Podcast
Grumpy Old Geeks
Hosted by Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister with Dave Bittner · EN
We dissect the tech news train wrecks of the week, calling out what went wrong and who’s to blame. Think of this podcast as if Kurt Cobain threw down with Tom from MySpace, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg in a back alley brawl. No mercy, no filter—if tech had a walk of shame, this would be it.
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746: Reality is Frequently Inaccurate
Today01:19:40Summary readyFOLLOW UP starts with merchandise promotion and YouTube begging reminiscent of 2007, before GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen gets thoroughly criticized by eBay after proposing a $56 billion takeover plan that eBay called “neither credible nor attractive,” which is corporate-speak for “please stop emailing us at 3 a.m.” Meanwhile, California residents might finally receive a small settlement check from Grubhub worth about half a burrito, just as Americans realize they dislike AI data centers even more than nuclear plants because nobody wants a warehouse full of GPUs boiling away the local water supply. Lake Tahoe residents are learning their electricity now goes to AI processing plants instead of people, xAI keeps adding methane turbines despite being sued over them, and SpaceXAI employees are fleeing Elon’s “sleep under your desk forever” lifestyle as if it were the last helicopter out of Saigon.IN THE NEWS, we start gently with the revelation that everyone at the Musk v. Altman trial is sitting on luxury butt cushions because apparently the singularity requires lumbar support, before plunging straight into the abyss: fake AI crypto journalists haunting Forbes and HuffPost like SEO poltergeists, OpenAI launching “Daybreak” so the robots can now secure the software they helped break, Anthropic trying to stop AI from becoming evil by feeding it morality fan fiction, and Google catching AI-generated zero-day exploits in the wild because cyberpunk novels were apparently instructional manuals. Waymo robotaxis are experimenting with driving into floodwaters, a family is suing OpenAI after ChatGPT allegedly advised their son to mix drugs with fatal results, graduating students booed an executive for praising AI as if she were announcing the arrival of cholera, and Meta continues its speedrun toward becoming the world’s largest scam mall while simultaneously demanding everyone trust its shiny new “encrypted AI chats.” Also: Meta is testing Grok-for-Threads, somebody created an AI poop-analysis startup that quietly sells your bowel movements to data brokers, GM got nailed for selling driver data, Lime still somehow exists and wants an IPO, and Japan’s first 3D-printed house shows that the future will at least look cool even as society collapses.MEDIA CANDY features Spotify celebrating twenty years of collecting your listening habits into a psychological profile you absolutely didn't care about during the CD era, plus The Punisher: One Last Kill ironically looking like unfinished PlayStation cutscenes, Good Omens Season 3, Devil May Cry Season 2, NBC somehow turning Wordle into a TV show because every executive has fully given up, shorter waits for Severance Season 3, and Rings of Power returning in November to continue spending the GDP of a small nation on elf misery.APPS & DOODADS checks in with Apple as it prepares Siri app integrations that developers already suspect will become subscription-based hostage situations. TikTok is testing an ad-free tier in the UK because, somehow, ads weren’t already enough punishment. Venmo is finally realizing that public payment feeds are insane. There's a Wikipedia clone made entirely of AI hallucinations, and an iPad arm mount sturdy enough to survive the upcoming climate wars.AT THE LIBRARY wraps up with Clowns (First Contact), Dungeon Crawler Carl, the demise of another Goodreads competitor, Kindle alternatives for those trying to escape Amazon’s panopticon, and a reminder that Douglas Adams has now been gone for 25 years, which remains, in the immortal words of the man himself, widely regarded as a bad move.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.Shopify - Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at Shopify.com/grumpyCleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKSPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/746Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ICjNBnP3sMkFOLLOW UPGrumpy Old Geeks Merch StoreGrumpy Old Geeks on YouTubeeBay Brutally Rejects GameStop’s $56 Billion Proposal: ‘Neither Credible nor Attractive’Wang et al. v. Grubhub, Inc.Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their AreaEnergy supplier abandons Lake Tahoe residents to serve data centersxAI Got Sued Over Its Gas Turbines, so It Naturally Added More of ThemElon Musk's SpaceXAI has been bleeding staff since its mergerIN THE NEWSEveryone at the Musk v. Altman Trial Is Using Fancy Butt CushionsFour Financial Journalists Accused of Being Fake AI-Generated Puppets That Shill Crypto in Forbes, HuffPost, and MoreDaybreak is OpenAI's response to Anthropic's Claude MythosAnthropic blames dystopian sci-fi for training AI models to act “evil”Google announces its first-ever discovery of a zero-day exploit made with AIWaymo Admits Its Robotaxis Have a Small Issue With Driving Into FloodwatersFamily sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT advice led to accidental overdoseGraduation Speaker Says AI Is ‘The Next Industrial Revolution,’ Immediately Drowned Out by Booing StudentsMeta is facing another lawsuit over scam ads on Facebook and InstagramAfter Killing Encrypted DMs, Mark Zuckerberg Wants You to Trust His New Encrypted AI ChatHey @meta.ai is that true? Threads is testing a Grok-like AI featureInternet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops<a href="https://www.engadget.com/2169135/gm-agrees-to-pay-12-75-million-to-settle-california-lawsuit-over-misuse-...
Summary
745: Unwanted Senior Discount
1w ago01:08:24Summary readyIn FOLLOW UP, the guys marvel at the completely normal state of America as Amnesty International issues a travel advisory for the 2026 World Cup because apparently “visiting the United States” now comes with the same vibe as backpacking through a failed cyberpunk state. Then it’s onto Dead Podcast Theory, where more than a third of all new podcasts are AI-generated “podslop,” proving Silicon Valley heard “everyone has a podcast” and responded with “what if nobody did?” Meanwhile, Ticketmaster reminds everyone that if you’ve purchased a concert ticket since 2010, there’s probably a class action settlement with your name on it and enough compensation for half a convenience fee.IN THE NEWS is basically one long panic attack sponsored by AI. The White House is considering regulating AI models, Canada says OpenAI vacuumed up everyone’s personal data like a drunk Roomba, Character.AI allegedly impersonated a licensed psychiatrist, and Mother Jones found ChatGPT still happily helping aspiring mass shooters workshop their plans. Snap’s Perplexity deal died quietly in a ditch while Meta keeps assembling humanoid robots like it’s building the world’s most annoying version of Westworld. Then GameStop tries to buy eBay in the dumbest sentence ever typed, Ryan Cohen gets himself banned from eBay while trying to meme-finance the deal, Elon Musk settles with the SEC for pocket lint money, Coinbase fires people because “AI,” Toto accidentally becomes a semiconductor giant through toilet technology, and smart glasses officially evolve from creepy gadget to extortion accessory.MEDIA CANDY brings some relief with Daredevil: Born Again and Widow’s Bay. The Academy finally decides AI-generated actors and scripts can’t win Oscars, which feels like the bare minimum required to stop ChatGPT from getting Best Supporting Actor before Willem Dafoe.In APPS & DOODADS, Pornhub returns to the UK thanks to Apple’s age verification system, Ask.com finally dies and takes Jeeves with it into the great dial-up tone in the sky, and Apple agrees to pay users because “Apple Intelligence” arrived somewhere between vaporware and wishful thinking.Finally, THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE tackles the true meaning of “decimate,” AI-powered C-3PO heads, mechanical keyboards for grown men who refuse to use laptop keys, Maul: Shadow Lord, The Boys, and a reminder that Solo was a great movie, grocery store adventures, lost AirPods, and the eternal mystery of why middle-aged dudes become furries. Because at this point, why not?Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/745Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/0P9rgRrL4-QFOLLOW UP2026 World Cup Travel AdvisoryMore Than a Third of All New Podcasts Are AI-GeneratedWelcome to the Ticketmaster Fee Class Action WebsiteIN THE NEWSThe White House is considering tighter regulation of new AI modelsCanadian officials claim OpenAI violated federal and provincial privacy lawsPennsylvania sues Character.AI after a chatbot allegedly posed as a doctorEven After Two Massacres, OpenAI Still Hasn’t Stopped ChatGPT From Helping Plan School ShootingsSnap's $400 million deal with Perplexity is deadMeta acquires robotics AI startup as it makes the push into humanoid machinesGameStop submits $56 billion offer to buy eBayGameStop CEO Ryan Cohen Banned From eBay After Flexing His Meme-Stock MuscleElon Musk settles with the SEC for $1.5 million after years-long dispute over his Twitter investmentCoinbase to Lay Off 14% of Workforce Amid AI Disruption and Crypto VolatilityToilet maker Toto is here to help with the RAM crisisExtortion Using Smart Glasses Is a Thing NowMEDIA CANDYDaredevil: Born AgainWidow’s BayFun item for media candy?AI performances and screenplays won't be eligible for OscarsAPPS & DOODADSPornhub Expands Access in the U.K. Thanks to Apple’s New Age Verification SystemAsk.com has shut down, marking the official farewell to the Internet's favorite butleriPhone users could get up to $95 per device as Apple reaches $250M settlement over Siri delaysTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the Building'Decimate' means much more today than it did in ancient RomeThis AI-Powered Talking...
Summary
744: Goblin Mode
2w ago01:23:28Summary readyEpisode 744 kicks off with new merch in the wild and the ongoing expansion of the “protect the children from the internet” playbook. Manitoba is floating a ban on social media and AI chatbots for kids with details still TBD, while the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee somehow managed unanimous approval on chatbot age-verification legislation. Utah, not to be outdone, passed SB 73 — a law that tries to pin age verification on VPN users and even bans sites from explaining what a VPN is, a move that will mostly degrade the internet without solving the problem it claims to address. Meanwhile, John Oliver finally unloaded on the AI industry, echoing long-standing criticisms: rushed products, acknowledged risks, and outsourced consequences.In the news, a U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant was arrested for allegedly turning classified intel about the Maduro capture into a $400K Polymarket win, then attempting to cover it up in ways that suggest poor operational planning. Meta cut more than 1,100 Kenyan content moderators after reports surfaced that they were exposed to explicit footage from smart glasses users, raising serious questions about labor practices in AI pipelines. Google signed a Pentagon AI deal despite internal backlash while posting massive revenue gains, underscoring where incentives actually land. OpenAI, meanwhile, is juggling missed targets, a shift away from Microsoft exclusivity, and continued reputational hits around Sam Altman — including a widely criticized apology tied to a mass shooting and a fabricated Bruno Mars tie-in for his World project. Add in a failed retrial bid from Sam Bankman-Fried, rising volumes of AI-generated web content, and political interference with the National Science Board, and the signal is clear: incentives are misaligned across the board.On the lighter side, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns July 23rd for its penultimate season, and Ted Lasso is back August 5th, for better or worse. Jack Dorsey beat the inevitable Elon attempt to reboot Vine with Divine, reviving six-second loops with a decentralized backbone and anti-AI safeguards. Apple continues its slow AI rollout with new photo editing tools, while Google pushes further into data aggregation with wardrobe-level photo analysis. Hardware check: Logitech’s MX Keys S lands as a heavier, brighter $119 iteration. In books, Peter Clines delivers with God’s Junk Drawer, while Martha Wells signals that the Murderbot series may be nearing its end. The Dark Side with Dave ties it together with gun storage PSAs, Disneyland lore, Galaxy’s Edge playlists, and a conversational detour through Super Dave, Martin Short, and the ongoing quirks of instant replay in baseball.Show notes at https://gog.show/744Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/P3NOSXlCs9EFOLLOW UPNew Merch!Canadian premier wants to ban social media and AI chatbots for kids in ManitobaSenate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves AI chatbot age verificationUtah’s New Law Targeting VPNs Goes Into Effect Next WeekJohn Oliver Just Took the AI Industry Behind a Shed and Beat It With a Pipe WrenchIN THE NEWSUS soldier arrested for allegedly making over $400,000 on Polymarket with classified Maduro informationMeta in row after workers who say they saw smart glasses users having sex lose jobsGoogle employees ask Sundar Pichai to say no to classified military AI useGoogle Signs Pentagon AI Deal Despite Employee BacklashGoogle Gives OpenAI 20 Billion Reasons To WorryOpenAI's Sam Altman apologizes for not reporting ChatGPT account of Tumbler Ridge suspect to policeSam Altman Caught in What May Be His Most Spectacular Lie YetOpenAI ends its exclusive partnership with Microsoft‘Never Talk About Goblins’: OpenAI’s Instructions to Codex Have a Weirdly Emphatic No-Creatures PolicySam Bankman-Fried Seems to Annoy Judge and Lose Latest Motion for New TrialDead Internet Theory Is 17% of the Way to Becoming Reality, Study FindsMatt Mullenweg thinks WordPress is in decline. He may be rightTrump has terminated several members of the independent National Science BoardAPPS & DOODADSJack Dorsey Beats Elon Musk to the Punch With a Reboot of VineJack Dorsey-backed Vine reboot Divine launches to the publiciOS 27 will reportedly come with new AI-powered photo editing toolsGoogle Photos Wardrobe will scan your pictures to compile a digital version of your closetLogitech MX Keys S KeyboardMEDIA CANDYStar Trek: Strange New Worlds returns for its penultimate season on July 23Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Season 4 Official Teaser | Paramount+How the Combadge Became the Ultimate Wearable of the ‘Star Trek’ UniverseTED LASSO Season 4 | Official Teaser Trailer (2026)AT THE LIBRARYGod's Junk Drawer by Peter ClinesMartha Wells Says the Murderbot Diaries May Be Reaching Its Final ChapterTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWire<a href="https://thecyberwire.com/podcasts/hacking-h...
Summary
743: Category Five Dystopia
3w ago01:18:28Summary readyIn FOLLOW UP, the child social media crackdown keeps expanding. Turkey just approved a ban for under-15s, and Sony will require age verification for PlayStation communication features in the UK and Ireland starting in June—because now you need to prove you’re an adult before trash-talking strangers online. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s prediction that fully autonomous AI employees would already be transforming business hasn’t materialized. Agentic systems are still struggling with basic workflows and, in some cases, slowing developers down. And in a more concrete reversal, Elon Musk acknowledged that pre-2023 Tesla Hardware 3 will never support Full Self-Driving. Customers who paid for the feature are now being steered toward discounted trade-ins, new cameras, and upgraded hardware—prompting obvious legal exposure.IN THE NEWS: SpaceX is reportedly targeting what could be the largest IPO ever, at roughly a $1.75 trillion valuation, with dual-class shares that preserve Musk’s control through super-voting rights. Prediction markets continue to degrade: Kalshi suspended political candidates for trading on their own races, and Polymarket saw alleged manipulation via a tampered weather sensor at Charles de Gaulle Airport. On the AI front, Anthropic’s new Mythos model had a chaotic rollout—used by the NSA, applied to patch hundreds of Firefox vulnerabilities, and briefly exposed through unauthorized access in a developer portal. Amazon followed with a $25 billion investment in Anthropic, even as governments appear to access similar capabilities independently.At the same time, the economics are tightening. Free tiers are shrinking, GitHub Copilot is shifting to token-based billing after costs doubled, and startups are normalizing six-figure monthly AI compute bills. Infrastructure growth continues unchecked: thousands of new data centers are planned across the U.S., while xAI faces scrutiny in Memphis over water usage and delayed mitigation projects. Environmental commitments increasingly resemble marketing rather than enforceable targets.Policy signals are equally aggressive. DHS is exploring smart glasses for ICE agents with facial recognition and gait analysis by 2027. Palantir published a manifesto advocating expanded use of state power with rhetoric that raised concerns about ideological framing. On a lighter note, a University of California, Santa Barbara study suggests that brief exposure to experimental film measurably increases creativity compared to standard social media consumption.MEDIA CANDY: Silo returns July 3 on Apple TV+, while The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 is expected sooner than planned. Battlestar Galactica lands on Paramount+ and Pluto TV May 1. Dead Can Dance is releasing monthly singles via its Bandcamp imprint. Deezer reports 44% of daily uploads—about 75,000 tracks—are AI-generated, though only a small fraction of streams come from them, many flagged as fraudulent. And yes, Jessica Jones is back in Daredevil.APPS & DOODADS: Apple patched the notification-cache bug that allowed forensic tools to recover deleted Signal messages. Roblox agreed to a $12 million settlement with Nevada and is rolling out facial age estimation, ID verification, and new contact controls, while still facing multi-state litigation. Cash App is targeting younger users—ages six to twelve—with parent-managed accounts, debit cards, and interest incentives. Separately, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction protecting ICE-tracking apps, ruling that government pressure on Apple and Meta to remove them likely violated First Amendment protections.IN THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE: AI-generated Star Wars fan films are improving visually, even if performances remain rigid. The current era of Star Trek is effectively closing out with a large prop auction, notably excluding Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The broader discussion circles back to time compression—post-pandemic, and with age—and the persistent disconnect between economic scale and general dissatisfaction.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.Shopify - Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial today at Shopify.com/grumpyPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/743Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/iLiRLcgP7zMFOLLOW UPSony will require age checks in the UK and Ireland to access PlayStation communication featuresTurkey wants to ban social media for kids under 15Today Is the Day Anthropic Promised That Fully Autonomous Employees Would Be Tearing Through the Business WorldThe Hardware in Your Pre-2023 Tesla Will Never Allow It to Fully Drive Itself, Elon Musk AdmitsIN THE NEWSExclusive: Musk and insiders to retain voting control of SpaceX after IPO, filing showsKalshi suspended three political candidates from its platform for insider tradingSomeone allegedly used a hairdryer to rig Polymarket weather betsThe NSA is reportedly using Anthropic's new model MythosMozilla says it patched 271 Firefox vulnerabilities thanks to Anthropic's Claude MythosAnthropic is investigating 'unauthorized access' of its Mythos cybersecurity toolAmazon will invest up to $25 billion in Anthropic in a broad dealAI Companies Think Destroying the Planet Is an Acceptable Trade-Off for Unlimited ProfitsMusk leaves Memphis high and dryStartups Brag They Spend More Money on AI Than Human EmployeesYou’re about to feel the AI money squeezeExclusive: Microsoft To Shift GitHub Copilot Users To Token-Based Billing, Tighten Rate LimitsHomeland Security reportedly wants to develop smart glasses for ICE<a href="https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/...
Summary
742: Uncouth Yet Highly Litigious
4w ago01:25:31Summary readyIn FOLLOW UP, while countries race to ban kids from social media, Estonia is opting out — its education minister arguing that bans just offload responsibility onto kids while governments and platforms avoid accountability. Australia already shows the limits: 61% of banned kids are still online, 70% say it’s easy to bypass, and major platforms are under investigation. The EU is rolling out an age-verification system using zero-knowledge proofs officials call “completely anonymized,” which sounds generous for a system that starts profiling you the moment it touches an account. Maybe retire the anonymity talking point.IN THE NEWS, the AI-brain-rot narrative keeps accelerating: one study found just ten minutes of AI use increases dependency and degrades performance once it’s removed — with users simply “not willing to try.” ChatGPT praised a fart-noise “song” as having a “cool lo-fi, late-night, slightly eerie vibe,” which would be harmless if that same sycophancy wasn’t showing up in darker contexts — including two mass shootings with ChatGPT in the background, and a lawsuit from a San Francisco woman claiming the tool helped her ex escalate harassment with AI-generated reports and threats. That same week, Sam Altman’s house was attacked by a suspect targeting AI execs. Elsewhere: France is ditching Windows for Linux; Amazon faces scrutiny for allegedly keeping workers on shift next to a dead colleague; Snap cut 16% of staff blaming AI; Reddit is fighting an ICE subpoena to unmask a critic; Google is blending Polymarket odds into News; the FAA is recruiting gamers as air traffic controllers; and Allbirds briefly became an “AI company,” spiked, then crashed when reality set back in. Norway quietly cured another HIV patient, the rare story that isn’t bleak.In APPS & DOODADS, California and New York are pushing DRM-style censorware for 3D printers, with New York tying it to felony penalties for certain files. The FCC’s router ban is already inconsistent — Netgear got a quiet exemption while others face an opaque process that could stall Wi-Fi 7. The Trump T1 phone still looks rough at $499 with a $100 preorder hook. Overcast raised its subscription to $29.99/year. Hidden iOS trick: long-press the App Store to go directly to Updates. Meta, after a $375M loss over child safety, is developing “Name Tag,” facial recognition for Ray-Ban glasses tied to Instagram — widely condemned — and reportedly plans to roll it out quietly. They’re also building an AI Zuckerberg clone for internal use. For older Kindles: jailbreak, use Calibre, and lean on Project Gutenberg.MEDIA CANDY: Live Nation was ruled a monopoly — remedies pending, appeal already filed, so ticket prices aren’t changing soon. Anna’s Archive got hit with a $322M judgment for scraping Spotify — far below the $13T ask. YouTube Premium is quietly raising prices again, following Netflix and Spotify; subscriptions are now a one-way ratchet. Good Omens returns May 13, Godzilla Minus Zero lands November 6, and Hunt for Gollum is set for December 2027 with a stacked cast. Meanwhile, streaming platforms still refuse to list actual drop times, which continues to annoy everyone.THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE: The Claude Mythos AI scare turned out to be marketing. The hype cycle giveth, and taketh away. Plus: new Star Wars chatter, Disneyland antics, a rebranded Muppets coaster, and AI Oakleys nobody asked for.Sponsors:Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/742Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Ogsa1dG1W_MFOLLOW UPEstonia is the rare EU country opposing child social media bansMajority of Australian kids are still on banned social media platforms, study findsEU Is Rolling Out an Online Age Verification App That Could Become the Global BlueprintIN THE NEWSFrench government says au revoir Windows, bienvenue LinuxAmazon Accused of Hiding Worker’s Death for a Week, Making Employees Keep Working as Corpse Lay on FloorSnap is laying off 16 percent of its workforce, blames AIWoman Sues OpenAI, Saying ChatGPT Unleashed a Vicious Stalker Against Her and Did Nothing When She Begged for HelpWhy Do ChatGPT Users Keep Committing Mass Shootings?Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly shooting at Sam Altman's houseChatGPT’s “Honest Reaction” to a “Song” Composed Entirely of Gas-Passing Noises Will Make You Question Whether It’s Honestly Evaluating Your Other Brilliant IdeasThere's yet another study about how bad AI is for our brainsShoe company Allbirds pivots to AI compute in sign of a totally normal and healthy economyAllbirds Stock Now Crashing as Reality Sets in About Its Delusional AI PivotThe US government wants Reddit to snitch on one of its users through a grand juryGoogle has reportedly started to add Polymarket data to News resultsThe FAA is encouraging gamers to get jobs in air traffic controlNorway Man Cured of HIV With Brother’s Stem CellsAPPS & DOODADSMeta warned by dozens of organizations that facial recognition on its smart glasses would empower predatorsMeta is reportedly building an AI clone of Mark ZuckerbergThe Dangers of California’s Legislation to Censor 3D PrintingStop New York's Attack on 3D PrintingThe Trump Phone Still Looks Like Total Trash<a href="https://9to5mac.com/2026/04/15/...
Summary
741: Moon Joy
Apr 1001:11:24Summary readyWe kick off with a the Dodgers spanking the Blue Jays and torn allegiances in Brian's house, then dive into Europe taking dead aim at your kids' screen time. Ireland is rolling out a Government Digital Wallet that'll verify ages before young'uns can doom-scroll their lives away, while Greece went fully scorched-earth and announced a ban on all under-15s using social media at all — announced, naturally, on TikTok.IN THE NEWS, the AI giants (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) are playing nicely together for once, teaming up through the Frontier Model Forum to stop Chinese firms from essentially photocopying their models on the cheap — billions in revenue, national security, and the small matter of safety guardrails stripped out. Turnabout is fair play? On the legal gambling front, prediction markets scored a federal win as a US appeals court ruled New Jersey can't regulate Kalshi; the Trump family's fingerprints are all over the prediction market space (surprise!), and the data suggests 0.04% of accounts are hoovering up 70% of profits like it's a perfectly healthy ecosystem. Also: the FBI pulled deleted Signal messages out of iPhone notification caches, GoPro is laying off 23% of its workforce while somehow remaining optimistic, and OpenAI is backing an Illinois bill that would shield AI companies from liability even in mass-casualty scenarios... cool. On the plus side, Artemis II astronauts took amazing photos of the Moon... on their iPhones.In APPS & DOODADS: Mercedes recalled its electric G-Wagons because the wheels might literally fall off, Amazon is sunsetting Kindles from 2012 and earlier for no reason anyone can figure out, and Apple Fitness on Apple TV is randomly scrambling workout stacks with no fix in sight — a premium locked ecosystem doing premium locked ecosystem things.In MEDIA CANDY, the crew is watching The Pitt, The Boys, Shrinking, and Daredevil, and you'll want to sit down for this: Mel Brooks and Rick Moranis are back — Spaceballs 2 hits theaters a full year from now even though it's done. Italy slapped Netflix with a court-ordered refund for price hikes going back to 2017, while Netflix simultaneously raised prices for US subscribers and launched Playground, a free kids gaming app that works offline (Peppa Pig and Sesame Street, no ads, no in-app purchases — hook 'em on Dah Dum young!)AT THE LIBRARY, Brian has given up on Breath and Jason reads Four Thousand Weeks and Art Spiegelman's Maus — the Pulitzer-winning Holocaust masterpiece that some people are still trying to ban, because humanity never fully learns.Closing out with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, Treasury Secretary Bessent and Fed Chair Powell apparently called an emergency meeting with bank CEOs over Anthropic's new model "Mythos," which can apparently find and exploit vulnerabilities across major OSes and browsers. The boys also catch up on Maul: Shadow Lord, the Strong Songs podcast's Joni Mitchell deep-dive ("Passions soften into wisdom" — weeping on the plane, apparently), the belated discovery that Marathon launched and nobody noticed, and some genuine moon joy courtesy of NASA's Artemis II astronauts.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.CleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKSPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/741Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/c_odV0tSa2kFOLLOW UPIreland is testing out a digital wallet that conducts age verification for social media usersGreece will ban all kids under 15 from using social mediaIN THE NEWSOpenAI, Anthropic, Google Unite to Combat Model Copying in ChinaNew Jersey has no right to ban Kalshi's prediction market, US appeals court rulesFBI used iPhone notification data to retrieve deleted Signal messagesGoPro to lay off over 20 percent of staff by the end of 2026OpenAI Backs Bill That Would Limit Liability for AI-Enabled Mass Deaths or Financial DisastersArtemis II astronaut puts all of our iPhone moon photos to shameAPPS & DOODADSMercedes-Benz recalls some G-Wagon EVs due to risk of wheels falling offAmazon is cutting off support for older KindlesPresto 08800 EverSharp Electric Knife Sharpener, 2-Stage System, Silver/BlackMEDIA CANDYThe PittThe BoysShrinkingDaredevilThe Spaceballs sequel will be released in April next yearAn Italian court ruled Netflix has to refund its customers for price hikes dating back to 2017Netflix just released a standalone gaming app for kidsAnonymous - Real Stories of Alcoholism, Addiction, and RecoveryAT THE LIBRARYBreath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James NestorFour Thousand Weeks By Oliver BurkemanMaus I & IITHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE<a href="https://twitter.com/bittner" rel="noo...
Summary
740: To the Moon!
Apr 301:16:39Summary readyWelcome to Grumpy Old Geeks, where we're starting to notice a patience epidemic! As people get used to barking orders at their AI, they're starting to talk to other humans with the same terse impatience. We discuss the enshittification of social media like Threads, which are now completely overrun with AI-generated slop.This week, we dive into the corporate shenanigans of the tech world. OpenAI was caught secretly funding an advocacy group to push for age verification laws that just so happen to benefit Sam Altman's other company. We also cover Elon Musk's troubles, including all of xAI's co-founders quitting, a SpaceX satellite exploding, and Tesla's "fully autonomous" robotaxis being revealed to have remote human drivers.Plus, we celebrate NASA's successful Artemis II launch, review a fantastic Premiere Pro plugin for multicam editing, and give our thoughts on shows like "The Pit" and "Downton Abbey."Sponsors:SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/740Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IpzOakbBftYFOLLOW UPAustria is pursuing a social media ban for kids under 14Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAIOpenAI takes on another “side quest,” buys tech-focused talk show TBPNIN THE NEWSElon Musk’s last co-founder reportedly leaves xAISpaceX loses contact with one of its Starlink satellitesSpaceX has reportedly filed for the biggest IPO in historyOpenAI Is Falling Out of Favor With Secondary BuyersOracle Lays Off Thousands to Offset AI SpendingAnthropic leaks part of Claude Code’s internal source codeAnthropic is having a monthWikipedia Just Drew the Line on A.I.-Written ContentTesla Admits Its Robotaxis Are Being Driven RemotelyGetting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared ofWhite House App Found Tracking Users' Exact Location Every 4.5 Minutes via Third-Party ServerKash Patel's personal email account was accessed by hackers linked to IranNASA's Artemis II Live Mission Coverage (Official Broadcast)MEDIA CANDYThe Hobbit: The Tolkien EditThe PittDTF St. LouisProject Hail MarySUPERGIRL | Official TrailerDownton AbbeyDarker Waves FestivalAPPS & DOODADSBluesky's next product is an AI assistant that helps build custom social media feedsChatGPT app launches for CarPlay on iOS 26.4Apple Removes iPhone Vibe Coding App from App StoreMeta is testing an Instagram Plus subscription service with exclusive featuresWraith Multi-Cam EditorTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingCurrent ReaderJournalist Sues FAA Over Drone No Fly Zone Designed to Prevent Filming ICENicholas Carlini - Black-hat LLMs | [un]prompted 2026See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Summary
739: The Thin Black Line
