What's Tech?
By The Verge
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Description
We live in the future, where drones skim the sky, corporations enter the space race, and smart watches track our every movement. But how? And why? What's Tech invites experts to explain the technology bit by bit, in clear, brief, enjoyable audio nuggets. These days, technology is everywhere. Let's make sense of what's around us.
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CleanThe What’s Tech series finale | When I started at The Verge in 2014, I needed an excuse to learn about technology. My background was in covering video games, television, and pop culture, and I lacked the basic cognitive functions to hold a phone above my head without dropping it on my face. So I launched a podcast called What’s Tech. For two years, the show was an opportunity to learn the fundamentals about the technology that supports everyday life. Free to ask silly, obvious, and embarrassing questions, I learned a ton. I hope you did, too. After all, my favorite takeaway from the podcast was that I wasn’t alone. We often take tech for granted, like a magical apparatus that does everything we need, not a massive collection of moving parts designed and programmed by women and men with their own dreams, ambitions, and motives. Technology is immensely confusing, but understanding how it functions and who creates it is a worthwhile and rewarding pursuit. I sincerely hope that through this show, tech became more accessible and less mysterious, without losing its fun and that special power to fascinate us. Recently, I took on more responsibilities with our Culture team. I’d love for you to check out our work. Right now, I want to give the section and its writers the time and support they deserve. But to focus on Culture, I need to let What’s Tech go on indefinite hiatus. I won’t go so far as to say the show’s done forever. We’ll leave the RSS feed open, and hopefully we’ll have something new to take the show’s place in the coming months. Which is to say, I’d encourage you to stay subscribed. Now for the final episode. For my guest, I invited my buddy Ross Miller, with whom I co-launched The Verge’s TLDR section. We talk about life on the internet. And also, breakfast. I hope you enjoy. Thanks for listening. | 12/6/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are Snapchat Spectacles, and do I have to be a teen to wear them? | Snapchat Spectacles, the mysterious and incredibly hyped hardware from Snap, Inc., have arrived. Vending machines for the video camera sunglasses are springing up around the country, first in California and Oklahoma, and who knows where else next. Verge senior reporter Bryan Bishop joined me this week to talk about his experience hunting down Spectacles and whether we’re all going to feel like olds wearing them. Also, what’s the deal with this circular video format? | 11/16/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow smartphone cameras took over the world | In the early 2000s, the digital photography revolution made it possible for miniaturized camera hardware and image sensors to be packed into cell phones without adding a significant amount of weight. Then the iPhone was announced. As the smartphone war began, the camera became an important part of the ongoing spec race. Competitors tried to beat Apple in making an excellent camera (and app) that was easy to use — and it took until this year for that to start happening. Now, two-thirds of adults in the US own a smartphone. The average smartphone user takes at least 150 photos per month. Instagram has half a billion monthly users. Even if it’s just selfies or pictures of lunch — nothing has familiarized people with photography like smartphone cameras. It’s now a part of our everyday lives. I joined Chris on this week’s What’s Tech to talk about my first camera phones, why the newest smartphones have such equally excellent shooters, and where it all goes from here. | 10/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow HTTPS is slowly but surely making the internet safer | Over the past couple years web security has become a staple of the nightly news. The stories usually hinge on government leaks, foreign hackers, or web encryption. There’s menacing subtext that practically everything put online is vulnerable to “cyber attacks.” Though one might wonder what steps are being taken to protect not just the government and giant corporations, but you, the individual. What keeps you safe when you stumble your way into a Wikipedia hole or click a strange link sent from a friend? To find out, I invited my colleague Russell Brandom to talk about web security, and particularly HTTPS. As Russell explains, while your information isn’t necessarily less vulnerable, websites themselves are becoming safer. This is a dense topic, but fortunately Russell brought a helpful metaphor. It involves pie. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 10/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhy is everyone making GIFs of themselves? | Our most sacred and special task as human beings is to document our own existence with a single-minded dedication. That's why we have massive iCloud photo libraries, 15GB of video of that really cool Springsteen concert on our phones, Instagram accounts for ourselves, our pets, and our alter egos, and dusty yearbooks stacked up in our closets. The latest in this personal digital archive: personal GIFs. Apps like Boomerang, Motion Stills, Giphy, DSCO, and more help us make GIFs and other short, looping videos of life's most precious moments. And of course, of life's most 'grammable sammies. The Verge tech reporter and gadget blog queen Ashley Carman joined me (Kaitlyn Tiffany, your friendly Chris Plante stand-in) in the single-stall What's Tech recording booth this week to compare sweat mustaches and GIF-creation techniques. We had a nice conversation about art, technology, ourselves, and the utility of acronyms. If you tune in, you'll also learn a little something about the future of keepsakes! It's a good, emotional time. | 10/13/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow immersive haunted houses and participatory plays are making Halloween scarier | Here at The Verge, we love Halloween and everything about it. Horror movies, non-horror seasonal movies, seasonal beverages, seasonal bots, this Pumpkin Guy, horrifying makeup tutorials, poop-shaped candy — bring it on. In particular, we love to be scared. It gives us a sweet little adrenaline burst to get us across the daunting dark tundra of November to April. This Hallo-season, senior entertainment reporter Bryan Bishop has embarked on a journey to find the most immersive, creative, and high-tech scares in all of Los Angeles. In a new series called "The Future of Fear," he's taking us all where we're too East Coast or too chicken to go. These aren't your grandma's haunted houses (although Bryan and I will both stan for the original Haunted Mansion at Disney World, may it live forever). I love Halloween so much I, Kaitlyn Tiffany took over the seat usually warmed by your friendly neighborhood What's Tech host Chris Plante. You can't tell from the audio, but I wore a blazer to the recording because I take Halloween very seriously! Bryan told me about all the terrible things he's subjected himself to this fall, and it was delightful even while it shook me to my core. Basically, it's a haunted house of a podcast and don't listen to it before bed. | 10/6/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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Why smartphone batteries explode, and why they may get worse | Samsung has officially recalled the Galaxy Note 7 worldwide, after more than 90 of the large smartphones in the US overheated due to defective batteries. Overheating is, in this case, an understatement, as some owners have claimed their smartphones outright exploded. Exploding lithium-ion batteries actually aren’t so uncommon. As my colleagues Angela Chen and Lauren Goode noted earlier this month, there are many ways for a lithium-ion battery to become dangerous, and they aren’t limited to any one smartphone or electronic device. “An exploding phone seems like a freak accident,” write Chen and Goode, “but the same chemical properties that make batteries work also make them likely to catch fire.” To learn more about the lithium-ion batteries, I invited The Verge’s science reporter Angela Chen to the show. We talk about how manufacturers are pushing the battery to its limit, and what alternatives we may see in the future. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 9/20/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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How Snapchat’s goofy faces made everyone comfortable with selfies | I didn’t take many selfies until I downloaded Snapchat. But like so many people I’ve fallen in love with lenses, the optional tools that make my face look like a dog or an emoji or an advertisement for junk food. Now, a day doesn’t go by that I don’t mug into my front-facing camera. The magic of lenses is how they erase the perception of the selfie as an act of narcissism — an insipid criticism that comes from a certain clump of people who feel the need to bash people for showing a fleck of confidence. Why didn’t I take selfies? I was too embarrassed. Anyway! I digress! I’m clearly fascinated by the popularity and power of lenses, so I invited my friend and colleague Ashley Carman to the show. We talk about the potential of the lens, and the possible future of a would-be gimmick that has birthed a broader pop culture trend. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 9/13/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanThe good and bad news of the Earth-sized planet Proxima Centauri b | Late last month, news broke of the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. Orbiting the closest star to our Solar System, there’s a lot to love about Proxima b since it shares a few key traits with our own home planet. But before we start making intergalactic vacation plans, let’s pump the space-brakes: half the planet is locked in darkness, it’s pelted by radiation from close proximity to its sun, and the rock is 25 trillion miles away. Our current best option for sending a probe there involves a laser-propelled space-sail, which would reduce travel time from tens of thousands of years to 20. Which is to say, while potentially astonishing, even the best case scenario seems like a long-shot for our lifetime. To explain Proxima Centauri b, I invited my friend and colleague Loren Grush onto the show. This is, I think, the first episode in which we don’t talk about the Nic Cage film Knowing, so just keep that in mind. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 9/8/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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A few simple tech tips for living in a dorm or a New York apartment | -- | 8/30/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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A simple explanation of No Man’s Sky and its internet-fueled controversy | The first trailer for No Man’s Sky, published in December 2013, promised a universe with enough planets, creatures, and vegetation that it could not be fully explored by one player in a lifetime. The hype was immediate, and it only continued to build with each month between the game’s announcement and its release this summer. This, some fans speculate, could be a game that lasts forever. My buddy Austin Walker concisely dismantled that logic at Vice before the game’s release, but No Man’s Sky has nonetheless attracted a good deal of controversy. To explain the game, and the community’s reaction, I invited my colleague Andrew Webster to the show. Andrew wrote a great series on his time in the game that I encourage you to enjoy along with the podcast. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 8/25/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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Hate going to the grocery store? Maybe it's time to try food-delivery services | Imagine if grocery shopping was just another online subscription service, like Netflix or Spotify. You complete a survey, sharing your likes and dislikes, and the platform sends, week after week, precisely measured portions of proteins, veggies, fruits, oils, and spices required to make dinner and the necessary recipes to alchemize these ingredients into Food Network-level dinners. My friend and colleague Kaitlyn Tiffany lived this modern spin on the home cook life this past spring, after she volunteered to review the many "fresh box" food delivery programs currently available. Plated, PeachDish, Blue Apron, Purple Carrot, Hello Fresh: a neighbor has probably tried to convince you to adopt one of the platforms, claiming the over-packaged nourishment saves precious hours each week. But are the services all they cracked out to be? Or is the future life in our home pleasure prisons, never leaving, always waiting for deliveries? Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 8/17/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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Why Sony and Microsoft are already announcing and releasing new consoles | A new round of video game consoles has began last week with the release of Microsoft’s One S. The slim, white hardware is a minor upgrade to the original Xbox One, and the predecessor to next year’s flashier upgrade, codenamed Project Scorpio. Next month, Sony is expected to announce its own update for the PlayStation 4, codenamed Neo. If it feels a little early in a generation of consoles to be talking about dropping cash on the next great thing, you’re right. But these consoles don’t follow the traditional cycle of new video game hardware, which last around seven years. They’re more iterative. Microsoft’s hardware is built around backwards compatibility with Xbox One, and its expected that PlayStation Neo will play PlayStation 4 games. The new era of game consoles is closer to smartphones: a variety of annually updated hardware with a variety of features that shares same large, ongoing collection of apps. To talk about the ways these new game consoles are similar and different from the hardware of the past, I invited my friend and colleague Megan Farokhamnesh to the show. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listenon Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 8/10/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanIs your neighborhood the next great social media app? | I had never heard of Nextdoor when I lived in New York City. Social media services catering to individual neighborhoods weren’t useful in an apartment building where most tenants lasted a year, and longtime residents kept to themselves. In my first year in Texas, however, I’ve regularly relied on Nextdoor, along with my neighborhood’s private Facebook group and the handful of sites that provide hyper-local support. I’m not the first to say local online forums are the bulletin boards and community papers of our times. They allow neighbors to promote garage sales, find babysitters, or request help to find a lost dog. They’re far from perfect, but in my experience they have helped lower the barrier between me and my community. To talk about online neighborhood groups, I invited my colleague Ben Popper to the show. Popper is our business editor and has covered Nextdoor a few times, but he’s also a member of his own share of local online communities. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, orsubscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 8/2/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanA podcast explains the power of podcasts | For 72 episodes, What’s Tech has invited guests to explain technology and its cultural periphery — from drones and fan fiction to ASMR and biohacking. We were bound to make a podcast about podcasts eventually. This was inevitable. For this momentous occasion, our guest is Alex Goldman, co-host of one of my favorite podcasts, Reply All. After you listen, visit Reply All’s publisher Gimlet Media, which is responsible for a number of the best examples of the podcasting form. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 7/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhy Pokémon Go is a hit, how it helped Nintendo, and when its moment could fizz out | Pokémon Go had a week unlike any video game I’ve covered in my career. Here’s a collection of the posts we penned last week, ranging from players finding dead bodies to Craigslist entrepreneurs selling pre-played accounts. My friend and former boss Chris Grant wrote about the staggering demand for coverage at our sister-site Polygon. In "Some thoughts on Nintendo’s big week," Grant contextualized the game within Nintendo’s unusual year. And he noted how Pokémon Go inspired the most popular posts not simply on the video game outlet, but across Vox Media, from The Verge to Racked to Vox.com. But why? And how? And when will this moment pass, or has it already? I invited our Games Editor and Pokémon expert Andrew Webster onto the show to provide background on the phenomenon, and speculate as to what its future might look like. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 7/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanThe agony and the ecstasy of life as a webcomic artist | As a teenager, my only interaction with the world of webcomics was Achewood. Launched in 2001 and published sporadically ever since, Achewood is like Seinfeld crossed with Adult Swim. It felt for me in the early 2000s like this lone, weird thing. A few years later, around when I got my first writing gig, I realized how much bigger webcomics were than the stories of Téodor and Cornelius. I inevitably came across Penny Arcade and the rush of video game-inspired webcomics its inspired. And after that, I found people on Twitter and Tumblr and other platforms, all of whom created beautiful, weird, powerful art. It took me awhile to get into webcomics, but the gradual epiphany is one of the internet’s great pleasure. You look at one star in the sky, and as your eyes adapt to the darkness, you discover this dot is part of a crowded constellation. This week, I invited my friend, colleague, and webcomic artist Dami Lee to talk about the format. Webcomics literally changed the direction of her life. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 7/13/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow The Bachelor became social media’s favorite sporting event | "Is The Bachelor tech?" You might ask this question while listening to this week’s episode of What’s Tech, a podcast that provides introductory explainers into the many pockets of technology and the culture around them. I believe the answer is yes. The Bachelor series has aired for over 14 years and spun-off numerous programs, totaling over 35 seasons, but its most recent surge of critical significance stems from the rise of social media. Who watches The Bachelor and how they watch it have changed dramatically since the first episode has aired. Credit belongs to an expanding ecosystem of critics, fans, and former participants that meet any given Monday. To explain, I invited my colleague Kaitlyn Tiffany to the show. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 6/28/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat you need to know about doxxing, the average internet user’s nightmare | My entire body clenches when I hear the word doxxing. Each time I write something that, for whatever reason, upsets a corner of the internet, I wonder if my personal information — phone numbers, address, social security number, credit card information — will be made public, or doxxed. And if it is made public, then how will it be used? Even though our identities on the internet are more public than ever, we are still individually afforded a certain amount of privacy. Our passwords, our forum names, our Google habits: these are, for most of us, secret. And because they are secret, people on the internet can threaten their reveal as a form of harassment. That’s the sticky core of doxxing; the erasure of one’s sense of privacy, and with it, safety. This method of publishing personal information has become more mainstream, alongside the ubiquity of the internet. So, to spread awareness, I invited my colleague and security expert Russell Brandom to discuss the origins of doxxing, how it has evolved, and why people use doxxing today. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 6/21/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat you should know about torrenting | I was a teenager in the days of Napster and LimeWire, when illegal files flowed through the internet like free hamburgers through a freshman dormitory orientation session. I didn't understand the legality of file sharing, let alone the technical explanation of how it worked. Peer-to-peer file distribution has changed over the years. Though I feel more savvy to the legal issues, I am no less dumbfounded by how it all works. That’s why I invited my colleague Ashley Carman onto this week’s show. She provides a brief history of file sharing, then explains how torrenting works in the present. Is it legal? Who does it hurt? Why do people use it? We have answers to all that and more. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 6/14/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow a computer the size of a credit card is changing education — and GameBoy emulators | For longer than I would like to admit, I thought Raspberry Pi was a dessert. I'm not proud of that. Fortunately, I eventually learned what Raspberry Pi actually is, and though it's not nearly as tasty, it's just as exciting: an affordable, customizable computer the size of a credit card. Raspberry Pi has changed how thousands of people tinker with and learn about computers. People have used the hardware to create Game Boy emulators and synthesizers, tiny cameras and jukeboxes. To learn more about Raspberry Pi and how the hardware is changing computer education, I invited my pal and colleague, The Verge video director Miriam Nielsen, to the show. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 6/7/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanHow people play Nintendo games on a computer, and why that's probably illegal | Whether or not you've used a video game emulator yourself — and if you have, it's okay, I'm not gonna snitch — it's impossible to deny their prevalence. Since the age of modern computing, people have figured out how to use code to mimic game consoles like NES and Genesis in order to play them on everything from laptops to smartwatches. Sometimes it's a near-perfect recreation of a childhood memory. Sometimes it's a virtual reality "remix" of a popular cartoon fighter (blatant self-promotion) or something indescribably trippy. In either case, it's probably something the game's developer and publisher are pretty mad about. | 5/31/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are graphics cards, and why do you want one? | Graphics cards! So hot right now. Whether it's the slow realization that jumping on board with the 2016 VR revolution requires a tricked-out gaming rig you'd never previously have dreamed of stashing under your desk, or the blitz of hype surrounding Nvidia's latest 1000-series GPUs, there's more reason to get excited about PC gaming hardware than there has been in years. But what is a graphics card? Do you really need one, and which one do you need? | 5/24/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEverything you wanted to know about Drake, but were too afraid to ask | Share on Facebook Tweet Share Pin Drake is a former child actor, current pop star, and the secular god of memes — even if he denounces that last label. Born Aubrey Drake Graham, the Canadian celebrity has been inescapable, not just for fans of music, but enthusiasts of technology. That's because Drake is a meeting point of the two. To talk about Drake's give-take relationship with technology — specifically social media — I invited my friend and colleague Jamieson Cox onto this week's episode of What's Tech. Jamieson is one of my favorite music critics, and as an added bonus, shares the same hometown as Drake, and nearly the same birthday. None of this is relevant, but this is my post, gosh dang it, and I'll include what I want. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud or Spotify, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 5/17/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhy movie theaters should and shouldn't be afraid of VOD | A couple weeks ago, my friend and colleague Bryan Bishop visited Las Vegas for a flashy conference called CinemaCon, where movie studios and theater owners discuss the future of the film industry — a future that isn't as predictable as it used to be. Many theater owners worry that in the age of streaming, the cineplex will become less relevant. The message from studios, however, was clear: theater owners have nothing to fear, because studios still believe big, communal screens are the true home of movies. Of course, that's not entirely true. Over the past decade, more and more movies have been released directly to VOD, or video-on-demand. VOD is a large umbrella of a format, covering everything from online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon, to the On Demand section on your cable box. The format has grown dramatically, over the years, in terms of users, but also in terms of reach and power. Movies transition from theaters to home viewing formats faster than ever. And Sean Parker, known for his involvement in Napster and Facebook, is pitching a service called the Screening Room that would allow people with a $150 set-top box to stream movies that are currently in theaters for a $50 flat fee. So, James Cameron may have been sincere when took the stage at this event to allay concerns about threats to the relevancy of the traditional movie theater. But studios are not so quietly trying to glean their best options from a murky future. To provide us some context and prediction, I invited Bryan onto this week's episode of What's Tech. Subscribe to What's Tech on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories on the The Verge Dot Com. | 5/9/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhy the future of video games may be free-to-play | If you own a smartphone or have a Facebook account, odds are you've played a free-to-play game. Maybe you grew crops in Farmville or scrimmaged in Clash of Clans. If you're anything like me, one of those city-building games (the kind that publishers shrewdly pair with a popular intellectual property like The Simpsons or Star Wars), has sunk its claws into your free time and shredded it into gory pulp. Odds are you haven't, however, paid for your free-to-play games. The format, which makes money from secondary purchases inside of the game after its been downloaded for free, only sees purchases from 2.2 percent of its players, according to 2014 report by Swrve. This year's Swrve report has an even more seemingly grim stat: nearly half of free-to-play revenue comes from 0.19 percent of players. So with those numbers in mind, why is free-to-play gaming still popular amongst some of the industry's best and smartest video game publishers? And why might it be the dominant revenue model for big publishers in the future? I invited my friend and colleague Andrew Webster to explain on this week's episode of What's Tech. Subscribe to What's Tech? on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech? stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 5/3/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is a gadget blog, anyway? | This week, The Verge launched a gadget blog. It's called Circuit Breaker, and you can read about its origin and purpose in The New York Times. Paul Miller, the editor of Circuit Breaker, has spoken a lot this week about the broader hopes and ambitions for the new site. But ever the dullard, I wanted to learn the basics: what is a gadget blog, anyway? I invited Miller onto the show to get an answer. Miller co-launched The Verge years ago, and before that he worked for Engadget, one of the original gadget blogs. In today's episode we talk about how that site and other former gadget blogs evolved and expanded over the past decade, and why Miller and his crew are returning to the looser, faster, scrappier format. After you give the show a listen, be sure to visit Circuit Breaker on its two homes: The Verge and Facebook. Subscribe to What's Tech? on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech? stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 4/28/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhy bots are the new big thing, and what that means for ordering pizza | 2016 is shaping up to be the year of the bot. Late last month, Microsoft made a big bet on tools that will help developers create artificial intelligence software meant to improve the lives of humans by completing small tasks, and last week Facebook launched an entire bot platform for its communication tool, Messenger. I invited my buddy and colleague Casey Newton — who wrote one of my favorite features on bots — to explain the technology. Newton has some predictions for the applications of bots that I think you'll find interesting. But in the meantime, the most useful bots may be the ones that just order a pizza. The episode pairs well with our recent episode on artificial intelligence, so be sure to give that a listen, too! Subscribe to What's Tech? on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech? stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 4/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhy artificial intelligence is more important than ever and how it will change our lives | For nearly 60 episodes, one question has persisted through What's Tech: what is happening in the ending of Steven Spielberg's 2001 sci-fi film A.I. Artificial Intelligence? To settle the question once and for all, I invited my friend and artificial intelligence expert, Sam Byford, to appear on the show. Sadly, as you will hear me learn, Sam Byford is in expert in actual artificial intelligence, not the film Artificial Intelligence. Truth is, he's never even seen the film. But that's okay. This is still one of my favorite episodes of What's Tech, as Byford shares what it was like to attend the recent match-up of human Go champion Lee Se-dol and artificial intelligence AlphaGo. As for the ending of A.I., I'm sure we'll have an answer in the next 60 episodes. | 4/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Slack, why is everybody using it, and will it destroy my work-life balance? | I love Slack, the mega-popular corporate-friendly chat client. I love it so much that I desperately want to delete it from my phone, because I can't help but check its messages every hour of every day. Yesterday night, I responded to a message at 3AM. Lol, I have no self-control and this is a cry for help! Anywho, Slack is still so new that it's possible you haven't heard of, let alone used, the service, which I describe to newcomers as something between text messaging, AOL chatrooms, and AIM — it's no less addicting than a combination of the three. I invited my buddy, colleague, and Slack expert Casey Newton to tell me more about the app, and more importantly, guide me onto a road of self-improvement. Subscribe to What's Tech? on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech? stories right here on the The Verge Dot Com. | 4/5/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWrestlemania: why you should watch, even if pro wrestling isn't your thing | This Sunday the WWE will host the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. Wrestlemania will takeover the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, which has a maximum capacity of 105,000. If things go as the WWE plans, the show will be the biggest pro wrestling event in history. That's only partly why you should tune in. After decades of ups-and-downs, pro wrestling is expanding beyond the ring, becoming a superhero-like universe of comedy shows, gaming streams, and reality programs. Wrestlemania is the culmination of storylines that span thousands of hours of live and prerecorded events and programs — and is somehow made accessible to newcomers. I will actually be in attendance. I haven't been passionate about pro wrestling since childhood, but I've always heard that Wrestlemania — like the Kentucky Derby, a NASCAR race, and competitive noodling — is a sporting event that must be experienced in person. To prepare, I invited my friend and colleague Bill Hanstock to appear on this week's What's Tech. Hanstock is the wrestling editor at SB Nation and Cageside Seats, and hosts pro wrestling podcast Rudo Radio. Hanstock is a passionate evangelist for the sport, and he provides countless reasons why now is the best time to welcome pro wrestling into your life. Wrestlemania 32 begins Sunday at 7PM ET. You can watch it the old-fashioned way on pay-per-view, or stream via the WWE Network. | 3/29/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEverything you need to know about the Hyperloop, a potential transportation game-changer | In 2013, billionaire eccentric inventor Elon Musk announced an idea called the Hyperloop: a super-fast, low-friction transportation system that looked like the prom photo for a subway tunnel and a bullet-train. Musk made the Hyperloop an open-sourced project, inviting thinkers, scientists, and fellow inventors — no matter their age — to help make the potentially revolutionary concept into a reality. This year, we're seeing some of the early steps from the theoretical sketch room to a real world groundbreaking ceremony. In January, students participated in a design contest for the pods that would travel inside the Hyperloop's tube, and later this year, a piece of test track will be constructed by global construction firm Aecom. For many folks, though, the specifics behind the Hyperloop remain vague. So naturally, I've invited my friend and colleague Andy Hawkins to explain. | 3/15/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanDota 2: an explainer for newcomers and the confused family of addicts | A $3 million vide game tournament is happening right now in Shanghai, China, pitting 16 of the best Dota 2 teams against each other. But what, pray tell, does any of that mean? Dota 2 is an immensely popular video game that mixes elements of many genres, from sports simulation to role-playing epics to twitch-reaction shooters, and yet is unique in its own right. To its millions of adherents, Dota is closer to a lifestyle than a pastime. Think about the dedication most people show to playing and watching football or baseball, and you're on your way there. Having accrued more than 3,000 hours in its mythical universe, I can say with assurance that I’ve been afflicted with the Dota 2 bug. I know all the professional players, all the fictional hero characters, all their magical abilities, and all the complex interplays among them. There’s as much to learn about this game as there is for Magic: The Gathering, a competitive card game familiar, at least in name, to anyone who passed through a high school cafeteria in the 1990s. But we won't overwhelm you with strategy and lore. For this latest episode of What’s Tech, we’ll introduce the basics behind Dota 2, and how it came to be an eSport with multimillion dollars purses. | 3/4/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanBefore the driverless car, there was the PRT | My colleague Adi Robertson, I recently learned, is a fan of oddball transportation. On our work trip to the Sundance Film Festival, she gleefully introduced me to the funicular, a small and nicely furnished box that travels up and down a cliffside on a steel track, like a rollercoaster pushing through molasses. The funicular, she told me with the confidence of an expert in these things, was cool, but not nearly as cool as the PRT. Robertson had been traveling elsewhere in the country to research personal rapid transit. In West Virginia, she actually got to ride on a PRT, which is sort of like a subway, but different in two crucial ways: each vehicle is roughly the size of a car, and each goes directly to your destination — no unnecessary stops. You can now read Robertson's feature, "The Road Not Taken." For the audio-inclined, we also recorded this episode of What's Tech. Subscribe to What's Tech? on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories at http://www.theverge.com/whatstech. | 3/1/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEncryption: what is it exactly, and who is right about it? | Normally we publish What's Tech on Tuesday morning, but we couldn't hold next week's episode until then. A federal court has requested Apple help the FBI gain access to the contents of an iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple has refused. For some, the issue appears, at first glance, quite cut and dry: Apple should do everything in its power to help the FBI. But the case is more complex than a company collaborating with the government, and plays into a larger and ongoing debate about encryption and privacy. I recorded this episode with The Verge's Russell Brandom last week, so we don't address Apple specifically, but the episode does provide the crucial context for conversations you're likely to have at the office coffee machine or family dinner table. | 2/18/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanReusable rockets could send you to space — eventually | Coverage of SpaceX and Blue Origin, the two private companies pursuing the reusable rocket, is near inescapable. Maybe you watched a launch on our site, or saw one of the not-quite-landings in a Facebook video. Space news has become so ubiquitous in tech culture, that it's easy to scroll right past, maybe leaving a Like in your wake, taking for granted the creative and financial cost that goes into sending an object into space — and attempting to bring it back to repeat that journey. I've invited resident rocket expert Loren Grush to explain how reusable rockets work, and why scientists and inventors hope to create them at a practical cost. For longtime listeners, we also discuss the film Knowing. | 2/16/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanIt's time to give film cameras a second chance | I am perpetually envious of my friend and colleague Sam Byford. He lives in Tokyo, and has access to new Hatsune Miku vinyls, Nintendo 3DS limited editions, and Sega arcades. His is the technological life I wish I could live. There's one gadget, however, Sam says I can and should buy today in the States: a traditional film camera. I invited Sam to What's Tech? to defend this suspicious claim, and I admit, his love for the classic camera is contagious. To learn how you can get started with a film camera, give the show a listen. And afterwards, stop by iTunes and give us a review. It goes a long way to introducing What's Tech? to more listeners. | 2/9/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanThe Super Bowl: how to sound like an expert | Super Bowl 50 approaches with the reliability of the morning sun, and yet, you still have so many questions. There are the obvious questions, which I can answer here. What teams are in the Super Bowl? The Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers. What time is the Super Bowl? Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30PM ET on CBS, but it's safe to add another five minutes of ceremonial buffer time. What dish should I bring? Homemade fried mac and cheese balls, an easy, unexpected hit. But there are plenty of more interesting questions for which I don't have the answers. So I've invited my good friend and work buddy, SB Nation's Dan Rubenstein, to tell us about the biggest live television event of the year and its storied history. Oh, and who will win? My bet's on you, the viewer! Twist! | 2/2/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanSpotify, Apple Music, and Tidal: which service is right for you? | I've used Spotify for a few years, but I'm curious if I should make a switch to one of the dozen and change alternate music streaming services. Apple Music has free concerts, I'm told, and Tidal has better audio quality. But every time I consider shifting my subscription, I feel overwhelmed by the details. I invited The Verge's Micah Singleton onto today's episode to share the history of music streaming services, and direct me on where to spend my money. I also want to hear his story about interviewing Jay Z. Okay, I mostly just want to hear that story. | 1/26/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Sundance? | [Apologies, the original file uploaded incorrectly. This is the complete episode.] My options at the movies this week include a 1980s Dublin-set rock musical, a dark comedy that hinges on a lap dog, a thriller involving the moon landing conspiracy, a Werner Herzog doc about the internets profound mark on our lives, and dozens of other offbeat films, TV shows, documentaries, and visual experiments. I'm speaking about the Sundance Film Festival, but the variety of genre and voices applies to the dozens of annual film festivals across the globe. Alongside the advent of digital filmmaking, there are more film festivals than ever featuring more films by a wider variety of people. And digital streaming has helped niche films find their audience. To prepare me for my first Sundance and provide some context for film fests, I invited Verge Entertainment Editor Emily Yoshida onto the show. We talk about the role technology plays in film festivals, including the increasing prominence of virtual reality. | 1/19/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Tumblr? | Tumblr was the first social media platform to feel irrelevant. I'm young enough to have blogged my way through high school, but old enough for my blogging to be unusual. I used Xanga, and then LiveJournal. When Facebook launched, I traded both platforms, and decided I'd communicate my goings-on by updating my favorite movies and TV shows. In the late 2000s, Tumblr felt to me like a flavorless combination of Twitter's relentless personal updates and the curatorial blogging of Boing Boing and, at that time, the Gawker Network. Like I said, I didn't get it — I mostly used the service as a static homepage to host my portfolio. I've come around to Tumblr, largely thanks to people like my colleague Kaitlyn Tiffany, who have pointed me to its most bizarre and spectacular corners. In this podcast, she compares Tumblr to a nicer Reddit, an astute point, and a succinct description of something I'd want in my life. It only took seven years. | 1/12/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is CES? | The Verge's Dieter Bohn shares the history of the Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, which is taking place this week in Las Vegas, Nevada. | 1/5/2016 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is a hoverboard? | The Verge tested Lexus' hoverboard in August. Thanks to science and a considerable promotional budget, the car maker's hoverboard actually hovered above the earth — as its name suggested. The experience was the culmination of a shared pop culture dream dating back to Michael J. Fox's faithful special effects-aided ride in Back to the Future Part II. It felt perversely historic. Somehow, only a couple months later, the creation of an actual working hoverboard has been overshadowed by a trendy namesake that doesn't hover at all — though on occasion, it has been reported to burst into flames. Maybe you are so enticed by the modern hoverboard, which looks like a miniature Segway without hand supports, that you're considering buying one in the new year. Or maybe you find the rideable and its misnomer dumbfounding, and a dangerous nuisance that impedes your morning commute. Whatever either case, I've invited The Verge's Sean O'Kane to tell us about the history of the hoverboard, and speculate on whether it will capture the public's interest for decades like its predecessor of the same name. | 12/29/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Windows 10? | Last week, I wrote about Microsoft's plan to bring Xbox One and Windows 10 closer together. I've been wondering what this future might look like. I know a good deal about Microsoft's video game consoles, but Windows remains a bit of a mystery. I switched to Apple laptops in high school, and only recently welcomed a Windows PC into my home exclusively for gaming. But more and more, I'm tempted to switch back to Windows for my work computer. It seems less fussy, prone to viruses, and bland than it did in the early 2000s. For this week's episode, I invited The Verge's Tom Warren to explain the history of Windows and what makes Windows 10 unique. | 12/15/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is an internet router? | When I joined The Verge, many of my peers from the video games press congratulated me on a lifetime of writing about internet routers. I laughed at their silly joke. How much, I thought, is there to really say about an internet router? If only my naive self of 2014 had known the truth, that routers evoke a passion among the citizens of the internet like few pieces of technology. I thought people cared about console wars, then I witnessed a debate about the benefits of Netgear's Nighthawk line. Frankly, I get it now. As my internet connection speed has increased in the past half-decade, having an internet router that allows my Wi-Fi to make the most of said speed seems obvious. What isn't always obvious is knowing which router to buy. I've invited my pal Dan Seifert to explain internet routers and provide some guidance. I recommend you listen to this episode before visiting the in-laws this holiday, so you can give them the gift that keeps giving: a router that doesn't suck. | 12/8/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Fallout? | On a recent Sunday afternoon, you may have noticed Brutus — Fox's NFL mascot — wearing a new set of protective armor. This costume wasn't promoting a nonprofit initiative meant to distract from professional football's abundance of PR debacles, nor was it celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas. It was an ad for a video game: Fallout 4. As your pupils dilated and the molten cheese dribbled from your pizza roll, you likely found yourself in one of two camps: the camp that recognizes the Fallout brand and feels the sudden, stinging pang to buy this video game; or the camp more or less unfamiliar with the brand, but probably hears it referenced in sentences like, "You know, I haven't seen my girlfriend since she bought Fallout 4," or, "My husband doesn't sleep, and I blame Fallout 4." In either case, you probably slurped the string of cheese-like substance back to your lips, saving your favorite sports jersey from a trip to the dry cleaner, and found yourself in need of more information, not just about Fallout 4 but the rest of the franchise and other games like it. That's why I've invited my lactose-intolerant friend, Product Hunt Editorial Director Russ Frushtick for this week's episode of What's Tech? I know Russ Frushtick, and let me tell you, Russ Frushtick knows Fallout 4. | 12/1/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is an internet meme? | I remember my first meme. I was in my grade school computer lab — this was a time when computers were still novel, not mandatory. My fifth grade teacher was explaining email to our classroom, and how she could use it to talk with a friend in another country about what happened on this week's episode of Friends. Presumably Friends didn't air in said country. After an awkwardly long explanation of what Friends is to a couple dozen 11-year-olds, my teacher decided to show us something more our speed on the internet: the dancing baby. Then she showed us the dancing baby, but wearing a birthday hat. Then she loaded the dancing baby and a bouncing ball. That was my first contact with a meme, and the day I fell in love with the GIF. While the basic principle of the GIF has remained the same, though, memes have become more prominent and stranger features of society, both online and offline. To explain internet memes, I invited my friend, The Verge's senior reporter Adi Robertson to the show. | 11/24/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is the quantified self? | I have tried various health trackers, and they always wind up buried in the bottom drawer of my dresser. I should love the pursuit of a quantified self. I like data; I want to be healthier; I enjoy new technology, even when it's fussy and doesn't really work. But for whatever reason, trackers just leave me feeling guilty at best and competitive with friends and family at worse. I shouldn't be competing, I should be collaborating! We all should be better! This week, I invited The Verge's Science Editor Elizabeth Lopatto to tell me about the history of the quantified self, and why tracking every step might not be as healthy as it sounds. | 11/11/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is alien life? | More recently, discussions of extraterrestrial life have become mainstream. Brilliant minds like Stephen Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson have made headlines with their thoughts on how humans should or shouldn't make contact. This week, I invited my friend and colleague Loren Grush to explain how science thinks about alien life. It's a bit spooky, like a Halloween-ish episode, airing just a few days late for the horror holiday. | 11/3/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Minecraft? | This week Microsoft released Halo 5, the latest installment of its most iconic exclusive for Xbox consoles. The adventures of Master Chief and his console cohorts, however, pale beneath the popularity of the stories created by players in the universe of Minecraft. Designed largely by a single gamer maker and purchased for billions of dollars by the software giant, Minecraft has the potential to be the Super Mario of a generation, not in how it plays but what it represents for an entire culture of video game lovers. We'll see over a dozen big name video game releases this fall, but I thought we should take a look at the game that thrives all year long. I invited Polygon's Minecraft devotee Charlie Hall to update me on the game's past, present, and future. | 10/28/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat Is The Patriot Act | A little over a month after the events of September 11th, 2001, an Act of Congress called the USA Patriot Act was signed into law by then President George W. Bush. Despite its controversial expansion of government power pertaining to domestic surveillance, law enforcement, and border security, President Obama signed an extension of what were key provisions in 2001. That extension expired this past summer, but parts of the extension were renewed for another four years under a new name, the USA Freedom Act. Arguments for the continuation of the Patriot Act typically pivot on the belief that citizens who aren't committing crimes have nothing to fear, but the role and impact of national government surveillance is more complex. With the USA Freedom Act in its first year, I invited The Verge's Colin Lecher to explain the original law, how it has evolved, and in what ways it could effect the average person, like you and me. | 10/20/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is TV? | "There's too much television," said FX CEO John Landgraf at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour. Landgraf, whose in part responsible for the success of shows like Fargo, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Archer, and The Americans, painted a landscape in which a mountain of good programs impede a wandering audience from discovering the truly great shows. Landgraf has firsthand experience: FX alone produces the aforementioned critical hits, along with The Strain, American Horrors Story, Louie, the upcoming American Crime Story, and plenty of other shows. And that's just one cable channel. Today, Landgraf and his peers compete in battle royal of network, cable, premium, and streaming series, along with additional media like video games and YouTube videos. To break down what TV has become, I invited The Verge's entertainment editor Emily Yoshida to the show. I've been following her reporting on television long before we began working together, and she does an excellent job of keeping Landgraf's claim and the changing world of television in perspective. | 10/13/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are online ads? | As someone whose paycheck in some part comes from ad revenue, talking about online advertising can feel complicated. At their worst, digitals ads are annoying, intrusive, and for those of us with modest data plans, costly. Ads also provide revenue for the majority of websites — including this one — allowing visitors to read, watch, and listen to news and entertainment free of cash payment. This month, a conversation about the merits and value of online ads came to a boil when Apple began allowing the sale of apps that block ads from appearing in Safari on mobile devices. Plenty of people have discussed whether ad blockers are morally dubious or ethically mandatory, but I want to learn more about how online ads work and why — like editorial — they range in quality and purpose. So, I invited Vox Media's CEO Jim Bankoff to explain online ads, and how we handle them at The Verge and our other sites. | 10/6/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is ASMR? | I have ASMR. Or maybe the correct phrasing is that I'm susceptible to ASMR. It's tough to talk about the phenomenon, because ASMR lacks the mandatory scientific evidence that proves, well, its existence. And if it does exist, what the hell is it anyway? A group of people have taken to the internet to discuss, examine, and enjoy a shared pleasurable sensory experience triggered by specific sounds. Not every person has the same stimulants. Some people get a tingle on their neck when they hear a soft whisper, others feel a tickle on their brain when the sound of scissors clipping hair gets close to their ear. Much of the evidence of ASMR is anecdotal, so consider this episode one of the least scientifically sound of the bunch. But the more people learn about ASMR, the more people might discover they share this unusual attribute. That's why I invited my pal, The Verge Senior Editor Ross Miller, to explain the rise in awareness of autonomous sensory meridian response. | 9/29/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Tesla? | The electric car isn't a newfangled idea birthed from the neck of a generation of idealists jaded by the economic, cultural, and atmospheric cost of oil. Our grandparents' grandparents' generation dreamed of electric cars. Some of them actually built the clear, quiet vehicles. And yet, the crop of electric cars feel, over a century later, futuristic. What changed between the 1830s and today? What took the electric car so long? This week, I invited The Verge's car lover Sean O'Kane to talk about electric cars and the most popular electric car manufacturer, Tesla Motors. | 9/22/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is instant replay? | After 16 games, dozens of touchdowns, and countless hits, the Dallas Cowboys 2014 season came to an end in January when officials, reviewing an instant replay, decided a mind-imploding reception by all-star wide receiver Dez Bryant was in fact not a reception at all. The decision seemed illogical at the time. How had officials used such powerful technology to make such a seemingly asinine call? This year, instant replay will continue to play a pivotal, if not maddening, role in professional football, along with the other major league sports that have adopted to technology into their officiating. To explain the history of instant replay, and its current role inside of sports, I invited SB Nation’s Dan Rubenstein to the show. | 9/15/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Destiny? | Destiny became so popular, so quickly that it’s success seems almost like, well, it’s destiny. But that wasn’t the case. Developer Bungie’s road to making the massive first-person shooter is strange and storied. This week, nearly a year after its release, the game will receive a substantial update, making the experience more accessible for even more players. And next week, the largest expansion to the game, The Taken King, will be released. Now is the perfect time to learn what this game is and how it instantaneously rivaled the top competitors in one of gaming’s most crowded genres. I invited Polygon’s Samit Sarkar, who handles reviews for the game’s expansion, to the show. Sarkar isn’t just a Destiny expert; he’s also a fantastic karaoke sing. Unfortunately, that will have to be discussed on another episode. | 9/8/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Star Wars? | The transformation of the fan-made greeting "May the 4th be with you" into the foundation of an annual Star Wars publicity storm had the sharp smell of cynicism. But this week it seems quaint. Force Friday, a new, wholly corporate creation, will close this work week on September 3rd. The day is an announcement and celebration of the toys and merchandise fans will see by this holiday. I'm thrilled to see The Force Awakens, but I'm already exhausted by the Star Wars hype that could continue indefinitely. To get some healthy perspective on Star Wars as films, not the centers of promotional vortexes, I invited longtime fan Bryan Bishop onto the show. We chat about how technology has allowed the actual films to be changed over the decades, both by director George Lucas and a collection of dedicated fans. | 9/1/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is fantasy sports? | A Forbes article from last years cited 33 million annual players of fantasy football. More shocking, much of fantasy football’s growth has happened in just the past 15 years thanks the to advent of online leagues. To explain fantasy football, and fantasy sports in general, I invited SB Nation host and contributor Susannah Collins to the show. Collins covers the NFL at Vox Media, and will be premiering a new show on the site later this year. | 8/25/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Virtual Sex? | My earliest memories of the internet are in AOL chat rooms. I’d spend the