You’ve Got to Know When to Fold ‘Em
Uncanny Valley | WIRED23 Helmi 2019

You’ve Got to Know When to Fold ‘Em

At its flagship phone event this week in San Francisco, Samsung announced not one but four different versions of the new Galaxy S10: A phone with a 6.1-inch display, a plus-sized model, a “less expensive” version of the phone, and a handset that will support 5G networks when it ships. But the most interesting part of the launch was undeniably Samsung’s reveal of its new foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold. It wasn’t the very first time this phone was shown off, but this time around Samsung showed a demo, shared a ship date, and announced that it would cost a whopping $1980. How will a foldable phone fit into our lives? How does any super-expensive smartphone fit into our lives (and our budgets) these days? These are a couple of the questions we had for Axios chief tech correspondent Ina Fried, who has tracked the mobile industry for more than a decade and who joined us on this week’s Gadget Lab podcast. Ina brought nearly half a dozen phone models with her to compare to the new Samsung wares, and, even though it was visual demonstration on an audio podcast, you’re not going to want to miss this. Show notes: You can read all about Samsung’s new phones here, along with all of the other hardware Samsung announced this week. Here’s Brian Barrett’s story on the folding phone. If you’ve already made up your mind to order one of the new Galaxy S10 phones, here’s how to do it. Recommendations: Ina recommends seeing The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, as well as the third and final installment in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. Arielle recommends the astrology app Co-Star, especially if you’ve deleted Facebook and are having trouble keeping track of birthdays. Lauren recommends Purple Carrot, a vegan-friendly meal-kit service. Send the Gadget Lab hosts feedback on their personal Twitter feeds. Arielle Pardes can be found at @pardesoteric. Lauren Goode is @laurengoode. Michael Calore can be found at @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. Our theme song is by Solar Keys. How to Listen You can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here’s how: If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts, and search for Gadget Lab. And in case you really need it, here’s the RSS feed. If you use Android, you can find us in the Google Play Music app just by tapping here. You can also download an app like Pocket Casts or Radio Public, and search for Gadget Lab. And in case you really need it, here’s the RSS feed. We’re also

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Jaksot(364)

Are Dating Apps Getting Worse?

Are Dating Apps Getting Worse?

Dating apps have evolved a lot over the years, with apps dedicated to any romantic niche– dog lovers, astrology heads, and big, bushy beards. Despite the seemingly endless options of dating platforms, the industry seems to be at a low. So this week, we talk about the current state of dating apps and what it means for those looking for love (or something like it). Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

13 Helmi 41min

WIRED News Update: Keeping Tabs on DOGE

WIRED News Update: Keeping Tabs on DOGE

WIRED Politics Senior Editor Leah Feiger joins Global Editorial Director Katie Drummond to talk about the latest at DOGE and the inexperienced engineers holding key positions at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. They discuss how WIRED’s been preparing for this moment since the first assassination attempt on Trump last summer, and how, despite the unprecedented chaos of this moment, the courts will catch up. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

12 Helmi 26min

TikTok Stole Our Hearts, But Can It Last?

TikTok Stole Our Hearts, But Can It Last?

On a Sunday in January, TikTok users were greeted with a notification in the app which said that TikTok was no longer available to use in the U.S., but that it hoped to be back soon. The following day, President Trump took office and signed an executive order keeping the app around another 75 days. But, it’s still unclear what will happen with TikTok after those 75 days are up. This week, we break down years of drama around the potential ban on TikTok, and we ask each other: what makes this app so unique and so uniquely vulnerable? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

6 Helmi 32min

The World According to Marc Andreessen

The World According to Marc Andreessen

It wasn’t that long ago that one of Silicon Valley's most prominent and influential venture capitalists, Marc Andreessen, was a major supporter of the Democratic Party. So how did he, in such a short time, transform into a top advisor to the Trump administration? This week, we retrace Andreesen’s steps–from his early days at Netscape to his current role of “unpaid intern” at DOGE. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

30 Tammi 38min

Zuck Ends Fact-Checking. What Could Go Wrong?

Zuck Ends Fact-Checking. What Could Go Wrong?

With the news that Meta is ending its third-party fact-checking program, we dig into the future of content moderation. From Community Notes to automated systems, how do you manage trust and safety for a site with two billion daily active users?Write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com.You can follow Michael Calore on BlueSky at @snackfight, Lauren Goode on BlueSky at @laurengoode, and Zoë Schiffer on Threads @reporterzoe. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

23 Tammi 41min

We Turned Our Lives Over to AI Assistants

We Turned Our Lives Over to AI Assistants

Sometimes you just need a little help. That’s where the robots come in! But, have we actually reached a place where AI is more helpful than working with a human expert? This week, we compare notes on our week with AI assistants. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

16 Tammi 37min

Musk Takes Washington

Musk Takes Washington

What do Dogecoin and the Department of Government Efficiency have in common? Elon Musk, of course. This new government committee led by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy is being tasked with cutting the federal budget. So this week, we examine the Silicon Valley mindset behind it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

9 Tammi 36min

From Critics at Large: Will Kids Online, In Fact, Be All Right?

From Critics at Large: Will Kids Online, In Fact, Be All Right?

In her new FX docuseries “Social Studies,” the artist and filmmaker Lauren Greenfield delves into the post-pandemic lives—and phones—of a group of L.A. teens. Screen recordings of the kids’ social-media use reveal how these platforms have reshaped their experience of the world in alarming ways. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss how the show paints a vivid, empathetic portrait of modern adolescence while also tapping into the long tradition of fretting about what the youths of the day are up to. The hosts consider moral panics throughout history, from the 1971 book “Go Ask Alice,” which was first marketed as the true story of a drug-addicted girl’s downfall in a bid to scare kids straight, to the hand-wringing that surrounded trends like rock and roll and the postwar comic-book craze. Anxieties around social-media use, by contrast, are warranted. Mounting research shows how screen time correlates with spikes in depression, loneliness, and suicide among teens. It’s a problem that has come to define all our lives, not just those of the youth. “This whole crust of society—people joining trade unions and other kinds of things, lodges and guilds, having hobbies,” Cunningham says, “that layer of society is shrinking. And parallel to our crusade against the ills of social media is, how do we rebuild that sector of society?”Listen to and follow Critics at Large here:  http://swap.fm/l/tny-cal-feeddrop Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

2 Tammi 49min