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.
176
Google Makes Its Case
The U.S. claims that Google monopolized search. Google claims that competition is just “a click away.”
29 min
177
Bad Air, Worse Vibes
Between COVID and now wildfire smoke, the case for improving school ventilation makes itself. So what’s the hold-up?
17 min
178
Tech Disrupts the School Bus
A Silicon Valley start-up promised to modernize school transportation. Instead, it stranded thousands of students.
24 min
179
Social Media’s Pivot from News
When it comes to natural disasters, getting the latest news via Twitter or Facebook is, well, disastrous.
25 min
180
Is LinkedIn...Cool Now?
Personal posts, influencers, and cultural cachet, all in a surprising place.
23 min
181
The Cost of "Sustainable" Pet Food
There's been a rise in high-end pet food, marketed as a healthy, environmentally-friendly option for our pets. The reality is much more complicated.
24 min
182
TikTok's Shady Deal with the U.S.
Inside the draft of a deal between ByteDance and the U.S. to keep TikTok in the states.
24 min
183
Digital Life After Death
Is the ghost of your online life destined to haunt your friends and family?
23 min
184
How Crypto Fails Sex Workers
Why sex workers turned to crypto, and how crypto turned on them.
22 min
185
Tech's Mask Off Moment
Richard Hanania exposes ugly truths about the power and politics of the tech industry.
26 min
186
Can Smart Guns Save Lives?
Is a gun only you can shoot really safer than a regular firearm?
26 min
187
Another Summer of COVID
COVID infections are up this summer - again. But it's hard to tell just how bad it is.
25 min
188
Tesla's Big Lie
Elon Musk’s most recent scandal may upend the way we think of an electric future.
26 min
189
America’s Downtown Ghost Towns
What happens to those offices when employees don’t “return to work?”
29 min
190
Washington vs. A.I.
The government's starting to focus on regulating A.I. But have they learned from previous efforts to keep an eye on the tech industry?
24 min
191
Why Tech Lays Women Off First
Rounds of layoffs have disproportionately affected women in tech—including those on maternity leave.
27 min
192
America’s $5 Trillion Grid Problem
The electric grid is the only thing making parts of America habitable this summer. It desperately needs a makeover.
24 min
193
America’s Killer Car Problem
U.S. infrastructure doesn't prioritize the lives of pedestrians. Why?
32 min
194
Will UPS Workers Join "Hot Strike Summer?"
It's not just Hollywood—UPS workers may soon be striking too.
29 min
195
Is Your Son Watching Andrew Tate?
How one of the biggest misogynists on the internet infected the mindset of a generation of teenage boys.
33 min
196
Threads vs. Twitter
If your rate limit has been exceeded one too many times, Mark Zuckerberg is here with an alternative.
24 min
197
Turning Your Face Into Your Ticket
Facial recognition tech at the airport is being sold as an opt-in convenience—for now.
20 min
198
The Never-Ending Cancer Drug Shortage
This problem isn't new—and it's completely preventable.
31 min
199
Can Ozempic Cure Addiction?
Some patients claim it "quiets their brain." Researchers have been studying its effect on addiction for years. Does it actually work?
26 min
200
The U.S. vs Amazon Prime
Does Amazon make canceling a Prime subscription unnecessarily difficult? The FTC thinks so.
22 min