Close All Tabs
Close All Tabs is a podcast that explores the intersection of internet culture and real life, examining how digital trends, AI, memes, and social platforms shape society. Host Morgan Sung, a tech journalist, brings expertise and irreverent humor to topics like government surveillance, life beyond TikTok, and the impact of AI on jobs. The show features insights from experts, audience contributions, and historical context to add depth to internet phenomena. It's a thoughtful and funny take on the cultural moment we're living in.
Episodes
Are Chatbots Harming Our Relationships? | Close All Tabs Presents
Humans are complicated, and relationships can be messy, so it may be no surprise that people are falling in love with chatbots. They are available 24/7, hang on your every word and never ask anything of you. Amelia Miller, a human-AI relationship coach, sees danger in our reliance on bots for intimacy and companionship.
Guest:
Amelia Miller, human-AI relationship coach; fellow, Harvard Univers
Influencers Are Peddling Peptides, but Is Tanmaxxing Worth the Risk?
Seems like everywhere you turn these days, influencers are gushing about their peptide use and how it’s done wonders for their appearance and health. One of the more popular ones, Melanotan II, also known as the “Barbie” peptide, is said to give you a tan without the harmful effects of sun exposure. But many of these substances aren’t approved by the FDA and are often sold through unregulated gray
Can We Cool Data Centers With… Pee?
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
AI, Artists, and the Future of Creative Work from Life, Automated | Close All Tabs Presents
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
Save or Scroll: Fake NFL Players, Girly Coding, AI Music Scams and Community Garden Drama
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-
Close All Tabs Presents Snap Judgment: Runaway Car
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, stat
What Happened to the Quantified Self Movement?
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-
Going Down the AI Music Slop Chute with Camilo Landau | Dream Machines
Can people tell the difference between a song made by human musicians, and one prompted by AI? Oftentimes not, it turns out. But that doesn’t make the distinction any less important. Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk to longtime musician Camilo Landau, who also works in music analysis at The Music Genome Project at streaming service Pandora. Camilo and his colleagues have s
AI Agents Are Turning Marxist Under Stress
In an effort to study how AI agents respond to different working conditions, three researchers ran an experiment: one set of AI agents received grinding work to complete while another set received light work. When the agents with the grinding workload were told to repeat tasks with no explanation, those agents adopted activist personalities and began expressing sentiments about class struggle and
Could AI Transform How Science Gets Done? with Jungwon Byun | Dream Machines
What happens when AI moves beyond answering questions and starts helping scientists decide what to investigate next? Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk with Elicit co-founder Jungwon Byun about building AI tools for scientific research, why reliable citations and evidence matter as hallucinations become harder to spot, and whether connecting vast amounts of research could ev
The Emily Hart Saga, Part 2: The AI Thirst Trap Grift
Emily Hart, the bikini-wearing right-wing AI influencer, had captured the hearts, minds and more of MAGA men online. But her creator, Sam, had grown sick of the creepy messages and unsolicited explicit photos he’d received from Emily’s adoring fans. And he was about to be outed as a “scammer.” In this follow-up to last week’s episode, we dig into the downfall of the MAGA dream girl, the explosion
AI Will Create Enormous Wealth — But Who Benefits? with Erik Brynjolfsson | Dream Machines
AI is advancing at a breakneck pace, but how quickly will that actually transform the economy? Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk to Stanford economist Erik Brynjolfsson about what the data can tell us so far, why previous technological revolutions took decades to reshape everyday life, and whether this time will be different. They discuss early signs that AI may already be
The Emily Hart Saga, Part 1: MAGA’s AI Dream Girl
Emily Hart was a pickup-driving, Trump-supporting blonde bombshell who frequently posted photos on Instagram along with captions about “deporting illegals.” Within a few weeks she gained thousands of followers. It was like she was engineered to go viral in the MAGA-sphere — because she was. A 22-year-old medical student in India who goes by “Sam” is the person behind Emily Hart, and he shepherded
Language, Landscapes and Robot Minds with Annalee Newitz | Dream Machines
San Francisco has been at the center of successive waves of technological and cultural change — from the literal Gold Rush days to the current gold rush-like AI boom. Dream Machines hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan talk to author, longtime San Francisco resident, and “chronicler of other minds” Annalee Newitz about the difference between this boom and previous ones, the pleasures and da
Why The Ethan Klein Fair Use Lawsuits Are Way More Than Internet Beef
When Twitch streamer Denims made a reaction video about Ethan Klein's nearly two-hour takedown video of Hasan Piker, she wasn’t expecting to be sued for copyright infringement. She employed a commonly-used method of streaming the original video and interjecting with reactions, commentary and analysis. But Klein, who was once seen as a champion of fair use after he won a similar lawsuit in 2017, su
Introducing: Dream Machines from KQED
We’ve got guests in the feed all August — a new series from KQED called Dream Machines! Today Morgan talks to co-hosts Alexis Madrigal and Robin Sloan about this podcast project that looks at AI — how it works, what it means, and how it feels to be living right in the epicenter of it all: San Francisco. More episodes will be dropping in the feed, every Monday in August.
Guests:
Alexis Madrig
The Pink Pill Pipeline and the Online War Against Birth Control
It starts with aspirational lifestyle content about “embracing your femininity,” but ends with alt-right ideology and conspiracy theories about reproductive care. This is the pink pill pipeline — one of the primary ways young women are radicalized online today. Seemingly innocuous content about dating advice, wellness tips, and pop culture leads to increasingly conservative and extremist talking p
How the Furry Fandom Says Goodbye (Reload)
Anthrocon, the largest gathering of furries in the world, just celebrated its 20th anniversary in July — so we’re re-airing one of our favorite episodes yet.
Furries are a community often known for wearing full-body animal suits at conventions — but the characters they inhabit, called “fursonas,” are much more than costumes. They’re deeply personal expressions of identity and creativity.
S
Are We Doomed If The Internet Goes Dark?
What are the chances that the internet could go down forever? How bad for humanity would it be if it did? And what would a shift back to the before-times look like? These are the kinds of questions “doom reporter” Ben Bradford tries to answer in his new podcast, Are We Doomed? Morgan and Ben discuss the scenarios that might lead to a long-term internet outage — from severed undersea cables to a m
'Get The Flock Out': The Fight Over License-Plate Readers Heats Up
Flock Safety’s license plate readers have become a flashpoint for a debate across the country. On one side: law enforcement and their supporters, who say the cameras reduce crime and improve public safety. On the other: residents and advocates worried about a creeping surveillance state and the myriad security issues Flock has already been exposed for.
Morgan talks to Bay Area reporters Roselyn R
Meet the Grads Grappling With AI and Their Futures
Everyone seems to have an opinion about AI, but what about those who will likely be affected most — recent graduates?
This cohort of grads is unique. They remember what classrooms were like before the emergence of ChatGPT in 2022, and have seen how it transformed the education world seemingly overnight. Today, we hear from three recent graduates in the Bay Area about their thoughts on AI, how it
The $55B Deal That Has Sims Players Worried
When shareholders of gaming giant Electronic Arts approved an acquisition of the company by a group that includes Jared Kushner’s private equity firm and the Saudi Public Investment Fund late last year, it rocked the entertainment industry. The sale worth an estimated $55 billion sent the player community of the EA-owned game The Sims scrambling, afraid that a game known as a haven for LGBTQ+ expr
A Queer History of The Sims
“Did The Sims make you gay?” is a long-running joke among Sims players. For millions, The Sims has been more than a video game — it’s been a place to experiment, tell stories, and explore identity. Long before LGBTQ representation became common in mainstream games, The Sims allowed same-sex relationships, helping create a devoted queer fan base that reshaped what players expected from virtual worl
How To Prove You're Not AI
During a recent phone call, BBC tech columnist Thomas Germain couldn’t convince his aunt that he wasn’t AI. Being unable to distinguish a real person from a fabricated version is a problem born from the sheer volume of AI-generated content flooding the internet — and one that’s increased dramatically in the last year alone. Even world leaders are now plagued by the issue: a glitchy video of Israe
Escaping the Surveillance Pricing Trap
When JetBlue replied to an angry customer on X that they should clear their cookies for a better flight price, it seemed to confirm a long-held consumer belief: companies use your personal data to determine what you should pay in real-time based on your urgency, habits and identity. It’s what’s known as surveillance pricing. According to economic sociologist Lindsay Owens, the practice is rampant.
