kill switch

Latest Episodes:

how to: protect yourself from online harassment Jan 07, 2026

Show notes

Journalists, public figures, and just about anyone with an online presence today can suddenly face harassment: ranging from nasty posts and replies to real life threats like doxxing. Dexter talks with Ramy Ghaly, a security professional, about how online harassment has gotten worse, how to respond if it happens to you, and what you can do, right now, to prepare and protect yourself.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Resources:

Pen America’s Online Harassment Field Manual: https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

from ‘click here’: an illusion of control Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

This week, we’re sharing an episode from the podcast Click Here, from our friends at Recorded Future News and PRX:

Jake Gallen was a rising star in crypto. Then, after what seemed like a routine YouTube interview, his digital world unraveled. His NFTs? Liquidated. His social accounts? Hijacked. It turns out, the hackers didn’t need phishing links or fake job offers. They needed something much simpler: a Zoom invite.

Subscribe to Click Here on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/click-here/id1225077306) or wherever you get your podcasts.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

now you can bet on real life. but should we? Dec 17, 2025

Show notes

Betting used to be something you did in a casino. Now it lives in your pocket and you can bet on just about anything: sports, Labubus, elections, and even forest fires. Dexter talks with Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, about why betting is everywhere, how any of it is legal, and if it’s changing how we experience real world events.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read:

Emily’s article, “Everything’s casino”: https://www.businessinsider.com/kalshi-polymarket-fanduel-draftkings-sports-betting-gambling-2025-11

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

social media reveals life behind bars. prisons want to block it Dec 10, 2025

Show notes

Social media has gotten a bad rap over the past decade – we blame it for our growing loneliness, shorter attention spans, and polarized politics. But for incarcerated people, social media can still live up to its original promise of connection. And for those on the outside, contraband cell phones give us an unprecedented look into what life is like behind bars. Dexter talks to Jeremy Busby, an incarcerated journalist, about how social media has helped to force positive changes in jails and prisons, and why he thinks prisons want to ban it.

Shout out to the Never Post Podcast and the Freedom of the Press Foundation for connecting us with Jeremy. Check out Never Post episodes at neverpo.st and Freedom of the Press Foundation at freedom.press.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Listen + Watch:

Check out our episode with Gaby Caplan on tablets in prison: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-review-tablets-in-prisons/id1449757372?i=1000719762318
kill switch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=zrCE7MYWVBgmpWqi

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

when the ref’s a robot Dec 03, 2025

Show notes

In the high-stakes world of sports, referees have always been under intense scrutiny… but what if tech could take some of the pressure off? Or will we lose something by replacing the referee with a robot? In this episode Dexter talks with Joe Lemire, senior writer at Sports Business Journal, to explore how new technologies like Hawk-Eye are reshaping sports officiating.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read:

Joe’s article on automating officiating in sports: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/09/15/how-why-and-whether-to-automate-more-officiating-in-sports-and-what-are-the-trade-offs/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

new from kaleidoscope: shell game (season 2) Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

This week, we’re sharing an episode from another podcast we’re excited about.

In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people.

In episode one, we meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans.

Over the course of the season, the three cofounders will grind it out in a sprint that would sound familiar to any start-up founder. They’ll churn out software code, hire interns, and even sit down with investors. But first, they need to come up with a name for their company. And make sure that Kyle and Megan can remember it.

Subscribe to Shell Game wherever you get your podcasts. And check out more at shellgame.co.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

who is profiting from scam texts – and can we stop them? Nov 19, 2025

Show notes

If it feels like you’re getting more scammy texts in the past few years, you’re not imagining it. Scam texts have exploded since 2020, and the operation behind them has become a massively lucrative industry. Dexter talks to Eric Priezkalns, a self-proclaimed ‘troublemaker’ in the telecommunications world and founder of the website Commsrisk, about the new technology that’s making scam texts easier than ever, what some of the weirder, long-game schemes are after, who’s behind these operations, and if there’s anything we can do to stop them.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read:

Eric’s website Commsrisk: https://commsrisk.com/
Eric’s article on Huang, the boy sold to a Myanmar scam compound: https://commsrisk.com/17-year-old-chinese-girl-accused-of-selling-boyfriend-into-myanmar-scam-compound-slavery/
How to turn off 2g for android: https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/cellular-security/toggle-2g

Listen + Watch:

Labi Siffre - Bless the Telephone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpy2O6fYiTk
A Tribe Called Quest - Skypager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYc50S23pQY
kill switch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=zrCE7MYWVBgmpWqi

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘my peptide guy’ is the new tech bro flex Nov 12, 2025

Show notes

Forget building the next app – Silicon Valley’s tech bros are now trying to rebuild themselves. Peptides are the new frontier into biohacking, promising better sleep, sharper focus, and maybe even eternal youth. Dexter talks to Zara Stone, a culture reporter at The San Francisco Standard, about her reporting on the Bay Area’s underground peptide scene, and what happens when tech’s obsession with optimization turns inward.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

Zara’s articles:
https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/14/everyone-has-chinese-peptide-dealer-now/

https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/30/semen-sleep-syringes-tech-bro-s-manual-living-forever/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘my internet bed is broken’ is just the start Nov 05, 2025

Show notes

A few weeks ago on Monday, October 20, a major outage in Amazon Web Services took down a bunch of the Internet. How did an error in one data center in Virginia affect everything from Snapchat and Reddit to ‘smartbeds’ to government services? Dexter talks to Dr. Corinne Cath, a cultural anthropologist and technology researcher, about how the “cloud,” and therefore the Internet, became mostly controlled by 3 big tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – why that puts our democracy at risk, and what we can do to change it.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

Corinne’s op-ed: https://www.techpolicy.press/amazon-cloud-outage-reveals-democratic-deficit-in-relying-on-big-tech/

Our episode on AI and the environment: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kill-switch/id1449757372?i=1000711126940

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

workslop: how AI is making you hate your coworkers Oct 29, 2025

Show notes

Corporate America has bet on AI to make work faster and cheaper. Companies like Meta and Microsoft are laying off employees, hoping it will save them money. But a new study has found that there’s a growing wave of “workslop” and AI is actually making more work for the people left in these organizations. It’s also costing companies millions. Dexter talks with one of the authors of the study, Kate Niederhoffer, to give us an inside look into the details of the study, what advice she has for organizations and individuals dealing with this new technology, and why AI workslop is a symptom of a much bigger problem.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

Kate’s paper, AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity:

https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-workslop-is-destroying-productivity

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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