Chances are, within the last 24 hours, you’ve searched for something on Google, checked in on friends on Facebook, ordered that bottle of oil on Amazon, tapped out a message on your phone, tablet or other device, and finally, sat back, turned on Netflix... and chilled.
Big names
The Gang of Four (or Five, in some fomulations) known to the investment community variously as FAANG (give or take Apple) or GAFA, comprises the entities that we think of as Big Tech. As of late last year, they had a combined market capitalisation of USD 5.6 trillion and (based on my back-of-the-envelope calculation) employ some 1.12 million people worldwide.
Their hold on the public imagination and their influence in shaping the online ecosystem cannot be underestimated. Amazon has become the way many of us shop for all manner of things, Netflix shapes our viewing choices, Facebook orders our social worlds, Google is our gateway to the Web, and Apple makes the devices that brings the Internet to our fingertips.
Land of the Giants , from Recode and Vox media is a podcast series that takes us into the worlds of these tech superstar companies.
In the first season ( The Rise of Amazon , launched in 2019), technology reporter Jason Del Ray takes a deep dive into the business empire that is Amazon. In eight episodes, Del Ray explores multiple facets of the company’s culture (“customer obsession”), operations (the warehouses and the entry of the robots), impact on small towns when it enters and leaves, the pernicious workings of its algorithm, and aggressive incursion into our homes. We learn that the biggest disruptor yet to retail e-commerce — Amazon Prime — was hatched on a hastily called Saturday meeting on Jeff Bezos’ houseboat to widespread skepticism within the company. And that Amazon can leave broken economies — and lives — in its wake when it exits a town. Del Ray is a curious yet critical interlocutor; acknowledging that Bezos’ “number one mission is to make customers’ lives better” he asks “does that intense focus come at a cost?”
Netflix effect
In the second season which, fittingly, came in the midst of pandemic-enforced lockdown, Rani Molla and Peter Kafka examine The Netflix Effect . Molla, in an interview with NPR, described it as “a straightforward story... it’s a cutthroat company... what does it mean to be a programmer for the world?”
The seven episodes go from the small start-up’s challenge to Blockbuster to the streaming wars of the past two years, when Netflix takes on Hollywood itself. Dismissed initially by Blockbuster CEO John Antioco as “a gnat”, the company turned the video rental chain into a distant memory.
The happiest
Season 3, The Google Empire, hosted by Shirin Ghaffary and Alex Kantrowitz launched on February 16, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday. The opening is promising. “Google was supposed to be the happiest of the tech giants,” says Ghaffary in the trailer, “the one with the colourful logo and the fun doodles.” Kantrowitz adds: “And a really ambitious vision.” But does it really “do no evil”?
For anyone with an interest in technology, entertainment and the Internet, the podcast explores the societal impact of these companies. Overall, I found season 1 more thoughtful and less celebratory. While I would recommend listening to the entire series, my favourite episodes were: Alexa, what’s Amazon doing inside my house? (season 1, episode 2) and Did the algorithm make you watch Tiger King? (season 2, episode 3). Questions we certainly need to ask.
The Hyderabad-based writer and academic is a neatnik fighting a losing battle with the clutter in her head.
