that's interesting

About that's interesting

a podcast to introduce ideas and spark curiosity. bandwidth.productions (https://bandwidth.productions)

Publisher

bandwidth.productions

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

30 Sept 2020

Latest episode

7 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

85 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2026

   079_ Conversation: 🧠 Brand as memory, moat, and margin | the mediums and messages in our time 📺

   What if a brand isn't a logo or a color palette, but a memory, and one you can tend but never fully control? In a world where factories can copy anything, that memory may be the last real moat, and it's eroding fast. Toronto-based entrepreneur and brand strategist Peter Reitano (https://www.youtube.com/@Peter_Reitano) joins to talk about Rolex's memory architecture, Jaguar's spectacular rebrand, superclone watches, and how screens are reshaping both what we buy and how we think. We end where the market can't follow: Marx's critique of commodity life, the loss of community institutions, and the realization that we'll all worship something, so we'd better choose what. For more context and how to be the smartest in the room for what's going on in the world, check out bandwidth.today (https://bandwidth.today/). Chapters (00:00) - Intro: Brand as Memory, Memory as Moat (03:51) - Meet Peter Reitano (08:07) - What Is a Brand, Really? (11:34) - Rolex, the Matterhorn, and Jaguar's Failed Rebrand (13:34) - Patagonia Vests and Aspirational Memory (16:31) - Burberry's Comeback and What Jaguar Missed (21:19) - Status, Signaling, and Superclone Watches (27:23) - Every E-Bike Is the Same Bike: Brand as the Last Moat (33:09) - When Brands Become Shows: McLuhan and Postman (37:22) - Attention Spans and Asymmetric Outrage (43:32) - Technology Before Ethics: Stirrups and Steve Jobs (50:34) - Millennials, the Last of the Before (52:08) - iPads at Dinner and Alpha School (01:01:17) - Grit, Hotel Lobbies, and the Productization of Everything (01:05:14) - Marx Was Right (About One Thing) and the $15,000 Furnace (01:13:05) - False Idols, This Is Water, and the Golden Calf Era

2. 

   24 Sept 2026

   078_ Interview: 中 China's elaborte influence | A level of sophistication the US isn't contending with 🧐

   Sarah Cook (https://underreportedchina.substack.com/) is an independent researcher and writer who has spent over 20 years working on China, human rights, foreign influence, and media freedom. We cover the full spectrum of Beijing's foreign influence operations: research findings suggesting some Chinese AI models that are exploding in popularity generate less secure code when prompted in certain ways, as well as the traditional, overt state media, covert paid placements, disinformation and bot networks, and, increasingly, control over the information infrastructure itself.. We also cover transnational repression cases prosecuted by the DOJ, and what Sarah thinks Trump should actually raise when meeting with Xi Jinping. Checkout Sarah's article in the Diplomat (https://bandwidth.today/stories/923scandalousLocustwrestledoutpost/)that was the basis for the chat, and her substack (https://underreportedchina.substack.com/) for more. For more context like this, and for how I found this article in the first place, check out bandwidth.today (https://bandwidth.today/). Chapters: (00:00) - Statecraft, realpolitik, and the "Corporate Party" test (03:44) - Fake police stations, captured newsrooms, and meeting Sarah Cook (05:41) - 20 years inside China's influence machine (08:07) - Five buckets of Beijing's foreign influence (10:32) - The Huawei op-ed nobody knew was paid for (13:32) - WeChat and TikTok: owning the pipes, not just the message (18:01) - AI enters the playbook (19:32) - A smeared dissident, and the audio clip that almost swung Taiwan (21:13) - The ChatGPT irony: spies using AI to write their own reports (23:58) - Deep Zhang: a Tibetan AI that won't say "Tibet" (27:07) - From 4.5% to 58%: Chinese models take over OpenRouter (29:22) - Type in English, get worse code (35:38) - Catching the manipulation — Estonia, and gaming Hugging Face (43:16) - Taiwan's playbook, and when influence turns physical (48:16) - What Trump should actually say to Xi (54:55) - Where this goes next — and how to fix it

3. 

   11 Sept 2026

   🌆 9/11 — 25th Anniversary Re-Release 002_ Interview Only: It Felt Too Big to Panic | Live From the Roof on 9/11 🇺🇸

   Originally recorded in 2020 and re-released for the 25th anniversary of September 11th. A ground-level, hour-and-a-half account from my good friend Rowan, who lived four blocks from the World Trade Center in 2001. He talks through the ordinary morning that preceded it, watching the towers from his office roof, the days of no internet and no cell service that followed, and the years he's spent since dividing his life into before and after. In July of 2001, his digital agency was days from being acquired by a firm with offices on the 40th floor of Tower One. He talks about what almost was, what actually happened, and why — in his words — it felt too big to panic. For more context like this, and for how I continue to stay informed, check out bandwidth.today (https://bandwidth.today/) No ads. No clutter. More context. Chapters (00:00) - Cold open: revisiting 9/11 during a pandemic (02:33) - Setting the scene: 9/11 as an overlooked paradigm shift (05:49) - Watching parents' faces at school — an echo of COVID panic (07:32) - Life in Lower Manhattan before 9/11: bagels, Napster, and a dot-com job (28:53) - The sound that woke him up (31:47) - Turning the corner: the sky opens and he sees the plane (34:00) - The jolt of adrenaline — realizing it wasn't an accident (35:49) - New York, New York, a flag salute, and "drop a bunch of eggs" (37:36) - On the roof, watching the second tower (40:16) - The collapse: running for the door (44:53) - Tanks on the corner, and a city with no internet (48:42) - Spontaneous first-aid tables and neighbors helping neighbors (55:23) - The smell that kept him up all night (58:55) - Stopped by police, right next to a tank (1:00:54) - Three weeks to feel normal again (1:02:06) - He was about to move into the 40th floor of the World Trade Center (1:04:24) - Why he left New York for Hawaii (1:10:05) - Returning to New York today (1:15:19) - Dividing life into before and after

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.2 / 5

5 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 47 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

82

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

31

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.