What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future
Every Friday and Sunday, Slate’s popular daily news podcast What Next brings you TBD, a clear-eyed look into the future. From fake news to fake meat, algorithms to augmented reality, Lizzie O’Leary is your guide to the tech industry and the world it’s creating for us to live in.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 28 minutes
- Episodes
- 601
- Years Active
- 2017 - 2025
Will Booster Shots Make a Difference?
The Biden administration says a third dose of vaccines for all American adults will end the pandemic faster. And experts say there is evidence of waning vaccine effectiveness against mild-to-moderate…
00:21:41 |
Fri 20 Aug 2021
What's Taking the FDA So Long?
Experts say that a “fully approved” designation for the vaccines could have sweeping effects. Broader vaccination mandates, inclusion for new age groups, and reassurance for those hesitant to take a …
00:26:57 |
Fri 13 Aug 2021
Can America Fix Its Trains?
America used to be at the vanguard of railroad technology. What went wrong? And can the new infrastructure bill fix our broken system?
Guests: Alon Levy and Eric Goldwyn of the Marron Institute at N…
00:19:12 |
Fri 06 Aug 2021
I Bought It. Why Can't I Fix It?
Whether it’s a phone screen or a coffee machine, why is it so hard to fix our own stuff? And what can we do to make it a bit easier?
Guest: Jason Koebler, editor-in-chief of Motherboard and contribu…
00:19:51 |
Fri 30 Jul 2021
How Spyware Mercenaries Hack Your Phone
This week, Amnesty International and a French journalism nonprofit named Forbidden Stories revealed that technology from a spyware firm called NSO Group is being deployed on a massive scale. The spyw…
00:30:45 |
Fri 23 Jul 2021
It's Hot. It's Flooding. Is This the New Normal?
Over the last month, North Americans have seen record-breaking heat, droughts, wildfires, and floods. The science is clear: we are living through the effects of climate change. Now scientists are try…
00:22:23 |
Fri 16 Jul 2021
So, What Happens to WFH Now?
For many white-collar workers, the full-time work from home era is coming to an end. Some are going back into offices five days a week. Many others will be expected to split the week between home and…
00:28:05 |
Fri 09 Jul 2021
Sponsored: The Race to Vaccinate a Nation with Deryck Mitchelson
From Slate Studios & ServiceNow, this episode of Let’s Workflow It features Deryck Mitchelson – one of the leaders taking on the greatest workflow challenge of our time – the effort to vaccinate mill…
00:30:37 |
Tue 06 Jul 2021
It’s Time to Talk About UFOs
Last week, the U.S. government released a new report that attempts to categorize 144 verified sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP. They could only definitively explain one of them.
T…
00:24:12 |
Fri 02 Jul 2021
Welcome to Bitcoin Beach
For nearly two years, an unprecedented experiment has been taking place in the town of El Zonte in El Salvador. Funded by a mysterious donor, the town’s residents built a Bitcoin economy, using the c…
00:23:25 |
Fri 25 Jun 2021
What Cops Are Doing With Your DNA
Ever since police used a DNA platform called GEDmatch to crack the Golden State Killer case in 2018, police departments around the country have rushed to use genetic genealogy to crack their own cold…
00:23:53 |
Fri 18 Jun 2021
What Space Billionaires Cost Us
Over the last decade, billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson have come to embody the future of space travel and exploration. What does it mean when the ideas and ambitions of a …
00:22:48 |
Fri 11 Jun 2021
The App That Sparked a Manhunt
Two weeks ago, as wildfires burned north of Los Angeles, the crime app Citizen offered $30,000 for information that would lead to the arrest of a suspected arsonist. They had the wrong guy.
Why is …
00:26:39 |
Fri 04 Jun 2021
Apple and Epic’s Battle Royale
After years of careful planning and public spats, Apple and Epic—the maker of Fortnite—have spent the last three weeks in court, fighting over the future of mobile gaming. What happens if, for once, …
00:20:25 |
Fri 28 May 2021
The Hackers Who Took Down the Colonial Pipeline
Last week, a hacker group called DarkSide shut down the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East Coast. Gas prices skyrocketed, people started hoarding gas, and D…
00:25:07 |
Fri 21 May 2021
How the World’s Great Vaccination Hope Crashed
The Serum Institute of India was supposed to supply vaccines not just to India, but to the entire Global South. Now, with cases surging, there aren’t nearly enough vaccines for India’s population, no…
00:23:22 |
Fri 14 May 2021
Oversight Board to Facebook: Nice Try
The question of Donald Trump’s banned account--to keep it blocked, or reinstate it--is one of the toughest that Facebook has ever faced. But the social network had a plan: punt the decision to its ne…
00:22:11 |
Fri 07 May 2021
Tim Apple vs. Mark Facebook
There was a time—back when Steve Jobs ran Apple and Mark Zuckerberg was in his early days as Facebook’s CEO— that Apple and Facebook were friends.. Or, at worst, frenemies. But as the companies grew,…
00:21:35 |
Fri 30 Apr 2021
What's Causing the Tesla Crashes?
Last week, a Tesla Model S crashed into a tree in a neighborhood north of Houston. Both men inside the car were killed. But according to police, neither of them was in the driver’s seat.
This is no…
00:22:29 |
Fri 23 Apr 2021
Seduced by Substack
Like countless venture-funded start-ups before it, Substack is “disrupting” the media industry. The newsletter service is siphoning off high-profile talent with a promise of independence and bigger p…
00:24:02 |
Fri 16 Apr 2021
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