Grumpy Old Geeks
Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister
<p>A no-holds-barred show about the Internet and how it's affecting our lives for good or bad. Hosts Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister have over 40 years of online experience and aren't afraid to tell it like it is. </p>
- 1 hour 19 minutes731: I Want My 13 Trillion Dollars!
We kick off FOLLOW UP by checking in on Elon Musk’s personal dumpster fire, where the EU is investigating Grok for deepfake slop while Tesla’s “unsupervised” robotaxis turned out to be supervised by literal chase cars — shocker. At least some of you are getting Siri settlement crumbs in your bank accounts, though you could probably double it betting against Musk’s worthless promises on Polymarket.
Transitioning to IN THE NEWS, Tesla is killing off the Model S and X to build robots while sales crater, proving that mixing hard-right politics with EV sales is a brilliant move for the balance sheet. Meanwhile, the corporate bloodbath continues with massive layoffs at Ubisoft, Vimeo (courtesy of the Bending Spoons buzzsaw), and Amazon, because “removing bureaucracy” is apparently HR-speak for 16,000 families losing their livelihoods. If that’s not enough, Google is settling yet another privacy suit for $135 million, the EU is threatening to weaponize its tech sovereignty against the US, and the Trump administration wants Gemini to write federal regulations—because if there's one thing we want drafting airline safety rules, it's a hallucinating chatbot.
Still IN THE NEWS, Waymo is under federal investigation for passing school buses and hitting children, while South Korea’s new AI laws manage to please absolutely no one. Record labels are suing Anna’s Archive for a cool $13 trillion—roughly three times the GDP of India—and the Winklevoss twins have finally admitted that NFTs are dead by shuttering Nifty Gateway.
We pivot to MEDIA CANDY, where the Patriots and Seahawks are heading to Super Bowl 60, and the Winter Olympics are descending on Milan. We’re doing the math on the Starfleet Academy timeline, celebrating the return of Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and trying to decide if Henry Cavill is the second coming of Timothy Dalton in the Highlander reboot. Plus, Jessica Jones is back in the Daredevil: Born Again trailer, and Colin Farrell’s Sugar is returning to explain that wild noir twist we all totally saw coming.
In APPS & DOODADS, the TikTok Armageddon is upon us as the new US owners break the app and drive everyone to UpScrolled, while Native Instruments enters insolvency, leaving our music-making dreams in restructuring limbo. Apple is dropping AirTag 2 with precision finding for your watch, which is great for finding the keys you lost while doom-scrolling.
We wrap up with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, featuring the new Muppets trailer and Steve Whitmire’s deep thoughts on the state of the felt, plus a look at the artisans in Disneyland Handcrafted. Finally, Looney Tunes finds a new home on Turner Classic Movies, proving that the classics never die—they just move to a cable channel your parents actually watch. Dave finally learns about the Insta360 camera, a countertop dishwasher but no Animal Crackers, and a guide to gas masks and googles... for no particular reason.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/731
Watch the episode at https://youtu.be/B54je_oJWjM
FOLLOW UP
The EU is investigating Grok and X over potentially illegal deepfakes
People on Polymarket Are Making a Fortune by Betting Against Elon Musk’s Famously Worthless Promises
Elon Musk Made Tesla Fans Think Unsupervised Robotaxis Had Arrived. They Can’t Find Them
Tesla Quietly Pauses Its “Unsupervised” Robotaxi Rides as Reality Sets In
Apple Siri settlement payments hitting bank accounts. What to know.
IN THE NEWS
Tesla bet big on Elon Musk. His politics continue to haunt it.
With Tesla Revenue and Profits Down, Elon Musk Plays Up Safety
Ubisoft proposes even more layoffs after last week's studio closures and game cancellations
Vimeo lays off most of its staff just months after being bought by private equity firm
Amazon Laying Off 16,000 as It Increases ‘Ownership’ and Removes ‘Bureaucracy’
Report Says the E.U. Is Gearing Up to Weaponize Europe's Tech Industry Against the U.S.
Google will pay $135 million to settle illegal data collection lawsuit
NTSB will investigate why Waymo's robotaxis are illegally passing school buses
Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica
Video shows Waymo vehicle slam into parked cars in Echo Park
Trump admin reportedly plans to use AI to write federal regulations
South Korea’s ‘world-first’ AI laws face pushback amid bid to become leading tech power
Spotify and Big 3 Record Labels Sue Anna’s Archive for $13 Trillion (!) Alleging Theft
Amazon converting some Fresh supermarkets, Go stores to Whole Foods locations
SEC agrees to dismiss case over crypto lending by Winklevoss' Gemini
Winklevoss Twins Shut Down NFT Marketplace in Another Sign Crypto Art Is Dead
MEDIA CANDY
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
How to watch the 2026 Super Bowl: Patriots vs. Seahawks channel, where to stream and more
Wait, So When Is 'Starfleet Academy' Set, Anyway?
The First ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Trailer Brings Back Jessica Jones
Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 | Teaser Trailer
Ted Lasso Gets Kicked Back to Apple TV
There Can Only Be One First Look at the ‘Highlander’ Reboot
Colin Farrell’s Detective Show ‘Sugar’ Will Finally Have to Address that Wild Twist This Summer
APPS & DOODADS
TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes
TikTok users freak out over app's 'immigration status' collection — here's what it means
TikTok’s New US Owners Are Off to a Very Rocky Start
TikTok Data Center Outage Triggers Trust Crisis for New US Owners
Yes, TikTok is still broken for many people
Social network UpScrolled sees surge in downloads following TikTok's US takeover
Native Instruments enters into insolvency proceedings, leaving its future uncertain
AirTag 2: Three tidbits you might have missed
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
The Muppet Show | Official Trailer | Disney+
‘Looney Tunes’ Has Found a New Home: Turner Classic Movies
A Disturbing (Yet Convincing) Theory Reveals There Were Never Any "Monsters" In Scooby Doo
Cartoon Conspiracy Theory | Scooby Doo and The Gang Are Draft Dodgers?!
Producing A Multi-Person Interview With An Insta360 Camera
A listener on Mastodon pointed out that The Verge had a story on countertop dishwashers
A Demonstrator’s Guide to Gas Masks and Goggles
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
30 January 2026, 11:00 pm - 1 hour 26 minutes730: Ethical Broads
Ep 730: Ethical Broads PRIVATE
We kick off FOLLOW UP with California’s AG sending a cease-and-desist to xAI over Grok generating creepy deepfakes of minors, while regulators finally notice Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter illegally running methane turbines in Memphis. The FTC is also appealing its loss in the Meta monopoly case, because apparently breaking up Zuckerberg’s data empire is still the hill they want to die on.
IN THE NEWS, Washington joins the age-verification-for-porn parade, the UK considers an Australia-style social media ban for kids under 16, and governments everywhere continue demanding your ID before you’re allowed to enjoy the internet. OpenAI rolls out age prediction for ChatGPT accounts ahead of a rumored adult mode—though hey, at least you can now group tabs in ChatGPT’s Atlas browser. Anthropic rewrites Claude’s “constitution” to make it more vibes-based, Nevada moves to block Polymarket because gambling is only legal when the house owns the house, and YouTube promises even more AI features in 2026. Elsewhere, a Swiss suicide pod gets an AI “mental fitness” upgrade, Microsoft’s CEO begs AI developers to do something useful before the grid collapses, Musk hunts for a $134 billion payday from OpenAI and Microsoft, and makes yet more Davos predictions about robotaxis and aliens that are absolutely happening this year. On the bright side, A-list creatives push back on AI and Comic-Con bans AI art, buying humans a little more time.
MEDIA CANDY finds us slogging through Wish, The Pitt, and the “Mel’s Diner in Space” look of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. We confirm 20-year-old CGI wargs still look terrible, get cautiously excited for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and note that Fallout Season 2’s weekly drops may not be working for a binge-rotted audience.
In APPS & DOODADS, X launches Bluesky-style starter packs—presumably to help you find more Nazis—while ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky. Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, proving the “federated future” is just another Zuck app. And yes, we think we know what the Apple AI pin is—and definitely what it isn’t.
AT THE LIBRARY, we check out The Elements, Jet Tila’s 101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die, Half Baked Harvest: Quick & Cozy, and Southern Living’s A Southern Gentleman’s Kitchen. Scott reports back from a Jim Butcher talk, where we learn Harry Dresden sounds suspiciously like Han Solo.
We close with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, who is juggling five podcasts while reading Going to the Top: The Story of Videopolis, plus teasers for Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord and a baffling Masters of the Universe trailer, a rant on what “remastered” even means anymore, a dishwasher follow-up, and the grim news that a lot of snow is coming.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/730
Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/LiwVkLKr8Co
FOLLOW UP
California AG sends cease and desist to xAI over Grok's explicit deepfakes
Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rules
Zuck stuck on Trump’s bad side: FTC appeals loss in Meta monopoly case
IN THE NEWS
Washington is the latest state pursuing an age verification law for porn sites
The UK is mulling an Australia-like social media ban for users under 16
OpenAI is launching age prediction for ChatGPT accounts
You can now group tabs on OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas browser
Anthropic Updates Claude's 'Constitution,' Just in Case Chatbot Has a Consciousness
Nevada files to block Polymarket from offering ‘unlicensed wagering’ in the state
YouTube CEO promises more AI features in 2026
Controversial Swiss Suicide Pod Gets an AI-Powered Mental Fitness Upgrade
Elon Musk is looking for a $134 billion payout from OpenAI and Microsoft
Elon Musk Sure Made Lots of Predictions at Davos
A-List creatives sign up to fight AI, say it enables 'theft at a grand scale'
Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback
MEDIA CANDY
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
'Fallout' Season 2's Weekly Drops May Not Be Working
APPS & DOODADS
X is also launching Bluesky-like starter packs
ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky after its verification
Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows
I think I know what the Apple pin is, and definitely know what it isn't
Apple Developing AirTag-Sized AI Pin With Dual Cameras
Not to be outdone by OpenAI, Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearable
Siri’s iOS 27 upgrade sounds exactly right. Apple’s AI pin sounds exactly wrong
AT THE LIBRARY
101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die by Jet Tila
Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy: A Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
Going to the Top: The Story of Videopolis—Part One
Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord | Official Teaser Trailer | Streaming April 6 on Disney+
Masters of The Universe – Official Teaser Trailer
CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS
Classic-Era Scorpions Bassist Francis Buchholz Dies at 71
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
23 January 2026, 11:00 pm - 1 hour 24 minutes729: Alright Alright Alright™
We kick things off with the existential dread of FOLLOW UP and the absolute joy of jury duty. While xAI’s Grok is busy getting banned in Malaysia and Indonesia for its CSAM-generating "features," the Senate is unanimously passing the DEFIANCE Act to give us some legal teeth against the deepfake machine. Meta is busy nuking 550,000 Australian accounts to appease regulators, while Roblox’s age verification is so broken that a drawing of stubble or a photo of Kurt Cobain can get you into the adult lounge. Moving IN THE NEWS, Meta is trading its $70 billion Metaverse graveyard for a Reality Labs layoff and a pivot to AI hardware, fueled by an "AI infrastructure" buildout that’s hiring former Trump advisors. Bandcamp is heroically banning AI "slop," Matthew McConaughey is trademarking his own face to fend off the bots, and ICE’s AI hiring tool is such a disaster it’s accidentally fast-tracking mall security as "officers." Between self-help gurus charging $99 for chatbot "advice," GM finally settling its driver-spying suit with the FTC, and NASA prepping for a February moon shot while China plans to launch 200,000 satellites into our already crowded orbit, the future looks exactly as messy as we expected.
For MEDIA CANDY, we’ve got Lord of the Rings marathons, the diner-bridge of Starfleet Academy, and the usual joy of streaming price hikes hitting our "Premium" plans. We’re tracking the 2025 "In Memoriam" and Gabriel Pagan’s exhaustive movie list before sliding into APPS & DOODADS. Jony Ive and Sam Altman are reportedly building an hearing aide called "Sweetpea" to kill your AirPods, Siri is officially Google Gemini’s new puppet, and Apple is finally bundling its creative apps into a "Creator Studio" subscription trap. Tesla is making Full Self-Driving a subscription-only Valentine’s gift (good luck with that), Ring is rebranding surveillance as a "fire-watching" assistant, and a Chinese app called "Are You Dead?" is the new must-have for the lonely. To cap it off, the internet proved its maturity by using "Words.zip"—an infinite word-search grid—to draw a giant phallus, because of course they did.
AT THE LIBRARY features the Anthony Bourdain Reader, the return of Bob in the new Laundry Files book, and Jimmy Carr’s guide to happiness, which is apparently cheaper than therapy. Then we descend into THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, where the dishwasher-installing, ham-radio-lunching Dave Bittner reveals Disney World has job openings for those of us who spent high school in the AV club. Lucasfilm is finally entering a new era as Kathleen Kennedy steps down, just as Galaxy’s Edge admits the original trilogy exists, and we wrap it all up with lock-picking kits and the terrifying realization that Seymour from H.R. Pufnstuf is the ultimate Gen-X fursona.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/729
Watch on YouTube! https://youtu.be/1Y1jnRDw7g0
FOLLOW UP
Malaysia and Indonesia are the first to block Grok following CSAM scandal
Senate passes Defiance Act for a second time to address Grok deepfakes
Meta closes 550,000 accounts to comply with Australia's kids social media ban
Roblox's age verification system is reportedly a trainwreck
IN THE NEWS
Meta refocuses on AI hardware as metaverse layoffs begin
Meta’s Layoffs Leave Supernatural Fitness Users in Mourning
Meta Creates High-Powered Team to Oversee AI Infrastructure Buildout
Bandcamp prohibits music made ‘wholly or in substantial part’ by AI
Matthew McConaughey fights unauthorized AI likenesses by trademarking himself
ICE’s AI Tool Has Been a Complete Disaster
Self-Help Ghouls Are Charging People Absurd Prices to Talk to Impersonator Chatbots
The FTC's data-sharing order against GM is finally settled
NASA is ending Crew-11 astronauts' mission a month early
NASA makes final preparations for its first crewed moon mission in over 50 years
As SpaceX Works Toward 50K Starlink Satellites, China Eyes Deploying 200K
MEDIA CANDY
The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1069: 2025 in Memoriam
APPS & DOODADS
Jony Ive and Sam Altman’s First AI Gadget May Try to Kill AirPods
Apple's Siri AI will be powered by Gemini
Apple’s Mac and iPad creative apps get bundled into “Creator Studio” subscription
Tesla's Full Self-Driving is switching to a subscription-only service
Ring founder details the camera company's 'intelligent assistant' era
Are You Dead?: The viral Chinese app for young people living alone
Give the Internet an Infinite Word Search and the Internet Will Draw a Dick on It
AT THE LIBRARY
The Anthony Bourdain Reader: New, Classic, and Rediscovered Writing by Anthony Bourdain
Obvious Adams: The Story of a Successful Businessman by Robert Updegraff
Before & Laughter by Jimmy Carr
The Regicide Report (Laundry Files, 14) by Charles Stross
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
How to Read a Book: A Novel by Monica Wood
Walt Disney World Resort is looking for Entertainment Stage Technicians
Galaxy’s Edge Will Soon Cover All Eras of ‘Star Wars’
Kathleen Kennedy steps down as Lucasfilm president, marking a new era for the Star Wars franchise
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
16 January 2026, 11:00 pm - 1 hour 15 minutes728: No Face to Shoot
Welcome back to the digital wasteland, fellow survivors. We kick things off in the FOLLOW UP by marking a year since the LA Fires—hello, PTSD—alongside a 4th Strokiversary and three years of sobriety, all while wondering why America is currently obsessed with shooting its own civilians in the face.
In the IN THE NEWS segment, Wired is finally teaching us how to protest safely in the age of surveillance, and the EFF is cheering on the hackers fighting ICE’s Nazi-adjacent tracking tactics. Meanwhile, Meta is harvesting your AI chats for targeted ads, Disney is paying $10 million for spying on kids, and Grok has spent the holidays generating nonconsensual child abuse material—a problem Elon Musk won't have to legally reckon with until the Take It Down Act hits in May. Instagram’s Adam Mosseri has basically surrendered to the AI "slop", suggesting we fingerprint "real" media because the fake stuff has already won the war.
As we continue the descent, OpenAI is launching a ChatGPT Health portal despite their "loser energy" and compute limits, while Character.AI and Google are quietly settling lawsuits for bots that encouraged teen suicide. Polymarket gamblers are learning that "decentralized" juries will fist you over the definition of an "invasion" just as fast as a bank. Uber showed off a new Lucid-based robotaxi, but we’re pumping the brakes on the safety hype given that autonomous vehicles are five times more likely to crash at dusk. To wrap up the news, Tim Cook took home $74 million last year, which is a lot of "systematic philanthropy" he could be doing right now instead of just writing checks to his own ego.
In MEDIA CANDY, we’re suffering through the Stranger Things wrap-up and a John McTiernan holiday marathon, though the real highlight is MTV Rewind’s tribute to music videos. We’ve got Traitors, The Pitt, and even a John Candy doc on the list, while APPS & DOODADS brings us the DJI Osmo 8, Victrola’s turntable-vibrating speakers. At least California’s DROP tool lets you purge your data from 500 brokers at once.
Finally, we go to THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE to hear Dave Bittner rant about holiday tech support, health insurance gouging, and Dave Filoni taking the Star Wars reins. We close out with a look at ILM’s 50th, the deepfake porn cesspool formerly known as Twitter, and a birthday toast to the Starman himself, David Bowie.
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Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/x-2GTUC6rcU
IN THE NEWS
How to Protest Safely in the Age of Surveillance
How Hackers Are Fighting Back Against ICE
Meta’s New Privacy Policy Opens Up AI Chats for Targeted Ads
Disney to Pay $10 Million After Feds Say It Broke Kids’ Privacy Rules on YouTube
People Spent the Holidays Asking Grok to Generate Sexual Images of Children
Here's When Elon Musk Will Finally Have to Reckon With His Nonconsensual Porn Generator
ChatGPT is launching a new dedicated Health portal
Character.AI and Google settle with families in teen suicide and self-harm lawsuits
Gambling platform Polymarket not paying bets on US invasion of Venezuela
Uber reveals the design of its robotaxi at CES 2026
Maybe We Should Pump the Brakes on the Idea That Robotaxis Are Safer
Here’s how much Tim Cook and other Apple execs made last year
MEDIA CANDY
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
MTV Rewind is a developer's tribute to 24/7 music video channels
APPS & DOODADS
This speaker by Victrola sits underneath turntables and streams audio via Bluetooth
Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP)
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation
Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
9 January 2026, 11:00 pm - 1 hour 21 minutes727: Merry Slopmas
Welcome back to another hour of digital cynicism. We kick things off with a FOLLOW UP on Amazon’s Fallout recaps, which were apparently so hallucination-heavy they made the actual wasteland look organized; naturally, they’ve been nuked along with the "Video Recaps" feature. In a massive dose of IN THE NEWS, Tesla is finally getting a legal side-eye in California for its deceptive "Autopilot" branding, while TikTok is performing a corporate shell game by selling a 45% stake to Oracle and friends to keep the feds happy. Reddit is fighting Australia’s under-16 ban like it’s a constitutional crisis, Louisiana’s age-verification law just got benched by a judge, and Merriam-Webster officially crowned "slop" as the Word of the Year—which is fitting, given that OpenAI is selectively hiding chat logs from murder-suicides while their Chief Scientist warns that recursive AI self-improvement might end the human experiment by 2030. If the "intelligence explosion" doesn’t get us, the CRASH Clock says we’ve got roughly 2.8 days before Elon’s satellite swarm turns low-earth orbit into a permanent scrapyard.
In our MEDIA CANDY segment, we mourn the transition year of Star Trek, which was mostly a series of unmitigated disasters and corporate retreats, though the Oscars moving to YouTube in 2029 means we can finally ignore them in 4K. Meta is testing a "pay-to-share-links" feature because they clearly haven't alienated creators enough, and a new study suggests Amazon’s "dynamic pricing" is basically just a high-tech way to gouge public school districts for pencils. Moving to APPS & DOODADS, iOS 26.2 is here with a "Liquid Glass" slider—groundbreaking stuff, really—while Microsoft’s Copilot+ push is effectively killing the laptop market by making 16GB of RAM a luxury item only a data center could love. Meanwhile, iRobot has officially sucked its last bit of dust into a Chapter 11 filing, proving that even a twenty-year head start can’t save you from a 46 percent tariff and better Chinese competition.
AT THE LIBRARY, we find out that librarians are ready to quit because people keep demanding books that only exist in a ChatGPT hallucination, proving once again that the "Information Age" was a lie. We descend into THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE with the tireless Dave Bittner to discuss why modern movies feel like plastic, the bizarre paradox of James Cameron’s Avatar dominance, and a bittersweet farewell to Rob Reiner. We wrap it up with the return of The Muppets, a look at plug-in solar panels for the budget-conscious prepper, and the Sedaris siblings proving that even grief can be a podcast topic. It’s all the tech "progress" you never asked for, delivered with the appropriate amount of Gen-X side-eye.
Show notes at https://gog.show/727
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hHnGD4lIFzA
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FOLLOW UP
Amazon pulls its bad AI video recaps after Fallout fallout
IN THE NEWS
Tesla used deceptive language to market Autopilot, California judge rules
TikTok agrees to deal to cede control of US business to American investor group
Reddit sues Australia over underage social media ban
Judge blocks Louisiana's social media age verification law
Murder-suicide case shows OpenAI selectively hides data after users die
Trump orders creation of litigation task force to challenge state AI laws
'Slop' is Merriam-Webster's word of the year
Anthropic’s Chief Scientist Says We’re Rapidly Approaching the Moment That Could Doom Us All
OpenAI Is Going Into the New Year With Some Real Loser Energy
New ‘CRASH Clock’ Warns of 2.8-Day Window Before Likely Orbital Collision
A Facebook test makes link-sharing a paid feature for creators
Study links Amazon's algorithmic pricing with erratic, inflated costs for school districts
MEDIA CANDY
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Apple TV releasing Pluribus season finale early next week
Warner Bros. Discovery rejects Paramount's hostile bid
2025 Was a Turning Point for ‘Star Trek’, Whether It Knew It or Not
APPS & DOODADS
iOS 26.2 is here with another Liquid Glass tweak, new Podcasts features and more
Oh, the Irony: Microsoft’s Push for Copilot+ PCs Could Stall Laptop Sales
iRobot has filed for bankruptcy and may be taken over by its primary supplier
AT THE LIBRARY
Making Space (The Time Traveler's Passport) by R. F. Kuang
For a Limited Time Only (The Time Traveler's Passport) by Peng Shepherd
Librarians Are Tired of Being Accused of Hiding Secret Books That Were Made Up by AI
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
Why Movies Just Don't Feel "Real" Anymore
The Avatar Paradox - Why Nobody Talks About These Movies
Every James Cameron Movie, Explained by James Cameron | Vanity Fair
‘The Muppet Show’ Returns for One Night Only Next February
The Muppet Show | Official Teaser | Disney+
Small plug-in solar panels gain traction as an affordable way to cut electricity bills
'You don't know what it's like till you lose a parent': Sedaris siblings share their grief story
CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS
“Enshittification” SoundCloud (with a direct download)
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
20 December 2025, 6:00 pm - 1 hour 17 minutes726: Sycophantic and Delusional
The labor market has swung from the Great Resignation to “job hugging,” where workers cling to their roles out of fear of AI-driven layoffs and inflation, crushing engagement and accelerating burnout. At the same time, OpenAI is accused of suppressing research showing job losses, ignoring internal warnings about chatbot mental health risks, and bleeding safety staff, while state Attorneys General fire off an opening salvo likening unchecked AI harms to an opioid crisis-in-the-making.
The AI boom is now colliding with reality. Environmental groups want a halt on new datacenters as power prices spike, and the industry is starting to look financially radioactive, with opaque financing schemes, hidden debt, and trillion-dollar infrastructure bets that could vaporize household wealth. Regulators are pushing back too: the EU is fining X, probing Google over training data, and floating a statutory licensing scheme for AI scraping, while Disney dives in with a billion-dollar bet on “responsible” AI storytelling that mostly translates to fewer humans on payroll.
Meanwhile, everyday tech dystopia rolls on. Uber is monetizing your movement data, Instacart is quietly price-discriminating groceries, Waymo is spinning a robotaxi birth as a feel-good story, and crypto fraud finally earns real prison time. Add in AI-generated marketing slop, government sites hijacked by SEO porn, billion-dollar festival scams resurrected, and Congress kneecapping right-to-repair, and the takeaway is simple: the machines are hungry, the adults are absent, and the vibes are aggressively bad.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/726
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/eJbLlVhIQ-Y
FOLLOW UP
“Why ‘job hugging’ can be worse than quitting”
OpenAI Accused of Self-Censoring Research That Paints AI In a Bad Light
OpenAI, Anthropic, Others Receive Warning Letter from Dozens of State Attorneys General
IN THE NEWS
More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters
Something Ominous Is Happening in the AI Economy
OpenAI's house of cards seems primed to collapse
X shuts down the European Commission’s ad account the day after major fine
EU opens antitrust investigation into Google's AI practices
EU Report Distills AI-Training Lessons from Napster Piracy Era: Don’t Sue, License
Disney Invests $1 Billion in the AI Slopification of Its Brand
Uber will start selling trip and takeout data to marketers
Instacart Charging Customers Different Prices for Same Products, Study Finds
Waymo's robotaxi fleet is being recalled again, this time for failing to stop for school buses
Driverless delivery: Woman gives birth in San Francisco Waymo
Crypto mogul Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for $40 billion stablecoin fraud
Porn Is Being Injected Into Government Websites Via Malicious PDFs
Marco Rubio bans Calibri font at State Department for being too DEI
'Architects of AI' named Time Magazine's Person of the Year
MEDIA CANDY
What Happened at Billy McFarland’s PHNX Festival?
