Lately

Lately, we’ve been getting the news from The Decibel, [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/the-decibel/] the Globe and Mail’s daily news podcast.  In this bonus episode, Lately’s sister pod reveals what it took for Rogers to outmaneuver the competition and buy up some of the biggest sports teams in Canada.  A colossal business deal recently took place when a set of rivals came to an unexpected agreement. Rogers Communications Inc. bought BCE Inc.’s 37.5-per-cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for $4.7-billion. The transaction makes Rogers the majority owner of all of Toronto’s major professional sports teams. Andrew Willis, a columnist and reporter for The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business, explains to Decibel host Menaka Ramn-Wilms how Rogers has the money to do this, why Bell agreed to sell to a major competitor and how investors may be able to buy their own stake in their favourite sports team one day. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email thedecibel@globeandmail.com [thedecibel@globeandmail.com]

Professor Timothy Caulfield researches health misinformation, especially when it intersects with celebrity culture. In the new CBC documentary Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, [https://gem.cbc.ca/harder-better-faster-stronger] Caulfield takes a trip to the “manosphere” and meets the men who buy and sell the promise of masculinity in this growing segment of the $5-trillion wellness market. Caulfield talks to Lately about debunking the pseudoscience of drinking urine, how traditional masculine values can actually harm men’s health, and how the manosphere might have propelled Donald Trump to victory.  Plus, Vass finds out what lightly grilled bull testicle tastes like. Subscribe to the Lately newsletter [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/newsletters/], 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. [https://lately.simplecast.com/episodes/the-masculinity-industry-that-shaped-the-us-election/transcript] We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to lately@globeandmail.com [lately@globeandmail.com].

Lately, LinkedIn has become  cringe... or cool, or more important than ever, depending on who you ask. So, is LinkedIn working well for us, or has it devolved into yet another shouty social media site? Tim Kiladze is a Globe and Mail business reporter, Bay Street veteran and LinkedIn connoisseur. He wrote a compelling report on the evolution of LinkedIn: [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-linkedin-bay-street-corporate-world/] The tone has shifted to more performative “thought leadership,” the line between personal and professional has blurred – and now Bay Street executives are peacocking their post stats over lunch. But if you stay away from LinkedIn, are you sabotaging your career?  Vass Bednar would like to connect. Accept/Reject? Subscribe to the Lately newsletter [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/newsletters/], 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. [https://lately.simplecast.com/episodes/some-personal-news-linkedin-is-weird-now/transcript] We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to lately@globeandmail.com [lately@globeandmail.com].

A bonus episode from our Globe and Mail sister show Machines Like Us. How is Silicon Valley’s shift to the right affecting the US election?  The tech lobby has quietly turned Silicon Valley into the most powerful political operation in America. Pro-crypto donors are now responsible for almost half of all corporate donations this election. Elon Musk has gone from an occasional online troll to, as one of our guests calls him, “MAGA’s Minister of Propaganda.” And for the first time, the once reliably blue Silicon Valley seems to be shifting to the right. What does all this mean for the upcoming election? To help us better understand this moment, we spoke with three of the most prominent tech writers in the U.S. Charles Duhigg (author of the bestseller Supercommunicators) has a recent piece in the New Yorker called “Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster.” Charlie Warzel is a staff writer at the Atlantic, and Nitasha Tiku is a tech culture reporter at the Washington Post. Machines Like Us [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/machines-like-us/] is a Globe and Mail tech show about AI and people. It's hosted by Taylor Owen and comes out every other Tuesday.  Mentioned: “Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/14/silicon-valley-the-new-lobbying-monster]” by Charles Duhigg “Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an Unprecedented $119 Million Influencing Elections [https://www.citizen.org/article/big-crypto-big-spending-2024/]” by Rick Claypool via Public Citizen “I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/10/hurricane-milton-conspiracies-misinformation/680221/]” by Charlie Warzel “Elon Musk Has Reached a New Low [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/09/elon-musk-trump-posts/679937/]” by Charlie Warzel “The movement to diversify Silicon Valley is crumbling amid attacks on DEI [https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/19/silicon-valley-dei-backlash/]” by Naomi Nix, Cat Zakrzewski and Nitasha Tiku “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto [https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/]” by Marc Andreessen “Trump Vs. Biden: Tech Policy [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_sNclEgQZQ],” The Ben & Marc Show “The MAGA Aesthetic Is AI Slop [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/08/trump-posts-ai-image/679540/]” by Charlie Warzel

Lately, Big Tobacco says it wants to phase out cigarettes and promote, of all things, healthier options. But can the tobacco industry actually sell wellness? And is this pivot to vapes and pouches a smoking off-ramp or just a one-way ride to nicotine addiction? Award-winning journalist Luc Rinaldi takes us behind the curtain of Big Tobacco’s machinations to report on how an industry built on addiction is looking to reinvent itself for the wellness age. His cover story "Blowing Smoke" [http://tgam.ca/business/rob-magazine/article-tobacco-industry-nicotine-pouches-vaping/] appears in this month’s edition of the Globe and Mail's Report on Business Magazine [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/rob-magazine/].  Also, Vass shares her secret to social success. Find the transcript of today’s episode here [https://lately.simplecast.com/episodes/is-that-your-last-cigarette/transcript]. And subscribe to the Lately newsletter [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/newsletters/], where we unpack more of the latest in business and technology. We’d love to hear from you. Send your comments, questions or ideas to lately@globeandmail.com [lately@globeandmail.com].