TechCrunch Mixtape

It’s fair to say that most people have heard about diversity reports. And it’s probably also fair to say that most of us have watched, sometimes with a metaphorical bucket of buttered popcorn, as companies crisis-comms their ways out of … crises. But most of us do not know what goes on behind the scenes. On this episode of Mixtape, we chat with ex-Facebook, Twitter and Reddit employee Mark Luckie, author of the upcoming book Valley Girls, which details issues of diversity and inclusion through a fictional lens based heavily on real events.

Mara Mills  Associate professor of Media, Culture and Communication at NYUCo-director of the NYU Center for Disability StudiesAuthor of Testing Hearing: The Making of Modern AuralityTwitterMeredith WhittakerCo-founder of the AI Now InstituteMinderoo Research Professor at New York UniversityFounder of Google’s Open Research groupAuthor of the report Disability, Bias and AITwitterSara HendrenProfessor at Olin College of EngineeringAuthor of What Can A Body Do: How We Meet the Built WorldCo-author of the report Disability, Bias and AITwitter

This week, Megan moderated a panel at the first Sight Tech Global, a conference dedicated to fostering discussion among technology pioneers on how advances in AI and related technologies will alter the landscape of assistive technology. The panel featured three heavy hitters in the accessibility space: Haben Girma, the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School and who is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice; Lainey Feingold, a disability rights lawyer who was on the team that negotiated the first web accessibility agreement in the U.S. in 2000; and George Kerscher, the chief innovations officer for the DAISY Consortium.

This week we spoke to Y-Vonne Hutchinson, the CEO of ReadySet, a consulting firm that works with companies to create more inclusive and equitable work environments. We discussed what a Biden administration means for DEI practitioners, how companies are now focusing more on structural change to systemic issues of racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination, and more.

This week Marah Lidey, co-founder and co-CEO of Shine, joins us to discuss mental health, portfolio diversity and connecting with other founders trying to make it work.

ReferencesCalifornia Proposition 22, App-Based Drivers as Contractors and Labor Policies Initiative (2020) - BallotpediaUber Director of Policy, Cities and Transportation Shin-pei Tsay on Prop 22Gig Workers Collective

This week we are joined by TechCrunch’s resident bearer-of-bad-news -- security reporter Zack Whittaker. He came on to discuss the Capital One breach that we all found out about earlier this week. Zack spent some time on his vacation writing about how this shouldn't be a surprise given nothing changed after 2017's Equifax breach. Remember that one? But it wasn’t all bad news. Tinder launched new protections for LGBTQ+ people traveling to countries that criminalize homosexuality. Zack also wrote about that. And if you want bad news every day, follow him on Twitter!

Season 3 kicks off with Meena Harris, founder of the Phenomenal Woman campaign, and head of strategy and leadership at Uber.

Angelica Ross, co-star the FX show ‘Pose,’ joined us in the studio this week. Ross, who in addition to being an actress is a transgender activist, CEO and founder, writer, speaker, podcast host and all-around great human being, discussed her company TransTech Social, access for transgender folks who want to gain a foothold in tech, and visibility. Oh and Amazon things because Amazon.

This week we sit down with Neil Shah, CEO of Concrn, a compassionate care app that allows people to request help for homeless people experiencing a mental health crisis.

It’s that time of the week again when Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet talk about the good and could-be-better tech companies. This week, we talked about Instacart getting caught shorting its shoppers out of dough they rightfully deserved. Of course the company apologized for its “misguided” approach. Which at least sounds better than apologizing for getting caught — and getting caught, the company did. And wouldn’t you know it, scooter drama persists in San Francisco. The city this week shot down an appeal by JUMP to let it deploy its Uber-run scooters. The company it seems could have filed a better application in the first place, so back to the drawing board it goes to try to convince the municipality to relent. Finally this week we talk about Tyra Banks’s Modelland, a physical space that will open in Santa Monica, California, later this year. It will give visitors an opportunity to experience life in a tech environment. I am intrigued. But she was very clear that it is not for models or people who want to be models.

