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
It’s Time to Talk About UFOs
A new report shows that the government is changing its tune on unidentified aerial phenomena.
21 min
427
Welcome to Bitcoin Beach
Can El Salvador’s seaside crypto experiment really work as a national policy?
19 min
428
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
429
What Space Billionaires Cost Us
Jeff Bezos’ quick trip into outer space is about more than just publicity.
19 min
430
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
431
Apple and Epic’s Battle Royale
After three weeks of testimony, the future of mobile gaming is caught in limbo.
16 min
432
The Hackers Who Took Down the Colonial Pipeline
A voyage into the weird world of the ransomware industry.
22 min
433
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
434
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
435
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
436
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
437
Seduced by Substack
Is leaving a stable job to peddle a newsletter based on your personal brand crazy, or the future?
21 min
438
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
439
Introducing: ICYMI
We’re online so you don’t have to be.
28 min
440
The Fight Over Vaccine Passports
Standardizing vaccine credentials won’t be an easy task.
22 min
441
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
442
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
443
Does Google Actually Want to Hire Black Engineers?
The tech giant’s partnerships with HBCUs are still coming up short.
21 min
444
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
445
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
446
Why Texas Went Dark
The state is no stranger to extreme weather. But not like this.
20 min
447
How Clubhouse Cracked China’s Firewall
Two weeks of extraordinary conversations led to an inevitable result.
21 min
448
India Turns Off the Internet
India ranks second in the world in mobile internet subscribers. It ranks first in shutdowns.
17 min
449
Inside the Subreddit That Blew Up GameStop
How an irreverent band of Reddit investors cost Wall Street millions.
20 min
450
Why the Vaccine Websites Suck
The states’ struggles with digital delivery started long before 2020.
26 min