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.
101
If They Can Get Sydney Sweeney They Can Get You
Why telecom networks are terrible at holding our sensitive data.
22 min
102
Why Are More Young People Getting Cancer?
Can a new colon cancer test help?
22 min
103
The Panopticon Olympics
Even the most advanced surveillance network couldn’t stop an attack on the Games’ first day.
25 min
104
Is Silicon Valley Trump-Vance Country?
Or will a Californian on top of the Democratic ticket win back tech’s votes?
20 min
105
The Conspiracy Theory Election
Misinformation from all sides is dominating this election, making it impossible to tell what’s real and what’s fake.
20 min
106
America’s Tech Trustbuster
AAG Jonathan Kanter talks A.I., rent-pricing software, and how he envisions fair competition.
29 min
107
The New World of DIY Medical Tests
Does the medical community have only itself to blame?
19 min
108
Boeing Pleads Guilty
Felony charges, half a billion in fines, and stranded astronauts—surely this must be rock bottom.
21 min
109
The Blu-Ray-naissance Is Here. Sort of.
Tired of movies slipping off streaming sites right when you want to watch them? There’s an obvious, off-the-shelf solution…
19 min
110
Elon Says Have More Babies
Billions of anything is just never enough for this guy.
19 min
111
Why Are IUDs Still a Mystery?
From a murky, painful start to a symbol of reproductive freedom.
22 min
112
Why Extreme Weather Keeps Surprising You
Scientists are trying to determine when a hot summer is climate change, or just the weather.
27 min
113
Is Your Phone Tracking Your Driving?
The business of collecting driving data is lucrative. Most drivers aren’t aware it exists.
21 min
114
Amazon Wants Your Handprint
Biometric payment methods are coming to Whole Foods and beyond. Should we be worried?
19 min
115
The FBI Made a Phone Network. It Was A Trap.
Anom was used by thousands of criminals. It was run by the FBI.
29 min
116
Apple Goes Intelligent
The giant Silicon Valley holdout joins the AI race. But is the demand real or artificial?
21 min
117
Fee’d Up: A Musician’s Take on Ticketmaster
Look what you made Merrick Garland do
19 min
118
The Secret Semiconductor War
The race is on and America is trailing. Why is it important to catch up?
19 min
119
Would You Buy Poop On the Internet?
The wild world of peer-to-peer Fecal Microbial Transplants.
20 min
120
He’s Suing Big Tech Over Uvalde
The lawsuit includes the gunmaker, Meta, and Activision, the company behind Call of Duty.
23 min
121
Why Hospitals Keep Getting Hacked
New computer security systems may not be a priority for your hospital. They should be.
20 min
122
Scarlett Johansson vs OpenAI
Is OpenAI’s latest scandal a sign of what’s to come?
23 min
123
The Dark Side of GoFundMe
Even when it succeeds, it’s evidence of a broken system.
28 min
124
Too Stonks Too Furious
Meme stocks are back—wait, they never really went away.
21 min
125
Would You Choose Your Child’s Sex?
Almost every country has banned the practice—but in the US, its growing.
25 min