligence. This week, we thought it was a good time for a general temperature check on the AI world. Who's leading, who's flailing, and who the hell is curing their dog's cancer with ChatGPT. Join us for the first part here, then head over to DownRound.net to get Premium access
🚨 Down Round Official Breaking News Announcement Alert PSA
We come to you with an urgent alert for all Down Round subscribers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Anthropic Goes To War
For today's free ep, we examine the current spat between Anthropic and Trump's Department of War over use of their AI model Claude. Should a next-token prediction model be allowed to make decisions in the heat of battle? Should the snuffing out of a human life be prompted by a computer? Is Mark Zuckerberg losing his white boy swag? These are all important questions which WILL be answered in this e
The Far-Flung Future of 2028
When one thinks of impossible futures, they often think of a luxurious, technological wonderland. An unimaginable utopia where humans live in perfect harmony, their every want and need being fulfilled through meteoric advances in artificial intelligence. A prosperous society of abundance and civility.But what if these same technological strides lead humanity to a different, more sinister outcome.
Down Round Q&A Pt.1
Some have argued that doing Q&A episodes is just a way of farming out the hard bits of doing a podcast to your audience. Not around these parts, buster. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
OpenAI vs Anthropic
Gossip episode alert. The OpenAI/Anthropic rivalry is boiling over. We sip on the most piping hot tea around OpenAI and Anthropic's ad spots at the Super Bowl and the growing animosity between the two giants. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio
The SpaceX + xAI Merger
Keen-eared listeners may remember when Elon bought his own company X (formerly Twitter) with his OpenAI spite company xAI. Well, he's done it again, folks. This time SpaceX has bought xAI, meaning that SpaceX now owns xAI and X as part of the largest private company on Earth. We discuss. If you like the pod, chuck us a review on your podcast player of choice, or go to downround.net to sign up for
Airwallex + Payments
You asked, we answered. We're doing a much-requested episode on "Australian" fintech Airwallex, which has gotten a lot of untoward attention of late — anti-money laundering audits, accusations by American VCs of being a financial backdoor to China. But there's a bigger story here: the proliferation of payments companies doing a big land grab from traditional financial institutions, and quick
Is SaaS Dead?
As somewhat of a follow up to our Claude Code/Coworker episode last week, today we regroup to evaluate what it could mean for YOUR favourite SaaS products. That's right, folks, AI is coming to take away your precious QuickBooks and you're going to watch and clap as it rips and tears it to pieces. We also touched (if briefly) on the Siri x Gemini announcement. If you like the pod, chuck us a 5 star
Grok Freaks Rejoice
New year, new studio, same red hot takes. This episode covers the typhoon of AI-generated filth created by Grok, Elon Musk's AI venture, currently flooding X. We also touch on the general state of X as a platform. Go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Xmas Spectacular 2025: Has He Got The Juice? (ft. Mark Di Stefano)
We're joined by friend of the pod and Rear Window columnist Mark Di Stefano for a loose chat covering a swathe of topics from capital-J Journalism, the tech oligopoly and AI in politics. This is our final dispatch from our Christmas recording.Go to downround.net to sign up for PREMIUM to get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information
Xmas Spectacular 2025: Shart Tank, Pt 1
We're joined by Rowan "Joyride" Dix and Becky "Becky Lucas" Lucas for another round of our annual community shark tank, where we listen to our listeners pitch their startup ideas and decide whether we're going to invest.Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM to hear the other 45 minutes of Shark Tank, get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week.See omnystudio.com/listen
Xmas Spectacular 2025: The Year That Was
In the inaugural episode of this years holiday special, we rack up Ws as we dissect the predictions we made last silly season for 2025. Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM and get ad-free listening PLUS an extra episode every week. In this week's premium ep, we make our predictions for 2026, which will almost certainly come true (not financial advice).See omnystudio.com/li
Feelin' Fine
