Harvard professor Samantha Power, the former US ambassador the United Nations, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her 2019 memoir The Education of an Idealist, what idealism looks like now in America, and the Trump administration's deadly mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic — and what she would do differently were she in charge. Power also discusses how the Obama administration responded to the ebola epidemic in 2014, the growing power of tech leaders like Bill Gates, and what Mark Zuckerberg can learn about disinformation from Taiwan. Plus: What the Obama administration got wrong about Big Tech and election security, and the other key international issues the US should focus on now.
Featuring:
Samantha Power (@samanthajpower), former US ambassador to the United Nations
Host:
Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large
More to explore:
On Reset, Arielle Duhaime-Ross explores why — and how — tech is changing everything.
On Recode Media, Peter Kafka interviews business titans, journalists, comedians and podcasters about the collision of tech and media.
On Pivot, Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway talk about the big tech news stories of the week, who's winning, who's failing, and what comes next.
And on Land of the Giants, Jason Del Rey chronicled the rise of Amazon. Season 2 will focus on Netflix and is coming soon!
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Recode Decode: Samantha Power

Decoder is a show from The Verge about big ideas — and other problems. Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to a diverse cast of innovators and policymakers at the frontiers of business and technology to reveal how they’re navigating an ever-changing landscape, what keeps them up at night, and what it all means for our shared future.

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Today, we’re going to talk about the smart home — one of the oldest, most important, and most challenging dreams in the history of the tech industry. The idea of your house responding to you and your family, and generally being as automated and as smart as your phone or your laptop, has inspired generations of technologists. But after decades of promises, it’s all still pretty messy. Because the big problem with the smart home has been blindingly obvious for a very long time: interoperability. 

Yet there are some promising developments out there that might make it a little better. To help sort it all out, I invited Verge smart home reviewer Jen Tuohy, who is one of the most influential reporters on the smart home beat today. Jen and I break down how Matter, the open source standard, is trying to fix these issues, but there is still a lot of work to do. 

Links: 

Matter is now racing ahead, but the platforms are holding it back — The Verge


2023 in the smart home: Matter’s broken promises — The Verge


Smart home hubs: what they are and why you need one — The Verge


My smart kitchen: the good, the bad, and the future — The Verge


How bad business broke the smart home — The Verge


The smart home is finally getting out of your phone and into your home — The Verge



Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why the tech industry can’t crack the smart home

Today, I’m talking with Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath, whom I first interviewed on the show back in 2021. Those were heady days — especially for upstart EV companies like Polestar, which all seemed poised to capture what felt like infinite demand for electric cars. Now, in 2024, the market looks a lot different, and so does Polestar, which is no longer majority-owned by Volvo. Instead, Volvo is now a more independent sister company, and both Volvo and Polestar fall under Chinese parent company Geely. 

You know I love a structure shuffle, so Thomas and I really got into it: what does it mean for Volvo to have stepped back, and how much can Polestar take from Geely’s various platforms while still remaining distinct from the other brands in the portfolio? We also talked about the upcoming Polestar 3 SUV and Polestar 4 crossover, and I asked Thomas what he thinks of the Cybertruck.

Links: 

Can Polestar design a new kind of car company? — Decoder


The Polestar 3 isn’t out yet, and it’s already getting a big price cut — The Verge


The Polestar 4 gets an official price ahead of its debut — The Verge


Polestar makes the rear window obsolete with its new crossover coupe — The Verge


Volvo and Polestar drift a little farther apart — The Verge


Polestar gets a nearly $1 billion lifeline — The Verge


Car-tech breakup fever is heating up — The Verge


Polestar is working on its own smartphone to sync with its EVs — The Verge


Polestar’s electric future looks high-performing, and promising — The Verge


Electric car maker Polestar to cut around 450 jobs globally — Reuters




Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23912151

Credits: 
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath on life after Volvo and weathering the EV slowdown

Today, Verge transportation editor Andy Hawkins and I are going to try and figure out Tesla. I said try — I did not say succeed. But we’re going to try. That’s because Tesla has been on a real rollercoaster these past two weeks, in terms of its stock price, its basic financials, and well, its vibes.

If you’ve been following the company, you know that that gap between what the business is and how its valued has been getting bigger and bigger for years now – and lately, with Elon Musk saying he’s going all-in on autonomy and announcing a robotaxi event in August, it seems like we’re getting closer to a make or break moment, especially as competition in the broader EV market heats up. 

Links:

Tesla reaches deals in China on self-driving cars — NYT


Elon Musk goes ‘absolutely hard core’ in another round of Tesla layoffs — The Verge


Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving linked to dozens of deaths — The Verge


Elon Musk says Tesla will reveal its robotaxi on August 8th — The Verge


A cheaper Tesla is back on the menu — The Verge


Tesla’s profits sink as the company struggles with cooling demand — The Verge


Tesla lays off ‘more than 10 percent’ of its workforce, loses top executives — The Verge


Tesla recalls all 3,878 Cybertrucks over faulty accelerator pedal — The Verge


Elon Musk says it’s “time to reorganize” Tesla — The Verge


Elon Musk lost Democrats on Tesla when he needed them most — WSJ



Credits: 
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Understanding the chaos at Tesla

A lot has changed since the last time Ola was on Decoder. Back then, he said Mercedes would have an all-EV lineup by 2030 — a promise a whole lot of car companies, including Mercedes, have now had to soften or walk back. But he doesn't see that as a setback at all, and he and Mercedes are both still committed to phasing out gas in the long run.

We also spent some time talking about what's happening both on the outside of cars — Mercedes' classic look and its EV look aren't necessarily quite in the same place — and on the inside of them, as infotainment becomes a huge point of competition and design.

Links: 

How Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius is refocusing for an electric future - The Verge

Mercedes-Benz opens its first 400kW EV charging station in the US - The Verge

Mercedes-Benz is the first German automaker to adopt Tesla’s EV charging connector - The Verge

Is the metaverse going to suck? A conversation with Matthew Ball - The Verge

The Mercedes G-Wagen, the ultimate off-road status symbol, goes electric - The Verge

Mercedes workers file federal charges with NLRB to stop union busting - The Alabama Political Reporter

The MBUX Hyperscreen - Mercedes-Benz USA



Transcript:
https://www.theverge.com/e/23904592


Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Källenius explains why EVs are still the future — but Apple's next-gen CarPlay isn't

Today, we’re talking about the brand-new TikTok ban — and how years of Congressional inaction on a federal privacy law helped lead us to this moment of apparent national panic about algorithmic social media.

This is a thorny discussion, and to help break it all down, I invited Verge senior policy reporter Lauren Feiner on the show. Lauren has been closely covering efforts to ban TikTok for years now, and she’s also watched Congress fail to pass meaningful privacy regulation for even longer. We’ll go over how we got here, what this means for both TikTok and efforts to pass new privacy legislation, and what might happen next. 

Links: 

Biden signs TikTok ‘ban’ bill into law — The Verge


TikTok ban: all the news on attempts to ban the video platform — The Verge


Anyone want to buy TikTok? — Vergecast


Congress takes on TikTok, privacy, and AI — Vergecast


Tiktok vows to fight 'unconstitutional' US ban — BBC


‘Thunder Run’: Behind lawmakers’ secretive push to pass the TikTok bill — NYT


On TikTok, resignation and frustration after potential ban of app — NYT


Lawmakers unveil new bipartisan digital privacy bill after years of impasse — The Verge


A real privacy law? House lawmakers are optimistic this time — The Verge


Congress is trying to stop discriminatory algorithms again — The Verge



Credits: 
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Recode Decode: Samantha Power

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