The Times Tech Podcast

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dan Woods, cyber security expert at Shape Security, to answer five big question about hacking and online crime. 1. How likely is it that your online details are for sale online right now? (3:10) 2. What are the weirdest scams he has found? (6:40) 3. Are state actors or criminal gangs the biggest threat? (11:35), 4. Why is being a cyber criminal so easy (20:35) and 5. What should you do to protect yourself (24:40). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’s tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Ethan Brown, founder of Beyond Meat, on why he got into “clean meat” (4:15), treating the problem like climate change (6:00), the four building blocks of meat (8:15), the problems he is trying to solve (9:15), growing up around a farm (13:00), his first career in green energy (15:00), starting in 2009 with "chicken wood chips" from Taiwan (17:30), why smell matters (18:45), the centrality of meat in life (21:30), recreating the cow through plants (23:45), attracting Kleiner Perkins, Bill Gates and other investors (25:15), going into battle over the word “meat” (29:15), how scientific progress has made “clean meat” possible (33:00), coming to Europe (35:15), why it costs more (36:55), whether we are at “peak cow” (40:10), his worst day of work (42:15), why he invited “Big Meat” into the company (44:00), and the taste test (45:25). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, discusses his investment in Memphis Meats, the formation of a $2bn fund with TPG, and his backing of Hyperloop. He also talks about the future of lunar tourism, the resurgence of vinyl, and how #metoo has influenced his approach to business. Branson shares his thoughts on eternal life and explains why he hasn't retired yet.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Jaron Lanier, virtual reality pioneer, computer scientist, and author, to talk about being a “traitor” to Silicon Valley (3:40), the “bummer machine” (7:10), being purposefully alarmist (7:50), why nastiness is the crude oil of social media (9:10), why technology's role in social movements is misleading (12:20), why we should be like cats (16:25), why the incentives need to be remade (18:45), how the industry could be overhauled (21:05), on whether the tech industry is having an identity crisis (23:30), the death of context (28:10), the survival of the human race (32:20), aiding the education of artificial intelligence (34:05), and AI marketing nonsense (41:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Christina Bognet, founder for PlateJoy, to talk about changing how people eat (3:10), combating diabetes virtually (5:35), weighing in online (11:05), going to MIT (13:40), gaining and losing 50 lbs (14:55), getting inspiration from Stripe’s Patrick Collison (18:15), nabbing investment from her first pitch (19:15), getting into Y Combinator (20:15), the importance of education (22:30), why she doesn’t use the “D” word (27:00), the rise of preventative medicine (28:00), food photographers (33:00), why fasting may not be a terrible idea (34:05), and making this available to the poor (39:45) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson takes a deep dive into the esports world, starting in Los Angeles, home of the new Overwatch League, (4:00). We examine how gaming could become a spectator sport (6:00), what it takes to be a pro (12:25), why life is tough as a pro (15:00), the importance of streaming (17:50), selling the dream (21:55), esports youth leagues (26:15), why careers are brutally short (27:30), and the need to bring more women into the fold (29.30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Suhkinder Singh Cassidy, founder of theBoardlist, to talk about the lack of women in tech (3:00), why that’s a problem (4:05), how scandal has created urgency (6:40), working at Amazon pre-bubble (9:45), losing 95% of her fortune (11:30), launching a fintech startup in 2003 (13:10), helping start Google Maps (13:45), starting a rival to Home Shopping Network (15:05), and then theBoardlist (16:30), the lack of demand for female board members (18:20), the problem with the obsession with growth (19:55), why senior women are unicorns (21:35), the venture capital boys club (22:40), her experience with sexism (24:20), the reaction to #metoo (28:50), what works in startups (31:40), why ‘product market fit’ is the key (34:20), why she spends so much time on hiring (34:15), and why living a balanced life is not possible (35:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times' tech correspondent brings on Scott Galloway, NYU professor and author of The Four, to answer five big tech questions in 2018. 1. Is the (ad-based) Internet broken? (2:00), 2. Should Facebook be broken up? (3:40), How has Amazon managed to avoid the backlash? (6:00), 4. Why have advertisers not flexed their muscles (9:40), and 5. Is this any different from the robber barons or other eras where a handful of companies dominated industries? (13:45). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Scott Phoenix, founder of artificial intelligence startup Vicarious, to talk about the dawn of the robot age (4:30), the “last invention” (6:05), replicating the human brain (8:55), putting robots in the wild (10:00), how he got into AI (11:15), why he’s not 500 years too early (12:20), why Elon Musk is wrong (13:15), having Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos as investors (16:55), not wanting to be an investment banker (18:05), launching a Y combinator startup (19:00), AI’s evolution (20:10), solving Captcha’s (22:05), understanding how the brain works (25:40), why general AI could change everything (28:10), the danger of bias (29:50), in-home robots (33:45), and what society looks like when AI takes over (36:10). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sunday Times tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Bill Gates to talk about being the world’s biggest philanthropist (3:00) eradicating malaria (1:40), saving Africa’s children (6:10), wiping polio off the planet (7:40), applying big data to public health (9:30), why he cares (11:10), whether the new generation of billionaires care (14:20), launching the Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett (16:10), the economic dividend from saving kids (18:05), Africa’s exploding population (19:30), creating new multinational organisations (23:15), the malaria crisis (24:25) the need for a technology leap (25:40), how this compares to Microsoft (27:35), partnering with Warren Buffett (30:10), whether he has tried to tackle mass-shootings (31:25), the inevitability that AI will replace human work (32:45), whether we need a robot tax (35:20), the Facebook problem (36:55), the danger of cryptocurrencies (38:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.