The Times Tech Podcast cover image

The Times Tech Podcast

Latest episodes

undefined
Mar 18, 2022 • 41min

Cana's Matt Mahar: "The world's first beverage 'printer'"

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Matt Mahar, chief executive of Cana, to talk about the problem with the $2 trillion drinks company (5:55), the science of Cana (8:00), how the company started (10:00), where he worked before Cana (16:40), the product (18:15), getting people to buy in (20:00), whether “printed” drinks are good for you (23:30), providing every drink from morning to night (26:00), except for milk and beer (28:40), the specter of Juicero (31:15), and trying to find the right people (34:20).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Mar 11, 2022 • 1h 3min

Genomic Prediction’s Stephen Hsu: “Making superhumans will be possible”

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Stephen Hsu, co-founder of Genomic Prediction, to talk about the plummeting price of genomic sequencing (5:00), predicting height and cancer (9:10), mining biobanks (14:25), scoring embryos (19:00), why investors are staying anonymous (28:00), the need for a society-wide discussion (32:30), when he was accused of being a eugenicist (37:25), how powerful genetic prediction can be (43:15), genetic engineering (49:45), and why Denmark is the future (59:30).See Stephen Hsu's podcast here: https://www.manifold1.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Mar 4, 2022 • 56min

Baroness Beeban Kidron: "A generational injustice"

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Baroness Beeban Kidron to talk about the crackdown on Silicon Valley over how they treat children online (4:30), the age-appropriate design code (8:45), creating a window into the child’s experience online (13:10), the regressive effect of social media on girls and young women (18:00), the fallout from Frances Haugen’s whistleblowing (23:15), why she let he career as a film director (26:30), joining the House of Lords (31:30), leaving school at 15 (33:20), starting the 5 Rights Foundation (35:15), getting the Age Appropriate Design Code passed (41:00), and enforcing the code (45:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Feb 25, 2022 • 40min

Bessmer's David Cowan: A primer on quantum computing

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Bessemer Venture Partners’ David Cowan to talk about the potential end of Moore’s law (4:55), the double slit experiment (6:45), quantum computing (15:30), the traveling salesman problem (22:15), what quantum computers look like (2:30), the problems they will solve (30:35), and the impending quantum heist (35:15). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Feb 18, 2022 • 53min

Better Meat's Paul Shapiro: "Where's the beef? In the fermented mushroom roots"

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Paul Shapiro, founder and chief executive of Better Meat, to talk about making meat alternatives, (4:00), the $300,000 burger (11:00), using fungi (12:00), turning mushroom roots into steak (16:35), becoming an ingredient company (18:00), growing up an animal lover (19:45), starting an animal rights NGO (23:00), changing his approach (26:30), writing a book (28:40), starting Better Meat (31:50), experimenting with alternatives (33:45), his first hire (35:20), scaling up (39:20), the slow rate of innovation (43:10), his worst day of work (47:25), and society’s stubborn views on meat (49:05). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Feb 11, 2022 • 54min

Kernel's Bryan Johnson: "Measuring the mind and reengineering society"

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Bryan Johnson, founder of Kernel, to talk about creating a new brain-measuring device (4:20), why he did it (7:10), launching a new layer of brain data in society (10:00), bringing the product to market (14:30), taking inspiration from Sir Ernest Shackleton (18:10), selling the Kernel Flow for smartphone price (20:40), creating new markets (24:30), funding it himself (28:00), measuring willpower (30:30), his startup as a reaction to Big Tech (35:3), choosing a Shackleton-type voyage over retiring to a farm (39:40), and Danny's brain results (43:10). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Feb 4, 2022 • 42min

Pivot Bio's Karsten Temme: "Microbial factories"

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Karsten Temme, co-founder of Pivot Bio, to talk about engineering microbes (4:30), the problem with fertilizer (7:50), why agriculture needs to be remade (12:00), starting a company (15:15), finding farmers (20:00), tuning their microbes (23:35), the century of biology (30:10), overcoming skeptics (31:40), raising $430 million (36:50), and when birds ruined his day (37:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Jan 28, 2022 • 1h 8min

Relativity Space’s Tim Ellis: “Building the world’s first 3D-printed rocket”

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Tim Ellis, co-founder of Relativity, to talk about why he chose 3D printing (5:00), reducing the ways things can go wrong (11:25), how it works (15:00), the cost difference vs traditional manufacturing (26:05), why Mars (30:10), leaving Blue Origin to start the company (40:15), raising money and getting into Y Combinator (46:25), manufacturing on Mars (52:45), selling investors on the idea (59:00), and the impending launch (1:05:30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Jan 21, 2022 • 1h 2min

Parler's George Farmer: "Hate speech is subjective"

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on George Farmer, chief executive Parler, to talk about how he started there (5:40), growing up in London (9:15), backing Brexit (14:40), getting married at Eric Trump’s winery (16:05), his plans for Parler (17:05), what’s the problem with social media (19:00), the echo chamber (23:55), how Parler moderates content (30:25), defining hate speech (32:20), the right’s victim mentality (37:40), traditional versus social media (40:05), the problem with Section 230 (45:35), diversifying (51:20), the luxury of being small (56:50), and Trump’s new social media app (59:20).Want to hear our interview with Parler's founder? It's here:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parlers-john-matze-hate-speech-is-free-speech/id1233991021?i=1000494947820 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
undefined
Jan 14, 2022 • 1h 10min

Celsius’ Alex Mashinsky: “This is a fight for all the money in the world”

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Alex Mashinsky, founder of Celsius, to talk about creating a crypto fund manager (3:25), managing risk (8:40), growing up in Israel (11:50), buying a one-way ticket to New York (14:10), his first startup (16:10), launching a voice-over-IP company (22:50), getting kicked out of his own company (27:50), trying to build Uber before Uber (30:10), putting wifi in the New York subway (34:10), getting into crypto (37:10), getting rejected by 200 venture capitalists (42:15), going from zero to $24 billion in assets under management (44:00), “centralised finance” (48:35), why he put $300 million of his own cash into Celsius (50:25), the future of crypto (55:05), and Web 3 and the fight for the future of money (1:02:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get the Snipd
podcast app

Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
App store bannerPlay store banner

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode

Save any
moment

Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways

Share
& Export

Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more

AI-powered
podcast player

Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features

Discover
highlights

Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode