Podcast Packs: Recent Episodes
Alec Tarantino
Curated collections of podcast episodes to help you get smart fast on topics in tech, media and culture.
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Listen to the full Podcast Pack here and if you haven't already, subscribe to get Packs like this delivered to your inbox every other week!
You can purchase the NFT Primer Pack on Opensea here.
Listen to the full Podcast Pack here and if you haven't already, subscribe to get packs like this delivered to your inbox every other week!
Listen to the full Podcast Pack here and if you haven't already, subscribe to get packs like this delivered to your inbox every other week!
Listen to the full Podcast Pack here and if you haven't already, subscribe to get Packs like this delivered to your inbox every other week!
If you haven't already subscribe here to get my Podcast Packs delivered to your inbox. By most estimates, 99.5% of the world’s population doesn’t know how to code. By my estimates, 100% of the world’s population would be better off if they did. Writing code is a superpower. It enables software developers to translate human creativity into solutions to our biggest problems. If you’re in the 99.5%, don’t worry, you too can now be a superhero.
Thanks to a rush of new companies enabling visual programming (think: clicking, dragging, and dropping), it’s easier than ever to build software without knowing how to code. You’ll hear this movement referred to as “low-code/no-code.”
This basic premise isn’t exactly new. Simple website creation tools have been around for decades. Speaking of, this podcast pack is brought to you by Squarespace, the easiest way to make a website! Just use code podcastpacks for 10% off. Okay, fine, I don’t have any sponsors yet, but cut me some slack! We’re only 3 packs in here.
So if this stuff’s been around forever, what’s changed?
What’s made this whole low-code/no-code thing buzzy enough that I decided it was worthy of a podcast pack? The “creator” mindset crosses over into work:
- Creator platforms like Youtube, Tiktok, and Roblox have embedded digital creation into the fabric of Gen Z/Millenial society
- The result? An increasingly entrepreneurial, digitally savvy workforce eager to build solutions to their problems and a bevy of new tools rising to meet this need
Back-end in a box + better interoperability between tools enables “full-stack” drag and drop development:
- “Full-stack” means combining back-end and front-end software development. Put simply, the front-end refers to the user interaction layer of software (the websites or apps you tap/clickevery day), while the back-end refers to everything under the hood (the pipes that gather data from various sources, organize it, and send it out upon request)
- Early website builders allowed anyone to build a templatized landing page but provided little ability to easily collect/manage data
- What’s more, it was nearly impossible to transfer data between applications stored locally on a computer (shout out CDs).
- Today, you can seamlessly collect data via a custom front end interface, store/organize it in a familiar, Google sheets style hub and pipe it out to Slack, email, or wherever else you please, all with a few clicks!
In this pack you’ll hear from four founders on the frontlines of this movement: Howie Liu (Airtable), Vlad Magdalin (Webflow), Emmanuel Straschnov (Bubble) and Wade Foster (Zapier).
Using their tools, I’ve built software to help me furnish my apartment, save my house plants from certain death and become a better manager all with little to no code. Here’s hoping their stories inspire you to build something too!
Yesterday, Coinbase debuted as a public company with a market cap of $100B.
A few months back, Christie’s auctioned a single work of digital art for $69M.
2021 will be forever remembered as the year that crypto went mainstream, and you know what that means…Your one friend who only talks about crypto? They’re not stopping any time soon. If you’re ready to wrap your head around this stuff so you can join in (or shut them up), you’ve come to the right place.
Odds are you’ve skimmed some articles on Bitcoin or NFTs, and odds are you’ve finished those articles with little added understanding of what all this means or why it’s important.
In my own quest to understand the crypto craze, I’ve realized that mass media coverage glosses over the most important piece of this whole decentralized puzzle. To truly grasp why something that looks like any other JPEG is worth tens of millions of dollars or why Coinbase made a run for the biggest US listing of all time, you need to start with a really solid understanding of blockchain technology. A blockchain is most simply described as:
“An open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way” - HBR
If the words “distributed ledger” make you want to unsubscribe from this newsletter, don’t worry (and please don’t 😊 )! I’ve organized the episodes in this pack from least to most technical, so just take it episode by episode and see how far you get.
In future packs, we’ll go deep into Bitcoin, Altcoins, NFTs, and everything else your crypto-obsessed friend keeps ranting about. Subscribe here so you don’t miss them!
Listen to the full podcast pack here!
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In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the economy was reconfigured to manufacture goods en masse and sell them as quickly and cheaply as possible. This shift created standardized but stable jobs for an entire generation.
Many criticize technology and trade for upending this system, but few realize the new opportunity the internet has created. Today, it's easier than ever to marry your passion and occupation by monetizing your individuality.
Ex Planet Money journalist Adam Davidson and tech investor Li Jin have independently dubbed this new reality “The Passion economy”. In this pack, you’ll hear from each them first, separately, then in conversation, and they'll tell you all about the Etsy sellers, Influencers, Artists and Teachers who are taking advantage of our new reality by identifying their unique talents and finding an audience for them.