Big Technology Podcast

Teddy Schleifer covers billionaires as a reporter and founding partner at Puck. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the sanctions against Russian oligarchs, how (and if) oligarchs differ from billionaires, and whether putting pressure on the oligarchs can help end Russia's war in Ukraine. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss tech's connection to the oligarchs, and whether their m...

Orchid Bertelsen and David Herrmann are two senior advertising professionals who’ve watched Apple’s anti-tracking changes upend the digital ad industry from the ground. They join Big Technology Podcast to discuss how what Apple’s “ask not to track” notification actually works, how it’s changed the way advertisers do business, how small businesses have felt the impact, and which platforms it's empo...

Miriam Elder is the executive editor at Vanity Fair Hive and former Moscow correspondent at The Guardian. She joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Russia's information war, which the Kremlin is running alongside its physical war in Ukraine. Russia's supposedly formidable social media power seems to be falling flat, and Miriam explains why — and what's to come. Stick around for the second half w...

Jim McKelvey is the co-founder of Square, chair of the St. Louis Fed, and founder of Invisibly. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether the Fed should still hike interest rates given the markets' slowdown and the conflict in Ukraine. Stay tuned for a discussion of how Jim tolerates risk, why he's not building his new startup on the blockchain (aka: Web3), and a preview of our SXSW featu...

Don Graham is the former owner of the Washington Post. He's spent countless hours working with Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, and he joins Big Technology Podcast to share inside stories about how they operate. Graham met Zuckerberg when the Facebook founder was 20. He then proposed an investment — which Zuckerberg turned down — and eventually joined Facebook's board. Graham also sold the Washingt...

Trevor Martin is the CEO and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences, a $1 billion company that develops CRISPR technology to edit genes. Martin joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how CRISPR is working in production today — not in some distant future — and what the ethical ramifications of this technology will be as it gets more advanced. You can find Trevor on Twitter: twitter.com/martintrevor_ An...

Kara Swisher is the co-founder of Recode, a New York Times columnist, the co-host of Pivot, and the host of Sway. She joins BigTechnology Podcast for a special edition tackling the biggest tech headlines, her major career decisions, and reasons to be optimistic about technology. Kara and Scott Galloway are hosting Pivot MIA, a three-day event in Miami, from Feb. 14 - Feb. 16. You can learn more he...

Josh Brown is the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management and a regular CNBC contributor. Brown joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss what's behind Meta's historic $251 billion stock plunge, and Amazon's equally shocking $190 billion rise. This is a discussion about Meta and Big Tech, but as you listen you'll get a window into market fundamentals like "whisper" earnings targets and why growth stocks a...

Brian Morrissey writes The Rebooting on Substack and hosts The Rebooting Show, a podcast. He is the former editor-in-chief of Digiday and digital editor of Adweek. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how digital publishing is evolving from an industry reliant on social media for distribution to one that prioritizes focus and dedicated audiences. Stay tuned for the third segment where we dis...

Dr. Tom Insel led the National Institue of Mental Health for 13 years, departing toward the end of the Obama administration for a career in tech. Insel joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how the data on our devices may unlock the key to treatment. Our conversation covers how tech can help manage and treat illness, the privacy ramifications of collecting this data, and whether social media is...

Clare Malone is a staff writer at The New Yorker who recently wrote about Gettr, a rising conservative social network. David Thiel is the big data architect and chief technology officer of the Stanford Internet Observatory, where he's researched Gettr's usage. The pair join Big Technology Podcast to discuss Gettr — and its counterparts' — potential to take on incumbent social networks. We dig into...

Senator Mark Warner takes us inside the battle to regulate Big Tech. Elected in 2008 and serving his third term in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Warner joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether we should regulate Big Tech and how the companies are fighting back — overtly and covertly. Ahead of the midterm elections, this year is crucial. In the second half, we also discuss whether members of Congres...

Aaron Levie is the CEO of Box, a $3.95 billion publicly-traded tech company. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss the rise of Web3 — a crypto-based vision for the internet — and where it can go wrong. Levie raises several important questions about where the Web3 theory and promise might slam into obstacles in the real world. Listen and you'll get a more nuanced view of Web3, something that g...

Casey Newton is the editor of Platformer, a CNBC Contributor, and a friend of Big Technology Podcast. He joins us for our final show of the year, where we look back on the biggest stories of 2021 and predict what's coming in 2022. Join us for a conversation about Big Tech's year of transition, the upcoming Web3 wars, and whether the cult of the founder is falling apart. Learn more about your ad ch...

Bobby Allyn is an NPR tech reporter based in San Francisco. He's been waking up at 2 a.m. to watch the trial of ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes from the courthouse. In this episode, Allyn breaks down the case for and against Holmes, the biggest moments in the trial, and the potential outcomes now that the jury is deliberating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Benedict Evans is an independent analyst who covers big tech and the broader technology landscape. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss Apple's move to $3 trillion, how the rest of the Big Tech companies stack up, what Web3 is really all about, and his former employer Andreessen Horowitz. Stick around for the third segment where he answers questions from Twitter. Learn more about your ad cho...

Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel prize-winning psychologist and economist and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, a landmark book that decodes human decision-making. Yann LeCun is the chief AI scientist at Meta (Facebook) and a pioneer in the field of deep learning, which the cutting edge of AI is based on today. The two come together on Big Technology Podcast this week to discuss how machines and humans...

As companies head back to the office, and communities try to figure out the right Covid mitigation measures, data from sewage can help them get it right. Newsha Ghaeli and Mariana Matus are the co-founders of Biobot Analytics. Their company uses data from wastewater to alert companies and communities when they’re in the early stages of Covid outbreaks. Then they can adjust appropriately. Founded o...

Inflation is skyrocketing and everyone’s quitting their jobs. What does it mean? Liz Young, the head of Investment Strategy at SoFi, and Ranjan Roy, the co-author of Margins, help us figure it out in this week’s Big Technology Podcast. Come for an exploration of the source of the price hikes (Turkeys are 14% more expensive this year!) and a wild theory connecting interest rates with quitting. Stay...

Horacio Gutierrez is Spotify's head of global affairs and chief legal officer. He's a relentless critic of the way Apple treats smaller companies, testifying before the Senate in April that the company is abusing its power and harming competition. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how Spotify has experienced Apple's behavior, why it's decided to speak up, and whether anything will come of...

Zach Coelius is the managing partner of Coelius Capital. He's participating in an unprecedented moment where venture capitalists like him simply can't lose. There's so much money flooding the private markets that, as he put it, "any idiot with a checkbook looks like a genius right now." Coelius joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss why this is happening, where it will lead, and who gets hurt whe...

Lawrence Lessig is Frances Haguen's lawyer and a Harvard Law School professor. He joins Big Technology Podcast to address the various questions about Haugen's motivations, backers, and intent that have percolated since she came forward. We start by addressing whether the the leaked documents should be available to all and move into the conspiracies about her. A lively discussion follows. Learn mor...

Farhad Manjoo is an opinion columnist for the New York Times. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss whether the criticism of Instagram's impact on kids is overblown, the subject of a recent column. Stay tuned for the third segment, where we discuss Farhad's views of virtual reality, his Thanksgiving column, and his cats. Subscribe to Big Technology: https://bigtechnology.substack.com/ Farhad'...

Join us for a 'mega' episode with three guests! The Markup investigative reporter Adrianne Jeffries leads off with a discussion of Amazon's self-preferencing in search. Stanford Internet Observatory's Renee DiResta joins for our second segment to discuss her story on bottom-up propaganda on social media, something she calls 'ampliganda.' Verge Reporter Zoë Schiffer rounds out the week with a look...

Charlie Warzel writes the Galaxy Brain newsletter on Substack, a publication he started after a career at The New York Times and BuzzFeed. Warzel joins Big Technology Podcast in a live recording at Unfinished Live to discuss what a nuanced conversation about social media's harms should look like. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss Warzel's views on post-Covid workplace culture, the su...