The Verge
The Verge
Nilay Patel explains the disconnect between tech culture and culture at large around AI.
podcasts
Podcast Recommendations
Let's talk podcasts! Here are some of my favorites:
- A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs (music history) - About once a month or so, Andrew Hickey tells a documentary style story of a famous rock song. He includes a bunch of music clips and tries to give the cultural and musical context of why the song happened, not just the stories of the people involved.
- If Books Could Kill (books) - Peter and Michael discuss best selling self-help books. For some reason these guys crack me up, they have a lot of fun taking down this genre of book.
- 5-4 Pod (law and politics) - Peter (from If Books Could Kill) joins Michael and Rhiannon to discuss past terrible Supreme Court decisions. As the tagline says it's about how much the Supreme Court sucks, but it's also a way to learn more about how the law works (or doesn't).
- Serious Trouble (law and politics) - Ken White is a defense lawyer who became famous on the old Twitter as Popehat. He has a good way of explaining legal concepts and he and Josh Barro discuss current high profile legal cases and explain the laws at play.
- Josh Marshall Podcast (politics) - If you don't know Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, it's a blog that started in 2000 that grew into a mini media empire. I think of Marshall's view as a sort of mainstream progressive view of politics. It's an important niche in a world where all mainstream media has gone conservative. In the podcast Josh has a conversation with TPM reporter Kate Riga about the week's news.
- The Daily Blast (politics) - As titled, this is 20 minutes of Greg Sargent interviewing a progressive reporter about a story they've done. Pretty outrage-y, but also short.
- 404 Media (internet, tech culture) - 404 Media is a fantastic independent news organization started by four journalists who covered the internet for other publications. They get some amazing scoops from the tech world, and share some stories from their reporting on this podcast. It's a very unique take on the tech industry.
- Panic World (internet) - Ryan Broderick writes a newsletter called Garbage Day about internet culture. His podcast is usually an internet-adjacent topic that he discusses with a guest. He recently went to Minneapolis to do some live reporting and it was some of the best reporting I'd seen.
- Galaxy Brain (internet) - This is a podcast named after a long-running column about internet culture in The Atlantic by Charlie Warzel. He's new at podcasting (maybe fifteen episodes so far) but he tackles some big topics in his interviews and I've been enjoying these.
- Diabolical Lies (feminism) - I realize this podcast isn't for me, but I find the hosts very funny and they always give me new ways to look at things or new things to think about. Their episode about the popular culture reaction to the Wicked movies was great.
- Reign of Error (religion, politics) - This is a brand new podcast that tackles the topic of religion in politics, what could go wrong? This is a new podcast by Sarah Posner who has written books on this topic and covered this beat for a long time.
- Election Profit Makers (misc) - This is a favorite that I've been listening to since it began around 2016. It was originally about election prediction markets but now it's just two guys talking in the classic podcast format. I always enjoy hearing them talk about the news or city skylines or field recordings from listeners or whatever.
Those are some of my favorites, and I'm sure I've missed a few. Right now I feel like podcasts are filling the space weblogs used to fill before everyone moved to social media.
Oh I do have an honorable mention. If you have any interest in the satanic panic of the 80s, check out the limited run podcast The Devil You Know by Sarah Marshall. It explores why people had a moral panic in the 80s and 90s seeing devil worshipers everywhere without any real proof of devil worshipers anywhere.
techtonic.fm
techtonic.fmAmateur radio enthusiast Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL) tells the story of surviving Hurricane Helene in September 2024 when all power and phone access went down.I really enjoyed this conversation about amateur radio. Pretty inspiring to hear about helping people stay connected during an emergency.
buzzsprout.com
buzzsprout.comThis is a very timely episode of You're Wrong About. I typically re-read The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum this time of year because looking at the human origins of cultural behavior is somehow comforting to me. This episode is in the same spirit as that book and it's a great conversation.
WNYC Studios
WNYC StudiosYou know AM and FM radio. But did you know that there is a whole other world of radio surrounding us at all times? It’s called shortwave — and, thanks to a quirk of science that lets broadcasters bounce radio waves off of the ionosphere, it can reach thousands of miles, penetrating rough terrain and geopolitical boundaries.Hey, this podumentary™ about shortwave is really great. Highly recommended.
YouTube
YouTubeGarza reveals the behind-the-scenes drama, discusses the ethical challenges of billionaire-owned media, and shares powerful insights on standing up for integrity in journalism. From hopeful beginnings at the LA Times to her shocking departure and reflections on billionaire influence in the media, this conversation explores the high stakes of maintaining editorial independence in an increasingly polarized world.I enjoyed this interview with Mariel Garza about her decision to leave the LA Times editorial board. Really interesting that their "good billionaire" suddenly went fascist out of nowhere. It really does feel like some sort of psychological contagion among the ruling elite.
WNYC Studios
President Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff announcements sent stock markets plunging. On this week’s On the Media, how to make sense of the ever-changing news about the economy. Plus, the policy behind the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ rhetoric.I thought this On the Media was a great tariffs 101 and the interview with Brown economics professor Mark Blyth was especially good.
Apple Podcasts
Apple PodcastsDuring an event billed as a speech about the economy, Donald Trump was addled and confused, rambled incoherently, and launched into strange non sequiturs. Yet The New York Times’s initial news story made the event sound far more normal than it was. Is the press doing an adequate job of analyzing Trump’s deteriorating mental state?Great episode of The Daily Blast discussing the failure of media to accurately discuss Trump. Greg talks with journalist Meredith Shiner.
PJ Vogt
PJ VogtHow am I supposed to use the internet now? The experience of asking that question and getting a series of good answers, to me, it felt like the conversation you have with a friend that finally convinces you to make a break-up stick. A break-up with someone who maybe has always sucked, or at least, sucked for awhile.This episode of Search Engine is a great conversation with Ezra Klein about being aware of where your attention is going.
Variety
Variety"As a result, it will be increasingly difficult for any but the most popular podcasts to claim a sizable chunk of the ad dollars available. Creators will therefore need to maximize ad revenue as much as possible, and limiting their potential audience through an exclusive distribution model will be increasingly untenable."GOOD. I am so happy we still have a distributed, open podcast distribution system based on RSS.
buzzsprout.com
Listeners of You're Wrong About call in with their abortion stories. As with so many of this show’s episodes it’s the context I wish the media was regularly providing for important stories.
Lawfare
Lawfare"They discussed how various platforms, from Twitter to TikTok and Telegram, are moderating the content coming out of Russia and Ukraine right now; the costs and benefits of Western companies pulling operations out of Russia during a period of increasing crackdown; and how the events of the last few weeks might shape our thinking about the nature and power of information operations."Good discussion of the state of global social media moderation during an information war.