Episode 244: Nick Bilton

Nick Bilton is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair and the author of American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road. “I’ve been covering tech for a long, long time. And the thing I’ve always tried to do is cover the people of the tech culture, not the tech itself. … I've always been interested in the good and bad side of technology. A lot of times the problem in Silicon Valley is that people come up with a good idea that’s supposed to do a good thing—you know, to change the world and make it a better place. And it ends up inevitably having a recourse that they don’t imagine.” Thanks to MailChimp, Viacom, and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode. @nickbilton nickbilton.com Bilton on Longform [00:00] Ponzi Supernova [01:15] American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road (Portfolio • 2017) [01:45] Bilton’s New York Times archive [01:45] Bilton’s Vanity Fair archive [01:45] Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal (Portfolio • 2014) [07:30] "The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable" (Adrian Chen • Gawker • Jun 2011) [07:30] Adrian Chen’s first appearance on the Longform Podcast [07:30] Adrian Chen’s second appearance on the Longform Podcast [09:15] NYC Resistor [11:45] "Uber’s C.E.O. Plays With Fire" (Mike Isaac • New York Times • Apr 2017) [16:00] Fan Club [21:30] Bits, New York Times technology blog [21:45] Gizmodo [23:00] Bill Keller’s New York Times archive [23:00] John Markoff’s New York Times archive [25:45] "The iEconomy" series [27:30] "How the Kindle Moved From BlackBerry to iPad" (New York Times • Sep 2011) [29:45] "Disruptions: Fliers Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why" (New York Times • Nov 2011) [50:45] "Meet the Dread Pirate Roberts, The Man Behind Booming Black Market Drug Website Silk Road" (Andy Greenberg • Forbes • Sep 2013) [50:45] "Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison" (Andy Greenberg • Wired • May 2015) [50:45] "The Rise & Fall of Silk Road Part I" (Joshuah Bearman • Wired • Apr 2015) [50:45] "The Rise & Fall of Silk Road Part II" (Joshuah Bearman • Wired • May 2015) [51:00] "Exclusive: How Elizabeth Holmes’s House of Cards Came Tumbling Down" (Vanity Fair • Oct 2016) [52:00] "‘It’s An Honor’" (Jimmy Breslin • New York Herald Tribune • Nov 1963) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices