TechStuff

The thing I said probably wouldn't happened did happen -- the US Senate voted in favor of a bill that will force the Chinese company ByteDance to divest itself of TikTok or face a US-wide ban. But how the heck did we get here, and how does a political megadonor play into it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Officially, the United States has lost nuclear weapons in six incidents in which the nation couldn't retrieve or destroy them. We look at these six incidents and learn how nuclear weapons work. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some tweaks to the bill that would require TikTok parent company to divest itself of the app or face a US-wide ban could be closer to becoming a law. AI takes to the skies in simulated dogfights. And about half of all online traffic comes from bots. Plus lots more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do theatrical lighting control systems work? From early attempts to automate lighting through mechanical systems to sleek computer-controlled rigs of today, we look at the evolution of concert lighting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While Jonathan works on a new episode about stage lighting systems, take a listen to this classic episode in which he and his old cohost Chris Pollette talk about the history and workings of electric guitars. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our news stories today include SBF filing an appeal on his recent sentencing, a UK court denies Apple's request to dismiss a huge lawsuit and Microsoft may soon make the Copilot AI feature an auto-launch program in Windows 11. Plus much more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Entire industries are being reshaped around the new capabilities of generative AI. In this special bonus episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Tim Harford leads a conversation between two leaders in the field. Srinivasan Venkatarajan is the Director of Global Partner Business at Microsoft, focusing on Azure Data & AI and Azure OpenAI. And Chris McGuire is the General Manager of the Global Microsoft...

Journalist Ernie Smith got an odd DMCA takedown notice for a picture he included in his tech newsletter. It turns out that the notice was a ploy to try and trick Smith into including a backlink to another site in an effort to boost that site's search rankings. What the what? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nintendo Virtual Boy was one of the company's infamous flops, but why? Why did the system fail so hard that Nintendo killed it off after just one year?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Net neutrality goes through another flip in the flip-flop history with the FCC announcing it plans to vote to reinstate some of the rules established during the Obama administration but overturned during the Trump administration. Plus, Google agrees to destroy billions of data records and Ford decides to hold off on producing EVs for a bit. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My blood runs cold, my computer memory has just been sold -- my test image is the centerfold! Today, we look at the story of the "Lenna image," a scan of a Playboy model that has been used in countless papers and articles, and why there's a movement now to bring an end to that practice. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes, folks want to take a short cut. And sometimes that shortcut is illegal. This episode is about companies, managers, employees and others who engaged in some shifty behavior to get access to data that didn't belong to them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TikTok is turning up the heat on the US Senate to get a proposed bill that would ban the service tossed out. The US government announces new policies relating to the use of AI in federal agencies. And a streaming service tries to clamp down on butts.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it true Harry Snyder, founder of In-N-Out, invented the intercom? Not quite. But he was the first credited with using a system to create what would become the model for the modern drive-thru.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The End User License Agreement is that thing you click "I agree" to without having read the whole thing. But you can be forgiven -- some companies make their EULAs freakishly long, hiding some nefarious terms in the process.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US government is cracking down on Big Tech. From a House bill that would make it illegal for data brokers to sell American citizen info to foreign adversaries to a massive monopoly lawsuit against Apple, we look at some of the battles the Tech industry faces in the near future. Plus more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After navigating numerous controversies and setbacks, Rooster Teeth attempted to return to a more stable existence. But it was not to be. The corporate overlords at Warner Bros Discovery have decided to shut down the company after it reportedly spent a decade being unprofitable. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As artificial intelligence progresses, healthcare providers are exploring how the technology can be used to offer personalized care at scale. In this episode of  Smart Talks with IBM , Dr. Laurie Santos sits down with Alice Crisci, co-founder and CEO of fertility-care provider Ovum Health. They discuss the barriers to healthcare access, the ways in which AI can be leveraged to expand the reach of...

Fullscreen's acquisition of Rooster Teeth would bring with it new challenges, including corporate bureaucracy, a push for new kinds of monetization, and changes in company culture. Meanwhile, the folks at Rooster Teeth kept making content.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, the House of Representatives in the US voted overwhelmingly in support of a bill that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to divest itself of the app or else face a national ban. What's going on, where does the bill go from here and why am I so exasperated by it all? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warner Bros Discovery is shutting down the online media company Rooster Teeth just as it nears its 21st anniversary. We look back on the history of the company, how it made an impact on internet culture, and where things went wrong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ed Zitron of the Better Offline podcast joins the show, and boy is he mad! Ed and Jonathan get angry over the state of the tech industry, the focus on short term gains at the cost of long term benefits, and why the tech we have at our disposal sometimes just feels like it's not as good as it should be. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OpenAI said they didn't wanna do it, but they're sharing emails written by Elon Musk that imply he was totally okay with OpenAI making a ton of money if it also was part of Tesla. Plus the US President speaks out against AI. And much more! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Artist Alicia Framis plans to wed an AI "hologram" this summer. Before the wedding bells chime, we have some questions. We explore holograms, artificial intelligence, and technical, social, ethical and cultural conundrums. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every year in the U.S., tens of thousands of hospital patients die of preventable causes. For many of these patients, warning signs are subtle and easy for doctors to miss. Suchi Saria is the founder and CEO of Bayesian Health, and a professor at Johns Hopkins where she runs a lab focused on machine learning and healthcare. Suchi’s problem is this: How can you use AI to detect when hospital patien...