A highly requested topic in the Down Round Discord is mental health and mindfulness apps — from meditation platforms like Calm to therapist marketplaces like BetterHelp. That's the topic of today, discussing the boom during the ZIRP era, the peak during COVID, and how it all relates to other engagement platforms like Duolingo.Go to https://www.downround.net/ to sign up for PREMIUM and g
Netflix Eats Everything
Netflix wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. Both for many billions of dollars. Why? We break down the $70 – 100 billion bids, the Ellison–Trump court politics, and why this could mark the final enclosure of the film industry by tech. Also: James chronicles the history of film industry disruption, and Raph reveals his long-awaited
Everything is Sportsbet Now
This week we're going deep on the rise of prediction markets — the hybrid of futures trading, sports gambling, and economic theology that suddenly seems to have eaten the world. Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi are booming and an increasingly big part of both tech culture and also gambling culture. We trace the whole arc: from Hayekian fantasies about prices revealing truth, to the far b
The Slop Farms of X
This week, we open with the final chapter of Frank, the student finance startup that sold JP Morgan a fake email list. Founder Charlie Javice is in prison for fraud, but the bank is still footing a $115 million legal bill that includes everything from luxury hotels to cellulite butter. Then we move onto Nvidia, which posted another absurd quarter with revenue up 60% year-on-year. Then finally
It's Just Autocomplete
This week we unpack a growing split inside the AI world, centred on Yann LeCun — Meta’s AI pioneer who thinks LLMs are a dead end. Reports suggest he’s preparing to walk, after being quietly sidelined under Meta’s “superintelligence” push and made subordinate to a 28-year-old ex-data-labelling kingpin, Alexander Wang. His alternative is the “world model&rd
Apple’s Passive Income Era
Down Round hasn't checked in on Cupertino in a little while. This week, we take stock of Apple’s strange position in the AI boom — not really innovating very much, but quietly raking in billions as everyone else builds data centres. From Siri’s long road to Gemini, to the cult of thinness and the ghost of Johnny Ive, we talk about how Apple keeps winning by doing less. Plus
Data Centres 101
We realised that we've been talking a lot about data centres but have gotten pretty pointy headed about it, without bringing our beautiful listeners along for the ride. We apologise. This episode is us pumping the brakes, going back to first principles and explaining the current data centre situation — from where they started, all the way to the current massive buildout due to the AI boom.
Spotify for Sickos
Today's episode is on the back of a curious report from The Information that Suno, the AI music generation app, now brings in $150 million in annual recurring revenue. That's not Meta level, but it's not bad either. It opens up a discussion of how the world of AI generated content is progressing, including chat about OpenAI's Sora colonising TikTok and Reels with meme videos. See omnystu
Atlas Shrugged
As was long predicted, OpenAI has released a browser: ChatGPT Atlas. It's a pretty clear attempt to attack Google's $100B search moat and establish a new surface for all the stuff OpenAI wants to do with agentic AI, personal assistants and all the rest of it. But is it any good? We find out. Also, another conclusion to TIKTOK BANWATCH.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Getting Steamy
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made an interesting little announcement this week: the company has mitigated mental health concerns on its platform... and it's ready to let its users generate erotica. Now that might seem a little strange to you. Most of the internet had a similar response, actually. In this episode, we talk more about one of our favourite pet topics — weird parasocial relationships wi
Investigating The Mumgorithm (feat. Humyara Mahbub)
This week, Down Round is diving into the world of parenting and technology — everything from the various devices and gizmos targeted at parents, through to the algorithm that swamps your feed the moment you become a new parent. Joining us to help us understand the deep mysteries of the mumgorithm is Humyara Mahbub of the Baby Shoes podcast, who is a world-renowned expert in ads on
Vibes Off
Vibes are up this week. Alexandr Wang, the former Scale AI CEO who now runs Meta's new multi-billion dollar Superintelligence unit, has announced one of their first products: What if TikTok but only AI slop?Vibes is a feed full of AI videos. That sounds like an idiotic thing to put the greatest and highest paid minds of our generation onto. Unless?Sign up to Down Round Premium: downround.netSee om
Meta Glasses, Again
We all know that Meta wants to replace the smartphone with smartglasses, and be the king of the AI device game. Well, they're one step closer to their sci-fi dream with the announcement of the Meta Rayban Display. In this ep, we dive into the announcement, and how things are coming together on the device front for Zuckerberg and Co.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Consulting the Oracle
Oracle. Unless you're a big database guy, it's probably not a company you're going to be all that interested in. But it is one of the biggest companies on Earth, and its stock just pumped 40% — not something you often see for an outfit which started in the 1970s. Why? Because it just signed a $300 billion multiyear deal with OpenAI to provide compute. In this ep, we dive into the big questio
iPhone, But Orange
Apple have announced their new iPhones — and they sort of stink of desperation. But one of them is orange, which may or may not appeal to you. Plus, a notable absence of Apple Intelligence chat. The boys are back in the same room after a prolonged interregnum and break it all down for you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
K-Pop Demon Hunters
We're dipping into the world of streaming and East Asian cultural dominance today, talking about Netflix's smash hit movie K-Pop Demon Hunters. We talk about the pandemic era deal struck between Sony and Netflix, what this means for the streaming landscape, and whether it would have been as much of a cultural phenomenon if it was a traditional cinematic release.See omnystudio.com/listener for
Copy Fight (UNLOCKED)
A big topic of conversation Down Under over the past couple of weeks has been copyright — namely, whether we should loosen the rules to make it easier for AI companies to operate in Australia, and for data centre companies to build here. The Productivity Commission and Tech Council boss Scott Farquhar think we should. Creatives are less enthused. We go into the dynamics of the conversation,
GPT-5: Here We Go Again
After many months of hype and news stories, OpenAI has released GPT-5, the next major numbered iteration of its large language model. There have been all sorts of models since it released GPT-4 in 2023, but this is supposed to be the big dog. In this ep, we talk about the rocky launch — starting with the fact that most people aren't that impressed with it, and ending with the much weirder wo
What Are They Planning? (ft. Cam Wilson)
Today James is joined by previous Down Round guest Cam Wilson, who has written a new book with (another former Down Round guest) Ariel Bogle, Conspiracy Nation, which is about the Australian conspiracy community. While Raph is living it up on the coastline of Croatia, James and Cam had a freewheeling chat about online conspiracy culture, how it has engaged with online platforms, and the futur
Knock On (ft. Tim Stewart)
Several years ago, Down Round listener Tim Stewart submitted a question to one of our Q&A mailbag episodes: when is the new rugby league video game for PlayStation 5 coming out? We couldn't answer him, because we didn't know what the hell he was talking about. But now, years later, it has come out, and everyone seems to agree it's really not very good. So we decided to bring Tim on to finally
That's Tea
Tea, the app which offers what it describes as "dating safety tools which protect women", has been hacked. It follows a couple of weeks where it went viral and led the app charts in the US. For those not familiar, it is basically an app version of those 'are we dating the same guy' Facebook groups, where women share pics, tips and intel on bad dates and dangerous men. In this ep, we talk about the
Microsoft's Xbox Conundrum
Microsoft slashed 9,000 jobs a few weeks ago, with the Xbox division taking a hit including some studio closures. What about that $70 BILLION Activision Blizzard acquisition just a couple of years ago? It sounds like fertile ground for of Raph's largest victory laps to date, after he suggested Microsoft should have ditched Xbox years ago. But first, an update on xAI after last week's ep. Grok 4 ha
Grok: Elon's $28 Billion Slur Machine
Elon Musk's AI chatbot, Grok, went "Kanye Mode" — becoming openly Nazi, seemingly out of nowhere. The boys get to the bottom of the root cause, and muse on the big question: what is the point of Grok anyway? Out: Platforms spending millions on content moderation to root our hate speech. In: Spending billions to have your platform literally spew hate speech. Also: an unprecedented Down Round