Musk v. Altman Was Peak Silicon Valley Theatrics
For three weeks, all eyes were on a salacious courtroom drama unfolding in Oakland, California. The Musk v. Altman trial had everything you’d expect from a favorite soap opera: Backstabbing? Check! Secret diary entries? Check! Pleading text messages? Check! And two billionaire buddies turned rivals duking it out over who did or did not steal a charity. Morgan and KQED’s Rachel Myrow explore the tr
Iran Is Winning The Slopaganda War
AI-generated Lego videos have become a tool of war. Since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began in late February, increasingly elaborate videos featuring LEGO figures and catchy rap lyrics have been flooding our feeds. They're shareable, surprisingly high quality and they're deeply critical of the U.S. and Trump. They're also propaganda.
Welcome to the age of "slopaganda" — where AI Slop meets info
How an OnlyFans Model and a Cosplayer Are Fighting Nonconsensual Deepfake Porn
We’re diving into the world of nonconsensual deepfake porn and why this problem reaches far beyond influencers and sex workers.
When users on X started asking Grok to generate explicit images of real women and girls without their consent, Twitch streamer and OnlyFans creator Morgpie watched the harassment spiral in real time. Cosplayer and software engineer Zander Small saw firsthand how nonconse
My Therapist Is a Chatbot (Reload)
What happens when your therapist is… a chatbot?
For KQED health reporter Lesley McClurg, it started with a late-night spiral over dating. Instead of texting a friend, she opened ChatGPT and got the kind of calm, reassuring advice she needed. It worked… maybe a little too well.
Lesley joins Morgan to dig into the rise of AI therapy, why so many people are turning to chatbots for emotional support
Somebody’s Watching Me: The Crackdown on Stalkerware
In 2018, researcher Eva Galperin made a discovery about a colleague. He had been sexually abusing women for decades, and threatening to expose their private information using “stalkerware” — hidden applications that allow people to spy on another person’s private life through their mobile device. This set Eva on a new path. She went on to found the Coalition Against Stalkerware, a network of resea
The H-1B Visa Process But Make It a Video Game
Life on an H-1B visa — a visa that lets U.S. companies hire foreign-born workers for specialized jobs — is difficult, unpredictable, and has gotten even harder under the Trump administration. A new gaming studio, Reality Reload, is trying to capture that experience in a mobile game. It’s called H1B.Life, and it simulates the difficult choices, competing priorities, and personal sacrifices visa hol
Save or Scroll: Looksmaxxing, AI Fruit Love Island, BTS Arirang, and Meta Lawsuits
In a spring installment of Save or Scroll, Morgan teams up with culture journalist Steffi Cao to dig into the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From looksmaxxing to AI Fruit Love Island, BTS’ new album, and Meta losing a landmark series of lawsuits, they’ve got a lot to discuss.
Save or Scroll is our series where we team up with guests for a rapid-fire roundup of internet trends that are f
The Secret Lives of Mormon Momfluencers
Only 2% of Americans identify as members of the Church of Latter-day Saints — and yet a striking number of American social media influencers are Mormon. Why? The answer lies in a mix of religious doctrine, early internet adoption, and some surprising financial incentives.
In this episode, author and journalist Fortesa Latifi returns to the show to unpack her research for her new book, Like, Follo
Bee Movie, "We Are Charlie Kirk," and the Enduring Bait-and-Switch Meme
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.
