Channels with Peter Kafka

Latest Episodes:

The future of: Crypto criticism; Substack and ABC News Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

Three interviews! One pod: First entrepreneur and investor Zach Weinberg tells Recode’s Peter Kafka why he’s accidentally become Twitter Famous as a crypto skeptic — and explains how you can do it, too. Then two talks from the recent Collision Conference: Substack CEO Chris Best on the growth of his company, and about an unsuccessful attempt to raise a funding round (this was recorded before Substack laid off 14% of its workforce); and ABC News boss Kim Godwin on the challenges of reaching audiences that may no longer want fact-based news — or, at a minimum, aren’t watching traditional TV anymore.

Featuring: Zach Weinberg (@zachweinberg) Founder of Flatiron and Invite Media, Investor at Operator Partners

Chris Best (@cjgbest), Co-Founder and CEO of Substack

Kim Godwin (@KimGodwinTV), President of ABC News

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape.

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Is this a Netflix problem or a streaming problem? Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

Today, CNBC’s Alex Sherman joins Recode’s Peter Kafka to ponder several media mysteries:

Why did Netflix lose 2 million subscribers?

Why was Disney executive Peter Rice unexpectedly fired?

What’s going on at Warner Bros. Discovery?

Is someone gonna buy VICE?

Why is Wall Street meh on BuzzFeed?

Featuring: Alex Sherman (@sherman4949), Media and Tech Reporter for CNBC

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Bill Simmons on podcasts, celebrity interviews and life at Spotify Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

The Bill Simmons Podcast is, by its own description, "the most downloaded sports podcast of all time." This week, it hits its 1,000th episode.

Bill Simmons began his career as a Boston sportswriter and went on to found ESPN's sports and pop culture blog Grantland. After ESPN shut down the site, Simmons started the Ringer — which he sold to Spotify in 2020.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Simmons about how he became a podcasting pioneer, and when he realized nerditry about the NBA and Game of Thrones could both live under the same roof. Simmons also reflects on what he learned from his time as an employee of The Walt Disney Corporation and how things are different at Spotify. Plus, he reveals the number one dream guest he’d love to have on his show.

Featuring: Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons), Founder of The Ringer

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Why is this VC on your TikTok? Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

TikTok isn’t just funny dances and glow-ups anymore… it’s also for venture capital!!! Logan Bartlett, managing director at the VC firm Redpoint, reaches out to startups via the socials. He also hosts a podcast called Cartoon Avatars. Bartlett talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about wooing the next generation of tech entrepreneurs, the VC world’s abrupt shift to restraint, and, of course, more crypto stuff.

Featuring: Logan Bartlett (@loganbartlett), Managing Director at Redpoint Ventures and host of Cartoon Avatars

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Engineer Molly White explains why Web3 isn’t going great Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

Software engineer Molly White has emerged as one of Web3’s most high-profile skeptics. Her website “Web3 is going just great” chronicles scams, bugs, “rug pulls” and thefts plaguing the world of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations), and other blockchain technologies. She and Recode’s Peter Kafka discuss her take on all things Web3, why she took on this project in her free time, and how the feedback she’s received compares to her previous work on GamerGate and the Boogaloo movement.

Featuring: Molly White (@molly0xfff), software engineer and creator of Web3 is going just great

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Is Big Tech getting better about misinformation? May 26, 2022

Show notes

Lots of people will tell you that misinformation is a big problem online. But exactly what the problem is, and what tech companies can and should do about it, is up for debate. It’s also what Bloomberg reporter Davey Alba covers every day.

In this conversation, she talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about the recent massacre in Buffalo, which the shooter promoted on Discord and live-streamed on Twitch; copies of his manifesto and clips of the killing then migrated around the internet. All of which echoes a previous mass shooting in 2019. What, if anything, have the big tech companies learned about these kinds of attacks and how to respond to them? Then Alba talks about one of the latest problems platforms like YouTube and Facebook are grappling with: Potentially dangerous instructions about how to make your own infant formula, and whether those should stay online.

Featuring: Davey Alba (@daveyalba), reporter for Bloomberg Technology

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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What can you learn from the guy who built the iPod? May 19, 2022

Show notes

The markets are crashing - and that includes both Netflix and the media companies that wanted to be Netflix. What’s next? Wall Street analyst and investor Rich Greenfield weighs in.

Then, Recode’s Peter Kafka has a conversation with Tony Fadell, who helped bring the iPod and iPhone to life, and then built and sold Nest, the smart home company. His new book is “Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making.” Fadell talks about how developing a product begins with creating its “story,” and why he fought so hard to include a $3 screwdriver in Nest thermostat boxes. He also touches on some high-profile failures, unintended consequences, and why he doesn’t want to dance in the metaverse.

Featuring: Rich Greenfield (@RichLightShed) Partner & TMT Analyst at Lightshed Partners

Tony Fadell (@tfadell), Tech Investor & Entrepreneur, author of "Build"

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Ronan Farrow: “We are living in a post-privacy age” May 12, 2022

Show notes

Ronan Farrow’s latest investigative work for The New Yorker looks into the surveillance technology Pegasus — spyware that gives remote access to a smartphone’s camera, microphone, and contents. Be sure to power your phone completely off after you listen to the episode; Farrow will tell you why.

Recode’s Peter Kafka also asks Farrow about his career — what it’s like to have his work put under a microscope, the impact of his Pulitzer-winning reporting on Harvey Weinstein, and what he doesn’t miss about working on cable news.

Featuring: Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow), Investigative Reporter at the New Yorker

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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Behind the scenes at Apple with journalist Tripp Mickle May 05, 2022

Show notes

Design genius Jony Ive was Steve Jobs’ chief collaborator at Apple. But Ive didn’t run Apple after Jobs’ death: That role went to Tim Cook, the supply chain guy. Now Apple is a company that’s increasingly interested in making money from services and is less dependent on jaw-dropping devices. And Ive doesn’t work at Apple anymore.

Journalist Tripp Mickle, who covered Apple for years at the Wall Street Journal, has a new book about the fraught relationship between Cook and Ive, and Apple’s transformation after Jobs, and this is one where the title gives away a lot: “After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul.” He talks to Recode’s Peter Kafka about all of that — as well as a curious and telling anecdote about a soap dispenser.

Featuring: Tripp Mickle (@trippmickle), New York Times reporter and author of After Steve

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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NYT’s Wesley Morris on writing, podcasting and staying off TikTok Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

Wesley Morris wrote his first review when he was 15 years old, about the movie “Cape Fear.” Since then, he’s become one of the most celebrated cultural critics of our time, and has two Pulitzers to prove it.

Recode’s Peter Kafka talks to Morris about his work as a critic at large for the New York Times and the new season of his podcast, “Still Processing.” Other topics discussed in this very fun and thoughtful interview include The Slap, why we’re not getting another “Basic Instinct,” and what’s up with Elon Musk.

Featuring: Wesley Morris (@wesley_morris), Critic at Large for the New York Times and host of Still Processing

Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode

About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.

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