Business, Spoken

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I Helped Create Facebook's Ad Machine. Here's How I'd Fix It Sep 26, 2017

Show notes

This 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.

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The Real Trouble With Trump's 'Dark Post' Facebook Ads Sep 25, 2017

Show notes

The 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.

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Snopes and the Search for Facts in a Post-Fact World Sep 22, 2017

Show notes

It 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 the administration had...

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Apple Becomes a Chipmaker to One-Up Smartphone Foes Sep 21, 2017

Show notes

In 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.

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Brash Investor Tries to Blow Up the IPO as His Partners Quit Sep 20, 2017

Show notes

Chamath 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.

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To Fix Its Toxic Ad Problem, Facebook Must Break Itself Sep 19, 2017

Show notes

It 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.

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Bias Suit Could Boost Pay, Open Promotions for Women at Google Sep 18, 2017

Show notes

A 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.

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Indiana, Reeling from Opioid Crisis, Arms Officials with Data Sep 15, 2017

Show notes

The 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.

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Apple’s ‘Neural Engine’ Infuses the iPhone With AI Smarts Sep 14, 2017

Show notes

When 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.

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Does Amazon Really Need a $5 Billion Second HQ? Maybe. Sep 13, 2017

Show notes

Amazon 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.

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