Decoder with Nilay Patel

The Verge

Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.

Listen in podnod RSS feed Show website

956 episodes
Updated Thursday
1 subscribers

Episodes956

Newest first

Sep 19, 2023 · 51 min
After 10 years covering startups, former TechCrunch EIC Matthew Panzarino tells us what's next
It’s been a rocky and chaotic decade — and digital media is on the brink of yet another existential crisis thanks to generative AI.
Sep 12, 2023 · 57 min
More than Sally Ride: Loren Grush explains how NASA’s first women astronauts changed space
In the 1980s, space was supposed to become a booming business — and the first six women astronauts were meant to help get it off the ground.
Aug 29, 2023 · 1 hr 13 min
Biometrics? Bring it on: Why Okta’s Jameeka Green Aaron wants passwords to go away
How do you define what it means to be you in the all-digital 21st century — and how should systems protect that?
Aug 22, 2023 · 1 hr 10 min
Fandom runs some of the biggest communities on the web. Can CEO Perkins Miller keep them happy?
Users might not love ads, AI, and big changes in social media, but Perkins thinks Fandom is ready to survive and thrive in our weird new landscape.
Aug 15, 2023 · 38 min
Land of the Giants: Tesla vs. The Competition
We have a little surprise in the feed today: An episode of "Land of the Giants," which is all about Tesla this season. Former Verge transportation reporter Tamara Warren and former Jalopnik EIC Patrick George, who are both deeply sourced in the world of cars, host, and every episode has reporting and insight about Tesla that really hasn’t been shared before. It was ahead of the EV competition in basically every way for a long time. But the question Tamara and Patrick want to answer is: Is Tesla still winning by default? And where is the competition pulling ahead now that every carmaker is doing EVs? I joined them in this episode to discuss how modern cars, especially EVs, are being totally rethought as rolling computers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Aug 8, 2023 · 1 hr 9 min
There's no AI without the cloud, says AWS CEO Adam Selipsky
AWS has been around for nearly all the big computing transformations of the 21st century so far. Adam's not worried about the next one.
Jul 25, 2023 · 1 hr 21 min
Rewind: Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?
Activity Pub is having another big moment thanks to Threads and Elon’s Twitter takeover, here’s a look back at what Mastodon CEO Eugen Rochko thinks about the future of social media
Jul 18, 2023 · 1 hr 3 min
Why would anyone make a website in 2023? Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena has some ideas
Squarespace has lived through the eras of domain squatting, SEO keywords, social algorithms and is now launching AI tools. Here's what's next for the 20-year-old company.
Jul 10, 2023 · 1 hr 2 min
Inside Google’s big AI shuffle — and how it plans to stay competitive, with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis
Google invented a lot of core AI technology, and now the company’s turning to Demis to get back in front of the AI race
Jun 27, 2023 · 54 min
Why CEO David Baszucki is ready for Roblox to grow up
With over 66 million daily users, the virtual world platform is now allowing experiences exclusively for people 17 and up. What’s driving Roblox’s push to age up?
Jun 21, 2023 · 50 min
Gary Vaynerchuk is ‘petrified’ of Slack
Running the Vayner empire takes a lot of delegation — and a lot of emoji. The internet’s own GaryVee takes us through his process for mastering the present state of social media over and over again.
Jun 13, 2023 · 1 hr
Private equity bought out your doctor and bankrupted Toys”R”Us. Here’s why that matters.
Author and federal prosecutor Brendan Ballou explains why private equity is buying everything from vet offices to tech conglomerates, how it’s broken, and what can be done to fix it.
Jun 6, 2023 · 1 hr 5 min
SiriusXM’s 360 strategy with CEO Jennifer Witz
SiriusXM has scooped up Stitcher, Pandora, Team CoCo and more in recent years, but satellite radio in cars still drives the business.
May 23, 2023 · 1 hr 7 min
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on AI copilots, disagreeing with OpenAI, and Sydney making a comeback
Microsoft is putting AI copilots in everything. Will it change the way we use computers?
May 16, 2023 · 50 min
Recode Media: Inside the AI Gold Rush
Today – we’ve got a treat for you. We’re going to run a special episode from our friends over at Vox. Peter Kafka and his team just wrapped up a special 3-part series on AI. AI has captured the imagination of Silicon Valley. In fact, in the last few months, I’ve talked to both Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about AI after they announced new AI-powered search products. And in the middle of the frenzy, it's hard to tell what's really going on. What exactly is AI, how does tech plan to re-design the world with it, and why are a bunch of smart people very, very worried? In this episode, they’re diving into the gold rush around AI. Figuring out what’s just hype, meeting the VCs that are hungry to invest, and finding out if there will be room for startups, or if the giants will just own it all. If you’re a Decoder listener, this is right up your alley. Thanks to Peter Kafka and Vox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
May 12, 2023 · 42 min
Exclusive: Google’s Sundar Pichai talks Search, AI, and dancing with Microsoft
AI is one the deepest platform shifts ever, says Google’s CEO, and he’s not worried about being first.
May 9, 2023 · 1 hr 4 min
I can't make products just for 41 year old tech founders," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on taking it back to the basics
Airbnb is revamping its Rooms feature while eyeing AI and betting on work from anywhere.
May 2, 2023 · 1 hr 11 min
The social media age for news is over. Former BuzzFeed News editor Ben Smith on what’s next
Ben Smith is the former and founding editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News, the founder and editor-in-chief of Semafor, and the author of a new book called Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral, which is about the rise and fall of the social platform age in media, through the lens of Gawker Media and Buzzfeed and, in particular, their founders, Nick Denton and Jonah Peretti. I say the fall of the social platform age pretty literally: just before we spoke, Buzzfeed actually shut down Buzzfeed News, saying it just wasn’t making enough money, Facebook and the rest are all in on vertical video, and the chaos at Twitter means a lot of baseline media industry assumptions are now up for grabs. Ben and I talked about a lot – where do journalists build their brands now? Where does traffic even come from anymore? What’s next? Of course, we talked about Semafor as well. Ben and his co-founder, Justin Smith, raised $25 million and launched a news website, newsletters, and events covering the US and sub-Saharan Africa, with plans to expand into other regions. I wanted to know what lessons from Buzzfeed Ben brought into Semafor and, honestly, how he’s thinking about building an audience instead of just trying to get traffic. This is a good one. The book’s great, too. Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23470662 Links: Traffic by Ben Smith What Colors Are This Dress? TikTok - The Verge Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best - The Verge MyPillow CEO’s free speech social network will ban posts that take the Lord’s name in vain - The Verge Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed Conservative News Cambridge Analytica: understanding Facebook’s data privacy scandal - The Verge 28 Signs You Were Raised By Persian Parents In America Here's The Powerful Letter The Stanford Victim Read To Her Attacker More Than 180 Women Have Reported Sexual Assaults At Massage Envy Macedonia’s Pro-Trump Fake News Industry Had American Links, And Is Under Investigation For Possible Russia Ties Watching Silicon Valley Bank melt down from the front row, with Brex CEO Henrique Dubugras - Decoder, The Verge Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott with help from Hadley Robinson and it was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Apr 25, 2023 · 50 min
Bitcoin is still the future of payments, says Lightspark CEO David Marcus
Crypto has a lot of haters these days. A former Facebook exec is trying to prove them wrong with his Bitcoin startup.
Apr 18, 2023 · 1 hr 11 min
Brightdrop isn’t just selling electric vans — it's redesigning delivery
Travis Katz is the CEO of BrightDrop, a subsidiary of GM that makes electrified delivery vans with an eye toward rebooting all of how delivery works. BrightDrop has pretty big partnerships already, with names like FedEx, Verizon, and Walmart committed to its Zevo 600 van, and it’s got big ideas for making the steps from the van to your door more efficient as well with something called e-carts. Katz says there’s a huge demand for delivery especially as online shopping keeps getting bigger, but the transportation network is at capacity, and you can’t just keep throwing more trucks and drivers on the road, or making city streets wider. His plan is to redesign the entire system to make it more efficient. So I wanted to know how he’s attacking that problem and making it manageable, all while getting buy-in from customers that won’t really accept delays or increased costs. BrightDrop is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, so I also wanted to know how that works, what he gets from being part of the big company, and which parts slow him down. Lots of classic Decoder stuff in this one. Links: GM’s electric delivery van just set a world record — with me riding shotgun - The Verge Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23451134 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. It was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott with help from Hadley Robinson and it was edited by Callie Wright. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Editorial Director is Brooke Minters and our Executive Director is Eleanor Donovan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Decoder with Nilay Patel

After 10 years covering startups, former TechCrunch EIC Matthew Panzarino tells us what's next

More than Sally Ride: Loren Grush explains how NASA’s first women astronauts changed space

Biometrics? Bring it on: Why Okta’s Jameeka Green Aaron wants passwords to go away

Fandom runs some of the biggest communities on the web. Can CEO Perkins Miller keep them happy?

Land of the Giants: Tesla vs. The Competition

There's no AI without the cloud, says AWS CEO Adam Selipsky

Rewind: Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?

Why would anyone make a website in 2023? Squarespace CEO Anthony Casalena has some ideas

Inside Google’s big AI shuffle — and how it plans to stay competitive, with Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis

Why CEO David Baszucki is ready for Roblox to grow up

Gary Vaynerchuk is ‘petrified’ of Slack

Private equity bought out your doctor and bankrupted Toys”R”Us. Here’s why that matters.

SiriusXM’s 360 strategy with CEO Jennifer Witz

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on AI copilots, disagreeing with OpenAI, and Sydney making a comeback

Recode Media: Inside the AI Gold Rush

Exclusive: Google’s Sundar Pichai talks Search, AI, and dancing with Microsoft

I can't make products just for 41 year old tech founders," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on taking it back to the basics

The social media age for news is over. Former BuzzFeed News editor Ben Smith on what’s next

Bitcoin is still the future of payments, says Lightspark CEO David Marcus

Brightdrop isn’t just selling electric vans — it's redesigning delivery