Slate Technology

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to break down the BookTok drama surrounding Old Enough by Haley Jakobson. Last year, Old Enough hit the shelves as a queer, coming-of-age novel about a sophomore in college named Sav and her ex-best friend, Izzie. A year later, a guest of Lucie Fink’s podcast The Real Stuff claimed she was allegedly the basis for Izzie and that her childhood was “plagarized” for the novel — from her experience with sexual assault to sensitive details about her family. On today’s episode, ICYMI asks how this BookTok drama became the “Bad Art Fri...

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: a fond farewell.

This is the last episode of Hear Me Out. And it comes at a volatile, strange time in the world of podcasting. Networks’ priorities have shifted, the money has shifted, and “success” means different things to different people. 

Nick Hilton of Podot and Future Proof joins us for a discussion about the future of podcasting… whether we’re in it or not.

The Hear Me Out team is grateful, endlessly, to every single listener who’...

An outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis in the northeast made headlines, but as far as mosquito-borne illnesses go, EEE is serious but still rare. What’s getting way too common is the mosquito itself.

Guest: Amesh Adalja, doctor and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page...

Candice Lim is joined by Wailin Wong, the co-host of NPR’s The Indicator from Planet Money. Back in January, ICYMI explained everything you needed to know about Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise — a nine-month trip that TikTokkers on land and sea couldn’t stop talking about. Today, we’re checking in with our favorite boat that’s finally coming home, dispatching everything from geopolitical crises to engagements, and passengers who didn’t get back on board.

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario and Candice Lim.

Learn more about your ad...

A month after a federal judge declared that Google was operating as a monopoly because of its search engine, the Justice Department has alleged that Google’s ad business was breaking antitrust law as well. 

What if Google loses again?

Guest: Leah Nylen, Bloomberg antitrust reporter.

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our sho...

Candice Lim is joined by Rolling Stone writer CT Jones and Switched on Pop producer Reanna Cruz to hold a retrospective on the internet history of Charli XCX, the founder of brat summer and a decades-long digital icon. They’re going all the way back to 2012, when a girl from Essex named Charlotte Aitchison hit the main stage with “I Love It.” They’ll dissect their first Charli XCX memories, the 2016 song that changed Charli’s entire internet career, and how her pandemic album-documentary led up to this moment, asking: Was it Charli’s Angels or Charli’s destiny?

This podcast is pro...

Can fast-fashion giant Shein go public while fending off accusations of bad labor practices, the US government, and a back-and-forth war with newcomer Temu?

Guest: Mia Sato, platforms and communities reporter at the Verge. 

Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.

Telegram was supposed to be the platform with the freest of free speech, which meant it was also rife with the worst the internet has to offer—"criminal activity” puts it lightly. But are French authorities setting a dangerous precedent with the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov? 

Guest: Joseph Menn, tech reporter for the Washington Post covering privacy and security.

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple...

Candice Lim is joined by Zakiya Gibbons, the host and creator of the reality dating podcast Hang Up. On today’s episode, they explain YouTube’s biggest phenomenon of the past year — Skibidi Toilet. The animated, dystopian web series was created by Alexey Gerasimov, whose toilets have broken the internet and wracked up more than 43.5 million subscribers. Skibidi Toilet’s biggest fans seem to be Gen Alpha, who are congregating around a meme that Gen-Z can’t fully get behind. Therefore, does Skibidi Toilet mark the first internet war between our two youngest generations?

This podcast is produced by S...

Since the pandemic, schools have been reporting that their students are more anxious and having trouble learning. How much does simply removing cell phones from the classroom address these problems?

Guests: 

Laura Meckler, national education writer for the Washington Post

Russell Shaw, head of Georgetown Day School and author of “Why We’re Banning Phones at Our School” for the Atlantic.

Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcast...