696: Googliearchs

Summary

Grumpy Old Geeks Podcast - Episode 696: "Googliearchs"

Release Date: May 9, 2025

Hosts: Jason DeFilippo, Brian Schulmeister
Guest: Dave Bittner

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1. Social Media Algorithms and Teen Safety

Discussed from [00:01] to [07:10]

The episode kicks off with Jason introducing a new feature—Instagram Teen Accounts—designed to enhance the safety of teenage users. This feature includes automatic protections controlling who can contact teens and the content they can access.

Brian humorously compares it to ensuring teenagers always have their seatbelts on:
"Like making sure they always have their seatbelt on." ([00:06])

The conversation swiftly shifts to the broader issue of algorithmically curated content. Jason expresses frustration over the manipulative nature of social media algorithms:
"I've actually had to limit myself to 90 seconds now, per any social media app, because it will suck me in." ([01:19])

Brian echoes this sentiment, highlighting the pervasive influence of algorithms:
"On every different social media account that I have, I get a radically different worldview." ([04:39])

They delve into how personalized algorithms create disparate realities for users, leading to radicalization and misinformation. Jason shares a personal anecdote about conflicting content on TikTok versus his own feed, illustrating the fragmented nature of online experiences.

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2. Cryptocurrency Regulations and Legal Actions

Discussed from [07:10] to [11:44]

The hosts transition to the deteriorating economics of Bitcoin mining, emphasizing its growing unfeasibility due to high energy costs. They cite Kuwait's crackdown on crypto miners, blaming the practice for blackouts and stressing the strain on power grids in a country where summers reach 125°F:
"Officials have blamed the practice for blackouts and for causing stress on its power grids." ([07:32])

Brian and Jason discuss similar regulatory moves in other countries like Russia, Kosovo, Iceland, and Norway, noting the global trend toward restricting crypto mining to conserve energy.

The conversation shifts to the Celsius Network founder, Alexander Mashinsky, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding customers: "Celsius did collapse in 2022, exposing Mashinsky's risky bets and 45 million dollars personal profit." ([10:23])

Jason strongly criticizes the lenient punishment:
"Let's put him in rapey butt prison. I think that's a better one." ([10:56])

---

3. Media Mergers: DoorDash Acquires Deliveroo

Discussed from [15:23] to [16:40]

Jason and Brian discuss DoorDash's acquisition of British delivery service Deliveroo for $3.9 billion: "It does make sense that you would start to see consolidation in this industry as they are having again, smaller margins and less people are using them and all that sort of stuff." ([15:23])

They analyze the strategic advantage this merger provides DoorDash, expanding its global footprint into Europe and the Middle East, accessing a population exceeding 1 billion people: "This acquisition will strengthen DoorDash's position as a leading global platform." ([15:35])

Jason humorously introduces the concept of a "Deliveroo oligarchy" as a future consequence of such consolidations:
"A deliveroo oligarchy." ([16:50])

---

4. Elon Musk’s X (Formerly Twitter) Challenges

Discussed from [16:40] to [18:26]

The hosts shift focus to Elon Musk's struggles with X, highlighting the platform's decline in user engagement and increasing spam and bot activity: "Elon Musk wants to hire a PR pro to fix X because apparently even he's noticed it's a flaming dumpster full of bots, spam, and Nazi adjacent reposts." ([16:55])

Brian sarcastically suggests that the problems are inherent to what Musk built:
"But this is what he built. This is what he wanted. He created this." ([16:58])

Jason criticizes Musk's inability to control the platform's deterioration:
"It's a tough, tough world out there. Your phone's not listening to you, but the algorithm sure as hell is." ([06:48])

They discuss the broader implications of decreased trust in mainstream news sources, with social media algorithms shaping users' perceptions and beliefs.

---

5. AI and Its Impact on Society and Children

Discussed from [18:26] to [22:50]

A significant portion of the episode addresses Artificial Intelligence's role in society, particularly its effects on children. Jason references a New York Times report about Google's Gemini AI being made available to users under 13: "Google will be making Gemini available to users under 13, so long as they're under a parent managed Google account using Family Link." ([19:02])

The hosts express skepticism about the effectiveness of these protections, recalling past failures like YouTube Kids in adequately filtering inappropriate content: "They were promised guardrails, but they actually served a lot of inappropriate content for a young kid." ([19:39])

Brian introduces disturbing anecdotes about ChatGPT-induced psychosis, where individuals develop delusional beliefs influenced by AI interactions: "A Reddit thread titled 'Chat GPT Induced Psychosis' has become a support group for others, seeing loved ones lose touch with reality." ([21:16])

They debate the ethical implications of deploying AI for children, stressing the potential for misuse and psychological harm: "Soon to be Gemini for your little child... let's not unleash it on children." ([21:48])

---

6. Privacy and Security in Apps

Discussed from [25:18] to [29:43]

The discussion turns to privacy breaches in applications, focusing on the dating app Raw: "Due to a lack of basic digital security protections, RAW was accidentally leaving users personal information open to public inspection." ([25:43])

Brian elaborates on the severity, explaining that detailed personal data, including sexual preferences and precise location information, were exposed: "Anyone with a web browser could access detailed app user information, including their data bird birth, display name, sexual preferences, and street-level location data." ([26:16])

Jason humorously critiques the app's new hardware feature, the Raw Ring, designed to track lovers' locations to prevent cheating: "I was going to ask if it was a cock ring, but I guess it may be." ([26:16])

They express concerns over data security and the potential misuse of personal information, emphasizing the need for better protections in app development.

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7. Satellite Internet: Starlink's Promotion Abroad

Discussed from [27:08] to [29:43]

Jason brings up US Government’s covert promotion of Elon Musk’s Starlink in foreign nations facing new tariffs: "Shortly after Trump announced a 50% tariff on Lesotho, a small African nation suddenly approved Starlink's first ever license there." ([27:32])

They cite internal State Department cables revealing similar strategies in countries like India, Cambodia, Somalia, Pakistan, and Vietnam: "Internal memos describe similar moves in countries like India, Cambodia, Somalia, Pakistan, and Vietnam, often with embassies pushing Starlink by name." ([28:11])

Brian points out the ethical ambiguities, noting that while the strategy isn't illegal, it blurs the lines between diplomacy and tech marketing: "This blurs ethical lines and highlights how US diplomacy is now doubling as tech marketing." ([28:45])

Jason humorously laments the pervasiveness of such tactics:
"Can we make corruption illegal again? What's the acronym on that? Can I get a hat?" ([29:35])

---

8. AI Resurrection in Legal Context

Discussed from [34:19] to [35:44]

Jason highlights a unique use of AI where a family used artificial intelligence to digitally resurrect their murdered loved one in court: "At the sentencing of his convicted killer, a lifelike recreation of Pelkey addressed the courtroom." ([34:19])

The hosts debate the ethical and emotional implications of such technology, with Jason acknowledging the mixed reactions: "While the family says the digital likeness brought them healing and closure, critics online are calling it disturbing." ([35:44])

Brian adds a skeptical view:
"I just wonder if somebody at Rolling Stone is actually using ChatGPT to write the damn article because it just sounds so far fetched." ([22:05])

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9. Weather Radar System Security

Discussed from [32:38] to [34:19]

The conversation shifts to the illicit targeting of US weather radar systems by an anti-government militia group claiming the existence of weather manipulation weapons: "NeExrad radar sites to identify weaknesses." ([34:10])

They discuss the importance of these systems for severe weather forecasting and express concerns over their vulnerability: "Nexrad, short for Next Generation Weather Radar, is a critical tool used to forecast severe weather." ([34:07])

Jason humorously notes the decline in weather reporting quality:
"And the weather reporting down here has gone to absolute shit." ([34:15])

---

10. Entertainment, Nostalgia, and Personal Anecdotes

Discussed from [36:40] onwards

Towards the end of the episode, the hosts engage in lighter topics, discussing Star Wars series, classic rock, streaming experiences, and personal experiences with vintage technology.

Brian shares his passion for industrial design, reminiscing about Industrial Light and Magic books and classic Sony designs: "The first record album I ever owned was Elton John's Greatest Hits. The second was Kiss Alive 2." ([59:15])

Jason recounts acquiring a vintage Sony Walkman, emphasizing the nostalgia and appeal of older technology: "I just got a mint condition Sony Walkman. I have a very faint image of this giant building with a Ferris wheel in it." ([65:07])

They also touch upon streaming service frustrations, referencing the removal of favorite shows from platforms like Max and Netflix, and humorously lament over classic rock bands like KISS: "I have a little follow up that I want to start on today, Brian, about algorithmically curated content." ([00:56])

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11. Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

Discussed from [87:00] onwards

The episode concludes with acknowledgments to Patreon supporters, shoutouts to listeners, and light-hearted banter about potential future episodes and merchandise. The hosts encourage listeners to support the podcast through various channels to keep the "grumpiness alive."

---

Notable Quotes:

• Jason DeFilippo ([01:19]): "I've actually had to limit myself to 90 seconds now, per any social media app, because it will suck me in."

• Brian Schulmeister ([04:39]): "On every different social media account that I have, I get a radically different worldview."

• Jason DeFilippo ([10:56]): "Let's put him in rapey butt prison. I think that's a better one."

• Jason DeFilippo ([27:32]): "Shortly after Trump announced a 50% tariff on Lesotho, a small African nation suddenly approved Starlink's first ever license there."

