Land of the Giants - The Cut & The Verge

The Secret Algorithms That Control Your Love Life Jan 25, 2023

Dating app execs don’t like to explain how their matchmaking algorithms work– they’ll claim it’s too hard to explain, or that they just can’t talk about it, Fight Club style. But critics say that if daters really knew how basic the algorithms are, they might not put so much blind faith into them. In this episode, we dive into just how these algorithms work and speak with daters trying to hack the code that controls their love lives.

Hosted by Sangeeta Singh Kurtz (@sangeetaskurtz) and Lakshmi Rengarajan (@Shmi_So_Far)
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The Hidden Hand Behind Your Swipes Jan 18, 2023

Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, The League. If you’ve ever wondered why using these different dating apps feels similar, it may be because they’re all owned by Match Group, the company that helped start online dating in the 90s, and now owns two-thirds of the dating app market. Today, Match is a dating app conglomerate with millions of users and over 45 brands around the world. That’s billions of dollars worth of swipes and subscriptions. But does paying for what Match Group calls “superpowers” — things like Hinge’s ‘roses’ and Tinder’s ‘super likes’ — get users any closer to connecting with real-life people?

Hosted by Sangeeta Singh Kurtz (@sangeetaskurtz) and Lakshmi Rengarajan (@Shmi_So_Far)
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Tinder Changed the Game Jan 11, 2023

When Tinder launched in 2012, it changed dating culture and our expectations around dating forever by leveraging the iPhone and gamifying the dating experience. But did the rise of dating apps make finding romance easier or harder, and what are the consequences of playing a game that never ends?

Hosted by Sangeeta Singh Kurtz (@sangeetaskurtz) and Lakshmi Rengarajan (@Shmi_So_Far)
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Dating Games Jan 04, 2023

This season, The Verge and New York Magazine's The Cut trace the evolution of the multi-billion dollar dating app industry. Through conversations with industry leaders, experts, and users, hosts Sangeeta Singh Kurtz and Lakshmi Rengarajan explore the modern dating landscape forged by companies like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, and their impact on our hopes for connection. Looking at the past decade of dating, we're asking the question: are the goals of dating app companies aligned with our romantic aspirations? New episodes begin Wednesday, January 11th.

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Zuckerberg's Biggest Bet Aug 31, 2022

Mark Zuckerberg has a vision for the future -- that in a few years, we’ll be living our digital lives in a blend of augmented and virtual reality. The metaverse. To pursue that vision, Zuckerberg’s renamed his entire company and invested billions of dollars in a bid to make Meta the leader of the next tech platform. In our season finale: what are the chances his bet pays off, and why it would give Meta more power than ever.

Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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It's A WhatsApp World Aug 24, 2022

Meta’s most expensive acquisition ever and one of the most used communication apps in the world: WhatsApp. With over 2 billion users, WhatsApp is embedded in the social, economic, and political infrastructure of countries across the globe. For better and worse. The story of WhatsApp’s incredible power, as told through its largest market: India.

NOTE: There are descriptions of graphic acts of violence in this episode. If you want to skip these descriptions, the section begins at 20:45 and ends at 22:05.

Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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Facebook's Plan To Be Cool Again Aug 17, 2022

Facebook defined an era of social media built on our connections, our social lives. We’re watching that era come to a close. Now, your main feeds of both Facebook and Instagram will use AI to start increasingly recommending content from people you don't follow. Kind of like another major app you may have heard of – TikTok.

Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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The Facebook Election Aug 10, 2022

Facebook used to brag about how its tools helped politicians swing elections. Now, the platform’s relationship to politics is much more complicated. Today: the story of how one politician again and again forced Zuckerberg to confront his own role in democracy.

This episode hosted by Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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Why Instagram Broke Its Square Jul 27, 2022

WhenMark Zuckerberg bought Instagram in 2012, he promised he would be hands-off with the company’s curated aesthetic and simple features. But as Facebook scaled the startup into a social media juggernaut, tensions flared. Instagram’s founders would leave, and it’s now a very different app than when it first started. But are the changes setting the company up to compete in the future? Or is Instagram losing the magic that made it great in the first place?

Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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Don't Be Afraid To Break Things Jul 20, 2022

If our first episode brought you into the beginning of Zuckerberg’s vision for connecting at scale, this story is about the consequences of pursuing that vision at full speed. In the 2000s, Facebook made a big bet to become a platform for developers – and all social activity across the web. It would bring us FarmVille and “Log In With Facebook.” But years later, it would lead the company into one of its biggest scandals: Cambridge Analytica.

Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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"Facebook Gets A Facelift" Jul 13, 2022

Long before Mark Zuckerberg renamed Facebook Meta and made an unprecedented pivot into the metaverse, he invented a feature that turned Facebook into a social network behemoth. The News Feed, which put your friends’ status updates onto your homepage, changed the way we interact online. It was a strong statement of Zuckerberg’s values: that connecting, and sharing, at scale would be de-facto good for the world. It was also his first public controversy.

Hosted by Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Heath (@alexeheath)
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The Facebook / Meta Disruption Jul 06, 2022

Land of the Giants: The Facebook/ Meta Disruption explores how the social media juggernaut has arrived at this unprecedented moment of transition. Senior reporters Shirin Ghaffary of Recode and Alex Heath of The Verge speak with top Meta executives and some of its biggest critics and ask how the company has shaped our lives, and what lies ahead. New episodes begin Wednesday, July 13th.

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One App Store to Rule Them All Oct 27, 2021

Apple has always maintained it knows what’s best for its customers. But now governments and developers are trying to change the way Apple runs its highly profitable iPhone App Store. What happens if Apple can no longer hold its tight grip on the iPhone and the way we interact with the world?

Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
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Apple Saved Music. Why Not TV? Oct 20, 2021

Back in the early 2000s, file sharing services like Napster devastated the music industry. Steve Jobs threw it a lifeline with the iTunes Store, offering people an easy way to download songs legally. That saved the music industry and made Apple a dominant player in the music biz...for a time. Twenty years later, the television industry is going through a similar upheaval, but this time, Apple isn’t leading the way. What happened to Apple’s golden touch?

Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
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Apple's China Problem Oct 13, 2021

Much of Apple’s success is built around its relationship with China, which is both one of Apple’s largest markets as well as where most of its products are manufactured. It’s a complicated relationship that has seen Apple make compromises with an authoritarian regime over privacy and human rights in pursuit of huge profits.

This episode is produced in collaboration with reporter Wayne Ma and the technology and business publication ‘The Information.’

Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
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"He's No Steve Jobs" Oct 06, 2021

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple and infused it with his love of product design and attention to detail. His successor, Tim Cook, is widely perceived as lacking Jobs’ vision and innovation. But he managed to do something Jobs never could: make Apple the most valuable company on the planet.

So who are these two men, and how have their leadership styles shaped the company that shapes our lives?

Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
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How Apple Got Its Groove Back Sep 29, 2021

In 1997 Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy and falling far behind its biggest competitor, Microsoft. But that all changed when Apple started building revolutionary new devices that strayed from its roots as a computer company. The iPod and the iPhone propelled Apple from an underdog to the company that dominates the way we think about consumer electronics today.

Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
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This Changes Everything Sep 22, 2021

In 2007 Steve Jobs took the stage and introduced something that would change our lives forever -- a widescreen iPod with touch controls, a revolutionary mobile phone, and a breakthrough internet communicator...aka, the iPhone.

Now we live in a world that Apple has completely reshaped. The iPhone created entirely new industries, wiped out giant competitors, and changed the way all of us live. Here’s how Apple did it.

Hosted by Peter Kafka (@pkafka)
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'The Apple Revolution' is here Sep 15, 2021

From its beginnings as a niche personal computer company, Apple became the preeminent maker of consumer tech products, a cultural trendsetter, and the most valuable company in the world. And along the way, it changed the way we live.

Hosted by Recode’s Peter Kafka. New episodes come out on Wednesdays starting September 22nd.

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The Virtual Future of Restaurants Jul 13, 2021

There's a secret world of restaurants that you can only find when you open up the delivery apps. This brave new world of ghost kitchens and virtual brands has allowed traditional restaurants to access new revenue streams. And these new models are using data to shape new concepts and menus. But when tech reimagines what a restaurant even is, is the soul of an entire industry at stake?

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Who's Driving Whom? Jul 06, 2021

Without delivery workers, there is no DoorDash or UberEats or Grubhub. And workers in this slice of the gig economy get access to a level of flexibility that most people in traditional employment situations can only dream of. But how much control do delivery workers really have over their schedules, their pay and the terms of their employment? These questions are at the heart of a political battle playing out across the country with stakes that are deeply personal for delivery drivers nationwide.

Host: Ahmed Ali Akbar (@radbrowndads)
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The Race for Your Dollars Jun 29, 2021

The restaurant delivery industry is worth more than $100 billion. But none of the major apps are profitable. In this episode, the key battles that have shaped the delivery wars from the point of view of founders, company executives and venture capitalists. And a key question: With billions invested, rockstar IPOs and a pandemic that exploded the growth of the industry, why aren’t these companies profitable?

Hosts : Ahmed Ali Akbar (@radbrowndads) & Jason Del Rey (@delrey)
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The Cost of Convenience Jun 22, 2021

Restaurant delivery apps have made it possible for many of us to order pretty much anything we want to eat with the click of a button. And during the pandemic that convenience became even more valuable. But at what cost? Some restaurant owners say they now need the apps to survive, but resent what they feel to be forced partnerships. And other restaurant owners are finding ways to take the power back. From Recode and the Vox Media Podcast Network in partnership with Eater.

Host: Ahmed Ali Akbar (@radbrowndads)
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Delivery Wars Jun 15, 2021

Big tech is changing every aspect of our world. But how? And at what cost? In this special four-part series, Recode teams up with Eater to unbox the evolving world of food delivery. Find out how the rise of investor-backed third-party delivery apps has dramatically changed consumer behavior, helped create a modern gig workforce, disrupted small businesses, and potentially changed our relationship with food forever. New episodes every Tuesday starting June 22. From Recode, Eater, and the Vox Media Podcast Network, and hosted by Ahmed Ali Akbar.

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Should We Break Up Google? Mar 30, 2021

Google is now facing antitrust scrutiny at a level it's never experienced before, from both sides of the political aisle. Which means we’re in an unprecedented moment that could define the company, our economy, and our daily lives for years to come. In our season finale, we explore the arguments for and against breaking up or regulating Google. And we explain why it’s virtually impossible to go online now without dropping a coin into Google’s pocket.

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
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Googlers vs. Google Mar 23, 2021

On December 2nd, 2020, Dr. Timnit Gebru - co-lead of Google’s Ethical AI team - got an email that said Google had accepted her resignation. A resignation she didn’t think she made. Her exit is just the latest sign of the crisis unfolding within Google — a loss of trust between many of its employees and leadership. This week, what led to Gebru’s exit - and what it means for us, Google’s users. Because when enough people who work inside Google don't even trust each other -- how can we?

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
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A Military Contract Tests Google's Open Culture Mar 16, 2021

One of Google’s long points of pride was its open, collaborative, and transparent company culture. But many Googlers feel like that's slipping away. Over our next two episodes, we’ll tell the story of a breakdown of trust inside Google — between management and employees. Starting with a covert contract Google made with the Department of Defense.

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
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The Moonshot Factory Mar 09, 2021

Since they were Stanford grad students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have had big ideas for technologies that could change the world. Only now, they have Google's nearly limitless resources to turn those ideas into reality. Some of Google's projects seem like a vision from the future. Others have crashed and burned. This is the story of two moonshots, and the world we might live in someday.

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
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Planet YouTube Mar 02, 2021

When Google bought YouTube, it went from being a company that helps users search the Internet, to a company that shapes the Internet itself. With 2 billion users, YouTube generates its own gravitational pull on society and culture worldwide. And as an open platform that allows anyone to upload videos, it's a force that even Google can't quite control.

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
Guest co-host: Peter Kafka (@peterkafka)
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Chrome and the Android Wars Feb 23, 2021

Today, nearly all of the world's smartphones are powered by Android. Which means Google is the gatekeeper to the Internet for billions of people. The story of Android is the story of how Google became so big. And it started with an existential threat. With Google in survivalist mode.

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
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The Search Begins Feb 16, 2021

Some of the core values that built Google's runaway success — innovative technology to the max, an intellectually playful and open culture, and a corporate aspiration to do good ("Don’t be evil") — set it up for the existential questions it faces today. We examine how two grad students with a plan to search the Internet launched a company that would eventually become the gateway for the Internet for the entire world.

Hosts: Shirin Ghaffary (@shiringhaffary) and Alex Kantrowitz (@kantrowitz)
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The Google Empire Feb 09, 2021

In Land of the Giants: The Google Empire, Recode’s Shirin Ghaffary and Big Technology's Alex Kantrowitz explore how a company that began with idealistic goals of creative experimentation and making useful products has turned into a worldwide power with enormous impact on the way we live. New episodes begin Tuesday, February 16th.

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World War Stream Aug 04, 2020

The "streaming wars" are here, but they're not what you think—or rather, where you think. While competitors are duking it out in the US, Netflix wants to take over the world.

Hosts: Peter Kafka & Rani Molla