People really seem to hate data centers. And the more people learn about the amount of resources these server-packed buildings need, the bigger the backlash grows. Perhaps that’s why the viral music video and beverage ad “We Want Your Pee” took off in popularity about a month ago. It’s a collaboration between Liquid Death and Jason Kelce’s Garage Beer, and it advocates that urine could address the cooling needs of data centers. It’s obviously a joke… but could it actually work? Host Morgan Sung talks to journalist Amanda Silberling about what she discovered when she looked into this question, and about the alternative cooling methods that might actually help everyone’s least favorite buildings use a little less H2O. Guest: Amanda Silberling, senior writer at TechCrunch Further Reading/Listening: OK, can we actually cool data centers with our pee? — Amanda Silberling, TechCrunch AI was supposed to win people over by now -- it hasn't — Sarah Perez, TechCrunch Major YouTube creators are facing backlash for accepting AI money — Charles Pulliam-Moore, The Verge Why OpenAI’s influencer trip backfired — The Art of Influence Americans’ views of data centers have turned more negative — Brian Kennedy, Pew Research NASA just recycled 98% of all astronaut pee and sweat on the ISS (engineers are thrilled) — Robert Lea, Space Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional production support from Cayla Mihalovich. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
While the Close All Tabs team churns out our next few episodes, we bring you this must-listen from Life, Automated. Generative AI is able to conjure new images, stories, and songs at lightning speed. So what does this mean for humans artists, storytellers and musicians? Life, Automated Host Jess Love explores what happens when AI enters creative markets. We learn that, at least today, key bottlenecks prevent AI from replicating some aspects of creativity. But there’s no guarantee those bottlenecks will exist tomorrow, raising vital questions about what we value in human labor. Life, Automated is a series about how to live, work and make decisions in a world increasingly shaped by machines. It is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and it is distributed by KQED. Host and Senior Director: Jess Love Producer: Steven Jackson Senior Producer: Jesse Dukes Music: Steven Jackson Associate Producer: Stacia Sliger Recording: George Christensen, Will Feeney Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada and Charlotte Simmons. Music provided by Steven Jackson, Cue Shop and Neutral Propulsion Laboratory Guests: Ben Jones, economist, co-director of the Ryan Institute on Complexity Sam Goldberg, assistant professor of marketing, Stanford Yevgenia Nayberg, artist, illustrator, children’s book author Further Reading/Listening: Generative AI & Creative Goods: Market Expansion, Crowd-out, and Copyright — Samuel Goldberg, Stanford Graduate School of Business ‘Life, Automated’ explores how AI is reshaping our world — Roger Anderson, Northwestern Kellogg Life, Automated Podcast — KQED Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional production support from Pauline Bartolone. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Host Morgan Sung and the Close All Tabs team pull up the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From a fake NFL player catfishing women on dating apps, to femme creators reclaiming tech, indie musicians fighting AI music slop, and a comedian dishing out the juiciest community garden gossip — they’ve got a lot to chew on. Save or Scroll is our series where Morgan teams up with guests for a rapid-fire roundup of internet trends that are filling their feeds right now. At the end of each segment, they’ll decide: is the post just for the group chat, or should we save it for a future episode? Guests: Chris Egusa, senior editor for Close All Tabs Maya Cueva, producer for Close All Tabs Chris Hambrick, editor for Close All Tabs Lauren Yoon, intern for Close All Tabs Further Reading/Listening: Who would fall in love with a fake NFL player? Plenty of sensible people — Dave Schilling, The Guardian Programming patterns: the story of the Jacquard loom — Science and Industry Museum Spotify will label 'AI Persona' profiles and exclude their music from recommendations — Sarah Perez, TechCrunch OpenAI’s rogue AI model incident was worse than we thought — Hayden Field, The Verge How Hollywood Translated The Epic Poetry Of The Viral 'Zola' Thread — Mallory Yu, NPR Community Garden drama — Sarah Neiman, Instagram Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Close All Tabs is on break this week, but we’re sharing a captivating episode about technology gone wrong from our friends at KQED’s Snap Judgment. A 19 year old picks up his family’s car from the auto mechanic shop, but a few minutes into the drive home the vehicle begins suddenly accelerating and won’t respond to any of his attempts to get it to stop. As his speed continues to build, state troopers have to catch up and think quickly to come up with a way to prevent a tragedy from happening on the road. The Snap Judgment podcast mixes real stories with original music to create cinematic, dramatic audio. Snap’s musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. Listen on any podcast platform. Website: https://snapjudgment.org/ Socials: https://www.instagram.com/snapjudgmentradio https://x.com/snapjudgment Further Reading/Listening: Vroom — Snap Judgment Podcast Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Before Apple Watches, Oura Rings and Fitbits delivered mountains of health data to the masses, a group of obsessive self-tracking enthusiasts in Silicon Valley started a movement with the tagline “self-knowledge through numbers.” This was the Quantified Self. From tracking “urges to take aspirin” to using infrared cameras to keep tabs on sleeping positions while snoring, these eccentric knowledge-seekers built a community around technical expertise and an ethos of self-discovery. Reporter Gabriela Glueck traces what happened when self-tracking went mainstream — and how the data-obsessed idealists watched their movement get swallowed up by corporate tech giants with products to sell. Further Reading/Listening: The Quantified Self: Learning to Observe — Gary Wolf, Workman Publishing Company Data Overload: Is the 'Quantified Self' Really the Future? — John Fortt, NBC News Wearable Health Tech: Helpful Tool Or Health Hype — @TalkingWithDocs, YouTube The cutthroat wearables battle is about more than tracking your fitness — Brent Crane, The Seattle Times Wearables, Health-Tracking Apps Are Stressing Users, Causing Harm — Emily Stewart, Business Insider The New World Of Wearables: From Health Monitoring To Human Augmentation — Chuck Brooks, Forbes Read the Transcript here Email us at CloseAllTabs@KQED.org Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Credits: This episode was reported by Gabriela Glueck. Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Our intern is Lauren Yoon. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices