Better Offline
Episodes
The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble, Pt. 3
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part three of this week's three-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how AI agents don’t really exist, how deceitful AI marketing...
The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble, Pt, 2
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of this week's three-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how little money there is in generative AI, how Anthropic and OpenAI...
The Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble, Pt. 1
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part one of this week's three-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how the US stock market rests on the back of GPU sales, and how a la...
Monologue: The Updated Pale Horses of the AIpocalypse
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the pale horses of the AIpocalypse - and how the AI bubble’s deepest weakness is tha...
Radio Better Offline: Brian Koppelman, Cherlynn Low & Mike Drucker
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed Zitron is joined in studio by actor,...
Make Fun Of Them, Pt. 2
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of this week's two-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron makes a plea to the tech media - to stop automatically accepting what the tech executive...
Monologue: Is Anthropic Killing Cursor?
10 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how Anthropic jacked up prices on its largest customer Cursor - and how it’s a sign ...
Make Fun Of Them, Pt. 1
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part one of this week's two-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through a radical new idea: make fun of CEOs, tear down their legacies and pus...
Monologue: You Should Get Into Vinyl
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron talks about why you should get into vinyl, and why analog music is so much fun in the digital age. U-Turn Au...
Radio Better Offline: Gare Davis, Victoria Song, Allison Morrow
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York city.Ed Zitron is joined in studio by Allison...
Monologue: Did OpenAI Steal Another Startup's Idea?
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the murky lawsuit between OpenAI’s soon-to-be-acquired hardware wing and Iyo, a comp...
NVIDIA Vs. The Media ft. GamersNexus
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about NVIDIA’s approach to the media, AI pushing out real tech at Com...
Monologue: OpenAI Vs. Microsoft
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through OpenAI’s desperate attempts to lean on Microsoft to change the terms of their agreem...
Radio Better Offline: Pablo Torre and David Roth
18 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York city.Ed Zitron is joined in studio by Pablo T...
The Era of the Business Idiot, Part 3
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part three of this week's three-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how the era of the Business Idiot has led to a dramatic decelerati...
The Era of the Business Idiot, Part 2
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of this week's three-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how Business Idiots demanded we all return to the office to hide the...
The Era of the Business Idiot, Part 1
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part one of this week's three-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how Business Idiots have captured our society, with middle managemen...
Monologue: The AI Job Loss Con
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how the media is misleading you about AI job loss as a form of propaganda for OpenAI and A...
The Truth About Software Development with Carl Brown
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Carl Brown, a veteran software developer and host of The Internet of Bugs, to talk about the realities of soft...
Monologue: Don't Buy A Switch 2, Get A Handheld Gaming PC
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the awesome world of handheld gaming PCs - and why you should pick one up over a Nintendo ...
The Better Offline Mailbag
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by producer Sophie Lichterman to answer questions about life, technology, and Better Offline itself. YOU CAN NOW ...
Monologue: Jony Ive and OpenAI's New BS Machine
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the ridiculousness of OpenAI acquiring Jony Ive’s pre-product hardware startup for $6.5bn in stock ...
Saving Games Journalism With Giant Bomb
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Dan Ryckert, Jeff Bakalar and Jeff Grubb, the new owners of gaming website Giant Bomb, to talk about the hopef...
Monologue: How Better Offline Saved Me
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the story of how writing The Man That Destroyed Google Search saved his life. The Man That Destr...
Empires of AI With Karen Hao
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Zitron is joined by Karen Hao, author of the book Empire of AI, to talk about the confusing world of OpenAI and the associated mind-poison of artif...
Monologue: Sam Altman's BS Eye Scanning Startup
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through World, Sam Altman’s meaningless new “World” startup that trades you cryp...
Tariffs and The End Of Affordable Computing w/ Steve Burke
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about how tariffs are throwing the PC gaming industry into disarray, and ho...
I'm Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through all the signs that the bubble is bursting, and how hysterical boosters continue to desperately keep it fr...
Monologue: Why We Need Tech Criticism More Than Ever
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through why better tech criticism will lead to a better tech industry - and a better society at la...
The BS Bubble
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through why it’s so harmful that the media keeps taking OpenAI at its word - and responds to the most commo...
Monologue: The Tech I Actually Like
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week’s monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the tech he actually likes, and how digital connections give him hope in the darkest times...
How Big Tech Is Losing Their Antitrust Trials feat. Jason Kint
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Zitron is joined by Jason Kint, CEO of DCN, to talk about Google's recent antitrust trial losses, Meta's FTC case, and why it should give you hope ...
OpenAI Is A Systemic Risk To The Tech Industry
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second part of this week’s two-part episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how OpenAI has become a systemic risk, one that may destroy Core...
Monologue: How The Media Keeps Inflating Bubbles
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how the media's lackluster approach to critiquing the powerful led to the needless, unsustainabl...
OpenAI Cannot Survive
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the first part of this week's two-part episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how impossible it will be for OpenAI to stay alive - and how SoftBank&r...
Monologue: OpenAI's Non-Profit Problem
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the precarious nature of OpenAI's non-profit status - and how a petition to the California Attor...
Radio Better Offline: Allison Morrow, Paris Martineau & Ed Ongweso Jr.
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York city.Ed Zitron is joined in studio by Allison...
Monologue: OpenAI's Albatross
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how OpenAI's new image generator has become a massive burden on the company, and how OpenAI&rsqu...
Radio Better Offline: David "Shingy" Shing
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City.In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by ...
Monologue: High Noon for CoreWeave & AI
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the wretched vibes surrounding CoreWeave's IPO and OpenAI's new funding, and the brittle state o...
Radio Better Offline: Andy Richter
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in Los Angeles. In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by c...
Monologue: We Need To Talk About CoreWeave
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through CoreWeave, the first IPO of the AI bubble, and how its terrible finances, burdensome loans and q...
Radio Better Offline: Cherlynn Low, Alex Cranz & Victoria Song
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York city. In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by...
SoftBank and OpenAI's Dangerous Game
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of this week's two-part series, Ed Zitron walks you through how SoftBank is mortgaging its future to keep OpenAI alive - and the dangero...
Monologue: How Does This End?
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks through how reckless members of the media continue to inflate the AI bubble - and the detailed notes he's be...
Microsoft Cuts The Power To AI
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of this week's two-part series, Ed Zitron walks you through how Microsoft pulling back from over a gigawatt of compute capacity is a dark...
Monologue: OpenAI Is Getting Desperate
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron goes through the underwhelming release of OpenAI's GPT-4.5 - and how OpenAI's rumored new pricing structure sugges...
How Growth Is Killing Video Games
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Gita Jackson and Nathan Grayson of worker-owned games site Aftermath to talk about how the growth-at-all-costs...
Generative AI Is Not A Real Industry
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of this week's two-part episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the dark truth of the generative AI industry - that consumer adoption of Cl...
Monologue: What Bursts A Bubble?
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through what's making everybody worried about the bubble bursting - and what other signs might tell you ...
OpenAI Is Not A Real Company
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode (the first of a two-parter), Ed Zitron walks you through how OpenAI isn’t a real company, but a venture-backed welfare recipient...
What We're Fighting For
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the how the tech media misses the stories that hurt billions of people every day - and how deep down, mos...
Monologue: OpenAI Was Never A Non-Profit
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the early days of OpenAI - and the simmering war between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over its non-p...
How The Tech Media Can Beat The Rot Economy
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how the growth-at-all-costs Rot Economy has used software to poison so many parts of our lives - and how ...
Monologue: The Super Bowl Showed That Generative AI Is Washed
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how the AI industry’s limp Super Bowl commercials show how little this industry has to off...
How Sports Gambling Apps Are Rotting Society
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a live-to-tape recording in Ed Zitron's living room, Wide Left writer Arif Hasan and Western Kabuki Host Caleb Wilson explain in detail the cultura...
Monologue: What Happened With DeepSeek?
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of a new series of weekly monologues, Ed Zitron breaks down what exactly happened with DeepSeek, and how it threatens to pop the AI bubbl...
How DeepSeek Showed That Silicon Valley Is Washed
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron explains how the emergence of a much-more-efficient generative AI model has become an existential threat to the future of O...
What The Hell Is DeepSeek?
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron explains how DeepSeek, a relatively-unknown Chinese model AI developer incubated in a hedge fund, has punctured the generat...
Radio Better Offline: Jeremy Kaplowitz of the Quorators
29 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed Zitron is joined by Jeremy Kaplowitz...
The Slop Society
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how lax regulation and all-too-chummy media coverage has empowered Mark Zuckerberg and other tech compani...
Facebook Was Already Zucked
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how the latest "right-wing turn" for Mark Zuckerberg and Meta is really just formalizing policies on Face...
Radio Better Offline: Paris Martineau, Jeff Jarvis
15 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Radio Better Offline, a tech talk radio show recorded out of iHeartRadio's studio in New York City. Ed Zitron is joined by Paris Martineau ...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 6 - Epilogue
12 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 5 - Pt. 2
11 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 5 - Pt. 1
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 4 - Pt. 2
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 4 - Pt. 1
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 3 - Pt. 2
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 3 - Pt. 1
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 2
08 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
Better Offline CES 2025: Day 1
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar w...
The Invisible War Criminals
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In part 2 of the 2024 Better Offline finale, Ed Zitron tells you how to fight back against the growth-at-all-costs Rot Economy and its destruction of ...
The Invisible War
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this year's two-part finale, Ed Zitron enumerates the damage being done to billions of people by the growth-at-all-costs Rot Economy - and why you ...
FTC Chair Lina Khan: The Better Offline Interview
30 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
FTC Chair Lina Khan joins Ed Zitron to talk about competitiveness in the tech industry, controlling the cloud giants, and what should give you hope as...
CZM Rewind: Where Did Tech's Magic Go? feat. Alex Cranz & Michael Fisher
25 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a special live-to-tape episode of Better Offline, Ed is joined by The Verge's Alex Cranz and YouTube influencer Michael Fisher to talk about what t...
Watching the Watchmen with Jason Koebler
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by 404 Media's Jason Koebler to talk about the state of both the tech industry and the tech media, and how 404 Me...
Everything Is Advertising with Ryan Barwick
11 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Zitron is joined in-studio by Ryan Barwick of Marketing Brew to talk about how the entire tech ecosystem is controlled by ads - and whether compani...
The Coming Generative AIPocalypse
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We're approaching the end of the line for generative AI as big tech realizes that spending $200bn on chips and data centers isn't going to create any ...
Yep, We're At Peak AI
04 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron discusses big tech's discovery of the diminishing returns in training generative AI models - and how we may have finally ha...
CZM Rewind: The Man That Destroyed Google Search
27 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron tells you the disgraceful story of how Prabhakar Raghavan, Google's former head of ads - led a coup so that he could run Go...
The Rot Society
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Blame the tech industry for the rise of authoritarianism. Blame a news media handicapped by a deference to power and a fear of bias. Blame the fact th...
William Lazonick on How The Stock Market Killed Tech
13 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at Web Summit Lisbon, Ed Zitron is joined by William Lazonick, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Massachusetts, who i...
The Streisand Effect with Mike Masnick
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Mike Masnick, CEO and Founder of Techdirt, inventor of the Streisand effect, and member of the board of Bluesk...
A Nobel Economist's Plan To Tax Digital Ads
30 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Daron Acemoglu, MIT Economist and recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, to talk about his daring - an...
A Requiem for Prabhakar Raghavan
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Prabhakar Raghavan, The Man Who Destroyed Google Search, was removed from his position at Google and made a "Chief Technologist," benching ...
Data Vampires with Paris Marx
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed is joined by Paris Marx, author of the Disconnect Blog and the host of Tech Won't Save Us, to talk about the historic - and horrif...
Zephyr Teachout On Corruption
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed is joined in the iHeartRadio studios in New York City by Zephyr Teachout, Fordham Law Professor and Author of "Break 'Em Up: Recov...
The Subprime AI Crisis
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the brewing subprime AI crisis. The entire generative AI market is run on the back of unprofitable tech r...
Why OpenAI Is A Terrible Business
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As of last week, OpenAI is now worth $157 billion - yet below the hood is a far darker story. In this episode, Ed Zitron explains the cold, hard truth...
The Department of Justice V Google Ads: Part 4
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Zitron is joined by Jason Kint, CEO of DCN and Arielle Garcia, Director of Intelligence at CheckMyAds, for the final episode of Better Offline's co...
How To Break the Internet with Chris Stokel-Walker
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Just over a month after the CrowdStrike debacle, Ed Zitron is joined by journalist and author Chris Stokel-Walker to "stokel-walk" through the brittle...
The Department of Justice V Google Ads: Part 3
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Zitron is joined by Jason Kint, CEO of DCN and Arielle Garcia, Director of Intelligence at CheckMyAds, for the third episode of Better Offline's co...
The Department of Justice V Google Ads: Part 2
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Zitron is once again joined by Jason Kint, CEO of DCN, for the second episode of Better Offline's coverage of the Department of Justice's second an...
Silicon Valley Fashion With The Menswear Guy
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After earnings failed to reassure investors about their concerns around generative AI's return on investment, NVIDIA's stock suffered a record $279 bi...
The Department of Justice V Google Ads: Part 1
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Jason Kint, CEO of DCN, to set the scene for Better Offline's coverage of the Department of Justice's second a...
How Google Cheated Their Way To Billions
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how Google used their monopolies over search and search advertising to scam advertisers - and why the ent...
How Monopolies Are Making Tech Worse
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A few weeks ago, a federal judge declared that Google has a monopoly over the search industry and text-based advertising. In this episode, Ed Zitron w...
Matt Stoller Explains Monopolies
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Ed Zitron sits down with Matt Stoller, author of the BIG Newsletter and Research Director of the American Economic Liberties Project ...
Algorithms and Oligopolies with Thomas Germain
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the fourth live-to-tape episode of Better Offlive, Ed Zitron sits down with the BBC's Thomas Germain to talk about breaking up big tech, and how we...