Foundering

A few years ago, reporter Sarah McBride noticed that a top engineer at Twitter was also an expert on the brains of birds. Then, more and more, she started seeing that many top tech companies have bird brain experts in their highest ranks⁠—that includes Apple, Google, Intel and a secretive startup founded by Elon Musk. This week on Decrypted, Sarah and fellow reporter Ashlee Vance set out to understand why Silicon Valley is so interested in avian minds, and what they could tell us about tech’s ability to influence our own.

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Google has long had a special relationship with staff, encouraging employee input on all sorts of internal matters. For the last two decades, this approach has worked well. But after a series of controversies and protests in the last two years, some workers are openly at war with Google. This week on Decrypted, editor Alistair Barr speaks to Irene Knapp, a senior software engineer who has had a front-row seat during the tumult inside the company.

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Northern White Rhinos are functionally extinct: The two remaining females have no males to breed with. But an ambitious plan is underway to save the species. This week on Decrypted, reporter Kristen V. Brown meets the scientists using cutting edge stem cell science to create a rhino embryo in a San Diego lab.

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Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is an annual pilgrimage for software developers whose businesses are built on the App Store. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Mark Gurman speaks to Phillip Shoemaker, the former head of app review at Apple who played a role in past WWDC conferences. They discuss the early days of the App Store and its place at the heart of Apple's nearly $50 billion-a-year services business. 

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Marty Markowitz had his share of problems. His parents had recently died. He had troubles at work. A failing relationship. He needed someone to help him through this rough patch in his life. So he decided to get some professional help from a psychiatrist. What he did not count on, was what happened in his life over the next twenty-nine years. This is a story about power, control, and turning to the wrong person for help.  Listen now at bloomberg.com/shrinknextdoor

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Mountain View, California, is home to Google and Silicon Valley's tech boom. Rents and home prices have soared, and hundreds of people have been forced to live in recreational vehicles parked on the city's streets. This week on Decrypted, we explore how the rising cost of living is fueling tension between homeowners and vehicle residents, resulting in a parking ban on RVs. 

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Cycling enthusiasts have a new way to work out at home: By hooking their bikes up to Zwift, they compete in a video game with other stationary cyclists. This week on Decrypted, reporter Gerrit de Vynck spends a month training on Zwift. He explores whether its new racing leagues could soon become a spectator sport. 

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It's finally happening. A decade after Uber started out as a black car service in San Francisco, it's going public in one of the largest IPOs of all time. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Eric Newcomer joins Brad Stone to discuss what it will take for Uber to become a profitable business, the potential of its other ventures, and what it would mean for Silicon Valley if Uber achieves the stratospheric valuation it’s seeking. 

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A growing number of experts believe that a promising technology, known as carbon capture, will be an essential part of any plan to confront climate change. But until now the science of removing carbon from the air has only ever been demonstrated at a small scale—and the process of turning that carbon into useful products, such as fuel, has cost too much to make a real difference. This week on Decrypted, meet two startups that think they may have a solution.

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Jason Boyce built a successful business selling sports equipment on Amazon. As the platform has grown, Amazon has pushed sellers to lower prices, shorten delivery times and compete harder for every sale. This week on Decrypted, we explore whether entrepreneurs like Jason have reached a breaking point. They now face a competitor who's potentially unbeatable: Amazon itself. 

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