What's Tech?

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What's Tech? episodes

March 29, 2016 Wrestlemania: why you should watch, even if pro wrestling isn't your thing
This Sunday the WWE will host the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. Wrestlemania will takeover the AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, which has a maximum capacity of 105,000. If things go as the WWE plans, the show will be the biggest pro wrestling event in history. That's only partly why you should tune in. After decades of ups-and-downs, pro wrestling is expanding beyond the ring, becoming a superhero-like universe of comedy shows, gaming streams, and reality programs. Wrestlemania is the culmination of storylines that span thousands of hours of live and prerecorded events and programs — and is somehow made accessible to newcomers.
I will actually be in attendance. I haven't been passionate about pro wrestling since childhood, but I've always heard that Wrestlemania — like the Kentucky Derby, a NASCAR race, and competitive noodling — is a sporting event that must be experienced in person. To prepare, I invited my friend and colleague Bill Hanstock to appear on this week's What's Tech. Hanstock is the wrestling editor at SB Nation and Cageside Seats, and hosts pro wrestling podcast Rudo Radio. Hanstock is a passionate evangelist for the sport, and he provides countless reasons why now is the best time to welcome pro wrestling into your life.
Wrestlemania 32 begins Sunday at 7PM ET. You can watch it the old-fashioned way on pay-per-view, or stream via the WWE Network.
24 min
March 15, 2016 Everything you need to know about the Hyperloop, a potential transportation game-changer
In 2013, billionaire eccentric inventor Elon Musk announced an idea called the Hyperloop: a super-fast, low-friction transportation system that looked like the prom photo for a subway tunnel and a bullet-train. Musk made the Hyperloop an open-sourced project, inviting thinkers, scientists, and fellow inventors — no matter their age — to help make the potentially revolutionary concept into a reality.
This year, we're seeing some of the early steps from the theoretical sketch room to a real world groundbreaking ceremony. In January, students participated in a design contest for the pods that would travel inside the Hyperloop's tube, and later this year, a piece of test track will be constructed by global construction firm Aecom. For many folks, though, the specifics behind the Hyperloop remain vague. So naturally, I've invited my friend and colleague Andy Hawkins to explain.
23 min
March 04, 2016 Dota 2: an explainer for newcomers and the confused family of addicts
A $3 million vide game tournament is happening right now in Shanghai, China, pitting 16 of the best Dota 2 teams against each other. But what, pray tell, does any of that mean?
Dota 2 is an immensely popular video game that mixes elements of many genres, from sports simulation to role-playing epics to twitch-reaction shooters, and yet is unique in its own right. To its millions of adherents, Dota is closer to a lifestyle than a pastime. Think about the dedication most people show to playing and watching football or baseball, and you're on your way there.
Having accrued more than 3,000 hours in its mythical universe, I can say with assurance that I’ve been afflicted with the Dota 2 bug. I know all the professional players, all the fictional hero characters, all their magical abilities, and all the complex interplays among them.
There’s as much to learn about this game as there is for Magic: The Gathering, a competitive card game familiar, at least in name, to anyone who passed through a high school cafeteria in the 1990s. But we won't overwhelm you with strategy and lore. For this latest episode of What’s Tech, we’ll introduce the basics behind Dota 2, and how it came to be an eSport with multimillion dollars purses.
27 min
March 01, 2016 Before the driverless car, there was the PRT
My colleague Adi Robertson, I recently learned, is a fan of oddball transportation. On our work trip to the Sundance Film Festival, she gleefully introduced me to the funicular, a small and nicely furnished box that travels up and down a cliffside on a steel track, like a rollercoaster pushing through molasses. The funicular, she told me with the confidence of an expert in these things, was cool, but not nearly as cool as the PRT.
Robertson had been traveling elsewhere in the country to research personal rapid transit. In West Virginia, she actually got to ride on a PRT, which is sort of like a subway, but different in two crucial ways: each vehicle is roughly the size of a car, and each goes directly to your destination — no unnecessary stops.
You can now read Robertson's feature, "The Road Not Taken." For the audio-inclined, we also recorded this episode of What's Tech.
Subscribe to What's Tech? on iTunes, listen on SoundCloud, or subscribe via RSS. And be sure to follow us on Twitter. You can also find the entire collection of What's Tech stories at http://www.theverge.com/whatstech.
18 min
February 18, 2016 Encryption: what is it exactly, and who is right about it?
Normally we publish What's Tech on Tuesday morning, but we couldn't hold next week's episode until then. A federal court has requested Apple help the FBI gain access to the contents of an iPhone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. Apple has refused.
For some, the issue appears, at first glance, quite cut and dry: Apple should do everything in its power to help the FBI. But the case is more complex than a company collaborating with the government, and plays into a larger and ongoing debate about encryption and privacy.
I recorded this episode with The Verge's Russell Brandom last week, so we don't address Apple specifically, but the episode does provide the crucial context for conversations you're likely to have at the office coffee machine or family dinner table.
36 min
February 16, 2016 Reusable rockets could send you to space — eventually
Coverage of SpaceX and Blue Origin, the two private companies pursuing the reusable rocket, is near inescapable. Maybe you watched a launch on our site, or saw one of the not-quite-landings in a Facebook video. Space news has become so ubiquitous in tech culture, that it's easy to scroll right past, maybe leaving a Like in your wake, taking for granted the creative and financial cost that goes into sending an object into space — and attempting to bring it back to repeat that journey.
I've invited resident rocket expert Loren Grush to explain how reusable rockets work, and why scientists and inventors hope to create them at a practical cost. For longtime listeners, we also discuss the film Knowing.
32 min
February 09, 2016 It's time to give film cameras a second chance
I am perpetually envious of my friend and colleague Sam Byford. He lives in Tokyo, and has access to new Hatsune Miku vinyls, Nintendo 3DS limited editions, and Sega arcades. His is the technological life I wish I could live. There's one gadget, however, Sam says I can and should buy today in the States: a traditional film camera.
I invited Sam to What's Tech? to defend this suspicious claim, and I admit, his love for the classic camera is contagious. To learn how you can get started with a film camera, give the show a listen. And afterwards, stop by iTunes and give us a review. It goes a long way to introducing What's Tech? to more listeners.
27 min
February 02, 2016 The Super Bowl: how to sound like an expert
Super Bowl 50 approaches with the reliability of the morning sun, and yet, you still have so many questions. There are the obvious questions, which I can answer here.
What teams are in the Super Bowl? The Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers.
What time is the Super Bowl? Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30PM ET on CBS, but it's safe to add another five minutes of ceremonial buffer time.
What dish should I bring? Homemade fried mac and cheese balls, an easy, unexpected hit.
But there are plenty of more interesting questions for which I don't have the answers. So I've invited my good friend and work buddy, SB Nation's Dan Rubenstein, to tell us about the biggest live television event of the year and its storied history.
Oh, and who will win? My bet's on you, the viewer! Twist!
25 min
January 26, 2016 Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal: which service is right for you?
I've used Spotify for a few years, but I'm curious if I should make a switch to one of the dozen and change alternate music streaming services. Apple Music has free concerts, I'm told, and Tidal has better audio quality. But every time I consider shifting my subscription, I feel overwhelmed by the details.
I invited The Verge's Micah Singleton onto today's episode to share the history of music streaming services, and direct me on where to spend my money. I also want to hear his story about interviewing Jay Z. Okay, I mostly just want to hear that story.
20 min
January 19, 2016 What is Sundance?
[Apologies, the original file uploaded incorrectly. This is the complete episode.]
My options at the movies this week include a 1980s Dublin-set rock musical, a dark comedy that hinges on a lap dog, a thriller involving the moon landing conspiracy, a Werner Herzog doc about the internets profound mark on our lives, and dozens of other offbeat films, TV shows, documentaries, and visual experiments. I'm speaking about the Sundance Film Festival, but the variety of genre and voices applies to the dozens of annual film festivals across the globe. Alongside the advent of digital filmmaking, there are more film festivals than ever featuring more films by a wider variety of people. And digital streaming has helped niche films find their audience.
To prepare me for my first Sundance and provide some context for film fests, I invited Verge Entertainment Editor Emily Yoshida onto the show. We talk about the role technology plays in film festivals, including the increasing prominence of virtual reality.
29 min

About What's Tech?

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Enjoy the archives of this retired, award-winning series from Christopher Thomas Plante and The Verge that explained technology bit by bit. The series finale aired December 6th, 2016, shortly before…