Business, Spoken
2,340 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★ - 16 ratingsGet in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.
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Episodes
AI Beat Humans at Reading! Maybe Not
January 19, 2018 07:10 - 10 minutesNews spread Monday of a remarkable breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Microsoft and Chinese retailer Alibaba independently announced that they had made software that matched or outperformed humans on a reading-comprehension test devised at Stanford. Microsoft called it a “major milestone.” Media coverage amplified the claims, with Newsweek estimating “millions of jobs at risk.” Those jobs seem safe for a while. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why a $38 Billion Tax Payment Is a Good Deal for Apple
January 18, 2018 16:30 - 5 minutesApple has faced mounting criticism in recent years for avoiding taxes in the US and Europe. Wednesday, it offered critics 38 billion replies. More precisely, Apple said it would pay an estimated $38 billion in tax to bring back to the US some of the cash it has stashed overseas over the years. Apple says the payment would be the largest tax payment of its type in history. But it’s also a pretty good deal for the company. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Anthony Levandowski Faces New Claims of Stealing Trade Secrets
January 18, 2018 07:10 - 10 minutesThe engineer at the heart of the upcoming Waymo vs Uber trial is facing dramatic new allegations of commercial wrongdoing, this time from a former nanny. Erika Wong, who says she cared for Anthony Levandowski’s two children from December 2016 to June 2017, filed a lawsuit in California this month accusing him of breaking a long list of employment laws. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why Cloudflare Let an Extremist Stronghold Burn
January 17, 2018 16:30 - 34 minutesIn the fall of 2016, Keegan Hankes, an analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, paid a visit to the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer. This was not unusual; part of Hankes’ job at the civil rights organization was to track white supremacists online, which meant reading their sites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It's the (Democracy-Poisoning) Golden Age of Free Speech
January 17, 2018 07:10 - 19 minutesFor most of modern history, the easiest way to block the spread of an idea was to keep it from being mechanically disseminated. Shutter the newspaper, pressure the broadcast chief, install an official censor at the publishing house. Or, if push came to shove, hold a loaded gun to the announcer’s head. This actually happened once in Turkey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This Startup Wants to Neutralize Your Phone—and Un-change the World
January 16, 2018 16:30 - 15 minutesLate last fall, in the gleaming white lobby of Madison Square Garden, uniformed attendants were posted at security stations to make thousands of smartphones stupid. Chris Rock was playing his 10th show in a 12-city international tour, and at every stop, each guest was required to pass through the entryway, confirm that his or her phone was on vibrate or silent, and then hand it over to a security guard who snapped it into a locking gray neoprene pouch—rendering it totally inaccessible. Learn ...
A Child Abuse Prediction Model Fails Poor Families
January 16, 2018 07:10 - 27 minutesIt’s late November 2016, and I’m squeezed into the far corner of a long row of gray cubicles in the call screening center for the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families (CYF) child neglect and abuse hotline. I’m sharing a desk and a tiny purple footstool with intake screener Pat Gordon. We’re both studying the Key Information and Demographics System (KIDS), a blue screen filled with case notes, demographic data, and program statistics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ...
Facebook Tweaks Newsfeed to Favor Content from Friends, Family
January 15, 2018 07:10 - 9 minutesIn November, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg started sprinkling a new phrase, or perhaps a new idea, into his quarterly call with investors. “It's important to remember that Facebook is about bringing people closer together and enabling meaningful social interactions,” he said. Research, he continued, demonstrates that interactions with friends and family on social media is particularly “meaningful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
'Sex Party' or 'Nerds on a Couch'? A Night in Silicon Valley
January 12, 2018 16:30 - 7 minutesEarlier this month, a Vanity Fair report revealed sordid tales of Silicon Valley sex parties. But the tales, while full of unsavory and salacious details, did not include any names, raising questions in some minds about their truthfulness. Two people familiar with one of the parties---including one who attended---tell WIRED it was hosted by venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, co-founder of the firm DFJ. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chuck Johnson's Twitter Free Speech Suit Is Probably DOA
January 12, 2018 07:10 - 11 minutesIn 2015, Twitter permanently banned alt-right troll Chuck Johnson, after he tweeted that he wanted to "take out" civil rights activist DeRay McKesson. Johnson now says the San Francisco-based company infringed on his First Amendment rights. But the law may say otherwise. On Monday, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Twitter, arguing that the company banned him for his political beliefs in what he believes is a clear violation of free speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices...
When It Comes to Gorillas, Google Photos Remains Blind
January 11, 2018 16:30 - 7 minutesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When WiFi Won't Work, Let Sound Carry Your Data
January 11, 2018 07:10 - 8 minutesIf you've ever struggled to pair your phone with a Bluetooth speaker or set up a wireless printer, you know that it's often easier to connect to a server halfway around the world than to a gadget across the room. That's a problem as we increasingly use our phones to pay for stuff, unlock doors, and control everything from televisions to thermostats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
James Damore's Lawsuit Is Designed to Embarrass Google
January 10, 2018 16:30 - 9 minutesLast August, Google fired James Damore shortly after the engineer’s internal screed against affirmative action at the company went viral. Monday, Damore sued Google for illegally discriminating against whites, males, and conservatives, demonstrating that the company cannot rid itself of its controversy-courting former employee so easily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook Bug Could Let Advertisers Get Your Phone Number
January 10, 2018 07:10 - 7 minutesFacebook tells users that giving the company their mobile phone number will help keep their account secure. Until a few weeks ago, however, the social network’s self-service ad-targeting tools could be massaged into revealing a Facebook user’s cellphone number from their email address. The same flaw made it possible to collect phone numbers for Facebook users who had visited a particular webpage. Facebook fixed the problems on Dec. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/ad...
Facebook’s Virtual Assistant M Is Dead. So Are Chatbots
January 09, 2018 16:31 - 5 minutesIt’s difficult to remember now, but there was a moment in early 2016 when many in the tech industry believed chatbots---automated text-based virtual assistants---would be the next big platform. Messaging app Kik staked its company’s future on bots and “chatvertising.” Startup studio Betaworks launched an accelerator program called Botcamp. And at its 2016 F8 conference, Facebook pitched bots to developers as the best way to connect with 900 million Messenger users. Learn more about your ad ch...
Mark Zuckerberg Essentially Launched Facebook’s Reelection Campaign
January 09, 2018 07:10 - 6 minutesSince 2009, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly announced a personal improvement challenge in January, a sort of New Year's resolution and Oprah’s Book Club rolled into one. Learn Mandarin. Run 365 miles. Kill your own meat. But this year, Zuckerberg pledged to spend 2018 "fixing" big problems at Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tech's Latest Innovation Looks A Lot Like a Social Club
January 08, 2018 16:30 - 10 minutesLast weekend, 150 of tech’s most gifted engineers traveled to an Arizona resort to spend three days at an event that, despite having never happened before, is called Reunion. The group ranged from the semi-famous, like PayPal founder Max Levchin and Microsoft chief technology officer Kevin Scott, to the spectacularly promising, like Stanford junior Nancy Xu. There were a few panels, some company presentations, and a smattering of horseback rides and hikes in the afternoons. Learn more about ...
Tech Giants to Join Legal Battle Over Net Neutrality
January 08, 2018 07:10 - 4 minutesInternet giants Amazon, Facebook, and Google plan to throw their collective weight behind efforts to save net neutrality. The Internet Association, the industry's primary lobbying organization, announced Friday that it plans to join lawsuits aimed at halting the Federal Communications Commission's December action to repeal Obama-era net neutrality rules. Those rules banned internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or otherwise discriminating against legal content onlin...
How to Curb Silicon Valley Power---Even With Weak Antitrust Laws
January 05, 2018 18:55 - 14 minutesTechnology companies with unprecedented power to sway consumers and move markets have done the unthinkable: They’ve made trust-busting sound like a good idea again. The concentration of wealth and influence among tech giants has been building for years---90 percent of new online-ad dollars went to either Google or Facebook in 2016; Amazon is by far the largest online retailer, the third-largest streaming media company, and largest cloud-computing provider. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
Legal Marijuana Startups Aren't Sweating a Jeff Sessions DOJ Crackdown Just Yet
January 05, 2018 07:10 - 8 minutesLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Is Your Startup Stalled? Pivot to Blockchain
January 03, 2018 16:30 - 9 minutesIn the high-stakes world of venture-backed startups, not growing is the same as dying. Historically, stalled companies sought a sympathetic acquirer or quietly shut down. Now, startups have a new potential lifeline: They pivot to blockchain. Kik kicked things off in September. The messaging app, which has struggled under competition from Facebook and Instagram, created its own cryptocurrency called Kin, which can be used to buy and sell things via the Kik app today, and other apps in the futu...
This App Collects Spare Change to Bail People Out of Jail
January 02, 2018 16:30 - 7 minutes“An app that converts your daily change into bail money to free black people.” That’s what Kortney Ryan Ziegler, a social engineer with a PhD in African-American studies, tweeted in July. https://twitter.com/fakerapper/status/889197985678073856The response was instantaneous—and overwhelming. Nearly 200 people replied with offers to help. That was the start of Appolition, which converts users’ spare change into bail money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Sunny Optimism of Clean Energy Shines Through Tech's Gloom
January 02, 2018 07:10 - 6 minutesThe mood around tech is dark these days. Social networks are a cesspool of harassment and lies. On-demand firms are producing a bleak economy of gig labor. AI learns to be racist. Is there anyplace where the tech news is radiant with old-fashioned optimism? Where good cheer abounds? Why, yes, there is: clean energy. It is, in effect, the new Silicon Valley—filled with giddy, breathtaking ingenuity and flat-out good news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s Time for Innovators to Take Responsibility for their Creations
December 28, 2017 16:30 - 9 minutes​As one of the earliest, and first, female investors in Twitter, I had great hopes for its potential to improve human connectedness and relationships. Today, it’s become clear it’s done the opposite—by becoming a thunderously divisive tool weaponized by the leader of the free world. WIRED OPINION ABOUT Susan Wu (@sw) is an entrepreneur, engineer, and angel investor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Most-read WIRED Business Stories of 2017
December 28, 2017 07:10 - 8 minutesLooking back at the year's most-read WIRED business stories, one theme clearly emerges: people are very concerned with the future of work. Will the robot revolution will eradicate positions? (It's more complicated than that.) What are the right skills for future-proofing ourselves? (Learn code.) Could implementing a universal basic income really work? (A real-world case study suggests it might.) Other stories captured our readers attention too, of course. Learn more about your ad choices. Vis...
Sorry, Congress: The Tax Bill Won't Create the Jobs of the Future
December 27, 2017 16:30 - 9 minutesRepublicans argue that the lower taxes for corporations and wealthy individuals promised in the tax bill currently before Congress will result in new investment in businesses and more jobs. But in the age of artificial intelligence and automation, trickle-down economics won't create employment. What corporations and the US economy at large need most in this emerging era is not more free cash, but a new approach to machine-assisted human productivity and purpose. WIRED OPINION ABOUT Olaf J. Le...
2017 Was The Year We Fell Out of Love with Algorithms
December 27, 2017 07:10 - 8 minutesWe owe a lot to 9th century Persian scholar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. Centuries after his death, al-Khwarizmi's works introduced Europe to decimals and algebra, laying some of the foundations for today’s techno-centric age. The latinized version of his name has become a common word: algorithm. In 2017, it took on some sinister overtones. Take this exchange from the US House Intelligence Committee last month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why Tech Giants and Telecoms Should Join to Build an Internet for All
December 26, 2017 16:30 - 10 minutesLast week’s repeal of net neutrality regulations by the Federal Communications Commission generated considerable controversy. Many characterized the decision as a win for telecom and cable companies at the expense of both consumers and content companies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Behind the Fall and Rise of China's Xiaomi
December 26, 2017 07:10 - 17 minutesA year ago, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi (sha-oh-me) had fallen from the world’s most valuable unicorn to a “unicorpse.” Sales plunged in 2016, pushing the company from first to fifth place among China’s smartphone makers. No firm had ever come back from a wound that severe in the trench warfare of the global smartphone business. Today, Xiaomi is being called a “Chinese phoenix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Did You Like or Follow Facebook Pages from a Russian Troll Farm?
December 25, 2017 16:30 - 3 minutesFacebook Friday made available a tool to allow users to see whether they had liked or followed a page linked to Russia’s attempt to influence the 2016 US election. Facebook had promised to make such a tool available in November, after the company revealed in a congressional hearing that more than 140 million people may have been exposed to Russia-linked propaganda during the 2016 election cycle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
At Google, Eric Schmidt Wrote the Book on Adult Supervision
December 25, 2017 07:10 - 10 minutesEric Schmidt wound up at Google by compromise. In 1998, co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had made a promise to the two venture-capital firms that funded them---they would hire an experienced CEO to manage the company once it began to take off. But two years later they were hedging, insisting they could scale Google to a global power by themselves. VC John Doerr convinced them to keep interviewing potential leaders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Why Workplace Instant Messaging Is Hot Again
December 22, 2017 16:30 - 8 minutesChat is almost as old as the internet itself. But this year, investors and big tech companies alike treated workplace messaging as the next big thing. Slack announced a $250 million investment in September from Japanese tech company SoftBank, bringing its total funding to $790 million and boosting its valuation from $3.8 billion to $5.1. In June, rumors surfaced that Amazon wanted to buy the company for as much $9 billion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
As Artificial Intelligence Advances, Here Are Five Tough Projects for 2018
December 22, 2017 07:10 - 12 minutesFor all the hype about killer robots, 2017 saw some notable strides in artificial intelligence. A bot called Libratus out-bluffed poker kingpins, for example. Out in the real world, machine learning is being put to use improving farming and widening access to healthcare. But have you talked to Siri or Alexa recently? Then you’ll know that despite the hype, and worried billionaires, there are many things that artificial intelligence still can’t do or understand. Learn more about your ad choice...
It's Time to Take Magic Leap Seriously
December 21, 2017 11:43 - 8 minutesThe last time I visited Magic Leap founder Rony Abovitz at the company’s secretive Florida offices, he told me about the time he met Beaker, the meeping beeping scientist on the Muppet Show. Not the character Beaker, but the real Beaker. The guy was a film director at creator Jim Henson’s studio, Abovitz explained enthusiastically. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Where VC's Will Invest in 2018: Blockchain, AI, Voice, Pets
December 21, 2017 07:40 - 11 minutesVenture capital isn’t a monolith, but startup investors are compared to lemmings for a reason. Once a trend gets hot, every firm needs to make a play, or come up with a good excuse for missing out. (To be safe, if the firm does miss a trend, its partners should privately trash talk it to anyone who will listen.) Investors continue to aggressively pour money into startups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook Can Now Find Your Face, Even When It's Not Tagged
December 20, 2017 16:30 - 7 minutesFacebook just loosened the leash a little on its facial-recognition algorithms. Starting Tuesday, any time someone uploads a photo that includes what Facebook thinks is your face, you’ll be notified even if you weren’t tagged. The new feature rolled out to most of Facebook’s more than 2 billion global users this morning. It applies only to newly posted photos, and only those with privacy settings that make an image visible to you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...
Augmented Reality's Real Power Will Come From Substance, Not Flash
December 20, 2017 07:10 - 6 minutesLast week the pilot light for my water heater went out. I tried to relight it by following the instructions pasted on the side of the heater, but they were as inscrutable as hieroglyphs. So I did what everyone does when they need to learn something: I went to YouTube. Bingo. Someone had posted a video showing how to relight my exact model. I crouched down near the heater, holding my phone at arm’s length so I could follow the instructions, as if I were peeking over an expert’s shoulder. Learn...
After FCC Abandons Net Neutrality, States Take Up the Fight
December 19, 2017 16:30 - 6 minutesThe Federal Communications Commission will no longer protect net neutrality. Now, officials in more than a dozen states are trying to take on the job. Within minutes after the FCC voted to jettison its Obama-era rules that prohibit internet providers from blocking or discriminating against lawful content, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he would lead a multistate lawsuit against the agency to preserve the regulations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com...
The Biggest Whoppers From the FCC's Net Neutrality Meeting
December 19, 2017 07:10 - 12 minutesIt took less than two hours of debate for the Federal Communications Commission to repeal net neutrality protections, a decision that could send ripple effects across the internet for years. Over the objections of the commission's two Democrats, the three Republican members, including Chair Ajit Pai, voted to overturn protections put in place in 2015—but not before fudging a few facts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Koch Brothers Are Cities' New Obstacle to Building Broadband
December 18, 2017 16:30 - 12 minutesThe three Republican commissioners now in power at the FCC voted this week to erase the agency's legal authority over high-speed Internet providers.They claim that competition will protect consumers, that the commission shouldn't interfere in the "dynamic internet ecosystem," and that they are "protecting internet freedom." Now that the vote is done, the agency has little to do but mess around with spectrum allocations. The mega-utility of the 21st century officially has no regulator. Learn m...
After FCC Vote, Net Neutrality Fight Moves to Courts, Congress
December 18, 2017 07:10 - 9 minutesThe Federal Communications Commission will vote Thursday on a plan to dismantle its net neutrality regulations. But that won’t end the fight over rules that prohibit internet service providers from creating fast lanes for some content, while blocking or throttling others. Most immediately, the activity will move to the courts, where the advocacy group Free Press, and probably others, will challenge the FCC’s decision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Researcher Who Wants to Bring AI to Factories
December 15, 2017 16:30 - 6 minutesGargantuan Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn employs more than 1 million people and tens of thousands of robots making iPhones and other electronics. It has a reputation for cost cutting, including at the expense of its workers. Now, it’s teaming up with an artificial-intelligence researcher who helped trigger Google’s reorientation around machine learning in order to make its own factories more efficient. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The FCC’s Two Dissenting Voices Defend Net Neutrality To the End
December 15, 2017 07:14 - 3 minutesToday the Federal Communications Commission voted to overturn its rules banning internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon from blocking or discriminating against lawful content. In doing so, it effectively killed net neutrality. But not every FCC commissioner was on board. The agencies's two Democratic commissioners, Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel, lashed out against the order during the FCC's open meeting today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...
In Ed Lee's San Francisco, Utopia and Dystopia Are Neighbors
December 14, 2017 16:30 - 12 minutesFrom the tall windows of WIRED’s offices in San Francisco’s South-of-Market neighborhood I’ve watched almost a decade of radical change made physical in concrete and glass. The city’s forest of new skyscrapers is at least in part the legacy of Mayor Ed Lee, who died early Tuesday morning after almost seven years in office. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bitcoin Is Soaring. Here's Why It's Not Ready for the Big Time
December 14, 2017 07:10 - 8 minutes“To the moon!” The phrase is the battle cry of true believers in cryptocurrency bitcoin---and charts of its price in recent weeks point directly heavenward. Yet beyond a batch of newly minted crypto-millionaires, the digital asset’s recent bull run has also exposed long-standing weakness in the underlying technology that could crimp bitcoin’s long-term viability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
When Your Activity Tracker Becomes a Personal Medical Device
December 13, 2017 16:30 - 6 minutesFitbit spent its first decade selling activity trackers. With its latest moves, the company is starting to look less like a gear maker selling pricey accessories to fitness buffs and more like a medical-device company, catering to hospitals, patients, and health insurers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC Plan to Kill Net Neutrality Rules Could Hurt Students
December 13, 2017 07:10 - 8 minutesNichole Williams needed a career reboot. After more than a decade as a web designer in Atlanta, she felt her career was moving backward. She knew she needed to expand her programming skills to stay relevant in the field, so she signed up for Thinkful, an online-education startup that pairs students with one-on-one mentors who work with them over video-chat connections to help them learn to code. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Expect Fewer Great Startups if the FCC Kills Net Neutrality
December 12, 2017 16:30 - 11 minutesInstead of listening to the thousand of startups and investors who argue that ending net neutrality would damage online innovation, FCC chair Ajit Pai is pushing a vote this Thursday to dismantle two decades of open internet protections in one of the biggest corporate giveaways in history. WIRED OPINION ABOUT Ryan Singel (@rsingel) is media and strategy fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and the CEO/cofounder of Contextly. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
What Do I Do All Day? Livestreamed Technology CEOing
December 12, 2017 07:10 - 21 minutesThinking In Public I’ve been CEOing Wolfram Research for more than 30 years now. But what does that actually entail? What do I end up doing on a typical day? I certainly work hard. But I think I’m not particularly typical of CEOs of tech companies our size. Because for me, a large part of my time is spent on the front lines of figuring out how our products should be designed and architected, and what they should do. Thirty years ago I mostly did this by myself. Learn more about your ad choice...
FCC Must Investigate Fraud Before Voting on Net Neutrality
December 11, 2017 16:30 - 7 minutesWhen Netflix debuted the second season of Stranger Things on October 27, more than 15 million people watched the first episode in the following three days. But the strangest thing about Stranger Things? Its early audience was bigger than some of this year's World Series games. WIRED OPINION ABOUT Jessica Rosenworcel (@JRosenworcel) is a Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices