HACKS | a tech podcast simon/maral/robert/rosemary

porn: pretty much all of us watch it or consume it in one form or another, and it takes up a measurable % of the entire internet, but what do we really know about how it's distributed and produced? here to help is pick apart the internet's largely Montreal-based pron oligarchy is film critic and occasional porn scripter Justine Smith. also maral is around for a bit. please don't play this one in front of the young'uns.


song at the end: the move, "feel too good"

we're working on a new shcedule of alternating full- and mini-sodes for the foreseeable future, so we hope you can adjust on this decidedly more frivolous outing, simon and rob have decided to offer a taxonomy and investigation into the current darkest corner of the entire god-forsaken internet: brand twitter.


song at the end: ty segall, "the faker"

maral, rob, and simon get in way over their heads in a special, nearly double-length discussion of a recent financial calamity and the conspiratorial murmurs that surround it. the HACKS initiative would very much like to apologize in advance for the fact that said discussion required us to explain bitcoin and the cryptocurrency space in detail, something we were hoping to avoid forever. we hope you'll find it was for a worthwhile cause.


song at the end: john williams, theme from "the long goodbye"

the HACKS initiative blodly goes where no podcast has before: deep into the dark heart of The Algorithm. specifically, we're conducting a sadistic game/experiment to find out just how youtube ticks, following a rash of recent complaints about the service spitting out some rather strange (and notably conservative and conspiratorial) material seemingly unprompted. what we discovered........shook us to our core.


song at the end: enh, we stole this from a qanon podcast who gives a shit? come get us motherfuckers, we'll be waiting on the other side of the rainbow

it's the all-bro edition of HACKS, as maral and rosemary were both out of reach this week. so rob and simon decided to rewind to the hallowed days of several weeks ago to discuss the relative merits and import of Netflix's foray into interactive storytelling, BLACK MIRROR: BANDERSNATCH, aka "wot if your life was a game, mate?".


song at the end: foxing, "gameshark"

we decided that a regular prediction episode was too normal and boring and played out so we tried a different thing and we promise not to do it again next year, also we're back, also we're very sorry for this


song at the end: suuns, "2020"