Lately

• The video game company that broke an industry

  Lately, the video games industry is in turmoil. The rise and fall of Blizzard, the trailblazing and toxic studio behind World of Warcraft, shows us why. Our guest, Jason Schreier, is an investigative reporter who covers the video game industry for Bloomberg News. His most recent book is the best-selling Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment. Jason shares his years-long reporting on the frat-like culture at Blizzard, the scandal-plagued games developer that Microsoft bought for $75.4 billion (U.S.).He talks about how commercial success can lead to creative decline, why Candy Crush is evil, and the future of gaming. Also, Vass and Katrina go on an epic quest.Subscribe to the Lately newsletter, where the Globe’s online culture reporter Samantha Edwards unpacks more of the latest in business and technology.Find the transcript of today’s episode here.We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to [email protected].

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• The singlehood advantage

  Lately, millions of Canadians are unpartnered. Business and tech companies are rushing to meet the needs of the new me-market. For Valentine’s Day, we’re asking: “Is this actually a great time to be single?” Our guest, Yuthika Girme, is the director of SECURE, the Singlehood Experiences and Complexities Underlying Relationships Lab, at Simon Fraser University. She joins Lately to unpack anti-single prejudice, the four archetypes of singletons, and explains how this growing demographic is shaping a new ‘solo economy.’Also, Vass and Katrina refuse to share their cake.Subscribe to the Lately newsletter, where the Globe’s online culture reporter Samantha Edwards unpacks more of the latest in business and technology.Find the transcript of today’s episode here.We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to [email protected].

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• Yes, your boss is tracking you

  Lately, our bosses are going further than reading our emails. New technologies that can track our motions and our moods are ushering in a new age of workplace surveillance. Is this productivity hacking, or counterproductive micromanagement?Our guest, David Murakami Wood, is the Canada Research Chair in Critical Surveillance and Security Studies and a professor at the University of Ottawa. He joins the show to walk us through recent mind-blowing advances in employee tracking technology and whether all this surveillance actually makes workplaces more efficient. He also explains why he didn’t get a cell phone until two years ago.Also, Vass and Katrina undergo theoretical brain surgery.Subscribe to the Lately newsletter, where the Globe’s online culture reporter Samantha Edwards unpacks more of the latest in business and technology.Find the transcript of today’s episode here.We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to [email protected].

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• Influencers in the White House

  Lately, the internet has broken the White House. Influencers and tech CEOs now have unprecedented access to the Trump administration. How will the “broligarchy” change our world? Our guest, Taylor Lorenz, covers the influence of influencers on User Mag, her tech and online culture Substack. The former Washington Post reporter literally wrote the book on how the internet took over politics: Extremely Online, The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet. Lorenz weighs in on the big tech transformation of the U.S. government, why banning TikTok is a bad idea, and what it’s like to party with the content creators who shaped the U.S. election. Also, Vass and Katrina discuss hostile haberdashery.Subscribe to the Lately newsletter, where the Globe’s online culture reporter Samantha Edwards unpacks more of the latest in business and technology.Find the transcript of today’s episode here.We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to [email protected].

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• Meet your AI therapist

  Lately, we’re sharing our darkest secrets with robots. The market for AI mental health aides is booming but how does it actually feel to bond with a therapy bot? Our guest, Graham Isador, just started his job as The Globe’s new Healthy Living reporter. Traditional therapy can be expensive and scarce, so Graham turned to AI and found a therapist who’s cheap, always available and not at all human. To his surprise, he kind of liked it. Graham describes his strange experience turning over his mental health to a chatbot. His article on the topic appears this week in The Globe.Also, Vass and Katrina discuss what voice they would choose for their own AI therapists. You can also hear about the mother who says an AI chatbot led to her son’s death over on The Globe and Mail podcast Machines Like Us.Subscribe to the Lately newsletter, where the Globe’s online culture reporter Samantha Edwards unpacks more of the latest in business and technology.Find the transcript of today’s episode here.We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to [email protected].

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