Plus: Data company Palantir hits another revenue record despite criticism over its role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. And lawmakers are set to vote on ending the partial government shutdown. Daniel Bach hosts.
Arto Minasyan is originally from Armenia. He's a serial entrepreneur, having started 7 companies, selling 4 of them. He used to be into the sciences, having his PhD in Mathematics and Machine Learning. But outside of tech, he's married with 2 kids. He loves to read novels, and in fact writes books himself (mainly his memoirs). He loves to ski, and aligned with his Armenian heritage, he loves to spend time with his big family.
Arto and his colleague got breakfast together, and started talking through an idea around clean audio for conferencing and beyond. They built a prototype, and then COVID hit - which made their tool very popular.
Terms and conditions: Equitybee executes private financing contracts (PFCs) allowing investors a certain claim to ESO upon liquidation event; Could limit your profits. Funding in not guaranteed. PFCs brokered by EquityBee Securities, member FINRA.
In his new book, Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims offers a guide for getting the most out of the technology. He's compiled two dozen "Laws of AI" to shed light on the best ways to use these generative tools.
Yesterday we talked about how individuals can improve their productivity with AI, and today we're digging into how organizations can use — or sometimes misuse — it.
It's Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning his prediction is six more weeks of winter weather. Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., the House Rules Committee is meeting on Monday in an effort to fully reopen the government. And Americans are living longer than ever; in 2024, U.S. life expectancy reached 79 years old, the highest mark in country history. In business, the modern day space race is taking over California's Central Coast, raising environmental concerns, and a Palo Alto company is selling flying vehicles that customers can fly within limited airspace and without a pilot's license. Read more at LATimes.com.
Last week, F.B.I. agents searched an election center in Fulton County, Ga., seizing truckloads of ballots from 2020. The move escalated the investigation into President Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the state after his 2020 defeat in the state.
It has since been learned that Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was present during the search.
Devlin Barrett, a Times reporter who covers the F.B.I., discusses the presence of the nation’s top intelligence official and the stunning phone call that shows how personally involved Mr. Trump has become in the investigation.
Guest: Devlin Barrett, a New York Times reporter covering the Justice Department and the F.B.I.
A partial government shutdown enters its fourth day as House Republicans weigh whether to back a Senate deal that would reopen most agencies while giving Congress two weeks to negotiate changes to immigration enforcement. The U.S. is set to reopen nuclear talks with Iran, as regional powers push diplomacy even while President Trump warns military action remains on the table. And investigators in Arizona say 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, may have been abducted from her home as an urgent search continues.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, James Hider, Miguel Macias,Martha Ann Overland, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction (01:54) Government Shutdown Day 4 (05:31) US-Iran Nuclear Talks (09:06) Guthrie Investigation
As President Trump calls for Republicans to “nationalize” voting processes, sources say the president was actively involved in an FBI raid on election offices. The Rafah border crossing opens to some Gazans desperate to flee. And inside a Las Vegas home, authorities discover what they say might be a dangerous biological lab.
My motivation for this episode is personal. One of my resolutions this year is to spend more time hosting and to make those gatherings more meaningful.
I think a lot of us wish we had better social lives and a stronger feeling of community around us. But it’s hard. We’re busy, we’re tired, and social planning and hosting can feel like just more work. So I asked Priya Parker on the show to help.
Parker is the author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters” and a wonderful Substack, Group Life. She’s also a conflict resolution facilitator. And she just thinks about gathering and hosting in a different way from anyone else I’ve ever met. For her, it’s about more than just throwing a great dinner party; it’s about how we build community across differences, all the way up to how gathering can help create a better politics. The way Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign thought about community and built community among its volunteers was partly based on her work and advice.
This episode is a bit of a break from politics — but also not. Because pulling the people we love closer and spending more time together rather than alone are as essential as any political or civic discipline could be right now.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.