1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio, 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,319 Speaker 1: and how the tech are you? It's time for a 5 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: tech Stuff classic episode. This episode originally published on June two, 6 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen. It is titled text Top Rivalries. I'm 7 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: sure we could add to this list in the years 8 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: since it originally published, but let's take a listen. Today, 9 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about something that I think is 10 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: pretty interesting. Technology is often intertwined with business, and that 11 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: means rivalries are bound to occur. Now, there's been some 12 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,760 Speaker 1: big rivalries in tech, and I wanted to take some 13 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 1: time to talk about a few of the most notable ones. 14 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: And this is by no means a complete list. It's 15 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 1: more of a sampling and include some rivalries that happened 16 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,760 Speaker 1: more than a century ago. So let's get started with 17 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:17,040 Speaker 1: the oldest rivalry in my list, that is a railroad rivalry. 18 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,800 Speaker 1: This started way back in eighteen sixty two and President 19 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railroad Act. Now, 20 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: this was an act that was meant to create a 21 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,679 Speaker 1: railroad that would unify the rails, so you get a 22 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: complete transcontinental rail line where you can travel from the 23 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: east coast to the west coast. And it meant that 24 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: you had to bridge this huge gap that was started 25 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: in the West. I created these two entities, Union Pacific 26 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: and Central Pacific. Now Union Pacific started in Omaha, Nebraska, 27 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: and it was to build railroads westward. Central Pacific started 28 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,840 Speaker 1: in Sacramento, California, and it was to build to the east. Now, 29 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: the two companies were fierce competitors because the amount of 30 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: money and land they received from the government. It didn't 31 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: depend on how efficient the systems were. It depended upon 32 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,320 Speaker 1: the number of miles of track they laid. So speed 33 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 1: was valued higher than safety or efficiency, and the two 34 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,239 Speaker 1: companies began to feverishly lay down track at the expense 35 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: of human lives. So the heads of the two companies 36 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,839 Speaker 1: were collectively referred to as robber barons. If you've ever 37 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: heard that term, it's talking specifically about the railroad tycoons 38 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: back in the uh mid nineteenth century. They were fighting 39 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,280 Speaker 1: to get the most wealth and power. They were engaging 40 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: in all sorts of questionable activities to gain an advantage. 41 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: As the two lines of railroads converged, so, as an example, 42 00:02:55,200 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: Union Pacific would build winding paths instead of a straight line. 43 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: Why because it meant that they actually increased the amount 44 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,519 Speaker 1: of mileage of track they were laying down. They were 45 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: maximizing the amount of money and land they were getting 46 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: from the government by making the path longer than it 47 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,360 Speaker 1: needed to be. It was much more lengthy than a 48 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: straight pathway. They also used cheaper materials than they may 49 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: have well then they should have. Really they were using 50 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 1: wrought iron for the rails, which was fairly brittle, so 51 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: that was a problem. It would need to be replaced 52 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: before too long. And they were also using very cheap wood, 53 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: particularly because you know, they were starting uh in Nebraska, 54 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: so they didn't have access to a lot of wood. 55 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: Nebraska has a lot of planes, so they were using 56 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: stuff like cotton wood, which was fairly brittle, and they 57 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: were using that for their railroad ties. Those were the 58 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: planks that connect the two sets of rails together and 59 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: keep some space the right way. Uh. They also outsourced 60 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: a lot of the work for getting those railroad ties 61 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: to others in the Nebraska area, and those enterprising individuals 62 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: would take axes in hand they have dollar signs in 63 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: their eyes, and they started hacking down all the trees, 64 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: even if those trees were on private property. In fact, 65 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: it got to a point where they were making claims 66 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,479 Speaker 1: that farmers living in Nebraska didn't have a right to 67 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:32,160 Speaker 1: claim private property because it had not been fully ratified 68 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: by the government. Yet the folks who are living on 69 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,280 Speaker 1: that property begged to disagree, sometimes for the use of force. 70 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: They would actually fire shots at folks who were coming 71 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: into the land to cut down trees. And eventually even 72 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: Union Pacific said, all right, this, this might be going 73 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:54,559 Speaker 1: a bit too far. Let's re evaluate how we're doing 74 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: business here. So both companies faced dangers exacerbated by their 75 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: willing us to cut corners to make more money, and 76 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: both were plagued by attacks from Native American tribes. Union 77 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:13,280 Speaker 1: Pacific often would attempt to fight these attacks off. Their 78 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: trains that they would use to move along as the 79 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 1: track was being built, were loaded with rifles. Meanwhile, Central 80 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: Pacific's workforce, UH they were they were often joined by 81 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:31,279 Speaker 1: Native Americans because Central Pacific started paying off tribes and 82 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: having them join the workforce. Uh. Speaking of workforces, both 83 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: Union and Central used cheap labor. Central Pacifics workforce was 84 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: primarily Chinese augmented by some Native American workers, and Union 85 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: Pacific had hired on Irish laborers who were treated awfully 86 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 1: at that time, so both groups were even calling them 87 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: second class citizens as being generous, they were treated poorly. 88 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: Central Pacific suffered or losses to their workforce due to 89 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,120 Speaker 1: accidents during the construction figures very not a lot of 90 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: people were particularly concerned about keeping an accurate count of 91 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:14,320 Speaker 1: the number of deaths from injury, but estimations range from 92 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:19,280 Speaker 1: five hundred to a thousand employees uh died while trying 93 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: to construct the railroad. Union Pacific they lost more employees 94 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,480 Speaker 1: to disease and murder than they did to accidents. It 95 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,840 Speaker 1: turns out they would stop in a lot of towns. 96 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,039 Speaker 1: Often they would refer to them as the hell on 97 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 1: wheels towns where there various workforce members were encountering problems 98 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: with prostitutes or violent criminals, and so a lot of 99 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: them didn't make it. In fact, I think I read 100 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:52,320 Speaker 1: one estimation that said there was a ratio of four 101 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: to one Union Pacific employees who died from murder to accidents, 102 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: So for everyone who died from an accident. Four We're 103 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: dying from being murdered, so awful awful times. Even when 104 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: the two railroads were getting closer together, the two companies 105 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: were engaged in shady dealings and didn't worry so much 106 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: about the tracks actually meeting up properly, which was the 107 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: whole point of this enterprise in the first place. So 108 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: the two companies were still looking at ways to maximize 109 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: the amount of money and land they could get, rather 110 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: than completing the job as was assigned. It was only 111 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: when the US government really got involved and made it 112 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: clear that the railroads were going to have to shape 113 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: up that they reached an agreement that Promontory Point in 114 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:39,080 Speaker 1: Utah was the spot where the two railroads would finally connect. 115 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: Now by then both companies had spent huge amounts of 116 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: money and more than a thousand lives had been lost. 117 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: And if you want to look at how much track 118 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: was laid, technically Union Pacific one because I had laid 119 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: more track. But the cost of both companies, not to 120 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: mention the cost to everyone else in evolved in this, 121 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: whether it was the land that it moved through or 122 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: the people working for the companies. It really makes this 123 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: particular rivalry come out as a draw, and not a 124 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,680 Speaker 1: pleasant one at that. Now, the next big rivalry I 125 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,120 Speaker 1: want to talk about, as want I mentioned on the 126 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: show several times before, and it's Thomas Edison versus George Westinghouse. 127 00:08:24,360 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: Now you might have thought I was going to say 128 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: Nicola Tesla there for a second, but honest, honestly, really Tesla. 129 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,680 Speaker 1: He was a brilliant engineer. He was also a brilliant 130 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,880 Speaker 1: self promoter. He was a rock star of his day. 131 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:42,319 Speaker 1: But he was not a very good businessman. So Edison 132 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 1: and Westinghouse were the powerhouses behind the two enormous companies 133 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: battling to supply electric power to the United States. So 134 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:53,240 Speaker 1: it's really George Westinghouse who was the other entity in 135 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: opposition to Thomas Edison. Nicola Tesla played a very important role, 136 00:08:57,520 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: But if you're looking at the War of the currency, 137 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: really should say Edison versus Westinghouse, not Edison versus Tesla. Now, 138 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: this War of the currents took place just a couple 139 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: of decades after the railroad shenanigans I just talked about. 140 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: This would be in the eighteen eighties when Thomas Hasen 141 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,400 Speaker 1: was looking to land an incredibly lucrative deal with the 142 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,119 Speaker 1: United States to build power stations that would supply electricity 143 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: to homes and businesses through direct current. Now, essentially Edison 144 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:26,719 Speaker 1: would just have to provide the patents and then he 145 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 1: could rake in royalties for years. He would become insanely 146 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: wealthy if he could land this deal. But there was 147 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: a problem. He was dead set on using that direct 148 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: current as a means of transmitting electricity, and that had limitations. Now, 149 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: there are a lot of advantages to using direct current. 150 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 1: Most of our electronics use direct current to operate. Anything 151 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: that uses a battery uses direct current. Most of our 152 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,319 Speaker 1: most of the things we rely on use direct current. 153 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: There's usually a device that converts alternating current to direct 154 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,760 Speaker 1: current so that we can actually use it. So if 155 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:05,880 Speaker 1: we had direct current going straight into our homes, we 156 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: wouldn't need those additional converters and everything would be more efficient. 157 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 1: It's also a really simple way to generate electricity. But 158 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: they're big drawbacks, and the biggest one is that transmitting 159 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 1: DC power over distance isn't easy. You lose energy the 160 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:25,439 Speaker 1: further away from the power source you are, so a 161 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,520 Speaker 1: direct current you want the load. That is the thing 162 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: that electricity is going to power to be very close 163 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: to the source. The further away from the source it is, 164 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,960 Speaker 1: the less energy is actually reaching the load, and the 165 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: less effective it is. So in other words, you would 166 00:10:39,559 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: have to build DC power plants a lot more of 167 00:10:43,559 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: them and a lot closer to the loads as you 168 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:50,199 Speaker 1: go along, and that was not a great solution for 169 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: some people. Like it might be fined in an urban 170 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: environment where people are packed in very dense populations, but 171 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: in places like the suburbs or the rural areas, it 172 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: was a lot harder to justify because you couldn't build 173 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: the DC power plants as close to the homes as 174 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: needed to be. So Edison started looking into ways of 175 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: perhaps boosting DC power transmission. One of the people he 176 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:20,320 Speaker 1: consulted with was Nicola Tesla, and Tesla had recommended that 177 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: Edison abandoned direct current or transmission and switched to alternating 178 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:29,440 Speaker 1: current or a C electricity instead. Now, one thing you've 179 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: got to make clear, and I've said this before, it's 180 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:34,680 Speaker 1: one of those things that I think a lot of 181 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: people are mistaken about. Tesla