Foundering

When Andrew Friedman pulled out an old Flip Video camera to watch a cherished video of his newborn son, his camera wouldn't turn on. It's happened to many of us: we buy the latest new app or gadget, but within a few years it becomes obsolete as the tech industry moves on, often leaving our files behind with it. So Andrew turned to Bloomberg Technology's Brad Stone for help. This week on Decrypted,...

Ocean Falls in Canada had been mostly abandoned for the last 40 years—until an entrepreneur started building a facility to mine bitcoin there. Residents hoped the new business would help revive the struggling community. This season on Decrypted, we'll be exploring the unintended consequences of technology. In this episode, Bloomberg Technology's Joshua Brustein travels to Ocean Falls to see whethe...

The third season of Decrypted launches Sept. 4, and we're dedicating the entire season to exploring the unintended consequences of technology. We'll be releasing new episodes every Tuesday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We have a new host on Decrypted! Aki and Brad welcome Pia Gadkari to the mic, and Aki fills us in on some exciting news of her own. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last month, the world's most far-reaching data privacy regulation took effect in Europe. Consumers there can now not only ask companies to delete or hand over their data, but they can also sell that data to other businesses. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Nate Lanxon sets out to get his data back from several businesses and see whether anyone will pay him for his personal  informat...

When Jared was just a pre-teen his childhood hobby, playing video games, morphed into a  compulsive and eventually harmful obsession. Years later, he's still working to move  past it, and he's not alone. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Pia Gadkari goes  to Boston to meet Jared and his pediatrician Dr Michael Rich, whose research shows there  are mental health repercussions for some...

When entrepreneur Mitchell Lee decided it was time to hire another engineer at his startup Penny, he set out to hire someone who broke the mold of a typical Silicon Valley programmer. This week on Decrypted, we're re-airing this episode that we first published in January 2017. At the end, you'll hear an update from Bloomberg Technology's Ellen Huet about what's happened at Penny since then. See om...

Texas food delivery startup Burpy was doing well, expanding from Austin to Houston, San Antonio and Dallas. But then Amazon got in to the same business. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Olivia Zaleski goes to Austin to chart one startup's struggle to survive while going up against a tech behemoth. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The true identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, the unknown creator of the cryptocurrency bitcoin, is one of the tech industry's biggest unsolved mysteries. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Brad Stone and Julie Verhage ask the journalists who tried to find Satoshi why this secretive genius remains so elusive. And now that bitcoin is a global phenomenon, does unmasking Satoshi still matter any...

Venezuela's spiraling economic crisis has forced many citizens to seek new ways of making money. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg's Camila Russo and Brad Stone hear from one businessman who made the decision to quietly start mining bitcoin -- a smart move until it attracted the attention of the police. Authorities raided his office, and he says, tried to extort him -- forcing him to flee the coun...

There's a standoff brewing in Seattle. After years of double-digit growth in home prices, homelessness is surging and the city council is weighing a tax on big businesses to fund new affordable housing. But Amazon, Seattle's largest employer, threatened to curtail its expansion plans in the city if the tax took effect. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Karen Weise and Brad Stone explo...

In July, we brought you an investigation of the Moscow-based antivirus software maker Kaspersky Lab and its connections with the Russian government. A lot has happened since then. This week on Decrypted, you'll hear a shortened version of that original episode, as well as an update to catch you up on the latest developments.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before they can take away our jobs, robots need to learn how to do them. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Joshua Brustein meets the people training these machines, and gives "robot piloting" a try himself. He also hears from the researchers developing ways for robots to learn more quickly. He discovers that, in some ways, machines capable of completing everything humans can are furth...

Fasting is taking off in Silicon Valley, with everyone from entrepreneurs to established executives touting the health and productivity benefits. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Tom Giles and Selina Wang try it themselves to see what the hype is all about. They also speak to others in the tech community to understand why fasting has become so popular in the industry, and they examin...

Kelly Ellis was excited when Google hired her as a software engineer in 2010. But soon, she started noticing things that made her wonder whether her male colleagues were making more money than her. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Ellen Huet and Aki Ito hear from Kelly as she recounts the red flags she saw, and why, after many years, she decided to sue Google for discrimination. Kell...

Over the last few months, governments around the world have cracked down on bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But one country is sticking to its crypto-friendly policies: Japan. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Yuji Nakamura and Aki Ito take you to Tokyo to meet the unlikely characters who helped turn Japan into the world's premier bitcoin hub, including investor Roger Ver, a.k.a....

Over the last few decades, Melinda Gates' philanthropy has taken her to all corners of the globe. But recently she's come to focus on an issue much closer to home: a dearth of women in tech. This week on Decrypted, Melinda sits down with Bloomberg Technology's Emily Chang to talk about her decision to back a venture capital firm run by two women, and what she hopes to achieve from that investment....

As Facebook reels from a public backlash over its handling of user data, former employees are starting to air their hesitations and criticisms of the company they helped build. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah Frier and Aki Ito hear from these former insiders to examine the mistakes that led to the company’s crisis today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're hard at work on a new episode about Facebook's data scandal. We'll be publishing that later this week. Stay tuned. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since the advent of the internet, local newspapers like the U.K.'s Bournemouth Daily Echo have been relentlessly cutting costs to survive. Now, another wave of change is approaching: automation. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Jeremy Kahn visits the Echo's newsroom, which has been experimenting with computer-generated stories produced by a project funded by Google. The technology's helping the p...

When Abigail Stone decided to start an online candle company, she had neither investors nor a product. But she found an early ally in the branding agency Red Antler, which agreed to help her get her business off the ground in exchange for a cut of her company. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Jing Cao and Brad Stone follow Abigail in the frenzied months leading up to and following the launch of h...

By the time he was 27, Hector Monsegur had become one of the most notorious hackers on the internet. With the vigilante group Anonymous and its offshoot LulzSec, he launched attacks against multibillion-dollar companies and governments around the world. But then he got caught. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Aki Ito and Brad Stone bring you his story in its entirety, in two episodes...

By the time he was 27, Hector Monsegur had become one of the most notorious hackers on the internet. With the vigilante group Anonymous and its offshoot LulzSec, he launched attacks against multibillion-dollar companies and governments around the world. But then he got caught. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Aki Ito and Brad Stone bring you his story in its entirety, in two episodes...

Decrypted returns on March 6 with a brand new season. Here's a sneak peek of what's in store. We'll be releasing new episodes every Tuesday starting next week.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Brad and Aki have a special announcement: Decrypted will be on break for the next few weeks. The team's already hard at work on a bunch of new stories for 2018, and we promise they'll be worth the wait. In the meantime, happy holidays! We'll be back with weekly episodes in February.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.