The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Sebastian Thrun, founder of Udacity and chief executive of Kitty Hawk, on the turning point for online education (6:40), the slow evolution of university (8:10), the broken business model of higher education (11:20), the importance of social cache (16:05), how he got started (18:40), doing it despite Stanford’s resistance (22:00), competing against the big brands (25:40), the limits of online learning (28:20), how the pandemic has impacted his other passion, flying cars (30:40), how he got started (34:40), what flying cars could do to transport (37:10), the hurdles (40:10), why history is important (42:40), the fear of uncertainty (46:00), and using AI in cancer (49:55). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson, managing partner at venture capital firm NFX, to talk about the golden age of social media (3:00), the early social network he founded (5:10), the ice age (7:20), how social media is like railroads (9:10), the opportunity for social work apps (11:50), the chilling Facebook effect (13:00), the early days of Houseparty (16:), its moment arriving five years later (20:00), the buzzy Clubhouse app (21:00), how the idea of identity has changed (22:40), his involvement in the founding of Bebo (25:15), why being first isn't necessarily best (27:50), the paucity of founders (32:10), and why we shouldn’t underestimate Facebook (32:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on John Bruce, co-founder with Sir Tim Berners-Lee of Inrupt, to talk about remaking the web (3:40), putting data back in users’ control (5:30), data pods (6:50), getting “paid” for your data (8:50), why progress will be gradual (10:50), the underlying tech (13:20), how close it is to coming to market (15:00), the pilot with the NHS (17:00), how the incumbents might react (19:10), how Covid could create an opening (22:00), how 20 people can change the web (27:00), bypassing Silicon Valley venture capital (30:10), what happens next (32:15), and what a better internet could look like (35:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Fred Turner, founder of Curative, to talk about creating a new coronavirus test (3:55), hiring 200 people in 7 weeks (5:35), what’s different about Curative’s test (7:10), how he got involved (10:40), who is backing him (13:25), starting with cows (16:00), then moving to STD’s (19:10), sepsis testing (25:20), coming from a tinkering family (26:), getting rejected by the NHS (29:00), the bottlenecks (33:10), moving to California as a teenager (35:20), raising money in a pandemic (37:30), singing up the US Air Force (41:00), and how he tests his employees (41:25). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Steve Sinclair, product head at Mojo Vision, to talk about "smart" contact lenses (2:00), why glasses are harder (4:00), working on this for ten years (7:30), gambling as a killer app (10:00), the possibilities of “invisible computing” (14:00), uses in conjunction with brain-computer interface tech (17:00), raising $159 million (20:40), how it works (23:10), the movement toward less screen time (28:20), the military applications (30:10), why now (32:50), and what else needs to be figured out (37:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, to talk about government as a manager of risk (3:35), the fifth risk (5:0), how Trump’s handling of the transition from Obama foreshadowed crisis (8:10), what he found inside the government (10:20), when he realised the nightmare scenario had arrived (12:50), why Donald Trump is responsible (15:50), why no one is surprised (19:35), the death clock (23:25), and why cowardice is dangerous (24:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Eric Ries, author of Lean Startup and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, to talk about trying to build a PPE procurement website (2:55), the problem (5:40), what he can do as a techie (10:35), starting a hotline (13:35), waiting for the government (13:45), the bottlenecks (18:00), fears of oversupply (22:05) why the cavalry is not coming (25:00), the difference between demand and production capacity (28:20), and launching a stock exchange in a pandemic (31:55). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today an edition of our new daily podcast - Stories of our times. Our new free daily news podcast takes you to the heart of the stories that matter, with exclusive access and reporting. Published for the start of your day, it is hosted by Manveen Rana and David Aaronovitch.Technology might be the answer to our problems - but could we be giving up our privacy in return for our liberty? Guest: Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times West Coast correspondent Host: David AaronovitchIf you want to hear more please search for Stories of our times and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Meredith Whitaker, founder of AI Now and organiser of the Google walk-out, to talk about how she arrived at the search giant 13 years ago (3:40), delving into tech’s effects on society (4:30), becoming a critic (6:15), and then a labour organiser (8:40), the debate on Silicon Valley working with the Pentagon (11:30), AI bias (14:50), sentencing algorithms (17:00), the Google walk-out (19:45), retaliation (22:30), the dangers of government co-opting Big Tech in the coronavirus response (25:25), how AI can reinforce societal divides (32:30), and the plight of “essential” workers (34:15). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings Damion Shelton, founder of Agility Robotics, to talk about what he did before robots (3:00), making a humanoid robot (5:20), legs v wheels (10:30), the Covid effect (12:45) the public acceptance challenge (15:30), going to market as quickly as possible (17:40), how the smartphone changed the game (23:10), delivering parcels (26:40), where he draws the line with military uses (30:05), how long before it will be this robot is in the wild (34:30), how the machines will be like volunteer firefighters (38:05), and his worst day of work (41:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.