16 October, 2024
How I Podcast: Hyperfixed’s Alex Goldman
The beauty of podcasting is that anyone can do it. It’s a rare medium that’s nearly as easy to make as it is to consume. And as such, no two people do it exactly the same way. There are a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut from NPR studios to USB Skype rigs (the latter of which became a kind of default during the pandemic).
This week, Alex Goldman shares his setup. A former producer for WNYC’s On the Media, Goldman co-founded Reply All with Emmanuel Dzotsi in 2014. The wildly popular Gimlet podcast explored how the internet shapes us — and vice versa. A decade later, Goldman is back with Radiotopia’s Hyperfixed, a “help desk for life’s most intractable problems,” which he produces from the comfort of his podcasting basement. Here’s Goldman in his own words:
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, so much of podcasting is actually done remotely, so you have to make a little space in your house where it’s comfortable to do it. Mine is a little 8×8 room in the basement of my apartment, and it’s surprisingly cozy. So when you listen to my new podcast Hyperfixed full of hope, helpfulness, and adventure, know it’s coming from this torture closet.
“I mean, sure, it looks like the cabin in “Evil Dead,” but all the gear being on in here keeps it nice and toasty compared to the rest of the basement, and I like to think I’ve made it my own to a certain degree.
“Engineers act like prepping a room to record is difficult, but really it’s about making sure there isn’t too much open space or hard surface for sound to reflect off of. The more cluttered a room, the better prepped it is to record.
“That’s why I have this giant Black Sabbath Vol. 4 wall flag. Behind the flag is a wool blanket I’ve hung on some nails to keep the place sounding good, and I just wanted something I’d like looking at. Because that album is so good. “Changes”? “Snowblind”? Oh my god. To the left and right of my desk are sound baffles that minimize echo, and then all the other crud I’ve filled my office with helps to keep echo down as well.
“I started in public radio, which means that I learned audio editing on Pro Tools, a program that remains the industry standard despite being the most expensive, overpowered, buggy program available to audio editors. Fortunately they have recently started to offer a $10 a month license instead of buying a license outright for $599 like the old days.
“My mic is a Shure SM7B, which has been the public radio standard for 20 years, and a mic that, once you know its profile, you will see everywhere. I even saw Metallica’s James Hetfield barking into one recently during a rewatch of “Some Kind of Monster.” For audio interfaces, I have a Focusrite 2i2 and a Focusrite 18i8; the former is basically the little brother of the latter. I like the 18i8 because it is very useful for recording directly off your desktop, but the 2i2 doesn’t need to be plugged into the wall, which just makes it easier to use.
“The music for the show is made by either The Mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder or myself. I am a very, very amateur musician, but it’s pretty easy, and to do that I most often use the Sequential Circuits Prophet 6 Synthesizer. It’s based on a synth from the early ’80s (named, believe it or not, the Prophet 5) that was used by folks like Gary Numan, The Cars, and Soft Cell, and it’s just impossible to make a bad sound with it. If I need great big fat synth bass or super thick synth leads, I use the Moog Matriarch, a more temperamental but still really wonderful and versatile synth.
“For drum sounds, I mostly tend to use stock drums from Ableton, but I also have a couple of samplers and drum machines (the Erica Synths LXR-02 and the SOMA Pulsar-23) that I like making little broken beats with. I recorded an album a couple years back under the name Slow Fawns, and I have been known to cannibalize those completed songs for music cues on podcasts as well.
“Also I’d be remiss if I didn’t address the elephant in the room, or the rubber glove in the room, as it were. When I started renting this apartment, this room was full of a previous tenant’s junk, and I got it all out and set everything up before I noticed the rubber glove on the floor there, just to the right of my synthesizer. At this point it’s so much a part of the room decor, I barely even notice it.”
