Uncanny Valley | WIRED12 Feb 2021

Who Let the Doge Out

When Bitcoin first appeared out of digital thin air, it was hailed as having the potential to upend the way people spent money. But more than a decade later, cryptocurrency is still only trickling into the mainstream.

This week, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and said it plans to start accepting it as a form of payment for its electric vehicles. The price of Bitcoin immediately spiked as the move seemed to signal a shift toward broader acceptance of cryptocurrency in general. But is this just another fleeting Elon Musk stunt, or will it actually be a sustainable way of doing business?

This week on Gadget Lab, WIRED staff writer Greg Barber joins us to talk about Tesla's crypto plans, the reemergence of Dogecoin, and why the blockchain hasn't exactly revolutionized currency yet.

Show Notes:

Read Greg’s story about Tesla and Bitcoin here. Read more about how WIRED lost over $500,000 in Bitcoin here. Don’t miss Greg's CRISPR cow cover story. And here’s a good David Bowie playlist.

Recommendations:

Greg recommends the cooking website The Woks of Life. Mike recommends the Off the Record: David Bowie podcast from iHeartRadio. Lauren recommends the New York Times documentary Framing Britney Spears on Hulu.

Greg Barber can be found on Twitter @GregoryJBarber. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.

If you have feedback about the show, or just want to enter to win a $50 gift card, take our brief listener survey here.

Advertising note: WIRED Brand Lab is a creative studio from the publisher of WIRED. Gadget Lab and the WIRED newsroom are not involved in the creation of Brand Lab content.

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

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(449)

Meta's AI Workers Are Revolting; Peter Thiel's Secret Society; Will Trump Free SBF?

Brian and Zoë discuss the inside meltdown that has recently been unfolding at Meta and what it says about the company's relentless ambitions in the AI race. They also dive into the leaked messages and...

18 Juni 32min

Tim Heidecker Thinks Twitter Should Be a World Heritage Site

The satirical news publication The Onion is trying to take over Infowars, formerly owned by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and planning to put comedian Tim Heidecker in charge. Their vision...

17 Juni 39min

Why Anthropic Shut Down Its Best AI (Special News Update)

Over the weekend, the Trump administration placed export controls on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 — their most advanced AI models — citing national security concerns. This effectively leadi...

15 Juni 19min

Why You Might Already Own SpaceX Shares; Inside the Knicks' Owner's Surveillance Machine

This week, the team discusses Apple’s Siri AI brand new release, SpaceX officially going public — and who will benefit the most from it. They also get into how Meta removed a facial recognition featur...

11 Juni 40min

Trump Foe Mounts Competitive Senate Bid in Florida

When Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman, a key witness in President Trump’s first impeachment trial, announced he was running for one of Florida’s senate seats, he was considered a longshot....

9 Juni 39min

The AI IPO Race Gets Weird; Elon Musk Sued By DOGE Whistleblower; Instagram's Hacking Incident

This week, the team discusses why the race among the top AI companies to go public has just gotten started but it is already creating bizarre repercussions — including numerous San Francisco real esta...

4 Juni 26min

The Tech Behind McLaren Racing’s F1 Dominance

Formula 1 racing is a global phenomenon. McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown joins Katie to break down the historic turnaround of one of motorsport’s most iconic legacy teams. After turning around a decades-...

2 Juni 38min

How Crypto Scam Compounds Use Romance to Make Billions

Last year, a mysterious source reached out to WIRED’s senior writer Andy Greenberg — someone who claimed to be an engineer trapped in a scam compound in Laos. According to the whistleblower, the compo...

28 Maj 16min