1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,320 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: and a love of all things tech, and one of 5 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: my favorite topics in tech centers on projects that just 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: didn't work out. Not to be clear, this isn't all 7 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:33,080 Speaker 1: about schadenfreude, which, for those who don't know, is a 8 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 1: German word that essentially means the feeling of pleasure you 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:40,159 Speaker 1: get when you see someone else fail. Now there's a 10 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: little bit of that going on sometimes, but really, to me, 11 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: the interesting thing about failure is that you can learn 12 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: from it. By learning what doesn't work, you can refine 13 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: your approach and find ways that do work. Or sometimes 14 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: you figure out the thing you wanted to do isn't 15 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: necessarily possible. So in this episode, I'm going to look 16 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: at some projects, gadgets and campaigns that didn't succeed for 17 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,200 Speaker 1: various reasons. Because for every iPhone success story, there's a 18 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: massive flop that hardly anyone remembers today. Long time listeners 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: know that once upon a time, I very confidently predicted 20 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 1: that Apple's iPad would be a failure. Obviously I was 21 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: as wrong as wrong can be about that. So there's 22 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:29,279 Speaker 1: our first fail. It was mine. But at the time 23 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:32,479 Speaker 1: I felt pretty sure of myself. After all, no one 24 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: had really made a successful consumer tablet computer at that point. 25 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: There were tablets on the market, or slate computers they 26 00:01:41,360 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: were sometimes called, but for the most part, the only 27 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 1: place you found them were in certain occupations or specific 28 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,880 Speaker 1: use cases. No one had really hit it big with 29 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: a general use tablet computer. Q Michael Arrington, co founder 30 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: of tech Crunch, he wanted to create a useful tablet 31 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: or slate computer. He also wanted it to be affordable. 32 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,680 Speaker 1: He really wanted to aim for a two dollar price tag, 33 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:14,080 Speaker 1: which was pretty darn ambitious really. He and his team 34 00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: got started in two thousand and eight on the concept, 35 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,600 Speaker 1: and they were able to build a couple of prototypes, 36 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: and it turned out that making a tablet was really hard, 37 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:26,799 Speaker 1: particularly getting the capacity of touchscreen just right so that 38 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: there was a good input method for the user. I mean, 39 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:31,800 Speaker 1: obviously there's no keyboard or mouse. You have to have 40 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: a way to interact with the device. And after those 41 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: first couple of prototypes, Errington's team partnered unofficially it turns 42 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,519 Speaker 1: out with a company called Fusion Garage, and that really 43 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: ended up being a bad choice. Now. At first, everything 44 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: was going okay, but then on November two thousand nine, 45 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,840 Speaker 1: Errington got a message from the CEO of Fusion Garage, 46 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: and the message said that Fusion Garages shareholders felt that 47 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: Errington's team was superfluous and that their company, Fusion Garage, 48 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: should just move forward with this device on their own, 49 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: cutting Errington out entirely to make matters worse. This was 50 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,120 Speaker 1: just days before Errington was going to show off the 51 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: working prototype at a live event. He had already talked 52 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: about the crunch Pad publicly and people were eager to 53 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,240 Speaker 1: see what it was that his team had been working on. 54 00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: It was supposed to be the launch of the product, 55 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: and the plan was to even take pre orders for 56 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:36,720 Speaker 1: up to a thousand units, and boom, Errington gets this message. Now, 57 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: as you can imagine, that didn't go down well. Fusion 58 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: Garage announced that the tablet, now renamed Juju that's j 59 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: o O j o O, would go on pre sale 60 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: in December for five hundred dollars, more than twice the 61 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: price Errington wanted to aim for when he had started 62 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: working on the project. A couple of years earlier, Errington 63 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: sued Fusion Garage, but because there was no formal contract 64 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: about their agreement, a judge dismissed a lot of the 65 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: arguments that Errington's legal team made against Fusion Garage. But 66 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:13,880 Speaker 1: it seemed like the whole thing would end up being 67 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,479 Speaker 1: a moot point anyway, because during the court case, it 68 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,160 Speaker 1: was revealed that the Juju device had only received ninety 69 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: that's nine zero pre orders before it finally began shipping 70 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: in March of The tablet was absolutely hamstrung by the 71 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: Apple iPad, which we first learned about in January and 72 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 1: which began shipping in April of that year. So a 73 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: lot of people were saying, well, if I want a tablet, 74 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: I'm just gonna wait for the iPad. While I don't 75 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: know how those court cases ultimately played out, I couldn't 76 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: find that when I was researching this episode, I can 77 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: tell you that the Juju Tablet didn't last very long. 78 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: Fusion Garage decided to stop supporting it before ten was 79 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 1: even over, So we're only talking about half a year 80 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,920 Speaker 1: from the point it launched to the point that Fusion 81 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: Garage stopped supporting it, and Fusion Garage itself didn't last 82 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: a whole lot longer. That company went into liquidation in 83 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: twenty twelve. I think there's some real lessons to learn 84 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: from that story. One is that making a particular form 85 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: factor consumer friendly is really hard, and while Apple made 86 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: it work, countless other companies have made slates or tablets 87 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: that saw very little traction in the general tech consumer 88 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,799 Speaker 1: market before and since the introduction of the iPad. Another 89 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: is that you always get those business agreements in writing always. Now, 90 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 1: let's take a leap, In fact, let's call it a 91 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: Magic Leap, a decade ahead. The company Magic Leap started 92 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,680 Speaker 1: in two though it kept a pretty low profile for 93 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,600 Speaker 1: the first few years. We would later learn that the 94 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: primary focus of the company was the development of an 95 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:01,560 Speaker 1: augmented reality headset. Now, just in case you're not familiar 96 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:05,680 Speaker 1: with that, term, augmented reality or a R refers to 97 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:11,240 Speaker 1: using digital information to enhance a real environment in some way. 98 00:06:11,240 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 1: Typically we experience this digital enhancement through a screen or 99 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: a headset, though you could do it with audio like 100 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: with headphones, or even other methods of sensory input. But 101 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:27,080 Speaker 1: the technology interprets what we are focusing on within our 102 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: environment and then enhances our experience in some way. So 103 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:35,839 Speaker 1: a super simple implementation are the various filters on phone 104 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: apps that let you, you know, take pictures of yourself 105 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: with bunny ears, or you can turn into a dragon 106 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: or whatever. Magic Leap was working on a headset that 107 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,360 Speaker 1: could overlay digital information on your view of the world, 108 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,479 Speaker 1: and the applications for this technology are practically limitless, from 109 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:57,600 Speaker 1: entertainment to productivity. And obviously there are other examples of 110 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: this technology on the market, such as micros offs hollow lens, 111 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,679 Speaker 1: but Magic Leap had a sense of mystery and well 112 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: magic about it, and it attracted a lot of attention 113 00:07:08,279 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: and a lot of investors, who poured around two billion 114 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: dollars in the company years before it had a product 115 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: to even show off. In two thousand eighteen, Magic Leap 116 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: introduced its first headset, fittingly named the Magic Leap. One 117 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:25,760 Speaker 1: had a steep price tag two thousand, three hundred dollars 118 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: per headset. The CEO's original hope was that the company 119 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: would sell one million headsets in its first year, but 120 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: in the official company projections that got reduced down by 121 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 1: an order of magnitude, down to one thousand units, but 122 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: reality was far more harsh. After the first six months, 123 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: the company had only sold around six thousand units, according 124 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: to Alex Heath of The Information. The Information Is a website. 125 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: By the way, Addie Robertson of The Verge got to 126 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,920 Speaker 1: try out the Magic Leap and fell that the experience 127 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,000 Speaker 1: was interesting but fell far short of expectations. Given all 128 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: the hype around the Magic Leap one for years, the 129 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: tech world had been teased with hints at what was 130 00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: to come and lots of conceptual videos that really made 131 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: it seem phenomenal, and the anticipation was really high. But 132 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: by the time it finally came out, after the hollow 133 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: lens had already been demonstrated, the Magic Leap one just 134 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: didn't quite live up to its reputation. Magic Leap chose 135 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: to pivot towards catering to enterprise clients, meaning instead of 136 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,839 Speaker 1: offering a consumer electronics product, the company was aiming at 137 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: something for other businesses to purchase, and the rocky launch 138 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 1: had some pretty big consequences, including massive layoffs like a 139 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: thousand people laid off at the company and the CEO 140 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: and founder of the company stepping down. Today, Magic Leap 141 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: is planning the release of their second headset. This one 142 00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: is lighter, and the company says it will have a 143 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 1: larger few old of view, but there aren't many details 144 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: beyond some general statements about the physical specs of the 145 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 1: the high tech specs. It may be that the experience 146 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 1: of using them will match more closely with the perception 147 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: of what it was going to be like, but we'll 148 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:18,720 Speaker 1: have to see. I personally get the feeling that a 149 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: R is kind of going through what VR went through 150 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: back in the nineteen nineties, which is when the actual 151 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 1: experience of VR ended up being a pale imitation of 152 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: what everyone thought it would be and then interest dropped 153 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: like like a stone as a result. But I hope 154 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 1: that they're successful. I would actually love to see more 155 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: innovation in the a R space. So while I have reservations, 156 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,960 Speaker 1: my hope is that they make it work. Meanwhile, Magically 157 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: has some other challenges. It seems like a lot of 158 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: the planned partnerships that the company had with other big 159 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: companies have sort of stalled out, and in Florida, the 160 00:09:57,240 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: company has asked for an extension on a promise it 161 00:09:59,559 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: made to the Broward County Commission. Magic Leap had promised 162 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 1: to create seven jobs with an average salary of one 163 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: thousand dollars per year, and in return they got some 164 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 1: pretty sweet incentives to set up shop in Florida. But 165 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: due to the fallout of the Magic Leap one release 166 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:20,000 Speaker 1: not going as planned and the subsequent layoffs and the 167 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: pandemic on top of everything else, the company needs more 168 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,280 Speaker 1: time to make good on that promise. I'll keep my 169 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: eye on Magic Leap and I'll continue to hope that 170 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: the team is able to rebound. Let us now turn 171 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: our sights to Microsoft. Now, Microsoft has tons of candidates 172 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: I could choose from when it comes to failures. Years ago, 173 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: I did an episode on Microsoft Bob, arguably one of 174 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: the biggest flops in tech history. Also, it's the flop 175 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: that introduced the world to comic Sands. I could also 176 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 1: talk about Windows Vista or Windows eight, but instead let's 177 00:10:56,400 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: chat about the Zoom. The Zoon wasly a suite of 178 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:05,880 Speaker 1: technologies centered around a portable media player called the Zoon. 179 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: It was kind of Microsoft's answer to Apple's iPod. Microsoft 180 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: launched the Zoo on November two thousand six. The original 181 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 1: Zoom device had thirty gigabytes of storage space built in 182 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: FM radio and a three inch screen, but two thousand 183 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: six was pretty late to get into the portable media 184 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:29,560 Speaker 1: player game. Apple had introduced the first iPod in two 185 00:11:29,559 --> 00:11:33,359 Speaker 1: thousand one and had worked to create an ecosystem with iTunes. 186 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 1: An ecosystem I should add that worked okay if you 187 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: were on a Mac, but I maintained it was a 188 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,599 Speaker 1: nightmare to use it on PC, at least in my experience. 189 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,840 Speaker 1: Microsoft was trying to make up for some lost time 190 00:11:45,920 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: and lost ground, and it didn't go so well. When 191 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:52,440 Speaker 1: it came to market share, the Zoon was never able 192 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: to get as high as ten percent of the whole market. 