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Better Offline

Better Offline

Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts 242 episodes Latest May 29, 2026

Better Offline is a weekly show that explores the tech industry's influence and manipulation of society, interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech's elite wants to build. Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews, and panel-based discussions, the show cuts through buzzwords and obfuscation to investigate schemes and scams from cryptocurrency scumbags to venture capital elites. Hosted by tech industry veteran Ed Zitron, the podcast helps listeners understand how tech's most powerful players are changing the world.

Episodes

CZM Rewind: The Rot-Com Bubble Jun 10, 2026 1852 Tech's hyper-growth era is ending, with online 100 million new people getting online between 2022 and 2023, and almost every major web platform seeing a decline in growth since 2021. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how tech's decline is driving the tech industry to try and sell you useless products like the metaverse, cryptocurrency and generative AI. Original Air Date: 6.5.24 Save $1
Monologue: AI Can't Afford To Slow Down Jun 5, 2026 382 In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how the “does AI have ROI?” debate is coming at the worst possible time for two companies that can’t afford to slow down thanks to their $1.1 trillion in compute commitments.Newsletter: AI Doesn’t Have ROI https://www.wheresyoured.at/ai-doesnt-have-roi/ Ed on Bloomberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Why AI Has No ROI with Paul Kedrosky Jun 3, 2026 2829 In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by economist Paul Kedrosky to talk about why nobody can find the ROI of AI, why there won’t be a Dot Com Bubble-style recovery for AI data centers, and how Google’s $80bn equity sale shows we’re at the top.https://paulkedrosky.com/ The Nick, Dick and Paul Show: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbDiETo29GTIjg6Lk4imig S
Monologue: Everyone Suddenly Cares About AI ROI May 29, 2026 710 In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how AI’s move to token-based billing has revealed that absolutely nobody has a way of measuring AI’s ROI - and how these massive costs might finally burst the bubble.Companion newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/ Axios: AI sticker shock hits corporate America https://www.axios
The AI Industry Is Losing May 27, 2026 1168 In this week's Better Offline, Ed Zitron runs you through how Uber’s COO said the quiet part out loud - that AI’s outputs and efficacy do not match up with its ruinous costs - and how despite its bluster, the AI industry’s grift is failing.Free newsletter tie-in: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/ Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $
Monologue: Anthropic Is Not Profitable Unless You Remove Its Costs May 22, 2026 797 In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through Anthropic’s claims it will be non-GAAP EBITDA profitable for Q2 2026 by having SpaceX discount its compute costs, and how said revenues don’t match up with its CFO’s sworn affidavit or previous reporting on its finances.Companion newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/anthropics-profitability-swindle/ https://ww
AI Versus The PC Industry With GamersNexus May 20, 2026 3008 In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about NVIDIA’s alleged GPU shipments to China, how AI is choking the PC gaming industry, and how mad Jensen Huang keeps getting on podcasts.Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful! GamersNexus:
Monologue: AI Is Making The Tech Industry Weak May 15, 2026 1334 In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how LLMs and the obsession with AI is actively destroying the fabric of the tech industry.Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau
The Insanity of the Markets with Ben & Emil May 13, 2026 3309 On this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by the hosts of the Ben & Emil show to talk about how the markets have been driven insane by semiconductor buzz and social media hysteria.https://benandemilshow.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@benandemilshow Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswher
CZM Rewind: Cory Doctorow and Ed Zitron on Enshittification and the Rot Economy May 6, 2026 3454 This week’s Better Offline is a recording of a panel held by Clarion West in Seattle earlier this year with Cory Doctorow and Ed Zitron, discussing enshittification, The Rot Economy, and the destruction of modern tech platforms, moderated by Whitney Beltrán. Original Air Date: 11.12.25Cory Doctorow: https://craphound.com/Whitney Beltrán: https://brightwhitney.com/ Get involved
Monologue: AI's Compute Demand Story Is A Lie May 1, 2026 1138 In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs through how 70-80% of Amazon and Microsoft’s AI revenue and capacity is taken up by OpenAI and Anthropic, and how capacity constraints across the industry are a result of hyperscalers sacrificing their infrastructure to the least-profitable startups of all time.Premium newsletter out later today - AI’s Demand Story Is A Lie - save
Palantir's Manifesto with June and Caleb from KTC Apr 29, 2026 4045 On this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron digs into Palantir’s 22-point manifesto with Caleb and June from Kill The Computer.The Manifesto: https://x.com/PalantirTech/status/2045574398573453312 Caleb and Junehttps://bsky.app/profile/birdrespecter.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/killthecomputer.com https://bsky.app/profile/junlper.beer https://x.com/canteverdie Please support m

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