Emily Chang, Host of "Bloomberg Technology" and Author of "Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley" joins The Hive to discuss the dark secrets of Silicon Valley.
Chang talks about the rising trend of polyamorous relationships and sex parties in the Valley. She talked to over three dozen people who are involved in this scene and found that women reported more double standards than men. She explains these parties are more about the power struggle than the sex, with a power dynamic that is lopsided.
She says that a lot has to be done, culturally, to change the way women are seen in the tech sector. The pay gap in Silicon Valley is 5 times the national average...which Chang says isn't publicized enough.
However, after years of reporting on Silicon Valley culture Chang is still surprised over one thing: in the 40s and 50s women played vital roles in the computer programming sector. She says in the 60s and 70s companies were desperate for talent and two psychologists said that good computer programmers "didn't like people." Well, if you're hiring someone based off that, Chang says you're most likely going to only hire men. Thus, the stereotype of the white nerd was born.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-silicon-valleys-brotopia-culture).
Satellite launch service Virgin Orbit has gone public on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisitions with a valuation of about $3.2 billion. CEO Dan Hart joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" from in front of his LauncherOne rocket in New York City's Times Square to talk about what's next after the IPO, an upcoming "Above the Clouds" mission to deliver commercial and national security payloads, and the benefits of their rockets being launched from commercial 747 aircraft. "We can launch anywhere in the world," he said. "There are almost 80 space agencies across the world, for instance, and about 10 of them have space launch. We can give them a space flight capability overnight by taking a runway and turning it into a spaceport."
Tech and entertainment giant Sony appears to be getting serious about automaking. An electric concept SUV — the Vision S-02 — was unveiled at CES 2022 and is slated to be produced by a new subdivision, Sony Mobility. This comes after the company revealed the Vision S concept Sedan at CES 2020.
The highly transmissible omicron variant of COVID-19 has forced school districts nationwide to return to virtual instruction, but there remain concerns about the quality of education students are receiving online. Andy Bird, CEO of Pearson, an education publisher and assessment service provider, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about steps educators and parents can take to make the remote learning experience an easier one, noting that one of the biggest advantages teachers can have is flexibility. "You cannot take a rigid timetable that works in the analog world and replicate that in the digital world. You need to have flexibility. Asynchronous learning, I think, is a very important part," he told Cheddar.
Rob Dongoski, EY Food and Agriculture Leader, joins Cheddar News to discuss what advancements in tech will shape the future of food, and how we are going to see more and more personalization in the food system.
The year 2021 saw numerous natural disasters around the world, including extreme heat and wildfires, rare deep freezes, and historic flooding. This year's United Nations COP26 conference was key for getting world leaders on board with emissions reductions and other climate-focused policies as the UN Secretary-General said the agency's report on global warming is a 'code red for humanity.' In the U.S., President Joe Biden has focused most of his domestic agenda on slashing emissions and building climate-focused infrastructure. Guests from The Economist, UNC-Chapel Hill, Global Rescue, and more join Cheddar Climate's year-end special to discuss how the climate changed in 2021, and what to expect in 2022.
