LR Extra: Waymo honks, facts are good and we can't remember your phone number

Light Reading's editors explore the Waymo honkfest, ponder the fear of contrary opinions, dish on affordable broadband orders and try to remember any phone number that isn't from a flooring commercial.

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Phil Harvey, Nicole Ferraroand 1 more

August 23, 2024

Happy Friday!

Here's a little Light Reading Extra, a podcast where our editors veer off the usual telecom path to discuss topics normally reserved for slow deli lines and long elevator rides.

In this episode's opening segment, we discuss the honkfest in San Francisco caused by Waymo's autonomous cars having some middle-of-the-night conversations, much to the chagrin of residents nearby. Sophia Tung set up a live stream where you can watch the cars in the morning, noon and night, with some soothing beats in the background.

In segment two, we break out the facts that tickled our tiny brains this week. You'll hear about the real cost of telco and cableco software silos, the affliction known as Allodoxaphobia, Charter's affordable broadband (by court order) and some very New York-centric facts about the temperature difference between Central Park and the melting sidewalks.

We conclude with some musings about old-fashioned phone numbers. Does anyone still remember phone numbers on purpose or does it take a hit song or an overplayed commercial to really make them stick in our goldfish-like memories? The landlines of our youth get one big shout-out as we reminisce about the numbers of old and fret about where AI assistants are taking us next.

Listen along and see if you, too, are still expecting a call back from Jenny for the price of a dime.

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About the Authors

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

Nicole Ferraro

Editor, host of 'The Divide' podcast, Light Reading

Nicole covers broadband, policy and the digital divide. She hosts The Divide on the Light Reading Podcast and tracks broadband builds in The Buildout column. Some* call her the Broadband Broad (*nobody).

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

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