This week I’m joined in the podcave by a Macworld alumnus, Wired’s Brian X. Chen. Brian’s the author of a new book, “ Always On: How the iPhone Unlocked the Anything-Anytime-Anywhere Future… And Locked Us In,” which comes out next week. The book is about how the iPhone, and more generally the prospect of always having a connected device with you, has changed our culture and society and threatens to create even more change in the years ahead.
Brian and I talk about Apple’s (and Starbucks’s) tendency toward a “vertical integration” philosophy and how it creates great products and great profits; we discuss the debate about whether all this technology makes us smarter or dumber; and muse about the implications of Apple and other companies gating Apps, content, and more.
Download Episode #246
• AAC version (13.3 MB, 35 minutes)
• MP3 version (14.4 MB, 35 minutes)
Author: Jason Snell
Jason has written for Macworld for 25 years, and was lead editor for more than a decade. He writes about Apple at Six Colors and podcasts at Relay FM and The Incomparable.