Better Offline Podcast By Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts cover art

Better Offline

Better Offline

By: Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts
Listen for free

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.

2025 iHeartMedia, Inc. © Any use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from iHeartMedia
Episodes
  • Exclusive: How GPT-5 Actually Works

    Exclusive: How GPT-5 Actually Works
    Aug 22 2025

    In a bonus third episode, Ed Zitron reports exclusively on how OpenAI’s new "router-based" ChatGPT-5 makes it impossible for the company to cache the static prompt for any model or tool it uses every single prompt, doubling token burn for mediocre gains.

    Better Offline listener deal: Get $15 Off Where's Your Ed At Premium! Deal goes until the end of August.
    https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/better-offline-discount

    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 A LIMITED EDITION BETTER OFFLINE CHALLENGE COIN! https://cottonbureau.com/p/XSH74N/challenge-coin/better-offline-challenge-coin#/29269226/gold-metal-1.75in

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    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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show more Show less
    29 mins
  • The AI Money Trap, Part Two

    The AI Money Trap, Part Two
    Aug 21 2025

    In part two of this week's two-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how America’s economic growth has become dependent on Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta’s AI capital expenditures - and how this inevitably harms both the economy and our markets.

    Better Offline listener deal: Get $15 Off Where's Your Ed At Premium! Deal goes until the end of August.
    https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/better-offline-discount

    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 A LIMITED EDITION BETTER OFFLINE CHALLENGE COIN! https://cottonbureau.com/p/XSH74N/challenge-coin/better-offline-challenge-coin#/29269226/gold-metal-1.75in

    ---

    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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show more Show less
    42 mins
  • The AI Money Trap, Part One

    The AI Money Trap, Part One
    Aug 20 2025

    In part one of this week's two-part Better Offline, Ed Zitron walks you through how AI startups’ overstuffed valuations make them impossible targets for acquisition or IPO - and how this may cause lasting harm to Silicon Valley when the bubble bursts.

    Better Offline listener deal: Get $15 Off Where's Your Ed At Premium! Deal goes until the end of August.
    https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/better-offline-discount

    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 A LIMITED EDITION BETTER OFFLINE CHALLENGE COIN! https://cottonbureau.com/p/XSH74N/challenge-coin/better-offline-challenge-coin#/29269226/gold-metal-1.75in

    ---

    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

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show more Show less
    42 mins
All stars
Most relevant  
fairly objective but critical, good patter. a much-needed more upbeat addition to cooler zone. thus far not much Doom or gloom

worth a listen

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No one else can get across how frustrating it is that silicon valley promised a bright future and instead delivered a corporate dystopia.

Exposing the rot

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