What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the...
Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.
276
Apple and Epic’s Battle Royale
After three weeks of testimony, the future of mobile gaming is caught in limbo.
16 min
277
The Hackers Who Took Down the Colonial Pipeline
A voyage into the weird world of the ransomware industry.
22 min
278
How the World’s Great Vaccination Hope Crashed
The Serum Institute of India is the world’s largest vaccine producer. Somehow, its home country is running out of doses.
20 min
279
Oversight Board to Facebook: Nice Try
The social network hoped its “Supreme Court” would decide Trump’s fate on the platform. It didn’t take the bait.
18 min
280
Tim Apple vs. Mark Facebook
Two of the most powerful tech companies in the world have very different ideas about how the internet should work.
18 min
281
What's Causing the Tesla Crashes?
Two men died after their car plowed into a tree. Police say no one was at the wheel.
19 min
282
Seduced by Substack
Is leaving a stable job to peddle a newsletter based on your personal brand crazy, or the future?
21 min
283
The Rise of the Therapy Apps
The pandemic opened up a window to transform mental health care as we know it. Is that a good thing?
22 min
284
Introducing: ICYMI
We’re online so you don’t have to be.
28 min
285
The Fight Over Vaccine Passports
Standardizing vaccine credentials won’t be an easy task.
22 min
286
The AstraZeneca Saga
By all accounts, Oxford and AstraZeneca made a good vaccine. So why has the path to approval been so painful?
22 min
287
Hate, Lies, and AI
Artificial Intelligence transformed technology across Facebook. But it’s not being employed to fix the company’s biggest problem.
23 min
288
Does Google Actually Want to Hire Black Engineers?
The tech giant’s partnerships with HBCUs are still coming up short.
21 min
289
The Failing Lifeline for Low-Income Americans
A Reagan-era program designed to provide phone access for the poor has hardly changed in 40 years.
20 min
290
Australia’s Kinda-Sorta Win Over Big Tech
A new type of legislation could change the way governments and big tech do business.
19 min
291
Why Texas Went Dark
The state is no stranger to extreme weather. But not like this.
20 min
292
How Clubhouse Cracked China’s Firewall
Two weeks of extraordinary conversations led to an inevitable result.
21 min
293
India Turns Off the Internet
India ranks second in the world in mobile internet subscribers. It ranks first in shutdowns.
17 min
294
Inside the Subreddit That Blew Up GameStop
How an irreverent band of Reddit investors cost Wall Street millions.
20 min
295
Why the Vaccine Websites Suck
The states’ struggles with digital delivery started long before 2020.
26 min
296
Where the Far Right Is Meeting Now
Extreme groups have been banned from mainstream social media platforms. Is that a good thing?
16 min
297
Deplatforming the President
With just 12 days left in his term, the social media giants have relieved the president of his megaphone.
17 min
298
Was This Google Ethicist Fired for Doing Her Job?
A leader in the field of ethical AI was abruptly let go by the search giant.
20 min
299
Everybody Sues Facebook
This isn’t the first antitrust suit against a big tech company, but it is the most ambitious.
20 min
300
How Hackers Hold Schools for Ransom
When classes move online, hackers see an opportunity.
20 min