did not invent the idea 182 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: of alternating current. He's often given that credit, but that 183 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: is just not true, alternating current had already been used 184 00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:48,439 Speaker 1: when Tesla was just a kid. He a c had 185 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: existed before Tesla was really born, didn't start getting widely 186 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: used in Europe until Tesla was a child. But at 187 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: any rate, there were already pre existing alternating current systems 188 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 1: that Tesla could witness and understand. Now, I don't want 189 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:07,200 Speaker 1: to take too much away from Tesla, because he did 190 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,959 Speaker 1: have brilliant ideas on how to make alternating current more 191 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: efficient and practical. He actually improved the process dramatically so 192 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 1: it could be an effective means of transmitting power. It's 193 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 1: just the principle itself had already existed before Tesla rose 194 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: to prominence. Now, Edison didn't see the benefit of alternating current. 195 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 1: He dismissed the idea, so Tesla would end up leaving 196 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: Edison's company and try to raise money for his own operation, 197 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:39,720 Speaker 1: even going so far as to dig ditches for the 198 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: Edison Company to raise money for his own company. We'll 199 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,679 Speaker 1: be back with more of this classic episode of tech 200 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: stuff after this quick break. Now we need to talk 201 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: about George Westinghouse. He was the founder of the Westinghouse 202 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,640 Speaker 1: Electric and Manufacturing Company, and he saw the value of 203 00:13:04,679 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: alternating current. He thought that was the future, so he 204 00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: bought Tesla's patents. Now Edison suddenly took notice because while 205 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: Tesla he thought was kind of a wild, crazy idea 206 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,880 Speaker 1: man who wasn't a real threat, Westinghouse had influence and 207 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 1: a lot of money. So now Edison actually had a 208 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 1: legitimate threat a legitimate competitor. Tesla, while brilliant, wasn't really 209 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,559 Speaker 1: much of a threat to Edison. He couldn't do much 210 00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:36,320 Speaker 1: on his own. Westinghouse was a different story, and Westinghouse 211 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:38,840 Speaker 1: was able to secure rights to supply power to areas 212 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,640 Speaker 1: that Edison's power stations couldn't reach, like those rural and 213 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 1: suburban areas. Westinghouse also started making some headway into urban markets, 214 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: mostly by selling electricity at a loss to undercut Edison. 215 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 1: So Westinghouse wasn't above doing some, you know, some potentially 216 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: harmful business practices in order to eliminate the competition. Edison 217 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 1: also not shy about competition. He thrived on it. His 218 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: response was to create a pr campaign that claimed a 219 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: C power was inherently deadly because it required high voltage 220 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: running through the wires. That's how alternating current is able 221 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 1: to get much better transmission than direct current. With alternating current, 222 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,560 Speaker 1: used transformers to step up the voltage until you get 223 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: to these very high levels to run through cable over 224 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:32,240 Speaker 1: great distances, and then use other transformers to step down 225 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: the voltage to deliver the electricity to houses. And Edison 226 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: was convinced that this alternating current, this high voltage was 227 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,400 Speaker 1: absolutely deadly and if it were put in widespread use, 228 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: it would cause deaths by electrocution across the United States. 229 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:52,440 Speaker 1: I assume he believed that he certainly acted as if 230 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 1: he did uh, and he was inspired to really push 231 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: that idea. Now something happened that was a little bit 232 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: against more than a little bit, very much against Edison's principles. 233 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 1: But I think it says a lot about his character 234 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,240 Speaker 1: based upon what he did. A dentist actually came up 235 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: to him and had proposed the idea of using electricity 236 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: as a means of execution, using electrocution to kill criminals. 237 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,600 Speaker 1: He thought that it could be a faster and more 238 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: humane way of putting someone to death than the other 239 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:35,400 Speaker 1: methods of the era. Now, Edison philosophically opposed the death penalty. 240 00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: He was not in favor of it, but he also 241 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: saw in this request the possibility of associating Westinghouses alternating 242 00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: current power with electrocution, and that led to Edison really 243 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: pushing this idea, ultimately leading to demonstrations public demonstrations in 244 00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:02,520 Speaker 1: which Edison would electrocute various animals, starting off with stray dogs. 245 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: He would pay to have stray dogs rounded up and 246 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: then electrocute them, and to demonstrate that alternating current was deadly. Ultimately, 247 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,680 Speaker 1: the big one that everyone remembers is that Edison used 248 00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: the alternating current to put six thousand volts into an elephant, 249 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: electrocuting an elephant to death. Um it was an elephant 250 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: that had previously killed three different people, although the treatment 251 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: of the elephant was a large factor in that I 252 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 1: would imagine at any rate, Edison thought of this as 253 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: being completely justifiable, both for the means of putting his 254 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: competitor out of business and to end what he viewed 255 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: as a dangerous technology. Now. Edison even funded the design 256 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,120 Speaker 1: of an electric share, but he did so behind the scenes, 257 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: so he essentially paid off the inventor. Harold Brown was 258 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: given the task to design an electric chair, and Edison 259 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: was paying Harold Brown to use alternating current in that design. 260 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:06,560 Speaker 1: So when the murderer, William Kimmler was scheduled to be 261 00:17:06,600 --> 00:17:09,160 Speaker 1: the first criminal to be executed by the electric chair, 262 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 1: Edison tried to popularize the term westinghoused for electrocution, as 263 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:21,880 Speaker 1: in Kimdler was to be westinghoused, not just executed by electricity. 