In 2007, Bee Movie hit theaters with a strange plot and was considered a box office flop. Nearly two decades later, it’s somehow more relevant than ever, no
To Hack a Tractor: How Farmers Won the Right to Repair
What do pissed off farmers and broken McFlurry machines have to do with each other? More than you’d think. Both are part of the story behind the modern right-to-repair movement. In this episode, Jason Koebler, tech journalist and co-founder at 404 Media, explains how an unlikely alliance between Midwestern farmers and electronics repair technicians helped win right-to repair protections across mul
The Fight for Your Right to Repair
Today’s culture of overconsumption urges us to simply throw broken items away and buy new ones. But there’s a growing shift to treat non-working devices differently. In this episode, we dig into the “right to repair” movement with Louis Rossmann, a repair technician, YouTuber and consumer rights advocate. Rossmann has spent years pushing back against the companies that make our devices harder, or
'Twitter on a Vape' and The Great E-Waste Crisis
A legal loophole has led to a surge in single-use vapes packed with a surprising amount of electronic components. It’s also a glimpse into how our disposable tech habits are fueling a growing e-waste problem. In this episode, tech reporter Samatha Cole shares what happened when she tried to “vape the internet” after seeing a viral post about a disposable touchscreen vape with built-in social media
Sex Workers Tried to Warn Us About Age Verification Laws
Requiring internet users to verify their ages before accessing mature content may sound reasonable. Shouldn’t we be doing a better job protecting kids from online vulgarities? But free speech advocates say the push for age verification isn’t really about protecting children — and that bills like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) would open the door to greater surveillance, censorship and control o
Send Pics? Roblox Wants to Know Your Age
Roblox is one of the most popular gaming platforms for kids, with millions of young gamers playing user-created games. It’s also been heavily criticized for its track record on child safety, and is now facing more than 80 lawsuits alleging child abuse and grooming. In response, the company recently rolled out a new safety measure: AI-powered facial age verification that restricts who players can t
Lessons for U.S. Netizens from Behind China’s Great Firewall
Are you going through “a very Chinese time in your life”? If so, maybe you’re one of the many American social media users who’ve jumped on the Chinamaxxing trend (or…you’re Chinese). But it’s more than just slippers in the house and hot water at breakfast — as Western netizens experience increased surveillance and censorship across internet platforms, they are ironically turning to one of the most
Love In The Time Of Doom Scrolling
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re bringing you an episode about love. We start with TikTok creator Jojo Manzo, who turned his late-night doomscrolling into a matchmaking experiment when he invited thousands of strangers to flirt in his comment section. Then we talk to Maria Avgitidis, a third-generation matchmaker, about why friction, community, and a little discomfort might actually be the point
How the AI Data Center Boom Impacts Black Communities
Picture this… You move to a cozy home in an idyllic neighborhood: fresh air and birdsong in the morning and gorgeous sunsets at night. One day, you wake up to find an AI data center is being built right across the street. Your view of trees turns into piles of dirt, the songbird’s trill replaced by the hum of machinery. That’s the reality for many Atlanta metro area residents right now, facing an
The Real Cost of AI Slop
How much does your own AI use matter? With all the warnings about AI’s adverse impact on the environment, it can be tough to understand what that means at the individual level. In this episode, Morgan breaks down the hidden costs of generative AI into something more relatable: microwave time. She’s joined by MIT Technology Review reporters Casey Crownhart and James O’Donnell, who spent months inve
Your Digital Footprint Reveals More Than You Think
How easy is it to find someone from a single video posted online? To find out, Morgan put her own privacy to the test. She asked TikTok creator JoseMonkey, who’s famous for geolocating people who send him videos asking to be found, to track her down. JoseMonkey started as a geolocation hobbyist who turned to creating videos to bring attention to common mistakes people make when posting online.
I
Are You Allowed to Record ICE?
When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, it became an instant flashpoint in the ongoing escalation of federal law enforcement violence. It also put a spotlight on the U.S. government’s efforts to prevent people from documenting federal agents in public.
In this episode, we dig into a simple but important question: do you
Save or Scroll: OpenAI’s Head of Preparedness, Global RAM Shortage, AI Artists, and a Manosphere Antidote
In a holiday installment of Save or Scroll, Morgan and the Close All Tabs team get together to talk over the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From OpenAI’s concerning new job posting, to a major RAM shortage, AI artists on the come up, and an antidote to the Manosphere, they’ve got a lot to chew on.
Save or Scroll is our series where we team up with guests for a rapid-fire roundup of inter
Death, Robotaxis, and a Cat Named KitKat
When KitKat, a beloved bodega cat, was killed by a Waymo in San Francisco in late October of this year, the incident quickly went viral. It ignited grief and outrage. It also renewed scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. But in a city where hundreds of animals are hit by vehicles each year, why did this incident — and this particular cat — hit such a nerve?
We hear from Oscar Palma, the first reporte
One Year Later, The Internet’s Still Talking About Luigi Mangione
On December 4, 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside a Midtown New York hotel. The subsequent arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione set off a frenzy far beyond a typical breaking news story. Almost immediately, supporters emerged, detractors pushed back and then something stranger took hold: a devoted fandom that treated Mangione not just as a suspect, but as a symb
What Happened to Purple Moon Games for Girls?
Editor’s note: We updated one line to add context about a character in one of the Purple Moon games, which may affect how the character is understood.
Thirty years ago, video games were predominantly marketed to boys. Nintendo and Sega ran TV ads featuring boys proclaiming how “awesome” and “powerful” the latest system was. And the biggest computer games tended to revolve around male-coded activi
Meet Ukraine’s ‘Geeks of War’
The Ukraine-Russia war has been called the most technologically advanced war in history. Ukrainian citizens receive notifications about incoming missile and drone attacks through apps on their phones; remote-controlled drones swarm the front lines; and volunteer cyberwarfare units target Russian digital infrastructure. It’s all part of what some have dubbed Ukraine’s “Geeks of War.”
In this episo
Where Do Games Go When They Die?
When Ubisoft, publisher of the sprawling open-world racing game The Crew shut down the game’s servers, cutting off access to even its single-player mode, fans were outraged. The moment tapped into their decades of frustration with the gaming industry’s push toward online-only content — and what some now call the growing epidemic of “game death.” In this episode, host Morgan Sung is joined by Ross
Alice Bucknell on How Virtual Spaces Help Us Cope With Reality
When wildfire engulfed much of Los Angeles earlier this year, artist and game designer Alice Bucknell found themselves stuck inside, replaying “Firewatch,” a quiet game about exploring the wilderness in anticipation of an impending wildfire. It helped them process emotions that felt too overwhelming in real life. “Firewatch,” and other games like it that focus on exploration rather than fighting o
A Political Reckoning for Twitch?
TwitchCon, Twitch’s annual convention in San Diego for all things streaming and gaming, is facing heightened scrutiny after streamer Emiru was assaulted there during a meet-and-greet. The incident occurred after a series of streamers pulled out of the event over safety concerns and the growing specter of political violence. All of this has highlighted questions about the role of political commenta
Satanic Panic in the Age of the Internet
What do colorful and plush Labubu dolls have in common with Mesopotamian mythology? If you believe some viral TikToks, everything. Recent conspiracy theories have linked the toys to everything from ancient demonic spirits to Satan worship. But behind those ideas flooding online feeds is something older and darker: the return of moral panic. In this episode, host Morgan Sung digs into how a new gen
Beyond the AI Hype Machine
When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it kicked off what some have called the “AI hype machine” — a frenzy of promotion and investment that has sent some tech companies’ valuations soaring to record heights. Meanwhile, computational linguist Emily M. Bender and AI researcher and sociologist Alex Hanna have proudly worn the titles of “AI hype busters,” critiquing the industry’s loftiest claims and pointin
The All-Seeing Eyes of Modern Dating
What happens to dating when every misstep has the potential to go viral? That’s what happened in 2022, when social media posts warning about a few bad dates with a man named “West Elm Caleb” blew up on TikTok in 2022, and became a cautionary tale on the culture of public shaming. In this episode, Morgan speaks with tech journalist Tanya Chen and culture writer Magdalene Taylor about the rise of th
In Search of Thock: The Quest for the Perfect Keyboard
“Clacky,” “Poppy,” and "Thocky" may sound like the latest cereal elves, but they’re actually terms to describe the sounds of typing on a mechanical keyboard. What started as a niche hobby blew up during the pandemic, with a huge influx of creators posting tutorials, reviews, and soothing ASMR videos on social media. Many hobbyists are so enthusiastic about achieving the perfect sound, feel and res
AI Prophets and Spiritual Delusions
AI delusions, chatbot psychosis, AI-induced religious mania… The phenomenon goes by many names, but the common thread is the same: someone starts talking to an AI chatbot, the conversation turns spiritual, and then they seem to lose touch with reality.
In this episode, we’re exploring how AI and religion are colliding like never before — from biblical AI apps to self-proclaimed prophets who clai
Groypers, Doxxing and Charlie Kirk’s Death as a S***post
What is a “groyper?” The term began trending on Google in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death. Kirk, the right-wing podcaster and Turning Point USA co-founder, was fatally shot last Wednesday during an event at Utah Valley University.
