Tech companies are constantly putting out new products to chase the hype – but they’re not all winners. Each year, nonprofit consumer advocates put on an award ceremony recognizing the lousiest of the bunch, called the Worst in Show. Dexter talks with Liz Chamberlain, who runs Worst in Show, about this year’s awards, the products that earned them (spoiler: a product featured during the Super Bowl is on the list), and what we risk when we chase the hype (read: add AI to everything).

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a while, the internet felt like it might actually work. Dexter talks with legal scholar and author Tim Wu about his new book The Age of Extraction and how that early optimism faded as companies learned how to extract value from just about everything. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When an editor at a local magazine in Toronto received a pitch from a promising new freelancer, he didn’t expect it to spiral into an obsessive investigation. What followed was a deep dive into a web of fake interviews, impossible bylines, and fake reporting. Dexter talks with Nicholas Hune-Brown to trace how he uncovered an AI journalist and what it reveals about journalism today. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2005, Myspace pages were flooded with the saying “Samy is my hero” and then suddenly, the platform went dark. Dexter talks with Jack Rhysider, host of the podcast Darknet Diaries, about Samy Kamkar, how he accidentally took down the biggest social media platform at the time, and how it changed the modern Internet. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Listen: 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From language learning to investments to Amazon leaderboards, it seems like everything has become a game. But are these gamified things actually fun, or are we the ones being played? Dexter talks to philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, who recently wrote a book about why gamification can suck the life out of things called The Score. They talk about why the same mechanism in games and gamified metrics – the scoring system – works so differently, why gamification can trick you into caring about the wrong thing, and how this phenomenon hits everything… even baptisms.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Journalists, public figures, and just about anyone with an online presence today can suddenly face harassment: ranging from nasty posts and replies to real life threats like doxxing. Dexter talks with Ramy Ghaly, a security professional, about how online harassment has gotten worse, how to respond if it happens to you, and what you can do, right now, to prepare and protect yourself.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Resources:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re sharing a preview of another podcast we think you’ll enjoy: What’s Your Problem?

Hosted by former Planet Money host Jacob Goldstein, What’s Your Problem? asks entrepreneurs and engineers about the problems they’re trying to solve to build a bigger and brighter future. 

In this episode: How do you build an app where strangers lend each other money? Nina Mohanty, CEO of Bloom Money, explains how centuries-old saving and lending global traditions—often used by immigrant communities—are being rebuilt for the modern financial system. It’s a conversation about trust, access, and what the future of money might look like when banks aren’t the center of it. 

Find What’s Your Problem? on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re sharing an episode from the podcast Click Here, from our friends at Recorded Future News and PRX:

Jake Gallen was a rising star in crypto. Then, after what seemed like a routine YouTube interview, his digital world unraveled. His NFTs? Liquidated. His social accounts? Hijacked. It turns out, the hackers didn’t need phishing links or fake job offers. They needed something much simpler: a Zoom invite.

Subscribe to Click Here on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/click-here/id1225077306) or wherever you get your podcasts.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Betting used to be something you did in a casino. Now it lives in your pocket and you can bet on just about anything: sports, Labubus, elections, and even forest fires. Dexter talks with Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, about why betting is everywhere, how any of it is legal, and if it’s changing how we experience real world events.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social media has gotten a bad rap over the past decade – we blame it for our growing loneliness, shorter attention spans, and polarized politics. But for incarcerated people, social media can still live up to its original promise of connection. And for those on the outside, contraband cell phones give us an unprecedented look into what life is like behind bars. Dexter talks to Jeremy Busby, an incarcerated journalist, about how social media has helped to force positive changes in jails and prisons, and why he thinks prisons want to ban it.

Shout out to the Never Post Podcast and the Freedom of the Press Foundation for connecting us with Jeremy. Check out Never Post episodes at neverpo.st and Freedom of the Press Foundation at freedom.press. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Listen + Watch:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the high-stakes world of sports, referees have always been under intense scrutiny… but what if tech could take some of the pressure off? Or will we lose something by replacing the referee with a robot? In this episode Dexter talks with Joe Lemire, senior writer at Sports Business Journal, to explore how new technologies like Hawk-Eye are reshaping sports officiating. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re sharing an episode from another podcast we’re excited about.

In Season 2 of Shell Game, journalist Evan Ratliff tells a story of entrepreneurship in the AI age; or, how he tried to build a real company, run by fake people. 

In episode one, we meet Kyle Law and Megan Flores, Evan’s AI agent cofounders, as he puts to the test the claims about an emerging future in which AI employees work alongside — or instead of — humans.

Over the course of the season, the three cofounders will grind it out in a sprint that would sound familiar to any start-up founder. They’ll churn out software code, hire interns, and even sit down with investors. But first, they need to come up with a name for their company. And make sure that Kyle and Megan can remember it.

Subscribe to Shell Game wherever you get your podcasts. And check out more at shellgame.co.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If it feels like you’re getting more scammy texts in the past few years, you’re not imagining it. Scam texts have exploded since 2020, and the operation behind them has become a massively lucrative industry. Dexter talks to Eric Priezkalns, a self-proclaimed ‘troublemaker’ in the telecommunications world and founder of the website Commsrisk, about the new technology that’s making scam texts easier than ever, what some of the weirder, long-game schemes are after, who’s behind these operations, and if there’s anything we can do to stop them.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: 

Listen + Watch:

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forget building the next app – Silicon Valley’s tech bros are now trying to rebuild themselves. Peptides are the new frontier into biohacking, promising better sleep, sharper focus, and maybe even eternal youth. Dexter talks to Zara Stone, a culture reporter at The San Francisco Standard, about her reporting on the Bay Area’s underground peptide scene, and what happens when tech’s obsession with optimization turns inward.  

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Zara’s articles:
https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/14/everyone-has-chinese-peptide-dealer-now/

https://sfstandard.com/2025/09/30/semen-sleep-syringes-tech-bro-s-manual-living-forever/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A few weeks ago on Monday, October 20, a major outage in Amazon Web Services took down a bunch of the Internet. How did an error in one data center in Virginia affect everything from Snapchat and Reddit to ‘smartbeds’ to government services? Dexter talks to Dr. Corinne Cath, a cultural anthropologist and technology researcher, about how the “cloud,” and therefore the Internet, became mostly controlled by 3 big tech companies – Amazon, Microsoft, and Google – why that puts our democracy at risk, and what we can do to change it.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Corinne’s op-ed: https://www.techpolicy.press/amazon-cloud-outage-reveals-democratic-deficit-in-relying-on-big-tech/

Our episode on AI and the environment: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kill-switch/id1449757372?i=1000711126940

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Corporate America has bet on AI to make work faster and cheaper. Companies like Meta and Microsoft are laying off employees, hoping it will save them money. But a new study has found that there’s a growing wave of “workslop” and AI is actually making more work for the people left in these organizations. It’s also costing companies millions. Dexter talks with one of the authors of the study, Kate Niederhoffer, to give us an inside look into the details of the study, what advice she has for organizations and individuals dealing with this new technology, and why AI workslop is a symptom of a much bigger problem.  

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Kate’s paper, AI-Generated “Workslop” Is Destroying Productivity: 

https://hbr.org/2025/09/ai-generated-workslop-is-destroying-productivity

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ICEBlock was an app created to help people report ICE sightings. Then, Apple pulled it from the App Store. But in between those events, there was a semi-public fight over whether the app was actually helpful to immigrants. Dexter talks with security researcher and journalist Micah Lee about why he criticized ICEBlock (calling it “activism theater”), why he still supports the app’s developer in fighting censorship, and what all this means for your ability to use your phone how you want.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

ICEBlock app homepage:
https://www.iceblock.app

Micah’s blog posts on ICEBlock: 

https://micahflee.com/unfortunately-the-iceblock-app-is-activism-theater/

https://micahflee.com/iceblock-handled-my-vulnerability-report-in-the-worst-possible-way/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re chatting to a popular OnlyFans model: no, you’re not. That job was outsourced long ago. Teams of “chatters”, often in the Philippines, are paid to flirt, role-play, and get fans to spend as much money as possible. But now, AI bots are moving in, trained on those same human conversations to mimic intimacy at scale. Dexter talks with reporter Michael Beltran about how AI is moving in on the role of chatters, the global race to cut costs, and what the future of digital labor looks like when even emotional connection can be outsourced. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on  IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Michael’s article: https://restofworld.org/2025/onlyfans-ai-dm-bots/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a blind video gamer, the options for the kinds of games you can play are limited. Not only are accessibility features not a standard practice in game development, the tools available right now only go so far. Exploration – a fundamental part of the fun in gaming, especially in an open world game – is often not really possible for blind players in today’s games. Researchers at Columbia University are working to change that. Dexter talks to Brian Smith and Vishnu Nair, who are developing tools for blind and low vision gamers to be able to play exploration-based games that could one day even be applied to a game like Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

CEAL at Columbia University: https://ceal.cs.columbia.edu/navstick/

Ross Minor profile in WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/ross-minor-the-blind-leading-the-gamers/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ross Minor plays a lot of videogames. He is also completely blind. Despite losing his sight at 8 years old, he’s now working in the industry, making video games accessible for blind players like him. Dexter talks to Ross about his journey in video games, from figuring out how to play Pokémon through sound cues alone to experiencing the biggest game with real accessibility features, The Last of Us 2. If you’re a developer and want to incorporate blind accessibility in your game, hit up Ross at: https://rossminor.com/

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

Dexter’s profile of Ross on WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/ross-minor-the-blind-leading-the-gamers/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s like “TV on TikTok,” but kids aren’t watching these. Instead, middle-aged women are on the cutting edge here: Vertical dramas are like full-length movies, just distilled down into catchy 60-90 second episodes and watched on your phone. Dexter talks to Teig Sadhana, the star of “My Boss is my Secret Sperm Donor” and other classics, and Jen Cooper, superfan and industry consultant, about why this new format is taking off, who’s watching, and if this might be the future of television. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Jen’s website: https://www.verticaldramalove.com/
Teig’s instagram, @sadhat8: https://www.instagram.com/sadhat8/?hl=en
kill switch podcast on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=jsXSLEYgyrArLpGy

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lo-Fi beats once stood as the chill soundtrack of the internet, a cozy genre rooted in human touch and imperfections. But in recent years, AI-generated mixes have flooded platforms like YouTube, pumping out  endless streams of eerily similar tracks that mimic the vibe, without the soul. What happens when the scene gets overtaken by AI? Dexter talks to Kieran Press-Reynolds, a writer at Pitchfork, about how AI is reshaping the genre, what that means for artists, and whether there is still room for the human touch in the age of AI-generated beats. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch:

Kieran’s article, “How AI Wreaked Havoc on the Lo-Fi Beat Scene”: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-ai-wreaked-havoc-on-the-lo-fi-beat-scene/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wearable tech is having a moment – after the implosion of Google Glass back in 2013, which faced backlash and ridicule, we’re now readily embracing wearables from rings to AI pendants to new smart glasses in the form of Meta Ray-Bans. What’s behind the new fervor of wearables today, and have we moved on from the privacy and surveillance questions that plagued Google Glass? Dexter talks to Victoria Song, a senior reviewer at The Verge whose job it is to test out each new iteration of this technology, about the state of wearables today, why companies are obsessed with getting AI into them, and how they’ve already changed how we talk to each other, and ourselves, IRL.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Victoria’s smart glasses review on The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/10/24340208/ces-2025-smart-glasses-rokid-halliday-xreal-vuzix-nuance-audio

“How the low-vision community embraced AI smart glasses” from The Vergecast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgu0a9QK75E

The Daily Show segment, “Glass Half Empty”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClvI9fZaz6M

“Why Do Scouters Explode?”: https://en.dragon-ball-official.com/news/01_1666.html

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every day there’s a new story about how people are using AI chatbots for therapy – even ChatGPT, which was never designed for that purpose. But, as bad or weird as it sounds, could these chatbots fill a need for people who can’t afford mental health care? Dexter talks to journalist Ella Chakarian, who’s tested a bunch of these AI “therapists,” as well as a real, human therapist, Dr. Stephen Schueller, from the University of California Irvine, about the promises, dangers, and future of AI in therapy. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Ella’s article, Fake credentials, stolen licenses: Virtual therapists are lying like crazy to patients: https://sfstandard.com/2025/05/11/ai-chatbots-fake-therapists/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Fisker Ocean was supposed to be the "world's most sustainable vehicle." With a range of 400 miles, a strong emphasis on software and a price tag of $50,000, the car raised billions in funding and hoped to rival Tesla. But after a disastrous roll out, the company went bankrupt and glitchy software left customers with a 2.5 ton paperweight. Dexter talks to Aarian Marshall, a reporter for WIRED, about what exactly went wrong, why Fisker Ocean owners refuse to give up on the car, and what this all says about the future of car ownership. 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod on IG, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Fisker Ocean owners, reach out to Aarian Marshall at [email protected]. 

Read + Watch: 

Aarian’s article, Fisker Went Bankrupt. What Do Its EV Owners Do Next?: https://www.wired.com/story/fisker-went-bankrupt-what-do-its-ev-owners-do-next/

Marques Brownlee’s Review, This is the Worst Car I've Ever Reviewed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xWXRk3yaSw&ab_channel=AutoFocus 

George J Saliba, Fisker Senior Engineer’s Call to Marques’ Car Dealer: https://www.tiktok.com/@georgejsaliba/video/7341936160941280555?lang=en

r/Fisker AMA Thread, Hello, I am a current Fisker Inc. employee. Ask Me Anything (AMA): https://www.reddit.com/r/Fisker/comments/1bnzrts/hello_i_am_a_current_fisker_inc_employee_ask_me/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

VTubers, or Virtual Youtubers, are growing at a rapid rate in the United States. Just last month, 1200+ fans paid up to $180 each to attend Fantastic Reality, a live VTuber mini-festival in a packed theatre in Los Angeles. But what exactly is VTubing? Can you ever truly build a connection with someone you don’t actually see? Dexter talks to Kou Mariya, a 6,669-year-old blonde vampire anime girl and one of the headliners of Fantastic Reality. She explains what attracts people to VTubing and the practicalities of portraying a virtual character. Plus, as one of the producers of Fantastic Reality and a co-founder of Emerging Technology Company, Spencer Burnham joins the show to walk us through the music culture side of VTubing.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + Watch: 

Dexter’s article in WIRED, Anime Girl VTubers Are Selling Out Concerts, but Are They ‘Real’? Depends on Who You Ask: https://www.wired.com/story/anime-girl-vtubers-are-selling-out-concerts-but-are-they-real-depends-on-who-you-ask/

Fantastic Reality Website: https://www.fantasticreality.live/

Kou Mariya’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Kou_Mariya/videos

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tea called itself a women’s safety app. Then, 4chan found it. Selfies, IDs, even private messages were left exposed after two massive data breaches. Tens of thousands of women were affected, but hundreds of thousands still want to sign up. We break down what went wrong, and what it says about the tech we trust to keep us safe. 

Dexter talks to journalists and 404 Media co-founders Emanuel Maiberg and Sam Cole about what happened, and what this could mean for women (and men!) whose information was exposed. 

Read + Watch: 

Emanuel’s coverage on the Tea data breach: 

Women Dating Safety App 'Tea' Breached, Users' IDs Posted to 4chan: https://www.404media.co/women-dating-safety-app-tea-breached-users-ids-posted-to-4chan/

A Second Tea Breach Reveals Users’ DMs About Abortions and Cheating: https://www.404media.co/a-second-tea-breach-reveals-users-dms-about-abortions-and-cheating/

Tea User Files Class Action After Women’s Safety App Exposes Data: https://www.404media.co/tea-user-files-class-action-after-womens-safety-app-exposes-data/

Sam’s coverage on ‘Are We Dating the Same Guy?’ Facebook groups: 

Man Who Sued 'Are We Dating the Same Guy?' Groups Files Class Action Lawsuit: https://www.404media.co/man-who-sued-are-we-dating-the-same-guy-groups-files-class-action-lawsuit/

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod on IG, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we want to take a look at a little-known technology kept from public view: electronic tablets in prisons. Dexter talks to Gaby Caplan, a journalist and documentary filmmaker who has been researching how these tablets are used, the connection to the outside world that they promised, and why federal prisons have gone back on that promise.

Read + Watch: 

Gaby’s piece on WIRED: https://www.wired.com/story/electronic-tablets-in-federal-prisons-chat-apps-disabled/

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’ve been resistant to using a password manager, or if you want to step up your overall digital security, this episode is for you. Dexter talks to Josh Blackwelder, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer of SentinelOne, about the dangers of having weak passwords (even for accounts you don’t care about), why you definitely should use a password manager, and why you should switch your email account to login by something better than a password: the passkey. We’re here to evangelize the importance of digital security – and keep you from getting hacked. If there’s someone in your life who needs to hear this, share this episode with them.

Useful links: 

Check to see if your data’s been leaked: https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Check how strong your passwords are: https://bitwarden.com/password-strength/

Set up Google passkey: https://g.co/passkeys

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re living in a world shaped by algorithms. They’re not just curating our feeds, they’re changing the way we speak. 

Dexter talks with Adam Aleksic, aka the Etymology Nerd, about his new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language. They unpack how algorithmic censorship on social media is reshaping the way we use language online, and how it’s bleeding into real life. 

Read + Watch: 

Make sure to check out Adam’s book, Algospeak: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/776856/algospeak-by-adam-aleksic/

Where to find Adam online:
https://www.etymologynerd.com/

https://etymology.substack.com/

Or @etymologynerd on social media.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI music generators are not only the product of scraped (read: stolen) music, they’re also threatening the livelihood of musicians. But there are people who are finding ways to fight back – by using a technique called poison pilling. This week, Dexter talks to two of them: Benn Jordan, a musician and YouTuber who developed a tool called Poisonify, and Jian Liu, the lead developer of HarmonyCloak and Music Shield. These programs add imperceptible noise to a music file rendering it indecipherable to an AI model – and we got to test out how these work with our own theme song.

Read + Watch: 

Benn’s YouTube video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMYm2d9bmEA

Jian Liu and Syed Irfan’s paper on HarmonyCloak – https://mosis.eecs.utk.edu/publications/meerza2024harmonycloak.pdf

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod on IG, or @dexdigi anywhere.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once upon a time streaming delivered a utopian fantasy – anything you wanted to watch or listen to, at your fingertips. Now, we’re saddled with dozens of subscriptions and our digital library is at the whim of big tech companies. Even your Kindle books can be deleted without your consent. Is there another way? Dexter talks to Janus Rose, a journalist and artist, who has a solution to this problem: become a digital packrat. That means keeping all of your favorite digital media locally and setting up your own server. And if you want to try it for yourself, this episode will walk you through how.

Resources:

Janus’s article on 404 – The Digital Packrat Manifesto

Download Plex: https://www.plex.tv/

Download Handbrake (use this to rip DVDs): https://handbrake.fr

Download MakeMKV (not mentioned in the show, but see below): https://www.makemkv.com

### YouTube How-To Links ###

"3 Ways to Start Your Own Plex Server" (15 minutes): 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKDSld-CrHU

"Plex Media Server for Mac" (4 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNRcIOf0YYE

"How to rip DVDs with MakeMKV and Use Handbrake for Hardware Transcoding" (15 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_xdrscVB0Y

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @killswitchpod on Instagram.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Tech promised AI would solve our biggest problems. But behind the hype there is a more unsettling reality: labor exploitation, environmental harm, and the looming threat of mass automation.

Dexter sits down with journalist Karen Hao to talk about her new book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI. They dig into how today’s AI companies are operating less like tech innovators and more like empires.

Make sure to check out Karen’s book, Empire of AI: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/743569/empire-of-ai-by-karen-hao/

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When ICE raids sparked massive protests across Los Angeles, something unusual appeared in the sky: Predator drones. Dexter talks to Joseph Cox over at 404 Media to understand how military-grade surveillance aircrafts ended up flying over U.S. citizens and what that means for the future of civil liberties.

Read + Watch: 

Joseph’s articles on the Predator drones flying over the protests:

DHS Flew Predator Drones Over LA Protests, Audio Shows: https://www.404media.co/dhs-flew-predator-drones-over-la-protests-audio-shows/

CBP Confirms It Is Flying Predator Drones Above Los Angeles To Support ICE: https://www.404media.co/cbp-confirms-it-is-flying-predator-drones-above-los-angeles-to-support-ice/

Also:
How to Protest Safely: What to Bring, What to Do, and What to Avoid: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-protest-safely-gear-tips/

How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance: https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-protest-safely-surveillance-digital-privacy/

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is out – but why did Nintendo credit someone who died in 1997 in a press release for the console? Dexter talked to Patrick Klepek, of the video game website Remap, and Jeremy Parish, an expert in video game history, to tell the story of Gunpei Yokoi and how his influence led us to the Switch 2.

Read + Watch: 

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

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Dexter doesn't have a car. But he uses AI… a lot. So, is his environmental impact worse than someone who drives a truck to work every day? 

This seemingly simple question led us to a bigger conversation about water, public health, and why we still don't know much about the true environmental cost of artificial intelligence. 

To help us understand all this, we talk to researchers Shaolei Ren and Alex de Vries, who’ve been studying the toll AI takes on the planet.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

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For about 24 hours, Grok, Twitter’s AI chatbot, went berserk. You could ask it about puppies, sports, or movies, and it would reply with a bizarre diatribe about white genocide in South Africa. If you’ve already heard of this, you’ve probably seen people dunking on Elon Musk, and, well, that’s understandable. But Max Read, today’s guest, explains why this brief peek into a weird conspiracy theory might have actually been a good thing.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: Max’s Substack article on the whole thing.

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Almost two million people watched a horrific story of a murder in Colorado: the “grisly” death of a real estate agent who had a secret affair with his stepson. The problem is, there was no crime. Dexter talks to Henry Larson, the reporter who tracked down the guy behind the video, about where the story came from and what it means for the “True Crime” genre. He also asks True Crime podcasters, Lauren Bright Pacheco and Bob Motta, about how this trend is a threat to more than just their livelihoods.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: Henry’s article, A ‘True Crime’ Documentary Series Has Millions of Views. The Murders Are All AI-Generated: https://www.404media.co/a-true-crime-documentary-series-has-millions-of-views-the-murders-are-all-ai-generated/

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About 48 hours after the US National Security Advisor was spotted using a weird cloned version of Signal, someone said they’d hacked it. It took them all of 15 minutes. We now know that TeleMessage is ‘cartoonishly hackable,’ but we still don’t know why top White House officials were using it. And what about the investigation to find out if this Israel-based app is bad on accident, or on purpose? I called up my friends Evan McMorris-Santoro of NOTUS and Joseph Cox of 404 Media to get some more context on how bad this might actually be.

Here’s the links promised in the episode:

Evan’s daily newsletter in NOTUS
Joseph’s article in 404 on the Telemessage hack
And here’s Micha Lee’s technical breakdown of Telemessage’s security problems

Our guests:
Evan McMorris-Santoro: @evanmcs.bsky.social
Joseph Cox: @josephcox.bsky.social

Got something you’re curious about? Hit up @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. See you on the next one.

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Have you seen Shrimp Jesus? What about the Hollywood sign burning? It probably feels random, but it’s not. There are real people behind AI Slop, and there’s real money to be made. Dexter talks to Jason Koebler from 404 Media who’s been tracking AI slop since its beginnings, and they compare notes to try to figure out where the money is coming from.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read + watch: 

Jason’s article, Facebook's Shrimp Jesus, Explained

Dexter’s article, Inside the Economy of AI Spammers Getting Rich By Exploiting Disasters and Misery

Dexter’s video: people made money doing this. (so did Instagram)

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While you were going about your life, we all narrowly avoided a complete disaster. This is the story of how one lone Microsoft engineer saved all of us. Dexter talks to Alex Stamos, Chief Information Security Officer at SentinelOne, about how it all went down and why this story still terrifies him today.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

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Welcome to our first episode of kill switch, where we’re diving right into the deep end – investigating how police departments are implementing AI technology. Can AI facial recognition be a magical solution to the unreliability of witness identification? Or is it just making things worse? Dexter talks to Douglas MacMillan, a reporter from the Washington Post, who has been tracking the spread of the technology, and where it seems to (repeatedly) break down.

Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up [email protected], or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky.

Read: Doug’s article, Arrested by AI

Listen: Post Reports podcast episode, Arrested by AI

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Sleepwalkers is now Kill Switch, where we explain the right now of living in the future. Everything from making money on saving fake baby animals to how you could get arrested by a police algorithm. Every Wednesday we talk to people to help us understand how our tech-focused society works …or doesn't work.

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Were we sleeping when everything changed? Not if you listened to the first season of this podcast, because a whole lot of what we explored is now reality. Seems like the technologically driven future is already here. So we've decided to bring the show back -- with a new host, Dexter Thomas Jr  and a new perspective. 

On Kill Switch, we explain the right NOW of our super charged technological lives. Examining the ways we shape and are shaped by our ever-changing technology.

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We explore the hidden role of cobalt in the A.I. revolution. The element is a key ingredient of lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from cell phones to laptops to electric vehicles. But the way cobalt is mined is troubling. New Yorker journalist Nicolas Niarchos takes us to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accounts for more than 70% of the world's cobalt supply. There, he exposes child labor in the supply chain and reveals a new frontier of competition with China. 

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In this special bonus episode, Oz and Karah share their trip to the Consumer Electronics Show. They present excerpts from a conversation with Matt Monahan of The Washington Post about how to best harness the power of AI, while avoiding common pitfalls. Matt is head of product for Arc Publishing, which began life as The Post's internal publishing suite, and is now licensed by hundreds of partner sites. Oz and Karah also discuss their highlights from the CES floor, including a device to track dogs' emotions. 

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In this special episode, Oz and Karah examine our evolving relationship with the technology we create. Karah meets Jason Cohen, CEO of Analytical Flavor Systems, to see if his team can hack her taste preferences, and use AI to create a new flavor of beverage that she will love. Oz and Karah also look ahead to Season 2, previewing stories they are excited to report, including algorithms that promise to optimize end-of-life conversations. And they share highlights from conversations with guests from Season 1 who shaped their thinking about AI: Yuval Noah Harari, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Regina Barzilay of MIT.  

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The rules are changing. At a time when technology promises to allow the lame to walk and the blind to see, we're forced to ask: what makes us uniquely human? In this final episode of Season 1, we speak with the so-called "sage of Silicon Valley," Yuval Noah Harari, about humanity's future. We try out technology that claims to deliver on a miracle, and we meet the source of several new innovations being created by people normally left out of the laboratory.  In this episode: Professor Yuval Noah Harari, Sebastian Thrun of Google X and Kitty Hawk, Bryony Cole of Future of Sex, musician Noe Socha, and Dr. Andy Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh.  Special thanks to The Forward, and Make It All Work. 

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A.I. is already better than human doctors at diagnosing skin and breast cancer. And as machine learning advances, it's becoming able to decode more complex information, like brain waves and the human genome. A.I. is beginning to revolutionize medicine, and allowing us to see into the future of our bodies...but can we ever know too much about ourselves? What will happen when machine learning lets us open our own black boxes?

In this episode: Physician and author Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Google X founder and Kittyhawk CEO Sebastian Thrun, Regina Barzilay of MIT's J-Clinic and CSAIL, Dr. Andy Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh, Gill Pratt of the Toyota Research Institute.

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War has been a driver of breakthrough technology for a long time. The first waves of artificial intelligence and even the internet came out of DARPA, a defense agency whose original mission was to keep the U.S. technologically ahead of the Soviet Union. But what happens when the battlefield is increasingly dominated by autonomous weapons, which don't require humans in the loop to shoot and kill? In this episode: Arati Prabhakar, former head of DARPA; Richard Danzig, former Navy Secretary; Paul Scharre, author of "Army of None"; and Jonathan Wilson, former Navy SEAL.

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