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Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline

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 companies like OpenAI and Perplexity can hope to plug the gaps in their leaky revenue models.
 
Follow Ryan: 
 
https://x.com/Ryanbarwick
 
https://www.marketingbrew.com/contributor/ryan-barwick
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everything Is Advertising with Ryan Barwick

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 Media has built a worker-owned outlet that genuinely works.
 
Follow Jason:
 
https://www.404media.co/ https://x.com/jason_koebler https://bsky.app/profile/jasonkoebler.bsky.social
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Watching the Watchmen with Jason Koebler

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 they're actually enjoying in the tech industry - and why things don't feel quite as magical and exciting as they used to.
 
https://www.youtube.com/@TheMrMobile
 
https://www.theverge.com/authors/alex-cranz 
 
Original Air Date: 6.26.24
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CZM Rewind: Where Did Tech's Magic Go? feat. Alex Cranz & Michael Fisher

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 we head into 2025.
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FTC Chair Lina Khan: The Better Offline Interview

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 need to have solidarity with your fellow user.
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Invisible War

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 tech ecosystem - by pushing the media to improve their coverage, telling everybody you know who's responsible, and remembering what it is you truly love about technology.
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Invisible War Criminals

Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar where reporters, experts and various other characters bring you the stories from the floor. In the first episode, Ed introduces you to Better Offline’s coverage, bringing in writer Edward Ongweso Jr., as well as It Could Happen Here’s Robert Evans and Gare Davis. 
We’ll be here all week - two episodes a day, with a finale on Saturday. A talk show in the center of the Rot Economy. 
 
Ed Ongweso Jr.: https://bsky.app/profile/bigblackjacobin.bsky.social
Robert Evans: https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social
Gare Davis: https://bsky.app/profile/hungrybowtie.bsky.social
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Better Offline CES 2025: Day 1

Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar where reporters, experts and various other characters bring you the stories from the floor. In the second episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Health Physicist Phil Broughton, actual priest Gabriel Mosher, journalist Ed Ongweso Jr., and eventually Robert Evans and Gare Davis of It Could Happen Here, to talk about turning our health into an analytics nightmare, the amount of made-up stuff on the floor, how we beat the generative AI slop, and something called a "suicide helicopter." 
 
Ed Ongweso Jr.: https://bsky.app/profile/bigblackjacobin.bsky.social
Robert Evans: https://bsky.app/profile/iwriteok.bsky.social
Gare Davis: https://bsky.app/profile/hungrybowtie.bsky.social
Gabriel Mosher: https://bsky.app/profile/eighthway.com
Phil Broughton: https://bsky.app/profile/funranium.bsky.social
 
Linda Yaccarino’s CES Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R9LtHiZ74w
Meta ends fact-checking program: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-ends-fact-checking-program-community-notes-x-rcna186468
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Better Offline CES 2025: Day 2

Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar where reporters, experts and various other characters bring you the stories from the floor. In the second episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Jesse Farrar and Michael Hale of Your Kickstarter Sucks, Henry Casey of CNN Underscored, Max Cherney of Reuters, Matt Binder of Mashable, Tom McKay of ITBrew and journalist Ed Ongweso Jr. to talk about trying to find something useful that AI does in a show where everybody uses AI so liberally that it's effectively stopped meaning anything. 

Your Kickstarter Sucks: https://www.patreon.com/yourkickstartersucks 
Jesse Farrar: https://bsky.app/profile/jessefarrar.com 
Michael Hale: https://x.com/dogboner 
Ed Ongweso Jr: https://bsky.app/profile/bigblackjacobin.bsky.social 
Max Cherney: https://www.reuters.com/authors/max-a-cherney/ 
Matt Binder: https://bsky.app/profile/mattbinder.bsky.social 
Henry Casey: https://bsky.app/profile/henrytcasey.net 
Tom McKay: https://bsky.app/profile/catturd2.bsky.social 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Better Offline CES 2025: Day 3 - Pt. 1

Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Venetian with an attached open bar where reporters, experts and various other characters bring you the stories from the floor. In the second episode, 

In this episode Ed Zitron is joined by David Roth of Defector, reporter Edward Ongweso Jr., Ed Niedermeyer of the Autonocast, and tech freelancer Jared Newman to talk about the consequences of spending days at the Consumer Electronics Show, how a show gets away with having so many booths that don’t actually seem to sell things to consumers, and an idea for generative AI that I deeply apologize for. 

David Roth: https://bsky.app/profile/davidjroth.bsky.social 
Jared Newman: https://bsky.app/profile/advisorator.com 
Ed Ongweso Jr: https://bsky.app/profile/bigblackjacobin.bsky.social 
Ed Niedermeyer: https://bsky.app/profile/niedermeyer.io 
The Autonocast: https://www.autonocast.com/ 
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Better Offline CES 2025: Day 3 - Pt. 2

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 - and likely effective - plan to tax all digital advertising revenue over $500m at 50% as well as how we might adjust incentives to bring big tech under control.
 
PAPER: https://shapingwork.mit.edu/research/the-urgent-need-to-tax-digital-advertising/ 
 
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LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/zitron.bsky.social 
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Nobel Economist's Plan To Tax Digital Ads

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