ReMarket Podcast: Love for taxes, robots and Sony
ReMarket Podcast: Love for taxes, robots and Sony
This week on the ReMarket Podcast, the theme is about relationships: How we interact with people, products and the federal government. I’m going to start with some images — which may sound strange because we do radio here. But anyone will tell you a good radio story will get your senses working, will make you see a picture in your head or remind you of an experience, a smell, a moment in time.
And that’s what happened when I heard this interview on the Marketplace Tech Report with John Long, the author of “Darwin’s Devices: What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology.” Long spoke to MTR host John Moe about the “evolving robots” — using a comparison to “The Hunger Games” — and introduced us to the term “mating bucket.” I challenge all of you to use that term the next time you are out and about.
And then to a story about a different type of love affair — let’s say a relationship that’s in dangerous territory of breaking up…with its consumers. Sony has a new chief executive, and billion dollar losses. Our Sustainability reporter Scott Tong was in Japan recently and he filed this story on Sony this week. The story struck me: long ago, the ‘it’ thing to get was a Sony Walkman. It defined music. Now, you have the “i” thing — iPods, iPads, iTunes. You have Pandora, you have Spotify. So what happened to the company that changed the way we listened to music? Scott’s piece gets into the heart of what Sony is facing with consumers.
Next, a commentary. We have an on-air opinion segment, and the pieces reflect lots of different topics and viewpoints. One piece that aired this week got a lot of listener response: Melissa Chadburn’s take on paying taxes. Let’s just say the opening line is simple, but it unleashes a lot of emotion.
During the podcast, you’ll hear from John Moe and editor Stephen Gregory about the pieces, a little look behind the scenes. So thanks for listening.
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