264 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: So again pretty negative pr campaign. By the way, that 265 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 1: execution did not go so well. Kidler was strapped into 266 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 1: the chair, the switch was thrown, and Kimdler he tensed up. 267 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,359 Speaker 1: People said that they saw him grip the sides of 268 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:44,159 Speaker 1: the chair so hard that his hands began to bleed um. 269 00:17:44,200 --> 00:17:49,640 Speaker 1: He was convulsing when the A C dynamo essentially ran 270 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,800 Speaker 1: off juice when they turned the switch off. Uh, they 271 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: were raided to pronounced Kimler dead when he suddenly started 272 00:17:56,280 --> 00:18:01,040 Speaker 1: breathing again, which horrified many of the witnesses. There were 273 00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:05,960 Speaker 1: reports of people fainting or being sick because this supposedly 274 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: humane means of putting someone to death had just dramatically 275 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: had this this reaction of convulsions, and now the prisoner 276 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,119 Speaker 1: was breathing again, not conscious, but was breathing. Meanwhile, the 277 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: A C dynamo needed to be charged again in order 278 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,600 Speaker 1: for it to deliver another shock. So it took some time, 279 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: and it led some people to fear that Kindler would 280 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,400 Speaker 1: regain consciousness, but they were able to deliver a second 281 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:42,800 Speaker 1: fatal shock uh and actually complete the execution by electrocution. 282 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 1: Westinghouse was absolutely horrified by the whole ordeal and said 283 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 1: that the demonstration showed that electrocution is not a humane 284 00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:57,840 Speaker 1: method humane method of execution, and proclaimed there would never 285 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,360 Speaker 1: again be an execution by electrocution. Now, all of this 286 00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 1: grim theater ended up being unnecessary. Edison's efforts were all 287 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: for not because Westinghouse secured the right to supply electricity 288 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: to the eight Chicago World's Fair. The fair allowed Westinghouse 289 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: an opportunity to generate a huge amount of positive publicity 290 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:26,359 Speaker 1: for the Westinghouse Company and for alternating current, and the 291 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: transmission method was secure, so Westinghouse one out. In the 292 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: short run anyway, eventually Edison's company would win out and 293 00:19:36,119 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: Westinghouse would kind of fade into obscurity. But the actual 294 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:44,239 Speaker 1: rivalry during their lifetimes, Westinghouse was the clear winner of 295 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: that one. Alright. So those are two classic rivalries from 296 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: ages past. Now we're going to jump forward about a 297 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:55,360 Speaker 1: century to look at the next one, because, uh, I mean, 298 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 1: there are tons of different rivalries I could focus on, 299 00:19:57,600 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: but some of these are really fun and some of 300 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:03,040 Speaker 1: them are so are very illustrative of how far people 301 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: are willing to go in order to get their ideas across. 302 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:09,679 Speaker 1: So that's next one I want to talk about is 303 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,199 Speaker 1: Motorola versus a T and T in the mobile phone wars. 304 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: And this was in the late nineteen sixties and early 305 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,280 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies when a T and T S research and 306 00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:22,119 Speaker 1: development arm called Bell Labs. We've talked about Bell Labs 307 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:25,239 Speaker 1: in the show many times. Bell Labs was working on 308 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,720 Speaker 1: a new way to make and receive phone calls, uh, 309 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: and it was a cellular service. It was using a 310 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:36,639 Speaker 1: cell methodology to transfer phones from one cell to the 311 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:39,879 Speaker 1: next to allow a continuous phone call whenever a phone 312 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: was in motion. And a T and T S aim 313 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:49,119 Speaker 1: was to create this technology specifically for car phones. That 314 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 1: was really the application they were looking at. They weren't 315 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,960 Speaker 1: thinking about mobile phones, but car phones. So I guess 316 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:56,960 Speaker 1: you could argue that car phones are mobile, but you 317 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,080 Speaker 1: couldn't take them out of the car. They would just 318 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: be you know, built into the car itself. Another company 319 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,600 Speaker 1: thought there could be a different use personal mobile phones, 320 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: things that you could actually carry with you they wouldn't 321 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,720 Speaker 1: be stuck in the car, and that company was Motorola. 322 00:21:13,880 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 1: So Motorola gave the project of developing a truly mobile 323 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: phone to Martin Cooper, and Cooper and his team got 324 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: to work in nineteen seventy two on developing a phone 325 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 1: that could be carried on a person and one that 326 00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: didn't require any sort of wires connected to a base station, 327 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,359 Speaker 1: so it would be another cell phone type of phone. 328 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,919 Speaker 1: The phone that they designed was officially named the Dina 329 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: Tack d y in A T, A C H, and 330 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:47,920 Speaker 1: inside the Motorola group they referred to it as a 331 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,399 Speaker 1: shoe phone because of the shape of the phone. It 332 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,200 Speaker 1: was a big brick of a thing that looked kind 333 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,360 Speaker 1: of like the shape of a shoe. In nineteen seventy three, 334 00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:58,520 Speaker 1: the team was ready to unveil the project and perform 335 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: a public demonstration, so oh Cooper had the perfect idea 336 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,199 Speaker 1: to do this. His team installed a cell transmitter on 337 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,440 Speaker 1: a New York City building. They got permission to attach 338 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: a transmitter to a tower, and on April third, Ninete 339 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:19,160 Speaker 1: Martin Cooper grabbed the phone. It's weighed about two pounds, 340 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: and took that out to the streets of New York 341 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,200 Speaker 1: City and he used that phone to call a person 342 00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 1: named Joel Ingle. So who was Joel Lingle? He was 343 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: an engineer who worked at Bell Labs. So essentially Ingle 344 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,960 Speaker 1: was a T and T S counterpart to motor role 345 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 1: as Martin Cooper. So Cooper essentially calls his his counterpart 346 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: and to his competitor, and he rather cheekily needled Ingle 347 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,679 Speaker 1: with the reveal that he was being called on a 348 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: mobile phone that wasn't a car phone, and then Cooper 349 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:56,440 Speaker 1: went on his jolly little way to hold a press 350 00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:01,320 Speaker 1: conference about the developing technology. Now, would mobile phones be 351 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: limited to cars if it weren't for Motorola and Martin Cooper. 