* We’ve previously asked others of our favorite podcast hosts and producers to highlight their workflows — the equipment and software they use to get the job done. The list so far includes:
Left Handed Radio’s Anna RubanovaScience Vs’ Rose RimlerElection Profit Makers’ David ReesWelcome to Your Fantasy’s Eleanor KaganArticles of Interest’s Avery TrufelmanFirst Draft and Track Changes’ Sarah EnniRiYL remote podcasting editionFamily Ghosts’ Sam DingmanI’m Listening’s Anita FloresBroken Record’s Justin RichmondCriminal/This Is Love’s Lauren SpohrerJeffrey Cranor of Welcome to Night ValeJesse Thorn of BullseyeBen Lindbergh of Effectively WildMy own podcast, RiYL
Meta Connect 2024: How to watch the metaverse and generative AI event
Meta Connect 2024 kicks off on Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT, with a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The developer event is set to focus on Meta’s XR (VR and AR) platforms, the metaverse, and the Facebook parent’s open source generative AI platform, Llama. Some new hardware, including the Meta Quest 4, updates to the Meta Ray-Bans, and a glimpse at the new “Orion” AR headset could maybe get some time in the California sunshine.
There are a few ways to stream the presentation live. The simplest way is by bookmarking the Meta Connect site, where you can register for free. Meta will also stream it through its developer Facebook page. If you really want to feel like like you’re in Menlo Park from the comfort of your own living room, you can also access the keynote through Horizon Worlds via your Meta Quest headset.
As with last year’s event, Meta will be streaming via YouTube. We’ll add that link to this post once it’s live. Further developer panels will also be made available through YouTube and Facebook, as the event runs through Thursday. You can find the full schedule for Meta Connect 2024 at this link.
As ever, TechCrunch will be bringing you the news as it breaks.
First TikTok, now smart cars: How Biden’s new proposed ban will affect US automakers
The White House issued a long-anticipated proposal Monday that would ban Chinese smart cars because internet-connected vehicles pose a national security risk. The proposal, made amid an escalating trade war, could affect U.S. automakers and suppliers that rely on certain hardware to enable connected vehicle systems.
“This is both strategic political theater designed to head off an issue before it fully metastasizes, and it’s also likely to have an impact on companies operating today,” Avery Ash, senior vice president of government relations at SAFE, a national security focused think tank, told TechCrunch.
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s proposed rulemaking would not only prohibit the sale or import of connected vehicles from China, but it would also ban the software and hardware that powers those systems in U.S. connected cars.
The ruling, if adopted, would provide automakers with a year to ensure their connected vehicle software has no ties to China, something Ash said won’t be a problem for most manufacturers.
What might pose a challenge to supply chains, though, is the hardware ban. Automakers would have four years to remove certain Chinese-affiliated hardware from their connected vehicles — things like onboard sensors, connectivity control units, Bluetooth, or antennas and chipsets that allow cars to connect to the internet.
The Commerce Department will consider letting small producers of vehicles apply for exemptions on the ban on a case-by-case basis to minimize unnecessary industry disruption.
U.S.-based autonomous vehicle companies wouldn’t face the same hardware restrictions as automakers, however. The proposed ban would only limit the use of Chinese software on AVs Level 3 and Level 4. In both instances the car can drive itself under certain conditions, although a human driver would need to take over if necessary for Level 3 systems. AV companies have argued that having full control over their software would mitigate any potential hardware risks.
And of course, the ban would limit Chinese AV companies from testing and deploying in the U.S. While there have been several Chinese robotaxi startups testing in the U.S. over the years — with some like Nullmax, Pony.ai, and WeRide still with active testing permits in California — most have seen the writing on the wall and have stopped testing.
WeRide, which is seeking a U.S. IPO at a $5 billion valuation, paused its plans to go public in August.
Ash said this ruling is necessary to protect national security interests. The logic is that connected cars, which include electric and autonomous vehicles, collect sensitive driver and passenger data. They also have cameras and sensors that power automated driving features and could record detailed information about American infrastructure.
The proposed ruling is one of the Biden administration’s last major restrictions on Chinese products into the U.S. It follows the government’s ban of Huawei and ZTE, and other technology from prominent Chinese telecommunications and video surveillance brands, as well as investigations into Chinese cranes at U.S. ports. It also operates under the same national security principle as the Biden administration’s ban of social media app TikTok.
The ban would expand on the Biden administration’s decision to quadruple import duties on Chinese electric vehicles to 100%, saying Chinese government subsidies artificially lowered prices for EVs. The tariffs effectively knee-capped the Chinese EV industry in the U.S. before it had the chance to flood the American market with smart, cheap cars.
The European Union has also found its automakers are unable to compete with Chinese EV prices and is considering its own tariffs.
The Commerce Department’s proposed ban could serve to boost U.S. domestic EV manufacturing, a major goal of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, signed in August 2022. Among other incentives for onshoring EV manufacturing and clean energy production, the IRA provides a $7,500 EV tax credit for cars that were assembled in North America and contain key battery materials sourced from the U.S. or trade partners.
The proposed ban also follows a similar bill introduced to the House earlier this year by Rep. Elissa Slotkin. Other provisions that Slotkin championed, like a ban on Chinese connected vehicles at U.S. military bases and a prohibition on the Department of Defense procuring Chinese-made lidar, made it into the government’s annual defense spending bill.
Technology from other countries of concern, like Russia, would also be included in the ban, although Russia doesn’t currently produce any of the technology that would be subject.
The Biden administration encouraged interested stakeholders to share their input with the Commerce Department as it develops its final rule, which is slated for before the end of the year, a senior administration official told TechCrunch.
How Big Tech embraced nuclear power
Microsoft made waves last week when it announced a deal with Constellation Energy to restart a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island to meet its surging data center power needs, bucking the power source’s seemingly terminal decline.
In the last decade, seven nuclear reactors have been decommissioned in the U.S., while only two new ones have been switched on. Meanwhile, the number of data centers has exploded, with over 10,000 worldwide, half of which are in the U.S. And as cloud computing grows, EPRI, an electric industry research organization, anticipates that the sector’s energy demand will grow by anywhere from 29% to 166% by 2030.
Today, data centers consume about 4% of U.S. electricity. By the end of the decade, they might use 9%, all while overall demand grows. Hyperscale data centers, like what Microsoft, Google, and Amazon operate — and which startups like OpenAI and Anthropic rely on — are the primary culprit, responsible for 60 to 70% of all data center energy use, according to EPRI.
For companies like Microsoft, which has ambitions to eliminate its carbon emissions by 2030, growth in cloud computing and AI pose a particular challenge: The firm’s carbon emissions have ballooned some 40% over the last four years, largely a result of expanding data center operations. Google’s carbon emissions have grown, too, some 48% in the last five years. (Amazon says all of its data centers’ energy use is matched by an equivalent amount of renewable power.)
All of that has companies eyeing nuclear as a way to reconcile their breakneck data center growth with their commitments to hit net zero. In that context, it’s easy to see why nuclear is appealing: Fission reactors can run uninterrupted for years, working at maximum capacity over 90% of the time. Maintenance outages tend to be planned months or years in advance, giving data centers plenty of time to prepare. No wonder Microsoft signed a 20-year agreement with Constellation.
Outside of the new deal, Microsoft also has been investing, participating in a Series A for Last Energy, which is planning to build small modular reactors.
Not far from Three Mile Island, Amazon recently bought a hyperscale data center that’s directly connected to a nuclear plant, and it’s hiring a nuclear engineer to help AWS develop and acquire nuclear power.
Investors connected to Big Tech have placed their bets, too. Bill Gates co-founded TerraPower, and he has personally invested over $1 billion in the company; former Microsoft CTO Nathan Myhrvold, through Intellectual Ventures, is also on the cap table. Sam Altman backed the small modular reactor startup Oklo before it merged with a special-purpose acquisition company.
But Microsoft’s deal with Constellation suggests that the company is hedging its bets. The rapid company’s data center growth may have forced it to secure power more quickly than it had anticipated. It’s also possible that the company realized the current wave of nuclear startups won’t be generating electricity anytime soon.
The latter isn’t surprising. Nuclear reactors aren’t exactly simple, and many startups are still relatively young, having produced only plans or concepts of plans.
But even more mature startups have stumbled. Two years ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied Oklo’s application to build a reactor for the Department of Energy in Idaho, and last year the Air Force rescinded a $100 million cost-plus contract. Competitor NuScale Power, another fission startup that went SPAC, lost a big contract in 2023.
Even if nuclear fission startups are able to overcome their engineering and regulatory hurdles, they’ll still have to find somewhere to build them. That remains the biggest challenge, I’d argue. It’s no secret that nuclear has an image problem. How many of you cringed a bit when Microsoft announced it was reopening Three Mile Island, even if the reactor in question was operational as recently as 2019? And while the majority of Americans now support nuclear power, the technology lags in acceptance to wind and solar. Plus, that support may vanish once concrete plans emerge. People might like nuclear in the abstract, but what about in their backyards?
Meanwhile, the cost of renewable power has grown increasingly attractive, even when adding the cost of batteries to enable 24/7 operation.
In the near term, restarting old nuclear power plants will help tech companies keep up with growing power demand while minimizing its climate impact. But there are only so many mothballed nuclear power plants waiting for a savior. Eventually, cloud computing and AI companies will need alternative sources. The time to start looking for them is now.
Facebook says, 'How do you do, fellow kids?'
Back in my day, Facebook was cool. Gaggles of middle schoolers trolled the local mall, where we would stop into the Apple Store, find an early MacBook Pro, and take dozens of pictures with gaudy Photo Booth filters to post on Facebook. Sometimes, other teens would forget to log out of their accounts, and we would post something like “i just pooped” before signing into our own accounts.
This isn’t the case anymore. In 2014, the Pew Research Center estimated that 71% of U.S. teens used Facebook; as of 2022, that percentage dropped to 32%, then slightly increased to 33% last year. Other studies from Edison Research have shown the same trend. Though Meta is reticent to share much demographic information about its user base, the app’s head, Tom Alison, said that there are 40 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada between the ages of 18 and 29.
Facebook remained central to my social experiences in high school and college. If you weren’t on Facebook, you wouldn’t get invited to parties, and you wouldn’t know when any student clubs were holding meetings. In the 2010s, deleting Facebook would have been a disaster for my social life. Now if I woke up one day to find that my Facebook account had been deleted, it would be a minor inconvenience.
My experience isn’t unique. So, as Meta tries to rekindle the flame between Facebook and socially anxious youths, the company released a blog post Wednesday titled, “Navigating your 20s with Facebook.”
“Your twenties are a decade full of transitions, from graduating college, moving to new cities, starting new jobs and living on your own for the first time. It can be a hectic (and fun) decade, and Facebook is here to help,” the post says.
Do twentysomethings read the Facebook blog? (Does anyone other than journalists read the Facebook blog?) If they do, they’ll learn that you can meet new friends in groups like “NYC Brunch Squad” or “People We Meet in Book Club,” a virtual book club with almost 20,000 members. (It’s not necessarily a group for meeting fellow readers, but rather, the title is probably referencing a novel by best-selling romance writer Emily Henry.)
Meta’s blog also suggests that in your 20s, you could meet the love of your life on Facebook Dating. I don’t know about that, but then again, I’m a single twentysomething who has never used Facebook Dating, so maybe they have a point.
What Facebook does get right about Gen Z is that Facebook Marketplace is the new Craigslist. It’s trendy among young people — whether due to environmental consciousness or budget constraints — to shop secondhand. It will never be the safest decision to meet a stranger online to buy their old couch, but if you can at least view that stranger’s Facebook profile, it could be easier to verify that they’re legit. They might even have mutual friends with you, whereas on Craigslist, you’re staring in the face of a private relay email with no personal information.
Facebook marketplace is popular enough that rising Gen Z social app Fizz wants to undercut it. The anonymous, college-centric social platform recently added a marketplace to its app with this idea in mind.
“There’s that kind of stigma around, like, if I sell something on Craigslist, I might get kidnapped,” Fizz founder Teddy Solomon told TechCrunch. “And Facebook marketplace … Gen Z is not using Facebook,” he said.
As Facebook faded out of style, our social architecture shifted. I find out about concerts in my area through Instagram posts or promotional emails from local venues. My friends send invitations to birthday dinners via Partiful, an SMS-based party-planning app backed by a16z, or they just post kitschy Canva graphics to their Close Friends story.
Now 20 years old, Facebook is trying to stay relevant. According to Axios, the platform hosted an event with young creators focused on looking forward to Facebook’s next 20 years. Facebook gave creators pamphlets declaring, “We are not your mom’s Facebook.” Instead, the app described itself as “a hub for all things culturally happening in the platform’s underground.”
This feels like a stretch. Then again, Abercrombie, which reigned supreme about 20 years ago, has re-emerged into the zeitgeist, with its stock up 900%. Even Mark Zuckerberg has managed a miraculous rebrand. Maybe one day, Facebook will be cool again, too.