kill switch

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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read: C. Thi Nguyen’s book, The Score: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/735252/the-score-by-c-thi-nguyen/ 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read: Pen America’s Online Harassment Field Manual: https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/ 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read: Emily’s article, “Everything’s casino”: https://www.businessinsider.com/kalshi-polymarket-fanduel-draftkings-sports-betting-gambling-2025-11 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Listen + Watch: Check out our episode with Gaby Caplan on tablets in prison: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tech-review-tablets-in-prisons/id1449757372?i=1000719762318 kill switch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=zrCE7MYWVBgmpWqi 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read:  Joe’s article on automating officiating in sports: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/09/15/how-why-and-whether-to-automate-more-officiating-in-sports-and-what-are-the-trade-offs/ 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, or @killswitchpod, or @dexdigi on IG or Bluesky. Read:  Eric’s website Commsrisk: https://commsrisk.com/ Eric’s article on Huang, the boy sold to a Myanmar scam compound: https://commsrisk.com/17-year-old-chinese-girl-accused-of-selling-boyfriend-into-myanmar-scam-compound-slavery/ How to turn off 2g for android: https://source.android.com/docs/security/features/cellular-security/toggle-2g Listen + Watch: Labi Siffre - Bless the Telephone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpy2O6fYiTk  A Tribe Called Quest - Skypager: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYc50S23pQY kill switch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=zrCE7MYWVBgmpWqi 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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=1000711126940See 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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-productivitySee 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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=enkill switch podcast on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8oh6zDRg1zgHkyOfikoeQS7cafAytstv&si=jsXSLEYgyrArLpGySee 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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.htmlSee 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 killswitch@kaleidoscope.nyc, 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.