193 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: It was always in the single digits. The company stuck 194 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: with the product line for a file, including the introduction 195 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: of a touch screen Zoom in two thousand nine that 196 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:09,840 Speaker 1: was the Zoom hd UH. Some first generation Zoom thirties failed. 197 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,679 Speaker 1: They froze entirely. Microsoft later said that the reason for 198 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: the Zoom's freezing was because of a third party internal 199 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: clock that failed to account for a leap year the 200 00:12:21,280 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: host pesky clocks. One capability the Zoom players had that 201 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,959 Speaker 1: got a lot of snark was that you could wirelessly 202 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: share a song from your library with a friend who 203 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,199 Speaker 1: also happened to have a Zoom. Also, you could actually 204 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,160 Speaker 1: send that song to any nearby Zoom device. If your 205 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 1: Zoom detected another Zoom within thirty feet, you could send 206 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:45,440 Speaker 1: a song you know, or other piece of media like 207 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:48,559 Speaker 1: a podcast their way, and the recipient would get a 208 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:51,839 Speaker 1: little notification and they could choose to either accept or 209 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: deny that offer, and then if they accepted it, they 210 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: would have three days to you know, listen to the 211 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: media before it disappeared from their vice, and they also 212 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: had a limit of listening to it three times. And 213 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: hearing that you might think, well, was there to be 214 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: snarky about. Well, the snark wasn't about the capability, It 215 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 1: was the name that Microsoft gave to it. Microsoft called 216 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:19,680 Speaker 1: it squirting. The lackluster sales of the Zoom ultimately led 217 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,120 Speaker 1: to Microsoft deciding to stop development and production on the 218 00:13:23,200 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 1: Zoo in the company continued to support the Zoom software service, 219 00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:32,200 Speaker 1: which allowed you know, existing Zoom users to listen to 220 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: songs they had purchased through Microsoft and Stuff, or they 221 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,560 Speaker 1: could listen to a catalog of streaming music for a 222 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,120 Speaker 1: monthly fee, but all of that got shut down in 223 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: two thousand fifteen and while Microsoft would you know, move 224 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 1: users over from their service to a new service, the 225 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 1: Groove Music Service, not all the copyright licenses made that shift. 226 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 1: The the library of the zooon uh universe was different 227 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,800 Speaker 1: from the Groove universe, so that wasn't great. It meant 228 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:05,439 Speaker 1: a lot of Zoom users found themselves unable to listen 229 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 1: to music that they had previously purchased on the Zoom platform. 230 00:14:09,400 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: And it was also a reminder that the media model 231 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,119 Speaker 1: we have these days where we don't really have copies 232 00:14:15,559 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: of media. Typically we normally access the media through streaming services. 233 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,600 Speaker 1: That means that there can come a time where we 234 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: can't access that stuff anymore because of licensing issues that 235 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: are on the back end. So bye bye Zooon. We 236 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 1: hardly squirted d. On a related note, there was the Panto, 237 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: famous for its association with musician Neil Young. The bitch 238 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: for Panto is pretty simple. Most digital music we encounter 239 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: these days has been compressed, and in that compression process 240 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: you can lose fidelity, the quality of the audio, the 241 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: dynamic range of the music. That's the range between the 242 00:14:56,400 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: softest and the loudest bits of a piece that gets reduced. 243 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,520 Speaker 1: So it makes the music more flat right, The softer 244 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 1: parts get boosted a little bit in volume, the loudest 245 00:15:07,320 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: parts get reduced in volume, and you have less variation. 246 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: You might also lose some harmonics because compression algorithms typically 247 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:19,320 Speaker 1: determine if a sound is within the range of human hearing, 248 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: and if it figures that the sound is outside the 249 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 1: range of human hearing, it drops that information, thinking that's 250 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: not really important, but that can help shape the sound 251 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: a little bit, so that's also an issue. The Panto 252 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: would let you listen to uncompressed digital music. Ideally, you 253 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:39,840 Speaker 1: would experience music as if you had been in the 254 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:43,240 Speaker 1: recording studio when the artists were laying down the tracks 255 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: for the first time, or maybe more realistically, you would 256 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:49,240 Speaker 1: be in the studio after audio engineers had worked on 257 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: a track to sweeten it up a little bit before 258 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: recording it to a master. Neil Young first started talking 259 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,080 Speaker 1: about Panto back in two thousand twelve. A Kickstarter campaign 260 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,800 Speaker 1: helped fund the project initially, though the company called Ponto 261 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: Music reportedly had industry backing as well. Despite all this, 262 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: the project dragged on and it bled money, with the 263 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: company having to launch a crowdfunder campaign later to raise 264 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:17,880 Speaker 1: even more money, so it had two different crowdfunding campaigns 265 00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: in the company released the Panto music player device. The 266 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 1: sales must have been pretty lackluster. The Travel Insider blog 267 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: estimates that perhaps around fifteen thousand Pantos were sold as 268 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: part of the crowdfunding campaign, sort of pre sales. It 269 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: was an expensive piece of technology. It started at four 270 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: hundred dollars and ultimately I think Ponto failed because when 271 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,080 Speaker 1: it comes to considerations people give for portable music, the 272 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: convenience factor typically rates much higher than fidelity. Plus, we 273 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: were starting to shift from downloads to streams around this 274 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: time too, And besides, there's a diminishing returns issue when 275 00:16:56,720 --> 00:17:00,360 Speaker 1: it comes to fidelity. Yes, you can from a nickel 276 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: level see an improvement in audio, like you can look 277 00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:07,360 Speaker 1: at the different meters and say, okay, we detect more 278 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: precisely that this recording is more uh accurate a representation 279 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: of the original sound than this other recording. You can 280 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: do that from a technical perspective, but a lot of 281 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,159 Speaker 1: us have trouble telling the difference between a good music 282 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: playback session and an excellent music playback session. It's very 283 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,360 Speaker 1: easy to tell bad from good. But once you get 284 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: up to good things, get a bit more subjective. The 285 00:17:35,400 --> 00:17:38,679 Speaker 1: Pano players stuck around for two whole years before it 286 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,600 Speaker 1: faded away after various partners had already