summer of 1998 in chats dedicated to games, James Bond movies, baseball, and whatever else interested my ten-year-old mind. Each conversation was unique, but they always began the same way. I would say, “Hello.” And a strange somewhere across the world would respond, “a/s/l/. Age. Sex. Location. “I am thirteen,” I’d explain. “Male, and from Missouri.” If they were my age, the conversation would continue. If they older, they’d disappear. As an adult, I now understand that while I was in AOL chats to talk about pop culture, a large chunk of the folks were just looking for digital hook-ups. The range, scope, and prevalence of sex technology in 2015 makes the AOL chatrooms of 1997 seem quaint. Snapchat, Tinder, and even Facebook double as social networks, dating platforms, and subtle messaging systems for sexual missives. This week, I invited sex tech consultant Lux Alptraum to explain the culture around digital sex, and how technology is influencing int | 8/18/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is biohacking? | We have a few cyborgs on staff. Ben Popper is arguably the reporter best known for peeling back his skin to insert a piece of technology, which he chronicled in his feature, Cyborg America. But others have gone under the knife. I wanted to know why. You know, because I have crippling FOMO. This week I invited my friend and co-worker Adi Robertson, a biohacker herself, to explain what biohacking is and how it works. With a little time and money, you can be ever so slightly more advanced than the human race. Just try not to get infection please. | 8/11/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is space colonization? | After a light night spent skimming the Interstellar Wikipedia page, I began to wonder about some of the bigger questions of humankind: Will we live on Mars? Will we inhabit the moon? Will we just build our own giant space home away from home? Will Matthew McConaughey ever have another year like 2014? Rather than phone Christopher Nolan, I invited The Verge's Loren Grush to tell us about space colonization. While the episode doesn't have any mind bending twists, I promise it has more scope than even the grandest summer blockbuster. | 8/4/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is internet television? | I am nostalgic for internet videos in the time before YouTube. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I remember watching strange, absurd, hideous shorts — shot on home camcorders or animated with cheap software — on websites I’m no longer sure exist. What’s strange is to think series like Teen Girl Squad, Stella, and Homestar Runner charted the path for internet television programs like House of Cards and Burning Love. To reminisce about the early days of internet television, I invited The Verge’s entertainment reporter Jamieson Cox to the show. It’s possible you missed out on the joys of these odd early days of web video, but Cox will get you caught up. | 7/28/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are video games? | If you named a video game, I could probably tell you who made it, when, and how it was received. I've reported on the medium in some capacity for seven years, and in that time I've acquired an encyclopedic-like understanding of the industry. But knowing the details doesn't mean I fully comprehend video games. The medium is so new and has tended to defy expectations, limitations, and labels. To help explain video games and the power they have, I invited my good friend and former boss, Chris Grant, the Editor-in-Chief of Polygon, to unpack things. Hopefully this is a helpful entry point for people who haven't lived and breathed video games for half a decade. | 7/21/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is beauty vlogging? | Sometimes I’m ashamed by the pockets of the internet I overlook until a friend holds them right in front of me. I knew beauty vlogging was a thing, for example, but I didn’t grasp that the video format attracts millions of viewers. Nor had I considered positive impact beauty logging has had both on its stars and its fans. To learn about beauty vlogging, I spoke with Racked Features Editor Julia Rubin. Her work is some of my favorite across Vox Media, including features on Hello Kitty, American Girl, and Barbie’s Instagram account. Maybe you’re like me, and beauty vlogging is one of your tech blindspots. If so, then we’re both lucky to have someone nice enough to not laugh us out of the room, and provide some overdue enlightenment. | 7/14/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Bitcoin? | Will Bitcoin make me rich? That was my first question about Bitcoin when I heard the term years ago. I didn’t know a thing about cryptocurrency, or why or how a Bitcoin might be used, but it sounded like an internet gold rush. I never invested in Bitcoin, and that may have been the right decision. But sometimes I think of the life that could have been. This week, I invited my brilliant pal Russell Brandom to explain Bitcoin. He has a skill for making complex things like this digestible, and he delivers yet again explaining the numbers behind the madness. | 7/7/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are selfies? | The selfie gets a bad wrap. Labeled shallow and self-centered by its critics, self-portraiture has a rich history, dating back to humanity’s earliest works of art. What changed between artists painting themselves last century, and people snapping photos of themselves today? I invited The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern to explain the selfie. Stern and I bonded at CES over our mutual love of the selfie stick — something we discuss late in the episode. Sadly, right after recording the episode, Disney announced a blow to the future of the greatest photo-snapping accessory. This one’s for you, selfie stick. You will be missed. | 6/30/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are emoji? | Emoji have become such an everyday part of my life that I can't remember my iPhone keyboard without the adorable icons. The tiny cartoon characters have been my go-to solution for Poe's Law, a way for me to express that my text messages should be read with the sobriety of a smiley face farting a stack of flying money. As is a recurring theme on What's Tech, I know little about the emoji despite relying on them. Are emoji the descendants of the ASCII art of the 1990s, or do they stem from the emoticons of AOL Instant Messenger? I invited The Verge Senior Editor Ross Miller to explain the origin of emoji, how they became so ubiquitous, and what I must do to create an emoji of my own. | 6/24/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanBonus: What is Verge ESP? | We're taking this week off because Chris is deep in the throes of E3. We'll be back with a brand new episode next Tuesday/ But today, we have a special bonus! Verge ESP is a brand new podcast from the Verge where Emily Yoshida and Elizabeth Lopatto find the place where entertainment and science meet. Every two weeks, they discuss the news and interview important people from the worlds of science and entertainment. If you want to hear more of Verge ESP, be sure to subscribe. iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/verge-esp/id999108706 SoundCloud: http://www.soundcloud.com/vergeesp RSS: http://feeds.podtrac.com/0v0iJdmvtGTS | 6/16/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Uber? | Uber is an ideal topic for an episode of What's Tech. It's a ubiquitous piece of technology that millions of people use across the planet. But even intelligent veteran tech executives throw around the name without really knowing what it represents. We've heard about "the Uber for tailors," "the Uber for trucking," and "the Uber for alcohol," along with countless other wannabes. Sometimes it seems all Uber lacks is a white cat and secret lair. And despite all of this, I now and then use the service. What is it about Uber that has me coming back, even while knowing about the company's less savory method? I invited The Verge's Uber expert Casey Newton to explain. | 6/9/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is E3? | In two weeks, I will fulfill one of my childhood dreams for the sixth time over by attending E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, held every June in Los Angeles, is no longer the biggest video game convention on the planet, but it’s the most important. I should say importance, in this case, is a measurement of money and sweat. At E3, the biggest video game publishers announce and promote their newest games, often produced with more developers at a greater expense than their predecessors. The gathering is a chance at national exposure for games that, despite their million dollar budgets, struggle to appear in national newspapers or mainstream magazines. Whether or not E3 is culturally relevant is less clear. Pop culture-wise, the latest Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed are presented like annual reports on the industry’s latest trends. You like multiplayer now? Or Horde modes? Or asynchronous co-op? They’ll have it, just tell them how to please you! But the tip of the creative spear, the games that establish what’s new and interesting and daring, they don’t have a reputation for appearing at the bombastic event. In the past, those games, made on small budgets by small teams, couldn’t afford to show up. This year may be the first E3 in which indie and PC games make a big splash. It’ll be nice to see some newcomers mingling with the familiar faces, Farming Simulators in the same room as Mario and Forza. I realize all of this may sound like nonsense to you. That’s why I invited Polygon’s Griffin McElroy to explain E3. McElroy has attended the show more times than I have, and remains enthusiastic about the spectacle. | 6/2/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is space travel? | I want to visit space before I die. I have no practical reason to do so, and surely I'm not alone. I just want to. There's something about the concept of exploration that I pine to achieve. Which is a little silly, considering I haven't seen most of the planet I live on. And yet, I look up at night, and there waits space. I invited The Verge's Science Editor and space expert Elizabeth Lopatto to provide odds on my tentative trip to space. Liz has as an astonishing grasp on the history and science of space travel. Her recounting of humanity's efforts to see what is beyond this planet is inspiring. This was one of my favorite episodes to record, and I hope it's one of your favorites to hear. | 5/26/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Twitter? | While traveling from New York City to my new home in Austin, I downloaded Twitter onto my phone. I have a sordid history with the social media platform, particularly when its stream of opinions is accessible all day, every day. But I wanted something to distract me on the long road trips, and help pass the time in an unfurnished house. Twitter is nothing if not a competent distraction. At first, the app did its job, keeping me updated on current events and interesting stories. Eventually, though, it once again tapped into an inner depression. For me, this happens every time I let the app become an addiction. I deleted Twitter again. It wasn't the first time, certainly won't be the last. How Twitter came to be is almost as interesting to me as the platform itself. To learn more about my frienemy, I invited The Verge's Silicon Valley Editor Casey Newton to explain the platform's origin and speculate on its future. Newton understands social media better than anyone I know — his Snapchat game is strong — and his analysis of Twitter is illuminating as it is accessible. | 5/19/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is high-tech coffee? | Every day I practice the same routine: I hop out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, and drink a cup of coffee. The process is so repetitive, it's become this uninspired dance I do with my eyes half closed. I never stop and consider how I could make these moments I repeat every day even a little better. That needs to change. So, I've invited The Verge's William Savona to tell me about how he improved his morning (and afternoon, and possibly evening) cup of coffee. Brewing coffee can be quite technological. Savona explains the origins of crafting the perfect cup, and what futuristic tech allows for him to fill his mug every day. | 5/12/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is the Marvel Universe? | If you watched Avengers: Age of Ultron this weekend, you're in good company. The film had one of the strongest openings of all time. As the credits rolled, though, I wondered about the sustainability of this behemoth franchise. I invited The Verge's Kwame Opam to explain the rise of the Marvel film universe, and where its characters — which span a variety of multimedia — will go in the next decade, with or without the actors who play them. | 5/4/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is a camera? | I love my new camera, even though I have little understanding of how it works. I recently wrote about the Fuji X100T, which I swear is less complicated than its Terminator-esque name would have you believe. I love how it looks, how it feels, how its pictures look like the photographs I used to take on my mother's SLR. Plus, the X100T is so easy to use, that my not knowing much about its inner workings, or even some assumed photography basics, doesn't prevent me from enjoying the experience of photography. In fact, it's been a belated re-entry point. Now, I want to know the nitty-gritty — even if I don't have to. To learn about the scope of cameras, I invited resident photography expert Sean O'Kane to this week's episode of What's Tech. But beware, this week's episode begins with a particularly spooky story. | 4/27/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is the singularity? | If only new episodes of What's Tech appeared on Mondays, we could have run this week's explanation of the Singularity on 4/20. That would have been appropriate. This is, after all, the strangest thing we've recorded — and our pilot involved a man almost crashing a drone into a woman and her child. This week, I invited The Verge's video, binaural audio, and singularity expert Ryan Manning to discuss a possible future in which a technological singularity occurs. Will we achieve a higher form of consciousness? Or will artificial intelligence view humanity as a bump on its infinite road of self-improvement? | 4/21/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is vaping? | Don't smoke. At least, don't start smoking because of this episode. Vaping has become a niche of tech culture, to the point that I can't attend a press event without getting lost in a plume of root beer flavored vapors. I don't particularly enjoy the stench, but I am curious to know how electronic cigarettes became so popular, so fast. On this week's episode of What's Tech, The Verge's Executive Editor and resident smoker explains vaping. Is it healthier than smoking? Can it be used to fight nicotine addictions? Is vaping a sport? We'll get to the heart of a probably unhealthy habit. | 4/14/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is live streaming? | When Gary Schteyngart wrote about the äppärät, an iPhone-like device that could stream our thoughts and conversations while monitoring our popularity, the idea seemed like an extreme parody of real life. The gizmo plays a central role in his 2010 novel Super Sad True Love Story; at the time, I found it distracting, seemingly cynical and implausible. I never thought the iPhone would come so close to the äppärät, let alone so within half a decade, but with Meerkat and Periscope, it seems the truth is even stranger than fiction. I invite The Verge's live streaming expert Ben Popper to tell me about the origins of live streaming, and what our future looks like on and off camera. | 4/7/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are self-driving cars? | Our future will involve driverless cars. At this year's CES, car companies and graphics card manufacturers alike featured the technology that they believe will power the vehicles of tomorrow. But how soon will we be driving hands-free? Is the country ready for driverless vehicles? This week, The Verge's car expert Chris Ziegler explains the history of the driverless car, and the incremental improvements that have led us to this moment. Strap in your seat belts! It's going to be a very smooth and safe automated ride. | 3/31/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is VR? | Recently, VR's made a striking comeback. Last year, Facebook acquired Oculus, the frontrunner in VR hardware, for $2 billion. Since then, we've seen aggressive movement in the industry from Samsung, Sony, and Valve, to name only a few of the companies that see potential in VR headsets. How has VR risen from the dead? On this week's episode, The Verge's VR expert Adi Robertson explains the history of the VR and what circumstances led to the crop of VR projects in development at many of the world's biggest tech companies. | 3/24/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is Snapchat? | You might not Snapchat, but chances are your niece or nephew loses hours each week to the increasingly popular social media app. The Verge's Sam Sheffer explains the app once known for nude pics, and how it's become a respectable competitor amongst communication services worth billions of dollars. | 3/17/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is hacking? | Hacks, exploits, and system security are regularly in the news, most notably with the hacking of Sony Pictures. Russell Brandom illuminates a culture that's more complex than how it's often portrayed, and explains the nitty-gritty in layman terms. | 3/10/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is net neutrality? | The Verge's Editor-in-Chief explains net neutrality. The recent historic vote by the FCC in favor of net neutrality will have a decisive impact on the future of the internet. But when did the pursuit of net neutrality began? And what exactly is it? Portions of this episode are excerpted from the State of the Net conference. http://www.stateofthenet.org | 3/3/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is a smartphone? | The Verge's Executive Editor Dieter Bohn explains smartphones. The iPhone and Android have made smartphones ubiquitous. But when did cell phones become smartphones? And what makes them so smart anyway? | 2/24/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat is fan fiction? | The Verge's Entertainment Editor Emily Yoshida explains fan fiction. This past week's Fifty Shades of Grey film adaptation made a staggering amount of money, but did you know the series began as Twilight fan fiction? And that fan fiction owes its prominence to technology? | 2/17/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are smartwatches? | The Verge's smartwatch expert Dan Seifert explains smartwatches. People have been clamoring for something like the smartwatch since the days of Dick Tracy, but will the new crop of smartwatches meet our futuristic expectations? | 2/12/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanWhat are drones? | The Verge's Business Editor and drone expert Ben Popper explains drones, the flying unmanned aerial devices flying over battlefields, metropolises, and Popper's own backyard. | 2/12/2015 | Free | View in iTunes |
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