Major news outlets quickly reported that authorities had found bullet casings engraved with a series of seemingly inscrutable messages, including, “Notices bulg
23andMe (andGeneticPrivacy)
When 23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, it set off alarm bells among privacy experts and consumers alike. According to a 2025 survey, about 1 in 5 Americans has taken a home DNA test. Among those who haven’t, privacy ranks as one of their top concerns. As with so many things having to do with data, there’s a trade-off between confidentiality and the ability to access services that can
From MIT’s TeachLab: The Homework Machine
The Close All Tabs team is taking the week off, but we wanted to share something else we think you’ll be into: a new mini series from MIT’s TeachLab Podcast. It’s called The Homework Machine, and it dives deep into how teachers and students are navigating the arrival of generative AI in schools.
Episode one is titled “Buckle Up, Here It Comes.”
In late November of 2022, ChatGPT was released to
Teachers Strike Back Against AI Cheating
Cheating in school isn’t new. But with AI making it easier than ever, teachers face a new challenge: where to draw the line and how to make sure students are still learning. In this episode, we’ll take a look at three different approaches educators are adopting to deal with AI in their classrooms.
First, Morgan sits down with Max Spero, founder of the AI detection company Pangram Labs, to discus
Before ChatGPT, There Were 'Shadow Scholars'
Thousands of writers in Kenya make their living ghostwriting academic papers for wealthy Western students. It’s an industry known as “contract cheating” or “essay mills,” and is the subject of a new documentary, “The Shadow Scholars.” Directed by Eloise King, the film follows Kenyan-born Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori as she investigates this hidden industry and seeks to understand the essay w
Does Gen Z Have A Staring Problem?
Have you heard of the “Gen Z stare”? It’s the blank look some Gen Zers seem to give instead of the usual greetings or small talk—and it’s the latest skirmish in a years-long generation war between Gen Z and Millennials. Internet culture researcher Aidan Walker joins Morgan to trace the origins of this rivalry, unpack what behavioral quirks like “the Gen Z stare” and “the Millennial pause” reveal a
Is Algospeak Coming for Us?
Social media creators started using words like “unalive” and “seggs” to dodge algorithmic filters that might suppress “inappropriate” content. But these workarounds aren’t staying online. They’re leaking into real life — like last year, when the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture explained on a placard that Kurt Cobain “unalived” himself.
In his new book Algospeak, linguist and online creator Adam Al
Save or Scroll: ICE + Influencers, Data Hygiene on Grindr, and Labubu Desserts
In another installment of Save or Scroll, Morgan teams up with internet culture writers Daysia Tolentino and Moises Mendez II to dig into the stories they can’t stop thinking about. From people calling ICE on influencers, to Grindr’s new age verification, to the Labubu matcha Dubai chocolate craze (yes, you heard that correctly), the three of them have plenty to scroll through.
Save or Scroll is
Bonus: A Big Win for the Internet Archive
Who decides what is and isn’t a library? The Internet Archive now has federal depository status, joining a network of over 1,100 libraries that archive government documents and make them accessible to the public — even as ongoing legal challenges pose an existential threat to the organization. Some of the organization’s critics even argue that the Internet Archive is not a library at all.
In thi
OGs of Tech: A Latino Engineer in Silicon Valley
In a field obsessed with the future, sometimes it’s worth looking back. OGs of Tech is a new occasional series from Close All Tabs that looks beyond the billionaires to spotlight the often-overlooked innovators who helped build the digital world we live in today.
