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
Here Are Twitter's Latest Rules for Fighting Hate and Abuse
October 19, 2017 08:10 - 5 minutesWhen Twitter could take credit for revolutionary political movements like the Arab Spring, it was easy for the company's executives to joke about their liberal stance on free speech. (Twitter, they said, was "the free speech wing of the free speech party.") But things are a bit more complicated now, as Twitter increasingly plays host to bullies, harassers, Nazis, propaganda-spreading bots, ISIS recruiters, and threats of nuclear war. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/...
Wikipedia's Fate Shows How the Web Endangers Knowledge
October 18, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesWikipedia, one of the last remaining pillars of the open and decentralized web, is in existential crisis. This has nothing to do with money. A couple of years ago, the site launched a panicky fundraising campaign, but ironically thanks to Donald Trump, Wikipedia has never been as wealthy or well-organized. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Colorado Schools Pay Students to Work With Local Tech Firms
October 17, 2017 08:10 - 14 minutesLONGMONT, Colo. — In one back room at Skyline High School, you can learn all you need to know about St. Vrain Valley School District. It’s there that bins of materials sit next to past projects, exposing the district’s DNA. Boxes holding glue, Popsicle sticks, tape, pipe cleaners, compasses, zip ties and rulers lie nestled inside a 6-foot-high, student-constructed rack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google's Learning Software Learns to Write Learning Software
October 16, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesWhite-collar automation has become a common buzzword in debates about the growing power of computers, as software shows potential to take over some work of accountants and lawyers. Artificial-intelligence researchers at Google are trying to automate the tasks of highly paid workers more likely to wear a hoodie than a coat and tie—themselves. In a project called AutoML, Google’s researchers have taught machine-learning software to build machine-learning software. Learn more about your ad choic...
In Puerto Rico, No Power Means No Telecommunications
October 13, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesNearly three weeks after Hurricane Maria tore through the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is still mostly an island deleted from the present and pushed back a century or so—with little clean water, little electric power, and almost no telecommunications. For telecom, the biggest problem is the lack of power, because most of the island’s transmission lines were knocked out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook Quietly Enters StarCraft War for AI Bots, and Loses
October 12, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesIn the distant Koprulu Sector of the Milky Way, Facebook’s Zerglings lingered in a restless swarm outside the enemy’s base. After the commander ill-advisedly opened the gate, the social network’s alien horde stormed in and slaughtered forces stationed inside, in a battle fought on the frontiers of artificial-intelligence research. The bloody incident was part of an annual competition of the videogame StarCraft for AI software bots that wrapped up Sunday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...
Actually, Do Read the Comments—They Can Be the Best Part
October 11, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesImagine you want to collect donations for a food bank. You could place an empty box on the street, walk away, and hope there’s food inside when you return. The likely result? Your box will be filled with trash. WIRED OPINION ABOUT Andrew Losowsky (@losowsky) is project lead ofMozilla’sCoral Project. The Coral Project builds open-source tools and guides to community practice to bring journalists closer to the communities they serve. Alternatively, you could think strategically. Learn more abou...
If Ads Don't Work, Can Publishers Strike Subscription Gold?
October 10, 2017 08:10 - 11 minutesTony Haile spent seven years trying to save the internet from click-based hell. As CEO of Chartbeat, a software and data provider to publishers, he showed editors, in real time, which stories were “trending” on their sites. He hoped the information would convince media companies and advertisers that their primary way of doing business online---through banner ads, sold through split-second digital auctions for fractions of pennies---could not last. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...
As Federal Data Disappears, New Tool Gives Power to Cities
October 09, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesIn 2014, Mayor Gary Phillips of San Rafael, California, wanted to start studying the city’s data. He asked his staff to build a dashboard where he could track 10 key metrics, including the city's violent-crime rate, its sales-tax income, and its paramedic response times, and see how they fluctuated over time. In theory, it was a smart idea that could lead to better-informed spending and decision-making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
'Siri, Why Have You Fallen Behind Other Digital Assistants?'
October 06, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesApple has a reputation for entering markets late—think portable music players or smartphones—and then blowing away competitors with a superior product. When it comes to Apple’s virtual assistant Siri, that storyline appears to be playing out in reverse. Apple revealed Siri with the iPhone 4S in October 2011, one day before cofounder Steve Jobs died. Talking to a device to set alarms or answer messages was seen as revolutionary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Big Tech Eyes Supreme Court’s Employee-Arbitration Case
October 05, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesEarlier this year, Susan Fowler sparked an uproar in the technology industry with allegations of sexual harassment and gender discrimination at Uber. An internal investigation led to more than 200 employee complaints and at least 20 terminations. But Fowler may not be able to sue Uber in court. When she joined the ridesharing company, Uber required her to resolve any disputes through private arbitration and waive her right to participate in a class action. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
Struggling With Ikea Furniture? There's an App for That
October 04, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesA well-respected online furniture retailer is teaming up with a stalwart of the gig economy, a broker for people who do household tasks. The furniture retailer gets better customer service; the giggers get gigs assembling furniture. Good deal, right? Oh, separately, Ikea bought TaskRabbit this week. Your confusion is understandable. In that first graf I was talking about Wayfair. You know, the world’s largest online-only furniture retailer? Took in $3. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ...
No Inflation? Technology May Have Left it Back in the 20th Century
October 03, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesDuring her speech to the National Association of Business Economics on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen made a rather startling admission: The Fed may have “misspecified” its models for inflation and “misjudged” the strength of wages and the job market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Facebook Built Its Vision of Democracy on Bad Data
October 02, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesMark Zuckerberg took to Facebook Wednesday to once more defend himself and his platform. Responding to a cavalierly-tweeted charge of anti-Trump bias from the President of the United States, Zuckerberg again repeated his claim that Facebook was [a platform for all ideas,” and that, contrary to unfolding public opinion, his company did much more to further democracy than to stifle it. For evidence, Zuckerberg—as is his wont—turned to the data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...
Stricken By Tragedy, an Immigrant Fights for Her Home
September 29, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesIn February, a grizzled 50-something white man approached two Indian avionics engineers at a bar outside Kansas City. He began haranguing them about an all-too-familiar topic: their visas. After bar patrons kicked out the agitator, he returned with a gun, screamed “Get out of my country!” and shot both engineers, killing one of them, Srinivas Kuchibhotla. The alleged shooter, Adam Purinton, is now facing hate crime charges in federal court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...
Zen and the Art of Hedge Fund Management
September 28, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesThis story is about Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest and most successful private hedge fund. But first I want to talk about the Buddha. In the 13th century, the Japanese Buddhist philosopher Dogen wrote a famous series of precepts called the Genjo-Koan. In them, he preached that there was no such thing as an “abiding self.” “The buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many of the one,” he wrote. “To study the Buddha way is to study the self. Learn more about your ad choices....
What We Know---and Don't Know---About Facebook, Trump, and Russia
September 27, 2017 08:10 - 19 minutesFacebook is now enmeshed in several investigations into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Last week, the company agreed to give Congress 3,000 political ads linked to Russian actors that it sold and ran during the 2016 election cycle; it previously had handed that information to special investigator Robert Mueller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
I Helped Create Facebook's Ad Machine. Here's How I'd Fix It
September 26, 2017 08:10 - 14 minutesThis month, two magnificently embarrassing public-relations disasters rocked the Facebook money machine like nothing else in its history. First, Facebook revealed that shady Russian operators purchased political ads via Facebook in the 2016 election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Real Trouble With Trump's 'Dark Post' Facebook Ads
September 25, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesThe backroom conversations politicians have with their base always seem to come back and bite them in the ass. You still remember Mitt Romney’s infamous "47 percent" remarks, when he told a room full of well-heeled donors during the 2012 campaign that 47 percent of the electorate are “dependent upon government,” “believe that they are victims,” and would vote for President Obama no matter what. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Snopes and the Search for Facts in a Post-Fact World
September 22, 2017 08:10 - 32 minutesIt was early March, not yet two months into the Trump administration, and the new Not-Normal was setting in: It continued to be the administration’s position, as enunciated by Sean Spicer, that the inauguration had attracted the “largest audience ever”; barely a month had passed since Kellyanne Conway brought the fictitious “Bowling Green massacre” to national attention; and just for kicks, on March 4, the president alerted the nation by tweet, “Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower.” If...
Apple Becomes a Chipmaker to One-Up Smartphone Foes
September 21, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesIn a video introducing the iPhone X, Apple design chief Jony Ive speaks in his usual sonorous tones about features like polished stainless steel and new formulations of glass. Twice, he also calls out a feature of the $999 device that its owners will never see: the A11 “bionic” processor powering the phone. The new chip’s prominence reflects Apple’s deepening investment in chip design. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brash Investor Tries to Blow Up the IPO as His Partners Quit
September 20, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesChamath Palihapitiya, an early Facebook executive and outspoken presence in Silicon Valley, is unapologetic about his frustrations with the venture-capital industry. There’s too much money chasing deals, making it harder to generate strong returns. Too many VCs conflate luck with talent. And everyone who benefits from the current system is resistant to change. Technically, Palihapitiya is a venture capitalist himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
To Fix Its Toxic Ad Problem, Facebook Must Break Itself
September 19, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesIt is a sure sign that Facebook’s algorithms have run amok when they allow anyone to target ads to people with an expressed interest in burning Jews. Likewise, when Russians can sow chaos in American elections by purchasing thousands of phony Facebook ads without Facebook realizing it, the automated systems selling those ads may need some oversight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bias Suit Could Boost Pay, Open Promotions for Women at Google
September 18, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesA lawsuit claiming Google systematically discriminates against women in pay and promotion could force the search giant, and other Silicon Valley companies, to change hiring and promotion practices. Three former Google employees filed the lawsuit Thursday in San Francisco, and said they would seek to make the case a class action, representing all women who have worked at Google since 2013. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Indiana, Reeling from Opioid Crisis, Arms Officials with Data
September 15, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesThe opioid crisis has hit Indiana hard. In 2012, Indiana was among a handful of states whose opioid prescriptions roughly equaled its population. Three years later, intravenous drugs caused the nation’s worst HIV outbreak in two decades, affecting 181 people in rural Scott County, Indiana. And since 2013, Indiana has had the dubious distinction of leading the nation in pharmacy robberies, beating even California, which has six times its population. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...
Apple’s ‘Neural Engine’ Infuses the iPhone With AI Smarts
September 14, 2017 08:10 - 6 minutesWhen Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced the iPhone X Tuesday he claimed it would “set the path for technology for the next decade.” Some new features are superficial: a near-borderless OLED screen and the elimination of the traditional home button. Deep inside the phone, however, is an innovation likely to become standard in future smartphones, and crucial to the long-term dreams of Apple and its competitors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Does Amazon Really Need a $5 Billion Second HQ? Maybe.
September 13, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesAmazon announced Thursday that it plans to spend $5 billion on a second headquarters--dubbed "HQ2" somewhere outside its current home of Seattle, Washington. The company hasn't decided where HQ2 will be yet, but Amazon says it will be in North America and expects around 50,000 people will work there within 10 to 15 years. The company currently employs around 40,000 people in Seattle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Decentralized Social Networks Sound Great. Too Bad They’ll Never Work
September 12, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesLast year Jillian York, a free expression activist, was temporarily booted off Facebook for sharing partially nude images. The offending photos were part of a German breast cancer awareness campaign which featured, well, breasts. Facebook flagged the post as a violation of its Community Standards, which strictly prohibits most types of female nudity. Though the account suspension lasted only 24 hours, it had a powerful impact on York’s ability to get things done. Learn more about your ad choi...
Thousands of Facebook Ads Tied to Bogus Russian Accounts
September 11, 2017 08:10 - 5 minutesAmid ongoing concern over the role of disinformation in the 2016 election, Facebook said Wednesday it found that more than 5,000 ads, costing more than $150,000, had been placed on its network between June 2015 and May 2017 from "inauthentic accounts" and Pages, likely from Russia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
New America Chair Says Google Didn't Prompt Critic's Ouster
September 08, 2017 08:10 - 5 minutesThe co-chair of the New America Foundation told staffers Wednesday that neither Google nor its executive chairman Eric Schmidt---both donors to the think tank---played a role in the recent ouster from the foundation of an antitrust scholar who had been critical of Google. “Neither Google nor Eric Schmidt attempted to interfere” with criticism of Google by the researcher, co-chair Jonathan Soros wrote in a letter to New America staff and fellows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast...
Apple's Real Reason for Finally Joining the Net Neutrality Fight
September 07, 2017 08:10 - 5 minutesOver the past few months, as the Federal Communications Commission has moved closer to weakening net neutrality protections, countless tech companies have signaled their support for a strong and open internet. The lone voice missing through the debate: Apple. Yesterday, the final day to comment on the FCC's current net neutrality proceedings, the company finally broke its silence with a comment filed in support of strong rules to protect the open internet. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
FCC’s Broken Comments System Could Help Doom Net Neutrality
September 06, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesThis past April, the Federal Communications Commission invited the American people to weigh in on whether the federal government should roll back the rules currently in place to protect net neutrality. By the time the online comment submission period ended last Wednesday, the agency had collected 21.9 million comments, an astounding level of participation on what at first glance appears to be a rather esoteric telecommunications policy issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho...
The Hard Consequence of Google's Soft Power
September 05, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesAmong its peers, Google is an unparalleled lobbyist. Between April and June of this year, Google spent $5.4 million lobbying the federal government, more than double the lobbying budget for Apple, a comparable global behemoth that also has to fend off regulatory scrutiny. The tech giant has also long funded a lengthy roster of think tanks, academics, and nonprofits that grapple with issues that could seriously impact Google’s bottom line, such as privacy, net neutrality, and tax reform. Learn...
Redefining 'Broadband' Could Slow Rollout in Rural Areas
September 04, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesHow fast is a broadband internet connection? That question is at the heart of a controversy at the Federal Communications Commission. After a study about connection speeds in the US last year, the FCC decided that too few people had access to high speed internet. But that conclusion never sat right with the commission's Republicans, who argued that the agency set too high a bar in deciding what counts as broadband. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google and Microsoft Can Use AI to Extract Many More Ad Dollars from Our Clicks
September 01, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesWhen Google and Microsoft boast of their deep investments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, they highlight flashy ideas like unbeatable Go players and sociable chatbots. They talk less often about one of the most profitable, and more mundane, uses for recent improvements in machine learning: boosting ad revenue. AI-powered moonshots like driverless cars and relatable robots will doubtless be lucrative when—or if—they hit the market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podca...
Do We Need a Speedometer for Artificial Intelligence?
August 31, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesMicrosoft said last week that it had achieved a new record for the accuracy of software that transcribes speech. Its system missed just one in 20 words on a standard collection of phone call recordings—matching humans given the same challenge. The result is the latest in a string of recent findings that some view as proof that advances in artificial intelligence are accelerating, threatening to upend the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Harvey Shows Progress on Emergency Communications Since Katrina
August 30, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesThe damage done by Hurricane Harvey is, as the National Weather Service, tweeted ominously over the weekend, “unknown & beyond anything experienced.” Rain continues to fall over the water-soaked region of Southeast Texas where the category 4 hurricane made landfall Friday night. It’s a living nightmare already drawing comparisons to Hurricane Katrina. One comparison offers a glimmer of hope amid the devastation: Communications networks have held much better. Learn more about your ad choices. ...
Sorry, Banning ‘Killer Robots’ Just Isn’t Practical
August 29, 2017 08:10 - 6 minutesLate Sunday, 116 entrepreneurs including Elon Musk released a letter to the United Nations warning of the dangerous “Pandora’s Box” presented by weapons that make their own decisions about when to kill. Publications including the Guardian and Washington Post ran headlines saying Musk and his cosigners had called for a “ban” on “killer robots.” Those headlines were misleading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google and Walmart’s Big Bet Against Amazon Might Just Pay Off
August 28, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesIt’s hard to overstate Amazon’s online retail dominance. With 76 percent market share of online retail, it’s as if the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls entered your local rec league. No one can challenge Amazon today, but a newly announced partnership between Google and Walmart—allowing you to order groceries from the latter with Google Assistant, or online via Google Express, starting late September—may ultimately present a threat. Still, it's a long-term long shot. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
The Day I Found Out My Life Was Hanging by a Thread
August 25, 2017 08:10 - 16 minutesIt started while I was on a Hawaiian vacation in May. I thought I’d just tweaked my back lifting a poolside lounge chair. Back home, my back pain became severe, and I started noticing nerve pain in my legs. For eight days I could barely crawl around the house. My wife and two daughters nicknamed me “the worm.” At 45, I’m in pretty good shape—avid cyclist, runner, weightlifter, yoga enthusiast with a resting pulse in the 50s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
One-Time Allies Sour on Joining Trump's Tech Team
August 24, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesPresident Trump’s victory caught Garrett Johnson—and the rest of humanity—by surprise. A Republican, Johnson had never been among Trump’s biggest fans. He’d worked for former Florida governor Jeb Bush and supported Bush in the primaries. The night candidate Trump addressed the Republican National Convention, Johnson retweeted the words of another Republican political operative: “There will be time for reflection. Hopefully there will be time to rebuild. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Defining 'Hate Speech' Online Is Imperfect Art as Much as Science
August 23, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesShortly after a rally by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to the death of a counter-protestor, YouTube removed a video of U.S. soldiers blowing up a Nazi swastika in 1945. In place of the video, users saw a message saying it had been “removed for violating YouTube’s policy on hate speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uber Settles with FTC Again, This Time over 2014 Privacy Breach
August 22, 2017 08:10 - 6 minutesUber on Tuesday agreed to improve its privacy and security practices and to allow outsiders to monitor its progress for 20 years. The agreement with the Federal Trade Commission would resolve complaints stemming from a 2014 incident in which a hacker gained access to the names and driver's license numbers of more than 100,000 Uber drivers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
FCC Pledges Openness -- Just Don't Ask To See Complaints
August 21, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesShortly after Ajit Pai was named chair of the Federal Communications Commission in February, he said he wanted the agency to be “as open and accessible as possible to the American people." Six months on, the agency is falling short of Pai’s lofty goal in some key areas. Critics are especially concerned about the FCC’s handling of complaints from the public about internet providers and the causes of a May 7 outage of the public-comments section of the agency’s website. Learn more about your ad...
Everybody Chill: Robots Won't Take All Our Jobs
August 18, 2017 08:10 - 21 minutesNone of this is to say that automation and AI aren’t having an important impact on the economy. But that impact is far more nuanced and limited than the doomsday forecasts suggest. A rigorous study of the impact of robots in manufacturing, agriculture, and utilities across 17 countries, for instance, found that robots did reduce the hours of lower-skilled workers—but they didn’t decrease the total hours worked by humans, and they actually boosted wages. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
New Media and the Messy Nature of Reporting on the Alt-Right
August 17, 2017 08:10 - 9 minutesPresident Trump stunned the nation, members of his own party, the press, and, apparently, his staff on Tuesday with his candid remarks regarding last weekend's deadly violence at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. The day before, he had reluctantly condemned the neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members who comprised much of the rally, but just 24 hours later, standing in the lobby of Trump Tower, the president was back to to condemning groups "on both sides" of the fighting...
Google Abruptly Cancels Town Hall About That Memo
August 16, 2017 08:10 - 5 minutesGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai Thursday abruptly cancelled a planned companywide meeting intended to air concerns raised by a former employee's broadside against Google's diversity programs. The move came just minutes before the meeting was to start, as the company that aims to organize the world's information struggles to deal with reverberations from the memo and its decision to fire the author. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Google's AI Declares Galactic War on StarCraft
August 15, 2017 08:10 - 6 minutesTic tac toe, checkers, chess, go, poker. Artificial intelligence rolled over each of these games like a relentless tide. Now Google’s DeepMind is taking on the multiplayer space-war videogame StarCraft II. No one expects the robot to win anytime soon. But when it does, it will be a far greater achievement than DeepMind’s conquest of Go—and not just because StarCraft is a professional e-sport watched by fans for millions of hours each month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...
James Damore Offended Fellow Students in Harvard Grad School Skit
August 14, 2017 08:10 - 7 minutesJames Damore, the former Google engineer who was fired Monday after posting a missive criticizing the company’s diversity programs, offended fellow Harvard graduate students with an off-color skit during a 2012 retreat, prompting two professors to send an email apologizing for the performance. At the time, Damore was a doctoral student in systems biology. Along with a few dozen other students and faculty, he attended a two-day retreat at a hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Learn more about ...
Yes, Bitcoin Has No Intrinsic Value. Neither Does a $1 Bill
August 11, 2017 08:10 - 8 minutesBitcoin: fad or the future? The question has dogged the digital currency since its inception nearly a decade ago, and recent developments raise it anew. Last week, a new variant of bitcoin emerged via a “fork” in its underlying code, threatening to confuse and divide the still-small world of bitcoin adherents. Meanwhile, the price of a coin has soared to record heights above $3,000, from about $1,000 at the year’s beginning. Skeptics remain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi...