75. 2025 Predictions

In this special year-end episode, Jonathan and Douglas look into the crystal ball for 2026 before facing the music on their 2025 calls. We’re shaking up the format this year: 2026 Big Bets come first, followed by the definitive marking of last year’s homework.Part 1: The 2026 Predictions 🔮We break down our high-conviction bets for the year ahead across five key pillars:​The Markets: Will the momentum continue, or are we due for a correction?​AI: Moving from "efficiency" to "autonomy" - what happens next?​Tech: The hardware and platforms set to dominate the next 12 months.​Society: Cultural shifts, the "proof of personhood" movement, and beyond.​Politics: Geopolitics, trade, and the evolving landscape of the Trump administration.Part 2: Marking the 2025 Homework 📝We revisit our 2025 predictions to see who actually came out on top. It was a year of "shadow wars" and "Trump bumps." Highlights include:​The Big Hits: We correctly called the "shadow war" on European subsea infrastructure and the rise of a new micromobility category - the "Enclosed Quadricycle".​The AI Shift: Our prediction on AI legal advice eroding prices hit home, with major platforms slashing costs by 60%.​Market Volatility: While we were directionally right on the "up and to the right" market, the "Liberation Day" tariff crash in April 2025 kept us from hitting our ambitious Dow and S&P targets.​Corporate Winners: Alphabet was a standout, soaring over 60% as Waymo moved toward independence with a $100B+ valuation.​The "Misses": From the Ukraine stalemate to the delayed launch of GTA 6 and the "iPhone Fold," we own up to where our timing was off.Who won the 2025 crown, and who is doubling down for 2026? Tune in to find out!

Jonathan and Douglas are back with their diamond hands and their crystal balls! Join them for their annual predictions podcast, featuring 12 predictions each for the year ahead and a look back at their 2024 track record. Will they be right again? Tune in and find out!

Jonathan and Douglas check in to see where their 2023 predictions landed; and then look ahead to very specific 2024 predictions covering tech, politics, markets and mashed peas.

This is the trailer and episode 0 for “Tech Back Control”, a podcast about taking back control from technology, using technology.  We're entering into an era where generational disruptions in technology have the potential to shift power back into the hands of the people and the planet. AI is giving super powers to the masses; open digital money is uprooting the legacy financial system; the 3rd iteration of the web means an internet run by the people, for the people; and a 4th industrial revolution might help us make food, buildings and everything without killing the planet at the same time. There's some hope hiding in plain sight and I'm going on a journey to find and explore it.  To find out more, follow on Twitter or join the Discord or check out other links in the link tree  https://linktr.ee/techbackcontrol

We review our 2022 predictions, see what surprises surfaced along the way and share our 2023 predictions. Also: A Year in the Markets and the equivalent look back and forward in Web3. Links we mentioned: Our Discord: https://discord.gg/9Fktv2u3vu We have a merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/smalltimebets/shop Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smalltimebets Our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCw_yPi2f07yh15JbGnWYUjQ

After 5 weeks away Jonathan and Douglas talk ChatGPT, a month of Musk-Twitter, provide a proper summary of FTX, and a roundup of NFT news. Links we mentioned: Making ChatGPT run a fictional chat room: https://twitter.com/gfodor/status/1599233429941686273?t=MC8EmsA3ahzuSXj4wFDqAA&s=09 Making ChatGPT pretend to be Linux: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/openais-new-chatbot-can-hallucinate-a-linux-shell-or-calling-a-bbs/ FTX spreadsheet comment re “hidden, poorly internally labled ‘fiat@’ account” https://d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net/production/7ab64a3b-6ce0-47cc-96ac-5e2d2a8c5d6c.png CZ explains SBF was lobbying against Binance: https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/1589374530413215744?s=46&t=cApjraFG0hlMNEYl4zz4zA A motion-activated rechargeable light strip: https://amzn.to/3UPethO Coinbase NFTs subject to Apple’s 30% in-app purchase fee, supposedly levied on ethereum gas: https://twitter.com/CoinbaseWallet/status/1598354819735031809?t=kov-CcyFM--3RJyWRRPbDQ&s=09 Christie’s NFTs: https://nft.christies.com/auctions/next-wave-the-miami-edit  Our Discord: https://discord.gg/9Fktv2u3vu We have a merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/smalltimebets/shop Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smalltimebets Our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCw_yPi2f07yh15JbGnWYUjQ

Tech is down and crypto is up as rates rise in the US and UK. But 0.75% has different meanings on either side of the Atlantic in our market update. Then this week we go deep on autonomous vehicles because suddenly everyone’s a critic. Triggered by a harmless TechCrunch article. This Week in Crypto looks at Meta’s embrace of arweave for NFTs on Insta; and in NFTs we cover the Meebits MB1.1 relaunch, clarify which NFT projects survive, and make sense of Art Gobblers. And FYI we’re going dark for a month, so stay warm. Links we mentioned: The article “It’s time to admit self-driving cars aren’t going to happen” by TechCrunch’s Darrell Etherington: https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/27/self-driving-cars-arent-going-to-happen/amp/ Elon promising self driving “next year” supercut: https://youtu.be/o7oZ-AQszEI SunGod sunglasses: https://www.sungod.co/?r=PPoVcICTbd Instagram announces meaningful NFT marketplace: https://twitter.com/Meta/status/1587929277864910849?s=20&t=jjrYpyRMNNyNgSUsrSdYZQ The Meebits relaunch: https://turnon.meebits.app/ Art Gobblers: https://artgobblers.com/ Small Time Bets across TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Discord, merch and more: https://linktr.ee/smalltimebets

We begin with a market update in which tech is down but overall things are up, followed by Twitter boosts Doge, McDonald’s doing well, Chick-fil-A better. Transhumanism is this week’s topic, it mostly means modding your body. We consider some examples and impacts. This Week in Crypto we look at what internet infrastructure web3 might decentralise, but then ask why and how, but also again why? And in NFTs this week we are impressed by Reddit doing a much more successful NFT bubble within the collapsed bubble of the current bear market. Media we mentioned: The Culture series by Iain M Banks The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity by Jamie Metzl The Huberman Lab podcast The GreenPill podcast Links we mentioned: Zoe, the personalised gut science product: https://joinzoe.com/signup Free Deliveroo Plus for a year for Amazon Prime users: https://deliveroo.co.uk/amazon-prime Deliveroo new user £10 credit: https://roo.it/douglasa1357 Decentralised YouTube Odysee: https://odysee.com/ Our Discord: https://discord.gg/9Fktv2u3vu We have a merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/smalltimebets/shop Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smalltimebets Our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCw_yPi2f07yh15JbGnWYUjQ

We begin with a crypto market update, amid stocks volatility and with crypto alarmingly low. Solana has an off day, BNB bridge hacked, Celsius doxxes all their users, and ShapeShift decentralises further. In NFTs this week, Apple fees, OpenSea analytics and Anthony Hopkins. Also because we have a soft spot for 10KTF, the latest physical products of Wagmi-san. Links we mentioned: Iconomi copytrading with the Small Time Bets portfolio: https://www.iconomi.com/asset/SMALLTIMEBETS?viewPublic=true Our Discord: https://discord.gg/9Fktv2u3vu We have a merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/smalltimebets/shop Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smalltimebets Our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCw_yPi2f07yh15JbGnWYUjQ

Because we’re based in the UK we can’t not talk about the last 45 days. Then it’s this week / month in the markets and whether this is the right time to buy stocks or sell your house or something. We return to the tech beat with a lookback at the following events: Google Pixel 2022, Surface, Meta’s Quest Pro. Then we ask if metaverse hype has any substance. Links we mentioned: Shark cordless vacuum: https://amzn.to/3CW3Sui Our Discord: https://discord.gg/9Fktv2u3vu We have a merch store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/smalltimebets/shop Our TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@smalltimebets Our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCw_yPi2f07yh15JbGnWYUjQ