Kara and Scott discuss why the Google Plus hack matters, the new Facebook Portal and its plastic lenscap, and Kara's affection for Taylor Swift (even before Swift's Instagram post exhorting her fans to register to vote). In this episode: (01:48) The Google hack; (7:03) Facebook Portal; (12:49) Wins of the week: Taylor Swift and Nikki Haley; (16:23) Anand Giridharadas and the problem with elites; (21:12) Predictions: Sniper retail acquisitions and techlash; (25:51) Would Apple or Google buy...

On this episode of Pivot, Kara and Scott talk about: (01:20) Facebook's massive data breach; (06:05) Elon Musk's $20 million SEC settlement; (12:43) Wins of the week: Jeff Flake, Amy Klobuchar and Jeff Bezos; (20:47) Soul-sappingCycle and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Kara and Scott talk about the dramatic departure of Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, Attorney General Jeff Sessions' war on "tech bias," and the future of Snap. In this episode: (01:44) The big story: Why did Instagram’s co-founders leave?; (07:13) Attorney General Jeff Sessions and “tech bias”; (12:39) Will Amazon buy Snapchat?; (17:44) GOATs of the week: Craig Newmark and Margrethe Vestager; (20:08) Absurd quotes of the week; (21:27) Scott’s prediction on the future of...

A weekly look at tech and business headlines, with provocations, predictions and insights from two leading voices in the worlds of journalism and marketing.

Two and a half years ago, we launched Too Embarrassed to Ask. And now, having answered your questions about everything from Snapchat to Juicero to tech addiction, it’s time to goodbye ... or maybe Goode-bye? This week, Recode’s Kara Swisher reunites with her longtime co-host Lauren Goode (now a senior writer at Wired) for one final show and one final “hashtag money.” They talk about wearables, podcasts, Phoebe’s twin sister on “Friends,” Facebook’s year of scandals and — of course — their...

Microsoft Research scientist Jaron Lanier talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, "10 Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now." He explains why those who have the opportunity to quit platforms like Facebook and Twitter should do so, comparing the problem to past crusades against “mass addictions” like smoking or drunk driving. Lanier also talks about the future of virtual reality, a field in which he helped drive interest in the 1990s.

Northeastern University assistant professors Dave Choffnes and Christo Wilson talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about their recent year-long investigation into a popular online conspiracy theory: Smartphones are secretly turning on their microphones to record conversations and serve us more targeted ads. Choffnes and Wilson say that although there have been a small number of apps that have surveilled users, they tested 17,000 of the most popular apps on Android and found that this doesn't...

House of Highlights creator Omar Raja talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about how he built his sports-focused Instagram account into a social media juggernaut. Today, it's owned by Bleacher Report and has nearly 10 million followers. Raja hasn't taken a day off in four years; however, the fame of the account has connected him with basketball stars like Kobe Bryant, who earlier this year gave Raja a personal pep talk and cured a growing sense of burnout. He also talks about how he decides what...

Renée DiResta, the head of policy at Data for Democracy, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about how disinformation is spread on social media platforms and what can be done about it. DiResta says the tech community wouldn't be talking about this problem as much if Donald Trump had not won the presidency in 2016 — and that’s unfortunate, because a huge and diverse number of groups have weaponized social media, not just pro-Trump Russian agents. She explains why consumers shouldn’t be afraid of...

Recode’s Kara Swisher, her son Louie Swisher and Recode Radio producer Eric Johnson talk about Sandbox VR, a new virtual reality arcade installation south of San Francisco that they visited together, along with Kara’s other son, Alex. They share their reactions to an action-packed pirate video game, in which everyone was wearing a backpack computer and a VR headset and could roam freely around a room, all while shooting evil skeletons, dodging ghosts and solving puzzles. Kara says she’d...

Entrepreneur Anil Dash, the CEO of Fog Creek Software, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about ethics and accountability in the tech industry. Dash recounts his first “eye-opening moment” about the potential for abuse on the web, and why he is encouraged by an apparent shift in the tone of the conversation about harassment and inclusion. He also proposes a new way to talk about the worst forms of platform misuse, such as the genocide in Myanmar that has been fueled in part by Facebook. Plus:...

Recode's Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka talk about this week's ruling that AT&T could buy Time Warner, likely ending a lawsuit brought against the companies by the U.S. Justice Department. The decision almost immediately triggered a $65 billion bid from Comcast for 21st Century Fox, which Disney had been publicly courting at a lower price. And more generally, Kafka says it means that any media distributor now feels free to buy content companies, should they want to mirror AT&T's planned...

Recode’s Kara Swisher and Dan Frommer talk about the 2018 edition of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Frommer explains why the company has stopped regularly unveiling new hardware at the event, and why Apple's decision to break that rule last year with an early preview of the HomePod smart speaker may have backfired. He also recaps the big announcements from this year’s conference, including updates to Siri and Apple’s augmented reality technology, ARKit. Plus: Why FaceTime now...

Recode's Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka, the co-producers of the 2018 Code Conference, talk with Converge host Casey Newton about this year's interviews and the unofficial theme that emerged over the past week: "With great power comes great responsibility." Kafka says that tech companies that have longed described themselves as "platforms" are having more responsibilities thrust upon them, whether they want them or not. Newton explains why he was encouraged by new Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi but...

Professional lacrosse player, entrepreneur and investor Paul Rabil talks with Recode's Kara Swisher and her son Louie Swisher about the intersection of sports and technology. Rabil says that for niche sports like lacrosse, it's especially important for athletes to respect the power of social media apps like Instagram, which can humanize the players and convert followers into fans. He also talks about broader trends affecting all sports today, including media consolidation, the generational...

NYU professor and “The Four” author Scott Galloway talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about how Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Tesla and other tech leaders are faring in an era of techlash. Galloway says many of these businesses, despite good intentions, have too much power and should be broken up. It's the responsibility of anyone who’s unhappy about privacy violations to elect lawmakers who will rein them in, he says. Previously having predicted the Amazon-Whole Foods acquisition, he makes a slew...

“Chaos Monkeys” author and Wired contributing writer Antonio García-Martínez talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his early-2010s stint at Facebook, where he helped develop the ad-targeting technologies that have landed the company in trouble in recent months. He evaluates how Facebook is dealing with a string of public controversies that culminated in CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying before Congress, but argues that “most people don’t care about privacy” and that the company isn’t in any...

Investor, author and serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about recent tech news stories, including Tesla's Q1 earnings, Facebook's data privacy scandal and Uber's rebound from a series of scandals. Calacanis, an early Uber investor and personal friend of ex-CEO Travis Kalanick, says chief U.S. rival Lyft missed its opportunity to capitalize on those "unforced errors" and now "the window has closed." He also talks at length about why he sold all his shares of...

Recode managing editor Ed Lee talks with Kara Swisher about the pending $85 billion merger of AT&T and Time Warner. Lee says the deal is in part a reaction to the rise of Netflix and will, in theory, let the companies create new kinds of online video and smarter digital advertising. However, last year the U.S. Justice Department sued AT&T in an attempt to block the deal, which Lee says is plausibly more motivated by President Trump’s animus toward Time Warner-owned CNN than by actual...

The Verge’s science reporter Loren Grush talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about SpaceX’s launch of TESS, a NASA satellite that will search for planets beyond our solar system. Grush explains how SpaceX got back on track after two of its rockets were accidentally destroyed in 2015 and 2016, and how the company stacks up against private competitors like Jeff Bezos’s rocket company, Blue Origin, and the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance. SpaceX originally planned to...

Recode's Kurt Wagner and The Verge's Casey Newton talk with Kara Swisher about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's two-day marathon of hearings in front of Congress. On Tuesday, Zuckerberg was bombarded with basic questions that could have been answered by Googling — but as Wagner points out, those ill-informed questions from U.S. Senators speak to a widespread lack of understanding about Facebook's business. The trio agrees that Zuckerberg's second day, speaking to members of the House of...

Recode's Kara Swisher and Teddy Schleifer talk about the shooting at YouTube's headquarters in San Bruno, Calif. and the other big tech story of that day, Spotify's unusual and long-awaited debut as a publicly traded company. They discuss how the former might change corporate culture in the famously laid-back tech industry, and how the latter might change how and when startups IPO. Later in the show, Recode's Kurt Wagner returns to provide an update on the Facebook-Cambidge Analytica data...

To commemorate her final episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask as co-host, Lauren Goode counts down her favorite episodes from the past two years. Among the favorites: Juicero founder Doug Evans, Kara Swisher admitting to her phone addiction and Walt Mossberg's own farewell episode, for which Kara and Lauren concocted a devious plan in secret. The co-hosts also talk about how they started working together and what's next for both Lauren and this podcast.

Recode's Kurt Wagner talks with Kara Swisher and Lauren Goode about the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal, shortly after he and Swisher interviewed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Wagner says reports of a political data firm exploiting a loophole in Facebook's old data platform has severely undermined public trust in Facebook, in part because the social networking giant knew the problem was out there years ago. The trio talks about why it took several days for Zuckerberg to weigh in on...

SB Nation editor in chief Elena Bergeron talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament — a.k.a. March Madness — and how other major sporting events like the Olympics and the NFL are being reshaped by tech. Bergeron says it’s easier than ever to be an “over-the-top” fan and watch as much of the NCAA tournament as you want, regardless of where you live, and explains how the entry of companies like Amazon, Facebook and YouTube will change sports broadcasting in...