gone bankrupt. There 287 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,639 Speaker 1: was talk of Pano leading to another service, you know, 288 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 1: kind of evolving into something else, but so far nothing 289 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: has come of that. Now when we come back, we're 290 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: gonna get all googly up in here, But first let's 291 00:17:55,240 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 1: take a break. Well, I've already spoiled it. But one 292 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: company that has had a very long history of abandoned 293 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:12,960 Speaker 1: projects is Google, and that shouldn't be a surprise because 294 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: for more than a decade the company encouraged its employees 295 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:21,199 Speaker 1: to experiment and think outside the box. Until about the 296 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: general policy at Google was that Googlers could spend twenty 297 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: of their time working on their own projects that could 298 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:32,160 Speaker 1: potentially benefit Google down the line, but they weren't part 299 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: of the employee's normal work. So that could mean that 300 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: Monday through Thursday you work on your official projects, and 301 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: then on Fridays you just kind of experiment and build 302 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: stuff that might or might not ever see the light 303 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: of day. This was Google's way of encouraging innovation within 304 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:51,680 Speaker 1: the company, and a lot of elements of Google products 305 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: emerged because of this policy, but we also saw stuff 306 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: that would get a launch or get incorporated into something 307 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:01,800 Speaker 1: else and over time and Google would just step back 308 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: from it. Sometimes I think the problem was that Google 309 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: didn't really know how to launch and promote some of 310 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: these products. But in other cases it really was more 311 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,719 Speaker 1: that the products just didn't appeal to non Google engineer types, 312 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: or that you were looking at something that was questionably useful, 313 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:22,360 Speaker 1: or it just wasn't very user friendly in general. Anyway, 314 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: there's a bunch of Google products we could talk about 315 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,439 Speaker 1: that didn't go very far, and a few that never 316 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,159 Speaker 1: emerged beyond an announcement. Oh and before I forget, you 317 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,320 Speaker 1: might wonder why Google abandoned that you know, employees get 318 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: time to pursue their own projects policy. Sometimes around it's 319 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: not because the company changed course on innovation, but because 320 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: of managers. See, managers at Google are accountable for the 321 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: productivity of the teams they manage, and that time really 322 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,080 Speaker 1: eats into the number of hours teams can dedicate to 323 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: official Google projects, and that hits the managers when it 324 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 1: comes to review time. So there was a shift within 325 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: the company to eliminate the loosey goosey time component to 326 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:09,160 Speaker 1: boost productivity and go with a more top down approach 327 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:13,399 Speaker 1: to innovation. Anyway, let's talk about some Google products, some 328 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 1: which may have been spawned from that time policy that 329 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: ultimately flopped. And this is just a sampling. I could 330 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: do multiple episodes about all the different products from Google 331 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 1: that ultimately got the AX. So consider this more of 332 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:32,520 Speaker 1: a sampler platter, arranged in no particular order. And we'll 333 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: start with a Google product that lasted all of one 334 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: whole day. I'm talking about Google X. Now, this is 335 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: not the moonshot Google X. That's a division inside Google 336 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: that focuses on bleeding edge R and D. It's kind 337 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: of Google's version of Lockheed's skunk Works. No. No, the 338 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,159 Speaker 1: Google X i'm talking about was a different approach to 339 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: Google Search, and it was only available on March six, 340 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: two thousand five. Back in two thousand and five, the 341 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: basic Google search bar allows you to indicate what sort 342 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: of results you wanted to look for before you hit 343 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:12,120 Speaker 1: search or I'm feeling lucky. The I'm feeling lucky button 344 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: would just take you to whatever the top search result 345 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: was for your query. You could search the web for 346 00:21:17,880 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: pages related to your query. You could search images, you 347 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: could search for news articles and so on. That stuff 348 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: still exists, by the way, but now it's after the jump, 349 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 1: after you've done that initial search. But in the old 350 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: days you could do it before you actually hit the 351 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,520 Speaker 1: search button. Anyway, Google X was a new layout for search, 352 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: with icons replacing the text above the search bar. So 353 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 1: there was a portrait in a frame icon that represented 354 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: image search, there was a newspaper icon that represented news, 355 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: and so on. It looked a lot like Apple's Mac 356 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: os ten or os x doc like a lot a 357 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:04,080 Speaker 1: lot like it. Chakai O Haasama, the software engineer presumably 358 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 1: behind the redesign, acknowledge the connection to Mac os ten. 359 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 1: But here's the thing. There are certain companies that have 360 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:17,480 Speaker 1: a reputation for really jealously guarding their I p. Apple 361 00:22:17,600 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: is one of those companies. In fact, the company has 362 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,640 Speaker 1: been known to send legal teams after other companies that 363 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: looked like they were kind of copying Apple style. This, 364 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,359 Speaker 1: by the way, is pretty rich if you know the 365 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: history of Apple's graphic user interface and how Steve Jobs 366 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: himself was famous for stealing other ideas and making them 367 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: Apple's own approach. Anyway, while neither Apple nor Google said 368 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 1: anything about it, the OS ten like layout of Google 369 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:49,640 Speaker 1: Search was gone by March two five. Next is Google Lively, 370 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:53,880 Speaker 1: which I honestly don't remember being a thing. Now. It's 371 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:56,439 Speaker 1: possible I heard about it at the time, but Google 372 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,879 Speaker 1: launched this back in two thousand and eight. That is 373 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: the same year we paunched tech Stuff, So it's also 374 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: entirely possible that it just completely escaped my attention. It 375 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,199 Speaker 1: wasn't around for very long, so it's not like I 376 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: had a lot of opportunities to get familiar with it. 377 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,480 Speaker 1: So what the heck was Google Lively? We'll simply put 378 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: Google Lively was a way of creating online three D 379 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,880 Speaker 1: spaces that kind of served as a sort of chat room. 380 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,199 Speaker 1: You can think of something like Second