What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

Slate Podcasts•slate.com

Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.

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Episodes

What’s a Firefox?

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk with the executive director of Mozilla about how Firefox competes with Chrome and the biggest threats to the Open Web. They break down the fallout from the FCC’s 3-2 vote to kill net neutrality and what it means for mega-mergers like Fox and Disney. And they speculate on the motivations behind Uber’s misdeeds, why Apple’s AirPods are sold out, and why the Koch brothers are trying to kill municipal broadband. Stories discussed on t...

Dec 20, 2017•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Beanie Babies for Geeks

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk a little about why everyone is freaking out about Bitcoin. And in the run up to Thursday’s critical net neutrality decision from the FCC, the hosts speak with Columbia law professor Tim Wu - who actually coined the term net neutrality - about why it’s so crucial to save it, and what we might expect from legal challenges stemming from Thursday’s FCC announcement. If Then’s “Don’t Close My Tabs” recommendations: TechCrunch: Patreon’...

Dec 13, 2017•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast

The Ellen Pao Effect

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser talks with Ellen Pao about sexism in Silicon Valley and why the tech industry hasn’t experienced the same fallout over accusations of sexual harassment and assault as the media and entertainment business. Pao discusses what gives her hope for tech and describes what she’s witnessed as CEO and founder of Project Include, a nonprofit organization dedicated to diversity in tech. They also discuss her time as interim CEO of Reddit and what platforms shoul...

Dec 06, 2017•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Antitrust Superstar

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss how bots messed up the net neutrality comment process and whether that gives advocates a last chance to preserve an open Internet. They also examine YouTube’s ongoing problems airing disturbing videos involving children and why its moderation algorithms don’t work. Then the hosts speak with Lina Khan, legal policy director of the Open Markets Institute and a fellow at Yale Law school, about AT&T’s now-troubled attempt to merge ...

Nov 29, 2017•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Hack Friday

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus talk about changes to net neutrality that were announced this week. They also talk a little about the digital media bubble and if it’s real, and April will also tell us about how living with a robot is going. We also have Black friday special for you - the hosts will talk with Brian Krebs, an expert on cybercrime - about everything retailers and consumers should know before the big day. And lastly, Don’t Close My Tabs - Will and April’...

Nov 22, 2017•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Leaving Zen on the Table

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss some recent tech news, like the head-scratching revelation that WikiLeaks actually sent Donald Trump, Jr. Direct Messages on Twitter before and after the election, and a speech by Senator Al Franken that suggests we should regulate big tech companies more like utilities. The hosts are also joined by T. Dalton Brown from Dopamine Labs, the cofounder of an interesting and controversial startup whose mission is to help other compa...

Nov 15, 2017•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast

You Can’t Hardcode Community

On this week’s If Then, Slate’s April Glaser and Will Oremus discuss the news that YouTube has been showing disturbing videos to kids and why this might be a symptom of a much deeper problem for Internet companies. They also talk about the recent revelations from the Paradise Papers and how new details pertain to companies like Twitter and Apple. The hosts are also joined by Mercer University Professor Whitney Phillips. She’s the author of “This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Rela...

Nov 08, 2017•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Trash Moths to the Trash Flame

Hosts and Slate journalists April Glaser and Will Oremus are excited to bring you this new weekly podcast: If Then. The hosts start by talking through some of the most interesting tech news of the week (we promise it's not just tech geeks fawning over their smart watches). They dig into the big story this week - how Facebook, Twitter, and Google all took a trip to congress this week to testify at three different hearings about how russian operatives used their platforms to interfere in the 2016 ...

Nov 02, 2017•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Coming Nov. 2, Slate's New Tech Show IF THEN

If Then: a podcast about technology, society, and power. Each week, Slate‘s April Glaser and Will Oremus take you on a lively tour of the tech news that actually matters, from fake news in your Facebook feed to the algorithms that want your job to the Uber drivers who want a job with benefits. With news-making interviews of key tech-industry figures, fascinating academics, and top tech journalists, they explore not only how the technology that’s shaping our world works, but the ideas, ideologies...

Oct 27, 2017•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast

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