Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 09/17 – PS5 Details Revealed. But Good Luck Pre-Ordering!

Episode Date: September 17, 2020

We have the launch date and price for the Playstation 5. An update on the TikTok and WeChat situations. Why the Snowflake IPO was such a big deal, and such a big success. Red Ventures is affiliate marketing on steroids. And what if I told you the coolest new bit of gear that people got turned on to during the last Apple event was an office chair. But it is Jony Ive’s favorite office chair. Sponsors: Liftoff.to PayPal App MarketingPlay.com; email [e-mail] Links: PlayStation 5 preorders: Sony reveals release date and price (VentureBeat) The PS5 will launch on November 12th for $499.99 (The Verge) Sony confirms PS5’s first-party launch lineup and free game upgrade plans for PS4 titles (The Verge) Oracle’s TikTok Bid Leaves Open Some U.S. Security Concerns (Bloomberg) Pro Rata Newsletter (Dan Primack/Axios) Snowflake IPO Spurs Flood of Wealth for Silicon Valley Elite (Bloomberg) ‘Helping people discover information’: How Red Ventures grew into a giant (Digiday) Sit Like an Apple Engineer in This 70s-Era British Office Chair (Gear Patrol) Subscribe to the ad-free feed and support the show directly! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the TechMeme right home for Thursday, September 17th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, we have the launch date and price for the PlayStation 5.

An update on the TikTok and WeChat situations. Why Snowflakes IPO was such a big deal and such a big success. Red Ventures is affiliate marketing on steroids. And what if I told you the coolest bit of gear that people got turned onto during the last Apple event was an office chair? But it is Johnny Ives' favorite office chair. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. All right, the gaming wars are officially joined. The PlayStation 5 will launch on November 12th in North America, Japan, South Korea, Mexico,

Australia, and New Zealand for $500. That's the Blu-ray Drive version. You can also get a $400 digital edition, which will be launching in more regions, but also on November 19th, quoting Venture Beat. PlayStation 5 is Sony's console for the future. It uses a powerful AMD Zen 2 processor and radion RDNA2 graphics card. But Sony Interactive Entertainment is focusing a lot of its efforts on the design of the PS5 architecture. That starts with a super fast solid state drive that can stream data across what I can only describe as fat pipes.

This is going to minimize loading times, but it's also going to lead to new kinds of games that rely on massive amounts of assets to pool from storage on the fly, end quote. pre-orders have already begun for both versions of the PS5, but so far they're a mess, quoting the verge. Perhaps eager to capitalize on the demand, retailers quickly turned the pre-order situation into a free-for-all, opening the floodgates a day early and allowing the quickest and savvious buyers to swoop in. Some called or walked into their local game stop to secure a pre-order a day early or seemingly lucked out with one of Walmart's listings for the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition. Walmart even gleefully tweeted that it was pushing the console out ahead of schedule. Soon, GameStop issued a press release advertising availability of the PS5 online,

even though at the time it didn't actually have a product page where you could buy one. Now you can find product pages at Target and Best Buy 2. GameStop's product listings also appear to be up, but hilariously, the site appears to have triggered some DDoS protections and was initially blocked for many people, including us. And good luck actually getting one even if you get through to one of these stores. Not only are these listings flickering in and out of stock and erring out of adding items to your cart, we've also had them ripped out of our cart in the middle of a transaction. Target says it's already completely out of pre-orders, and we're also hearing that Walmart is already canceling some successful pre-orders as well. In more ways than one, it reminds us of the

SNES classic launch fiasco, end quote. As for launch titles, yeah. Get ready for $70 games being the new normal. In a blog post published after revealing the price of both of its upcoming consoles, Sony says it has six launch titles confirmed for the PS5 on November 12th. Here's the full list, including pricing, and confirmation for the first time that Sony intends to raise the price on some exclusive titles by $10 to a max of $6999. You've got Astros Playroom pre-installed on PS5, Demon Souls for $6999,

Destruction All Stars for $6999, Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, 49999, but Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales, Ultimate Edition, 6999, and Sackboy, A Big Adventure, 5999. It's important to note that this list does not include expected multi-platform games like Fortnite, confirmed for both PS5 and Xbox 1X at launch, and the standard annual release titles like the new Call of Duty and Assassin's Creed games, both of which should arrive before or just after the next-gen consoles launch this November. CD Project Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is also confirmed for cross-gen releases on November 19th, just a week after the PS5 officially starts shipping, end quote.

So let's come back to yesterday's big IPO for a minute. Snowflake was already the biggest software IPO of all time when it priced its shares at $120 yesterday. That was great because the original pricing range was $75 to $85,000. but when trading actually opened, the price of Snowflake shares rocketed to $245. The price of the shares went as high as $319 over the course of yesterday's trading and then settled down to close at $253. So Snowflake at the end of the day was worth $70.4 billion up five times from its $12.4 billion valuation just earlier this year in February, I believe. So, wow, what happened? I turned to Dan Premec's pro rata newsletter this morning. Quote, applying logic or fundamentals analysis to tech stocks right now is a fool's errand, but two

possible explanations for why Snowflake's debut stood out from the froth. First, there was Warren Buffett's halo. Berkshire Hathaway committed to buy $250 million worth of stock from the company concurrent to the IPO, and another four million shares from Insiders, $480 million at the IPO price. Not only was it Berkshire's first IPO place since Ford Motor Company and the first ever tech IPO investment, but it also was because money-hemaging snowflakes seemed to clash with Buffett's typical investing gospel. There's also the factor of the other Oracle. Many investors are desperately seeking the next tech whale, having already exposed to the hilt on the Fang stocks.

So why not follow the crowd like they've done so successfully before, particularly if they feel that one of Snowflake's most formidable rivals is preoccupied with tick. TikTok. As Dan concluded, this time might be different, but it sure does feel an awful lot like 1999 all the sudden. So this whole story is noteworthy for that reason alone, the biggest software IPO of all time, and crucially a tech IPO that surprised people to the upside in a big come-out-of-nowhere way, which is in stark contrast to the disappointing unicorn IPOs of recent times, which didn't ever reach the heights that investors were counting on ahead of time. hint-h-h-h-h-Hin-Wber. Meanwhile, Snowflakes's investors are seeing highs that they probably never dreamed of,

at least not at this point, this early in the game, and about those investors, quoting Bloomberg, Snowflake's initial public offering isn't just creating new fortunes, it's adding to the wallets of some of Silicon Valley's biggest names. Iconic capital, a multifamily office whose clients include Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman, and Twitter's Jack Dorsey took part in multiple Snowflake funding rounds beginning in 2017. Its 12% stake in the company purchased for $245 million was worth more than $4 billion at the initial offering price of $120. By the end of Wednesday, the same stake was worth a staggering $8.6 billion. Snowflake's top executives also saw their wealth surge. Four of them, Frank Slutman, Bob Muglia, Michael Scarpelli, and Benoit Dagerville

now own stakes worth a combined $80 billion. Only one of them, Dagaville, was a founder. his stake is smaller than Sloopmans, who joined as Chief Executive Officer from Service Now last year, end quote. Also, by the way, Warren Buffett has seen his investment double in just a day, so that's also some wallet padding for him. But this IPO is notable for one other reason. Remember that drumbeat recently about seeking better ways to access public markets beyond IPOs? Remember Bill Gurley advocating for direct listings? Remember SPACs?

Remember the newly launched long-term stock economy? exchange. So yeah, given how much money Snowflake just left on the table, like literally billions and billions of dollars, expect that drumbeat only to grow louder. Tick-Tock situation update. Sources were telling Bloomberg last night that Oracle's bid for TikTok is falling short of addressing the Trump administration's national security concerns, and because the administration is thus far not fully satisfied, a decision regarding the TikTok situation has not been made yet. Yes, that nominal September 15th deadline is in the rear view. So I guess we're on to September 20th. Quote, the officials, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, are concerned that after a

potential transaction, bite dance could still have access to user data from nearly 100 million users in America, said the people. The officials remain wary about the proposed new ownership structure and how much influence that would give China over the company. Terms of the proposed deal would give Oracle full access to TikTok source code and updates to make sure there are no backdoors used by the company's Chinese parent to access data on the video sharing apps 100 million American users. According to people familiar with the matter describing, provisions submitted to the U.S. government over the weekend. The terms illustrate what the companies and security officials mean when they call Oracle a trusted technology partner, which goes beyond just housing data.

data inside Oracle's U.S. cloud servers, according to people with knowledge of the terms, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Oracle would be able to check all source code from the algorithms that decide which videos get shown to which users to ensure there are no backdoors and will be able to continue to review the technology as updates come in to make sure there are no new points of access, the people said. The newly formed TikTok would be headquartered in the U.S. and would hire an independent board approved by the U.S. government. The standalone company would also have oversight by a third party which would report to the U.S. government and provide continuous

audits, reports, and protocols for handling any incidents that arise, according to the people, end quote. So that's new. A bit more teeth there, if they're actually examining the code and doing audits regularly. Late this morning, CNBC's David Faber was reporting that President Trump will make a decision on the matter in 24 to 36 hours, and that Walmart is expected to partner with Oracle in any deal, where Oracle would own roughly 20% of the social media app. Meanwhile, remember in the background, the U.S. government was also threatening to ban WiiChat. There was a September 20th deadline here as well that might basically make doing any business and any activity on WeChat illegal, if you're a U.S. citizen, basically akin to

a sanction. Well, that's been clarified a bit. In a filing, the U.S. says that any WeChat ban would still allow users to convey personal or business info on the platform without risking criminal or civil penalties. However, some transactions would be prohibited, quoting Bloomberg. The U.S. Commerce Department plans to clarify by September 20th which transactions will be prohibited, but it doesn't intend to define, quote, the relevant transactions in such a way that would impose criminal or civil liability on such users, according to a government filing Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco. The U.S. WeChat Users Alliance is seeking a preliminary injunction against Trump's executive order. A hearing on the request was scheduled for today, end quote.

There was some other headline financial news recently that I didn't get a chance to cover. CNET, that venerable tech and gadget news venue, was sold from Viacom CBS to an entity called Red Ventures for around $500 million. I bring this up to mention that CNET is still around course, but also to take a look at Red Ventures because they're interesting. They've quietly cobbled together a portfolio of more than 100 websites, including the Points Guy, Healthline, and a bunch more. And what's interesting is their business model. Red Ventures mostly makes its money through affiliate commissions, quoting Digiday. The CNET acquisition was actually the fourth purchase Red Ventures made in 2020. The company also acquired the mental health site,

Syc Central, Slumberyard, a site that reviews mattresses, and Cordcutter's News, a site that covers the OTT space and reviews products such as Sling TV or YouTube TV. Most of Red's sites do make at least some money through display ads, and some, such as Healthline, which drew 75 million monthly unique users in July per com score, attract large audiences. But Red's portfolio is set apart from most media companies by sites that make most of their money from affiliate commissions, which they earn by driving sales or leads on pricey purchases, such as credit cards, movers, or energy providers. In categories such as credit cards, those commissions, particularly for publishers that drive high volumes of conversion, can run into the

hundreds of dollars per user. The company's sites which do not disclose their revenues have become a must-buy for banks and credit card companies looking to do affiliate marketing, media buyers say. The portfolio strategy was informed partly by plans to assemble sites that would enable red and its advertisers to chart and, in theory, move a consumer down a purchase funnel and into a buying decision. To read about how to save money on one site, research credit card choices on a second site before signing up for a credit card on a third. Red tracks site visitors across the sites in its industry categories using anonymous identifiers. Red Ventures President of Technology and Media Mark McCollum said,

and uses its first-party data to customize the offers and site experience they get, end quote. Finally today, remember during Apple's most recent event, there was a part of the video where we followed Apple's VP of Platform Architecture Tim Millett into what appeared to be Apple's Silicon Lab. Lots of people were looking at the gear on the clean white tables to try to suss out what was being developed there, but also, quoting Gear Patrol, buried in the back of the shot, but glaring as hell if you're a bunch of product nerds, were a pair of gleaming black leather and polished aluminum office chairs. That'd be the Supperto. The Supporto, made of die cast aluminum and available

in a variety of high and low back configurations, was created by British designer Frederick Scott as a rival to the Eames iconic aluminum group chair. Scott made a distinct point of designing the chair around the fairly nascent idea of ergonomics and described the supporto as, quote, an office chair designed to cut through the hierarchy of the office, end quote. The chair was put into production in 1979 by British manufacturer Hill and is now made by Zoftig, another British company whose primary product is seating for airports. One notable booster of the supporter was fellow British design icon and form.

former Apple chief design officer Johnny Ive. According to the call of Mac, I've apparently loved the chair so much that he peppered supporto chairs and stools around Apple's old design offices, and it appears that at least two have made the leap to Apple's new campus. If you're also looking to cram 11.8 billion transistors into the processor of a consumer tablet, or you just want to look the part, you can call up Zoftig or use their online inquiry form. expect a supporto like the above to run you in the neighborhood of $2,000, end quote. That's all for today. As always, I'm Brian McCullough.

You can follow me on Twitter at Brian MCC. The show subreddit is R slash ride home. Our YouTube channel can be found by searching for TechMeme podcast on YouTube. The most recent weekend bonus episodes have been video, by the way. So if you want to see my messy home office setup with young Archie in his crate in the back and all the crap my kids leave everywhere, have at it. Also, if you'd like to support what I do every day directly, subscribe to the ad-free feed. Link at the very bottom of today's show notes. Talk to you tomorrow.