- Social:
Slate
Researcher for Slate's technology section, Future Tense
PROFILE
Ariel Bogle
Guest
FROM Ariel Bogle
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Australia’s Environmental About-Face This week, world leaders met at the United Nations to address climate change. Notably absent: the leaders of China, India and Australia. Australia, once a leader in conservation and green energy, now emits more greenhouse gases per capita than any other developed nation. How did the country reverse course so dramatically?
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Blackphones, Robot Legs, and Computer Chefs A Swiss company has introduced a new “Black Phone” - the first smartphone that goes out of its way to protect all your data, all the time. We talk about that in today’s tech segment. We also hear about a robotic exoskeleton that help paraplegics walk, an app that will help curb your smart phone use, and a computer in the kitchen.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Tech Roundup In today’s tech roundup, a look at Amazon’s new smartphone - and why the company want to get in on the handheld device game. And there’s new technology that would deliver smells via text.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Battle Over Private Search Of all the news to come out of this week’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, one update went almost unnoticed: Apple is partnering with a small startup to make online searching more private. Is this a shot across the bow for Google? And what does it say about the future battle for user privacy? We discuss this and other tech news with journalists from Slate’s Future Tense blog.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Death of the Infomercial? Since the 1950s, late night TV has been the world of the infomercial: late night hucksters selling ginsu knives, wearable towels, Snuggies... But infomercials have become a victim of their own success. At more than $200 billion, the late night “direct response television” industry has attracted big companies that are squeezing out the backyard inventors that used to populate the space. Is the infomercial as we know it disappearing? Is that a bad thing?
Recommended
The Business
Revisiting showrunner Steven Bochco on his memoir Steven Bochco, the writer-producer behind record-breaking Emmy winners Hill Street Blues, LA Law and NYPD Blue, fought battles with everyone from out-of-control actors to network censors in his long career. He isn’t afraid to tell those tales in his memoir, Truth Is a Total Defense. This week we revisit the conversation where he shared some of his favorite stories with us.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How do Trump supporters feel about the Paris Accord? Globally and around the U.S., there are strong opinions whether or not the Paris Climate Accord is a good idea. The American exit is either a horrifying abdication of American leadership or a forceful and long overdue statement about U.S. sovereignty.
Design and Architecture
Farewell LA freeways, Peter Shire is back Angelenos don't want more freeways but we seem not to want mass transit either. Metro has killed the 710 freeway extension, and bus and train ridership is down across the region. What's the future of getting around in LA? And, Peter Shire is having a comeback. What attracts a new generation to his playful ceramics and furniture?
Bookworm
George Saunders: Lincoln in the Bardo (Part I) Lincoln in the Bardo dramatizes a grieving President Lincoln as he visits the grave of his beloved son Willie, who died at age eleven. In the novel, the buried dead believe they're not dead -- "they're sick and refer to their coffins as "sick boxes."