Screen time for kids, corporations not paying people from underrepresented groups and IBM offers some hope for the future of facial recognition technology: These are the topics that Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet dive into on this week’s episode of Mixtape.  According to research by psychologists from the University of Calgary, spending too much time in front of screens can stung the development of toddlers. The study found that kids 2-5 years old who engage in more screen time received worse scores in developmental screening tests.” We talk a bit about this then wax nostalgically about "screen time" of yore.  We then turn to a filing against Oracle by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs that states the enterprise company allegedly withheld upwards of $400 million to employees from underrepresented minority groups. The company initially declined to comment, but then thought better of itself and returned the very next day with its thoughts on the matter.  And finally, IBM is trying to make facial recognition technology a thing that doesn’t unfairly target people of color. Technology! The positive news comes a week after Amazon shareholders demanded that the company stop selling Rekognition, its very own facial recognition tech that it sells to law enforcement and government agencies. 

This week Megan Rose Dickey and I welcome Tiana Kara, the head of partnerships and growth at #builtbygirls (which, like TechCrunch, is owned by Verizon Media Group). The organization connects girls and women between the ages of 15 and 22 with mentors of all stripes in the tech industry based on their interests. The idea here is that not all tech jobs include coding, and #builtbygirls wants all young girls who want in the industry to know that. We also take a look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her near-perfect ability to troll the GOP through her social media presence. Sparking our conversation, and Catherine Shu’s look into Ocasio-Cortez’s internet prowess, was a story about AOC voicing her support of transgender youth group Mermaids on Twitch. And we already knew that the algorithms of some of those DNA services can yield different results. But it’s harder to take when they’re twins. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey Henry Pickavet

We’re coming to you with another episode of Mixtape, the TechCrunch podcast that takes a peek behind the headlines that go beyond tech.  This week, Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet get into a discussion about women’s sexuality, because the world’s biggest "consumer electronics show” revoked an innovation award from Lora DiCarlo, a company that created a sex toy for women. In its initial objection, the CTA cited a clause that entries they believed “in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with the CTA’s image will be disqualified.” That’s not great. Of course it walked the comments back, saying that the product, called Osé, didn’t fit into an existing product category. Except that the product falls squarely in the robotics category.  We also discussed robot delivery dogs, because those things don’t seem like they’re ever going to go away. And finally, people continue to do stupid "Bird Box" challenges based on dumb ideas they have after watching Netflix’s hit movie starring Sandra Bullock. Stop it.  CES revokes award from female-founded sex tech company Robot delivery dogs deployed by self-driving cars are coming Blindfolded Bird Box Challenger crashes car

This time Megan and Henry talk about all of those hubs in your abodes — you know, your Google Homes, your Amazon Echo Shows, your Facebook Portals …. There really are a lot. Stripe is doing a little something different when it comes to reporting diversity: It’s looking within. AR might finally have a use that we can all get behind and Super Mario Party is apparently fun to play. Square details compensation and promotion practices Super Mario Party is Nintendo Switch's best game Spatial raises $8 million to bring augmented reality to your office life

This week, Megan and Henry talk about a startup called Bungalow that is trying to make the housing search a little easier. Also on tap this week was a conversation about 23andMe and its efforts to provide more specific regional data about the origins of people of color. And Sarah Cooper, comedian and author of “How to Succeed Without Hurting Men’s Feelings” joined us in the studio to talk about the book and her experience working in tech. She also performs a dramatic reading of a piece of hate mail she already received. The book isn’t even out yet. Speaking of which, you’re going to want to pre-order the book right this minute. We'll be taking next week off because Megan is going to Burning Man. See ya in a couple of weeks. Housing startup Bungalow raises $14 million Series A round 23andMe’s ancestry tools are getting better for people of color Pre-order "How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men's Feelings" Sarah Cooper on Twitter Megan Rose Dickey on Twitter Henry Pickavet on Twitter

It's dogs, mac and cheese and working out this week! Megan and Henry talk about Bark and Co., the company that sends dog treats in boxes. It’s now opened a dog park in Nashville where dogs are the members and humans are the guests. A mac and cheese joint got some funding because why not? And there is a workout machine for your home in the market that Henry really wants. The company behind BarkBox is opening an ‘outdoor clubhouse’ for Nashville’s dogs Y Combinator invests in a build-your-own mac and cheese restaurant Tonal launches at-home digital strength-training system Follow Megan on Twitter Follow Henry on Twitter

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mixtape. This week, Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet talk about mental health apps, Nintendo (did Megan buy a Switch or not?!) and a suit-making company that uses your musical tastes to find you looks to choose from. That’s right. It’s pretty cool and Henry went through the process. Watch and read about suit-making AI-style Nintendo blowing up with the Switch Megan on Twitter Henry on Twitter

Welcome to another episode of TC Mixtape, where Senior Reporter Megan Rose Dickey and Editorial Director Henry Pickavet talk about some tech news of the week and sometimes go on field trips. This week they took a ride in a self-driving car -- and survived. Henry was terrified; Megan was excited. Also this week, Blavity raised a big Series A and Shonda Rhimes announced her Netflix plans.

Welcome to the first episode of TechCrunch Mixtape (formerly CTRL+T). In this episode, join Senior Reporter Megan Rose Dickey and Editorial Director Henry Pickavet at San Quentin State Prison for The Last Mile’s demo day and graduation. The Last Mile is a program that provides business and technology training to incarcerated individuals, preparing them for reentry into society. The Last Mile Butterscotch Clinton What it's like at San Quentin's coding school The Last Mile is launching its coding program at a women's prison in Indiana

Apple released the public beta of iOS 12 this week and Megan and Henry downloaded it so they could play with the new Memoji feature. Their feelings are mixed. Also this week Microsoft improved its facial recognition technology to better detect darker skin tones. Some improvement. And finally, they spoke to Karla Monterroso, CEO of Code2040, an organization dedicated to ensuring equal representation of black and Latinx people in tech. Want to go to Disrupt SF 2018? Yeah, you do. Visit the Disrupt SF 2018 hub and get a special 15% discount if you use code CONTROLT. Links: Apple just released the first iOS 12 beta to everyone Microsoft’s facial recognition just got better at identifying people with dark skin

Welcome back to CTRL+T. This week, Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet talk about the World Health Organization identifying 'gaming disorder' as a mental health issue. We disagree. Gamers gonna game. Also this week we were joined by Adina Tecklu, VC at Canaan Partners. She was here to talk about Canaan Beta, which is essentially a fund within the larger Canaan fund designed to seek out "category-defining and category-creating companies."

Between electric scooter permit applications and drunk passenger patents, Uber was doing too much this week.

This week is Apple's big developer conference, creatively called Worldwide Developers Conference (or WWDC), and TechCrunch was there. Each year the company showcases the things developers will be able to do in upcoming versions of their various operating systems (iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS). While there were a bunch of features that didn't really elicit much excitement from either of us, there was one in particular that we are quite looking forward to: Memoji. We talk about it all and what messaging means out there in that big bad world of ours. Next up was Kanye West. This week he announced that his latest album, ye, wouldn't be available exclusively on Tidal like his 2016 release Pablo had been. And these days you can't have a conversation about the rapper without discussing his recent comments about American slavery having been a choice. So we got into that.

Tinder released a new feature that helps people connect based on places both have visited, but is it as sketchy as people say it is? Amazon's Alexa recorded a couple's conversation and then sent it to someone else, which is undoubtedly sketchy. All that and more on CTRL+T.

Yes uberAIR is a thing and one day the company wants to make taxis fly you around your congested cities. But first, regular readers of TechCrunch might already know about the root canal Megan was told to get by a startup. Click play so you can hear the story first-hand. Till next week, y'all. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet

Megan and Henry are coming to you on a Monday this week because why not? On the show: Facebook's dating play, Hulu passes 20 million subscribers, Handmaid's Tale decompression and MoviePass competitor Sinemia launches $4.99 per month subscriptions.

Henry's back this week and tells a harrowing tale about his appendix. Then he and Megan get into the fight to deliver your groceries, Amazon's desire to put packages in all kinds of places, and the overabundance of scooters that have taken over SF's streets. San Francisco's scooter saga You can now give Amazon the keys to your car Whole Foods grocery delivery expands BONUS LINK!! Black Panther mixtape Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet

On this week's episode, Megan Rose Dickey chats with Kevin Adler of Miracle Messages, a non-profit organization that aims to connect homeless people with their loved ones.

On this week’s episode, I chat with Aniyia Williams, the person behind Tinsel Wear, Black and Brown Founders and the Zebra Movement. We talk all-things tech, making it rain cash money in black and brown communities and white savior complex .

Cash bail systems are unjust and disproportionately affect low-income people. On this week's episode of CTRL+ T, Megan Rose Dickey chats with Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins of Promise, a startup that looks to provide an alternative to cash bail systems. Ellis-Lamkins discusses the issues with cash bail systems, what led her to start Promise and what it was like participating in Silicon Valley's Y Combinator accelerator.

On this week's episode of CTRL+T, Henry Pickavet and Megan Rose Dickey chat about Facebook's privacy drama involving Cambridge Analytica, an Airbnb experience gone wrong and a new camera for your car. Links: Airbnb hosts can kick you out after you've check in What it's like using the Owl car security camera Facebook-Cambridge Analytica

There is a company out of startup accelerator Y Combinator that says it's "committed to the goal of archiving your mind." Okay. We also talk software developer ethics and the alleged inaccessibility of Lyft. Links: Here are some real things people said about brain preservation startup Nectome A startup is pitching a mind-uploading service that is “100 percent fatal” (MIT Technology Review) Chelsea Manning says software developers need a code of ethics Lyft faces discrimination lawsuit Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer and editor: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni

We are moving our release date to Tuesday. See you then!

This week we talk MoviePass's tracking drama and the way the local world works - media-style. We're joined in the studio by Eric Eldon, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Hoodline (and former co-editor of TechCrunch), a local news site that covers hoods in San Francisco and Oakland "near you." As in down the street from where you are. He talks the local news media landscape and a new data wire service Hoodline just launched to make your hood even more your hood. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer and editor: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni

When Birmingham led the charge in the civil rights movement in the sixties, the city inadvertently created big shoes for itself to later fill. Just how Birmingham was the birthplace of many civil rights actions in the sixties, the city wants to be the birthplace of true diversity and inclusion in the tech industry. Megan found that out and more when she visited Birmingham and explored its tech scene a couple of weeks ago. On this week's episode of CTRL+T, Megan and Henry explore a bit of the Birmingham tech scene, diversity and inclusion in tech, as well as the slave insurance industry. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni

You might have heard that a film called “Black Panther” came out last week and saw near-record crowds descend on theaters all over the world. The CTRL+T podcast team was among them. We headed to Oakland on an unseasonably cold-for-California evening to wait in line for about 90 minutes. While in that line, we talked to a few people to see how they felt about this moment in time. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni

We’ve had plenty of time to get used to our robot overlords and Boston Dynamics is helping us get there. This week we talk about the company’s addition of a door-opening arm to its SpotMini robot. It’s not spooky at all. We then switch gears and discuss Facebook’s Messenger for Kids. Is it good, bad or the company’s master plan to get every last human being with a smartphone on the platform. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni Linkage: Boston Dynamics CEO at Disrupt SF 2016 BigDog robot designed for DARPA by Boston Dynamics in 2008 Facebook Messenger for Kids (announcement) Why a TechCrunch writer installed Facebook Messenger for Kids Netflix: "black mirror is a documentary"

This week's episode is all about the future. Thanks to technology, the highest capacity rocket platform ever, the Falcon Heavy, blasted into space.
 Meanwhile, down here on Earth, Uber is working to make urban air travel a thing, and companies are developing products and conducting studies that can detect diabetes, just by wearing the Apple Watch. This is the world we live in.
 On this week's episode, we also chat with Uber Head of Policy of Autonomous Vehicles and Urban Aviation Justin Erlich.
 Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive Producer: Yashad Kulkarni

On this week's episode of CTRL+T, it's all about flamethrowers (yes, the devices that throw flames), startups trying to get inside your mouth and education in the prison system. Later on, I chat with the one and only DeRay Mckesson, who is known for his social justice activism via #BlackLivesMatter protests in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland. He's also the host of Crooked Media's Pod Save the People and co-founder of policy platform Campaign Zero. This year, McKesson and his team are focused on two areas: the racial wealth gap and mass incarceration, Mckesson told me on CTRL+T. Specifically, Campaign Zero is trying to "create an entrance for people that's an easy entrance but also high impact" and solutions-oriented, he said. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive Producer: Yashad Kulkarni

Welcome back to another glorious episode of CTRL+T. This week, Henry Pickavet and I explore Amazon's new cashier-less stores that promise no waiting in line -- except to get in -- and Uber's newest C-level executive hire. Later in the episode, I rage with Safiya Umoja Noble, a professor at the University of Southern California and author of "Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism." Full disclosure, I went to USC but Noble was not a professor there at the time. Additional disclosure, I wish I could have had her as a teacher because she's smart as hell. Final disclosure, Henry applied to USC but was rejected. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni

We start the episode with a couple of stories out of Europe. A hospital in Sweden is blaming an app that has been approved in Europe as a contraceptive method for 37 unwanted pregnancies -- they've reported it to Sweden’s Medical Products Agency, which is asking the company questions. And in what seems like a good common-sense move, the UK is going to cap the number of hours that a driver can be logged in to the app at 10. After drivers hit that magic number, they have to take an uninterrupted six-hour break. Seems smart. And finally in the latest dumb-trend-on-the-internet news, people are popping pods of poison in their mouths. Because that sounds like a great idea! Hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni Producer and editor: Christopher Gates Guest: Raine Revere, co-founder of Maiden

If you thought last year was intense for diversity, hold on tight, because based on the way this year is unfolding, it looks like we're in for a wild ride. Already, Google was hit with a revised gender pay lawsuit that alleges Google underpaid women in comparison with their male counterparts and asked new hires about their prior salaries. Then, a white man filed a lawsuit against Google, saying the company discriminates against white men with "perceived conservative political views." Meanwhile, tech companies are making little progress around increasing the number of underrepresented minorities employed at their companies. On this episode of CTRL+T, I chat with Dr. Jennifer Cohen of the Level Playing Field Institute, an organization that aims to improve access and increase opportunity for people of color in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni

Wait, what? Yeah, this week a company called SuperMeat announced that it raised $3 million to create chicken in a lab. It requires real chicken cells, Petrie dishes probably and some patience. The benefits for fake (fake real?) chicken are numerous, not the least of which it's better for the environment. But we wonder how it will taste. Like chicken? Like fake chicken? In the lead-up to CES 2018, the topic of robots that fold laundry is on our minds. Apparently it's a thing and it costs a lot of money. Like, a lot of money. Two companies, FoldiMate and Seven Dreamers (which is working with Panasonic) don't want you to have to fold your clean clothes, which is arguably not the worst part of doing laundry (at least according to Henry). And finally, Volkswagen and Hyundai announced that, by 2021, they intend to have autonomous taxi fleets on the roads. Autonomous cars are coming, so why not start with taxis? The only thing better would be autonomous pizza-delivery vehicles. Our guest this week is Ryan Rzepecki, CEO of Social Bicycles, the startup behind Jump, a dockless, electric bike-sharing startup. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Producer: Christopher Gates Executive Producer: Yashad Kulkarni

People can be lazy. So it's no wonder why on this week's episode of CTRL+T, we were drawn to some news that touched on home assistants and personal assistants for when you're out in the wild. Amazon's Echo Dot was the top-selling product on all of Amazon this holiday season and startup Fin recently launched its human/AI personal assistant. We also explored the HQ Trivia craze. This past week, HQ Trivia launched its Android app in Canada and opened up pre-registration for U.S.-based Android users. HQ plans to launch its Android app in the U.S. on January 1. In the vein of getting people or AI to do things for you, I spoke with Omni founder and CEO Thomas McLeod about his on-demand storage and rental startup. McLeod described Omni as an "operating system for things."  Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Guest: Thomas McLeod, CEO of Omni Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni Producer: Christopher Gates

This week we wondered if cell phones can adversely affect your health (or kill you), the goggles of Magic Leap and the problem Twitter has with the hateful people on its platform. Then later in the ep, Megan chats up Jeremy Burge, the Aussie founder of Emojipedia. They talk about the need for a pedia for emoji, Simpsons yellow and the skin-shade identity politics of mobile communication. It’s complicated. Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Guest: Jeremy Burge, founder of Emojipedia Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni Producer: Christopher Gates

On this week's episode, hear about Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya's declaration that the social network is effectively "destroying how society works," the FCC's vote on repealing net neutrality and Netflix reminding everyone it's spying on its customers. Later in the show, MRD chats with Shonda Rhimes, the creator of network hits like Scandal, Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder. We discussed her new contract with Netflix, what we can expect to see from her on the streaming media platform, differences between network and streaming media and strong black women. Links: Facebook bats back after a second former exec accuses it of negatively impacting society Net neutrality repeal Netflix reminds everyone it's creeping on them Shonda Rhimes is bringing her award-winning talents to Netflix Your hosts: Megan Rose Dickey and Henry Pickavet Guest: Shonda Rhimes Executive producer: Yashad Kulkarni Producer: Christopher Gates

Welcome to CTRL+T, the TechCrunch podcast that looks at how technology impacts culture. Listen to TechCrunch reporter Megan Rose Dickey and Editorial Director Henry Pickavet as they dive into the week's headlines followed by interviews with influencers and innovators in the field. Premier episode launches December 16th.