Today, we're talking about Disney, the massive activist investor revolt it just fought off, and what happens next in the world of streaming. Because what happens to Disney really tells us a lot about what's happening in the entire world of entertainment. Earlier this month, Disney survived an attempted board takeover from businessman Nelson Peltz. …

On this episode we continue our South American odyssey as we finish our breakdown of Ardy Sixkiller Clarke's 'Sky People: Untold Stories of Alien Encounters In Mesoamerica'. Join us as we discuss if belief can be separated from the cultures that formed them, how we might apply a cultural myth to a broader understanding of humanity as a whole, and i…

As the title of the podcast suggests, Savage and Sylvie can get pretty loud about a lot of things: starting and scaling companies, building amazing products, cold plunges. The content on the show really runs the gamut. But this week, the thing they’re talking way too loud about is great ads. The ones that make us laugh, cry, and yes, even buy. So t…

At the absolute most basic, Dropbox is cloud storage for your stuff — but that puts it at the nexus of a huge number of today’s biggest challenges in tech. As the company that helps you organize your stuff in the cloud itself goes all remote, how do we even deal with the concept of “your stuff?” Today I’m talking with Dropbox CEO Drew Houston about…

Today we’re talking about Vice, the media company: Where it came from, what it did, and, ultimately, why it collapsed into a much smaller, sadder version of itself. This is a lousy time for digital media, and it’s hard to make a profit from putting words on the internet right now. So when Verge senior reporter Liz Lopatto went to go report on what …

This month Nick leads us into the jungles of Meso-America as we break down 'Sky People: Untold Stories of Alien Encounters in Mesoamerica' by Ardy Sixkiller Clarke. Join us as we discuss ufology's impact on American Culture, The Ancient Astronaut theory, trading alien popcorn for a cardboard suit, and eventually spiral completely out of control. Jo…

Cloudflare is an infrastructure provider basically protecting more than 20% of the entire web from bad actors. When everything is going well, you don't even have to know it exists. It's one of the only defenses — sometimes the only defense — standing between websites and the people who want to take them down. Protecting free speech on the internet …

Hello, and welcome to Decoder. This is David Pierce, editor-at-large at The Verge and co-host of The Vergecast, subbing in for Nilay, who’s out on vacation. Regular Decoder programming returns next week. In the meantime, we have an exciting episode for you today all about video game emulation, which, as it turns out, is a whole lot more complicated…

As the SVP of Revenue at New Breed, the premier marketing, sales, and service agency focused on holistic growth, Jonathan Burg does, well, a little bit of everything. We’re talking marketing, sales, partnerships, and RevOps! While some may treat these efforts as distinct and separate, others have gravitated towards a different approach. On the late…

Today, I’m talking to Intuit Mailchimp CEO Rania Succar, who took over as CEO in 2022 after a pretty rough patch in the company’s history. In 2021, Intuit acquired the company, and the very next year, co-founder Ben Chestnut stepped down after telling employees that he thought introducing themselves with pronouns in meetings did more harm than good…

Hey everyone it’s Nilay – I’m on vacation this week, so the Decoder team is taking a short break. We’ll be back next week with both the interview and the new explainer episodes. To tide you over until Monday, we have a bonus episode from our friends at Vox Media and Eater’s Gastropod about an incredible patent battle in the world of pizza. I’m seri…

On this Midnight Chat we sit down with Actor, Ghost Hunter, Paranormal researcher, and the author of this months book, Adam Berry! Check out Adam's website here Join our discord server and discuss all things weird with us: https://discord.gg/9WZbaPUXXN Want to reach out? Email us at noctivagantpodcast@gmail.com Check out all our socials: https://li…

Today, I’m talking to Jay Graber, the CEO of Bluesky Social, which is a decentralized competitor to Meta’s Threads, Mastodon, and X. Bluesky actually started inside of what was then known as Twitter — it was a project from then-CEO Jack Dorsey, who spent his days wandering the earth and saying things like Twitter should be a protocol and not a comp…

Both the EU and US have spent the past decade looking at Big Tech and saying, "someone should do something!" In the US, lawmakers are still basically shouting that. But in the EU, regulators did something. The Digital Markets Act was proposed in 2020, signed into law in 2022, and went into effect this month. It's already having an effect on some of…

On this episode we complete our tag-team breakdown of Adam Berry's new book "Goodbye Hello: Processing Grief and Understanding Death through the Paranormal". Join us and The Quite Unusual Podcast as we discuss the risks of contact with the dead, the afterlife of our pets, and grieving through the paranormal. Check out The Quite Unusual Podcast webs…

Ian Faison, founder of Caspian Studios, is talking too loud about ‘puffy pants’, the chilly morning staple you didn’t know you needed. Chris Savage is talking too loud about Netflix’s hilarious and educational animated teen series, Big Mouth. And Sylvie is talking too loud about the cinematic masterpiece that is BlackBerry, and the iPhone before-ti…

We’ve got a fun one today — I talked to Figma CEO Dylan Field in front of a live audience at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. And we got into it – we talked about everything from design, to software distribution, to the future of the web, and, of course, AI. Figma is an fascinating company – the Figma design tool is used by designers at basical…

If you’ve been listening to Decoder or the Vergecast for a while, you know that I am obsessed with Google Search, the web, and how both of those things might change in the age of AI. But to really understand how something might change, you have to step back and understand what it is right now. So today I’m talking with Verge platforms reporter Mia …

Death is the only true constant of our world. It's all around us, haunting us, a constant reminder of our own mortality. Some endeavor to explore its mysteries through science or religion. Some, like the author of this month's book, go right to the source. Join us as Rory leads the crew, and special guests Nicole and Noelle of the Quite Unusual Pod…

Today, I’m talking to Kyle Chayka, a staff writer for The New Yorker, a regular contributor to The Verge, and author of the new book Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture. Kyle has been writing for years now about how the culture of big social media platforms bleeds into real life, first affecting how things look, and now shaping how and wh…

Our Thursday episodes are all about big topics in the news, and this week we’re wrapping up our short series on one of the biggest topics of all: generative AI. In our last couple episodes, we talked a lot about some of the biggest, most complicated legal and policy questions surrounding the modern AI industry, including copyright lawsuits and deep…

Kristen Bryant Smith, the VP of Brand at Help Scout, is talking too loud about Taylor Swift’s lack of style (hot take), specifically, and the case against billionaires more broadly. Chris Savage is talking too loud about the joy of Wistia hackathons, and a new tool called Canny, that lets teams spin out ideas based on customer feedback. Sylvie is t…

On this special episode of Decoder, science educator and YouTuber Hank Green is guest hosting. And the guest? It’s Nilay Patel, who sat down with Hank to discuss building The Verge, the state of media, and the future of the web. Also: whether the fediverse is worth investing in, and how social platforms’ control of distribution has shaped the inter…

Our new Thursday episodes of Decoder are all about deep dives into big topics in the news, and this week we’re continuing our mini-series on one of the biggest topics of all: generative AI. Last week, we took a look at the wave of copyright lawsuits that might eventually grind this whole industry to a halt. Those are basically a coin flip — and the…

Today, I’m talking with Rahul Purini, the president of Crunchyroll, a streaming service focused entirely on anime — and really, the biggest anime service still going. Rahul has a long history with anime: he spent more than seven years at Funimation, a company that started in the 90s to distribute Dragon Ball Z to US audiences, before getting the to…

The Decoder team is off this week. We’ll be back next week with both the interview and the new explainer episodes; we’re really excited about what’s on the schedule here. In the meantime, I thought you all might enjoy a conversation I had with Kara Swisher, the Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman about the Apple Vision Pr…

Kobi Gamliel, Head of Agency Growth at Wix Studio, is talking too loud about his kids and screen time. Setting limitations feels important but complicated! What are the rules? Chris Savage is talking too loud about Wistia’s recent brand refresh, which includes a new wordmark, state-of-the-art landing pages, updated copy, and more! Sylvie is talking…

Our new Thursday episodes are all about deep dives into big topics in the news, and for the next few weeks we’re going to stay focused on one of the biggest topics of all: generative AI. There’s a lot going on in the world of generative AI, but maybe the biggest is the increasing number of copyright lawsuits being filed against AI companies like Op…

Welcome to part 2 of our breakdown of the cryptozoological classic 'Serpents of the Sky, Dragons of the Earth' by F.W Holiday! On this episode Jay takes us into weirder waters. Listen in as we spin off from UFOs to the afterlife, the fey, angelic bigfoot, and ghost diners. Links to Organizations mentioned by Jay: Non profit dedicated to preserving …

Today, I’m talking with Jonathan Kanter, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice. Alongside FTC chair Lina Khan, Jonathan is one of the most prominent figures in the big shift happening in competition and antitrust in the United States. This is a fun episode: we taped this conversation live on…

We’re very excited for today’s episode, because from now on we’ll be delivering you two Decoders every week. On Monday’s we’ll have our classic interviews with CEOs and other high-profile guests. But our new shorter Thursday episode – like today’s – will explain big topics in the news with Verge reporters, experts, and other friends of the show. Th…

On this episode Jay takes the gang to Ireland as we break down the cryptozoological classic 'Serpents of the Sky, Dragons of the Earth' by F.W Holiday. Join us for a wild and wide ranging discussion about the nature of legend, sea monster folklore, UFOs, and at least one unfortunate horse. Join our discord server and discuss all things weird with u…

Sonia Thompson, marketing strategist and host of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast, is talking too loud about a trend that is sweeping women’s elite sports: ditching white shorts. Savage is talking too loud about Wistia’s Austin offsite, a company-wide competition that consisted of building small arches from sugar cubes, and shooting a product spot…

Today, I’m talking with Casey Newton, the founder and editor of the Platformer newsletter and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast. Casey is also a former editor here at The Verge and was my co-host at the Code Conference last year. Most importantly, Casey and I are also very close friends, so this episode is a little looser than usual. I wanted to tal…

Today, I’m talking with Senator Brian Schatz, of Hawaii. We joke that Decoder is ultimately a show about org charts, but there’s a lot of truth to it. We talked about the separate offices he has to balance against each other, and the concessions he has to make to work within the Senate structure. We also talked a lot about two of the biggest issues…

Radhika Dutt, author of Radical Product Thinking, is talking too loud about her frustrations with the way we’re building AI today. It is thoughtless and lacks vision. Oh, snap! Chris Savage is talking too loud about his family’s version of ‘YES! DAY’, which they piloted over the winter break and included ice cream for breakfast and a trampoline par…

Today, I’m talking with Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California. He’s been in Congress for eight years now, representing California’s 17th District, which is arguably the highest-tech district in the entire country. You’ll hear him say a couple of times that there’s $10 trillion of tech market value in his district, and that’s not an e…

Jay Clouse, founder of Creator Science, is talking too loud about American Horror Story. Admittedly, he’s several years late on this, but after watching the first couple of seasons, he thinks the storytelling is tremendous! Chris Savage is talking too loud about seeing Steve Martin and Martin Short live in The Dukes of Funnytown Tour. Spoiler alert…

Today, I'm talking to Dana Rao, who is General Counsel and Chief Trust Officer at Adobe. Now, if you're a longtime Decoder listener, you know that I have always been fascinated with Adobe, which I think the tech press largely undercovers. If you're interested in how creativity happens, you're kind of necessarily interested in what Adobe's up to. An…

On this Midnight Chat we sit down with the Author of this months book Fred Andersson! Listen in as we have an awesome discussion about Sweden's UFOs, Ghosts, and Gnomes. We chat about Cheerful Satanism, we talk about Paranormal Television and its impact on the culture around the Paranormal and so much more! Check out Fred's Socials: https://linktr.…

2023 will go down as the year that Elon Musk killed Twitter. First he did it in a big way, by buying the company, firing most of the employees, and destabilizing the platform; then he did it in a small, but important, symbolic way, by renaming the company X and trying to make a full break with what came before. So now that the story of the company …

Chris is talking too loud about his top five gift recs, which include: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind—it’s quite the page-turner The Belkin iPhone Mount, a great way to level up your video recordings when you’re on the go Airfly Pro, a wireless adapter that lets you use your wireless headphones/earbuds in places that only have a headphone ja…

Ryan Petersen is the founder and CEO of Flexport, which makes software to optimize shipping everything from huge containers to ecommerce deliveries. It’s a fascinating company; we had Ryan on to explain it last year. Right around the first time we spoke, Ryan handed off the CEO role to 20-year Amazon veteran Dave Clark. Then, barely a year later, D…

It is Part 2 of our series on Fred Andersson's Northern Lights: High Strangeness in Sweden! Come wander the midnight roads with us as Rory finishes the series taking us through the last half of the book. Stopping along the way to discuss if it is worth it to go "public" with your stories, and what that even means. We talk about how patterns impact …

Geoff Charles, VP of Product at Ramp is talking too loud about his love for trail running, which incidentally, is a great metapor for building a company. Chris Savage is talking too loud about his recent trip to Boulder, where he and Brendan met up with several other B2B founders to talk about Sylvie is talking too loud about cheering for runners a…

The US Digital Service has a fascinating structure: it comprises nearly 250 people, all of whom serve two-year stints developing apps, improving websites, and streamlining government services. You could call USDS the product and design consultancy for the rest of the government. The Obama administration launched the USDS in 2014, after the disastro…

Noctivagant is going international once again! On this episode Rory leads us through Part 1 of Fred Anderesson's Northern Lights: High Strangeness in Sweden where we take a look at some of the stories that Fred has compiled over the years. We talk about the Men in Black, why some people seem to be impacted by paranormal encounters more than others,…

IBM made some announcements this week about its plans for the next ten years of quantum computing: there are new chips, new computers, and new APIs. Quantum computers could in theory entirely revolutionize the way we think of computers… if, that is, someone can build one that’s actually useful. Jerry Chow, director of quantum systems at IBM, explai…

Natasha Pierre, video marketing coach, podcaster, and creator, is talking too loud about the new Goosebumps series on Disney +. It’s spooky, funny, and totally bingeable. Chris Savage is talking too loud about finally finishing the demo on his basement after it flooded over the summer. Sylvie is talking too loud about her latest baking obsession: t…