Month: May 2015

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African Tech Roundup - Mark Vs. Marek + The Week’s Biggest News

Nigeria's tech scene was abuzz last week following Mark Essien's hotel booking platform Hotel.ng securing international investment co-led by Omidyar Network and the EchoVC Pan-Africa Fund. However, for undisclosed reasons the parties involved have chosen not to make public the fine points of the deal. This week we debate whether it does Africa's tech ecosystem any good for important transactions like these to happen behind closed doors, and for details to remain secret. While we're at it, we poke a little fun at Jovago Co-founder and CEO, Marek Zmysłowski and Mark Essien’s on-going public tiff over who's hotel booking platform reigns supreme. Also, we share two expert comments we received in response to last week's discussion topic: Bitcoin and the Blockchain: Worth Embracing? on the future of bitcoin and the possible future applications of the blockchain technology. As usual, we also have all the biggest tech, digital and innovation news from across Africa: -- Discover how Nigeria's fuel and electricity shortages are affecting big tech, -- Hear how Nkosana Makate aka the Please Call Me Guy's billion dollar case against Vodacom is going, and -- Find out how a Nigerian computer science Masters student at the University of Cape Town is using tech to save endangered African languages. Music Credits: All Music by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Music licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - The Calm Before the Storm

On today’s episode, Dahlia takes stock of the big whammy decisions just around the corner at the Supreme Court, and considers a few of the major abortion cases that could be following shortly on their heels.Please let us know what you think of Amicus, our legal affairs podcast. Our email is amicus@slate.com. This week’s episode was sponsored by The Great Courses. Get up to 80% off the original price of their eight most popular courses when you visit thegreatcourses.com/amicus. Subscribe to our podcast here.Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today here.

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - WS MoreOrLess: John Nash

On 23 May, the mathematician John Nash was killed in a car crash, alongside his wife Alicia. The couple were in their 80s. Professor Nash was on his way home from Norway after receiving the prestigious Abel prize for mathematics. He also won the Nobel memorial prize in economics in 1994, and was made famous far beyond academia when he was played by Russell Crowe in the film, A Beautiful Mind. Tim Harford takes a look back at his life with economist Peyton Young who knew Nash well. Tim also looks at how many species of owl there are. A much more difficult question to answer than you would think.

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The Gist - Ross Ulbricht and the Silk Road Story

Alex Winter went from co-starring with Keanu Reeves in the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure franchise to creating tech-centric documentaries. Today, Winter talks about directing Deep Web, about the online black market Silk Road and its founder Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison on Friday. The show premieres on Epix this weekend. Also, Slate’s Joel Meyer joins us to answer one question, and one question only, about Minneapolis. For the Spiel, should we give so much credit to the sage grouse? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at slate.com/gistplus.    

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Motley Fool Money - Amazon’s Speed, GoPro’s Drones, and the Colonel’s Comeback

Amazon launches same-day delivery. GoPro gets into the drone business. Michael Kors reports some unfashionable numbers. And Yum! Brands brings back Colonel Sanders. Our analysts discuss those stories and share some stocks on their radar. And Motley Fool Asset Management portfolio manager Bill Mann talks investing and China. 

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - Seven-day NHS

This week: Seven Day NHS. As a commitment appears in the Queen's Speech to introduce a 'truly seven day-a-week NHS' we look at David Cameron's assertion that mortality rates are 16% higher for people admitted on a Sunday over those admitted on a Wednesday. And is seven day working really about saving lives.

John Nash The mathematician and scientist, Nobel Laureate and subject of the film a beautiful mind was killed in car accident earlier this month. We look at why he was so important to game theory.

Productivity? We're told we have a productivity problem in the UK. What is it, how is it measured and why is it so low in the UK compared to other economies. We get an economist to explain the answers to a listener.

What is a generation? A loyal listener has asked how you measure a generation. We ask a sociologist and a demographer.

Animal Slaughter How many animals are killed each day for food? One claim suggested it was half a billion worldwide, which sounds like a lot to us. Are we really pigging out to such an extent? Are we all so hungry we could all eat a horse? Or is this just a load of bull?

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Song Exploder - Brian Tyler – Avengers: Age of Ultron

The title card for Avengers: Age of Ultron comes up twelve minutes into the movie. Against a black background, the Avengers logo takes up almost the entire screen. You might expect a triumphant, heroic piece of music, but the film called for something more complicated. Coming up, you'll hear why, and how composer Brian Tyler tackled that piece of score, in his third feature for Marvel Studios. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios with the London Philharmonic, with Brian himself conducting.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - The Deep Web With Alex Winter

What's the future of online privacy? Filmmaker Alex Winter joins Matt and Ben to talk about his new documentary "Deep Web", following the story of the infamous Silk Road and its creator, Ross Ulbricht.

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