Mar 2700:59:02Summary readyMeta fined $375M for child safety failures. Musk lost 3 lawsuits in a week. Sam Altman compared to a Nazi. Netflix raised prices again. The Pentagon can't quit Claude. Reddit wants your face scan. Star Trek's streaming era is over. But the thin black line holds! 🎙️Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/739Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hdhHiOaclu0FOLLOW UPPolymarket is cracking down on insider trading with updated ruleshttps://www.engadget.com/big-tech/polymarket-is-cracking-down-on-insider-trading-with-updated-rules-163928655.htmlJudge temporarily blocks Pentagon's 'supply chain risk' designation for Anthropichttps://abcnews.com/Technology/judge-temporarily-blocks-pentagons-supply-chain-risk-designation/story?id=131453267IN THE NEWSJury rules against Meta, orders $375 million fine in major child safety trialhttps://www.engadget.com/social-media/jury-rules-against-meta-orders-375-million-fine-in-major-child-safety-trial-224215209.htmlJury rules against Meta and YouTube in social media addiction casehttps://www.engadget.com/social-media/jury-rules-against-meta-and-youtube-in-social-media-addiction-case-181344860.htmlElon Musk loses big in court; X boycott perfectly legalhttps://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/elon-musk-loses-big-in-court-x-boycott-perfectly-legal/Elon Musk misled investors during his Twitter takeover, jury findshttps://www.engadget.com/social-media/elon-musk-misled-investors-during-his-twitter-takeover-jury-finds-232033028.htmlElon Musk Will Have to Face the Music in Lawsuit Over DOGE's Government Overreachhttps://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-will-have-to-face-the-music-in-lawsuit-over-doges-government-overreach-2000737413OpenAI reportedly plans to double its workforce to 8,000 employeeshttps://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-reportedly-plans-to-double-its-workforce-to-8000-employees-161028377.htmlSam Altman Thanks Programmers for Their Effort, Says Their Time Is Overhttps://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-thanks-programmers-overSam Altman Confronted At Oscars Party Over Pentagon Dealhttps://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sam-altman-confronted-oscar-pentagon-dealR.I.P. Sora (2024-2026)https://gizmodo.com/r-i-p-sora-2024-2026-2000737664Disney's Sora Disaster Shows AI Will Not Revolutionize Hollywoodhttps://www.404media.co/disneys-openai-sora-disaster-shows-ai-will-not-save-hollywood/The Tech Bubble Might Finally Be Poppinghttps://slate.com/technology/2026/03/ai-openai-sam-altman-disney-sora-shutdown.htmlElon Musk announces Terafab project he claims will be the 'largest chip manufacturing facility ever'https://www.engadget.com/science/elon-musk-announces-terafab-project-he-claims-will-be-the-largest-chip-manufacturing-facility-ever-171718545.htmlTrump Rewards Big Tech's Biggest Bootlickers With Seats on AI Policy Boardhttps://gizmodo.com/trump-rewards-big-techs-biggest-bootlickers-with-seats-on-ai-policy-board-2000738006Pinterest CEO says teens under 16 should be banned from social media (but not Pinterest)<a href="https://www.engadget.com/soc...
Summary
738: A Sprinkling of Random
Mar 2001:24:05Summary ready13 years of podcasting has taught us nothing; companies are lying about AI layoffs while Meta destroys itself from the inside; Andreessen has zero introspection and it shows; Dune 3 looks incredible; Firefly lives again; one idiot executive staked Buffy; Adobe paid $75M for being evil; your AI passwords are garbage; Dave Bittner is here to make you feel worse about all of it.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/738Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pykGjOmMs5cFOLLOW UPGOG Ep 1: How to Make Money on the Internet - March 25th, 2013The ‘AI-Washing’ of Job Cuts Is Corrosive and ConfusingRace on to establish globally recognised 'AI-free' logoBillionaire Marc Andreessen says he has "zero" introspection, and that the idea itself is a modern invention.Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don’t rewrite an Iran missile storyIN THE NEWSAtlassian to cut roughly 10% jobs in pivot to AIMeta is reportedly planning to cut up to 20 percent of its staff in upcoming layoffsMeta Is Building an Encrypted Chatbot After AI Agents Went Rogue and Exposed Sensitive DataMeta Says It Is Removing End-to-End Encryption From Instagram Direct MessagesMeta is testing clickable links in Instagram captions for verified subscribersEncyclopedia Britannica sues OpenAI for copyright and trademark infringementSenators tell ByteDance to shut down Seedance 2.0 AI video app 'immediately'Things Are Suddenly Looking Incredibly Bad for Trump’s Social Media CompanyTrump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok dealThe Billionaire Backlash Against a Philanthropic DreamJeff Bezos’ Washington Post Now Setting Readers’ Subscription Prices With Uber-Style AIAPPS & DOODADSAdobe agrees to pay settlement for making its subscriptions hard to cancelEverything you need to know to design with StitchWhat is DESIGN.md?Warning: Your AI-Generated Password Is a Major Security Risk. Here’s What to Use InsteadMEDIA CANDYDune: Part Three | Official Teaser TrailerHow ‘Dune: Part Three’ Is Changing the Entire ‘Dune’ Franchise"Paradise" has been renewed for Season 3 at Hulu, Variety has learned.Paradise on HuluMars ExpressNathan Fillion Says ‘Firefly’ Animated Series In Development With Co-Stars Set To Reprise Roles; Concept Art RevealedSarah Michelle Gellar Says a Single Executive Was Responsible for Killing the ‘Buffy’ Reboot‘V For Vendetta’ at 20: We Spoke to Its Director About the Increasingly Relevant Comic AdaptationTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingDisney's 100% Rotten Tomatoes Masterpiece Returns This Fall With Brand-New ReleaseShhh… It’s zombie proof. Kia’s all-electric rangeThe Last Quiet Thing by Terry GodierEvel Knievel Kings Island 1975 - Farthest Successful Jump at 133 feet70's Evel Knievel Toy Commercial IDEAL<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtSse68n...
Summary
737: Monetizable Content
Mar 1301:04:27Summary readyIn this week's show we start with FOLLOW UP: The world keeps trying to protect kids online — Indonesia just joined Australia, Spain, and Malaysia in banning social media for under-16s, while COPPA 2.0 sailed through the US Senate unanimously. Meanwhile, Roblox is using AI to clean up its chat, because apparently "Hurry TF up" is the hill they've chosen to die on — even as they're still dealing with the whole "pedophile problem" thing from January. On the AI copyright front, Gracenote is the latest company to sue OpenAI for helping itself to proprietary data, joining a growing queue of plaintiffs who apparently didn't get the memo that everything is training data now.IN THE NEWS: Anthropic is suing the Pentagon after being labeled a "supply chain risk" — apparently because the CEO said AI shouldn't be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons, which the Trump administration heard as fighting words. The delicious irony: the Pentagon is still running Claude in active operations while trying to phase it out. Speaking of active operations, investigators now think a missile strike on an Iranian girls' school may have been triggered by bad AI-generated intelligence from that same Claude-based system. So yes, the autocomplete that hallucinates your grocery list is also maybe accidentally bombing schools. Meta's Oversight Board is begging the company to get serious about AI-generated content after a fake war video from a Filipino fake news account racked up 700K views — while separately, Zuckerberg dropped cash on Moltbook, a "social network for AI agents" that turned out to be mostly humans larping as bots and had a security flaw that exposed everyone's API keys. The guy who built it basically vibe-coded the whole thing. Meta's own CTO said he didn't "find it particularly interesting." And yet. Oracle is hemorrhaging jobs and drowning in debt chasing AI dreams, its stock down 50% from peak — a timely reminder that "AI will replace workers" is currently manifesting as "companies set money on fire and lay people off to pay the electric bill." Researchers confirmed AI is homogenizing human thought and creativity — a thing some of us have been screaming since day one. A DOGE engineer allegedly walked out of the Social Security Administration with databases containing personal info on 500 million Americans on a thumb drive. The Ig Nobel Prize is relocating to Switzerland because it's no longer safe to invite international guests to America. Nintendo is suing the US government to get its tariff money back. SETI thinks it may have been accidentally filtering out alien signals due to space weather. And Pokémon Go players unknowingly spent a decade building a centimeter-accurate surveillance map of Earth's cities that's now guiding pizza delivery robots — which, honestly, tracks.In APPS & DOODADS: The GOG clan in Clash Royale just hit eight years old — respect. OpenAudible is the cross-platform audiobook manager your Audible library deserves, especially if you've got over a thousand books sitting there judging you.And finally in MEDIA CANDY: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 is here, and pretty beige. Live Nation settled its DOJ antitrust case for $200 million, kept Ticketmaster, and avoided a breakup — meanwhile court documents revealed employees joking about "robbing fans blind" and gouging "stupid" customers, which explains basically every concert ticket you've bought in the last decade. YouTube is now officially the world's largest media company at $62 billion in revenue. Bluesky's CEO is stepping down, which is either a bad sign or just the natural order of "person who built the cool thing hands it to the person who scales the cool thing." Dead Set — Charlie Brooker's 2008 zombie-in-the-Big-Brother-house miniseries — is worth a watch if you haven't. And trailers dropped for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 (March 24th), The Boys final season (April 8th), and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April 1st — yes, really).Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.CleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKSPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/737Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DgSYnFF6twEFOLLOW UPIndonesia announces a social media ban for anyone under 16Anthropic Sues PentagonMetadata company Gracenote is the latest to sue OpenAI for copyright infringementRoblox introduces real-time AI-powered chat rephraser for inappropriate languageIN THE NEWSCOPPA 2.0 passes the Senate again, unanimously this timeAI Error Likely Led to Iran Girl's School BombingThe Oversight Board says Meta needs new rules for AI-generated contentMark Zuckerberg Decides Meta Needs More Slop, Buys the Social Network for AI AgentsOracle Axing Huge Number of Jobs as AI Crisis IntensifiesYou can (sort of) block Grok from editing your uploaded photosResearchers Say AI Is Homogenizing Human Expression and ThoughtSocial Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databasesNintendo is suing the US government over Trump's tariffsSETI Thinks It Might Have Missed a Few Alien Calls. Here's WhyIg Nobel Ceremony Relocates to Europe Amid Safety Concerns in Trump’s AmericaAPPS & DOODADSClash RoyaleOpenAudibleBluesky's CEO is stepping down after nearly 5 yearsHow Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the worldRobot Escort...
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