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The Times Tech Podcast
Lilium's Daniel Wiegand: "Flying hairdryers"
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent brings on Daniel Wiegand, founder of Lilium, to talk about how he got hooked on the idea of air taxis (3:00), being a first-time founder (4:20), reimagining the hair dryer (6:20), building the first prototype (8:30), why science is his friend (11:10), starting with pilots (13:05), why silence is golden (15:20), how Lilium plans to launch its own air taxi service (17:50), being as cheap as ride-hailing (21:00), why cities are interested (23:20), learning on the job (24:05), what China wants (27:00), what the world looks like in 2039 (29:35), why he doesn’t just want to be a manufacturer (31:40), looking at Africa (35:50), why batteries are critical (36:35), his worst day of work (38:10), and why the air taxi boom is happening now (40:20).
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Deliveroo gets swallowed up, OpenAI gets purposeful & how not to get 'Tinder Swindled'
39:42|Sam Altman wrote a letter to staff at OpenAI explaining a new structure for the company. Katie and Danny react to that and the news this week that Deliveroo had agreed to a £2.9billion takeover from DoorDash. Plus, an interview with the subject of Netflix's Tinder Swindler, who in a world of deepfakes and online scammers wants us to trust again.What satellite imaging reveals about the Earth & will Elon take us to Mars?
39:57|Danny's second obsession (after humanoid robots) is space, so he's been speaking to someone sending satellites into orbit. No, not Elon Musk - though naturally his plans to colonise Mars do come up. Will Marshall is the co-founder and CEO of Planet Labs, a company which provides often revealing imagery of Earth in high definition.Any thoughts or questions, get in touch - techpod@thetimes.co.ukBinance's new CEO makes the case for crypto (and forgiveness)
48:39|Finally, the crypto episode is here. And after a lowdown on the vibe shift towards the industry in Washington, Katie is joined by Binance's new CEO, Richard Teng, who is tasked with making the case for the company that was beset by scandal under previous CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao “CZ”.The global fallout from Trump's tariffs
36:42|Ryan Petersen is the CEO of Flexport, a company that plans and manages shipping globally. Perfectly positioned, then, to lay out the inside story on how companies have been affected by President Trump's tariffs and what happens next.A device that records your entire life? Yeah, sure great idea...
43:27|What if there was a device that could record every conversation, every interaction, and then transcribed your entire life? Well there is, the Pendant, and according to its creator, it isn’t like an episode of Black Mirror at all. In fact, its creator, and CEO of Limitless AI, Dan Siroker, believes it can "to free the human mind from its biological limitations". He joins the pod to speak to a sceptical Danny Fortson.Dropbox CEO drops in & Softbank's $40B OpenAI bet
49:24|It's been almost 20 years since Drew Houston founded Dropbox in an effort to solve the problem of forgotten USB sticks. But how is the company innovating in a now much busier market? Plus Softbank makes a $40billion investment in OpenAI, while a new book allegedly tells the inside story of Sam Altman's 2023 (temporary) dismissal.Will your humanoid robot compliment you? And the end of 23andMe?
41:35|Danny has been delving deeper into his humanoid robot obsession as he interviews the CEO of Texas based company, Apptronik. Plus, what went wrong at 23andMe as the once buzzy biotech startup files for bankruptcy.Nvidia's 'Superbowl of AI' event, and a Silicon Valley dog longevity start up
49:24|Danny reports from the Nvidia GTC event. And he and Katie discuss whether some of the biggest tech companies in the US really are currently losing money. Plus, a Silicon Valley start-up, Loyal, is developing drugs to extend the lives of dogs - so just how close are they to success? It's CEO, Celine Halioua shares the latest breakthroughs and what this could mean for human longevity. (And what does this mean for Katie's tadpoles?)Clips: NvidiaThe algorithm says we’re soulmates… Now what?
46:23|Hinge CEO, Justin McLeod, joins the podcast to discuss how online dating Apps have changed dating (for good or bad) and how AI may change it even more. While Danny argues that being direct might just be better than tech!