Slate Technology
Technology coverage from across the Slate Podcast network
Episodes
October 1, 2023 • 31 mins
The trial of Sam Bankman-Fried marks the end of an era where crypto rose to dizzying, Super-Bowl-commercial heights. Where does the industry go from here?
Guest: Zeke Faux, investigative reporter for Bloomberg and author of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.
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September 30, 2023 • 31 mins
After years of being a rare spot of universal, American-government-funded health care, this fall’s new COVID-19 vaccine is hitting the commercial market for the first time. So far, the rollout has been mired by hiccups and confusion.
Guest: Jen Kates, senior vice president at KFF
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September 30, 2023 • 46 mins
On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice dive into the latest mystery plaguing the internet—the unprecedented rise of podcaster Bobbi Althoff. Althoff launched The Really Good Podcast in April and since then has landed interviews with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Drake, Offset, Tyga, Lil Yachty and Shaq. But the admitted “master interviewer with weeks of experience” seemingly came out of nowher...
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September 29, 2023 • 28 mins
Amazon evolved from a place to get cheap used books to the “everything store”—one encompassing warehouses, logistics and shipping.
But with the FTC now run by Lina Khan—who wrote the essay ‘Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” while at Yale Law School—a new contender for “antitrust trial of the century” has begun.
Guest: Leah Nylen, antitrust reporter for Bloomberg
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September 27, 2023 • 40 mins
On today’s episode, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton are joined by Daisy Rosario to discuss the hottest show of the summer: Suits. The USA Network procedural follows a magnetic cast of law firm employees who bend the system, fire off quips in court and essentially, wear suits. Suits isn’t the most buzzy or exciting series out there, so how did a show that ended in 2019 experience a resurgence four years later? Since hitting Netflix...
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September 23, 2023 • 26 mins
As other tech companies that rode the pandemic to success started sinking, Instacart managed to stay above water—they turned a profit and even made it to an IPO. But a stubbornly static stock price has some asking if Instacart—and the whole gig economy—hasn’t already peaked.
Guest: Erin Griffith, who reports on tech startups and venture capital for the New York Times
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September 23, 2023 • 40 mins
On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Alexia Fawcett, a PhD candidate in linguistics at UC Santa Barbara and Kendra Calhoun, an assistant professor of linguistic anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Calhoun and Fawcett wrote a presentation titled, “They edited out her nip-nops: Linguistic innovation as textual censorship avoidance on TikTok,” which explored both the ways in which and the reason ...
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September 23, 2023 • 55 mins
Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by Kashmir Hill to talk about her new book, Your Face Belongs to Us. They dig into the way facial recognition technology is used in unexpected (and sometimes creepy) ways. They also talk about the A.I. revolution and Rupert Murdoch’s “exit” from the Fox empire.
In the Plus segment: Kashmir talks about tracking her husband.
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September 22, 2023 • 24 mins
The sword of regulation, which has been swinging over New York AirBnBs for over a decade, is falling at last. But will new laws for short-term rentals have the effect housing advocates are hoping for? And after many failed efforts, can these laws actually be enforced?
Guest: Heather Tal Murphy, Slate writer covering tech and business.
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September 20, 2023 • 41 mins
On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton is joined by Jane Marie, the host of the award-winning podcast The Dream which recently released it’s highly-anticipated third season all about life coaches. The two discuss the rise of life coaching and it’s connection to the MLM universe, how the internet has accelerated the life coach boom and what exactly the American Dream has to do with any of this.
This podcast is produced by Se’era Sprag...
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September 18, 2023 • 41 mins
In this episode of the Criminals series, the gang talks with Rebecca Jarvis, host of “The Dropout” about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Who were the real victims of Holmes’ crimes? How did her lofty goals drift into scandal? And where does she sit on a scale of “one to evil”?
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September 16, 2023 • 30 mins
The bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act has noble-sounding intentions, but has been called one of the most dangerous bills in years by the digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Guest: Richard Blumenthal, senior United States senator from Connecticut.
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September 16, 2023 • 49 mins
On today’s episode, Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim are joined by Jane Friedman, author of The Business of Being a Writer and the publisher of Hot Sheet, a newsletter about the publishing industry. The three discuss Friedman’s recent battle with AI-generated books that were being published and sold under her name on Amazon. Friedman published a blog about the saga titled “I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why ...
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September 15, 2023 • 32 mins
A trial a decade in the making has started, as the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google and its unrivaled position as the top search engine begins. Is this the beginning of the government “taking on Big Tech” and the end of Google as we know it?
Guest: Leah Nylen, covering antitrust for Bloomberg.
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September 14, 2023 • 40 mins
On this episode: Zak Rosen, Jamilah Lemieux, and Elizabeth Newcamp talk about parenting digital citizens.
Elizabeth sits down with author and speaker Dr. Devorah Heitner about her latest book, Growing Up in Public. The book helps guide parents through navigating social media and phone usage for their kids — and the privacy, freedom, and surveillance issues that come along with phones.
We also go over our week in parenting. And ...
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September 13, 2023 • 41 mins
On today’s show, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton are joined by Slate business and tech writer Nitish Pahwa to describe his recent piece on the deranged world of vintage fast-food training videos. In the depths of Youtube, videos from companies like McDonald’s, Hardee’s, and Jack in the Box depict a bygone era where employees were trained by animated burgers and celebrity cameos.
This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, D...
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September 9, 2023 • 21 mins
COVID’s still here but the public’s appetite for masking, social distancing, or remote learning is long gone. One palatable way to stop the spread: improving air circulation indoors.
Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, science and global health reporter for the New York Times
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September 9, 2023 • 52 mins
On today’s episode, Rachelle and Candice field a listener question about Bloom, the green powder nutrition company that’s popping up all over TikTok. They’re joined by health and wellness writer Julia Craven to talk about Bloom’s virality and what we should know before jumping on the green powder bandwagon. But first, they break down Tinder’s latest villain: the Tabi Swiper.
This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy ...
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September 9, 2023 • 41 mins
This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by Coco Krumme to discuss her book Optimal Illusions: The False Promise of Optimization.
In the Plus segment: The story in Felix’s newsletter today on why the city of Birmingham in the UK has gone bankrupt.
Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.
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September 8, 2023 • 27 mins
When Howard County signed a $27 million contract with the start-up Zum, the company promised to modernize the way schools provide transportation. But when the school year started, that’s not what happened.
Guest: Daniel Zawodny, covering transportation for the Baltimore Banner and corps member of Report For America.
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