The Lord of the Rings trilogy returns to theaters in January for 25th anniversary
Amazon’s Official ‘Fallout’ Season 1 Recap Is AI Garbage Filled With Mistakes
The Boys - Final Season Teaser Trailer | Prime Video
Paradise Season 2 | Official Teaser | Hulu
Supergirl | Official Teaser Trailer
No Such Thing As a Fish - Ep612: No Such Thing As The Gordon Ramsay Songbook
WTF Happened To Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009)?!
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | Official Trailer | Paramount+ (NYCC 2025)
Starfleet Academy - What Is This Garbage?
APPS & DOODADS
Google and Apple partner on better Android-iPhone switching
Congress removes right to repair language from 2026 defense bill
Glide Gear TMP 100 Teleprompter – DSLR, Tablet, Smartphone – 12" Glass, Carry Case, No Assembly
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
The History Behind All the Cuts of the Original ‘Star Wars’’
Rise of the Resistance | Layout Side By Side
BLUE MONDAY - Analyzing the MOST BRUTAL BEAT of the '80s | Drum Patterns Explained
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
12 December 2025, 11:30 pm - 1 hour 15 minutes725: The Mistake Machine
FOLLOW UP starts with the realization that Spotify Wrapped thinks we are 82 years old, which honestly feels accurate, followed by a massive shout out to Bama Bryan on Bluesky for listening to us for over 3,000 minutes. We look at the grim stats from the Department of Government Efficiency regarding USAID deaths, then move to IN THE NEWS where the KALSHI CEO wants to monetize "any difference in opinion" because gambling on the news is the future. PALANTIR CEO Alex Karp claims making war crimes constitutional is bad for business, META STARTS KICKING AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN OFF their platforms to avoid fines, and TETHER gets a "weak" rating while U.S. BANK calls the ability to freeze stablecoins "appealing." We discuss the LEAK CONFIRMS OPENAI IS PREPARING ADS for ChatGPT while SAM ALTMAN DECLARES 'CODE RED' to catch up to Google. Speaking of which, ONE OF GOOGLE'S BIGGEST AI ADVANTAGES IS WHAT IT ALREADY KNOWS ABOUT YOU, even if GOOGLE DISCOVER IS TESTING AI-GENERATED HEADLINES that are complete lies. We cover how GROK WOULD PREFER A SECOND HOLOCAUST OVER HARMING ELON MUSK, the US PATENT OFFICE ruling on generative AI, a new report on DAVID SACKS profiting from his administration role, and INSTACART SUES NEW YORK CITY because paying workers a living wage is apparently unconstitutional. We wrap up the news with the HUMAN ROBOT HYPE SCARING CHINA, a sad story where CHILDREN SOB AS WAYMO RUNS OVER DOG, a video showing a WAYMO SELF-DRIVING TAXI TAKES PASSENGER THROUGH ACTIVE POLICE SCENE, and the fact that PASSENGERS FACE DISRUPTION AS AIRBUS UPDATES THOUSANDS OF PLANES due to solar flares.
In MEDIA CANDY, the industry is shaking because NETFLIX BUYS WARNER BROS. FOR $82 BILLION, meaning they now own everything from Harry Potter to Batman. We look at upcoming releases including WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY, FALLOUT SEASON 2, ROMCON: WHO THE F**K IS JASON PORTER?, SEAN COMBS: THE RECKONING, THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, and A MAN ON THE INSIDE. Moving to APPS & DOODADS, we discuss the pure joy of uninstalling DROPBOX, our collective hatred for FUCK CENTER STAGE, and the report that APPLE EMPLOYEES ARE 'GIDDY' ABOUT ALAN DYE'S DEPARTURE. We also cover the horror show where GOOGLE'S AGENTIC AI WIPES USER'S ENTIRE HDD without permission, a study showing YOUR GLITCHY VIDEO CALLS MAY MAKE PEOPLE MISTRUST YOU, and how SCIENTISTS CREATED THE BLACKEST FABRIC EVER.
Finally, in THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, we learn that CLAUDIA BLACK EXITS ‘AHSOKA’ SEASON 2 over pay disputes because Disney is apparently broke, we scrutinize LEAKED CLIPS FROM THE RUMORED 50TH ANNIVERSARY RERELEASE OF THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF STAR WARS (still no R2D2), check out a STORMTROOPER SUIT ON FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE, and mention THE MAD MEN 4K release.
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Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/4IRVvpdJC30
Show notes at https://gog.show/725
FOLLOW UP
Kalshi CEO Says He Wants to Monetize ‘Any Difference in Opinion’
Palantir CEO Says Making War Crimes Constitutional Would Be Good for Business
Meta starts kicking Australian children off Instagram and Facebook
Meta reportedly plans to slash Metaverse budget by up to 30%
IN THE NEWS
Crypto’s Most Trusted Stablecoin Given Lowest Possible ‘Weak’ Rating By Major TradFi Agency
U.S. Bank Calls Ability to Freeze Stablecoins ‘Appealing’ as Crypto Has Completely Lost the Plot
Leak confirms OpenAI is preparing ads on ChatGPT for public roll out
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman declares 'code red' as ChatGPT competition mounts
One of Google's biggest AI advantages is what it already knows about you
Google Discover is testing AI-generated headlines and they aren't good
Grok would prefer a second Holocaust over harming Elon Musk
US patent office says generative AI is equivalent to other tools in inventors' belts
The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI
New report examines how David Sacks might profit from Trump administration role
Instacart sues New York City over minimum pay, tipping laws
Humanoid Robot Hype Is Officially Scaring China
Children Sob as Waymo Runs Over Dog
Waymo self-driving taxi takes passenger through active police scene in downtown LA, video shows
Passengers face disruption as Airbus updates thousands of planes
MEDIA CANDY
Netflix Buys Warner Bros. for $82 Billion
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Fallout Season 2 on Prime Video
ROMCON: Who The F**k is Jason Porter? - Season 1
APPS & DOODADS
Gruber: Apple employees 'giddy' about Alan Dye’s departure
Google's Agentic AI wipes user's entire HDD without permission in catastrophic failure
Your glitchy video calls may make people mistrust you
Scientists Created the Blackest Fabric Ever, Then Made a Dress
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
Claudia Black Exits ‘Ahsoka’ Season 2 Over Alleged Pay Disputes
Leaked clips from the rumored 50th anniversary rerelease of the original version of Star Wars
William Shatner - Good King Wenceslas
AI boom kills Crucial as Micron shuts down consumer brand
CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS
'Mortal Kombat' Star Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa Dead at 75
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5 December 2025, 11:30 pm - 1 hour 8 minutes724: Sam Altman’s Boutique
After surviving Thanksgiving and the subsequent biting cold, we jumped into the FOLLOW UP with news that Malaysia is joining the trend by taking steps to ban social media for children under 16, mirroring similar actions in Australia and Denmark—it seems the world is finally realizing the internet is a toxic wasteland for the kids. We also discussed Apple’s photo AI, which is apparently still in beta, if the results are anything to go by. The bulk of our discussion centered on the spectacular, flaming death of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is Officially Dead. We broke down a brief rundown of the damages this vanity project caused, from humanitarian disasters overseas to administrative chaos and the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs domestically, proving the "savings" were pure illusion. Now, with the collapse, the 'Suddenly exposed' DOGE employees fear prosecution after Musk abandoned them, learning the hard way that billionaire guardianship has an expiration date.
The job market is just great, with both Apple laying off part of its sales team despite record revenue, and HP joining the List of Tech Companies Cutting Jobs and pointing to AI as the convenient scapegoat for laying off 10% of their workforce. Meanwhile, we found out the most popular social media platform among US adults isn't Instagram or TikTok—it’s YouTube—while Meta allegedly buried research showing its products are harming users, confirming what we’ve known all along: they’re evil, but they already got your grandma hooked. Adding to the misery, An Alarming Number of Teens Say They Turn To AI For Company, Study Finds, because why talk to a real, messy human when a bot can gaslight you more efficiently? Sam Altman's financial troubles are spilling over, with Sam Altman’s Business Buddies Are Getting Stung (sorry, SoftBank and Oracle), and analysts estimate OpenAI Is Just $200 Billion Away From Still Losing Money, HSBC Says, a comical hole they plan to fill by asking for more free money. Legally, OpenAI can’t use the Word ‘Cameo’ in Sora now, thanks to a trademark suit, and Warner Music is playing both sides by dropping its lawsuit against Suno in exchange for a licensing agreement. Finally, in some truly dark news, a Marc Andreessen-backed Super-PAC Pours Millions Into Fighting State AI Regulations, and X's new location feature reveals that New X Feature Reveals Many MAGA Patriots on X Are Not Even Based in the U.S.
After ranting about my misery dealing with the Open Dialogue bug in a beta build and declaring my return to "pedestrian releases," we got into APPS & DOODADS. Spotify is actually doing something cool with its new SongDNA feature, which shows you who sampled what (and they bought WhoSampled to do it). They’re also testing Spotify's New AI-powered audiobook Recaps to remind you where you left off—Amazon is doing the same with AI-powered series Recap Videos for Prime Video. Amazon is also rolling out Alexa Home Theater surround sound for Echo speakers, making those budget speakers slightly more useful. We ran through some great stocking stuffers in Jason’s Holiday Gift Guide, including Velcro cable ties and the Contigo travel mug, before moving on to MEDIA CANDY, which included Dan Carlin's Common Sense, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk’s new podcast Once We Were Spacemen, and a discussion on why Stranger Things Lost the Plot. We then got deeply uncomfortable talking about a Toronto ASMR spa that offers doctor roleplay, and closed out by talking about the documentary Quiet Please… about the neurological disorder misophonia. The episode finished with the AT THE LIBRARY segment, covering the Milli Vanilli memoir You Know It’s True and the sci-fi short story collection The Time Travelers Passport.
Show notes at https://gog.show/724
Watch now on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PoMa9FM5QEE?si=4r25yqv_0u8aXHF7
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FOLLOW UP
Malaysia takes steps to ban social media for children under 16
IN THE NEWS
'Suddenly exposed' DOGE employees fear prosecution after Musk abandoned them: report
Apple lays off part of its sales team
HP Joins List of Tech Companies Cutting Jobs and Pointing to AI
The most popular social media platform among US adults isn't Instagram or TikTok
Meta allegedly buried research showing its products are harming users
An Alarming Number of Teens Say They Turn To AI For Company, Study Finds
Sam Altman’s Business Buddies Are Getting Stung
OpenAI Is Just $200 Billion Away From Still Losing Money, HSBC Says
OpenAI Can’t Legally Use the Word ‘Cameo’ in Sora Now
Warner Music drops lawsuit against AI music platform Suno in exchange for licensing agreement
Marc Andreessen-Backed Super-PAC Pours Millions Into Fighting State AI Regulations
New X Feature Reveals Many MAGA Patriots on X Are Not Even Based in The U.S.
MEDIA CANDY
Common Sense 325 – Who’s the Boss?
How Stranger Things Lost the Plot
At Toronto’s new ASMR spa, sensory stimulation slips out of the internet and into real life
APPS & DOODADS
Spotify's SongDNA feature will show you which songs are sampled on a track
Making of "The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up" in Ableton by Jim Pavloff
Spotify's New AI-Powered Audiobook Recaps Will Remind You Where You Left Off
Amazon Launches AI-Powered Series Recap Videos
Alexa Home Theater surround sound for Echo speakers is rolling out now
Dashaun No Sadè - Episode 13 Durand Bernarr
Meike 35mm F2.0 Auto Focus Full Frame STM Stepping Motor Lens Compatible with Nikon Z Mount Cameras
Scientists Reveal What Black Friday Is Doing to Your Brain
Contigo AUTOSEAL West Loop Vacuum-Insulated Stainless Steel Travel Mug with Easy-Clean Lid 20 oz
Scotty Peeler Label and Sticker Remover - Single Metal Peeler -SP2
Carlashes 1001UB Classic Black
AT THE LIBRARY
You Know It’s True - The Real Story of Milli Vanilli
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29 November 2025, 4:00 am - 1 hour 13 minutes723: Don’t Want No Samsung
We open by tracking our video money and mocking the chef who quit Elon’s "epic" bacon diner, before diving into the IN THE NEWS segment where plummeting crypto and Nvidia stocks confirm everything is a sham; we cover Bezos’s new $6.2 billion AI flop, a sleeping Tesla Robotaxi driver, and why OpenAI’s new school tools are a Recipe for Idiocracy with students who can't read; in MEDIA CANDY, we tear apart Disney's lazy Moana remake; THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE we discuss Zork going open source and why movies just don’t feel real anymore before CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS where we are mourning Mani from the Stone Roses, and wishing Bjork a very metal 60th.
We start with a FOLLOW UP on our channel’s performance, wading through the garbage pile of Monetization questions and Stats, including the scourge of Shorts—because apparently, that's what we do now. Speaking of people running from trouble, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is ditching his OpenAI board seat after a fresh batch of cringey Jeffrey Epstein emails surfaced. Meanwhile, the financial world is having a meltdown: Nvidia’s Stock is Falling Again after its earnings report, exposing the fact that almost Yet Another Study Shows That Most Companies Aren’t Making Any Money Off AI, and Bitcoin is Getting Absolutely Crushed Right Now, which we happily remind you will Trigger the Next Financial Crisis. Don't worry, Jeff Bezos will head a new engineering-focused AI startup because the world clearly needs more tech billionaires throwing money at things they don't understand, while Apple is reportedly getting ready to replace Tim Cook.
The tech-bro corruption parade continues as a former DOJ official points out that Trump’s Crypto Pardon of the Binance co-founder is exactly what it looks like, and Elon's pet AI, Grok Insists That Elon Musk Is More Physically Fit Than LeBron James and better at everything else, proving the bot has been sampling its boss's Adderall. Even though ChatGPT Achieves a New Level of Intelligence by finally letting you disable its em-dash addiction, companies like Intuit are integrating its tax and accounting products with ChatGPT—because who doesn't want an AI-powered tax audit? This all dovetails nicely with the news that OpenAI is launching ChatGPT for Teachers’ right as students’ math skills hit a low, leading to a literal Recipe for Idiocracy where elite college students Can’t Read Books. The whole thing is broken, including Tesla’s so-called Robotaxi, where a Passenger Alarmed When Tesla Robotaxi “Safety” Driver Falls Completely Asleep at the Wheel. On a lighter note, we check out the new trailers for The Witcher S4, Frankenstein, and Project Hail Mary in MEDIA CANDY, and tear apart the absolutely unnecessary live-action Moana teaser, before mentioning the biggest drama launch on Apple TV, Pluribus.
Next up is THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, where our tireless security guru Dave Bittner throws in some random facts, like Microsoft making Zork I, II, and III open source and videos on why the iOS Keyboard is Broken and Why Movies Just Don't Feel "Real” Anymore, and we discuss Thanksgiving plans. Finally, in CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS, we end with a shout-out to our generous PATREON supporters and PAYPAL/STRIPE donors, mourn the passing of Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist Mani, and wish the incomparable Bjork a milestone 60th birthday.
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tWM83ra7Qp8
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Show notes at https://gog.show/723
FOLLOW UP
Tesla Diner Chef and Co-Operator Quits to Open a Jewish Deli
IN THE NEWS
Oops! Nvidia’s Stock Is Falling Again After Its “Blowout” Earnings Report
Bitcoin Is Getting Absolutely Crushed Right Now
How Crypto Could Trigger the Next Financial Crisis
Jeff Bezos will head a new engineering-focused AI startup called Project Prometheus
Yet Another Study Shows That Most Companies Aren’t Making Any Money Off AI
Passenger Alarmed When Tesla Robotaxi “Safety” Driver Falls Completely Asleep at the Wheel
Meta wins antitrust trial as judge denies that it's a monopoly
Apple is reportedly getting ready to replace Tim Cook as early as next year
Former DOJ Official: Trump’s Crypto Pardon Is Unprecedented Corruption
ChatGPT Achieves a New Level of Intelligence: Not Using the Em Dash
Grok Insists That Elon Musk Is More Physically Fit Than LeBron James
11 Things Grok Says Elon Musk Does Better Than Anyone
Intuit is integrating its tax and accounting products with ChatGPT
OpenAI Introduces ‘ChatGPT for Teachers’ to Further Destroy the Minds of Our Youth
The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
Pornhub Begs Tech Giants to Verify User Ages on Their Device: Report
London thieves gave stolen phones back when they weren’t iPhones
MEDIA CANDY
Pluribus is Apple TV's biggest drama series launch ever
Squid Game: The Challenge Season 2
Project Hail Mary | Official Trailer 2
Goo Goo Dolls: NPR Tiny Desk Concert
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
RIHC: Disney’s Legacy, with Bob Iger
Microsoft makes Zork I, II, and III open source under MIT License
It's Not Just You - The iOS Keyboard is Broken
Why Movies Just Don't Feel "Real" Anymore
The greatest space battle in Cinema history, and my personal favorite VFX shot. @ 7:07
CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS
Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist Mani dies at 63
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
21 November 2025, 11:00 pm - 1 hour 19 minutes722: Does a Podcaster Shit in the Woods?
The inevitable decline of civilization takes center stage as the show kicks off with the miserable results of the FACEBOOK SETTLEMENT, confirming Brian's $4.01 payout, followed by a discussion of the SPORTS BETTING SCANDAL, where MLB players are rigging games over prop bets, confirming that gambling is now actively killing sports; moving to the news, the guys celebrate the DENMARK SOCIAL MEDIA BAN and SCHOOL PHONE BANS, which are already proving that teenagers need mandatory digital detoxes, prompting comparisons to Footloose and the revelation that teens are now passing handwritten notes and taking Polaroids. Naturally, things aren't going well for the hyper-rich, as evidenced by the TESLA EXECUTIVE EXODUS and the launch of WAYMO FREEWAYS, which will surely bring chaos to LA, and the ongoing saga of massive capital destruction via OPENAI LOSSES and META AI FAILURES, prompting Mark Zuckerberg to announce his desperate bid to CURE ALL DISEASES with AI, a feat less audacious than the fraud of AI startup FIREFLY AI TRANSCRIPT, which admitted its original "AI" was just human transcriptionists.
They then hit a laundry list of digital woes, including the dubious convenience of APPLE PASSPORTS, the creeping dread of Sam Altman's failing WORLDCOIN EYEBALL SCANS, the ridiculous crypto fraud DEFI OFFICE SPACE that literally copied a movie plot, and Coinbase's inexplicable decision to bring back high-risk ICOs; the absurdity continued with the OPENAI LAWSUIT over a suicidal chatbot that suggested the user "Rest easy, King," and the political maneuvering of the REPUBLICAN BROADBAND REDIRECT, which will gut internet access for the underserved to fund the Treasury, but the real threat to humanity remains the clandestine PREVENTATIVE GENE HACKING startup funded by tech billionaires aiming to create modified babies offshore.
In Media Candy, they share reviews of the excellent DIPLOMAT, ZOOTOPIA, and the just-released LUSH DOCUMENTARY, confirming our combined Gen-X fragility, before celebrating two definitive wins for reality: the fact that physicists have finally CRUSHED THE SIMULATION THEORY, and the literary brilliance of Joyce Carol Oates' tweet, which expertly called out Elon Musk as uneducated and uncultured.
All this and more on this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks
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Show notes at https://gog.show/722
FOLLOW UP
IN THE NEWS
Denmark set to ban social media for users under 15 years of age
Banning Phones in Schools Is Drastically Changing the Behavior of Kids
The Head of the Cybertruck Program Quit Tesla. The Model Y Leader Left Hours Later
Waymo's driverless cars will start driving on freeways in three US cities
Apple introduces a new Digital ID feature to make boarding flights easier
OpenAI Will Lose $74 Billion the Same Year That Anthropic Breaks Even: Report
Meta’s AI Ambitions Appear to Be in a Tailspin
Zuckerberg, Chan bet AI can cure all disease
Startup Secretly Working to Gene-Hack Human Baby
Sam Altman's Creepy Orb Startup Has Only Scanned 2 Percent of Its Ideal Number of Eyeballs
$120 Million Crypto Hack Blamed on Office Space-Style Exploit
Coinbase Wants to Bring Back an Old Crypto Trend That Ended in Disaster
Seven more families are now suing OpenAI over ChatGPT's role in suicides, delusions
US states could lose $21 billion of broadband grants after Trump overhaul
Physicists Say They’ve Proven Whether We’re Living in a Simulation
Elon Musk Got One-Shotted by an Extremely Mean Tweet
MEDIA CANDY
'V for Vendetta' Is Becoming a TV Show
Dune: Prophecy' Kicks off Season 2 Production
‘Alien: Earth’ Has Been Renewed for Season 2
The Running Man | Final Trailer (2025 Movie) - Edgar Wright, Glen Powell
Toy Story 5 | Teaser Trailer | In Theaters June 19
Paramount+ announces price increases for every streaming plan
APPS & DOODADS
How to adjust the Liquid Glass effect in iOS 26.1
How to stretch the clock on your lock screen in iOS 26
Tesla Reportedly Adding Apple CarPlay, Bucking Industry Trend
FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
The Official ‘Star Wars’ Magazine Is Coming to an End After Over 30 Years
Talk about your crotch-rocket...
AI-Powered Toys Caught Telling 5-Year-Olds How to Find Knives and Start Fires With Matches
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14 November 2025, 11:30 pm - 1 hour 8 minutes721: Pixel Predators
This episode proves that nothing gold can stay, especially your 401k, as we kick things off with the revelation that October saw the worst tech layoffs since 2003, all while "Big Short" genius Michael Burry decided to bet a billion dollars on the inevitable AI bubble bursting. The villains of the week are legion: the FCC is officially making it easier for internet companies to charge us even more hidden fees; Elon Musk not only got his $1 trillion pay package approved—despite Tesla sales collapsing nearly 90% in some countries—but he also teased a flying car, clearly living in his own "Golden Dome" fantasy, which the Pentagon is happily subsidizing; and in a stunning display of entitlement, Mark Zuckerberg opened an illegal school, which is somehow less shocking than Meta’s claim that their massive porn stash was purely for "personal use," not AI training. The bad news doesn't stop there, with Texas suing Roblox over 'pixel pedophiles,' though at least a rural Michigan healthcare system is doing some good by using drones to improve care.
Jumping over to Media Candy, since we’re all emotionally scarred by the sheer awful-ness of The Witcher S4—a season so bad it "broke" The Critical Drinker—we need some comfort viewing. We’re deep-diving into the political chess of The Diplomat and escaping into the sheer volume of competitive cooking shows, including the standard Halloween and Holiday Baking Championships, plus the delightfully ridiculous Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking S2; we also took a look at Pluribus, Knife Edge, Black Rabbit, and the trailer for Tron: Ares, while cheering the fact that Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are set to revive The Mummy franchise for a fourth film. In Apps & Doodads, we’re all mourning the eventual death of simple, good tech as we’re warned to enjoy Apple CarPlay while we still can, but at least the Lego ‘Star Trek’ Set is finally here for our inner child; the real question, though, is why Automattic Inc. thinks they can claim ownership of the actual word 'Automatic.'
Finally, The Dark Side with Dave Bittner reminds us that everything old is new again and ripe for monetization, whether it's Miss Piggy potentially bringing back The Muppets to the movies or the sleek, blacked-out remake of the Commodore 64, not to mention that cool Tron Arcade Cabinet Miniature Model. However, the present is still a complete dumpster fire: a Google AI model allegedly accused a senator of sexual assault, and internal documents show that Meta is earning a fortune on a massive deluge of fraudulent ads, proving that the only thing getting healthier is our paranoia, though Dave did throw in a curveball with some special jar lids and seeds for growing organic sprouts. We finish, as always, with the obligatory Closing Shout-Outs because even cynical geeks need validation.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/721
FOLLOW UP
October Layoffs Were the Worst Since 2003 and Hit Tech Workers Hard
IN THE NEWS
The Big Short Guy Just Bet $1 Billion That the AI Bubble Pops
Trump's FCC is officially moving to make it easier for internet companies to charge hidden fees
Pentagon will reportedly award SpaceX a $2 billion contract to help develop the 'Golden Dome'
Elon Musk teases a flying car on Joe Rogan's show
Tesla’s Sales Collapsed Nearly 90 Percent in Some Countries Last Month
Tesla shareholder meeting updates: Elon Musk gets his $1 trillion pay package
Texas AG sues Roblox, accusing it of prioritizing 'pixel pedophiles' over child safety
Mark Zuckerberg Opened an Illegal School at His Palo Alto Compound. His Neighbors Revolted
Meta Says Porn Stash was for ‘Personal Use,’ Not Training AI Models
How a rural Michigan healthcare system is using drones to improve care
MEDIA CANDY
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking S2
Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars
The Witcher Season 4 - A Show So Awful, It Broke Me by The Critical Drinker
Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz Set to Revive The Mummy Franchise with Fourth Film
APPS & DOODADS
Enjoy CarPlay While You Still Can
The Lego ‘Star Trek’ Set Is Here, and It’s Exactly What You Want
Automattic Inc. Claims It Owns the Word 'Automatic'
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
Miss Piggy May Bring ‘The Muppets’ Back to the Movies
Relive the Commodore 64's glory days with a slimmer, blacked-out remake
Show and Tell: Tron Arcade Cabinet Miniature Model
Google removes AI model after it allegedly accused a senator of sexual assault
Organic Radish Sprout Seeds (16 oz) – Non-GMO, Heirloom Seeds for Sprouting and Microgreens
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
...
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