Meta's Highway Robbery
For a few weeks, we've been talking about Meta's revenge tour in Silicon Valley, throwing massive bonuses at AI talent at rival companies in order to tempt them over to Zuck's domain. Well, it seems to have paid off now — and the company has announced its Superintelligence team, packed with talent they managed to poach. Then, we go into a Bloomberg story which suggests that Apple could be re
Reading Out Confidential Emails Live On The Air
After the fanfare of the OpenAI/Jony Ive multibillion-dollar device partnership, io, all references were scrubbed from the internet as if it never happened. After rampant speculation, it was revealed that it was over a claim the whole thing was stolen. From some guy named Jason, no less. Seems like OpenAI is a real drama magnet. We discuss the case, including some screenshots of emails that Sam Al
They Do Ads On Computers Now
Canva has made another acquisition: MagicBrief, the advertising command centre founded by a dear friend of the pod. In this ep, we talk about the acquisition, where it fits in Canva's strategy, and wind off into a bigger chat about the ad market. Then, for some reason, we talk about Apple Music and Spotify. Real smorgasbord here folks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
WWDC 2025: Extreme Liquidity
Apple had its software development conference this week. It announced a whole new design language filled with organic movements and over-the-top animations, serving as the perfect distraction from the company's very public missteps in AI.We go through everything you need to know. Well, at least 60% of it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Grammarly's Second Wind
Remember Grammarly? Of course you do. The briefly ubiquitous piece of software that made sure you were using your possessive apostrophes correctly. Well, guess what? They just received $1 billion in nondilutive investment from General Catalyst to become an all-in-one AI platform? Sounds like bullshit? Well, probably. But it's a business model we'll be seeing more of. We chat through the rise of zo
It's Q&A Time Pt. 1
It's been a while since we've done of these. We answer your burning questions on topics including but not limited to: Jony Ive's partnership with OpenAI Apple after Tim Cook Atlassian and Immutable, two Australian unicorns Ranking the Magnificent 7 tech stocks by aura/swag See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Google's Little Victory Lap
We've been saying for a little while that Google has caught up in AI, and is now trying to deploy the full force of its product range and scale to the problem of achieving domination. Dunno if they're there yet, but the I/O conference shows that they're still got a few tricks up their sleeve. In this ep, we go into what they announced, including some interesting movements on our recent chats about
Airbnb for Everything
Airbnb is in a mid-life crisis. Founder Brian Chesky is undergoing one of his routine meltdowns where he suddenly decides that the short-stay rental platform should actually be a ticket-clipping mediator of literally all human experience. The platform has been redesigned and relaunched, with both 'services' and 'experiences' living in separate tabs and hoping to tempt you to open the app more than
Peak Search
Last week we gave some cursory attention to Apple's legal troubles in its battle with Epic Games and every other developer who chafes at paying the 30% Apple tax on everything. This time, we give it a little more attention and thought. Plus, the company's services boss Eddy Cue popped up in another trial, and gave us some intriguing insight into Apple's relationship with Google. Insight which caus
Canva Conundrum [PREVIEW]
Australia's graphic design unicorn is yet to go public, and find themselves in an intersting position. As we all know infinite growth means you can't just be a really nice graphic design platform, you have to be Microsoft. The boys ask the question, are Canva an enterprise company or for SMEs? Are they for pros or amateurs? What the hell is AI? And also an update on Apple's App Store issues.See om
Computer Says I Love You
Stacked deck today folks. First we return briefly to Tesla to talk about a Wall Street Journal story which reported the company opened a CEO search to replace Elon Musk. Then we move on to the big tech news story of the week: OpenAI rolling out a ChatGPT update that made it too sycophantic. It was funny, but also shows how these big AI firms are thinking about what their product actually is.See om
