Tech Brew Ride Home - Wed. 05/06 – Disney+ Is Saving Mickey’s Bacon At The Moment

Episode Date: May 6, 2020

New Surface Gos, New Surface Books, New Surface Headphones and the Surface Buds finally arrive. The rumored layoffs come to Uber and Airbnb. Disney+ is saving Disney’s bacon at the moment. And why Peloton is one of those companies having a positive Corona moment. Sponsors: Tibco.com/ride Caramba.store, code BRIAN50 at checkout Links: Microsoft’s new Surface Go 2 has a bigger display and better Intel processor (The Verge) Microsoft's Surface Book 3 has 10th-gen Intel CPUs and new NVIDIA GPUs (Engadget) Uber to lay off 3,700 employees, about 14% of workforce (CNBC) The layoffs at Airbnb cast a dark shadow over Silicon Valley (Recode) Magic Leap is turning to a major health care company to save its future, potentially raising as much as $100 million (Business Insider) Disney says it now has 54.5 million Disney+ subscribers (CNBC) People Are Panic-Buying Meat, Toilet Paper … and Pelotons? (NYTimes) Bitcoin Is Staging a Comeback Reminiscent of 2017 Bubble Frenzy (Bloomberg) 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 Tech meme right home for Wednesday, May 6th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough today. New Surface goes.

New Surface books. New Surface headphones and the Surface Buds finally arrive. The rumored layoffs come to Uber and Airbnb at long last. Disney Plus is saving Disney's bacon at the moment, and Y Peloton is one of those companies having a positive Corona moment. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. The smallest sibling in the Surface tablet lineup, has a shiny new pair of shoes today. Microsoft has unveiled the Surface Go2 with a bigger 10.5 inch

display up from 10 inches on the original and better Intel processors inside, new 8th Gen Core M3s. You can get one on May 12th, starting at $399. And as for the processor bump, Microsoft says, if you do so, you can expect 64% better performance. And as for the screen size, the new display panel doesn't change the size of the device overall because the bezels have been reduced, quoting the verge. They're not as skinny as the ones found on the Surface Pro X, but they're certainly nowhere near as big as the original surface go

from nearly two years ago. The bigger display also means a bigger 1920-by-1280 resolution, 220 pPI while still maintaining the 3 to 2 aspect ratio surface products are known for. While the base surface go-to includes 4 gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes of EMMC storage, the Core M3 model, priced at $629, has 8 gigabytes of RAM and a 128-gabyte SSD. There's also an 8-gabyte RAM and 128-gigabyte SSD model with the Pentium Gold processor, priced at $549. As always, Surface Go type covers are sold separately, starting at $99. Existing Surface Go type covers and accessories will still work just fine on the Surface Go 2 as the hardware has the same dimensions and port placements.

That includes a single USBC port, the Surface Connect port for charging and docking, and the MicroSDXC card reader. Microsoft has also added studio mics to the Surface Go2, which will improve video conferencing and audio calls. We also listened to the asks for longer battery life, explains Robin Seeler, corporate vice president of program management for devices at Microsoft in an interview with The Verge. Surface Go2 has a larger physical battery and reduced power consumption so you have up to 10 hours of battery life, end quote. There's also an LTE model for a bit more money, as you would expect. And also, this is sort of related.

The Surface earbuds have gotten a new $199 price tag ahead of their. May 12th release date, which gives me a chance to correct something I said not too long ago. Remember, I said the pixel buds are the earbuds that make you look like you're wearing Frankenstein monster bolts in your ears. Well, I'm sorry, I got that confused. The big white discs or bolts in your ears, those belong to the surface earbuds. You can actually see what I'm talking about for yourself if you want in just a few days. And also the surface headphones to have been made available that same day with better sound and battery life beginning at $249. But the Surface headphones too are not.

Frankenstein-style ear bolts. They're just run-of-the-mill normal looking over-the-ear headphones. Microsoft also debuted a refresh to the laptop that has been tempting me like no other over the last several years. Say hello to the 13 and a half inch and 15-inch Surface Book three laptops. Now with 10th-gen-quodcore Intel CPUs, new Nvidia GPUs, but basically the exact same design as the previous models with the sort of funny hinge that you're familiar with,

with the air gap, but which allows you, of course, to detach the screen and use this as a 2-1. All of the new models of the Surface Book 3 are available May 21st, starting at $1,600 for the 13-and-a-half-inch model and $2,300 for the 15-inch model. is Devendra Hardewar at Engadget. Quote, I get why Microsoft didn't want to change things up much.

