26 episodes

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline Cool Zone Media

    • Technology

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    The Onion Knight Ft. Ben Collins

    The Onion Knight Ft. Ben Collins

    In April, The Onion was acquired by a new entity called Global Tetrahedron, revealed shortly thereafter to be a joint venture between billionaire Jeff Lawson and former NBC disinformation reporter Ben Collins, now its CEO. Ben joins Ed to talk about buying The Onion, keeping its Chicago roots, and how we can save digital media. 
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 49 min
    Let Tim Cook

    Let Tim Cook

    Last week, Apple announced that they're integrating artificial intelligence into your iPhone and Mac in a stunningly demure and reserved presentation. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through whether you should trust Apple - and how OpenAI agreed to the worst deal in tech history to integrate ChatGPT in the least-prominent way.
    EPISODE LINKS: https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks 
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 33 min
    Sam Altman Is Dangerous To Silicon Valley

    Sam Altman Is Dangerous To Silicon Valley

    In this episode, Ed Zitron walks through how Sam Altman's ridiculous promises about the future of artificial intelligence could be ruinous for Silicon Valley, and speaks with Bloomberg's Ellen Huet about how Sam Altman - a non-technical founder with little business success - accumulated so much power.
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 54 min
    The Talented Mr. Altman

    The Talented Mr. Altman

    Sam Altman has used his power and influence to become a multi-billionaire with stakes in hundreds of startups, but behind the curtain, he's never run a successful company, fired from both Y Combinator and, briefly, OpenAI. In this episode, Ed Zitron digs into the history of Silicon Valley's most popular confidence man, and talks to the Wall Street Journal's Tom Dotan about Altman's many, many investments. EPSIODE LINKS: https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 55 min
    The Rot-Com Bust

    The Rot-Com Bust

    In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through what happens when tech's growth-at-all-costs epoch begins to collapse, and how the only way to save Silicon Valley is to put power back in the hands of those who actually build things - and reject the management consultant mindset killing innovation.
    Episode Links: https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 41 min
    The Rot-Com Bubble

    The Rot-Com Bubble

    Tech's hyper-growth era is ending, with online 100 million new people getting online between 2022 and 2023, and almost every major web platform seeing a decline in growth since 2021. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how tech's decline is driving the tech industry to try and sell you useless products like the metaverse, cryptocurrency and generative AI.
    Episode Links: https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    • 30 min

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