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20 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 109 ratingsFeel overwhelmed by the never-ending waves of technology news? Join The Wall Street Journal's technology columnists as they talk about the most important tech trends -- and why you should care.
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Episodes
#42: Looking Back ... to the Future (of Everything)
August 16, 2019 07:30 - 51 minutesIn a special encore presentation, a look back at the WSJ Future of Everything Festival, the three-day event filled with speakers, panels and demos showing us where the world is going-for better or worse. Lots of Hyperloop, self-driving vehicles, AR and VR, good AI, bad AI... all the AI, really. So now Joanna and David present a few of their favorite moments from the festival: a chat with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, a performance from Imogen Heap and a rousing debate about whether the to...
#41: Fancy Phones and Fancier Credit Cards
August 09, 2019 07:00 - 50 minutesDavid and Joanna discuss the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10, the phone for people who get stuff done. (Stuff. Not other words.) It has a new stylus and some new software and a bunch of new cameras. Later, WSJ reporter Liz Hoffman comes in to talk about the new Apple Card, which David has been using to recklessly spend money all week. Is this the future of how we spend money? In this week's Today I Learned, David plans his wedding... at a Taco Bell. And wonders what the phrase "sauce bouquet" coul...
#40: Where Are the Good Netflix Movies?
August 02, 2019 07:30 - 42 minutesDavid, Joanna and Christopher start by discussing the future of retail, which at least partly involves all those brands you see in Instagram ads suddenly showing up in a store near you. (The gang also learns a new word: "omnichannel.") Next, WSJ reporter RT Watson hops on to discuss Netflix's upcoming slate of blockbuster-hopeful films, and to answer the big question: Why are streaming services so good at TV and so bad at movies? In this week's TIL, Joanna discovers Apple's old Find My Friend...
#39: The Fight For Faster Internet
July 26, 2019 07:00 - 49 minutesThis week, it's all about how to make the internet faster--and how the world changes when we do. David, Joanna and Christopher talk about Joanna's nationwide test of the new 5G network. Later, WSJ's Scott McCartney comes on to talk about the race to make airplane Wi-Fi better. (Though we'd even settle for "less bad.") In this week's Today I Learned, David explains the new tech behind the new "The Lion King." Finally, David interviews Marc Porat, the former CEO of General Magic, the company th...
#38: How the Moon Landing Changed Tech Forever
July 19, 2019 07:00 - 34 minutesThis week marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Even if you don't care about space travel, there's a good chance the work NASA did to get men on the moon affects your life even now. First, David and Christopher chat with Al Gross, a former NASA engineer who helped design the Apollo spacesuits, then went on to use the materials and techniques to design early versions of the sturdy, super-comfy shoes we all wear now. After that, Jennifer Levasseur, the Smithsonian Air and Sp...
#37: Why the Family Phone Plan Rules
July 12, 2019 07:30 - 49 minutesDavid and Christopher start the show by discussing a technology that drove decades of innovation: the spreadsheet. Dan Bricklin, creator of VisiCalc - the Lotus and Excel predecessor that was so successful people bought Apple computers just to use it - joins to talk about why number-crunching was such a killer app. Then WSJ reporter Julia Carpenter comes on to talk about family cellphone plans - how they came to be the most popular plans, and why even non-families use them. Finally, David int...
#36: How to Survive Holiday Travel
July 03, 2019 07:30 - 49 minutesWith Christopher on vacation (again), David and Joanna go through their best tips for surviving the coming July 4th travel craziness. They each bring their best gadget, app, and tip for getting where you're going a little more easily. Later, WSJ reporter Tripp Mickle joins to talk about the departure of legendary Apple designer Jony Ive-and what it means for Apple, and the Apple products you use, going forward. On this week's Today I Learned, the gang rediscovers Tumblr thanks to an online br...
#35: Google Maps to Nowhere
June 28, 2019 07:30 - 49 minutesDavid, Joanna and Christopher unpack the coming fight between tech companies and regulators, and get into the messy meaning of an important term in the antitrust world: "consumer harm." Next, Katie Bindley joins to talk about how she discovered millions of fake listings on Google Maps-and why that's such a big problem for people looking for plumbers, electricians and urgent care centers. On this week's Today I Learned, Joanna replaces your driver's license. Or it is driver license? Drivers' l...
#34: Call Him Mr. 'Fortnite'
June 21, 2019 07:30 - 46 minutesJoanna and David didn't want to talk about Facebook, but they had to: Facebook launched a new digital currency, Libra, that could upend the way we pay for things. With the help of WSJ reporter AnnaMaria Andriotis, Joanna and David pick apart what that means for normal people. Next they chat with WSJ reporter Sarah Needleman, who recently wrote a profile of Tim Sweeney, chief executive at Epic Games, the company that created "Fortnite" and changed gaming forever. In this week's Today I Learned...
#33: Facebook's Potentially Problematic Privacy Practices: A Recap
June 14, 2019 16:00 - 40 minutesThis week, WSJ broke news of internal Facebook Inc. emails that suggested the company lacked urgency to stop data leaks. With David out in Hong Kong at the Journal's Asia tech conference, Joanna and Christopher take you down Memory Lane with some of WSJ's reporters. After catching up on the news, they revisit a chat with Sam Schechner, who broke a story about how much information app makers share with Facebook-without telling you. Then they go back to a talk with Katie Bindley, who downloaded...
