Alex Goldman

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the TLDR podcast! Thanks for listening, and please check out the TLDR blog at tldr.onthemedia.org. In this episode - a YouTube channel dedicated to pronouncing words suddenly starts issuing ominous warnings, and a reporter tries to get to the bottom of it. 

This week we learned that Worst Twerk Fail EVER, the viral clip that had captured the hearts and minds of America was in fact a hoax. 

This week, Jimmy Kimmel revealed that he had faked a viral video that has racked up over 12 million views. Producers and hosts of TLDR, PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman have been arguing all week about whether this falsehood represents some kind of betrayal of its viewers. So they decided to hash the argument out on the air.

Los Lobos - La Iguana

Brooke talks to former On the Media intern (and current producer) Alex Goldman, and current On the Media intern Molly Buckley about their experiences as interns for the show.

Zissou Society Blue Star Cadets - Ned's Theme

Duck Duck Go is a small search engine based in Pennsylvania that is, according to Google at least, a Google competitor. OTM producer Chris Neary talks with Duck Duck Go founder Gabriel Weinberg, SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan, and a dedicated Duck Duck Go user about the site. Also, each of the OTM producers try Duck Duck Go, and only Duck Duck Go, for a week.

Theme from I Dream of Jeannie

It started quietly online with a short YouTube video of Spandex-clad dancers gyrating their hips and shoulders. Several thousand video responses and one Superbowl ad later, it's safe to say the dance known as the Harlem Shake has gone from meme to mainstream. 

This week, President Obama issued an executive order to strengthen the nation's cyber security against what the government sees as a potentially cataclysmic threat. There has been plenty of drum beating about the threat of cyber warfare, but just how realistic is the threat of an attack that could wreak havoc on our national infrastructure? In a story from August of 2012, On the Media producer Alex Goldman investigates.

Jun Miyake - Lillies of the Valley

We all claim to want privacy online, but that desire is rarely reflected in our online behavior. OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman looks into the futile attempts we make to protect our digital identities.

Johannes Brahms - Violin Concerto op.77 in D Major

The first Parent Academy took place Saturday, kicking off a NYC Department of Education program designed to foster partnerships between parents and schools.

Last month, Forrester Research reported that people assume they spend less time online than they actually do because the way people understand what it means to be "online" is changing. On the Media producer Alex Goldman talks about our changing relationship with being online and how fiction has imagined us reaching this point for decades. 

Slade - Cum on Feel the Noize

Last week, a massive, seemingly bi-partisan Cyber Security bill was filibustered in the Senate. The bill would have outlined voluntary standards to protect critical infrastructure from "cyber attack." There has been plenty of drum beating about the threat of cyber warfare, but just how realistic is the threat of an attack that could wreak havoc on our national infrastructure? On the Media producer Alex Goldman investigates.

Kickstarter is a crowd-funding website where people ask others to contribute money to their creative projects. Recently, game developer Tim Schafer took in $3.3 million from fans for an untitled, undesigned video game he estimated it would cost $400k to make. Schafer talks to OTM producers and fanboys PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman about removing publishers from the process of making games.

You can listen to more of this interview by following this link!

The past year we've heard stories about hacking, from The News of the World scandal to the exploits of groups like Anonymous and Lulzsec. But the way the media uses the word 'hack' diverges sharply from the way it's used by actual hackers. On the Media Producer Alex Goldman explores the history of the word and how its meaning has shifted over time in a story that originally aired in September of 2011. 

Trying to out an anonymous Senator.

On December 22nd, hours before the end of the 111th congressional session, a Senator used a ‘secret hold’ to stall a piece of legislation called the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, that had previously passed both the Senate and the House, and had made its way back to the Senate for reconciliation. The bill would have strengthened protections for whistleblowers who face reprisals from their employers for exposing government malfeasance. Since the hold was placed so close to the end of the congressional session, it effectively killed the bill, which will need to be reintroduced in this new session if it is to become law.

But not all hope is lost. This past Thursday, as part of a series of reform votes meant to ease Senate gridlock, the Senate voted 92-4 to make new rules governing the secret hold, making the practice significantly harder.