Down Round
TikTok Ban Watch 2024: The Final Chapter (?)
Well, it happened: the US passed legislation to force ByteDance to divest TikTok in the country. Now, the company technically has 12 months to make it happen. But is that the end of the story? In this episode, we discuss how we arrived at this point, what avenues TikTok has left, and who or what mi…
49:38
TikTok Ban Watch 2024: The Final Chapter (?)
Well, it happened: the US passed legislation to force ByteDance to divest TikTok in the country. Now, the company technically has 12 months to make it happen. But is that the end of the story? In this episode, we discuss how we arrived at this point, what avenues TikTok has left, and who or what mi…
49:38
Now It's Meta's Turn To Go All In On AI
Everything is chatbots now. Every company must become a purveyor of bespoke chatbots.The latest cab off the rank is Meta, which just unveiled Llama 3, the latest version of its open source LLM. But this time they have integrated it deeply into Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, whacking a big nasty …
41:51
Have We Replaced The Smartphone Yet? (PREVIEW)
This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. As Downies will know well, one of the themes we're keeping an eye on is the number of products and product categories that are trying to replace the smartphone, which has been lagging in sale…
05:58
The Coming Tsunami Of AI Music
Over the past few weeks, there has been a surprising amount of movement in the AI music space. Suno and Udio are two lavishly funded AI music generation startups which just launched new models, which allow you to make songs in a wide range of genres from prompts. While not perfect, they both sound …
49:23
Capital Inferno Heaven (feat. Kyle Harrison)
This week, we're joined by Kyle Harrison, who is General Partner at Contrary, a US venture capital fund. As well as investing, Kyle writes the newsletter Investing 101 2.0, where he shares his various insights into the VC ecosystem – including where, in his view, it's all gone wrong. Kyle joins us…
1:03:08
The Worst Tech Acquisitions Of All Time (PREVIEW)
This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. Sometimes a company merges with or acquires another, and it turns out to be a bad idea. That's OK. We all make stupid decisions. There's nothing to be ashamed of, even when we're talking abou…
06:12
Vapes: Smoking, but less cool and more illegal
One of the great turnarounds in 21st century was the tobacco industry's shift toward a so-called 'smokeless' future – agreeing that cigs are pretty bad for you, and that a range of hi-tech vapes could be a less bad replacement. Of course, it hasn't actually worked out that well, with public health …
42:54
Apple Takes A Sideways Step On AI (PREVIEW)
This is a free preview of a premium episode. To subscribe to Down Round Premium and get access, head here. This week, we're back on Apple. There are two big reasons: one, they're being sued by the United States on antitrust grounds. And secondly, multiple news reports suggest they are looking for …
05:49
Neuralink: No monkeys were harmed in the production of this episode
Last week, it was reported that Elon Musk's Neuralink had successfully allowed a patient to play chess with his mind. It represents a small – and maybe a tad overhyped – step towards the company's goal for a full brain computer interface. In this ep, we discuss Neuralink, brain-computer interfaces…
38:53