Better Offline

Cool Zone Media
Better Offline

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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.

  1. 2 DAYS AGO

    Generative AI Is Not A Real Industry

    In the second of this week's two-part episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the dark truth of the generative AI industry - that consumer adoption of Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity is incredibly small, and it’s time to accept that there is nothing coming to justify the ruinous costs of Large Language Models.  --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    43 min

  2. 3 DAYS AGO · BONUS

    Monologue: What Bursts A Bubble?

    In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through what's making everybody worried about the bubble bursting - and what other signs might tell you that the party's over for AI. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    11 min

  3. 4 DAYS AGO

    OpenAI Is Not A Real Company

    In this episode (the first of a two-parter), Ed Zitron walks you through how OpenAI isn’t a real company, but a venture-backed welfare recipient that spent $9 billion to lose $5 billion in 2024 with little product-market fit and a stagnant API business that suggests that there’s little adoption of generative AI. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    36 min

  4. FEB 21

    What We're Fighting For

    In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the how the tech media misses the stories that hurt billions of people every day - and how deep down, most people really do like technology and miss when it wasn’t so actively harmful. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    34 min

  5. FEB 20 · BONUS

    Monologue: OpenAI Was Never A Non-Profit

    In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the early days of OpenAI - and the simmering war between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over its non-profit status. Suit: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69013420/musk-v-altman/ --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    11 min

  6. FEB 19

    How The Tech Media Can Beat The Rot Economy

    In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how the growth-at-all-costs Rot Economy has used software to poison so many parts of our lives - and how the tech media can rise to the challenge and fight for a better Silicon Valley by aligning with consumers against big tech. --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    28 min

  7. FEB 14 · BONUS

    Monologue: The Super Bowl Showed That Generative AI Is Washed

    In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how the AI industry’s limp Super Bowl commercials show how little this industry has to offer - and how much contempt they have for consumers.OpenAI: The Intelligence Age: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIhb5pEo_j0 Google: Dream Job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7e6g11BJc0Salesforce: Gate Expectations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqmBcqDkyw --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    9 min

  8. FEB 12

    How Sports Gambling Apps Are Rotting Society

    In a live-to-tape recording in Ed Zitron's living room, Wide Left writer Arif Hasan and Western Kabuki Host Caleb Wilson explain in detail the cultural power of sports, and how software has been used to poison every corner of sports with predatory gambling schemes.  The Athletic story on sports gambling: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5777632/2024/10/14/sports-betting-addiction-problem-fans/ Wide Left article about sports gambling: https://www.wideleft.football/p/has-legalized-gambling-poisoned-the Arif Hasan: https://bsky.app/profile/arif.bsky.socialhttps://x.com/ArifHasanNFLWide Left: https://www.wideleft.football Caleb Wilson:https://bsky.app/profile/birdrespecter.bsky.socialWestern Kabuki: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/western-kabuki/id1647062210 The 60 Minute Drill Podcast (Ed, Arif and Caleb’s NFL podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/60-minute-drill/id1768225605 --- LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/ Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/  Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at Ed's Socials: https://twitter.com/edzitron https://www.instagram.com/edzitron https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com https://www.threads.net/@edzitron See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1h 25m
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Hosts & Guests

4.6
out of 5
383 Ratings

About

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.

Information

  • Channel
    Cool Zone Media
  • Creator
    Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2025
  • Episodes
    90
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
  • Show Website
    Better Offline
  • Provider
    iHeartMedia + Entertainment, Inc

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