352 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,560 Speaker 1: Probably not, And even Motorola's INVENTIONED wouldn't be ready for 353 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: consumers for another ten years or so. But the rivalry 354 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: was a really fun one, so I decided I had 355 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: to include it in this episode. Okay, we've got to 356 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: talk about a little company called Apple. Apple has had 357 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,800 Speaker 1: some of the most famous rivalries in technology with lots 358 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: of different companies, in fact, largely because Apple is involved 359 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: with lots of different types of tech, so it's not 360 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,360 Speaker 1: as simple as Apple versus Microsoft, or even Apple versus IBM, 361 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,359 Speaker 1: but both will play a part. So I'm gonna give 362 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: a rundown on some of the biggest rivalries involving Apple, 363 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: including an internal rivalry within the company itself. Just keep 364 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: in mind that a lot of these rivalries overlap each other, 365 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 1: so it's not like one began and ended and then 366 00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: another one began and ended. But the first one we 367 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: need to look at is Apple versus IBM. So both 368 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,399 Speaker 1: companies were aiming to dominate the personal computer market. Apple 369 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:05,600 Speaker 1: had an early success. They had really hit the ground 370 00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: running with the Apple too. It was incredibly popular for 371 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,439 Speaker 1: its time. But IBM was a huge company with nearly 372 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: a century of history behind it, and IBM had been 373 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,159 Speaker 1: building computers for enterprises and felt the PC market was 374 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,399 Speaker 1: the next big thing. So as the IBM PC debuted, 375 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:29,120 Speaker 1: Apple had to strike back. So famous Apple at ran 376 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,720 Speaker 1: during the Super Bowl, and it portrayed IBM as the 377 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: evil Empire. It was sort of Orwellian, very faceless, and 378 00:24:38,119 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 1: everyone is just a number, a cog in a machine. 379 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,399 Speaker 1: And the Macintosh computer was positioned to be the machine 380 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: for people wishing to maintain their individuality rather than to 381 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:52,400 Speaker 1: become a clone. Jobs himself had said that if for 382 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: some reason we make some big mistake and IBM wins, 383 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: my personal feeling is that we are going to enter 384 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,399 Speaker 1: a computer dar ages for about twenty years. So shots 385 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,199 Speaker 1: were fired. Um IBM fought back by employing a former 386 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,280 Speaker 1: ally of Apple. And that brings us to the second 387 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: big rivalry in Apple's history. And we're talking about Apple 388 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: and Microsoft, and this one is a doozy. So the 389 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,800 Speaker 1: two companies shared a lot of similarities. Microsoft was founded 390 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: on April fourth, nineteen seventy. Apple was founded on April one, 391 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:34,679 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, so almost a year later, not quite, 392 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:38,000 Speaker 1: just barely shy of a year later. So Microsoft is 393 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:44,600 Speaker 1: just a hair under a year older than Apple. Meanwhile, 394 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: two of the co founders, you know, Bill Gates for 395 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:51,120 Speaker 1: Microsoft and Steve Jobs for Apple, were very similar. Both 396 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,439 Speaker 1: were college dropouts, both had big ideas. Gates's approach was 397 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,920 Speaker 1: to develop software that would run on personal computers of 398 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:03,000 Speaker 1: the future. Jobs As idea was to develop both software 399 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 1: and hardware, so he wanted to create the computers along 400 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:10,399 Speaker 1: with the operating systems and software that was used on them, 401 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: and at first there wasn't a direct rivalry between the 402 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: two companies. In fact, Microsoft developed software both for the 403 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: Apple to computer and the Macintosh. But in the mid nineties, 404 00:26:20,400 --> 00:26:23,760 Speaker 1: Microsoft began to develop Windows, which is a graphical user 405 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: interface operating system. Apple and Steve Jobs in particular, felt 406 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,439 Speaker 1: that Windows bore more than a passing resemblance to the 407 00:26:32,520 --> 00:26:36,880 Speaker 1: mac os, which Microsoft had access to even before the 408 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: operating system came to market. We've got more to say 409 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: in this classic episode of tech stuff after these quick messages. 410 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,639 Speaker 1: So essentially, the accusation was that Microsoft was copying Apple. 411 00:26:57,560 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: This is kind of funny to me because Apple and 412 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:03,239 Speaker 1: itself was kind of copying Xerox. But Apple is one 413 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,480 Speaker 1: of those companies that while Steve Jobs felt that that 414 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: great great minds steal, he wasn't too happy when it 415 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:15,400 Speaker 1: was being done to him. So Apple actually went beyond 416 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:18,359 Speaker 1: words with this battle and took it to the courtroom. 417 00:27:18,560 --> 00:27:23,159 Speaker 1: Apple sued Microsoft or copyright infringement. The lawsuit went for 418 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: several years, but ultimately the court decided against Apple. Apple 419 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: appealed the decision. They even went so far as to 420 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:32,560 Speaker 1: petition the U S Supreme Court to hear the case, 421 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,400 Speaker 1: but they were denied. The Supreme Court said no, we're 422 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 1: not gonna listen to it, and the matter came to arrest. 423 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:45,200 Speaker 1: Microsoft helped the PC dominate the market over the Macintosh. 424 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:51,480 Speaker 1: So Microsoft gets involved in IBM and IBM clones and 425 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: provides this Windows, this graphical user interface operating system and 426 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: helps the PC command a huge amount of the market 427 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 1: share and shrinking Apple's influence to less than ten percent 428 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:06,040 Speaker 1: of the overall market, which is a big change. This 429 00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 1: also brings up the internal rivalry I mentioned earlier, the 430 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:13,679 Speaker 1: one that happened in Apple. Steve Jobs was a divisive figure. 431 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: Seems like it's an accurate thing to say he's a 432 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 1: really passionate salesman, a very visionary person as far as 433 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: product design was concerned. Um, you know, people had have 434 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: criticized Jobs by saying that he was more of kind 435 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:31,960 Speaker 1: of a grand idea man and relied heavily on other 436 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,920 Speaker 1: people to implement it. But his success record shows that, 437 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:41,360 Speaker 1: uh that his ideas were very popular with people. They 438 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: were on track. He was very concerned with design, and 439 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: it turns out that concern was well founded. But he 440 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: was also seen as hot headed and difficult to work with. 441 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: This is true both in the early days of Apple 442 00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:58,880 Speaker 1: as well as the second reign of Steve Jobs. So 443 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: he was the found of the company, but he wasn't 444 00:29:01,400 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: the CEO by the mid eighties. In fact, Jobs had 445 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: hired on John Scully to fill that position in nineteen 446 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: eighty three, that's when Apple became a publicly traded company. 447 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:16,640 Speaker 1: By night five, after disappointing McIntosh sales figures and complaints 448 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: from Jobs as employees that Steve Jobs was very difficult 449 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,360 Speaker 1: to work for, Scully consulted the board of directors and 450 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: together they decided that it was best to remove Jobs 451 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: from his leadership position. So technically Steve Jobs still worked 452 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:34,160 Speaker 1: for Apple, but he was kind of pushed to what 453 00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: was called Siberia where he had very little influence on 454 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:40,120 Speaker 1: anything that was going on in Apple and really had 455 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,680 Speaker 1: nothing much to do. So that didn't sit well with 456 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs. He actually decided to quit. So in the 457 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen eighty five, he left Apple and he 458 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,040 Speaker 1: formed a new computer company called Next, and he launched 459 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: a little animation studio you might have heard of called 460 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:02,280 Speaker 1: Pixar during that time. Meanwhile, Apple didn't do so well 461 00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: without Jobs, Steve Jobs, that is, there were a series 462 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: of decisions that had kind of watered down the culture 463 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: of the company, including licensing of technology, something that Steve 464 00:30:12,880 --> 00:30:16,840 Speaker 1: Jobs never would have stood for, and the company itself 465 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,040 Speaker 1: was on the verge of collapse in the ninety nineties. 466 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: That was when the boards that reached out back to 467 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:26,240 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs and said please come back, originally as sort 468 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: of an interim CEO, but Jobs would of course become 469 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: the permanent CEO. So Steve Jobs agreed to come back 470 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,520 Speaker 1: and things began to turn around, though not immediately. So 471 00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: one of Steve jobs first actions, it was kind of 472 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:43,800 Speaker 1: a move of desperation. Uh, the company was doing really poorly. 473 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: He ended up turning to Microsoft for help. So, even 474 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: though Apple and Microsoft at this point had a rather 475 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: tumultuous relationship, largely because Apple had come after Microsoft so 476 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:01,960 Speaker 1: hard in the lawsuit, Jobs turns to Microsoft for help, 477 00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:07,000 Speaker 1: and Apple and Microsoft strike a deal. Microsoft invests a 478 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: sizeable sum of money into Apple, and in return, Apple 479 00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: forms of partnership with Microsoft, names Internet Explorer as the 480 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,960 Speaker 1: browser of choice for Mac computers, as well as integrating 481 00:31:18,960 --> 00:31:22,960 Speaker 1: other types of Mac software into or Microsoft software into 482 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: the max. So this partnership lasts for about five years. 483 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: That's how long the agreement was UH was supposed to last, 484 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: and then after that they could choose to renew it 485 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 1: or not. So once those years were up, things went 486 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:42,360 Speaker 1: back to being pretty rough between Microsoft and Apple. That's 487 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: when we started seeing the Mac versus PC ads coming 488 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: out on the high I'm a Mac and I'm a PC, 489 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: the ones with John Hodgman in them. It's also when 490 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,520 Speaker 1: Apple made the decision to move into a space that 491 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: Microsoft hadn't really cracked yet, which was mobile computing. And 492 00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,240 Speaker 1: that's how Apple managed to build momentum and eventually pass 493 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: Microsoft in value. So it was a long battle and 494 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:10,440 Speaker 1: Microsoft dominated the market for ages and really still in 495 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:14,520 Speaker 1: the PC market, Microsoft is ahead of Apple. But when 496 00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:18,040 Speaker 1: you look at where most of the movement is going toward, 497 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,560 Speaker 1: with the mobile platforms being way more important than desktop 498 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: and laptops happened to be these days, Apple has kind 499 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:30,040 Speaker 1: of one you would say that they're currently winning, especially 500 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: if you look at the value of the two companies. 501 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: Apple's value is astronomical. Now. When jobs came back to Apple, 502 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: another rival restarted up. That's when Michael Dell of Dell 503 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,560 Speaker 1: Computers made a statement that ruffled some feathers. Dell said 504 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: that if he had been put in charge of Apple 505 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: at that time, when the company was on the verge 506 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: of collapsing, he would have just shut it down and 507 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:59,720 Speaker 1: returned the money to shareholders. Jobs meanwhile said that Dell 508 00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 1: and Apple were the only two companies in the computer 509 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:06,040 Speaker 1: industry that we're actually making money at that time. Only 510 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,120 Speaker 1: Apple did it through innovation, while Dell did it by 511 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:16,400 Speaker 1: quote being Walmart end quote sick burn. Now, there are 512 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: other rivalries to talk about with Apple. During the mobile era, 513 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,160 Speaker 1: which I guess we're still in technically, there were a 514 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:27,959 Speaker 1: couple of big ones. Apple had a real problem with Google. 515 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:31,080 Speaker 1: Steve Jobs really had a big problem with Google. Jobs 516 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: felt that the Android operating system was a complete rip 517 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,200 Speaker 1: off of iOS and he wanted to see it destroyed, 518 00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 1: famously saying that he would spend every penny of Apple's 519 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:43,840 Speaker 1: billions of dollars in order to do it, and that 520 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: he would pursue this to his last dying breath. Now, 521 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:52,760 Speaker 1: Apple really concentrated on going after Android, not by targeting 522 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:56,640 Speaker 1: Google directly, but instead looking at the companies that actually 523 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: used Android operating system. And specifically they targeted Samsung both 524 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: because there were hardware designs that Apple said infringed upon 525 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: their trademarks and patents uh and there were software issues 526 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,759 Speaker 1: that they said were infringing upon patents. And so the 527 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:18,440 Speaker 1: patent wars began between Samsung and Apple, and they're so 528 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:20,919 Speaker 1: extensive that I'm not going to go into them here 529 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:25,759 Speaker 1: except to say that there have been billions of dollars 530 00:34:25,800 --> 00:34:30,840 Speaker 1: awarded in various cases, sometimes for Apples, sometimes against Apple, 531 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 1: in different courts around the world. And it's a very 532 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:41,359 Speaker 1: complicated series of accusations and counter accusations. So it's been 533 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:45,840 Speaker 1: pretty ugly, definitely one of the more um notable rivalries 534 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: in recent years. Now. On the social media side, one 535 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 1: of the great rivalries of the past few years was 536 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: between my Space and Facebook, which might seem hard to 537 00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:58,360 Speaker 1: believe now because a lot of people aren't even aware 538 00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,400 Speaker 1: that my Space was a thing at this point or 539 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:03,120 Speaker 1: haven't thought about it in years, but my Space was 540 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: the dominant player in the game for quite a few years. 541 00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,400 Speaker 1: It was hard for someone on my Space to see 542 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,840 Speaker 1: or to imagine that Facebook could possibly get ahead and 543 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:16,760 Speaker 1: ultimately render my Space obsolete as a social networking site. 544 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,120 Speaker 1: So my Space was founded in two thousand three. Facebook 545 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:24,839 Speaker 1: would follow a year later, and my my Space incorporated 546 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,960 Speaker 1: a ton of features, some of which weren't really that subtle. 547 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: You could customize your profile page in my Space quite 548 00:35:31,560 --> 00:35:34,799 Speaker 1: a bit. You could put on all sorts of different backgrounds. 549 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 1: You could include very simple animations in there that would 550 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 1: make your eyes bleed. You could include clips of music 551 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: that would auto play when you would visit the profile, which, 552 00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:48,680 Speaker 1: let me tell you how fun that was. Facebook, on 553 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:51,440 Speaker 1: the other hand, was much more minimalist in its design. 554 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: Initially and in the earliest phases, it was not much 555 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 1: more than a tool to help college kids find a 556 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,160 Speaker 1: date um and in fact, it was only open to 557 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:06,240 Speaker 1: college students originally. Now during the mid two thousand's, MySpace 558 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:11,760 Speaker 1: dominated Facebook, and in two thousand five, News Corporation acquired 559 00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 1: my Space for five hundred eighty million dollars. It's an 560 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,480 Speaker 1: enormous acquisition at the time. In two thousand six, my 561 00:36:20,600 --> 00:36:23,920 Speaker 1: Space was the most visited site on the web. Google 562 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:28,840 Speaker 1: was second place, But Facebook's design and features were evolving 563 00:36:28,840 --> 00:36:31,799 Speaker 1: over time. The site started opening up to larger and 564 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:36,160 Speaker 1: larger populations, opening up beyond college students and By two 565 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,840 Speaker 1: thousand nine, the tables had turned and Facebook was receiving 566 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: more visitors than my Space. So the former giant began 567 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,879 Speaker 1: to see members leaving for Facebook. Some of them were 568 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,040 Speaker 1: following friends who had already left my Space, some of 569 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:52,160 Speaker 1: them were joining friends who had Facebook accounts but had 570 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 1: never even bothered to build a MySpace account. And in 571 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,799 Speaker 1: two thousand eleven, News Corporations saw the writing on the 572 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,280 Speaker 1: wall and sold my Space for an undisclosed sum. Now 573 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,600 Speaker 1: the sum is officially undisclosed, but there have been a 574 00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: lot of estimations out there, with the lowest being at 575 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:12,000 Speaker 1: around thirty five million dollars. So remember they bought the 576 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 1: company for five hundred eighty million selling it for thirty 577 00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 1: five million. That's a huge loss for News Corporation. Since then, 578 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: my Space reinvented itself as a music entertainment destination. That 579 00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 1: did that back in two thousand twelve with the help 580 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:31,720 Speaker 1: of Justin timber Lake, and all the user generated content 581 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:35,160 Speaker 1: that had existed on the site has long since been deleted, 582 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:39,680 Speaker 1: So all those profiles, the messages, the photos, the journal entries, 583 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,600 Speaker 1: all of those things are gone, and that caused a 584 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:44,839 Speaker 1: lot of grief with people. Some folks were saying, you know, 585 00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:47,960 Speaker 1: I know, I don't go to my Space to comment 586 00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:51,120 Speaker 1: anymore to interact with my friends, but I did still 587 00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,560 Speaker 1: have a lot of stuff there that was important to me, 588 00:37:53,680 --> 00:37:56,399 Speaker 1: like pictures of people who are no longer around, or 589 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 1: thoughts on on subjects that were really important. But I 590 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,239 Speaker 1: didn't have anywhere else. So that caused some consternation when 591 00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:07,279 Speaker 1: they deleted all that user generated information. So how did 592 00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:10,000 Speaker 1: my Space actually fall like that? How did that all happen? 593 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 1: How could my Space, which had dominated had become the 594 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,600 Speaker 1: most visited website in the world. How could it fail 595 00:38:18,080 --> 00:38:21,960 Speaker 1: so completely to this upstart Facebook. Well, a lot of 596 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,400 Speaker 1: people have put thought to it, and one hypothesis is 597 00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:28,719 Speaker 1: that News Corporation put my Space under the leadership of 598 00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,920 Speaker 1: business executives who are used to formulating a strategy and 599 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,960 Speaker 1: executing it. So, in other words, they would sit down, 600 00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:39,240 Speaker 1: make goals, make plans on how to achieve those goals, 601 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:42,160 Speaker 1: and set forth doing it. And they were very you know, 602 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:46,520 Speaker 1: kind of locked into those ideas. Meanwhile, Facebook grew up 603 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,840 Speaker 1: in an environment where the company could experiment with ideas 604 00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 1: and discard them if they didn't work very quickly. They 605 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:54,760 Speaker 1: were very nimble in that way, so I could change 606 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:58,120 Speaker 1: much more quickly, adapting to what people liked and get 607 00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:01,000 Speaker 1: rid of things that they didn't like, while my my 608 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,840 Speaker 1: Space was bogged down and more of a corporate structure. 609 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,880 Speaker 1: And in the end, Facebook's approach worked in that social 610 00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:15,360 Speaker 1: media sphere and my Space didn't. Some more recent rivalries 611 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: we've seen include companies like Uber and Lift, both of 612 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:22,200 Speaker 1: which are those car hailing services. You know, you get 613 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 1: an app on your phone and you can hail a 614 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:28,040 Speaker 1: car driver from Uber or driver from Left and use 615 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:29,920 Speaker 1: that to take you to wherever you're going to go. 616 00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:34,560 Speaker 1: They're very similar services. Both of those services have riled 617 00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:38,360 Speaker 1: city governments and taxi companies. But in two thousand and fourteen, 618 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,840 Speaker 1: Uber really made the news got a lot of negative 619 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:44,960 Speaker 1: press for this. They had a campaign to throw a 620 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,400 Speaker 1: monkey wrench in lifts operations. Normally, I would say allegedly, 621 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:53,640 Speaker 1: but memos from Uber leaked and we're published by various 622 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,920 Speaker 1: publications on the web, and so Uber employees or contractors 623 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 1: were encouraged to use Lift services in an effort to 624 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:07,279 Speaker 1: recruit drivers away from Lift and over to Uber. There 625 00:40:07,280 --> 00:40:12,319 Speaker 1: were also policies that told contractors to order and then 626 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:15,720 Speaker 1: cancel Lift rights. This had a couple of different reasons, 627 00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:18,799 Speaker 1: uh you know, motivations. One was that it kept Lift 628 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,560 Speaker 1: drivers busy without having them earn money. So they would 629 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:25,719 Speaker 1: be responding to a call and driving from one point 630 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: to another to pick up a fair and then the 631 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:33,400 Speaker 1: the call would be canceled, and so they wouldn't be 632 00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,919 Speaker 1: making money in that meantime, they'd be wasting time going 633 00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:38,799 Speaker 1: from point A to point B. The other reason was 634 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:43,359 Speaker 1: to help mask the recruitment efforts from Uber executives. So 635 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: rather than allowing Lift to identify a pattern and to say, oh, 636 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:54,440 Speaker 1: this one person is consistently trying to recruit our employees 637 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:58,720 Speaker 1: or our drivers over to Uber, let's ban them for life. 638 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:02,480 Speaker 1: This was a way of trying to obfuse skate that. 639 00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: So it's all very spy movie esque. Uber employees are 640 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,960 Speaker 1: contractors were even using burner cell phones and varying their 641 00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:12,719 Speaker 1: behavior to avoid setting patterns to help limit the chance 642 00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:15,960 Speaker 1: of being discovered. Now, Lift even went so far as 643 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:20,200 Speaker 1: to sue its own former CEO. The executive had jumped 644 00:41:20,239 --> 00:41:23,960 Speaker 1: ship to Uber, and Lift claimed that that executive had 645 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:28,520 Speaker 1: shared confidential information about a ride sharing program and this 646 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,080 Speaker 1: was partially because both Uber and Lift announced such a 647 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: ride sharing program on the very same day, and Lift said, well, 648 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 1: the whole reason why this happened was that someone who 649 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:43,120 Speaker 1: had uh confidential information shared it with our competitors. So 650 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:47,560 Speaker 1: that's unfair and we're suing for it. Another big rivalry 651 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:52,080 Speaker 1: going on right now is between Netflix, Amazon and HBO. 652 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: So Netflix and Amazon had been battling it out for 653 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 1: a while trying to secure content that is exclusive to 654 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:02,279 Speaker 1: one or the other uh um. They're also creating their 655 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:06,880 Speaker 1: own individual original content and trying to kind of dominate 656 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,799 Speaker 1: the streaming market. Meanwhile, HBO is a nerd the fray 657 00:42:09,840 --> 00:42:13,920 Speaker 1: with HBO go with its own streaming service, and that 658 00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:18,480 Speaker 1: has prompted Netflix chief content officer to say the goal 659 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,759 Speaker 1: for us is to become HBO faster than HBO can 660 00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:25,960 Speaker 1: become us. Now, whether this means that the cable industry 661 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: as a whole will eventually be completely replaced by competing 662 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:32,319 Speaker 1: streaming services remains to be seen. We're getting a lot 663 00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:36,239 Speaker 1: of really fantastic content from this, you know, Daredevil from 664 00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:40,680 Speaker 1: Amazon for example, or from Netflix rather for example, Amazon 665 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:44,160 Speaker 1: is going to bankroll the man who killed don Keyxote, 666 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:49,760 Speaker 1: the Terry Gilliam movie that has had famously perhaps infamously 667 00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:56,400 Speaker 1: troublesome uh past, So really exciting from a content perspective, 668 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:58,960 Speaker 1: But it also means that if you want to get 669 00:42:59,000 --> 00:43:01,160 Speaker 1: access to all of these things, you have to subscribe 670 00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:04,760 Speaker 1: to multiple streaming services. So the more crowded this gets, 671 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,200 Speaker 1: the harder it is for the individual consumer. Or you 672 00:43:08,239 --> 00:43:10,920 Speaker 1: have to make tough decisions which once do you subscribe 673 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,800 Speaker 1: to and which ones do you not? Um will it 674 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,120 Speaker 1: all shake out that this is the future of television. 675 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:19,239 Speaker 1: I'm interested to see. I would suspect, at least for 676 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:21,319 Speaker 1: the near future, this is how it's going to go. 677 00:43:22,120 --> 00:43:25,360 Speaker 1: Whether it's sustainable, I don't know. Maybe it's exactly what 678 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 1: everyone's looking for. I know a lot of people have 679 00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:30,319 Speaker 1: hoped for ala carte cable where they can pick and 680 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:34,120 Speaker 1: choose which channels they have access. Well, this might be 681 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:37,080 Speaker 1: the beginning of that world, but it might mean that 682 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:39,960 Speaker 1: you have to subscribe to all these different individual services 683 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,680 Speaker 1: in order to do it, and if there are a 684 00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:43,399 Speaker 1: lot of them, it may end up meaning that you're 685 00:43:43,400 --> 00:43:46,720 Speaker 1: paying more per month than your cable bill was before. 686 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:50,879 Speaker 1: So we'll have to see. I hope you enjoyed that 687 00:43:51,000 --> 00:43:54,920 Speaker 1: tech Stuff classic episode about text top rivalries. If you 688 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,120 Speaker 1: have suggestions or topics I should cover in future episodes 689 00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:00,839 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, do not hesit hate to reach out 690 00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:03,200 Speaker 1: and let me know about it. The best way to 691 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:05,680 Speaker 1: do that is on Twitter. The handle for the show 692 00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:09,560 Speaker 1: is tech Stuff H s W and I'll talk to 693 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Y. Text Stuff is an I 694 00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:21,880 Speaker 1: Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 695 00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:25,400 Speaker 1: visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 696 00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:27,000 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows