Down Round

This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. While the northern hemisphere is on summer holiday, we grind. Given there's not much tech news floating around as a result, we continued the discussion of AI from last episode – this time getting wildly philosophical about legal rights and the art of creation. With a few diversions along the way ;). Links I Made This – Hypercritical See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the past few weeks, several equity reports – from the likes of Goldman Sachs and Barclays – have sounded the alarm on the amount of capital expenditure currently being spent by the tech industry on building out AI capacity. Analysts and investors are asking: how are you going to pay for all this? And how long do we have to wait for that? In this ep, we talk about the current discourse, connect it to the dot com bubble, and arrive at a 100% correct take no one could possibly dispute.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's experiment with forcing big tech to pay media companies like Nine and News Corp for content is running into choppy waters, as Meta refuses to play ball and Google seems less keen on news than it once was.  In this episode, we catch up with the media and how it's handling today's dynamics of the internet and – especially – the new era of AI deals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nuclear is in the air. (Not literally.) In Australia, politicians are debating it, while a huge range of nuclear startups are ruling it out for funding and attention. In this episode, we chat about nuclear power and how the tech industry is talking about it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nvidia is the engine room of the AI moment, but they are struggling a little right now. The stock underwent a massive correction this week, and founder Jensen Huang is reportedly worried that the gravy train is about to end. We used that as an excuse to dive into a few interesting trends going on in AI, Apple's moves, whether the hype is matching the product, and what it all means. Note: we said in this episode that Apple was striking an AI deal with Meta, but now Bloomberg is saying it ain't so. Still, broader point holds. Links Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Is on Top of the World. So Why Is He Worried? – The Information See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tencent is one of the largest and most valuable companies on earth, with operations that touch just about every part of the digital economy in China and beyond. From WeChat to gaming to film production to payments, Tencent continues to expand far beyond its original station as a Chinese app developer. In this ep, we take a tour through Tencent, including its weird connections to a South African company. Classic Down Round material.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. You thought that because COVID was long over you could stop hearing about GameStop. Wrong! Keith "RoaringKitty" Gill has returned, and the notorious meme stock has been pumping as a result. We took this as an excuse to revisit the GameStop story from the beginning, exploring the factors which led to the original phenomenon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Apple held the keynote at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where it traditionally announces its upcoming software updates. As predicted, the company announced its moves into generative AI – which it is bundling under the name Apple Intelligence – alongside a partnership with OpenAI. In this ep, we dive into the announcements, and what they mean for Apple going forward.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced its new Surface Laptop with Copilot + PC, which it intends to be a direct competitor with the MacBook Air. On the one hand, it's an interesting attempt to get Windows PCs back into competition. ON the other hand, it's also an attempt by Microsoft to wind LLMs an AI into its operating system. In this ep, we talk about the Apple/Microsoft rivalry, and whether these attempts to cram AI in at the operating system level will appease investors who are looking for revenue. Links Down Round on X Down Round on Instagram Down Round on TikTok See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a long time, it wasn't a great look for startups and big tech – outside of companies like Microsoft – to openly work with the military-industrial complex. That was for contractors like Raytheon and General Dynamics. Tech generally maintained the sunny disposition that it was better to enable world peace through well targeted digital ads. That has changed, and startups like Anduril are now positioning themselves as a new generation of military supplier, marrying Silicon Valley innovation with surveillance tools and military weaponry. In this ep, we look at the history of Silicon Valley and the military, and this new crop of weapons makers. Links Defence and Anduril unveil first Ghost Shark prototype ‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets – The Guardian Down Round on X Down Round on Instagram Down Round on TikTok Sign up for Down Round Premium See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.