Foundering

After the U.S. elections in November, our favorite internet companies faced a torrent of criticism for not doing more to curb the spread of fake news -- and responded by deploying a series of tools to combat the problem. This week, as French voters prepare to pick their next president, Bloomberg Technology's Pia Gadkari and Brad Stone ask whether Facebook's, Google's and Twitter's initiatives have worked. Will France turn out to be another repeat of what happened in the run-up to the U.S. elections, or has the internet finally figured out how to deal with false information?

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We still think of Silicon Valley as the world's technology hub, but China's quickly catching up. For one, consider this stat: China has created as many billion-dollar startups this year as the U.S. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Peter Elstrom and David Ramli travel to Shanghai to visit Colin Huang, the man behind the latest business to join this rarefied club of unicorns. Huang recounts his humble origins in Hangzhou and the various turning points in his life that took him to where he is today, at the center of China's bustling tech scene. At 37, now leading his fourth startup, Huang's just getting started.

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Remember Pinterest? Only a few years ago, the pinboard of the internet was one of the buzziest startups in Silicon Valley. Since then, the company's grown quietly, overshadowed in the news by other businesses in the industry. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah Frier visits Pinterest for a rare interview with co-founders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, as well as president Tim Kendall. The three executives discuss what they have been working on, as well as what they have struggled with. Will their new vision be enough to put Pinterest back on the map?

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Around the world, people suffer from a genetic condition called hemophilia. Even with expensive and time-consuming treatments, simple injuries for these patients hold the threat of turning into serious complications and even life-threatening events. But now, one biotech company has stumbled upon what very early trials suggest could be a "cure" -- something that, with a single intravenous drip, essentially corrects the genetic mutation that causes the disorder. This week, Bloomberg's Doni Bloomfield visits the scientists behind this treatment and a patient who has actually tried it. If it works, researchers may have pushed the door open to a whole new world of treatments that tackle these diseases at their source: our DNA.

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Tech companies face a harsh reality: You're only as good as your latest product. The scramble to identify and lure the best talent has taken recruiters to unusual places. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Lizette Chapman visits a recent hackathon at Stanford, watching as high school and college students code through the night. All the while, corporate representatives and investors are watching, eying the kids who will become future stars.

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A crisis is brewing at the world's largest video service. YouTube has seen big advertisers from AT&T to Wal-Mart pull their ads off the platform over fears that their brand will appear next to offensive or extremist content. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Mark Bergen and Aki Ito plunge into one of the thorniest corners of the modern Internet and ask: How do you police the unwieldy, ever-expanding mess that is the world wide web? Please note: some short examples of offensive material have been included in this episode.

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If you own an iPhone, chances are you've used Apple's App Store to buy and download apps. For years, while iPhones were flying off the shelves, Apple had the power to dictate the rules of how software developers all over the world made those apps-- and made money from them. Now, with the global market for smartphones slowing, the iPhone maker is looking to sweeten its relationship with the 13 million developers it relies on to generate revenue from the App Store. The inner workings of Apple's business are notoriously opaque, but this week Bloomberg Technology's Alex Webb and Brad Stone take you into the world of the developers themselves, to hear what it's actually been like to work with Apple-- and to find out how the world's most valuable company is trying to change that.

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When Amazon opened a warehouse in the Minneapolis suburb of Shakopee last year, a thousand people got new jobs. In return, Amazon got millions of dollars in tax breaks. This week, Spencer Soper visits Shakopee to examine the impact the e-commerce giant has had on the area's residents and businesses. For Shakopee, was it worth the investment? And what happens when cities and states across the country compete against each other to lure big corporations like Amazon, with increasingly bigger subsidies? Spencer and Aki hear from people on both sides as a national debate intensifies over how to create more American jobs.

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Do you ever spend time online watching people compete with each other at playing video games? Perhaps not (yet), but this pastime known as esports is turning into a popular and potentially lucrative category of sports entertainment. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Joshua Brustein meets a team of professional gamers, as well as the team owners (including former NBA star Rick Fox) helping them battle their way to the top of a League of Legends championship. In the process, Josh and Aki explore what it takes to build an esports league from scratch.

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When Jase Wilson launched his startup in Kansas City, Missouri, he didn't intend on leaving. But he struggled to get the funding he needed from local investors, and he decided to try his luck in California. Before long, Jase won the backing of, among others, the movie star Ashton Kutcher. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah McBride visits Kansas City to figure out why Jase, and other founders like him across the country, find it so hard to thrive outside the big coastal tech hubs.

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