All Episodes
Displaying 1 - 20 of 24 in total
Cash Registers and the Man Divinely Appointed to Build Them
The cash register: a machine invented because your boss doesn't trust you to count. Join me and my guest Daniel Ryan to learn:Why we can thank the father of cash regis...
Ticketmaster: How a Company that Does Nothing Came to Own Everything (Part 2)
On this week's episode, Meg Sinick joins me for the saga of Ticketmaster: the company that swallowed up and digested the live music industry by making a product that l...
Ticketmaster: How a Company that Does Nothing Came to Own Everything (Part 1)
On this week's episode, Meg Sinick joins me for the saga of Ticketmaster: the company that swallowed up and digested the live music industry by making a product that l...
Grok: Elon's Truth-Seeking AI Liar that Became Hitler (Part 2)
Grok is here to seek truth and tell lies… and we're all out of truth. Join me and my guest Matt Johnson to find out:What Grok has in common with turn-of-the-20th-centu...
Grok: Elon's Truth-Seeking AI Liar that Became Hitler (Part 1)
Grok is here to seek truth and tell lies… and we're all out of truth. Join me and my guest Matt Johnson to find out:What Grok has in common with turn-of-the-20th-centu...
Marty: the Robot Doofus Haunting the Supermarket
Marty is a fully automated dipshit that wanders around the Stop & Shop getting in everyone's way and posing for selfies. Sometimes it hugs a cancer kid.References:http...
Horizon Worlds: Mark Zuckerberg's legless VR utopia (Part 3)
Suit up, jack in, and Zuck out. I'm joined by guest Anderson Gronvold as we abandon meatspace for metaspace. Find out why you can't afford to miss out on Meta's flagsh...
Horizon Worlds: Mark Zuckerberg's legless VR utopia (Part 2)
Suit up, jack in, and Zuck out. I'm joined by guest Anderson Gronvold as we abandon meatspace for metaspace. Find out why you can't afford to miss out on Meta's flagsh...
Horizon Worlds: Mark Zuckerberg's legless VR utopia (Part 1)
Suit up, jack in, and Zuck out. I'm joined by guest Anderson Gronvold as we abandon meatspace for metaspace. Find out why you can't afford to miss out on Meta's flagsh...
Keurig: the Coffee Maker for People who Don't Give a Shit
Give the gift of convenient garbage, with Keurig. This week, Xiao Yu joins us as we explore:How Keurig was born out of antisocial office culture and a deep ambivalence...
Cookies: How Ad Platforms Steal Your Mind (Part 2)
The web didn't have to be this way. Friend-of-the-pod CJ Horton joins us for a look at cookies: the completely reasonable web protocol that became host to the parasiti...
Cookies: How Ad Platforms Steal Your Mind (Part 1)
The web didn't have to be this way. Friend-of-the-pod CJ Horton joins us for a look at cookies: the completely reasonable web protocol that became host to the parasiti...
Kalshi: the Betting App that's Helping to Destroy Democracy
Kalshi: is it "the first federally regulated prediction market," or just a shittier FanDuel? Join me and friend-of-the-pod Jeff Bonhag to learn:What modern science has...
Scantron: the Little Green Sheet that Ruined Education
This week we're joined by Brandon Romano to learn about Scantron: the company that made ubiquitous standardized testing possible. Find out:How standardized tests were ...
Shazam (Part 2)
This week and last, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Rachel Kiel to talk about Shazam: the massive data analytics platform that occasionally tells you the names of song...
Shazam (Part 1)
This week and next, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Rachel Kiel to talk about Shazam: the massive data analytics platform that occasionally tells you the names of song...
Clippy
It looks like you're trying to listen to a podcast. Would you like some help with that? Join me and my guest Dana Vannen Anderson for the bizarre and frequently cringe...
Washing machines
Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of squeezing/agitation! This week, Rit Breisler and I discuss washing machines. Learn:What fluid the ancient Romans used instea...
Jira (Part 2)
Jira: the bloated tick gorging itself on the software industry. Join me and CJ Horton to learn about:Henry Gantt, the absolute chart simp who gave your boss the idea t...
Jira (Part 1)
Jira: the bloated tick gorging itself on the software industry. Join me and CJ Horton to learn about:Henry Gantt, the absolute chart simp who gave your boss the idea t...