Recalculating: The surprising lives of GPS voices

01/25/23 • 34 min

5 Listeners

The voices inside our navigation systems are with us nearly every day. They frustrate us when they lead us astray, and guide us through our most memorable adventures. But who are the people behind those voices? In this episode, an Australian musician discovers she is the voice inside millions of GPS units, and the Polish voice of Google Maps goes head to head with a robot. Featuring “The GPS Girl” Karen Jacobsen and “Głos Google Maps” Jarosław Juszkiewicz.

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Watch Jarek’s farewell video that inspired the online protest.

To learn more about Karen's work, visit thegpsgirl.com.

Find the right doctor, right now with at zocdoc.com/20k.

Visit shopify.com/20k and sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period.

Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/recalculating

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Endless Hertz: Guess That Sound! w/ Endless Thread

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In our third annual Mystery Sound Game Show, the crew from Endless Thread compete to guess the most sounds from this year’s batch. Get ready to listen along and test your knowledge of classic sci-fi movies, strange animal calls, video game themes, UI sounds, and more. One thing is certain: It’s gonna get toasty.

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Golden: Finding silence in a world of noise

In a noisy, tumultuous world, how can we find inner peace? This episode features two stories about the transformative power of silence. In the first, the Lieutenant Governor of Washington State abandons politics to become a Jesuit novice, and takes a temporary vow of silence. In the second, a death row inmate at San Quentin discovers Buddhist practices that help to calm his mind, and embrace compassion. Featuring Cyrus Habib, Jarvis Masters, Leigh Marz, and Justin Zorn.

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