

The Times Tech Podcast
The Sunday Times
From Silicon Valley to The City, tech journalists Danny Fortson and Katie Prescott bring you the inside track on the new industrial revolution.Co-hosted from San Francisco and London, this weekly podcast delivers the latest news and freshest interviews with the people creating the future.As West Coast Correspondent for The Sunday Times, Danny is on the ground to witness the technological whirlwind that first roared out Silicon Valley. From London, working as The Times' Technology Business Editor, Katie has seen the waves of boom and bust rolling through one of the world's financial capitals. Together they explore this strange new world of high finance and tech giants, explaining how we got here and what is just around the corner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 29, 2020 • 28min
Moneyball's Michael Lewis: “The Trump Death Clock”
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball and The Big Short, to talk about government as a manager of risk (3:35), the fifth risk (5:0), how Trump’s handling of the transition from Obama foreshadowed crisis (8:10), what he found inside the government (10:20), when he realised the nightmare scenario had arrived (12:50), why Donald Trump is responsible (15:50), why no one is surprised (19:35), the death clock (23:25), and why cowardice is dangerous (24:50). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 24, 2020 • 36min
Lean Startup's Eric Ries: "The cavalry is not coming"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Eric Ries, author of Lean Startup and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, to talk about trying to build a PPE procurement website (2:55), the problem (5:40), what he can do as a techie (10:35), starting a hotline (13:35), waiting for the government (13:45), the bottlenecks (18:00), fears of oversupply (22:05) why the cavalry is not coming (25:00), the difference between demand and production capacity (28:20), and launching a stock exchange in a pandemic (31:55). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 23, 2020 • 27min
Special Episode: Stories of our times - could tech giants get us out of lockdown?
Today an edition of our new daily podcast - Stories of our times. Our new free daily news podcast takes you to the heart of the stories that matter, with exclusive access and reporting. Published for the start of your day, it is hosted by Manveen Rana and David Aaronovitch.Technology might be the answer to our problems - but could we be giving up our privacy in return for our liberty? Guest: Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times West Coast correspondent Host: David AaronovitchIf you want to hear more please search for Stories of our times and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 17, 2020 • 42min
AI Now's Meredith Whitaker: "Exploitation by design"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Meredith Whitaker, founder of AI Now and organiser of the Google walk-out, to talk about how she arrived at the search giant 13 years ago (3:40), delving into tech’s effects on society (4:30), becoming a critic (6:15), and then a labour organiser (8:40), the debate on Silicon Valley working with the Pentagon (11:30), AI bias (14:50), sentencing algorithms (17:00), the Google walk-out (19:45), retaliation (22:30), the dangers of government co-opting Big Tech in the coronavirus response (25:25), how AI can reinforce societal divides (32:30), and the plight of “essential” workers (34:15). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 15, 2020 • 45min
Agility Robotics’ Damion Shelton: “Legs over wheels”
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings Damion Shelton, founder of Agility Robotics, to talk about what he did before robots (3:00), making a humanoid robot (5:20), legs v wheels (10:30), the Covid effect (12:45) the public acceptance challenge (15:30), going to market as quickly as possible (17:40), how the smartphone changed the game (23:10), delivering parcels (26:40), where he draws the line with military uses (30:05), how long before it will be this robot is in the wild (34:30), how the machines will be like volunteer firefighters (38:05), and his worst day of work (41:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 10, 2020 • 36min
10x Genomics’ Serge Saxonov: "Never has so much brainpower been focussed on one problem"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Serge Saxonov, founder of 10x Genomics, to talk about the end of normalcy (3:00), his high-end espresso machine for biology (4:20), delivering on the promise of genomics (6:20), how 10x is contributing to the coronavirus vaccine race (8:00), why a vaccine is theoretically achievable (10:15), the global shift to Covid research (13:15), leaving the Soviet Union and landing in New York (15:30), starting 23andMe (19:20), starting 10x (22:00), why it was hard to raise money (23:25), luring Softbank as an investor (25:55), 10x's footprint (26:50), the importance of resolution (28:10), and his worst day of work (32:00) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

4 snips
Apr 3, 2020 • 27min
Zipline’s Keller Rinaudo: “Teleporting medicines”
Keller Rinaudo, founder of Zipline, discusses using drones for medical supply delivery, the impact of COVID-19 on adoption, and the future of pandemic treatments. He also talks about how drone delivery works, the response to COVID-19 in Africa, and the capabilities of Zipline's planes.

Mar 27, 2020 • 35min
NYU's Paul Romer: “Killing people or killing the economy”
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Paul Romer, Nobel Prize-winning economist, to talk about making our way out of the coronavirus crisis (2:15), the two key investments (5:35), mass testing (9:25), the future of work (14:00), how long can we do lockdown (16:30), whether private industry can rise to the occasion (18:30), how the world will bifurcate (23:10), what life looks like in two months (25:30), the debt bomb (27:45), the metrics to watch (30:15), and the dangers of a failed state (33:30). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 26, 2020 • 25min
Fifty Years‘ Seth Bannon: “When a bear chases you into a tree, how do you get down?"
The Sunday Times’ tech corespondent brings on Seth Bannon, co-founder venture capital firm Fifty Years, to talk about fighting the coronavirus (3:25), the coming destruction of Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem (5:00), the funding crunch for venture capital (7:00), backing Covid-19 companies (13:20), the problem with home-testing (16:10), why this will be worse than the tech bubble implosion for startups (19:20), and if universal basic income’s moment has come (21:20). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 20, 2020 • 44min
Coronavirus Special: Dr John Ioannidis: "Minimal evidence, monumental decisions"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Dr John Ioannadis to talk about why the coronavirus response could be an “evidence fiasco" (0:00), the China model (3:20), the importance of testing (5:00), the case of the Diamond Princess (6:35), and of Italy (9:45), Imperial College's estimates (13:25), the problem with models (16:45), a lack of historical precedent (18:20), the monumental failure of not having tests (21:35), scaling up testing (24:25), and herd immunity (27:25). PLUS, Claes Gustafsson, co founder of ATUM Bio, to talk about the company’s work making copies of coronavirus (33:00), how this compares to other outbreaks (34:25), the rush for a cure (38:15), and being partially shut down by the government (41:00). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


