In October 2021, Facebook announced it was changing its name to Meta. For a company that had built its business on social media, it was a gamble to seemingly pivot to a future version of the internet that didn’t yet exist and wasn’t well understood. On this first episode of our special series on the metaverse, host Alex Ossola takes you back to the vision that CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out for the metaverse, what was going on at the company at the time of the name change and how people reacted both inside and outside the company.

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Plus: Apple stock rallies the day after the company reported earnings. And shares of Coinbase fall. Alex Ossola hosts.

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EV maker Tesla announced this week that it was laying off much of the team responsible for the company’s Supercharger network, the largest and most successful EV charging network in the U.S. The move caught employees, and others in the industry, by surprise. WSJ reporter Ryan Felton tells host Alex Ossola what a Tesla pullback in charging could mean for the broader U.S. EV market. Plus, how did an iPhone survive a fall out of an airplane, but others crack when they get tipped off the kitchen counter? WSJ senior personal technology columnist Joanna Stern took on an experiment to find out.

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Plus: Universal Music and TikTok reach a new agreement. And Microsoft plans to invest over $2 billion in Malaysia. Alex Ossola hosts.

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Tasks like streaming movies or generating answers from artificial intelligence systems require a lot of computing power. So more, bigger data centers are cropping up in an effort to meet the demand. And that means more energy. Local energy companies are turning to natural gas and even coal to keep them going. WSJ energy reporter Jennifer Hiller tells host Alex Ossola what that means for the country’s energy transition. Plus, rebooting your device works for everything from computers to trains. WSJ personal tech reporter Cordilia James talks about why it became our go-to tech fix.

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Plus: Chinese EV makers post higher sales. And Doordash posts record revenue. Alex Ossola hosts.

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Last week, President Biden signed a law requiring the sale or ban of TikTok. But lawmakers’ concerns go back much farther. Some lawmakers and former employees of TikTok say that TikTok executives, particularly CEO Shou Chew, could have done more to prevent this outcome. WSJ tech reporter Georgia Wells tells host Alex Ossola about Chew’s missed opportunities to woo lawmakers. Plus, it’s a trend on TikTok to get AI systems like ChatGPT to talk to people like a boyfriend would… even if the systems weren’t designed that way. WSJ senior platform editor Julia Munslow undertook an experiment to find out just how hard it is to get the system to be R-rated.

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Plus: Binance founder is sentenced to four months in jail. And the European Union is investigating Meta over disinformation. Alex Ossola hosts.

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Investments in artificial intelligence startups are heating up. Last year, investors poured more than $20 billion dollars into generative AI deals. But some of these companies, some of which have billion-dollar valuations, haven’t turned a profit or don’t have a product. WSJ venture-capital reporter Berber Jin tells host Alex Ossola more about this ecosystem, and why some are already concerned that it could be a bubble. Plus, scammers are using AI to target recent college grads looking for jobs. WSJ workplace reporter Ray Smith talks about how to stay safe online.

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Plus: Beijing tentatively approves Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” software. And federal regulators fine wireless carriers for sharing customer-location data. Alex Ossola hosts.

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