When we talk about Big Tech, we mainly focus on the MAMAA (formerly FAANG) companies: Meta, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google’s parent company). Other companies not in the Big Five also fall under the big tech umbrella, including Twitter, Netflix, Salesforce, IBM and Adobe.
In the past couple of months, Big Tech news has become breaking news more often than usual. That’s mainly because of massive layoffs at Meta, Twitter, Microsoft and Amazon, not to mention more than a few “not quite big tech” companies.
Keeping up with Big Tech news can be overwhelming, so we’ve compiled a list of accessible resources for news and trends that specifically focus on Big Tech. The roster below includes ten podcasts and five newsletters. (Why no books? While there are some good books out there about Big Tech, books can’t keep you on top of what’s happening right now, and that’s the purpose of this list).
Here are our recommendations, in no particular order:
Podcasts
Daily Tech Headlines
Tech journalist Tom Merritt delivers the top industry headlines in ten minutes or less, in a no-nonsense news-ticker style.
Recent headline: “Judge Blocks FTC’s Request to Block Meta’s Within Acquisition.”
The Big Tech Show
Big Tech is an international industry, and the Irish podcast hosted by Adrian Weckler keeps it current and relevant for anyone following it.
Recent headline: “ChatGPT — What’s all the hype about?”
WSJ Tech News Briefing
Short and sweet tech news briefings from the Wall Street Journal, with an eye on Big Tech.
Recent headline: “What the ‘Menswear Guy’ Tells Us About Twitter’s Future”
This Week in Google
This weekly podcast, part of This Week in Tech, focuses mainly on Google and cloud computing, with topics including social media, tech litigation and smartphone tech.
Recent headline: “Blame it on the Tesla”
The Vergecast
The Verge’s weekly tech podcast covers top Big Tech stories, new product reviews and other trends in a conversational style that includes pop culture conversations here and there.
Recent headline: “Zombies, noncompetes, and the mystery of the missing USB-C hub”
Wired Business
Don’t have time to read all of Wired’s business reporting? All of the stories are available as narrated podcasts so you can multitask.
Recent headline: “Big Tech Is Really Bad at Firing People”
TechStuff
iHeart’s tech podcast, hosted by Jonathan Strickland, takes Big Tech headlines and digs deeper into how they impact people’s lives.
Recent headline: “AI Blunders and a Liquid-Metal Robot”
Marketplace Tech
This daily podcast looks at trends in big tech and beyond, with an eye on finding solutions.
Recent headline: “Why visual misinformation online can be tough to stop”
Hard Fork
The New York Times’ tech/futurism podcast goes beyond the news bites.
Recent headline: “TikTok’s Spying Scandal and ChatGPT’s Challenge to Google”
Your Undivided Attention
This podcast from the Center for Humane Technology is less about delivering tech news and more about exploring the power that technology has over people’s lives.
Recent headline: “Can Psychedelic Therapy Reset Our Social Media Brains?”
Newsletters
Import AI
Big Tech and AI may not be the same, but the latter is becoming a bigger part of the former every day. Follow along with this newsletter.
10 things in tech you need to know today
Insider’s daily newsletter breaks down the tech news of the day in an easy-to-digest list format.
The Daily Crunch
One of TechCrunch’s many newsletters, the Daily Crunch focuses on the biggest stories and biggest players in tech.
TLDR
This newsletter delivers five minutes of tech news (along with startup and programming news) each day.
Tech Daily
Bloomberg’s daily tech newsletter.
Stratechery Daily Update
Daily tech analysis from Ben Thompson.
Do you have a favorite newsletter, podcast or other source of Big Tech news and analysis? Let us know in Technical.ly’s public Slack!
This editorial article is a part of Big Tech + You Month 2023 in Technical.ly’s editorial calendar.
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