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Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline

In this week’s Better Offline, Ed talks with the Wall Street Journal’s Caitlin Ostroff and Katherine Long about how Polymarket is working with influencers to show videos of fake bets cashing out - and how the prediction markets have grown into a large, barely-regulated operation.

Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen 

They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket—but None of It Was Real - https://www.wsj.com/business/media/polymarket-social-media-bets-prediction-market-441cdeb5?st=57dR12&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink 

Caitlin Ostroff 
https://x.com/ceostroff
 
https://bsky.app/profile/ceostroff.bsky.social
 
https://www.wsj.com/news/author/caitlin-ostroff
 
Katherine Long
https://bsky.app/profile/klong.bsky.social
 
https://x.com/ByKLong
 
https://www.wsj.com/news/author/katherine-long
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new “FUCK DATA CENTERS” shirts today!
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The WSJ On Polymarket's Questionable Ads

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how organizations are freaking out after having to pay the real cost of AI tokens, and how the surge of competitive open weight models could lead to the post-bubble locally-run future of LLMs.
 
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful!
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new “FUCK DATA CENTERS” shirts today!
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monologue: Tokenpocalypse Now

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how AI is the pinnacle of Silicon Valley monoculture, and a monument to the cargo cult desperation of a tech industry that celebrates mediocrity and has run out of ideas.
 
Newsletter: Cargo Culture: https://www.wheresyoured.at/cargo-culture/
 
OpenAI Exclusive: https://www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/
 
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful!
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new “FUCK DATA CENTERS” shirts today!
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monologue: Silicon Valley is A Cargo Cult

In this week’s Better Offline, Ed talks with computer science professor and writer Cal Newport about AI companies “doom trolling” consumers using scary stories about conscious computers, and how we need to make fun of the scare-mongering and ridicule the executives peddling in it.

Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen 

Cal Newport’s “Dear A.I. Companies: The Doom Trolling Needs To Stop https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/opinion/ai-dangerous-openai-anthropic.html 
 
Podcast & Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CalNewportMedia/
 
Newsletter: https://calnewport.com
 
New Yorker archive: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/cal-newport

 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI Industry Must Stop Doom Trolling w/ Cal Newport

In a special exclusive episode of Better Offline, Ed Zitron digs into the audited financials of OpenAI from 2024 and 2025.

Companion newsletter: www.wheresyoured.at/exclusive-openai-financials/ 

Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful!
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new “FUCK DATA CENTERS” shirts today!
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Exclusive: OpenAI Spent $34 Billion In 2025, With Losses Up 8X

Tech's hyper-growth era is ending, with online 100 million new people getting online between 2022 and 2023, and almost every major web platform seeing a decline in growth since 2021. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how tech's decline is driving the tech industry to try and sell you useless products like the metaverse, cryptocurrency and generative AI.
 
Original Air Date: 6.5.24
 
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful!
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new “FUCK DATA CENTERS” shirts today!
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CZM Rewind: The Rot-Com Bubble

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how the “does AI have ROI?” debate is coming at the worst possible time for two companies that can’t afford to slow down thanks to their $1.1 trillion in compute commitments.

Newsletter: AI Doesn’t Have ROI https://www.wheresyoured.at/ai-doesnt-have-roi/ 
Ed on Bloomberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKDmkJPVvI 
The AI industry's profit problem is getting bigger, says Goldman Sachs' equity research chief
https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-ai-boom-profit-problem-semiconductor-chip-companies-investment-2026-6 
Bloomberg: AI’s Bills Are Bigger Than Ever, And Coming Due https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-06-04/the-ai-boom-s-next-test-is-the-roi-worth-the-cost 
Axios: AI sticker shock hits corporate America https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-costs 
Uber COO story: https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-andrew-macdonald-ai-token-spending-harder-justify-2026-5 

Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monologue: AI Can't Afford To Slow Down

In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by economist Paul Kedrosky to talk about why nobody can find the ROI of AI, why there won’t be a Dot Com Bubble-style recovery for AI data centers, and how Google’s $80bn equity sale shows we’re at the top.

https://paulkedrosky.com/
 
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFbDiETo29GTIjg6Lk4imig
 
Save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 - I’d be so grateful!
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new “FUCK DATA CENTERS” shirts today!
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why AI Has No ROI with Paul Kedrosky

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through how AI’s move to token-based billing has revealed that absolutely nobody has a way of measuring AI’s ROI - and how these massive costs might finally burst the bubble.

Companion newsletter: 
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/
 
Axios: AI sticker shock hits corporate America https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-costs 
 
Uber COO story: https://www.businessinsider.com/uber-coo-andrew-macdonald-ai-token-spending-harder-justify-2026-5
 
Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monologue: Everyone Suddenly Cares About AI ROI

In this week's Better Offline, Ed Zitron runs you through how Uber’s COO said the quiet part out loud - that AI’s outputs and efficacy do not match up with its ruinous costs - and how despite its bluster, the AI industry’s grift is failing.

Free newsletter tie-in: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-revenge-of-the-business-idiot/ 

Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1 
 
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
 
---
 
LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks
 
Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/
 
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 
 
Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at
 
Ed's Socials:
 
https://twitter.com/edzitron
 
https://www.instagram.com/edzitron
 
https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com
 
https://www.threads.net/@edzitron
 
Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI Industry Must Stop Doom Trolling w/ Cal Newport

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