This Week in Tech 1049: Gas Station Lafufu

Date: September 15, 2025
Host: Leo Laporte
Guests: Jason Heiner (ZDNet), Dan Patterson (Blackbird AI), Victoria Song (The Verge)

Overview

A lively, wide-ranging episode packed with deep dives into the latest Apple event, wearable and AI tech, and the societal ripple effects of technology. Leo is joined by Jason Heiner, Dan Patterson, and Victoria Song—both Jason and Victoria fresh from Apple’s September event—for honest, humorous, and at times critical takes on announcements, product reviews, and trends. Other major topics include the evolving realities of AI, the streaming/content landscape, social media’s influence on global events (notably Nepal), and TikTok’s influence on drama and collectibles culture.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Inside Apple's September Event: Design, Hardware—But Few Surprises

[02:08–15:44]

• Panelists: Jason Heiner & Victoria Song, both attended
• Setting: Steve Jobs Theater, transported around campus in Apple’s trademark golf carts
• Theme: Apple doubled down on “design” as their core message, with heritage videos on the clickwheel and extensive product showmanship.
• Victoria quips: “At one point … I wanted to say, ‘Drink if you hear the word design again’, because it was just brought up so often.” [10:05]
• Apple’s confidence was clear—no nervous energy, shade thrown at Google on computational photography, and a palpable retrenchment to classic strengths (hardware, design, not stretching with AI).
• Event reflected a noticeable shift: more influencers, fewer classic journalists.
  • Victoria: “With each subsequent year … there’s more and more selfie sticks being held up.” [17:00]
  • “It’s interesting to see these events that were pretty much geared towards media … kind of get co-opted…” [18:39]

2. Embargoes, Leaks, and the Journalist’s Dilemma

[03:36–07:18]

• Discussion about NDAs, embargoes, and Apple’s strict media coordination.
  • Jason: “If you tell them [you won’t sign NDAs], they will almost always roll over.” [04:31]
• Despite Apple’s secrecy, almost everything announced was already leaked. Mark Gurman’s leaks continue to be reliable, though Apple sometimes changes plans at the last minute.
  • “The reason to have the event … is context: why are they doing it? What’s the purpose?” [07:49]
• Apple events increasingly about shaping the narrative (“spin”) — “It’s all storytelling too.” [08:22]

3. Product Announcements: Notable Devices, Features, and Critique

[09:22–15:20], [37:57–59:33]

• Design, Materials, and Color:
  • The iPhones’ prominent “pumpkin orange” color proved controversial.
    • Victoria: “It’s a pumpkin spice orange. … It’s a pumpkin orange. It’s not biohazard orange.” [12:30]
• Hands-on Impressions:
  • The event was influencer-heavy.
  • Reporters prioritize hands-on time over theater seating, influencer presence slowing things down.
• Product Standouts:
  • Sleep and health features on Apple Watch (see below)
  • Base iPhone 17 and Watch SE3 stood out as surprisingly robust and user-focused, not just “cheap” entry-level devices.
    • “The Apple Watch SE3 being the absolute best upgrade of the year … was not on my bingo card…” – Victoria [38:22]
  • AirPods Pro 3 “probably my pick for the best upgrade” – Jason [63:13]; “They genuinely fit better.” – Victoria [65:15]
  • Selfie camera improvements finally acknowledged as user-important.
    • “They finally acknowledged that may be the most used camera on the phone” – Leo [58:13]
  • New crossbody phone straps: a win for practical, daily use, especially for women with ‘garbage pockets’ [60:02]
• Battery & Form Factor:
  • iPhone Air: praised for slimness and tactile feel, but battery concerns and camera math critiqued.
    • “It’s a bit of a concept car.” – Jason [55:57]
    • “Just tell me how long the battery is going to last…” – Victoria [54:31]
  • High speculation this is a precursor to Apple’s folding phones.

4. Wearables & Health Tech: Promise vs. Reality

[21:28–32:17]

• Apple Watch hypertension detection: First-mover with FDA clearance, but only as a “flag,” not a diagnostic tool.
  • Victoria: “What it’s doing is basically comparing your signals and the data … to a baseline derived from a very large data set. … It’s what we call a detection feature.” [23:49]
• The real innovation gap: actionable, cohesive health recommendations, not more metrics.
  • Apple lags behind Aura, Ultra Human in synthesizing health data. “The software stuff and the AI … Apple’s moving very kind of slowly and deliberately…” – Jason [29:26]
  • “The AI companions in these fitness apps … are hot, they’re bad, they’re not good.” – Victoria [29:26]
• Real-world accuracy and value of REM/deep sleep tracking still debated.

5. AI, Translation, and the Limits of Magic

[42:34–51:18]

• AirPods Pro 3’s live translation: impressive demo but real use will be messier, especially with blended/pidgin speech.
  • “It did a pretty good job … but I’m very skeptical about translation tech in general. … Real conversations are much messier.” – Victoria [43:47]
• Apple’s UI for translation gets high marks for simplicity (“app-ly”), but only supports a handful of languages.
• Cautiously optimistic notes for limited, tourist-style use. “It isn’t the Babel fish.”

6. The Reality of AI and LLMs: Growth, Hype, & Limits

[81:12–98:59]

• Google, OpenAI, and others are keeping users in their ecosystems, impacting web traffic and publisher revenues.
  • “Google is more and more incented to not send you outside of Google…” – Jason [81:12]
• Enterprise AI revenue is real and massive (e.g., Anthropic), but the usefulness for end users is mixed and the hype is outsized.
  • “All these terms … AGI, super-intelligence … they’re marketing terms. They mean nothing.” – Jason citing Anthropic’s CEO [97:18]
• LLMs are hitting diminishing returns; hallucinations are inevitable; companies like Perplexity may leapfrog with orchestration/tuning.
  • “I feel a change in the wind. I think another AI winter might be coming.” – Leo [99:06]

7. Vibe Coding, Content, & AI Pragmatism

[100:16–104:42]

• “Vibe coding” (using AI to code by ‘vibe’/intuition) creates messy, poor code. New freelance market for fixing “vibe” messes.
  • “It’s not cool marketing, but if we all understood that fundamentally, then you could use the tool in a way that’s useful. However, we’re calling it Vibe coding and the way that they’re saying is that anyone … can vibe code, and that’s simply not true.” – Victoria [103:52]
• The ability for editors and developers to distinguish AI-generated vs. human work remains strong: “Within the first three words…” – Dan [103:06]

8. Meta’s AI Glasses—The Next Wearable Battleground

[107:27–126:38]

• Rumored Meta “Hypernova” glasses will boast a heads-up display, color screen, and wrist-based EMG gesture controls.
  • Partnerships with Luxottica/Prada exemplify the necessity of fashion + tech.
  • “We’re vain creatures. … Meta has done better than anyone else is nail the execution because fashion actually plays a huge part in this.” – Victoria [111:55]
  • Accessibility: AI-powered smart glasses provide vital options for blind/low-vision users.
• Wearable camera/always-on-lifelogging tech explored (Humane AI Pin, “Friend” necklace). Real privacy, relational, and boundary issues.

9. Apple & AI in the Consumer Mindset: Behind or Wise?

[35:20–37:24]

• Apple’s “retreat” from AI hype can be read as smart and pragmatic: AI’s not a selling point for consumers in 2025.
  • “Business still is hot on AI, but consumer sentiment on AI dried up in April, May, June.” – Dan [36:38]
• Apple’s focus on phones, AirPods, Watch pays off. Investors unimpressed (“Wall Street downgraded Apple after this event because they didn’t talk about AI…” – Jason [34:10]), but Apple sells what users want.

10. Global Tech & Social Media's Societal Impact

[141:19–147:45]

• Nepal’s ban of social media amid high youth unemployment triggers deadly unrest; social platforms now a linchpin for political organizing and national dialogue.
  • “This is a country that’s very social media focused. They’ve all got cell phones.” – Leo [147:14]
  • “Narratives are manipulated… there are, in every region, geopolitical actors who serve to manipulate those narratives…” – Dan [143:02]
• Blackbird AI/Compass tool highlighted as vital for context-checking disinformation.

11. TikTok Microdramas, Collectibles, & Disposable Culture

[165:03–170:53]

• TikTok “microdramas”: serialized, high-intensity telenovelas chopped into one-minute clips; enormous engagement in China and increasingly worldwide.
  • “Think high-intensity telenovela… 1-3 minute chunks across 50-100 mostly paywalled episodes.” – Joe Berkowitz, via Leo [167:33]
• Collectibles culture: tiny vinyl records at Target, Kodak “blind box” keychain cameras riff on loot box psychology.
  • “Blind box is like the mental hack of 2025.” – Jason [177:59]
• Gas station “Lefufu” (Labubu knockoff) emerges as in-joke and episode title.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On "Design" at Apple:
  • “I wanted to say, drink if you hear the word design again.” – Victoria Song [10:05]
• On Apple’s confidence:
  • “They were so confident, they were dropping shade on other people… they are dropping shade. They are a lot more confident.” – Jason Heiner [32:17]
• On AI translation demos:
  • “It did a pretty good job, I must say. But I’m very skeptical … real-life is much messier.” – Victoria [43:47]
• On influencer culture at unveilings:
  • “It’s interesting to see these events that were pretty much geared towards media … get co-opted.” – Victoria [18:39]
• On health/AI gaps:
  • “The AI companions … are hot, they’re bad, they’re not good.” – Victoria [29:26]
• On vibe coding:
  • “I could not think of a worse job title … defeats the purpose of what they say vibe coding is.” – Victoria [100:29]
• On “Gas Station Lefufu”:
  • “I actually love the Lefufus more than I love Labubu. … I love my gas station Lefufu.” – Victoria [178:18]
• On closing:
  • “We have concluded this exciting edition and we have learned so much, including how young people talk. We’re going to yeet to Jupiter soon with your Lefufu.” – Leo [179:36]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:08] Apple event hands-on/debrief
• [09:53] Apple event’s influence shift towards influencers
• [21:28] Apple Watch hypertension feature, health tech critique
• [42:34] AirPods Pro 3—demo and skepticism about real-world translation
• [53:06] iPhone Air: initial impressions, positioning
• [63:13] AirPods Pro 3 hands-on—noise canceling “better than twice as good”
• [81:12] Google and decline of the open web due to AI
• [100:16] Vibe coding and AI-generated junk code
• [107:27] Preview of Meta Connect: AI glasses and fashion
• [111:55] Fashion’s role in wearable tech success
• [141:19] Nepal social media ban and protests
• [165:03] TikTok microdramas, collectibles culture

Tone & Language

The episode maintains the series’ trademark blend of expertise, playful banter, tech skepticism, and journalistic wit. Participants do not shy away from critique—of Apple, AI, influencer culture, or media economics—but also celebrate real innovation and the joy of geek culture. Victoria’s candidness and sharp sense of humor shine throughout, especially regarding hands-on product experiences and the realities of “everyday” tech use (health, translation, fashion, accessibility). Leo’s hosting keeps the momentum brisk and inclusive, while Jason and Dan provide industry and journalistic perspective.

Summary Takeaways

This episode is a must for anyone tracking the pulse of consumer tech (especially Apple), AI, wearables, media, and the social dynamics of modern technology. The show combines practical hands-on insights (including embargo dance), hard-nosed media business assessment, and awareness of the profound ways technology shapes—and sometimes disrupts—our politics, health, and pop culture. All told in true TWiT fashion: candid, skeptical, self-aware, and always entertaining.