Have you ever wondered what the most indispensable app is for your favorite musician or how the world’s tech CEOs stay focused? Well, that’s the sort of thing we aim to uncover in our Verge Weekend Questionnaire. Think of it as a spiritual successor to Five Minutes on the Verge.
Every Saturday, a different guest submits to our rapid-fire menu of questions, and we bring you their unfiltered answers. Subjects come from a variety of worlds. We talk to content creators, authors, politicians, developers… basically anyone interesting. We want to know how they get their work done, how they unplug, and, of course, what GIFs and memes they’re sending to their friends and loved ones.
Want to know what legendary designer insists on only opening one browser tab at a time and who holds the Game Boy up as their favorite gadget of all time? Check back each week for all that and more.
Jun 6
Benn Jordan longs for the days of tech that didn’t spy on you
Benn refuses to be pigeon holed. Image: Benn JordanBenn Jordan may have initially gained notoriety for his music as Flashbulb and later, reviewing synths and effects pedals on YouTube under Benn and Gear. But about five years ago, Benn decided to take his YouTube channel in a different direction. He didn’t stop covering music gear overnight, but as time progressed, his channel became more focused on science and technology investigations. He even turned the entire enterprise into a nonprofit.
While there will still be the occasional video focused on music or audio — say, poisoning AI music systems or storing data in bird song — lately Benn has been largely focused on the surveillance state. He’s uncovered glaring security flaws in Flock’s camera systems, demonstrated how easy it is to hack a Ring camera, and seemingly confirmed a conspiracy theory that Unitree’s robot dogs are secretly sending data back to servers in China.
- May 30
Welcome to Night Vale host Cecil Baldwin shares his tech pet peeves
Cecil Baldwin is a busy man with some dope boots. Image: Cecil BaldwinCecil Baldwin’s résumé includes appearances on Gravity Falls, narrating the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, and performing as part of the New York Neo-Futurists theater company. But he is best known as the host of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, a long-running fiction show that blends macabre Lovecraftian horror with absurdist comedy. As Cecil Palmer, the voice of Night Vale Community Radio, Baldwin keeps the people of the titular town abreast of all the goings ons with the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home and offers tips on how to best maintain their Bloodstone circles.
He also cohosts Random Number Generator Horror Podcast No. 9 with Night Vale cocreator Jeffrey Cranor, recently directed the play As Sylvia and raises awareness for LGBTQ+ issues and HIV. In short — he’s a busy man. So we’re excited that he found some time to tell us about his tech pet peeves.
- May 23
The man behind the legendary MPC, Roger Linn, stays focused with a single browser tab
Roger Linn lets his accomplishments do the talking. Image: Roger LinnRoger Linn is a legend in the world of musical instruments. He’s been at the cutting edge of music technology for decades. He created the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and its successor, the LinnDrum, is one of the most iconic drum machines of all time. They were used on countless records in the 1980s, including hits by Tom Petty, Queen, and Tears for Fears. But the most notable fan was probably Prince, who used them extensively on Purple Rain and 1999.
Somehow, those are not his greatest contributions to the music world. That would, undoubtedly, be the MPC. Linn partnered with Akai to create one of the most popular and important samplers ever. The MPC60 and its successors became the tool of choice for countless hip-hop and house producers. J Dilla’s MPC 3000 even sits in the Smithsonian.
- May 16
NPR’s Manoush Zomorodi talks about living with too much tech
Manoush Zomorodi tackled tech’s effect on our brains, now she’s looking at our bodies. Image: Tory WIlliamsManoush Zomorodi is an accomplished reporter, podcast host, and author. Her new book, Body Electric, takes a comprehensive look at how technology is impacting our physical health. It’s a collaboration between NPR and Columbia University Medical Center that picks up where her first title, Bored and Brilliant, left off. That book looked at how technology was hampering our mental health. I highly recommend it to anyone who feels like being constantly attached to a device is sapping their energy and creativity.
Both books grew out of her extensive podcasting work. After heading up WNYC’s Note To Self, Zomorodi went on to host NPR’s TED Radio Hour, and even gave a TED Talk of her own in 2017 that has racked up over seven million views. So we wanted to know, how does Manoush stay productive, and what does her current relationship with tech look like?