TechGrumps
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Angry people going on about technology.
- TechGrumps 3.38 – The Bettification of everything
I bet you don’t know what we are complaining about. I bet you $20
Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.38
AI Roundup
- https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/13/openai-mission-statement/ Comparing and showing diffs of the openai mission statement over time, you can watch the compromising happen!
- The new web is markdown, because the agents don’t want ads https://blog.cloudflare.com/markdown-for-agents/
- RA: https://tomloosemorework.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/ai-and-the-end-of-friction-as-a-policy-lever/ very interesting point about agentic AI taking on the engineered process friction put into the processes of accessing many public services.
- App detects if Smart glasses are near by https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.16800 LLMs can de-anonymize pseudonymous online accounts. Similar to Discord offering to judge age “stochastically”
- Paper showing that LLMs can link profiles and postings at speed and at scale, pretty much killing online anonymity: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16800
Main attractions
- Prediction market is insanity!
- Disappearing web
- Eternity Service
AOB’s
Fediverse share this link: https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fr156-share-where/
11 March 2026, 5:13 pm - TechGrumps 3.37 – AI Discussions sandboxed for your security
Who watches the watchmen? Oh wait, no one does – we did that last week, This week we compare LLMs to god level Owls, expose ourselves at the Church of Moltbot and watch BBC turn Britain off one channel at a time.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.37-ai-discussions-sandboxed-for-your-security/Techgrumps%203.37%20-%20AI%20Discussions%20sandboxed%20for%20your%20security.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David ‘Andy’ Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.37
- The AI Skills Hub is a bit lightweight.
- Anthropic has invested 1.5M in the Python Software Foundation
- ChatGPT launching advertising in chatGPT products:
- the current actual costs in terms of electricity and water for LLM usage
- Voice cloning is now available to anyone with a GPU
- Clawdbot/Moltbot/OpenClaw
- A related dramatic reading
- BBC’s plan to turn off Freeview TV?
- AOB
- Making the familiar strange podcast with Albert Fox Cain
- Feed in to the future of the BBC (Green paper)
- Are hearts are with Minneapolis and other parts of America
10 February 2026, 6:20 pm - TechGrumps 3.36 Men are weird: The Return of the Glasshole
Who watches the watchmen? We don’t answer that type of dumb question in this podcast; we just wonder who is looking at your junk. And we look at why you may not want to stay on CSAM champion Elon Musk’s X platform.
Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David ‘Andy’ Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.36
- Mozilla, Firefox and AI
- The return of smart glasses and wearables
- Now at the “Get The F*** Off X/Twitter” stage
- Paper about fake parts of real videos:
- Tony Blair wants to be a Tech Bro, building AI tools to rival Palantir
- AOB
- The AI summary in which a police officer turned into a frog (or in discussion of The Owl Who Was God)
- Making the familiar strange podcast
- Feed in to the future of the BBC
- FOSDEM 2026!
- Checkout scanners can tell you that you used a QR code not the barcode
14 January 2026, 12:36 pm - TechGrumps 3.35 Bless The TechGrumps (Special holiday special)
We should wish you all a Merry Christmas – but why would we do such a thing?
Enjoy this Holiday Nativity Special but with 5 wise men. Well, 4 wise men and Hannah. Actually, one wise Hannah and some others.
Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, Andy Piper and Hannah Field.
https://archive.org/download/tech-grumps-3.3.5-special-holiday-special-bless-the-tech-grumps/TechGrumps%203.3.5%20%28Special%20holiday%20special%29%20-%20bless%20The%20TechGrumps.mp3- Hannah: is grumpy about marketers using “GEO” or “Generative Engine Optimisation”
- Ian is grumpy about how social is eroding relationships, causing loneliness and exhaustion
- Ryan is haunted because Claude knows his dungeon
- David is worried about the Reverse Centaurs
- Andy is grumpy about lessons learned form Sleep dealer
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wR2XoNshl4&t=527s
- https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/sleep-dealer-2008-movie-retrospective
- https://medium.com/nerd-for-tech/are-llms-getting-devious-and-smart-enough-to-trick-you-on-their-own-65c83061e661
- “Ready Player Me” https://readyplayer.me/
- Don’t forget “Citizen Sleeper’
- AOB
- Familiar strangers (not lovegrumps) podcast coming soon
- FOSDEM 2026
3 January 2026, 2:54 pm - Techgrumps 3.34 ChatGPT is not my wingman
This time ChatGPT is helping you date, while just dating you too. When will this thing just go away? Also local cyberattacks and Android getting a bit fruity (if the fruit is an Apple).
Grumps this time include the voices of Ian Forrester, David “Andy” Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.34-chat-gpt-is-not-my-wingman/Techgrumps%203.34%20-%20ChatGPT%20is%20not%20my%20wingman%20v2.mp3Techgrumps 3.34
- Local council cyberattacks
- Planes patches
- The iOS of Android and the problems
- GraphineOS blocked in France?
- The Rise of ChatGPT as an AI Dating Coach in 2025
- AOBs
- Look out for a new podcast with Ian & Jess
- Notes on being a man by Scott Galloway
- Drift Zero DJ – DJ hackday in 2026?
- NEO’s new $20,000 robot servant that has to be operated by a remote human
11 December 2025, 3:30 pm - Techgrumps 3.33 The Final Step Is Removing the Consumer
This time AI wants your browser. With OpenAI launching Atlas and the Apps SDK, first they will bypass the web and finally cut the end user out of the economic decision process.
Also the AWS crash
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.33-removing-the-final-step-in-captilism-removing-the-consumer/Techgrumps%3A%203.33%20-%20Removing%20the%20final%20step%20in%20captilism%20removing%20the%20consumer.mp3- AI browsers, WTF?
- Amazon goes down, what next?
- Python software foundation rejects DEI strings
- AOB
- Mozilla Festival 2025
- Enshittification (the book)
- QED
- Ian talks AI to the health insurances
- Sir Tim’s book – https://bookwyrm.social/book/2087203/s/this-is-for-everyone
- Is Solid like Zandando? – https://fil.org/ecosystem-explorer/anytype
- And sky hooks explained in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountains_of_Paradise
3 November 2025, 8:23 pm - Techgrumps 3.32 Your Illegal Racially Motivated Stops Will Go More Smoothly
With the UK’s steps into the age gated internet and digital ID back again like the renegade master, the techgrumps have plenty to be grumpy about in this month’s podcast.
Grumps this time include the voices of Ian Forrester, David Eastman, Ryan Alexander and Wendy Grossman.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.32-your-illegal-racially-motivated-stops-will-go-more-smoothly/Techgrumps%203.32%20-%20Your%20illegal%20racially%20motivated%20stops%20will%20go%20more%20smoothly.mp3Techgrumps 3.32
- UK Digital ID
- Christie’s has quietly shuttered its digital art department
- Age verification and online safety
- Meshtastic and different networks
- AOB
- Digital legacy – https://machinereadablewishes.cc/
- Fediforum 2025 – https://fediforum.org/ – October 7-8th
- Ian’s digital dating manifesto – https://datingmanifesto.cc/
7 October 2025, 11:23 am - Techgrumps 3.31: Ten Thousand Steps Of Gemini’s Love Language
Will the real wearable owner please stand up? More failing AI and Hannah meets the Fediverse, in the latest attempt to try to explain it.
Grumps this time include the voices of Ian Forrester, Hannah, Ryan Alexander and Wendy Grossman. David was too jet lagged.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.31-10000-steps-of-geminis-love-language/Techgrumps%203.31%20-%2010000%20steps%20of%20Geminis%20love%20language.mp3Techgrumps 3.31 audio.
Enjoy the mp3 audio, and why not share it with others.
- My wearable says please stand-up
- Switzerland releases a public LLM
- AI is a 4 year trying to impress you with stupid moves
- https://www.wired.com/story/google-gemini-calendar-invite-hijack-smart-home/
- https://cubicgarden.com/2025/08/17/a-lesson-in-separation-of-concerns-googles-gemini-hijacked/
- https://www.extremetech.com/internet/researchers-find-hackers-can-hide-ai-prompt-attacks-in-compressed-images?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A%20Trending%20Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
- Hannah meets the Fediverse
- AOB
- Fediforum is back for October 7-8
- Fediforum Europe at SFcon
- Supremacy (AI, ChatGPT, and the Race That Will Change the World) by Parmy Olson
- The AI karma
- Nvidia CEO says American technology should be the world’s technology stack
11 September 2025, 11:13 am - Techgrumps 3.30 – We Did It For The Children
Look upon the rain soaked valley, see the innocent children gambol in the poppies. Only age verification can keep this bucolic vision of Britain real – and if you don’t agree you must be a pervert. So says Tech Bro Pete Kyle.
Naturally, the techgrumps are backing this all the way. Ian Forrester, David “Andy” Eastman, and Wendy Grossman fall over themselves to ensure Our Children stay in the fields where they belong.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.30-we-did-it-for-the-children/Techgrumps%203.30%20-%20We%20did%20it%20for%20the%20children.mp3Techgrumps 3.30 audio
Enjoy the mp3 audio, and why not share it with others.
- Techgrumps 3.30
- UK’s online safety act requires users to verify their age for adult content
- What happened to hobbies?
- Any other business
- Empires of AI – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_AI
- John Oliver on AI Slop – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWpg1RmzAbc
- Silicon Valley’s sudden embrace of Christianity – https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/christianity-was-borderline-illegal-in-silicon-valley-now-its-the-new-religion
- Open rights group hits 20 years! – https://www.openrightsgroup.org/events/org-at-20-cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-maria-farrell/
- Derailed: The Story of HS2 – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fv8b
- Kate Lamble investigates the extraordinary inside story of Britain’s most ambitious and controversial rail project.
5 August 2025, 6:00 pm - Techgrumps 3.30
- Techgrumps 3.29 – Please verify your AI partner
From BlueSky non-growth, to AI boyfriends through staring at an orb. I remember in the old days you just paid thruppence and went to a dance in the church hall, now its all AI intimacy and splitting your iris into three parts. And that Elon Musk, he’s a right one isn’t he?
Grumps this time include the voices of Ian Forrester, David “Andy” Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.29-please-vertify-your-ai-partner/Techgrumps%203.29%20-%20Please%20vertify%20your%20AI%20partner.mp3Techgrumps 3.29 audio
Enjoy the mp3 audio, and why not share it with others.
Stuff we mentioned in the show
- The Fediverse and Bluesky
- World Orb launches in the UK
- AI Boyfriends
- AOBs
- Titan: the OceanGate Disaster = https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35628853/
- Mountain Head – https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35396529/
- BBC R&D’s Social research – https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/2025-06-social-media-change-issues-problems-report
- The Bookworm and the Fireflies has launched – https://thebookwormandthefireflies.com/
10 July 2025, 9:14 am - More Episodes? Get the App