Big Technology Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Election Results Breakdown With The Daily Beast Editor In Chief Noah Shachtman Nov 04, 2020

Show notes

As the election results come in, Noah Shachtman, the editor in chief of The Daily Beast, joins the Big Technology Podcast for an 'Emergency' show to dive into the results, the future of the Democratic Party, and how the tech platforms handled the election. Recorded on 11/4/2020.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lincoln Project Co-Founder Steve Schmidt: “The Pro-Democracy Side Of This Argument Cannot Be Gentle” Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

When Steve Schmidt was a senior advisor on John McCain’s campaign in 2008, Twitter was a curiosity. Now, he and a number of former Republican establishment members are using social media deftly to make the case against President Trump with the Lincoln Project. Their anti-Trump ads seem to go viral at least once a week, and may indeed influence the outcome of the election. Schmidt, a Lincoln Project cofounder, joins the Big Technology Podcast to discuss the evolution of the Republican Party since the McCain days, and how social media is changing politics.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google Protest Leader Meredith Whittaker on the Future of Tech Activism and the Deep Flaws of ‘The Social Dilemma’ Oct 21, 2020

Show notes

When I interviewed Tristan Harris about The Social Dilemma earlier this month, my mentions filled with people saying, "You should speak to the people who were critical of the social web long before the film.” One name, MeredithWhittaker, stood out. An A.I. researcher and former big tech employee, Whittaker helped lead Google’s walkout in 2018 amid a season of activism inside the company.

On this edition of the Big Technology Podcast, we spoke not only about her views on the film, but of the future of workplace activism inside tech companies in a moment where some are questioning if it belongs at all.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emergency Podcast: Department of Justice vs. Google with Yelp's Luther Lowe Oct 20, 2020

Show notes

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit against Google on Tuesday, alleging the company unlawfully maintained a monopoly in search and search advertising. The antitrust action was the most significant since the DOJ's case against Microsoft, and is sure to send ripples through Silicon Valley where Facebook, Apple, and Amazon will be paying close attention since they might be next.

To talk about what it all means, Yelp's senior vice president of public policy Luther Lowe joined the Big Technology Podcast on extremely short notice. Lowe has been pushing the case against Google forward for years, and his on the ground perspective can help shed light on what's at stake and what comes next.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York Times’ Ben Smith Talks Slack, Newsroom Politics, And Tech Regulation Oct 14, 2020

Show notes

As the Media Equation columnist at The New York Times, Ben Smith is covering an industry going through transformation and turbulence. And as the former editor in chief of BuzzFeed News — a place I worked until this June — he lived that change while managing a newsroom of reporters who lived online in a VC funded media company.

In this week’s edition of the Big Technology Podcast, I caught up with Smith for a discussion focused on how tech is changing journalism, what media companies can do to connect with people that have shut them out, and where big tech regulation may lead.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix's 'Social Dilemma' Star Tristan Harris on the Film and Its Criticisms Oct 07, 2020

Show notes

You won’t find a more controversial film in Silicon Valley than TheSocial Dilemma. The film, now available on Netflix, features confessions from early consumer internet employees who rue the destruction their inventions have wrought.

To address the film and its critiques, Tristan Harris, its star and the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, sat down for an interview on the Big Technology Podcast with no questions off limits.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reporter Roundtable: Discussing Media Narratives and Tech Industry Attacks On The Press Sep 30, 2020

Show notes

When the Big Technology Podcast debuted last month, The Verge’s Casey Newton joined to talk about why people can’t stand the tech press. Our wide-ranging discussion explored how tech reporters should be more upfront about their values, how algorithms and social media reframe their work, and why some go astray in the quest for retweets. But there was more to discuss.

This week, three talented reporters—Bloomberg’s Eric Newcomer, the Financial Times’ Hannah Murphy, and OneZero’s Brian Merchant—join the show to pick up where Newton left off.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Venture Capitalists Are Mad, With Bloomberg Beta Venture Capitalist Roy Bahat Sep 23, 2020

Show notes

Venture capitalists, founders, and others in the tech industry are feeling pretty raw these days. Once admired as upstarts fighting the status quo, they now feel under siege, under attack for the negative things their products do without being appreciated for how they improve our lives. Bloomberg Beta head Roy Bahat, a veteran venture capitalist, joins the Big Technology Podcast for a nuanced conversation about what's going with the tech world, how it's innovation may be connected to its problems, and how it should handle the criticism.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Inside Look At China’s Internment of Muslims, with BuzzFeed News’ Megha Rajagopalan Sep 16, 2020

Show notes

China’s mass internment of Muslims in its Xinjiang region is one of the world's most under-covered stories The country has detained one million people there, putting them through a “re-education” program meant to erase their language and culture, sometimes through forced labor and sterilization.

Though comprehensive, on-the-ground reporting from Xinjiang is sparse, BuzzFeed News reporter Megha Rajagopalan has been on the story from the beginning. She joins the podcast to discuss her reports from Xinjiang itself, and how she worked with BuzzFeed contributors to monitor the internment camps using satellite imagery, finding that they are expanding.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple At A Crossroads: An Interview With GV Partner M.G. Siegler Sep 09, 2020

Show notes

For years, Apple had a clear identity: It was the world’s best devices maker. Today, the company is trying to balance that identity with a new emphasis on software and services. To discuss this shift and what it means for Apple’s future, I sat down with my favorite Apple writer, GV Partner M.G. Siegler, who once covered the company for Techcrunch and continues to write about it on Medium while still working his day job.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices