TechStuff

How AI Assistants Can Transform Education

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Malcolm Gladwell visits Kennesaw State University to learn about Jiwoo, an AI Assistant that helps future teachers practice responsive teaching by sim...

New Season of Smart Talks with IBM Coming Soon

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Smart Talks with IBM returns Tuesday, May 20th, and this season, we’re really shaking things up. Host Malcolm Gladwell will visit various compan...

Week in Tech: AI-Induced Psychosis

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What kind of technology do air traffic controllers use? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah discuss how AI determines your real age, why chatb...

The Story: The World According to SimCity w/ Chaim Gingold

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chaim Gingold is a game designer and author of the book Building SimCity: How to Put the World in a Machine, which explores the simulation games creat...

Week in Tech: CheatGPT

09 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Could you be on a livestream for three years straight? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah explore the push to include AI education in schools...

The Story: Mineral Wars w/ Nicolas Niarchos

07 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nicolas Niarchos is a journalist whose work focuses on conflicts, migration and, most recently, the energy transition. Specifically, the hidden costs ...

Week in Tech: Who’s A Good Drone?

02 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can AI help search-and-rescue dogs do their job? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah explore the AI-powered technologies being used in war and...

The Story: The Silicon Valley “Death Cult” w/ Evan Ratliff

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Evan Ratliff is an investigative journalist and podcast host. His Wired article, “The Delirious, Violent, Impossible True Story of the Zizians,&...

Week in Tech: Run, Robot, Run!

25 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Should you delete yourself from the internet? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah dig into humanoid robots running a half-marathon, the AI-gen...

The Story: Stargate and the Rise of SoftBank’s Gambling Man w/ Lionel Barber

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lionel Barber is a journalist, author, and former editor of the Financial Times. He’s interviewed state leaders like former US President Barack ...

Week In Tech: Zuck Takes the Stand

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How would Salvador Dalí have used generative AI? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah dig into this year’s most common uses for ge...

The Story: Me, My TV & My Second Screen w/ Jen Statsky

16 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jen Statsky is a comedian, writer, and producer who’s worked on some of TV’s biggest comedies like The Good Place, Parks & Recreation ...

Week in Tech: Tariffs, Ands Or Buts

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What’s a ‘mega API’? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah break down the ever-evolving landscape of tariffs and what it all m...

The Story: Whats Going Right w/ Reid Hoffman

09 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Reid Hoffman is a longtime entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author. Throughout his career, Hoffman has helped build or support some of the biggest...

Week in Tech: You, Me & Ghibli

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do LLMs solve math problems? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah explore what AI models could mean for the fashion industry, the humble-bu...

The Story: McLaren F1 Racing's Human-Machine Interaction w/ Zak Brown

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Zak Brown is the CEO of McLaren Racing, the second-oldest Formula 1 team. When he joined in 2016, McLaren was in a difficult spot — lagging behi...

Week in Tech: 23andBankruptcy

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What even is a crypto mixer? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and Karah dig into potential Slack-enabled corporate espionage, the recall of a Kim K-b...

The Story: Levittown Deepfakes

26 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the first episode of a new podcast called Levittown. It’s a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from B...

Week in Tech: Careless People, Mindful Chatbots

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do you calm down a chatbot? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and producer Eliza Dennis dig into the book that Meta doesn’t want you to read...

The Story: An Innovation Playground w/ Astro Teller

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Astro Teller is Alphabet’s Captain of Moonshots. He oversees projects at X – the moonshot factory behind innovations like Waymo and Google...

Week in Tech: Duping Big Tech’s Tech Test

14 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Could AI help you land an internship? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and producer Eliza Dennis explore the rise of vibecoding, what it means for th...

The Story: What is AI Love? w/ David Eagleman

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist, author, entrepreneur and host of the podcast Inner Cosmos. In his podcast, he explores how our brains interpret th...

Week in Tech: Can a Woolly Mouse Make a Mammoth?

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What if AI could read your mind? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and producer Eliza Dennis explore the latest tech investment in the US, Meta’...

The Story: A Spymaster Sheikh’s AI Ambitions w/ Bradley Hope

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bradley Hope is a journalist, author and co-founder of Project Brazen, a narrative non-fiction production studio. His piece in Wired, ‘A Spymast...

What the Tech? w/ Jonathan Strickland in Doha

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Oz is on the road, at the Web Summit Qatar, and he’s not alone. Joining him from the iHeart pop-up studio in Doha is a very familiar ...

The Story: Russia’s Espionage ‘Laboratory’ w/ Ben Taub

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ben Taub is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and staff writer at The New Yorker. His piece, “Russia’s Espionage War in th...

TechStuff x Part-Time Genius: Redefining ‘Luddite’ w/ Brian Merchant

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week, TechStuff teams up with Part-Time Genius for a special crossover episode. Oz and Mangesh Hattikudur, host of Part-Time Genius, discuss a la...

The Story: Liar, Liar, Deepfakes on Fire w/ Hany Farid

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hany Farid is a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He's been a leading voice on digi...

Week in Tech: Musk and Federal Money–A Love Story

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do the Brits want from Apple? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and producer Eliza Dennis explore how lithium-ion batteries and wildfires don&rsq...

The Story: Denial Isn’t the Answer w/ Geoffrey Hinton

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Geoffrey Hinton is a computer scientist, cognitive psychologist, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics. His work on artificial neural networks earn...

Week in Tech: Are You There God? It’s Me, AI

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do smart fridges help business? This week in the News Roundup, Oz and producer Eliza Dennis unpack Walgreens’ refrigeration woes, the future of ...

The Story: Ask Lots of Questions w/ Meredith Whittaker

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Meredith Whittaker is the president of the Signal Foundation and serves on its board of directors. She is also the co-founder of NYU’s AI Now In...

Week In Tech: DeepSeek Freak Out

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is China winning the AI race? This week in the News Roundup, the story that roiled US stock markets on Monday – DeepSeek. Oz and producer Eliza ...

The Story: Mars, Asterisk w/ Nathaniel Rich

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nathaniel Rich is a novelist, essayist and writer-at-large for The New York Times Magazine. Rich sits down with Oz to talk about his essay, “Can...

Smart Talks with IBM: How Infrastructure is Powering the Age of AI

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell speaks with Ric Lewis, IBM’s Senior Vice President of Infrastructure.  They ...

Week in Tech: Broval Office

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is AI charging you different prices for groceries than your roommate? This week, Oz and Karah bring you a news roundup featuring a look at surveillanc...

The Story: Vibe Shift in the Valley w/ Jessica Lessin

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jessica Lessin is the founder and CEO of The Information, a media company that’s a trusted source for tech readers and tech leaders. She’s...

Week in Tech: Dox, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Are you sharing misleading Instagram stories? This week, Oz and Karah bring you a news roundup including a ChatGPT-powered gun and a free app that&rsq...

The Story: How to be a (Rational!) Techno-Enthusiast w/ Nicholas Thompson

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas Thompson is the former editor-in-chief of Wired and current CEO of The Atlantic. There, he negotiated a controversial partnership with OpenAI...

Week in Tech: Hungry Hungry Hippocampus

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How scared should we be of deceptive AI? Oz and Karah take the mic from Jonathan for their first episode of TechStuff and bring you a news roundup of ...

Introducing the new TechStuff hosted by Oz Woloshyn and Karah Preiss

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

TechStuff is getting a system update. Everything you love about TechStuff now twice the bandwidth with new hosts, Oz Woloshyn (Sleepwalkers) and Karah...

The Future of TechStuff (Is So Bright, Karah Has to Wear Shades)

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan has his final episode, but more importantly introduces the new stewards of the podcast, Oz Woloshyn and Karah Preiss. These phenomenal storyt...

What the Tech Happened? Part Two

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We're looking at some of the big tech stories that have unfolded since TechStuff debuted in 2008. In this episode, we pick up in 2015 and look at the ...

What the Tech Happened? Part One

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Since TechStuff first launched in 2008, a lot of stuff has happened in the world of tech. Join Jonathan as he looks back on a big tech story for each ...

How Shannon Morse Works

01 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Back when he was a brand new tech podcaster, Jonathan met with fellow tech content creator (and fellow Discovery Digital Network veteran) Shannon Mors...

The 2024 Tech Predictions Report Card

30 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In late 2023, Jonathan made a bunch of predictions for how 2024 would turn out. How did he do? Do we have jetpacks and flying cars yet?See omnystudio....

TechStuff Gets Cozy With SMNTY

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Samantha and Anney from Stuff Mom Never Told You, pop by to talk about the cozy games genre. How did this casual category go from being an afterthough...

The Big Tech Stories of 2024

25 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Big Tech versus the government to the little Martian helicopter that could, we look at some of the big tech stories to unfold in 2024! Keywords: ...

The Mysterious Havana Syndrome

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Noel and Ben (and, briefly, Matt) of Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know drop by to talk about the strange and mysterious Havana syndrome. Were US...

How Food Delivery Apps Don’t Work

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Former TechStuff co-host Lauren Vogelbaum comes back to TechStuff to talk about the chaotic, absurd, and sometimes infuriating world of food delivery ...

The Weird Story of the First Cyberattack

18 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How did a pair of 19th-century brothers hack into a government-controlled communications system? And what did they do with it?   See omnystu...

TechStuff Talks Christmas Lights Shows

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For some people, a simple string of Christmas lights on a tree in the yard just isn't enough. How do those impressive Christmas light displays work?&n...

Tech News: Drones Over New Jersey

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mysterious drones flying over New Jersey have raised fears and questions. Plus, big tech companies start to court Donald Trump, the FTC is likely goin...

TechStuff Looks at Three AI Startups

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

2024 has been a huge year for AI. But why should we focus only on the enormous companies like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon? We look at ...

Smart Talks with IBM: Responsible AI - Why Businesses Need Reliable AI Governance

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To deploy responsible AI and build trust with customers, businesses need to prioritize AI governance. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Ma...

Rerun: The Artemis Program

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

NASA is soliciting applications for its astronaut program in anticipation of sending men and women to the Moon. Learn all about the Artemis program, i...

The Internet Reacts to CEO's Murder

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The shooting of UnitedHealthCare's CEO Brian Thompson has prompted some dark, disturbing reactions online -- including misinformation. Plus, we have s...

Verisign and the .com Top Level Domain

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Did you know one company has the monopoly on the .com top level domain? How did Verisign become the one DNS registry for .com, and why did some politi...

Detecting Scams Through Critical Thinking

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The world of tech is nuanced, complex, and filled with jargon. That makes it the perfect breeding ground for scams and hoaxes. How can we defend ourse...

TechStuff is Thankful

29 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the years, many people have contributed to our little technology podcast to make it what it is today. In this episode, Jonathan spends some time ...

TechStuff Explores the Universe with Daniel and Kelly

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Scientists and hosts of Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe join the show to talk about media depictions of science, the importance of STEAM e...

Talking Crypto with the Financial Quarterback

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Financial analyst Josh Jalinski joins the show to talk about cryptocurrency from an investment point of view. We discuss concerns about crypto, opport...

US Department of Justice Proposes Google Sell Off Chrome Browser

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Department of Justice has a list of proposed actions Google must take to end anticompetitive practices, and Google is not happy about it. Apple pr...

TechStuff Is About to Change (And That's a Good Thing)

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After 16 and a half years, I will be stepping down from being the host of TechStuff. We'll talk more about the future of the show soon, but today's ep...

TechStuff Gets Auto-Tuned (Again)

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We look at the history of auto-tune, how it works, and how it impacted music and culture in general.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

Rerun: Streaming Services that Sunk

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While the streaming media landscape is crowded, it could be worse. In this episode, we look at some streaming services that didn't stand the test of t...

Rerun: Getting in Touch with Touchscreens

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What's the difference between a capacitive and a resistive touchscreen? Which came first? And are there other types of touchscreen technologies?See om...

TechStuff's Top Holiday Gift for 2024

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A little more than a decade ago, mobile computing revolutionized how we access software and the internet. It's about to happen again. At the top of my...

Rerun: The Sad Tale of Microsoft Zune

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Microsoft jumped into the mp3 player space a little late. Apple had been producing iPods for five years when the first Zune hit shelves. But that was ...

Rerun: What was the first mp3?

06 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When developing the mp3 compression algorithm, engineer Karlheinz Brandenburg used a specific song to tweak settings and get them just right. What was...

Sowing Seeds for the Future: Sabanto

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Craig Rupp left Iowa in the 80s, he never wanted to step foot on a farm again. A whirlwind career as an engineer took him to some of the biggest ...

The Story of Microsoft Bing

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2009, Microsoft announced a new search engine called Bing. What was Microsoft's strategy, how is Bing different from the dominant search engine Goo...

Tech News: Elections and Tech Clash

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We knew that the 2024 election season in the US would include some tough stories involving tech and potential election interference. In this episode, ...

REM Pods and Ghost Hunting

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What does an REM Pod do? How does it work? And why is Jonathan such a darn party pooper when it comes to ghost hunting?  See omnystudio.com/listener ...

Doubly Exposing Spirit Photography

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the 19th century, some enterprising and unscrupulous photographers convinced vulnerable people that they had developed (pun intended) a way to phot...

Departing OpenAI Leaders Warn about AGI

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Description: The former senior advisor for OpenAI's now dissolved AGI Readiness division warns that no one, not even OpenAI, is actually ready for art...

Notorious Hackers

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cybersecurity company Kaspersky has a list of the most notorious hackers of all time. We look at three of the entries, from the loose confederation of...

Smart Talks with IBM: How AI Can Accelerate Cybersecurity

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell speaks with Jason Kelley, GM, Strategic Partners and Ecosystems at IBM, and Kristy Friedric...

Rerun: TechStuff's Spooky Halloween Spectacular!

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In celebration of Halloween, we take a look at an article from HowStuffWorks titled 10 Scary Modern Technologies. From drones to voices coming out of ...

Tech News: X Changes Prompt Some Users to Jump Ship

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

X, formerly known as Twitter, makes a major change to the block feature that has some users switching to alternatives. Plus, Meta holds layoffs across...

What Happened to Amazon's HQ2?

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2018, more than 200 cities competed to become the site for Amazon's second headquarters. Late that year, Amazon would choose two locations. A year ...

TechStuff Takes a Walk with Robots

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tesla showed off the Optimus humanoid robots recently. What's the history behind bipedal, humanoid robots? Why are they so hard to get right? Why woul...

Tech News: Tesla Fails to Wow Investors at We, Robot Event

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Elon Musk held his delayed Cybercab event while also showing off a new Robovan concept and Optimus humanoid robots. Investors, however, rem...

Can Sound Be Used As A Weapon?

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From LRADs to the dreaded "brown noise," we look at attempts to weaponize sound. Is it possible? What effects can sound have on the body? And how much...

Smart Talks with IBM: Scaling AI With Purpose

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Jacob Goldstein speaks with Rebecca Finlay, CEO of Partnership on AI, about the importance of advancing AI i...

How Active Noise Cancellation Works

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There's nothing like wearing noise cancelling headphones while on a noisy flight. But what technology lets you listen to your sweet tunes while elimin...

Tech News: OpenAI Gets That Cheddar

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this year, analysts predicted that OpenAI would need a large injection of investments to stay afloat. This week, OpenAI closed on a 6.6 billio...

How Two AI Startup Unicorns Went Bust

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

AI is hard. How hard? Your company can hit a valuation of more than one billion dollars one moment and you're out of business the next. We look at two...

How Hydroelectricity Works

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hydroelectric power harnesses the energy of water to generate electricity, but how? From turbine design to dynamos, we look at the components that mak...

Tech News: Meta Wants the Internet On Your Face

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Meta held its Connect conference this week and showed off some chonky augmented reality glasses, among other things. Plus, OpenAI shakes things up and...

The Story of the Sony Walkman

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Time named the Sony Walkman number 47 on a list of the 50 most influential gadgets of all time. How did the Walkman become a thing, and what influence...

Smart Talks with IBM: The power of Granite in business

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As the scale of artificial intelligence continues to evolve, open technology like many of IBM’s Granite models are helping enhance transparency in A...

A Quick Chat About CAPTCHAs

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Where did CAPTCHAs come from? What purpose do they serve? How do they relate to artificial intelligence? And why are some of them so doggone hard?See ...

Tech News: Exploding Pagers and Nuclear-Powered AI

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Israel is allegedly behind an attack on Hezbollah involving exploding pagers. How did that happen? In other news, Microsoft wants to reopen a nuclear ...

Social Networks and Mental Health

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a link between social media use and mental health challenges? We look at a meta-analysis and use some critical thinking to tackle the issue. ...

Rerun: The Ghost in the Machine

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What does "the ghost in the machine" mean? From philosophy to artificial intelligence, we explore this idiom to understand what it means, how it's use...

Tech News: AI Stalks Us on Friday the 13th

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We've got a lot of stories about artificial intelligence to talk about this week. Plus, Xbox holds more layoffs, Sony announces a new PS5 model, and f...

The One About Plasma Televisions

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What happened to plasma televisions? Where did they come from? Let's learn how plasma TVs work and why the industry abandoned this technology. See om...

Smart Talks with IBM: Education in the Age of AI

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The role of AI in the classroom is evolving rapidly. When students and teachers embrace this technology, it has the ability to democratize access to e...

The Birth of Paypal

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today, Paypal is a 70+ billion dollar company, but how did it start out? And why are the founders sometimes referred to as the Paypal Mafia? See omny...