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.
426
What Cops Are Doing With Your DNA
Police have solved hundreds of cold cases using open-source DNA platforms. But at what cost?
20 min
427
What Space Billionaires Cost Us
Jeff Bezos’ quick trip into outer space is about more than just publicity.
19 min
428
The App That Sparked a Manhunt
Two weeks ago, Citizen made its first foray into real-world crime solving. It didn’t go well.
23 min
429
Apple and Epic’s Battle Royale
After three weeks of testimony, the future of mobile gaming is caught in limbo.
16 min
430
The Hackers Who Took Down the Colonial Pipeline
A voyage into the weird world of the ransomware industry.
22 min
431
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
432
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
433
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
434
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
435
Seduced by Substack
Is leaving a stable job to peddle a newsletter based on your personal brand crazy, or the future?
21 min
436
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
437
Introducing: ICYMI
We’re online so you don’t have to be.
28 min
438
The Fight Over Vaccine Passports
Standardizing vaccine credentials won’t be an easy task.
22 min
439
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
440
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
441
Does Google Actually Want to Hire Black Engineers?
The tech giant’s partnerships with HBCUs are still coming up short.
21 min
442
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
443
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
444
Why Texas Went Dark
The state is no stranger to extreme weather. But not like this.
20 min
445
How Clubhouse Cracked China’s Firewall
Two weeks of extraordinary conversations led to an inevitable result.
21 min
446
India Turns Off the Internet
India ranks second in the world in mobile internet subscribers. It ranks first in shutdowns.
17 min
447
Inside the Subreddit That Blew Up GameStop
How an irreverent band of Reddit investors cost Wall Street millions.
20 min
448
Why the Vaccine Websites Suck
The states’ struggles with digital delivery started long before 2020.
26 min
449
Where the Far Right Is Meeting Now
Extreme groups have been banned from mainstream social media platforms. Is that a good thing?
16 min
450
Deplatforming the President
With just 12 days left in his term, the social media giants have relieved the president of his megaphone.
17 min