Close All Tabs

What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern right-to-repair movement. In this episode, Jason Koebler, tech journalist and co-founder at 404 Media, explains how an unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians helped win right-to repair protections across multiple states — and why the farmers’ fight to fix their own tractors is far from over.  Guest: Jason Koebler, tech journalist and co-founder of 404 Media Further Reading/Listening: It Is Now Legal to Hack McFlurry Machines (and Medical Devices) to Fix Them — Jason Koebler, 404 Media   The Walls Are Closing in on John Deere’s Tractor Repair Monopoly — Jason Koebler, 404 Media EPA Affirms Farmers’ Right to Repair — Lisa Held, Civil Eats The Latest Repair Battlefield Is the Iowa Farmlands—Again — Boone Ashworth, Wired  How John Deere hijacked copyright law to keep you from tinkering with your tractor — Luke Hogg, Reason Magazine  Tractor-Hacking Farmers Are Leading a Revolt Against Big Tech's Repair Monopolies — Jason Koebler, Vice  Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware — Jason Koebler, Vice Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional producing support by Gabriela Glueck. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Louis Rossmann, repair technician and consumer-rights advocate who runs Rossmann Repair Group and repair education, talks about the fight to make devices fixable. He covers parts pairing and tech lockouts. He calls out fake repair programs, lobbying tactics, and safety loopholes. He highlights repair culture, DIY tinkering, and what ownership means as products become subscription-based.

Samantha Cole, tech reporter who bought a viral touchscreen disposable vape to test its claims, and Yogi Hale Hendlin, environmental philosopher studying vaping and e‑waste, dig into how smart single‑use vapes proliferated. They explore the viral “Twitter on a vape” stunt, the regulatory loopholes and flavor-driven surge in disposables, and why these devices are creating a new, techy e‑waste problem.

Requiring internet users to verify their ages before accessing mature content may sound reasonable. Shouldn’t we be doing a better job protecting kids from online vulgarities? But free speech advocates say the push for age verification isn’t really about protecting children — and that bills like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) would open the door to greater surveillance, censorship and control of what people can do online. Those same free speech advocates say the evidence lies in what happened to sex workers after the passage of the bills known as Allow States and Victims To Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) in 2018.  In this episode, Morgan is joined by writer, researcher and dominatrix Dr. Olivia Snow and Mashable associate editor Anna Iovine to explore the connections between porn, sex work and surveillance — and what age verification laws could mean for the future of the internet.  Guests:  Dr. Olivia Snow, research fellow at UCLA’s Center on Resilience & Digital Justice Anna Iovine, associate editor of features at Mashable Further Reading/Listening: Age verification is going to destroy the entire internet — Anna Iovine, Mashable Are You Ready to Be Surveilled Like A Sex Worker? — Dr. Olivia Snow, WIRED Sex Workers Have Been Banned From Airbnb for Years. Will You Be Next? — Dr. Olivia Snow, The Nation Discord delays age verification measures as it admits what it got 'wrong' — Austin Manchester, Polygon FOSTA-SESTA was supposed to thwart sex trafficking. Instead, it’s sparked a movement — Liz Tung, WHYY  The Internet Loves Sex. Why Does it Hate Sex Workers? — Luna, The Swaddle When social media censorship gets it wrong: The struggle of breast cancer content creators  — Savannah Kuchar, USA Today What would ethical age verification look like online? — Anna Iovine, Mashable Project 2025 Co-Author Caught Admitting Secret Conservative Plan to Ban Porn  — Shawn Musgrave, The Intercept Going Viral vs. Going Dark: Why Extremism Trends and Abortion Content Gets Censored — Kenyatta Thomas, Electronic Frontier Foundation: Stop Censoring Abortion Campaign  FCC finds no violations in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show at Levi’s Stadium — Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle  Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok⁠ Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Director of Content Operations. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rachel Hale, a youth mental health reporter at USA Today who covers child safety on digital platforms. She discusses Roblox's new AI facial age checks, how predators target kids and creators’ sting operations. She also covers how players try to dodge verification, accuracy and privacy concerns, and whether other platforms will follow suit.

Yi-Ling Liu, writer on tech and censorship in China and author of The Wall Dancers, explains how China’s Great Firewall shapes everyday online life. She recounts creative workarounds by Chinese internet users, the rise and fall of queer platforms like Blued, and what American netizens should learn from another internet ecosystem. Short, surprising, and sharply observed.

Maria Avgitidis, a third-generation matchmaker and CEO of Agapi Match, and Jojo Manzo, musician and TikTok creator who ran a viral doom-scroll speed date. They talk about comment-section meet-cutes on TikTok. They debate AI matchmaking versus community-driven dating. They explore friction, proximity, and the messy questions around sharing location in relationships.

Marlon Hyde, business reporter covering Atlanta’s data center boom, and DorMiya Vance, Southside reporter tracking local impacts, discuss rapid AI data center growth in Atlanta suburbs. They cover construction disruptions, grid and water strain, why companies target Black communities, the risk of stranded assets, local activism and proposals for regulation. Issues of race, infrastructure cost, and industry responses come up in short, sharp conversations.

James O'Donnell, senior AI reporter at MIT Technology Review, covers AI systems and data centers. Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, investigates tech's environmental impacts. They translate AI energy into microwave-time analogies. They explain training versus inference, per-query energy for text, images and video, reasoning models' higher costs, data center cooling and water use, and local grid and infrastructure effects.

In this engaging discussion, Jose Monkey, a savvy geolocation expert and content creator, reveals how easily he can pinpoint a person's location using subtle online clues. He provides fascinating insights into personal operational security and practical tips to safeguard your digital footprint. Eva Galperin, cybersecurity director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explains threat modeling and the importance of protecting online privacy against various risks including scams and harassment. Together, they emphasize the importance of digital hygiene in a world where oversharing can lead to real-world consequences.