Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM) copertina

Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM)

Don't Praise The Machine (DPTM)

Di: Alexander Holland & John Maloney
Ascolta gratuitamente

Al and John grew up together in the 1990s but now live on opposite sides of the world. Each week, they get together through the magic of the Internet to catch up, make each other laugh and try to make sense of it all.


The result is a funny, surreal and thought-provoking excursion through the arcane recesses of pop culture and technology, and the mysteries of everyday life. What’s it like to have a virtual companion? Did Hilaria Baldwin really pretend to be Spanish? Why did movies used to have a rap in the credits to explain their own plot?


Get in touch at hello@dptm.org or find us on IG @dont_praise_the_machine.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alexander Holland Arte Scienze sociali
Episodi
  • TikTok's Live Shopping Boom Is Changing The Face Of Retail

    TikTok's Live Shopping Boom Is Changing The Face Of Retail
    Aug 10 2026
    TikTok Shop is quietly building the biggest impulse-buying machine in retail history — a live, algorithmically-fed home shopping channel on track for $112 billion in sales this year alone. Alex and John trace live shopping back to the QVC playbook of the 1980s, work out why parasocial trust converts better than any ad ever could, and confess their own TikTok- and Facebook Marketplace-fuelled purchases. Also: why eBay is panicking, why Australia still can't get TikTok Shop, and the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt that explains it all.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    40 min
  • Why Every Bus Stop In London Is Selling Nicotine Now

    Why Every Bus Stop In London Is Selling Nicotine Now
    Aug 3 2026

    This week Alex and John go deep on the nicotine pouch revolution that started in Sweden, jumped to America and has now completely taken over British train stations, McLaren merchandise and apparently Tucker Carlson's entire personality. They get into what is actually in these little white pillows (spoiler, not tobacco), why a Swedish company sold to Philip Morris for sixteen billion dollars, why teenagers on TikTok have turned pouching into a personality and why Tucker Carlson had to be told by his own sponsor to stop making claims about what Zyn does for a man's stamina.


    Also covered, why Australia just banned the entire category, why France did too, whether wet bagging is cool or deeply embarrassing and whether either host would actually put one in their gums for the sake of content.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    49 min
  • Screensavers, Ringtones & Answering Machines: A Eulogy for Dead Tech

    Screensavers, Ringtones & Answering Machines: A Eulogy for Dead Tech
    Jul 27 2026
    Screensavers used to be a whole universe — toasters with wings, mazes drawing themselves, flying stars you could stick your face in. Then one day they just... stopped. This week Alex and John dig up three pieces of tech that were once completely unremarkable parts of daily life and are now totally gone: screensavers, ringtones, and answering machines. Along the way: the accidental birth of the flying toaster, why Jefferson Airplane nearly sued a screensaver company, the Berlin-founded ringtone empire that gave the world Crazy Frog, a $4.4 billion industry that vanished in five years, and the case for the answering machine as the original social media platform.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    47 min
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
Ancora nessuna recensione