Better Offline Cool Zone Media
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- Technology
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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.
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OpenAI's Video Generating AI Is Dead On Arrival
Earlier in the year, OpenAI debuted Sora, an AI that can generate videos that almost look realistic. In this episode, Ed walks through why generating video with AI is a near-impossible task, and speaks with Walter Woodman of Shy Kids, who made a movie called "Air Head" using the tool. LINKS: Shy Kids' Air Head - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4wJ4WeJrz4 Mira Murati Interview with Wall Street Journal: https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/openai-made-me-crazy-videosthen-the-cto-answered-most-of-my-questions/C2188768-D570-4456-8574-9941D4F9D7E2
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Enron Musk Ft. Ed Niedermeyer
On April 26 2024, the NHTSA, the government body responsible for keeping roads safe, found Tesla's Autopilot and Full-Self-Driving software created a "critical safety gap" with drivers, killing and injuring people in the process, in the very same week that Elon Musk fired most of Tesla's team behind their Supercharger electric vehicle charging moment. Ed Zitron brings on E.W. Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, to explain exactly what the hell is going on.
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The Cult of Failing Upwards
Ed Zitron walks you through how career manager Adam Mosseri pushed out Instagram's original founders, turning it into an ultra-profitable app that barely works, and how Sam Altman, the so-called hero of the AI boom, is a lobbyist dressed as a technologist best-known for being an absent, self-obsessed demagogue.
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The Man That Destroyed Google Search
In this episode, Ed Zitron tells you the disgraceful story of how Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's former head of ads - led a coup so that he could run Google Search, and how an email chain from 2019 began a cascade of events that would lead to the outright decay of the most important website on the internet.
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How Managers Are Breaking The Internet
The growth-at-all-costs management consultant mindset has turned most of the modern internet into a painful and profitable social experiment - and in this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how these disconnected, growth-hungry personalities have made Google and Meta abdicate any responsibility toward their users and products.
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How A Chinese Glycine Manufacturer Went Viral ft. Louise Matsakis and Tianyu Fang
In the last few weeks TikTok and other social networks have been flooded with memes about a chinese glycine manufacturer called Donghua Jinlong, all thanks to one innocent promotional video. Ed Zitron is joined by journalist Louise Matsakis and writer/researcher Tianyu Fang to talk about why young people are talking about glycine. Read more of Louise's work at https://youmayalsolike.beehiiv.com/ and you can find Tianyu at https://twitter.com/tianyuf
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Customer Reviews
Amazing work Ed
One of the most poignant and informative podcasts of 2024. I applaud Ed and his work and share every single ounce of his rage.
Man ..,do we all need this podcast !!
As a new listener to the show I've bern feeling more hopeful for the future than I have in a long time ..I’m an illustrator who was starting to believe the hype about AI eliminating the need for creatives …and oh yeah …replacing and or enslaving society at large !😳…but thanks to Ed I'm starting to see through the dog and pony show were all being force fed !…you Rock Mr. Zitron !!👍🏻✌️😀looking forward to further episodes!
Thankful
This podcasts scratches a part of my brain that’s been itching for years. I think what Ed is doing is important. This kind of reporting is hard to find, even for those who look. Perhaps the tone is a little aggravated, but I understand and mirror these emotions. If you aren’t a VC or tech exec you probably will too. As with the vast majority of podcasts this one is more centered on grievance than solutions, but it seems that’s just where we are right now: In a big mess. Conversations like these can build awareness and help generate solutions. If you grieve for Reply All, this is the show for you.