Welcome to “Behind The Data”. We all know that data is all around us — it powers every algorithm, predictive model, and AI tool that is revolutionizing our lives. But where does it come from? Who collected it? How do we know if it’s any good? For every dataset shaping our lives, there is a person or team making impactful decisions about what to track and how to track it that we are barely talking about. In this show we go behind the data to understand the stories and incentives behind how all this data came to be, why it matters for our lives, and how we can play a role in shaping it going forward.

Starring Andrea Jones-Rooy, Dhrumil Mehta

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What can businesses do to be more resilient against future CrowdStrike like outages? Plus Fortnite is available again for iOS in the EU and for Android worldwide. And over 2.7 billion data records with Social Security numbers were leaked onto a hacking forum. Should you be worried?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Steve Zalewski, Len Peralta, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, recants his view that remote work policies are hindering Google’s AI competitiveness. But does he mean it? Plus Google is expanding the rollout of its generated summaries for search results, called “AI Overviews.” And the New England Journal Brian-Computer Interface (BCI) developed by scientists at the University of California, Davis.

Starring Sarah Lane, Justin Robert Young, Roger Chang, Joe.

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The US DOJ is considering asking a judge to break up Google. Apple announced support for access to the iPhone’s NFC chip in iOS 18.1. And Valve confirms SteamOS support for Asus’s ROG Ally handheld gaming PC.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We detail all the highlights from today’s Made By Google event including the new Pixel 9 hardware, AI services and Pixel Watch 3!. Plus some folks are mad that The Verge published screenshots from Valve’s unannounced game. And Password manager Dashlane shared its first Passkey Report.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Jason Howell, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We explain the hack of the Trump campaign by an foreign state actor and the possible threat to US elections. Justin explains how to find out who’s really soliciting donations on behalf of a electoral campaign. And the Verge’s Sean Hollister explains the limitations of the PSVR2 PC adapter.

Starring Tom Merritt, Justin Robert Young, Sean Hollister, Roger Chang, Joe.

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David Spark is here to give us the highlights from this year’s Black Hat security conference. Plus Apple reveals a fee structure for apps that link to outside websites for purchase in the EU. And eVTOL air taxi startup Archer Aviation hopes to have its service up and running Los Angeles by 2026.

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, David Spark, Roger Chang, Joe.

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We do a deep dive into AlphaFold 3 and how its impact on scientific research with Dr Niki. Plus The Financial Times reports that Google worked with Meta to roll out ads that targeted children, despite violating Google’s own rules.

Starring Sarah Lane, Robb Dunewood, Dr Nicole Ackermans, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Reddit plans to experiment with search result summaries generated by Large Language Models. CrowdStrike details what caused the Falcon Sensor bug to crash Windows machines around the world. And the Borderlands movie releases in the US this Friday. Is this a sign that the game has made it, or are movie adaptations an unneeded distraction?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Scott Johnson, Roger Chang, Joe.

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Google announces the TV Streamer, a replacement for the 11-year old Chromecast device. Plus we have the latest on Uber’s autonomous car ride-hailing service. And what does Google loss in the DOJ’s big monopoly trial over search business mean for the company?

Starring Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, Roger Chang, Joe.

To read the show notes in a separate page click here!

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