Big Technology Podcast
00:19:05 · Alex Kantrowitz, Ranjan Roy
[00:19:05] S0: Yeah, Ranjan, get with the times, man. [00:19:08] S1: Days of golden eggs are over. It's only about Golden Goose sneakers right now. I think, so to me, wanna hear your take. The most interesting part of... I think this week was the moment that investors are recognizing these companies are betting on being a different business. We said they're disrupting themselves, but do you think that's what's happening? They are betting on being a data center compute provider business, which have unproven economics, which maybe they will win. They're very well positioned to win, but no one knows what they look like. And almost I have to imagine definitively, there's no way a compute provider business model has the same attractive economics as search advertising. Do you think that's what's happening?
00:20:00 · Alex Kantrowitz
[00:20:00] S0: Well, again, you take certainty versus uncertainty. And certainty is this search advertising business is working well. And uncertainty is your cloud business is going to power an uncertain AI takeoff. So that's sort of you factor in the risk and you make your decision. And then the other companies like Amazon was very interesting, by the way. So this is from the Wall Street Journal. Amazon stock drops on Wall Street missed despite biggest cloud growth in years. So you would think that if the investors... Well, you're right. Investors are seeing these companies go in this different direction and they're not buying in 100%, which is very interesting. Amazon.com reported its highest revenue growth for Amazon Web Services in years. That wasn't enough to quell investors' concerns about artificial intelligence. Amazon Web Services brought in $46,000,000,000 in revenue for the three months through September, accounting for 39% growth year over year. About the retail business. The retail business is and by the way, overall revenue increased 12% to $201,900,000,000 The retail business amazing because amazon.com was seen as like this and it really was a revolutionary invention for good or for better or worse. Is sort of a cornerstone of the early internet and today but it is changing in nature. Listen to this: Groceries and Amazon's everyday essentials accounted for half of units sold on its Risdale website in the quarter. Again, it's everyday essentials from Amazon and groceries half of the units sold on the retail site in the corner. So Amazon as the everything store is really... It's a little bit different now. What didn't you say?
00:21:52 · Ranjan Roy, Alex Kantrowitz
[00:21:52] S1: Well, overall unit, half of units, I feel is a bit misleading because if these are cheaper products that [00:21:58] S0: are So each cucumber counts as like [00:22:01] S1: yeah, When you do a Whole Foods order, they're gonna count it. But they wanna show growth there because that's like a habitual purchase. So I think that's what they're trying to show with that. That's like kind of a... Feels like a bit of a massage number to investors. But I just say, do you know what the crazy thing? My son, seven years old, he... Because he'll get toys on Amazon, people will send him gifts through Amazon. He... When he sees someone, a delivery person with an Amazon vest, he looks at them like Santa Claus. Or when he sees an Amazon truck on the highway, he's actually like, look Amazon truck. I got... No, no, I mean, gotta say Amazon, Andy Jassy, you guys have a foothold in the consumer of tomorrow where they're not looking at you as this like thin crushing mom and pop stores. They're looking at you as kinda Santa Claus at scale. So it's crazy to see his eyes pop up. [00:23:02] S0: Oh, yeah. I mean, I will say just this is a bit of a divergence, but the Amazon branding on their trucks is incredible. Every truck you see has this... It's not even the most clever phrase, but it just reminds you of the value to Amazon. They have the big footprint, they're using it for branding pretty effectively.
00:23:02 · Alex Kantrowitz, Ranjan Roy
[00:23:02] S0: Oh, yeah. I mean, I will say just this is a bit of a divergence, but the Amazon branding on their trucks is incredible. Every truck you see has this... It's not even the most clever phrase, but it just reminds you of the value to Amazon. They have the big footprint, they're using it for branding pretty effectively. [00:23:23] S1: Which does remind me. I actually had to go check right now. My my Halloween costume has been delayed a few days. It is out for delivery now. But, Andy Jassy, we're cutting it close, man. We're cutting it close. [00:23:36] S0: We're having a very spooky Big Technology Podcast. It's October 30 when we're recording, and we have just hours until Ranjan [00:23:44] S1: Roy's buddy Blue Mighty Morphin. Power Ranger. We're we're doing the Power Rangers as a family. It's apparently made a comeback. I didn't realize there's, like, new [00:23:54] S0: I like that. [00:23:55] S1: Iterations of it. So old meets new Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. What are you what are you gonna be? [00:24:01] S0: I am not dressing up. I'm taking it easy Saturday and trying to run the marathon on Sunday. So folks, if you don't hear me on the feed next Wednesday, Friday, you know what's happened to me. I'm pretty Where you're much at? By the New York on Sunday. [00:24:19] S1: Oh, it's this Sunday?
00:24:19 · Ranjan Roy, Alex Kantrowitz
[00:24:19] S1: Oh, it's this Sunday? [00:24:20] S0: Yes, and the weather is gonna be beautiful, so my fingers are crossed. But I will say I've definitely been in physical therapy the last couple of days trying to work the kinks out of this old body to see if I can tune it up to get it going. So I think it's about fiftyfifty right now, but I'll give it a go. [00:24:37] S1: Oh, I'll be out there cheering for you. I thought it was the next weekend and I'm gonna be out of town. All right, Sunday. [00:24:43] S0: All right, folks. [00:24:44] S1: Listeners, Get get your signs your signs out. Let's track Alex. [00:24:48] S0: Oh, God. Please don't. You're going to see me running very [00:24:52] S1: slow Crushed. And [00:24:53] S0: Oh, God. Destroyed it. All right. One last Amazon thing I want to talk about, which is if you go to amazon.com these days, the biggest piece of real estate on that site is any guesses? [00:25:03] S1: Alexa for shopping.
00:25:03 · Ranjan Roy, Alex Kantrowitz
[00:25:03] S1: Alexa for shopping. [00:25:05] S0: No. The Bee Frontier. The Bee Frontier. The Bee Frontier is a wristband that you can wear. It's $74.99 and Amazon of... Amazon pitches it as a wearable personal AI that grows with you. It's confidential by design, and it transforms conversations into actionable summaries. Hate this thing. I'm getting more and more annoyed at AI wearables by the day. I just think that I don't want to live in a world where everything is recorded because when everything is recorded, everything becomes performance. Everybody thinks about their words. Everybody realizes that someone's going to go back and just like the Black Mirror episode, they'll want to do a replay of their memories. Why are we running towards this future? It just makes me upset. [00:25:57] S1: Oh, okay. Hold on. Well, one, I'll still... Alexa for shopping now at least takes up a third of my screen every time I open it on desktop. They're certainly pushing that, but that's it because we've never really talked about the Bee Frontier, and that was definitely... They're they're they're making this bet on what is the future of their AI hardware ecosystem. Do you think it's personal feelings aside, do you think it's a smart bet? Because I remember from what I read it, now it's gonna connect into the overall, like, say, ecosystem, and there is certain... They have it out there. We're still waiting on whatever OpenAI pin and Meta, Tamagotchi. Do you think it's smart Amazon's going down this direction?