Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers ...
The Decoder team turns the tables on Nilay and makes him answer your burning listener questions in our end-of-year wrap up special. We also reflect on the year’s biggest Decoder themes, discuss some of the most popular feedback we’ve received, and tease what we have planned for next year.
Links:
Here we go: The Verge now has a subscription | The Verge
How The Verge Works | The Vergecast
Intuit asked us to delete part of this Decoder episode | Decoder
What’s really behind Big Tech’s return-to-office mandates? | Decoder
Rabbit CEO Jesse Lyu isn’t thinking too far ahead | Decoder
Transparent Vice | The Verge
UiPath CEO Daniel Dines thinks automation can fight the great resignation | Decoder
Palmer Luckey, American Vulcan | Tablet
A revolution in how robots learn | The New Yorker
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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53:17
Tech antitrust is about to get really weird
Today we’re talking about antitrust policy and tech, which is at a particularly weird moment as we enter the second Trump administration. A lot of tech policy is at a weird moment, actually, but antitrust might be the weirdest of them all — the pendulum has swung back and forth on antitrust policy pretty wildly over the past few years, and it’s about to swing again under Trump. So I asked Leah Nylen, an antitrust reporter for Bloomberg News and a leading expert on this subject, to come on the show and help break it all down.
Links:
Trump’s antitrust trio heralds Big Tech crackdown to continue | Bloomberg
Trump picks FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson to lead the agency | Politico
Trump picks Gail Slater to head Justice Department's antitrust division | Reuters
Trump names Brendan Carr as his FCC leader | The Verge
Trump’s FTC pick promises to go after ‘censorship’ from tech companies | The Verge
Breaking down the DOJ’s plan to end Google’s search monopoly | The Verge
US v. Google redux: all the news from the ad tech trial | The Verge
Tech leaders kiss the ring | The Verge
DOJ antitrust chief is ‘overjoyed’ after Google monopoly verdict | Decoder
This is Big Tech’s playbook for swallowing the AI industry | Command Line
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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36:28
Arm CEO Rene Haas on the AI chip race, Intel, and what Trump means for tech
Alex Heath, Deputy Editor at The Verge, guest hosts this episode of Decoder featuring a live interview with Arm CEO Rene Haas about the future of AI and the semiconductor industry. The two discuss his thoughts on the struggles of Intel, the rumors Arm is developing its own AI chips to rival Nvidia’s, and his thoughts on the incoming Trump administration.
Links:
What Arm’s CEO makes of the Intel debacle | Command Line
How Arm conquered the chip market without making a single chip | Decoder
Arm could be the unexpected winner of the AI investment boom | FT
Arm to reportedly launch AI chips by 2025 to capture explosive demand | CNBC
Intel’s CEO is out after only three years | The Verge
What happened to Intel? | The Verge
Nvidia plans ARM-based PC platform to rival Intel, AMD | DigiTimes
Qualcomm x Arm beef escalates | The Verge
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/24084728
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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41:37
Platforms need the news, but they're killing it
We’ve been talking a lot this year about the changing internet, and what it’s doing to the media ecosystem — particularly journalism, which has taken a backseat to creators and influencers. But the tech platforms themselves have a lot of influence over what those creators and influencers make, too. If you’re a Decoder listener, you’ll recognize this as one of my common themes — the idea that the way we distribute media directly influences the media we make.
To break this all down, I invited media critic and labor union president Matt Pearce on the show to discuss a great blog he wrote titled “Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history.” We get into what mechanisms can be used to fund journalism, and how building a direct audience and exercising control over distribution is more pivotal than ever.
Links:
Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history | Matt Pearce
Journalism's fight for survival in a postliterate democracy | Matt Pearce
A deep dive into Google's shady (and shoddy) California journalism deal | Matt Pearce
Google Zero is here — now what? | Decoder
Casey Newton on surviving the great media collapse and what comes next | Decoder
Illusory Truth Effect | The Decision Lab
The people who ruined the internet | The Verge
Another independent site says Google killed its business | The Verge
Google ‘can’t guarantee’ that independent sites will recover | The Verge
Owner of Los Angeles Times Plans ‘Bias Meter’ Next to Coverage | NYT
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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53:47
Why every company wants a podcast now
There’s something strange happening these days in the podcast world — in particular, the way companies that deal in money have been using podcasting as not just an entertainment medium, but a unique kind of hybrid of marketing, thought leadership, and networking. Guest host David Pierce and Vulture podcast critic Nick Quah break it all down.
Links:
How Venture Capitalists Use Podcasts to Lure in Founders | Vanity Fair
Your Next Podcast Interview Might Be a Meeting In Disguise | Bloomberg
Elliott launches podcast in attack ploy aimed at Southwest | Axios
How podcasts became the new battleground state | Vulture
In the “Podcast Election,” Trump talked to vastly more people | Edison Research
Podcasts become politician magnets | Axios
Founders of podcast ‘Acquired’ are raising an investment fund | GeekWire
Podcaster-turned-VC Harry Stebbings raises $400m for third fund | Sifted
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.