Decoder with Nilay Patel

The Verge

Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.

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#95
Jan 2, 2017 · 42 min
Recode Decode: Othman Laraki, CEO, Color
Color Genomics co-founder and CEO Othman Laraki talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why we're on the verge of a healthcare revolution. Laraki, whose company tests buyers' genes for certain hereditary cancers, says the future of medicine will be defined by our ability to read data from our bodies. While most of that data used to be recorded on paper and stored at hospitals, now it's largely being generated and stored on our smartphones; he predicts that to achieve truly personalized medicine, we will need artificially intelligenct software that can comb this data, changing the role of doctors in the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#94
Dec 27, 2016 · 38 min
Recode Decode: Orkut Büyükkökten, Founder, Hello
Social networking pioneer Orkut Büyükkökten talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the eponymous social site, Orkut, which he built inside Google, and his new company, Hello. Büyükkökten says current social networks don't make it easy to meet new friends, and believes that Hello will introduce like-minded people to each other while encouraging them to be friendly and authentic. He also discusses why Orkut (the website) failed to catch on in the U.S. and why Hello is focusing initially on international markets such as Brazil and India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#93
Dec 19, 2016 · 55 min
Recode Decode: Tom Friedman
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, "Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations." As technology and globalization get ever faster, Friedman says, humans should double down on the values, skills and behaviors that computers can't perform. Reacting to the rise of president-elect Trump, Friedman says "we’ve gone too far" in shaping policies to benefit people who have made poor life decisions, and calls for everyone to become more entrepreneurial. Friedman also discusses why he doesn't use Facebook or Twitter, and why the reactions of companies like Google and Facebook to fake news are "bullshit." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#92
Dec 12, 2016 · 52 min
Recode Decode: Reddit CEO Steve Huffman
Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why he covertly edited the posts of some Donald Trump supporters, and why he regrets it now. Huffman acknowledges his editing, which he conceived as a prank but many users saw as censorship, sowed distrust among the Reddit community that the company will have to win back. He also talks about the how Reddit is trying to combat harassment more generally, the role social media played in the election and why he believes Donald Trump would have still beaten Hillary Clinton without any "bigotry [or] nastiness." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#91
Dec 5, 2016 · 1 hr 2 min
Recode Decode: Vic Gundotra, CEO, AliveCor
AliveCor CEO Vic Gundotra talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his long career in tech, including his start as a college dropout at Microsoft and his seven years leading Google's mobile and social efforts. His current company helps consumers monitor their heart health via a portable EKG device that talks to their smartphones, and Gundotra says the potential of wearables and deep learning for healthcare is just starting to be unlocked. However, he calls the collapse of Theranos "an unmitigated disaster" for health tech, as it affects the opinions of both investors and consumers. Gundotra also discusses the Silicon Valley bubble and why he believes techies need to extend an olive branch to President-elect Trump and his supporters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#90
Nov 28, 2016 · 51 min
Recode Decode: Hilary Rosen and Juleanna Glover, political consultants
Democratic political strategist Hilary Rosen and Republican corporate consultant Juleanna Glover talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about how Donald Trump's election to the presidency will affect the tech and media industries over the next four to eight years. They discuss which elements of the tech-forward Obama presidency are likely to be unwound and the role Democrats can play despite GOP control of all three branches of government. The trio also discusses emerging political issues like self-driving vehicles and encryption, and why, for Trump, the New York Times is still more important than Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#89
Nov 21, 2016 · 35 min
Recode Decode: Sunil Rajaraman
The Bold Italic CEO Sunil Rajaraman talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about "This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley," a series of satirical articles that went viral earlier this year. Rajaraman set out to shine a light on some harsh truths most techies won't discuss openly, and the surprise success of his pieces has him thinking about adapting them into a book. He also discusses starting and then being ousted as CEO of content marketing firm Scripted.com and how The Bold Italic is trying to preserve local journalism in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#88
Nov 14, 2016 · 49 min
Recode Decode: Kayak co-founder Paul English
Tracy Kidder and Paul English, the author and subject of "A Truck Full of Money: One Man's Quest to Recover From Great Success," talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about English's dual life as a tech entrepreneur and philanthropist. English co-founded Kayak and, after selling it to Priceline, started another travel company called Lola. For Kidder, "Truck" is a return to tech several decades after his seminal book "The Soul of a New Machine." They discuss the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, the future of technologies like artificial intelligence and whether some forms of mental illness can be good for a tech CEO. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#87
Nov 7, 2016 · 1 hr 2 min
Recode Decode: U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil
DJ Patil, America's first Chief Data Scientist, talks about his nearly two years in the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, working on initiatives around health care and policing. Patil grew up in Silicon Valley, and has worked at Skype, LinkedIn and eBay; he says that techies in the private sector should consider a "tour of duty" in the government to be one of their civic duties. He says opening up the vast amounts of data collected by government agencies can make everyone better-off — as long as personal data like health records can be properly secured. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#86
Nov 2, 2016 · 44 min
Recode Decode: How does tech fix its diversity problem?
On this special bonus episode of Recode Decode, we look back at our past guests' most insightful comments about diversity in tech and media. Interviewees including Chamath Palihapitiya, Samantha Bee and Dick Costolo explain why discrimination based on sex, age and ethnicity are so common, and what might be done to fix the problem. You can find the full interviews excerpted in this show at Recode.net/Podcasts or in the podcast feeds for Recode Decode and Recode Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#85
Oct 31, 2016 · 49 min
Recode Decode: Dennis Crowley and Jeff Glueck, co-founder and CEO, Foursquare
Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley and CEO Jeff Glueck talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the location intelligence company is generating sellable data for partners like Apple, Uber and Twitter based on its users' check-ins. Glueck, who took over as CEO for Crowley in January 2015, compares the company's new business model to "Robin Hood" because it simultaneously helps small businesses and charges the big ones. The two also discuss where they'd like to see location tech go, including the idea of a talking virtual assistant — similar to Scarlett Johansson's character Samantha from the movie "Her" — that speaks to you like a friend and recommends new places to go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#84
Oct 26, 2016 · 1 hr 1 min
Recode Decode: Ted Leonsis, Founder, Revolution Growth
Revolution Growth founder and partner Ted Leonsis talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about being a longtime executive at AOL and how the company changed dramatically when it merged with Time Warner in 2000. Leonsis says AOL correctly anticipated the social nature of the internet, but left several windows open for Google to beat it at its own game. After the merger, it had to turn its energies toward defending Time Warner's legacy businesses and missed still more opportunities. He also discusses his majority ownership of several sports teams, including the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Washington Capitals, and why he thinks Vice's cable channel Viceland is "the biggest con ever." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#83
Oct 24, 2016 · 49 min
Recode Decode: 'Mr. Robot' creator Sam Esmail
"Mr. Robot" creator Sam Esmail talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his hit TV show, whose star Rami Malek recently won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a drama. Esmail says he grew up loving both movies and technology, and was disappointed by Hollywood's seeming inability to portray hackers in TV shows and movies authentically. The secret to the success of 'Mr. Robot,' he says, is that he's more interested in the complex humanity of both the characters and the people who make technology, rather than the tech itself. He also discusses how platforms like Netflix and Amazon have shaped his line of work and explains why he's interested in working in several mediums, such as video games and virtual reality, simultaneously. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#82
Oct 19, 2016 · 37 min
Recode Decode: Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about cooperation between government and the tech industry and the new challenges of the digital economy. Secretary Pritzker says artificial intelligence will upend many jobs, but the solution is to focus on retraining workers for new industries like cybersecurity, where American companies have hundreds of thousands of open positions. She also explains the recent battle over the Commerce Department's oversight of the internet and why handing over that oversight to the international nonprofit ICANN was the best way to protect the open web. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#81
Oct 17, 2016 · 59 min
Recode Decode: Ashton Kutcher
Actor, producer and investor Ashton Kutcher talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his life as both a TV star and a tech obsessive. Kutcher, who starred in shows like "Two and a Half Men" and "That '70s Show," has invested over the past five years in companies like Uber, Airbnb and Square. But he passed on Snapchat — twice — because he hated the app's design and feared what would happen when it got hacked. He's currently starring in the Netflix sitcom "The Ranch," and says denying the rise of digital media platforms in Hollywood is like denying climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#80
Oct 12, 2016 · 49 min
Recode Decode: 'Iron Man' director Jon Favreau
Jon Favreau, the actor and director known for films such as "Swingers," "Iron Man" and "The Jungle Book," talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new efforts in virtual reality, starting with the interactive short film "Gnomes & Goblins." Favreau says that VR is a powerful artists' tool, but advances in digital filmmaking won't replace actors, or the need for fundamental storytelling skills. He hopes to use virtual reality to create powerful connections between the viewer and virtual characters, and explains how other tech trends like Netflix have changed Hollywood forever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#79
Oct 10, 2016 · 1 hr 1 min
Recode Decode: 'The Late Late Show' host James Corden
James Corden, host of "The Late Late Show" on CBS and viral video star, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about redesigning a talk show for the YouTube generation, built around segments like "Carpool Karaoke." Corden has a complicated relationship with technology, and worries that the internet's appearance of freedom of choice is making us all more narrow-minded. He also chats about encounters with drones and social media bullies and why he thinks the technology industry is misleading the public by using the term "the cloud." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#78
Oct 3, 2016 · 51 min
Recode Decode: Aileen Lee, managing partner, Cowboy Ventures
Cowboy Ventures founder and managing partner Aileen Lee, previously a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about being one of the few female venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. After leaving Kleiner Perkins in 2012, Lee set out to amass data about the small percentage of startups that become breakout success stories, and she coined the term "unicorn" to describe the small fraction that would be valued at more than $1 billion. She says entrepreneurs today have to be tougher now that investors' fervor has cooled off, and says those investors will have to change, too, by becoming more diverse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#77
Sep 26, 2016 · 55 min
Recode Decode: Bradley Tusk, CEO, Tusk Holdings
Tusk Holdings CEO Bradley Tusk talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his unique political consulting firm Tusk Ventures, which trades equity in companies like Uber, FanDuel and DraftKings for regulatory guidance. Tusk previously worked for former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, and explains in detail how Uber undermined the city's current mayor, Bill de Blasio, with a series of blistering attacks last year. He also talks about the tech challenges facing America's next president, including autonomous driving, drone regulation and how sharing-economy workers are classified. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
#76
Sep 20, 2016 · 42 min
Recode Decode: Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner for Competition, European Commission
In this special bonus episode, Margrethe Vestager, Europe's Commissioner for Competition, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the high-profile cases she has brought against Apple and Google for alleged unfair tax breaks and antitrust violations, respectively. Vestager says "there is a limit to everything," including the assistance successful companies should get from the government, and their access to consumers' data. She rejects President Obama's past allegation of European regulators singling out American companies, and explains why Silicon Valley should be put under the microscope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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