Plus: Netflix’s $72 billion deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery sent the Hollywood giant’s stock rallying, while shares of rival suitor Paramount Skydance sank. And SoFi Technologies stock fell after announcing plans to sell common shares. Danny Lewis hosts.
An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this episode by creating summaries that were based on Wall Street Journal reporting and reviewed and adapted by an editor.
Pakistan's crypto boom with the Chairman of Pakistan's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, Bilal Bin Saqib.
Bilal Bin Saqib, Chairman of Pakistan's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, joins CoinDesk Live, presented by Celo, from Binance Blockchain Week. He discusses the nation's new mandate to accelerate crypto adoption and bring clarity to the market. Additionally, Saqib details government plans to launch a stablecoin and leverage Bitcoin mining to secure sovereign compute for Pakistan's massive, tech-savvy youth population.
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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie and Sam Ewen.
Netflix announced it will buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and streaming assets, beating Paramount Skydance and Comcast who were also bidding for the assets. We discuss the implications for the streaming industry and winners and losers. Plus, Meta cuts spending on the metaverase and stocks on our radar.
Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Jason Moser discuss:
- Netflix buys WBD
- Mark Zuckerberg cuts metaverase spending
- Where will disruption come from next?
- Stocks on our radar
Companies discussed: Netflix (NFLX), Disney (DIS), Hims & Hers (HIMS), Meta Platforms (META), Alphabet (GOOG), Delta (DAL), Salesforce (CRM).
Host: Travis Hoium
Guests: Lou Whiteman, Jason Moser
Engineer: Dan Boyd
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P.M. Edition for Dec. 5. The streaming company won the fight for Warner Bros. in a deal that would shake up Hollywood. But first it has to win approval from the Trump administration, which is already scrutinizing the acquisition, as Wall Street Journal entertainment reporter Joe Flint explains. And a key vaccine panel at the CDC voted to drop a longtime recommendation that all newborns get a first dose of hepatitis B vaccine. WSJ reporter Sabrina Siddiqui covered the vote. Plus, the WSJ reports that SpaceX is kicking off a secondary stock sale that would value the company at $800 billion, ahead of a potential IPO for the rocket maker next year. Pierre Bienaimé hosts.
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) AI Device Wars are here 2) Apple loses its head of user interface design 3) Meta's chances in the AI device wars 4) Apple's Ai device will only be as good as the assistant 5) OpenAI's AI device could work? 6) Amazon's Alexa+ is underrated 7) Google Glass returns? 8) Is the Metaverse dead? 9) Code red at OpenAI 10) Anthropic gains in enterprise AI adoption 11) Netflix to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery 12) Kalshi and CNN team up
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An Angelo State University professor designed a way to figure out if his students were using artificial intelligence on a recent paper.
We speak with Will Teague, who says students are sacrificing their own agency to artificial intelligence. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Henry Larson and Karen Zamora, with additional reporting by Ayana Archie and Lee V. Gaines. It was edited by Justine Kenin and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Trump is overseeing extrajudicial killings off the coast of Venezuela but nothing was going to stop him from getting a peace prize—even if it’s a fake one from super highly reputable FIFA. He also helped himself to a federal agency that used to work on peace initiatives, but which Elon DOGE’d. Democrats should embrace the spirit of McCain and focus on the massive corruption in the administration around crypto, the ballroom, the pardons, and more. At the same time, the Dems have a disconnect between leaders and the base over Israel, Netanyahu, and AIPAC. Plus, Candace may be less worried about the French taking her out than she plays on her podcast, and Fox doesn’t seem like it’s rooting for war in Venezuela.
Tommy Vietor joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod.
Plus: The EU fines X $140 million over breaches of Digital Services Act. And shares of Moore Threads, a Chinese competitor to Nvidia, soars in its market debut. Julie Chang hosts.
Can we turn the world’s deserts green? CrowdScience listener Youcef is captivated by the idea of bringing water back to Earth’s driest landscapes. With sea levels rising and huge stretches of land drying out each year, he wonders whether redirecting seawater inland could offer a solution to both problems. Presenter Alex Lathbridge sets out to investigate… starting with a kettle of salty water.
Alex speaks with scientists about how deserts form, and how human actions like overgrazing can tip a fragile grassland into a barren landscape. He learns how the brightness of bare sand affects local weather, reducing cloud formation and rainfall. Researcher Yan Li reveals how huge solar and wind farms could darken and roughen the Sahara’s surface enough to double its rainfall, potentially kickstarting a self-reinforcing cycle of vegetation and moisture.
But what about deserts where clouds already drift overhead? In the Atacama – one of the driest places on Earth – geographer Virginia Carter shows how fog harvesting nets can coax litres of fresh water from the air.
Alex also investigates desalination, where professor Chris Sansom is trying to harness solar power to remove the salt from seawater without burning vast amounts of fossil fuels. It’s promising, but can it reduce the impact of rising sea levels? And what do you do with all the salt that’s left over?
Climate scientist Alan Condron proposes an even wilder idea: towing kilometre-sized icebergs from Antarctica to parched nations. His models show it might be possible, but the logistics verge on science fiction.
Finally, plant scientist Zinnia Gonzalez Carranza warns that greening deserts isn’t just about adding water. Introducing new species, even hardy ones like mesquite, can trigger ecological chaos and harm the very communities who depend on these landscapes.
Presenter: Alex Lathbridge
Producer: Sam Baker
Editor: Ben Motley
Photo: Palm trees - stock photo Credit: danymages via Getty Images)