Life but for Google, 381 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: or something that's kind of like an M M O RPG, 382 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: just without the overt game elements. It all fit inside 383 00:23:34,119 --> 00:23:36,960 Speaker 1: the web browser experience, so you didn't have to download 384 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: a program or anything. When it launched. It worked only 385 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: with PCs running Windows, specifically either Windows XP or Windows 386 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: Vista anyone remember those, and it was also compatible with 387 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: Internet Explorer or Firefox. I don't think It was even 388 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: compatible with Google Chrome, though to be fair, Chrome did 389 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: not launch until September two eight, so the same year 390 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,119 Speaker 1: that Ly came out. The company planned future versions that 391 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: we're supposed to work on Mac and Linux computers as well. 392 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: Rooms within Google Lively had their own u r l s, 393 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,399 Speaker 1: so you could link them together within Google Lively, and 394 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 1: moving from one virtual room to another was essentially the 395 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: same thing as clicking on a link and going to 396 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: a new web page. Google Lively could be embedded into 397 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: other websites, so a web administrator for a big brand 398 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: could incorporate Google Lively into the brand's own web presence 399 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,159 Speaker 1: and allow visitors to wander around a virtual space. You 400 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: could have some limited interactions with virtual objects and with 401 00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: other visitors to the three D room, you could chat. 402 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: Your messages would appear in a little word balloons above 403 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,119 Speaker 1: your avatar's head. You could also open up a separate 404 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: chat window if you preferred, which made it a lot 405 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: easier to follow a conversation, and several actions were also 406 00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:55,679 Speaker 1: included as animations for your avatar, so rather than just 407 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,600 Speaker 1: typing in something like hugs, you could have your avatar hug. 408 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: Another one Google Lively was one of those projects that 409 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,439 Speaker 1: grew out of the twenty percent employee time policy. But 410 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,920 Speaker 1: one thing it didn't have was a way to generate revenue. 411 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:12,679 Speaker 1: There was no plan on how to use Google Lively 412 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,880 Speaker 1: to make money, and so while it was kind of interesting, 413 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,440 Speaker 1: it also didn't serve much of a business purpose, and 414 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: a lot of tech journals of the time pretty much 415 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,840 Speaker 1: dismissed Google Lively, calling it more lame than Second Life. 416 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:31,000 Speaker 1: That's their words, not mine. At the time, the world 417 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:34,000 Speaker 1: was also sliding into a recession, which was affecting the 418 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 1: ad revenue business kind of like what we saw in 419 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,480 Speaker 1: and since AD revenue is the way that Google makes 420 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: the vast majority of its money, leaders within the company 421 00:25:44,160 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: decided that Google Lively was a distraction and that really 422 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: all hands were needed on deck to deal with the 423 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:54,640 Speaker 1: lagging AD dollars. It launched in July two and Google 424 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:56,879 Speaker 1: killed it at the end of that year, so it 425 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: wasn't around for very long. Moving up to two thousand 426 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,199 Speaker 1: and nine, we get to Google Wave, which was a 427 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:07,280 Speaker 1: real time online collaborative editing tool. You had create a 428 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,160 Speaker 1: document called a wave, then you could invite other people 429 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: to join it, and then together you could all make 430 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: changes all at the same time, and you could see 431 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: people making changes to stuff in real time, and you 432 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,679 Speaker 1: could chat or leave comments about it. Now. At the 433 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,159 Speaker 1: time it came out, I was preparing to launch a 434 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:27,880 Speaker 1: tech Stuff video series with my original co host, Chris Palette. 435 00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 1: We used Google Wave to help plan out our episodes. 436 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:34,640 Speaker 1: We would build our show in Google Wave and we 437 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: had tech news segments. We also had some goofy stuff 438 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:41,000 Speaker 1: in there. We had a tweet of the week segment. Gosh, 439 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:45,920 Speaker 1: those were fun days. Anyway. Google Wave lasted only slightly 440 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: longer than our video series did. While some features would 441 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: find their way into other Google products, Google Wave itself 442 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: was washed out by when Google said it would no 443 00:26:56,840 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: longer support development for the platform, and Google a Fish 444 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,960 Speaker 1: deleted everything that was on Google Wave in April of 445 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 1: tw Some of the features from Google Wave would find 446 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,120 Speaker 1: their way into another failed Google product called Google Buzz, 447 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: which launched in two just a couple of months after 448 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 1: the company said it wasn't going to support Wave anymore. 449 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: Google Buzz was kind of a bridge between Google Wave 450 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: and Google Plus, and here's a news flash, none of 451 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:29,080 Speaker 1: those products are around anymore. Google Buzz was all about 452 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:33,680 Speaker 1: adding social features to Gmail, and Buzz was itself incorporated 453 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 1: directly into Gmail. That in itself would become a pretty 454 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:41,000 Speaker 1: big problem for the company. But here's how Google described 455 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 1: it in their initial blog post announcing the service. Back 456 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: in quote, Google, Buzz is a new way to start 457 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 1: conversations about the things you find interesting. It's built right 458 00:27:52,600 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: into Gmail, so you don't have to peck out an 459 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,959 Speaker 1: entirely new set of friends from scratch. It just works. 460 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 1: If you think about it, There's always been a big 461 00:28:00,640 --> 00:28:04,399 Speaker 1: social network underlying Gmail. Buzz brings the network to the 462 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: service by automatically setting you up to follow the people 463 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: you email and chat with the most. We focused on 464 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: building an easy to use sharing experience that richly integrates photos, videos, 465 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,320 Speaker 1: and links, and makes it easy to share publicly or privately, 466 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: so you don't have to use different tools to share 467 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:26,400 Speaker 1: with different audiences. Plus, Buzz integrates tightly with your existing 468 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 1: Gmail inbox, so you're sure to see the stuff that 469 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:33,719 Speaker 1: matters most as it happens in real time. End quote. 