Ring's Jamie Siminoff thinks AI can reduce crime

Former Yahoo president Sue Decker and investor Michael Dearing talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about Raftr, Decker's recently launched social platform for sane, civil discussions about topics ranging from sports to "Game of Thrones" to President Trump. Decker says the success of sites like Slack and Nextdoor has demonstrated that Facebook and Twitter are not the end-all be-all of social media and says Raftr will give people the opportunity to find new like-minded friends. Later in the show, the two talk about the journalistic responsibilities of tech companies in a world of "fake news." Dearing, the founder of venture capital firm Harrison Metal, says big platforms like Facebook can do the most good by shining a "flashlight" on hoaxers, rather than trying to write rules that disallow it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

27 Feb 201744min

Lightspeed Venture Partners' Jeremy Liew talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about being a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley at a time when the Valley no longer represents most tech consumers. Liew argues that startup founders are popping up all over because they're now making products for Middle America and the third world, not just Palo Alto and Brooklyn. He also discusses working at AOL after the notorious Time Warner merger, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel's crucial insights that enabled Snapchat's success, and why he's not too concerned about "four years of bad presidency." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

22 Feb 201754min

Bloomberg Tech journalist Brad Stone talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his latest book, "The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World." Stone argues that the stories of Uber and Airbnb are intertwined tales of competition, disruption and regulatory drama, and that both companies have driven CEOs who have found tremendous success despite several early missteps. Stone calls self-driving cars an "existential crisis" for Uber, and also talks about the future of Amazon, which he wrote about in his previous book, "The Everything Store." Stone says Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos might have a business problem under President Trump, as Bezos is also the owner of The Washington Post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

20 Feb 20171h 14min

Trivago co-founder and Managing Director Rolf Schrömgens talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about starting a search engine for hotels and why he thinks much larger rivals like Google are at a disadvantage. Schrömgens says he expects the distinctions among hotels, Airbnb listings and other forms of temporary housing to collapse over time, and wants Trivago to be able to recommend the one ideal place for a user to stay, regardless of category. He also discusses why Germany has not developed a Silicon Valley-like tech scene and why anti-immigrant fervor in the U.S., U.K. and parts of Europe is only hurting those countries and leaving them open to startup-style disruption. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

15 Feb 201746min

Flipboard CEO Mike McCue talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the recent relaunch of his company's news app, which will mixes human curation with algorithms to serve up magazine-like collections of stories. McCue reflects on why one of his first employers, Netscape, failed to look past competition with Microsoft, and why he counsels startup CEOs to focus on more than just their "exit." He also makes the case for online news consumers to value human editors and real identities, as fake news and anonymous harassment have come to define Facebook and Twitter, respectively. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

13 Feb 20171h

"Fun Home" author and "Dykes to Watch Out For" creator Alison Bechdel talks with Recode's Kara Swisher in front of a live audience in San Francisco shortly after a performance of the Tony Award-winning musical based on "Fun Home." Bechdel says the rise of social media after her hit book led to widespread acclaim, but also overexposure. The namesake of the "Bechdel Test," which evaluates movies based on the number and interactions of their female characters, Bechdel explains how Donald Trump motivated her to resurrect "Dykes to Watch Out For" and why she was comforted by the Women's March on Washington. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

8 Feb 201732min

Technology journalist and former New York Times reporter John Markoff talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his nearly three-decade long career covering tech for the Times before retiring at the end of 2016. He reflects on why Steve Jobs was both a great and terrible person to interview and how science fiction books such as "Neuromancer," "Snow Crash" and "True Names" gave him a leg up on other reporters. Markoff says the most important issues facing the tech world today include the dangers of anonymity online; how scientific advances will make it easy to edit genes; and why roboticists need to focus on creating elder care robots. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

6 Feb 201758min

Time Well Spent founder Tristan Harris talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the persuasive techniques and tricks used by companies like Twitter, Google and Facebook to make people engage with them every day. Harris's movement wants tech companies to think more often about the ethics of their design decisions, and to value their users' attention. These design choices, Harris says, are often driven by the fundamental "background problem" of advertising, and he makes the case for an "organic food movement" for tech, where users could pay to be manipulated less. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

30 Jan 20171h 7min