The Times Tech Podcast

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Timnit Gebru, former co-head of Google’s ethical AI research team, to talk about how she arrived at Google (3:30), starting Black in AI (5:30), why diversity matters (8:40), her work at Google (12:30), gender shades research (15:50), the paper that got her booted from Google (19:10), large language models (20:50), what her paper addressed (27:30), why AI matters (30:15), the danger of undermining independent research (33:15), her co-founder getting fired (35:40), getting harassed online (37:20), and the tension between corporations and academia (39:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 Mars 202142min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Kulveer Taggar, founder of Zeus Living, to talk about a year like no other (2:50), the first wave of cancellations 6:230), choosing to give money back (10:10), getting blanked by investors (11:40), his “Jerry Maguire” moment (14:15), Zoom layoffs (16:00), regaining ground (20:10), his co-founder’s wife getting cancer (23:10), getting back to growth (30:20), the hotel industry (34:15), changing how he works (36:30), and hearing from ex-employees (42:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Mars 202146min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Varsha Rao, chief executive of Nurx, to talk about running a women’s health company in Covid (2:50), seeing demand double (6:40), the staying power of telehealth (8:50), doing a startup in the first dotcom boom (13:35), what she learned (16:35), being a female founder (18:20), joining as an early executive at Airbnb (20;50), shifting to healthcare (25:30), starting at Nurx at a difficult time (27:55), launching migraine and acne treatments (31:30), convincing insurance companies to pay (33:10), what’s changed since the first bubble (36:40), and her best and worst days (38:05). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

26 Feb 202144min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Delian Asparouhov, founder of Varda Industries, to talk about manufacturing in space (3:00), the collapse in launch costs (6:45), SpaceX’s Starship (8:55), coming to America from Bulgaria (11:30), the math Olympiad (12:20), his previous tech jobs (14:55), founder dating (17:45), building space factories (24:20), the ‘coming down’ challenge (26:05), setting a 2-year timeline (29:20), the pitch to investors (30:50), what else can be made in microgravity (34:05), and what you can do in two days in space (41:20).Get The Times free for a month: https://app.times.radio/dannyinthevalley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19 Feb 202146min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jason Calacanis, to talk about the de-platfroming of Trump (4:45), the revelation that is Trump-less Twitter (9:15), Silicon Valley v the media (12:15), the editing process (17:30), his term “late-stage journalism” (19:50), subscriptions and popularity (23:25), the direction of journalism (28:00), the increased scrutiny of Big Tech (30:30), free agent journalists (34:15), Twitter v Clubhouse (36:30), and Robinhood (41:45).Get The Times free for a month: https://app.times.radio/dannyinthevalley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 Feb 202146min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Jared Isaacman, founder of Shift4 Payments, to talk about flying the first civilian mission to space (4:15), on whether he is scared (7:00), starting a company at 16 (8:15), early success (11:15), creating the world’s largest air force (12:35), buying fighter jets around the world (16:05), training for space (17:50), funding kids cancer research (22:50), being a billionaire (24:25), the space flight (26:15), what his company is seeing amid Covid-19 (30:25), going public in a pandemic (32:00), giving away his money (33:15), flying Russian MiG fighter jets for fun (36:40), and breaking a round-the-world flying record (37:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Feb 202141min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Alexis Rivas of Cover to talk about rebuilding home-building (3:45), starting small (7:40), using software to automate the process (9:00), the original idea (11:20), getting into Y Combinator (13:45), the Lego method (15:45), the mini-boom in construction tech (18:20), the homelessness problem (21:30), the cost difference (25:05), overhauling the industry (27:45), and his worst day of work (31:45).Get The Times free for a month: https://app.times.radio/dannyinthevalley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

29 Jan 202136min

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Eric Goldman, law professor at Santa Clara University, to talk about what tech regulation will look like under Joe Biden (4:00), Congressional gridlock (7:00), the importance of Section 230 (8:15), social media’s Lehman Brothers moment (10:25), cable news’ central role in disinformation (12:40), what he would do as tech czar (14:05), and the effectiveness of labelling posts (17:05). THEN: Utah State economist Eli Dourado comes on to talk about the biggest tech innovations of the next decade, like life extension (18:45), being a different kind of economist (24:00), the prize of increasing healthspan (26:10), turning back the clock (27:45), the Apple Watch replacing your doctor (30:15), when electric cars take over (32:20), machine learning enabling super human performance (36:10), why he focuses on innovation (39:50), why the future is in space (41:05), outer space manufacturing (45:50), glasses as the next frontier of computing (50:15), and the 1960’s as the golden age of productivity (53:20).Get The Times free for a month https://app.times.radio/dannyinthevalley Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

22 Jan 202158min