The Surface Book 2 was a gorgeous and well-constructed device. It improved on the clunky hinge from the original model while also slimming the case down a bit. But by standing still, Microsoft isn't doing much to compete with fresh PC designs like Aces's Zenbook Pro Duo and Zephris' G14 gaming machine. There's still an annoying gap around the hinge, and both models are still a bit heavier than the latest MacBook Pros. 3.38 pounds for the 13 and a half inch Surface Book 3 and 4.2 pounds for the 15 inch,

compared to Apple's 3.1 and 4 pounds, respectively. And as for the hardware underneath, this is also where Microsoft falls flat a bit, as it's competing against Apple's monstrously powerful 16-inch MacBook Pro, which offers six-core and eight-core CPUs. Even with the possibility of quadro graphics, the book 3, is a hard choice to make for anyone demanding the most power possible. Even Dell's latest XPS15 can be configured with a six-core CPU. Of course, Microsoft is more limited than other PC makers

because it also wants to make the Surface Book 3 a tablet. That means it has to place the CPU inside of the detachable display while the dedicated graphics chip sits in the keyboard base. That's not a limitation any competitors have to deal with. Microsoft has certainly done some clever engineering work to make the Book 3 possible, but if it wants to compete with genuine workhorse PCs, it's going to need a whole new design that can handle faster CPUs, end quote. Sadly, the layoff rumors we've been telling you about are finally coming to pass.

Uber has announced this morning that it will lay off 3,700 employees or about 14% of its workforce. The redundancies are primarily coming from the customer support and recruiting teams, and CEO Darakas Oshahi says he will forego his base salary of around $1 million this year. You might recall that the information thinks that gross bookings at Uber are down 80% this year. Although, as I just told you yesterday, Uber is nonetheless in talks to lead a $170 million investment in Scooter Company Lime, which sounds bad when you put that one after the other, except remember, the investment in Lyme might actually allow Uber to save some money in the long run by also eliminating redundant positions if they can combine Lyme's operations with its own

jump division. And CEO Brian Chesky has sent a letter to Airbnb employees saying that his company is indeed laying off 1,900 people or around 25% of its workforce. Also, Chesky revealed that Airbnb expects to see full year 2020 revenue declined by around 50%. This is from Recode, quote, calling the virus of the most harrowing crisis of our lifetime. Chesky said in an email to employees that Airbnb's revenue in 2020 was projected to be just half of what it collected in 2019, which was reportedly $4.8 billion. As a result, he said Airbnb would streamline its business, scaling back its spending in growth areas such as its pushes into luxury homes and traditional hotels. Cuts are expected to hit those teams harder. To those leaving Airbnb,

I'm truly sorry, Chesky wrote to employees. Please know this is not your fault, end quote. And finally, not layoffs, but another desperate gambit in these trying times, business insider says, says VR, once unicorn company Magic Leap, is in talks to raise $100 million in funding from a major health care company. You might recall that Magic Leap already laid off half of its workforce. Quote, as first reported by the information on Tuesday, Magic Leap CEO Ronnie Abavitz told staff in a memo that the company had signed a term sheet with, quote, a major health care company, and quote, to drive its strategy forward. Sources told Business Insider that, talk of a deal with a healthcare company had been swirling around internally for some time,

and that magic leap was hoping to secure $100 million from the deal. However, the name of the company itself is not yet known. According to the information's report, one name being passed around internally is Zimmer Biomet, which is based in Warsaw, Indiana, and develops treatments for bone and joint injuries. The mystery company will reportedly use the headsets for surgical procedures and training if the deal is locked. but according to emails seen by the information Abavitz told staff that the deal could still fall apart, end quote. Meanwhile, Disney had its earnings yesterday, reporting a staggering 58% drop in its operating income from parks and cruises. Total operating income across the company was $2.42 billion in the quarter down from $3.82 billion year over year, a 37% drop.

Disney also suspended its dividend payout to preserve cash, so, you know, things are difficult right now at Disney. Well, good for them that they have Disney Plus, right? Disney Plus has seen paid subscribers go from 33.5 million in March to 54 million in May, which means that Disney has already met its original low-end goal of 60 to 90 million users for Disney Plus. That was the goal that Disney set for itself to reach by the end of 2024. So they're definitely ahead of things on the timeline at this point, quoting CNBC. Disney surpassed 50 million subscribers on April 8th, up from its 33.5 million reported as of March 28th. At the end of Q1 in December, Disney Plus had 26.5 million subscribers.

As part of its second quarter results, Disney said it saw growth across all of its streaming service platforms in the past quarter. Disney reported that Hulu has 32.1 million total subscribers up from 30.4 million from the last quarter and 25.2 million a year ago. ESPN Plus had 7.9 million subscribers up from 6.6 million at the end of Q1 and 2.2 million a year ago, end quote. See, people were already talking about the genius way that Disney executed on the Disney Plus rollout even before the pandemic happened. But now, post-pandemic, I mean, what amazing luck that they got this out the door when they did, how they did. It's full-on serendipity at this point. Almost a company-saving amount of serendipity. Imagine if they didn't have Disney Plus right now. I mean, they do. And instead of being separated from their consumers, they're actually more intimately connected to their consumers now than they ever were before. And heck, since we're on this tip already, let's talk about Peloton.

With gyms closed, sales of the $2,200 Peloton Connect smart bike have actually been surging. And a record 23,000 people joined a single one of Peloton's live classes all at the same time last month. Subsequently, Peloton's stock price has risen 86% since mid-March, and far from the busted IPO the company was looking like in the before times, Peloton now has a market cap of $10 billion, higher than at the IPO day. quoting from the New York Times. When Peloton reports quarterly financial results on Wednesday, Wall Street expects the unprofitable company to post rising sales.

Analysts pointed to spikes in the number of ratings for fitness classes on Peloton's system and longer waits for delivery of the bikes, which signal higher than expected demand. The results may not reveal the full extent of Peloton's popularity since they cover only a few weeks of the lockdown period in March. Nonetheless, quote, consumer habits are fundamentally changed coming out of this crisis, and this pandemic said Ron Josie, an analyst at JPM Securities, a device and service like Peloton comes to the forefront in that, end quote. Peloton initially responded to the virus by extending a 30-day free trial of its digital-only subscription to its streaming classes to 90 days. It introduced contactless delivery for its

equipment and pledged to waive up to $1 million of subscription fees for customers who had lost their jobs or were unable to work because of the coronavirus. Peloton also closed 96 showrooms around the country and stopped delivering the treadmills it also makes. Peloton stopped filming live classes in early April after an employee at its New York studio tested positive for the coronavirus, but by the end of the month, it was streaming live classes again. The first one happened on April 22nd from the apartment of Robin Arzon, Peloton's head instructor. More than 23,000 customers logged in and rode along with her, issuing virtual high fives and climbing a digital leader. board, end quote. In the feedback on the subreddit last night, someone said that I talk too much

about Bitcoin and crypto. And I responded back that actually, I was feeling like I had barely spoken about crypto, almost at all so far this year. But then I kind of feel like crypto is kind of dead at the moment. Don't at me, y'all. Don't yell at me for saying that. There's still a ton of crypto news every day. It's just that I feel like it never really amounts to anything. I don't know, maybe I'm jaded. But having said that, I did want to make you aware of something from the crypto space. The long-awaited having is coming to Bitcoin later this month. And the price of Bitcoin is sort of creeping up again in anticipation of that, quoting Bloomberg. True believers say the gains are driven by Bitcoin's upcoming halving when the rewards minors

receive for processing transactions will be cut in half as soon as May 12th. The internet is glutted with second-by-second countdown clocks, and the mania is even spurring a hike in hiring by crypto firms worldwide. Bitcoin has rallied to more than $9,000 a coin in anticipation from around $6,000 just a month ago. Narratives in the world of blockchain act like the force in Star Wars. They mysteriously move and shape the market, said George McDonough, co-founder of crypto and blockchain investment firm, KR1. You couldn't be blamed for getting a little excited about what's to come, end quote. Bitcoin halvings, which slow down the rate at which new tokens are created, happen once every four years or so. Its third such event is set to occur next week.

Skeptics argue crypto prices are notoriously volatile and often difficult to pin explanations to, positing that any appreciation should be priced in ahead of time. But crypto fans cite historical precedent. Bitcoin's undergone two prior halvings, or havenings, as they're sometimes called, which saw its price appreciate in the aftermath. The world's largest token rose from around $12 to over $1,000 in the year following its 2012 cut in rewards and advanced about 1,000% in the wake of the 2016 having, though that reduction happened at a time when the coin was gaining greater mainstream recognition, end quote. Again, to be clear, I'll be honest with you.

I do sort of lean towards the cynical take about crypto at the moment. like maybe crypto is just a busted flush after all, which is why I haven't been talking about it, at least very much to my mind. But just in case, I thought I'd let you know about the having, the having. There you go. Something to keep an eye on. By the way, thank you for all the feedback that I received on the subreddit last night. I've read every post, and I do thank you all for the kind words. There was also valuable criticism in there. some small things that we might course correct on. But otherwise, full steam ahead, y'all.

I love doing this. And as long as you continue to love listening to it, as Stephen Gerard once said, we go again. Talk to you tomorrow.