#32: The World According to Apple
June 07, 2019 07:00 - 42 minutesApple's annual developer conference, WWDC, was this week, and there's a lot of news that could impact you come the fall. David, Joanna and Christopher sort out the game-changers from the who-caresers. The hosts also dig into Apple's latest privacy initiatives, and try to decide whether Apple's promises are worth believing. In this week's Today I Learned, Christopher has a story about password hacking and quantum computing. It confuses everybody. Finally, David interviews Fred Chesnais, the CE...
#31: My Way or the Huawei
May 31, 2019 07:30 - 43 minutesDavid and Christopher talk about Amazon's new strategy for winning the smart-home wars. Hint: It involves getting in with property managers and home builders. Next, David and Joanna call WSJ reporter Stu Woo in Beijing to catch up on the U.S. vs. Huawei fight, and what it means for the tech industry as a whole. In this week's TIL: The team wonders whether the iPod Touch might just be the perfect gadget. Except for those bezels. Finally, David interviews Ian Morris, CEO of Bill Gates-backed st...
#30: Dispatches From the Future (of Everything)
May 24, 2019 07:30 - 50 minutesWe have a special episode for you this week. We just finished the WSJ Future of Everything Festival, a three-day event filled with speakers, panels and demos showing us where the world is going-for better or worse. Lots of Hyperloop, self-driving vehicles, AR and VR, good AI, bad AI... all the AI, really. So now Joanna and David present a few of their favorite moments from the festival: a chat with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, a performance from Imogen Heap and a rousing debate about whe...
#29: Don't Face ID Me, Bro
May 17, 2019 07:30 - 46 minutesNow that Big Tech's two biggest privacy invaders can't stop talking about privacy, David, Joanna and Christopher won't stop talking about them. Google and Facebook, that is. Next, the team turns to WSJ reporter Asa Fitch to discuss a San Francisco vote that banned the local government from using facial-recognition software. Later on, David interviews O.G. MythBuster Adam Savage about the challenges of being a hardware guy in a software world. But first, David shares his latest cool discovery:...
#28: Uber for Everything and Everything for Uber
May 10, 2019 07:30 - 43 minutesTo ring in the Uber IPO, David, Christopher and Joanna team up with WSJ reporter Eliot Brown to explore the vast scope of the newest publicly traded tech giant. Prior to that, they recap Google's I/O conference, and discuss the power of AI chatbots and competent $400 phones. Joanna teaches the world a new technical term which may or may not be safe for work. And finally WSJ reporter Katie Bindley interviews TED Fellow and researcher Claire Wardle about the very serious global problem of misin...
#27: The New New New Facebook
May 03, 2019 10:15 - 38 minutesDavid, Christopher and Joanna attempt to explain TikTok, the hottest new thing in social media. It's like Vine meets Snapchat meets Instagram meets Spotify, sort of. Then, WSJ reporter Jeff Horwitz comes on to talk about F8, Facebook's annual developer conference, and what to make of all the company's announcements around privacy, messaging, privacy, groups, privacy and payments. Oh, and privacy. In this week's Today I Learned, David explains why motion sickness can be such a problem for VR-a...
#26: All Netflix and No Chill
April 26, 2019 07:30 - 47 minutesDavid, Joanna and Christopher talk about the bizarre non-launch and Joanna's non-review of the Samsung Galaxy Fold, and what it means for the future of foldable phones. Then, WSJ reporter Shalini Ramachandran comes on to talk about her story on how Netflix and other streaming services are putting a serious dent into peoples' sex lives. In this week's Today I Learned, Christopher explains why nobody believes Elon Musk's statements about robot taxis and fancy new chips. Finally, David interview...
#25: The Movies Come To You Now
April 19, 2019 07:30 - 45 minutesDavid, Joanna and Christopher dive into the algorithms that determine everything from social media feeds to jail sentences, and try to figure out how to make them better and more transparent. Then Erich Schwartzel comes on, from the front seat of his mom's car, to talk about the Disney+ streaming service and the future of the House of Mouse. In this week's Today I Learned, a brief sojourn into Joanna's early experiences with the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Finally, David interviews Stacy Spikes, the...
#24: The First Black Hole, The Worst Car Dashboards
April 12, 2019 07:00 - 42 minutesFirst, the Wall Street Journal's digital science editor Daniela Hernandez joins David, Joanna and Christopher with all details of the first-ever image of a black hole -- and why it's made everyone space and science nerds again. Plus, WSJ's automotive reporter Tim Higgins explains how tech companies are trying to claim new territory: the dashboard of your car. Then, Wiebe Wakker tells David about completing the world's longest electric car journey, making it from the Netherlands to Australia w...
#23: How Amazon Changed Delivery and How Delivery Changes Everything
April 05, 2019 07:30 - 41 minutesThis week, it's all about how we buy stuff and how that stuff gets to us. David, Joanna and Christopher bring on WSJ reporter Katie Bindley to talk about how to make sure you're getting the best deals on Amazon-and all the ways what you see on the page might not be what you think. Next, Julie Jargon, the team's new Family & Tech columnist, comes on to talk about a project she worked on before she took up her new gig: The Journal's Delivery Wars series looked at the tension between customers w...