Decoder with Nilay Patel

In this bonus episode of Recode Decode, you get two interviews for the price of one, both conducted by Recode's Kara Swisher at the Lesbians Who Tech Summit in New York City. First, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman and HuffPost editor in chief Lydia Polgreen talk about "Trump, technology and the future of news." In the second half of the show (28:02), actor Jane Lynch ("Glee," "Party Down") talks about the future of entertainment and technology. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

22 Sep 201858min

Journalist and author Nancy Jo Sales talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new HBO documentary, "Swiped: Hooking Up in the Digital Age." In this episode:03:41 - How Sales started writing about teenage culture08:20 - The psychological impact of the internet10:38 - "What's Tinder?"12:31 - Cheerleading tech and platforms' responsibility19:25 - Why Sales made "Swiped"25:07 - The gamification of dating29:13 - Harassment and sexual assault37:13 - Can dating apps offer more than casual sex?40:11 - Technology addiction and the paradigm of convenience45:54 - VR sex and sex robots52:26 - Is there a positive side? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

19 Sep 201857min

Kai-Fu Lee, the CEO of Sinovation Ventures and former president of Google China, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, "AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order." In this episode:00:55 - Lee's background & Google China03:32 - Why he left Google05:41 - Why American companies struggled to compete in China09:46 - It's not all because of the government12:23 - Investing in artificial intelligence18:42 - What "AI Superpowers" means21:15 - Data and privacy in China vs. the West25:17 - Where AI is going next30:17 - How Lee thinks about American tech companies33:09 - The impact of AI on jobs40:10 - The political implications of those job changes43:30 - The responsibilities of tech creators and investors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

17 Sep 201849min

Former deputy CTO of the United States Nicole Wong talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about the future of tech policy and why content moderation is more complicated than many people think. In this episode:01:29 - How Wong became a First Amendment lawyer04:12 - Why she took a job at Google07:05 - "You can’t be the lawyer that says no all the time.”08:30 - Why she left Google09:34 - The White House phone call12:19 - Making the government more technologically literate14:42 - Post-government life17:48 - Congress, Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey21:26 - “You don’t create solutions in a hearing”26:33 - Is it time for a "slow food movement for the Internet?”31:01 - Algorithmic “bias” and the danger of blunt instruments34:46 - The social media “cleaners” in the Philippines41:22 - Techlash44:11 - China’s quicker road to tech dominance46:17- With no American CTO, who’s in charge?48:30 - Google and China 52:59 - Diversity in tech Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

12 Sep 201856min

Mark Leibovich, the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, "Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times." In this episode:02:07 - Leibovich’s short stint as a tech reporter04:06 - “This Town” and burning bridges in Washington06:00 - How he got into writing about the NFL 07:58 - The goal of reporting and writing “Big Game”10:12 - The fault lines emerging in America’s football addiction11:58 - Football will survive in spite of the owners18:47 - Why these are “dangerous times” for the NFL19:52 - Donald Trump’s football dreams21:55 - “The kneeling thing”24:17 - The impact of Colin Kaepernick’s protests on the NFL27:22 - The other dangers to the league29:01 - Smarter helmets and cord-cutting37:18 - Robots playing football and other tech40:35 - Where does football go next?43:18 - Returning to politics and the “Trump swamp”45:51 - Working at the “failing New York Times” next to Maggie Haberman48:11 - Should we change the way we cover politics and sports?52:05 - Who does Leibovich love and hate in the NFL? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10 Sep 201852min

April Underwood, the chief product officer at workplace collaboration platform Slack, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her career, diversity in Silicon Valley and the future of work. In this episode:02:06 - How Underwood got from Texas to tech05:36 - Moving to Oregon to work for Intel, and back to Texas07:09 - What does a product manager actually do?09:32 - Organizing content at Google11:01 - Why she left Google for Twitter15:50 - Why Slack is better than email20:02 - AOL at Work and the danger of outages24:15 - Slack’s growing valuation and staying independent27:55 - How Slack works and how it integrates with other services32:34 - Security and innovation35:43 - The biggest obstacles Slack faces40:45 - The features users are asking for the most45:45 - #Angels and “the gap table"49:55 - How does Slack fare on diversity?51:22 - Is Silicon Valley getting better at diversity and inclusion?53:13 - “Where we are now is the dark timeline"56:52 - What would Underwood do if she were running Twitter?58:43 - The future of work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

5 Sep 20181h 2min

Matt Rivitz, the formerly anonymous founder of the popular Twitter account Sleeping Giants, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how he accidentally started an international campaign against advertising-supported bigotry online. In this episode:01:54 - “My white-hot hated for Steve Bannon”05:01 - The advertising angle and making @slpng_giants11:39 - Teaming up with Nandini Jammi14:58 - The "moment I think when we knew that we were on to something much bigger”18:43 - “It was never about politics”21:05 - Moving on to Bill O’Reilly and Fox24:52 - Why Sleeping Giants doesn’t boycott and doesn’t make demands27:49 - Laura Ingraham and Robert Mercer31:13 - Facebook, Google and the “free speech argument”39:47 - Where does Sleeping Giants go next?42:34 - "We’re all determined not to take any money for this.”45:47 - How Rivitz got unmasked49:50 - Going beyond Twitter and being the “conscience of social media" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3 Sep 201851min

Makan Delrahim, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the government's attempt to stop the merger of AT&T and Time Warner and how he evaluates tech giants like Google and Facebook. In this episode:01:52 - Delrahim’s background in biotech and law06:28 - The importance of tech transfer09:17 - How he got into tech and antitrust law11:48 - The power of early tech titans14:35 - United States v. Microsoft Corp.19:08 - How Delrahim evaluates Silicon Valley’s power today23:43 - Robert Jackson and the history of antitrust25:57 - The AT&T-Time Warner case36:00 - What happens next with the government’s appeal37:39 - The optics of President Trump’s CNN hatred42:29 - Big telcos and net neutrality46:54 - Could Google have bought YouTube today?49:37 - Future tech M&A53:06 - International regulators and “antitrust laws as a weapon”57:30 - What could tech do that would get them in trouble? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1 Sep 201859min