Down Round

Instagram was undeniably the most influential social network of the 2010s, and certaibnly one of the most important generators of 2010s culture.But it’s looking a bit worse for wea these days. This week we dive into Insta, where it’s been, and where it’s going.Editor’s note: we apologise for conflating Marilyn Manson and Slipknot. Thank you for subscribing. Leave a comment or share this episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Discord has gone from being an ultra low latency voice platform for League of Legends heads into one of the major social platforms of 2023.We talk about its rise through the pandemic, its challenge to both Slack and traditional social media, and we give Raph ample space to evangelise Microsoft Teams, his favourite piece of software on Earth. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit downround.substack.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a premium episode. To hear more, join Down Round Premium. In the second part of this week’s topic, we talk about the current state of the microchip industry. Thanks to the insane complexity of making them, chip supply chains are incredibly fragile, and it’s dominated by a tiny handful of companies. This is highly unfortunate, because we need microchips to do things like drive to the shops and watch TikTok for …See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Microchips. They’re extremely tiny and very cool. (You can quote us on that.) This week, we’re doing a two-parter on the modern world’s most important technology.In the first part, we chat through the development of the microchip and how we got where we are today. In the second half, we’ll go into the incredible weird, fragile state of the industry today. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit downround.substack.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit downround.substack.comThis week we’re tackling not one but two topics. And they’re both kind of related to Elon Musk.First we’re giving you an update on what’s been going on with Twitter, which despite our unshakeable faith Musk’s stewardship seems to not be doing so well. Then we dig into some new developments in the world of AI, including an open letter calling for researc…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the past few years we’ve had to listen to Western governments repeatedly threaten to ban TikTok and then ultimately not do much about it. But it does seem like the conversation is heating up. Will they do it? Or will an army of Zoomers addicted to those videos where a robot voice reads Reddit posts over Minecraft footage stop them?We discuss.Links• Project Texas: The Details of TikTok’s Plan to Remain Operational in the United States — Lawfare Blog• Australia-wide ban of TikTok on government devices announced as senior politicians quit the app — The Guardian This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit downround.substack.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit downround.substack.comWe’ve alluded a few times on the pod to the weird developments in tech industry politics over the last few years. Bitcoin! Conservatives! New societies! Things are getting weird.In today’s ep we go a little deeper, diving into the political tendencies currently driving Silicon Valley.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shein is one of the world’s most insane companies, and yet flies weirdly under the radar. One of the most popular shopping platforms in the world, it is revolutionising the fast fashion industry with its incredibly vertically integrated manufacturing, marketing and e-commerce machine.We’re joined this week by writer, podcaster and former Triple J host Veronica Milsom, who recently hosted Threads, a series about the fast fashion industry.We talk about fast fashion, Shein’s particular business model, and what the future of fashion holds for certifiably swagged out and drippy boys like Raph and James.Links* Shein: The TikTok of Ecommerce - Packy McCormick and Matthew Brennan* How Shein beat Amazon at its own game and reinvented fast fashion – Rest of World This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit downround.substack.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit downround.substack.comEvery time we think we’re done with AI episodes, they release something else. Can we catch a break?Last week, OpenAI dropped GPT-4, the latest version of the large language model which powers ChatGPT. It’s now more creativ and less frequently wrong, and it’s caused another minor freakout online.Is it all that? We discuss.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent reports have indicated Apple is gearing up to announce its mixed-reality headset, which the company wants to be the next iPhone. CEO Tim Cook reportedly wants it to be his product legacy.So, we thought it was a good time to take a look at Apple in 2023. At the precipice. What are they up to? And are we ready to put big clunky headsets on and enter the Cookverse?Links- Tim Cook bets on Apple’s mixed-reality headset to secure his legacy – Financial Times- Inside the Tech Powering Apple’s Envelope-Pushing, Risky Mixed Reality Headset - The Information This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit downround.substack.com/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.