470 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:38,680 Speaker 1: Buzz would let users or force them, depending upon your 471 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: point of view, aggregate feeds from their various social circles 472 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: into one place, so for example, you could see tweets 473 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: posted by your friends pop up and Google Buzz, assuming 474 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: you had those friends listed as contacts and Gmail. And 475 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 1: it wasn't just Twitter. You could aggregate stuff from other 476 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: services like Flicker because a friend, feed, Blogger, and YouTube 477 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: and I'm sure a couple of those names were blasts 478 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,280 Speaker 1: from the past for some of you out there. You 479 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,800 Speaker 1: can also post to Google Buzz directly, similar to making 480 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: a post on Facebook or Twitter. You could include pictures 481 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,000 Speaker 1: or links, and friends could comment on those posts and 482 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: create a threaded conversation. Nothing groundbreaking, you know, but it 483 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: was all nested within Gmail. And then came the problems. See, 484 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 1: by incorporating Buzz into Gmail, it turned all Gmail users 485 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:36,120 Speaker 1: into Buzz users, and that wasn't necessarily something that Gmail 486 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: folks wanted, and they weren't too terribly keen on their 487 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: contact lists becoming public or that stuff they thought they 488 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: had been posting to a small group of friends was 489 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,200 Speaker 1: now circulating among much larger groups thanks to the fact 490 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,000 Speaker 1: that Buzz would helpfully point out friends of friends that 491 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: you might know to expand your circle. In short, the 492 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: implementation was a pretty big min as far as privacy 493 00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,040 Speaker 1: and trust are concerned. Google was actually taken to court 494 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: and lost over the matter, and they paid out more 495 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: than eight million dollars As a result. Buzz got a 496 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,840 Speaker 1: couple of changes to make it less intrusive, but it 497 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: just wasn't meant to be. It would be phased out 498 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: to make way for Google Plus, though the two services 499 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: did exist side by side for a short while. And 500 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 1: of course now Google Plus is gone too. But I 501 00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:28,360 Speaker 1: do have one last Google product I want to mention, 502 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,200 Speaker 1: and it's not Google Plus. As I said earlier, I 503 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: could do a whole episode on all the different Google 504 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 1: products that came and went, with some of them having 505 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: features that found their way into other stuff. And one 506 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,719 Speaker 1: of those gadgets is the Nexus Q. Now, the Nexus 507 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,920 Speaker 1: QUE is special because it never actually came out as 508 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: a consumer product. It was announced Google unveiled it at 509 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: the company's Io conference for developers in twenty twelve. In fact, 510 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: people who were attending that conference actually got a Nexus Q, 511 00:30:59,280 --> 00:31:01,640 Speaker 1: which I guess makes it a special kind of collector's 512 00:31:01,720 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: item since Google pushed back the release date of the 513 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 1: consumer version until the whole thing just got canned. So 514 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,000 Speaker 1: what was the Nexus Q simply? But it was a 515 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 1: media streaming device you would connect it to speakers or 516 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: to a television, and you used an app to control 517 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: the Nexus Q. You could send content to it that 518 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: then would play out either on the TV screen or 519 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:27,320 Speaker 1: on the stereo speakers or whatever it was connected to. 520 00:31:28,040 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: The design of the gadget was very striking. It was 521 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 1: spherical with a flat section, so it could sit steady 522 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: on a table or on the floor, wouldn't just roll around. 523 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: It also had a circle of tiny led lights going 524 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: around it, kind of like an equator, but at a 525 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 1: forty five degree angle relative to the sphere. It weighed 526 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: about two pounds or not quite a kilogram, and it 527 00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: looked pretty darn nifty. But that's sort of where the 528 00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: positive remarks end. See The Nexus q was limited to 529 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:01,800 Speaker 1: streaming content from Google server says like YouTube or what 530 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:05,480 Speaker 1: was then Google Play. There was no support for any 531 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 1: other streaming services. The control scheme was somewhat confusing, according 532 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: to multiple reviews, and on top of everything else, it 533 00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: was expensive. The projected price was two dollars, which also 534 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,240 Speaker 1: didn't include stuff like speakers if you wanted to make 535 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,400 Speaker 1: it a sound system, so this wasn't like the later 536 00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:28,080 Speaker 1: Google Home smart speakers or anything like that. It wasn't 537 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: as robust as the chrome Cast devices that would come later, 538 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: which allow you to stream all sorts of content to 539 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: a television using a connected phone or computer. It was 540 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: a limited media streaming device at a premium cost in 541 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 1: a world that already had stuff like Apple TV, Roku 542 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 1: and so Nose devices. Ultimately, Google chose not to release 543 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: the Nexus Queue. Instead, many of those features would go 544 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 1: into devices like the aforementioned chrome Cast and smart speakers. 545 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: They wouldn't be quite as striking from a stylistic standpoint 546 00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:02,520 Speaker 1: is the NEXTUS queue, but they did prove to be 547 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 1: more versatile. And that's our Google section for this episode. 548 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 1: Like I said, I can talk about tons more. Let's 549 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: say about Google Fiber, which I'm still waiting for here 550 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: in Atlanta. There's a Google Fiber office near our studios downtown. 551 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: I signed up years ago to connect to Google Fiber, 552 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 1: but never built out to my neighborhood, which actually sits 553 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: between two major points in the Google Fiber infrastructure in 554 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:32,520 Speaker 1: our city. But that story would require a whole episode 555 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:36,040 Speaker 1: on its own. And I'll just go to break so 556 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,800 Speaker 1: I can be bitter for a bit. I'll be better 557 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 1: not bitter when we come back and I'll talk about 558 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:45,640 Speaker 1: a few more flops, but first let's take another break. 559 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: In a recent Text of News episode, I talked about 560 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: an Apple TV Plus series about the not really a 561 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,440 Speaker 1: tech many called we Work, and I figured we should 562 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,640 Speaker 1: probably do a brief overview of we Work, because while 563 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: it isn't really a tech company, it consistently positioned itself 564 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,759 Speaker 1: as if it were a tech company. And while this 565 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: story isn't over yet, it has had a massive fall 566 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:22,120 Speaker 1: from grace so sky high overview. We Work as a 567 00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 1: company that secures spaces and buildings and then leases or 568 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,120 Speaker 1: subleases those spaces out to other professionals. So that can 569 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:33,719 Speaker 1: include freelancers who just need a workspace of their own, 570 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: or companies that don't have their own offices yet. So 571 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 1: if you're launching a startup and you don't have the 572 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:42,359 Speaker 1: cash on hand to get a space of your own, 573 00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,799 Speaker 1: you could rent some space from we Work. And it 574 00:34:45,880 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 1: came with some perks, like an internet infrastructure, so you 575 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,200 Speaker 1: could just connect to the we Work offices internet. They 576 00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:57,359 Speaker 1: also had some goodies like free beer, no kidding. For 577 00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,319 Speaker 1: a while, that was one of the perks of a 578 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 1: wee Work in environment a breake area stocked with free beer, 579 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,080 Speaker 1: oh and also wine. But the days of wine and 580 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:11,520 Speaker 1: Bruskis were not to last. The company was leading up 581 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:14,720 Speaker 1: to holding an i p O, or initial public offering 582 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,680 Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen. That's when a privately owned company 583 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,760 Speaker 1: makes the transition to a publicly traded company and joins 584 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: the stock market. We works i p O was highly anticipated. 585 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,120 Speaker 1: Investors had been pouring a lot of money into the 586 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,720 Speaker 1: startup and it had reached a peak valuation of almost 587 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:39,760 Speaker 1: fifty billion dollars that's billion with a B, a princely sum. 588 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:44,239 Speaker 1: But then things went pear shaped. Well really, the pear 589 00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: shaped stuff was kind of in the works for a while, 590 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:48,600 Speaker 1: but it really came to a head at the i 591 00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,719 Speaker 1: p O when the company filed the i p O 592 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: S one registration document with the SEC. Because that document 593 00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: seemed to belong to another universe. This is a document 594 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,400 Speaker 1: that lay is a lot of information about a company 595 00:36:02,480 --> 00:36:06,280 Speaker 1: before it goes public, so stuff like the corporate structure 596 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:10,240 Speaker 1: and succession planning. But this one didn't seem to belong 597 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: to our universe. It seemed to belong to a cartoon universe. 598 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:17,239 Speaker 1: It included a corporate hierarchy in which you had at 599 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:21,040 Speaker 1: the top the WE Company. Underneath that was the WE 600 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: Company m C l l C. Then under that you 601 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:27,719 Speaker 1: had the WE Company Partnership, under which was the We 602 00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,480 Speaker 1: Work Company's ll C. So it's kind of like a 603 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: Russian nesting doll more than an organizational chart. Moreover, the 604 00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:39,280 Speaker 1: company had some massive expenses in there, like a private 605 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: jet for the CEO and co founder Adam Neuman, and 606 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 1: there were questions about the fact that Neiman had been 607 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: purchasing real estate on his own then leasing that real 608 00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:52,640 Speaker 1: estate to we Work, which would suble sit down to customers. 609 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,000 Speaker 1: If you're the CEO of a company that is funded 610 00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: by investors, it seems to me like it's a little 611 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,600 Speaker 1: bit of a conflict of interest if you take the 612 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:06,760 Speaker 1: money of the company to least real estate from yourself, 613 00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:11,319 Speaker 1: using essentially investor money to fund your pockets. But it 614 00:37:11,360 --> 00:37:14,719 Speaker 1: gets stranger the deeper you go. Another co founder of 615 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:18,040 Speaker 1: We Work is Adam's wife, Rebecca, who is first cousins 616 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,760 Speaker 1: with Gwyneth Paltrow. Now I mentioned that because I detect 617 00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 1: a similar sort of magical thinking in Rebecca as I 618 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:30,040 Speaker 1: see in Gwyneth, And that's not a compliment. Magical thinking 619 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,880 Speaker 1: means you tend to believe that unrelated events have some 620 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:37,120 Speaker 1: sort of causal link to them, you know, like if 621 00:37:37,120 --> 00:37:39,479 Speaker 1: you step on a crack, you will in fact break 622 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: your mama's back kind of thing. It's the opposite of 623 00:37:43,040 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: critical thinking. Anyway. Elements of that were in the I 624 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: p O filing as well, which is unusual to say 625 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:54,719 Speaker 1: the least. The I p O prospectus gave current and 626 00:37:54,880 --> 00:38:00,520 Speaker 1: potential future investors pause. Maybe that fifty billion dollar valuation 627 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:05,880 Speaker 1: mostly thanks to major investors SoftBank, maybe that was a 628 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 1: little bit off the mark, and everything then began to 629 00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:12,920 Speaker 1: crumble under criticism. The company withdrew its IBO filing and 630 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:17,239 Speaker 1: postponed the offering, which to this day is still postponed. 631 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:21,440 Speaker 1: A bit later, the board of directors demanded that Neuman 632 00:38:22,040 --> 00:38:26,120 Speaker 1: resign as CEO. But don't worry about him. He got 633 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,839 Speaker 1: to leave with about one point seven billion dollars worth 634 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:31,800 Speaker 1: of wealth because of a soft Bank buy out. Soft 635 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: Bank took over we Work as majority shareholder and controlled 636 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,360 Speaker 1: the company. The value of the company at that point 637 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 1: had plunged by around nine percent. SoftBank divested we Work 638 00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:45,400 Speaker 1: of some side businesses that really had nothing to do 639 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,960 Speaker 1: with office space. Like it owned a wave pool company 640 00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 1: at one point. A report in October twenty from the 641 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:56,719 Speaker 1: company stated that it might be profitable by the end 642 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:00,400 Speaker 1: of one and that it's going to explore as for 643 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,520 Speaker 1: an I p O again. More recently, there have been 644 00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,320 Speaker 1: rumors that We Work might go public through a special 645 00:39:06,360 --> 00:39:10,759 Speaker 1: purpose Acquisition company or sp a C. Now these are 646 00:39:10,840 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: shell companies that have their own i p O. So 647 00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,520 Speaker 1: it's a company that doesn't own anything, doesn't do anything, 648 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,080 Speaker 1: but it goes public. Then it uses the money that's 649 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: raised by that i p O to buy a private company, 650 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 1: and the private company, now owned by a public company, 651 00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: becomes a public company itself. So in other words, this 652 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 1: process bypasses the I p O process for that private company. 653 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:42,600 Speaker 1: And you might think that sounds fishy, but this is 654 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,840 Speaker 1: actually legal and accepted, though it can also be risky. 655 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,520 Speaker 1: As I record this, We Work hasn't gone through with 656 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,880 Speaker 1: the sp a C approach, nor has it announced formal 657 00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:55,480 Speaker 1: plans to hold its own I p O. I think 658 00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:59,479 Speaker 1: that we Work team are weighing their options, and we're 659 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:02,279 Speaker 1: getting to the end of this episode. And as I said, 660 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: there are tons of companies and products that we could 661 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:08,080 Speaker 1: talk about and not just from Google. So, like I said, 662 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,480 Speaker 1: there's no shortage of those either, Like we could talk 663 00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:14,799 Speaker 1: about the Windows Phone story or the Facebook Phone or 664 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:17,640 Speaker 1: movie Pass, but I'll save some of those for a 665 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:22,040 Speaker 1: future installment of what I'm sure will be an endless series. 