Close All Tabs

When KitKat, a beloved bodega cat, was killed by a Waymo in San Francisco in late October of this year, the incident quickly went viral. It ignited grief and outrage. It also renewed scrutiny of autonomous vehicles. But in a city where hundreds of animals are hit by vehicles each year, why did this incident — and this particular cat — hit such a nerve? We hear from Oscar Palma, the first reporter on the scene, about what unfolded the night KitKat was killed. Then, Mission Local managing editor Joe Eskenazi and KQED reporter Sydney Johnson explore the limits of autonomous vehicles and why one cat’s death resonated so deeply in a rapidly gentrifying San Francisco. Guests: Sydney Johnson, reporter at KQED Oscar Palma, reporter at Mission Local Joe Eskenazi, managing editor at Mission Local Further Reading/ Listening: KitKat, liquor store mascot and ‘16th St. ambassador,’ killed — allegedly by Waymo — Oscar Palma, Mission Local  San Francisco Supervisor Calls for Robotaxi Reform After Waymo Kills Neighborhood Cat — Sydney Johnson, KQED How Kit Kat Was Killed: Video Shows What a Waymo Couldn’t See — Heather Knight, The New York Times  Driverless car startup Cruise's no good, terrible year — Dara Kerr, NPR Cruise admits lying to feds about dragging woman in San Francisco — Kevin Truong, The San Francisco Standard Waymo hits dog in S.F. weeks after killing Mission bodega cat — Kelly Waldron, Mission Local Dog hit by Waymo in SF put down by family after suffering 'severe pelvic trauma' — Alex Baker, KRON4 The self-driving taxi revolution begins at last — The Economist  Read the transcript here Email: ⁠[email protected]⁠ Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠TikTok Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. This episode was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Egusa. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa, who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On December 4, 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed outside a Midtown New York hotel. The subsequent arrest of 26-year-old Luigi Mangione set off a frenzy far beyond a typical breaking news story. Almost immediately, supporters emerged, detractors pushed back and then something stranger took hold: a devoted fandom that treated Mangione not just as a suspect, but as a symbol. One year later, we look at how a single crime became a cultural flashpoint and how narratives built around Magione are shaping public perception. Investigative journalist Melkorka Licea unpacks the different factions of Mangione’s online supporters. Then, legal expert Daniel Medwed helps Morgan understand the challenges of selecting a fair jury in an era when high-profile cases unfold in real time across millions of screens. Guests: Melkorka Licea, investigative journalist  Daniel Medwed, professor of law at Northeastern University Further Reading/Listening: Inside the Contentious World of Luigi Mangione Supporters —  Melkorka Licea, WIRED Luigi Mangione Hearing Hits on 3D Gun, Never-Before-Heard 911 Call, Comparisons to the Unabomber — Lorena O’Neil, Rolling Stone Slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's tenure was marked by rocketing profits—and accusations of insider trading and coverage denial  — Sasha Rogelberg, Fortune Luigi is Currently Reading: What Can We Really Learn About the UHC CEO’s Alleged Killer Based on the Books He’s Read? — James Folta, Literary Hub Luigi Mangione’s ‘Loafers,’ ‘Outfit’ and ‘Ankles’ Go Viral as His Unexpected Fashion Influence Persists After Latest Court Appearance — Renan Botelho, WWD Meet the ‘Cougars for Luigi Mangione’ — and new fans of the alleged killer — Josie Ensor, The Times What is jury nullification and what does it mean for Luigi Mangione’s defense? — Eric Levenson, CNN Grand jury declines to indict the 88-year-old white woman whose false accusations led to Emmett Till's death in 1955 — Haven Orecchio-Egresitz, Business Insider Read the transcript here Email: [email protected] Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. This episode was produced by Chris Egusa and edited by Jen Chien. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa who also composed our theme song and credits music. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Editor’s note: We updated one line to add context about a character in one of the Purple Moon games, which may affect how the character is understood. Thirty years ago, video games were predominantly marketed to boys. Nintendo and Sega ran TV ads featuring boys proclaiming how “awesome” and “powerful” the latest system was. And the biggest computer games tended to revolve around male-coded activities like shooting or combat. But in the late ‘90s, a small indie game studio called Purple Moon set out to change that — creating story-rich, emotionally complex games designed to welcome girls into the world of computers. In this episode, Close All Tabs producer Maya Cueva looks back on her own childhood experience with Purple Moon and talks with founder Brenda Laurel about the company’s legacy, its impact on girls in tech, and how it all came to an abrupt end. Guest: Brenda Laurel, interactive games designer, creator and founder of Purple Moon Further Reading: The ‘Girl Games’ of the ’90s Were Fun and Feminist — Drew Dakessian, WIRED  Conscious UX: Leading Human-Centered Design in the Age of AI: Designing the Future of Artificial Intelligence with Compassion, Inclusion, and Openness — Rikki Teeters, Don Norman, Brenda Laurel  Brenda Laurel — Christopher Weaver, Smithsonian Institution, Lemelson Center for The Study of Invention and Innovation  Trailblazing Women in Video Gaming: Meet the Pioneers Who Shaped Design History — D.S. Cohen, Lifewire Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. This episode was reported and produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Hambrick and Chris Egusa. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ukraine-Russia war has been called the most technologically advanced war in history. Ukrainian citizens receive notifications about incoming missile and drone attacks through apps on their phones; remote-controlled drones swarm the front lines; and volunteer cyberwarfare units target Russian digital infrastructure. It’s all part of what some have dubbed Ukraine’s “Geeks of War.” In this episode, investigative reporter Erica Hellerstein takes us to the digital front line. On a recent trip to Ukraine, she met a husband-and-wife duo running a DIY nonprofit that supplies tech to defense forces, toured the recently-bombed headquarters of one of the country’s biggest tech companies, and explored how a swarm of online accounts with Shiba Inu avatars is countering Russian propaganda. Throughout, she looks at how Ukraine’s culture of tech innovation — and its surprising ties to Silicon Valley — are fueling the country’s resistance through an army of engineers, coders, hackers, and tinkerers. Guest: Erica Hellerstein, investigative journalist and feature writer Further Reading/Listening: Dexter Filkins on Drones and the Future of Warfare⁠ — Adam Howard, WNYC ⁠Lessons From the World’s First Full-Scale Cyberwar⁠ — David Kirichenko, Kyiv Post ⁠Russia Takes Its Ukraine Information War Into Video Games⁠ — Steven Lee Myers and Kellen Browning, The New York Times ⁠Why Ukraine remains the world's most innovative war machine⁠ — Ibrahim Naber, Politico ⁠A Thousand Snipers in the Sky: The New War in Ukraine⁠ — Marc Santora, Lara Jakes, Andrew E. Kramer, Marco Hernandez and Liubov Sholudko, The New York Times Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: Close All Tabs is hosted by Morgan Sung. This episode was reported by Erica Hellerstein. It was produced by Maya Cueva and edited by Chris Egusa and Jen Chien. Chris Hambrick is our editor. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Jen Chien is our Director of Podcasts. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Ubisoft, publisher of the sprawling open-world racing game The Crew shut down the game’s servers, cutting off access to even its single-player mode, fans were outraged. The moment tapped into their decades of frustration with the gaming industry’s push toward online-only content — and what some now call the growing epidemic of “game death.” In this episode, host Morgan Sung is joined by Ross Scott, a filmmaker and YouTube creator who launched the “Stop Killing Games” campaign. They’ll cover the push for new regulations requiring publishers to plan for the end of their games’ lifespans. Then, Morgan talks with gaming journalist Nicole Carpenter about the passionate community that formed around the mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, and how gamers grieve the loss of their favorite virtual worlds. Guests: Ross Scott, filmmaker, creator, and founder of the Stop Killing Games movement Nicole Carpenter, freelance reporter Further reading/listening: With Anthem’s Impending Server Shutdown, I’m Trying It For The First Time — Nicole Carpenter, Aftermath Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has an unlikely, lasting place in gaming history — Nicole Carpenter, Polygon  'Stop Killing Games' Campaign Closes in on Getting EU Regulators to Intervene — Jon Martindale, PC Mag ‘Stop Killing Games’: Demands for game ownership must also include workers’ rights — Louis-Etienne Dubois and Miikka J. Lehtonen, The Conversation The largest campaign ever to stop publishers destroying games — Ross Scott, Accursed Farms (YouTube)   Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung and produced by Francesca Fenzi. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices