Acquired is live on the scene following Dropbox’s public market debut. From playing a central role in the early days of Y Combinator, to having Steve Jobs famously label the company a “feature not a product”, to pivoting from consumers to enterprise to developers and back again, the silicon valley history runs deep with this one. What twists and turns lie ahead for Dropbox as a public company? We speculate!
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Dr. Tina Holden, Human Factors Technical Fellow with Leidos, talks about the challenges that astronauts may face when interacting with computers. Holden discusses some of the research that has been done on the space station to investigate these issues. HWHAP Episode 37.
Acquired dives into the topic on the minds and lips of just about every VC and founder these days: SoftBank’s $93B+ Vision Fund, and its seemingly-overnight rewriting of the rules of venture capital and startup fundraising. Where did this new 800lbs gorilla come from, what are its goals, and what does it mean for the future of silicon valley and the global tech ecosystem? The answer, it turns out, starts with an acquisition, and unfolds into a story no one has yet told and few yet understand. Luckily our heroes are on the case!
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- Ben: eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work
- David: Liu Cixin’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy (starting with The Three-Body Problem)
- Bonus: shout out to Brian McCullough’s new podcast the Ride Home, in partnership with TechMeme!
Ricky Arnold, NASA Astronaut, talks about his time as an educator, his first flight on the Space Shuttle, and his plans to teach from space during his first long-duration flight on the International Space Station starting on March 21, 2018. HWHAP Episode 36.
Jeff Fox, Chief Engineer of the Rapid Prototype Lab, talks about some of the testing and training for Orion. Fox brings the actual audio from inside the Orion capsule during its first flight so you, the listener, can experience what it would be like to ride inside the spacecraft. HWHAP Episode 35.
Drew Feustel, NASA Astronaut, talks about his education in Geology and Seismology, his previous 2 shuttle missions, and his expectations before launching on March 21, 2018 for his first long-duration mission in space. HWHAP Episode 34.
Dr. Andrea Hanson, Exercise Countermeasures Operations Lead, talks about what happens to the human body in microgravity, what NASA is doing about it, and how we can use this knowledge to go deeper into space. Hanson also describes some parts of astronaut exercise that have inspired her workouts. HWHAP Episode 33.
Acquired brings it all back home—to the smart home that is—with Google’s 2014 acquisition of Nest for $3.2B. From Nest cofounder Tony Fadell’s first job at General Magic (alongside future Android founder Andy Rubin) to his days as “father of the iPod” under Steve Jobs at Apple, the Silicon Valley history runs deep with this one. But did that make the acquisition a good move for Google in the coming battle with Amazon’s “Lady A” for control over consumers’ homes? We dive in!
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For African American History Month, we team up with our African American Employee Resource Group to bring 4 guests from different areas of expertise like life support systems, robotics, flight control and leadership to explain what they do and the paths they took to work at NASA. HWHAP Episode 32.
Jonathan Homan, Project Manager for Webb’s Chamber A Testing, talks about how the James Webb Space Telescope has been designed, built, and tested, especially in the vacuum chamber here at the Johnson Space Center. He also describes what the telescope will be looking for in the universe and how it will work. HWHAP Episode 31.
