Marketplace Tech

A Google engineer named James Damore recently penned a memo blaming tech's gender gap on biological differences between men and women, which then led to his firing. Nicole Sanchez, CEO and founder of Vaya Consulting, joined us to talk about what Google needs to do to address its diversity issues and how female staffers are feeling about the company. Plus: A look at secretive Amazon brands.

With Samsung and Apple getting ready to launch new phones, we'll take a look at what we can expect from these new devices. Afterwards, we'll discuss Netflix's decision to buy Millarworld, the publishing company of comic book writer Mark Millar.

President Trump is scheduled to spend 17 days of working vacation at Trump National Golf Club this month. And near the fairway, the Secret Service will be testing one or more drones. Missy Cummings, director of the Humans and Autonomy Laboratory at Duke University, joined us to chat about how these drones will likely be utilized. Afterwards, we'll look at the video game phenomenon "Overwatch."

U.K.-based hacker Marcus Hutchins has been hailed in the hacking community for inadvertently undermining the massive Wannacry malware. But on his way out of Nevada where two hacker gatherings were taking place, he was arrested for allegedly creating a banking malware called Kronos. Motherboard journalist Joseph Cox joined us to explain the details of the arrest and what the malware actually did. Afterwards, we'll play this week's Silicon Tally with Lauren Goode, co-host of the podcast Too Embarrassed to Ask and a senior editor at The Verge.

Facebook may be trying to get into the hardware game (again). Unconfirmed reports say the social media giant is preparing to launch a smart speaker like Amazon Echo and a video chat device. Business Insider reporter Alex Heath joined us to explain why Facebook is pursuing these two products and whether the company can succeed. Afterwards, we'll discuss the potential of using Radio Frequency Identification in retail, which could mean things like getting to walk out of the store without actually having to check out your items.

Congress has wanted company executives to testify about net neutrality, but but they're just not that interested. What's going on? Recode senior editor Tony Romm stopped by to chat wit us about the fear companies on both sides of the issue have. Afterwards, we'll look at the increasingly long transaction times for Bitcoin transfers — an issue that a group of techies tried to solve yesterday by splitting the currency in half. The New York Times' Nathaniel Popper explains what this means for companies that use the currency.

As part of China's tightened restrictions on internet access, Apple is pulling out a bunch of its virtual private network (VPN) services from its App Store in China, and one of those includes VypyrVPN. The president of the VPN's maker, Golden Frog, joined us to talk about Apple's decision, which he says suggests they value "profits over human rights." Afterwards, we'll discuss two Facebook bots that developed their own method of communication — one that even their own builders didn't understand.

The U.S. presidential election wasn't the only race that may have faced Russian interference. Reports say that Russia may have also attempted to sway the recent French presidential election toward far-right nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen. We'll chat with Joseph Menn, an investigative reporter with Reuters, about Facebook's role in all of this, and what these recent events say about Russia's political operations. Afterwards, we'll look at the business model behind the launch of CBS' new Star Trek series, "Discovery."

We're capping off today's show by playing Silicon Tally, the game where we try to stump each other with numbers from the week's news. Rose Eveleth, the producer for ESPN's 30 for 30 podcasts, faces off against host Ben Johnson. Afterwards, we'll discuss Softbank and Didi Chuxing's $2 billion investment in Grab, Uber's biggest rival in Asia.

The practice of getting a virus onto someone's machine or network, locking up the data, and demanding a payment for the key has become popular and lucrative in a short period of time. The result: $25 million in paid ransom over two years. On today's show, we'll look at the "business model" behind this form of malicious hacking. Afterwards, we say our parting words to Adobe Flash amid news that the company is going to stop producing new versions.