666 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 1: For this episode, I thought I would end with a 667 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,400 Speaker 1: notable flop that brings another F word into the mix. 668 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:31,719 Speaker 1: But not that one, not the dirty one. I'm talking 669 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 1: about the Samsung Galaxy Notes seven, which brings the word 670 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:39,880 Speaker 1: fire to our a literate mix of failures, flops, and 671 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:46,000 Speaker 1: falls from grace. On August, tech reviewers received the first 672 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:50,600 Speaker 1: round of the Galaxy Note seven smartphone from Samsung, and 673 00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:55,160 Speaker 1: the initial reviews were overwhelmingly positive. The phone had a 674 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: really nice design, apparently felt great to use, had an 675 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,880 Speaker 1: amaze in display, and the early consensus was that the 676 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,439 Speaker 1: phone was just really well designed and potentially the best 677 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:10,600 Speaker 1: smartphone of the year. And then they started to explode, 678 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,799 Speaker 1: and yeah, that's what some of them did. Less than 679 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,920 Speaker 1: a month after those review models went out, there were 680 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:23,240 Speaker 1: reports of thirty five exploding Galaxy Notes sevens. The company 681 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:25,520 Speaker 1: rushed to recall the Notes sevens that were still on 682 00:41:25,560 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: the market and tried to suss out where the problem was. 683 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,840 Speaker 1: The company's engineers in Korea tried to replicate the issues, 684 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 1: but they couldn't get any of them to explode, and 685 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: the company was eager to fix these problems and get 686 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,040 Speaker 1: the handsets back on the market after this, you know, 687 00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,360 Speaker 1: little hiccup, perhaps limiting the damage of that initial crisis. 688 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:48,759 Speaker 1: After all, the phone received such great critical praise when 689 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,640 Speaker 1: it was reviewed, it could still be a big seller 690 00:41:51,760 --> 00:41:54,040 Speaker 1: if the company could just make sure that none of 691 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,360 Speaker 1: the other ones would blow up. Samsung stated that the 692 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:00,520 Speaker 1: problem was likely due to the batteries that the company 693 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:03,839 Speaker 1: had installed in these handsets, and those batteries came from 694 00:42:03,840 --> 00:42:06,719 Speaker 1: one of the company's suppliers. In fact, the company's supplier 695 00:42:06,840 --> 00:42:10,920 Speaker 1: being itself Samsung SDI or you know, a subsidiary company 696 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,120 Speaker 1: of Samsung, and so they decided they would go with 697 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:17,720 Speaker 1: a different supplier. They chose a Chinese company to produce 698 00:42:17,760 --> 00:42:21,280 Speaker 1: the batteries, and thus they began to install them into 699 00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:26,520 Speaker 1: the handsets and get those handsets back out on the market. Unfortunately, 700 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:31,080 Speaker 1: the reports of exploding phones didn't stop with these new batteries, 701 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:35,480 Speaker 1: indicating that either two different suppliers had the same faulty 702 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:39,759 Speaker 1: batteries or there was some other issue at play. In 703 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:44,960 Speaker 1: the meantime, Samsung recalled the phones again, and airlines began 704 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:49,360 Speaker 1: to issue official statements banning passengers from carrying the Galaxy 705 00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:52,800 Speaker 1: Notes seven on board a plane. That's not a good look, 706 00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:55,520 Speaker 1: and there was a real danger of this crisis spreading 707 00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: to other devices that might be perfectly safe, but without 708 00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:02,440 Speaker 1: knowing for sure the would be too high. Samsung kept 709 00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:05,279 Speaker 1: trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Ultimately, 710 00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:08,680 Speaker 1: after two recalls, the company halted production of the Note 711 00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: seven and then scrapped the phone model entirely, a really 712 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:16,880 Speaker 1: costly decision, but probably not as expensive as dealing with 713 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:22,000 Speaker 1: numerous lawsuits should future phones continue the explosive trend. Three 714 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:26,200 Speaker 1: months after discontinuing the Notes seven, Samsung issued a release 715 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:29,759 Speaker 1: explaining the company's findings in an investigation as to what 716 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:34,360 Speaker 1: caused these fires, and Samsung reps said that the first 717 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,360 Speaker 1: battery had a flaw in the design. At the upper 718 00:43:37,440 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 1: right corner. The battery had a flaw where the negative 719 00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:43,719 Speaker 1: and positive terminals of the battery can make contact with 720 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:46,480 Speaker 1: one another, which would cause a short circuit. Instead of 721 00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:49,640 Speaker 1: the electricity flowing through the circuit try of the phone, 722 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,520 Speaker 1: it was going straight from one terminal to the other 723 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:54,919 Speaker 1: terminal in the battery. That would make the batteries start 724 00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: to heat up very very quickly, to the point where 725 00:43:57,160 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 1: it would catch fire and then explode. As for the 726 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:03,960 Speaker 1: second battery, Samsung said there was a welding defect in 727 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:06,880 Speaker 1: the production of some of those batteries, which led to 728 00:44:06,920 --> 00:44:12,000 Speaker 1: another short circuit issue and subsequent pyrotechnics. Apparently, the Chinese 729 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:15,560 Speaker 1: company was really rushing these batteries into production in order 730 00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,000 Speaker 1: to meet these sudden demand and some corners might have 731 00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:22,000 Speaker 1: been cut in the process. So, in other words, according 732 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:25,239 Speaker 1: to Samsung, the reason the Notes seven exploded was due 733 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:30,120 Speaker 1: to two separate problems with two different batteries. Now I'll 734 00:44:30,200 --> 00:44:34,480 Speaker 1: likely do several more episodes about flops and failures, which, again, 735 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:39,200 Speaker 1: these are not always tragedies. Sometimes we learn valuable lessons 736 00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:42,760 Speaker 1: from them. And on Wednesday's episode, we're going to follow 737 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,440 Speaker 1: the career of a particular entrepreneur who has been associated 738 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:51,279 Speaker 1: with some very high profile, very flashy failures. Hell's that 739 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:54,120 Speaker 1: for a tease, And if any of you out there 740 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:57,520 Speaker 1: have suggestions for topics I should cover in future episodes 741 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:00,239 Speaker 1: of Tech Stuff, whether it's a company, a person ality 742 00:45:00,280 --> 00:45:05,279 Speaker 1: in tech, a specific technology. Maybe it's a trend in technology. 743 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,880 Speaker 1: Any of those things let me know. Reach out to 744 00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,960 Speaker 1: me on Twitter. The handle is tech stuff H s 745 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:19,480 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech 746 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:23,000 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 747 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:25,760 Speaker 1: from My Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 748 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,040 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.