What Next: TBD | Tech, power, and the future

After years of careful planning and public spats, Apple and Epic—the maker of Fortnite—have spent the last three weeks in court, fighting over the future of mobile gaming. What happens if, for once, Apple loses?Guest: Elizabeth Lopatto, deputy editor at the Verge HostLizzie O’Leary  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, a hacker group called DarkSide shut down the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East Coast. Gas prices skyrocketed, people started hoarding gas, and DarkSide walked away with over $4 million in Bitcoin. How did they do it? And what makes this hack different from those we’ve seen before?Guest: David Uberti, cybersecurity reporter at the Wall Street JournalHostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Serum Institute of India was supposed to supply vaccines not just to India, but to the entire Global South. Now, with cases surging, there aren’t nearly enough vaccines for India’s population, not to mention the many countries that are relying on it. How did such a successful institution come up so short? And what are the costs of that failure?Guest: Samanth Subramanian, senior reporter at QuartzHostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question of Donald Trump’s banned account--to keep it blocked, or reinstate it--is one of the toughest that Facebook has ever faced. But the social network had a plan: punt the decision to its newly minted Oversight Board, a semi-independent “Supreme Court” tasked with making hard decisions about what content stays up, and what comes down. Did that plan just backfire?Guest: Kate Klonick, professor at St. John’s University School of Law HostLizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There was a time—back when Steve Jobs ran Apple and Mark Zuckerberg was in his early days as Facebook’s CEO— that Apple and Facebook were friends.. Or, at worst, frenemies. But as the companies grew, so did two competing views of how the internet should work. What led to the rift between Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook? And will Apple’s new privacy rules undercut Facebook’s vision for the internet?Guest:  Mike Isaac, tech reporter at the New York Times HostLizzie O’Leary  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last week, a Tesla Model S crashed into a tree in a neighborhood north of Houston. Both men inside the car were killed. But according to police, neither of them was in the driver’s seat. This is not the first crash in which Tesla’s “autopilot” feature has likely played a role. Should we really be trusting this technology?Guest: Missy Cummings, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke UniversityHostLizzie O’Leary  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like countless venture-funded start-ups before it, Substack is “disrupting” the media industry. The newsletter service is siphoning off high-profile talent with a promise of independence and bigger paychecks. But the platform’s influence might reach far beyond the media. Will Substack change the way we think about online creators and their audiences? Can it create a new kind of relationship between them?Guest:  Charlie Warzel, writer of Galaxy Brain HostLizzie O’Leary  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since the start of the pandemic, usage of apps like BetterHelp and Talkspace has skyrocketed. These apps might make mental health care more accessible, but are the products they sell really the same as therapy?Guest:  Molly Fischer, features writer for the Cut at New York MagazineHostLizzie O’Leary  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICYMI is Slate’s new podcast about internet culture. It’s a show for people who have a healthy relationship with the internet, made by people who really, really don’t. It’s hosted by Slate’s Madison Malone Kircher and Rachelle Hampton. Twice a week they’ll explore what’s trending at the top of your feeds, investigate the ghosts of internet past, and help you sound like the smartest person in your group chat.In the episode you’re about to hear, they take you on an all-access tour of Clubhouse, the invite-only audio app that already has millions of users, including everyone from Elon Musk and Drake to Oprah and Joe Rogan. Madison somehow ends up taking a shower with hundreds of other users? The app also doesn’t allow people to record and publish audio, so this episode will probably get them banned.If you like what you hear, or you want to be the first to know whether Madison gets kicked off Clubhouse, subscribe to ICYMI wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are at least 17 different “vaccine passport” initiatives underway in the United States. And leaked documents reveal that the Biden administration fears that “a chaotic and ineffective vaccine credential approach could hamper our pandemic response by undercutting health safety measures, slowing economic recovery, and undermining public trust and confidence.” Without coordination, a chaotic and ineffective approach seems likely. So, what can, and what should, the Biden administration do to avoid this outcome? And what are the risks and rewards of coordinating an effort that divides Americans along the lines of vaccination status?Guest:  Dan Diamond, health policy and politics reporter for the Washington PostHostLizzie O’Leary  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices