Better Offline

Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

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.

  • 44 minutes 13 seconds
    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 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    15 May 2024, 4:00 am
  • 54 minutes 44 seconds
    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.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    8 May 2024, 4:00 am
  • 38 minutes 21 seconds
    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.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1 May 2024, 4:00 am
  • 30 minutes 54 seconds
    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. 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    25 April 2024, 9:00 pm
  • 34 minutes 12 seconds
    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.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    24 April 2024, 4:01 am
  • 36 minutes 42 seconds
    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 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    17 April 2024, 4:00 am
  • 47 minutes 36 seconds
    The AI Bubble Is Bursting

    Every major tech firm is betting billions of dollars that the generative AI revolution will change society - yet when you look under the hood, the reality of generative AI might be far grimmer. Ed Zitron walks you through the many signs that we're on the verge of the AI bubble popping - and what the consequences might be if it does.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    12 April 2024, 4:00 am
  • 30 minutes 7 seconds
    Are We At Peak AI?

    It’s been just under a year and a half since ChatGPT - an AI-powered chatbot launched by so-called non-profit OpenAI - ushered in a new era of investor and media hype around how artificial intelligence would change the world. But what if this we're actually at the peak of what generative AI can do? In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the four intractable problems that are stopping Large Language Models like ChatGPT in their tracks - and why they're all-but-impossible to overcome.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    10 April 2024, 4:00 am
  • 37 minutes 3 seconds
    Wikipedia Is All The Web Has Left ft. Molly White

    Wikipedia, a non-profit encyclopedia that anybody can edit, remains one of the few trustworthy and reliable websites left online. Ed Zitron is joined by critic, researcher and 18-year veteran of the Wikipedia editing community Molly White to discuss how Wikipedia actually works, and why you should care about its future.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 April 2024, 4:00 am
  • 48 minutes 44 seconds
    Rich Idiots Are Killing The Media To Please The Tech Industry

    The media industry has laid off over 30,000 people in the last three years as a result of an executive sect that doesn't read, write, or meaningfully contribute to society. Ed Zitron walks you through how the startup mindset destroyed Sports Illustrated, VICE and The Messenger - and how journalism can turn the tide and survive.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    27 March 2024, 4:00 am
  • 53 minutes 44 seconds
    How Growth Is Killing Tech's Innovation, ft. Robert Evans

    Ever wonder why Silicon Valley stopped making anything new or interesting? It's because of the same growth-at-all-costs mindset that's destroyed the rest of the tech ecosystem. Ed Zitron is joined by Robert Evans to discuss how venture capital demolished tech's ability to innovate by forcing the smartest people in the world to work on the dumbest things ever invented.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    20 March 2024, 4:00 am
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