One of these OGs is Felidoro Cueva, who grew up in a rural village in the Andes mountains of Peru, and immigrated to the US in 1964 — d
Teens Under the Influence (of Chatbots)
Young people are increasingly turning to AI “companion chatbots” to meet their emotional needs. But a new study shows that these chatbots, which are designed to mimic real social relationships, can carry serious risks. In this episode, Morgan and her sister put one chatbot's safety guardrails to the test — and get more than they bargained for. Then, KQED Silicon Valley senior editor Rachael Myrow
How the Furry Fandom Says Goodbye
Furries are often known for wearing full-body animal suits at conventions — but the characters they inhabit, called “fursonas,” are much more than costumes. They’re deeply personal expressions of identity and creativity. So when someone in the furry fandom dies, how does the community say goodbye? In this episode, Morgan explores a virtual memorial created by a furry named Changa Husky, where mour
Curls, Coils, and Pixels: Researchers Crack the Code on Black Hair Animation
The animation industry has long struggled to get Black hair right — from the infamous “Killmonger locs,” named after the Black Panther character and copied across video games, to the stiff, oversized afros of The Sims 4. As it turns out, hair animation tools were built almost exclusively with straight hair in mind. Two researchers, A.M. Darke and Theodore Kim, recently published a landmark paper a
The Spotify Effect, Pt 2: Micro-Genre Madness
Spotify didn’t just change how we listen to music — it changed what a genre even is. In this episode, producer and rapper Quinn reflects on being thrust into the spotlight at age 15 as one of the breakout faces of Spotify’s meteoric Hyperpop playlist.. Then, music journalist Kieran Press-Reynolds breaks down how Spotify’s made-up micro-genres—like Goblincore, Anime Drill, and Bubblegrunge—are resh
Elon's Great Crash-Out / Unmasked in LA
Elon Musk and President Trump breaking up? LA protesters clashing with law enforcement? Waymos on fire (again)? Things have been moving fast the last few days — and like you, our feeds are on overload. Today, we’re bringing you a quick reaction episode to catch you up on a couple stories we’ve covered before that are suddenly back in the news. Close All Tabs producer Maya Cueva joins Morgan to bre
The Spotify Effect, Pt 1: Ghosts in the Playlist
Spotify has morphed from a straightforward music library and search engine into a data-driven system built to feed you songs to match your mood and optimize your time on the platform.
In this episode, Morgan is joined by music journalist and author Liz Pelly to break down how Spotify built its playlist empire, the rise of so-called “ghost artists” on the platform, and how its algorithmic approac
Do You Hear What I Hear? Audio Illusions and Misinformation
Are you old enough to remember the “Magic Eye” optical illusion mania that gripped the nation in the 90’s—random patterns that you had to squint at just right for the 3D image to pop out? It turns out it's not just our eyes that can be fooled. Our ears can play tricks on us too. There's a whole world of auditory illusions that seem to say one thing when they're really saying something else, and t
Why Can’t Hentai Go Legit?
Hentai, sexually explicit Japanese animation (anime) and comics (manga), is a genre that’s been criticized for depicting violent or ethically questionable scenarios. But some fans also see it as a space for expanding the boundaries of art, culture, and sexuality in a way that reverberates beyond its status as a niche subculture.
In this episode, Morgan talks with anime marketer Drea Ramirez about
The Surveillance Machine, Pt 2: No Opt-Out
Think you can opt out of surveillance? Think again. Our locations, behaviors, and images are being tracked at unprecedented levels — and private tech companies are at the center, selling that information directly to the government. In this episode, Morgan talks with Nicol Turner Lee, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation at The Brookings Institution, about why avoiding identification in
The Surveillance Machine, Pt 1: How We Got Here
The tools of high tech surveillance are increasingly all around us: security cameras in public and embedded in doorbells, location data on your phone, online ad tracking. A lot of this has become normalized, utterly mundane. But in the year since nationwide student protests for Palestine, heightened scrutiny of and retaliation against activists in the U.S. have raised new concerns. Government surv
Recession Indicator Memes Are Getting Too Real
Recession indicator memes are everywhere, pointing to everything from office wear at the club to Lady Gaga’s return to pop music as signs of looming economic doom. But with the stock market sinking and tariffs piling up, the jokes are starting to hit closer to home. In this episode, KQED community reporter Carlos Cabrera-Lomelí joins Morgan to unpack how the memes might be fueling the very recessi
How Safe is AI Therapy?
After a divorce, KQED health reporter Lesley McClurg felt anxious over the prospect of dating again. On a whim, she turned to ChatGPT for a little emotional support — and found herself unexpectedly comforted. That experience launched her investigation into the fast-growing world of AI therapy. In this episode, Lesley joins Morgan to explore the promise and pitfalls of mental health chatbots — and
Recommended
Becoming: HER with Nikki Spoelstra
Booked, Blonde & Busy w/ Olivia Ponton
McKinsey on Consumer and Retail
megahired.com
Hard Knocks Podcast
Effective Weight Loss for Moms | High protein, Strength Training, Lose Weight, Meal Planning, Fat Loss, Healthy Habits
The Human-Animal Connection - Pet Life Radio Original
Infinite Health with Dr. Arasi Maran
The Daily
World News Tonight with David Muir
English Vocabulary Help
The Joe Rogan Experience
