In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Mike Masnick, CEO and Founder of Techdirt, inventor of the Streisand effect, and member of the board of Bluesky to...well...talk about quite literally that. A banger episode.

https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/https://bsky.app/profile/mmasnick.bsky.social

---

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/zitron.bsky.social 

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Mike Masnick, CEO and Founder of Techdirt, inventor of the Streisand effect, and member of the board of Bluesky to...well...talk about quite literally that. A banger episode.
<a href="https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/">https://www.techdirt.com/user/mmasnick/</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/mmasnick.bsky.social">https://bsky.app/profile/mmasnick.bsky.social</a>
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a> 
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/zitron.bsky.social">https://bsky.app/profile/zitron.bsky.social </a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>

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 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

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 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.

The Streisand Effect with Mike Masnick

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2e83bf89-1978-4caf-be1c-b21f0130196c/transcript

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through Meta’s plans to sell its AI compute, and how this is an admission to the grim fact that there isn’t really a reason for anyone to be building all these AI data centers.

Ed Zitron on CNBC: Generative AI's Business Model Does Not Work, And Tech Is Out Of Hypergrowth Ideas
https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/comments/1ulm3a6/ed_zitron_on_cnbc_generative_ais_business_model/

Bloomberg - Meta Is Planning a Cloud Business to Sell AI Computing Power 
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/meta-is-building-a-cloud-business-to-sell-excess-ai-compute

The Information - Nvidia Says It Will Take a Cut of Some Customers’ Cloud Revenues
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/nvidia-says-will-take-cut-customers-cloud-revenues?rc=kz8jh3

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

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs you through Meta&rsquo;s plans to sell its AI compute, and how this is an admission to the grim fact that there isn&rsquo;t really a reason for anyone to be building all these AI data centers. Ed Zitron on CNBC: Generative AI's Business Model Does Not Work, And Tech Is Out Of Hypergrowth Ideas <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/comments/1ulm3a6/ed_zitron_on_cnbc_generative_ais_business_model/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/comments/1ulm3a6/ed_zitron_on_cnbc_generative_ais_business_model/</a>
Bloomberg - Meta Is Planning a Cloud Business to Sell AI Computing Power&nbsp; <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/meta-is-building-a-cloud-business-to-sell-excess-ai-compute">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-01/meta-is-building-a-cloud-business-to-sell-excess-ai-compute</a>
The Information - Nvidia Says It Will Take a Cut of Some Customers&rsquo; Cloud Revenues <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/nvidia-says-will-take-cut-customers-cloud-revenues?rc=kz8jh3">https://www.theinformation.com/articles/nvidia-says-will-take-cut-customers-cloud-revenues?rc=kz8jh3</a> Please subscribe to my premium newsletter - save $10 off a year of my premium newsletter: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

Monologue: Meta Admits It Bought Too Many GPUs

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/5a805c3b-9749-452c-ad58-b47b01175412/transcript

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

In this week&rsquo;s Better Offline, Ed talks with the Wall Street Journal&rsquo;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&rsquo;s $10 off your first year of annual <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen</a>&nbsp; They Looked Like They Were Getting Rich on Polymarket&mdash;but None of It Was Real - <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/polymarket-social-media-bets-prediction-market-441cdeb5?st=57dR12&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">https://www.wsj.com/business/media/polymarket-social-media-bets-prediction-market-441cdeb5?st=57dR12&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink</a>&nbsp; Caitlin Ostroff&nbsp; <a href="https://x.com/ceostroff">https://x.com/ceostroff</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/ceostroff.bsky.social">https://bsky.app/profile/ceostroff.bsky.social</a>
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/news/author/caitlin-ostroff">https://www.wsj.com/news/author/caitlin-ostroff</a>
Katherine Long <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/klong.bsky.social">https://bsky.app/profile/klong.bsky.social</a>
<a href="https://x.com/ByKLong">https://x.com/ByKLong</a>
<a href="https://www.wsj.com/news/author/katherine-long">https://www.wsj.com/news/author/katherine-long</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new &ldquo;FUCK DATA CENTERS&rdquo; shirts today!
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

The WSJ On Polymarket's Questionable Ads

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/d5b7ca53-54df-4d08-8206-b47a001ef2e0/transcript

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

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: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1</a>&nbsp;- I&rsquo;d be so grateful!
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to <a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more. Buy our new &ldquo;FUCK DATA CENTERS&rdquo; shirts today!
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

Monologue: Tokenpocalypse Now

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/894b6314-dcf8-475b-913d-b4700186ba67/transcript

The Streisand Effect with Mike Masnick

In 1 playlist(s)

Better Offline

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips