Decoder with Nilay Patel

Latest Episodes:

The future of computers is only $4 away, with Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton Mar 08, 2022

Show notes

Today I’m talking to Eben Upton, the CEO of Raspberry Pi, a fascinating company that makes beloved tiny hackable computers that are extremely inexpensive. They’re also some of the only readily available computers that are designed to be tinkered with. They’re not heavily locked down, and using one requires learning how a computer actually works. And that’s the entire point: Eben told me the idea of the Raspberry Pi was to create a product that enticed kids into studying computer science at the University of Cambridge. They’ve more than achieved that goal. Seven million Raspberry Pi units were sold last year, and there’s talk of the company going public.

Links:

Raspberry Pi

The business of finding a better job, with Career Karma CEO Ruben Harris

How Artificial Intelligence is Helping Japanese Cucumber Farmers

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22730196

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Inside Sonos' decision to sue Google with CEO Patrick Spence and CLO Eddie Lazarus Mar 01, 2022

Show notes

This week I sat down with Patrick Spence, the CEO of Sonos, and Eddie Lazarus, his Chief Legal Officer. I wanted both Patrick and Eddie on the show to talk about when a company like Sonos makes the decision to head to the courts and increasingly, Congress. Sonos has long accused other tech giants of stealing its tech, but in 2019 it actually sued Google for patent infringement. Sonos recently won that lawsuit at the US International Trade Commission, which ruled that Google infringed all five patents Sonos brought to court. I wanted to understand how Patrick and Eddie decided to take the risk of a lawsuit here – Sonos claims Google actually infringes over 150 patents, so how did they pick.. Five.. to sue over?

Links:

Sonos sues Google for allegedly stealing smart speaker tech

Sonos CEO will testify to lawmakers after suing Google

Google countersues Sonos for patent infringement

Sonos sues Google for infringing five more wireless audio patents

A judge has ruled that Google infringed on Sonos’ patents

Sonos says Google is blocking it from offering more than one voice assistant at once

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22719377

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can the law keep up with crypto? With professor Tonya Evans Feb 22, 2022

Show notes

I’m going to let you in on a Decoder secret: at the end of last year, I tasked our producers with finding better ways for us to cover crypto and Web 3.0 on Decoder. I don’t think it’s any secret that I’m fairly skeptical of crypto, but I want to come by that skepticism honestly—and on the flip side, I want to make sure to see its opportunities and benefits clearly. We’ve already done episodes on Bitcoin and DAOs, decentralized autonomous organizations, and we’re going to do more episodes as the year goes on.

Today I’m talking to Tonya Evans, a law professor at Penn State Dickinson Law. She teaches IP law, copyright, and blockchain. She also hosts the Tech Intersect podcast, where she covers how law and technology intersect. She has spent a lot of time thinking about crypto assets and how they interact with the law. Tonya’s point of view is that we shouldn’t just abandon many of the legal frameworks we have today—she just wants them to adapt to this new internet.

Links:

The counterfeit NFT problem is only getting worse

Instagram says sites need photographers’ permission to embed posts

BlockFi settlement with the SEC

A cringe rapper slash Forbes contributor allegedly found with billions in stolen Bitcoin

Constitution DAO Decoder episode

Alfonso Ribeiro Sues Fortnite Over Use of His Signature Fresh Prince Dance, The Carlton

The ‘Carlton dance’ couldn’t be copyrighted for a Fortnite lawsuit

Adi Robertson's reporting about Spice DAO

Tonya Evans' website, ProfTonyaEvans.com

Tonya Evans on Twitter

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22708620

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What an NFL coaching scandal can teach tech about diversity Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

Bärí Williams is a legal and operations advisor to tech companies who focuses on AI and diversity. Her credentials are rock solid: Bärí was lead counsel at Facebook working on various projects, including internet connectivity efforts and diversifying the company’s supply chain. After that, Bärí went to work at StubHub, an AI startup studio called All Turtles, and a data and identity analytics company called Bandwagon Fan Club.

But now, she’s independent — a business of one, consulting on operations with a focus on diversity and AI. I was curious why she decided to leave being a tech executive behind and make that shift to diversity work. We talked about that, but our conversation actually started with sports news — NFL news.

Links:

Diversity wins: how inclusion matters

Black in tech

The 4 most explosive allegations from Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL

California just made it a lot harder for companies to cover up harassment and abuse

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22697189

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

News with a Capital B: CEO Lauren Williams on why we need news for and by Black people Feb 08, 2022

Show notes

Lauren Williams is the co-founder and CEO of Capital B, a new nonprofit media company dedicated to news for Black audiences. Capital B launched on January 31st, with both a national news site and a local newsroom dedicated to Atlanta – and they plan to expand to more cities over time.

Links:

Capital B

Recode Media Podcast

Tired Of The Social Media Rat Race, Journalists Move To Writing Substack Newsletters

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22686070

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, and Jackie McDermott with and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The business of finding a better job, with Career Karma CEO Ruben Harris Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

It’s an interesting time to talk to someone in the business of helping people get new jobs — we’re still fully in the middle of the pandemic-driven Great Resignation, and a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November 2021, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. But that’s exactly what Career Karma and CEO Ruben Harris are doing.

Links:

Career Karma

A record 4.5 million workers quit their jobs in November

Breaking Into Startups

AT&T’s $1 billion gambit: Retraining nearly half its workforce for jobs of the future

Making uncommon knowledge common

The Great Resignation is accelerating

How an Excel TickToker manifested her way to making six figures a day

Launch House

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22674665

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, Jackie McDermott, and Liam James. It was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

7 CEOs and one secretary of Transportation on the future of cars Jan 25, 2022

Show notes

Regular listeners of Decoder know car CEOs love coming on the show. There is a lot of change in the car industry, a lot of big ideas about how to manage that change, and a lot of big problems to solve: the transition to electric vehicles, the fact that cars are basically turning into rolling smartphones, how to make self-driving work safely, and more. And, of course, we always end up talking about Tesla — because how can you not?

Links:

Listen to the full interviews here

Luminar CEO Austin Russell

Ford CEO Jim Farley

Argo AI CEO Brian Saleski

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath

Waymo CEO Tekedra Mawakana

Jeep CEO Christian Meunier

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg

Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess

Transcript of this episode

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, and Jackie McDermott with and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Can CEO Herbert Diess reinvent Volkswagen with EVs and software? Jan 18, 2022

Show notes

Links

Dieselgate coverage on The Verge

VW vows to build massive electric car charging network across US

Electrify America announces doubling of charging network with 1,800 stations and 10,000 chargers

Transcript

https://www.theverge.com/e/22652357

Credits

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, and Jackie McDermott with and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Almost every smartphone has a Qualcomm chip inside. Where does CEO Cristiano Amon go from here? Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

Cristiano Amon is the president and CEO of Qualcomm, and he’s always been a relentless cheerleader for what mobile computing can do for people — especially if that mobile computing is powered by Qualcomm’s chips.

Links:

Apple supplier TSMC confirms it’s building an Arizona chip plant

Intel will make Qualcomm chips in new foundry deal

The Verge 5G landing page

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip is here to power the Android flagships of 2022

Qualcomm’s next-gen CPU for PCs will take on Apple’s M-series chips in 2023

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22640552

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, and Jackie McDermott with and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pete Buttigieg is racing to keep up with self-driving cars Jan 06, 2022

Show notes

In this special, Thursday episode of Decoder, Andrew Hawkins spoke with secretary of transportation Pete Butigieg ahead of his speech at CES 2022.

2021 was an eventful year for Buttigieg, the youngest and arguably the most notable person to take on the role of transportation secretary in many years. Congress passed President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, which will provide billions of new funding for the creation of a national network of electric vehicle charging stations. The secretary and Andrew talked about that, about self driving vehicles, and of course, Tesla.

Links:

Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the future of transportation

The Verge CES hub

Biden signs $1 trillion infrastructure package into law

The investigation into Tesla Autopilot’s emergency vehicle problem is getting bigger

Transcript:

https://www.theverge.com/e/22633231

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andru Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices