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16 Minutes on the News

What's hype and what's real?

16 Minutes on the News is a short news podcast where we cover the top headlines of the week in tech and business, the a16z Podcast way. With host Sonal Chokshi — a16z’s editor in chief and the showrunner for the a16z Podcast — and guests from a16z and the broader tech ecosystem, the show tries to answer: why are these topics in the news; what’s hype and what’s real, from our vantage point; and what are our experts’ quick takes on these trends?

Latest Episodes

January 16, 2021

All about Section 230, In the News

All about section 230 of the Communications Decency Act -- what does and doesn't it say? How does this law play out against broader questions and debates ...

January 11, 2021

FinCEN Crypto Rule; Haven Healthcare Breakup

We're covering two trends in this week’s episode of "16 Minutes," where we talk about the news, tech trends, and the long arc of innovation: #1 FinCEN, ...

December 16, 2020

U.S. Government Hacked; Scaling Ethereum

We're back to covering multiple items on our show 16 Minutes -- which covers the news, occasional explainers, and teases apart what's hype/ what's real -- as ...

December 7, 2020

AlphaFold! Protein Folding, Beyond the Hype

In this episode of our show 16 Minutes -- where we talk about the headlines, and where we are on the long arc of tech trends -- we cover the news around Google ...

November 20, 2020

Transparency in Pricing, Ruling Healthcare

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November 18, 2020

Apple Silicon: A Long Game, Changing the Game

We cover the latest coming out of Apple’s event last week, where they announced the first new lineups of devices based on Apple Silicon M1 chips, which ...

November 14, 2020

Covid Vaccine! Beyond Science via Press Release

A vaccine for COVID seems to be (almost) here... or is it? What's hype/ what's real beyond the headlines (and beyond the press release), when it comes to the ...

October 25, 2020

Gaming Is Among Us

Aliens are among us. Well, the online multiplayer game Among Us is -- a murder mystery set in space, where the group must figure out who the alien imposter is ...

October 10, 2020

A Nobel for CRISPR! When, Who, How, What Now

"It's CRISPR!" This week, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna (also an a16z co-founder, of Scribe ...

October 3, 2020

Nvidia + Arm

We cover the latest news since Nvidia (maker of GPUs among other things) announced its intent to acquire Arm (provider of silicon IP for system-on-chips inside ...

September 18, 2020

Tiktok and 'Seeing Like an Algorithm'

In one of our special "2x" episodes of 16 Minutes (32ish minutes;) -- our show where we quickly cover the headlines and tech trends, offering analysis, ...

September 17, 2020

Apple and the 'Doctor’s Office on a Wrist'

We cover the latest coming out of Apple's event yesterday, focusing on their new watches (including a lower price model); new sensors (including blood oxygen); ...

Get Started with These Popular Episodes

GPT-3, Beyond the Hype

What's real, what's hype when it comes to all the recent buzz around the language model GPT-3? What is "it", how does it work, where does it fit into the arc of broader tech trends -- and are we really getting closer to artificial general intelligence?

Tiktok and 'Seeing Like an Algorithm'

In this special "2x" episodes of 16 Minutes, we cover the algorithm that powers TikTok. We cover what we learn from the "creativity network effects" flywheel of TikTok; about "algorithm friendly" product design; and more.

Section 230 CDA: Content Moderation, Free Speech, the Internet

We break down Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, including what it is and isn't, its evolution, where platforms and content moderation comes in -- explaining nuances, debunking popular rhetoric, and more.

The Case of Zoom and Scaling Cloud Security

Zoom has been in the headlines for security related issues and concerns, while experiencing unprecedented growth as well. What's hype, what's real, and what does it tell us about bottom-up SaaS and cloud security?

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