• Brian Schulmeister ([34:07]): "Nexrad, short for Next Generation Weather Radar, is a critical tool used to forecast severe weather."

• Jason DeFilippo ([35:44]): "While the family says the digital likeness brought them healing and closure, critics online are calling it disturbing."

---

Conclusion:

In episode 696, "Googliearchs," Grumpy Old Geeks comprehensively dissect pressing issues in the tech world, ranging from the impact of social media algorithms on youth safety to the ethical dilemmas posed by AI in personal and legal contexts. The hosts blend sharp critiques with personal anecdotes, providing listeners with a thorough and engaging analysis of contemporary technological challenges and their broader societal implications.

Transcript

[Jason DeFilippo]

Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts. A new way to keep your teen safer as they grow.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Like making sure they always have their seatbelt on.

[Jason DeFilippo]

All right, sweetie pie, buckle up. Good job. Or ring the bell on their bike. Okay, kid, give it a try. Nice. Or remember their elbow pads. Knees, too. Okay.

[Dave Bittner]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There you go. New Instagram Teen Accounts. Automatic protections for who can contact your teenage and the content they can see. Grumpy Old Geeks, a weekly talk show hosted by Brian Schulmeister and Jason DeFilippo discussing the finer points of what went wrong on the Internet and who's to blame. Welcome to Grumpy Old geeks. I'm Jason DeFilippo.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I'm Brian Schillmeister.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I have a little follow up that I want to start on today, Brian, about algorithmically curated content.

[Unknown Speaker]

The bane of my existence.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes, the bane of everybody's existence, it would seem.

[Unknown Speaker]

Except for the influencers. They lie.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Fucking influencers. Well, I had to explain to my roommate Today that the TikTok she sees is not the TikTok I see. And I thought, oh, my God, it's 2025. Why do I still have to keep doing this? And I thought, well, if I have to tell her, maybe I should just tell the audience too.

[Unknown Speaker]

Have you tried turning off the social feed and restarting it?

[Jason DeFilippo]

I've actually had to limit myself to 90 seconds now, per any social media app, because it will suck me in. And I know that I started posting on Instagram again because I had to. And if I stay more than 90 seconds, it's 20 minutes, period. It's 20 minutes no matter what. I know better. I know better and it sucks me in.

[Unknown Speaker]

I hate to be so graphic about this, but I have decided and kind of been doing it. I am limiting my social media perusals to the bathroom trips.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, I wish I could just do that, because the problem there is my legs fall asleep and I can't get up. It's not good. It's not good. So here's what happened this week, and I think. I think you might get a kick out of this. So she's on the Tick Tock. And every time I come home, she'll be telling me what is new and exciting on the Tick Tock. Because everybody's talking about it on Tick Tock. And this week it was, they know something. They're gonna kill the President. I'm like, what? What are you talking about? She's like, everybody's talking about this same date. And then everybody's also saying, what are you going to do when you hear the news? That's the big thing.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, it wasn't 4:20. That was the big one, because on 420 we were going to have. He was going to declare martial law, and we should be prepared for that. It's always something new because it has to always be something new because you got to keep those clicks.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, yeah. Now this one's June 14th, I believe.

[Unknown Speaker]

Okay.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, this is June 14th is the day of reckoning for the Cheeto. So I'm like, okay, what are you talking about? And she shows me, she pulls up her iPad and she starts going through TikTok. And it is dozens and dozens of these videos of people piling on with what are you going to do when you hear the news? And so, of course, it's been memed, so people are just going to make follow on content with it. And I'm like, let me show you what it looks like on my TikTok. I open up my TikTok, there is a plethora, a plethora even, of scantily clad women doing funny dances, because the TikTok knows me all too well.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes, Dogs and scantily clad women. Preferably not together.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, not together. Not together. There. There was no mention of the Cheeto whatsoever. You know, Mad King Poopypants is not on my TikTok feed because it knows I don't want to see that. And it just. It drives home the fact that, you know, there are so many different versions of reality when people come onto social networks and we tend to forget how influential this shit can get and how people can get radicalized. Look, the guy that owns one of the. What used to be one of the biggest social media networks before he destroyed it, radicalized himself, you know.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's how powerful these things are.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, of course they are, because nobody watches mainstream news anymore. Nobody reads newspapers anymore. Nobody. You know, there's just. This is where we get everything now. It all comes from social media. It doesn't come from any vetted professional source.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, I know. No.

[Unknown Speaker]

So, and so this is just where we go. And this stuff incentivizes you and it radicalizes and it goes down rabbit holes. But depending on whatever you want to do, I just think about my limited social media that I do. Even, like, on every different social media account that I have, I get a radically different worldview.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Like, I think about, like, Facebook, which I generally have just used for friends, but you never really see that anymore because they've all bailed and all that sort of stuff. But I curated Facebook to kind of give me news for the show. So I get a lot of stuff about music and I get a lot of stuff about tech and I get all that sort of stuff. X slash, what used to be Twitter has now just become this insane conspiracy theory crazy right wing blah. And that you just get served that no matter what. So that's all I get there on threads. All I get is improving your life. Bullshit from influencers there usually posted three.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Weeks ago because I don't think they can still do anything in real time, can they?

[Unknown Speaker]

Exactly. And on Blue sky, it's generally kind of a basically what my X feed used to be. It's an awful lot of science. It's scientists and political scientists and all that sort of. And it's learned people discussing the things that they do for a living and they all completely different because I. And an Instagram is, you know, if I did the search thing, I'd probably be similar to your Tik Tok. Because, you know, sometimes you just click on things because.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, because they're there.

[Unknown Speaker]

Look, she's beautiful.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Got me to look at, man. Come on.

[Unknown Speaker]

So, you know, it's, it's just, it all depends on what you click on on each service and you. And even though everybody is on all the services in general, like all. Everybody is posting the same on. On all the services, but depending on what you've clicked on in the past will determine what you see on them. And so I have vastly different worldviews presented to me depending on which service I'm on.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And trying to explain that though to people who don't even understand how algorithms pick the content for them is such a, it's such an exercise in futility because they just, they don't. They just like they still believe the.

[Unknown Speaker]

Phone'S listening to you. So you know, this is true.

[Jason DeFilippo]

This is true. But they just think that what they see is what everybody's seeing. And, and until you pull. Even when you pull out your, your device and show them, no, this is not what I see. This is what you see because you're Mr. Crazy Pants and you like to click on that.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So yeah. Just. Just remember people that it's a, it's a tough, tough world out there. Your phone's not listening to you, but the algorithm sure as hell is.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, they are. Yeah. So it's like people will say to me, did you see blah blah blah on blah? And I'm like, no.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I sure didn't.

[Unknown Speaker]

You're nuts. Now I know what you click On.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, seriously. Seriously. It's a miracle when I send somebody to something and they say, oh, I've already seen that. I'm like, oh, that's rare. It's totally rare nowadays.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

All right, what else?

[Unknown Speaker]

We got a bit more follow up. We were talking last week about how the. How it's basically not worth it anymore to mine bitcoin because it's too expensive for energy costs and everything else that's involved. So unless you're a massive farmer. And even then the slim margins have become even slimmer. Bunch of governments have recognized this, although it's a bit more self serving than that and are starting to crack down. Kuwait in particular is cracking down on cryptocurrency miners throughout the country. Officials have blamed the practice for blackouts and for causing stress on its power grids. And when you have 125 degree Fahrenheit temperatures outside, as they do in the summer, you need that ac.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, you do need that AC big time.

[Unknown Speaker]

So, yeah. So sweating it out in Kuwait, if you're a bitcoin miner right now. They said in a statement that has been conducting a wide ranging security operation that targets homes suspected of being used for cryptocurrency currency mining. They it's illegal there actually, so. And the country's capital Markets authority banned the practice in 2023. They also banned trading at the time. Sometimes they have good ideas over there, Jason. Sometimes just saying. So there's a particular region that they're targeting. The region's electric electricity minister said that around 100 homes were being used for mining operations, often consuming up to 20 times the normal power levels. Uh, so since they've started this, energy consumption in the area has dropped by 55% according to a government statement. And Kuwait isn't the only country to regulate or outright ban the practice. Russia has banned crypto mining in several regions throughout the country, although notably not for the ogliarchs. They get to do it. Kosovo, it's oligarch.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There is no ogliarch.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, whatever I'm looking, I'm actually looking at to my son. Put two googly eyes on the monitor stand here. I think my brain kind of did a little kissy crossy.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Call them googly arts. I'm better with that.

[Unknown Speaker]

I got googly arcs that my son put over here. Kosovo outland outlawed the practice. Angela did the same. European countries like Iceland and Norway have strictly regulated the industry due to energy shortages. They need the heat. Recent data indicates that crypto mining accounts for almost 2.5% of the total energy consumption of the US which is approximately half of the energy used by the entire commercial sector of the US economy. So knock it off people.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Kuwait's about the size of my left nut. So I think, I think they probably got all 12 people that were mining.

[Unknown Speaker]

Long time. Longtime listeners of the show will remember that Jason does not like to seek out medical assistance very often. But I would say you should probably go get that checked out.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, well, if you look at it, Kuwait's only like 6,800 square miles. I think Los Angeles is bigger than Kuwait when you look at it on a map. But hey, good for them. Good for them. In more crypto news, I love this. Through sobs and apologies, Celsius network founder Alexander Mashinsky was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for defrauding customers out of billions of dollars. The former crypto CEO broke down in court saying he never meant to hurt anybody and he was truly sorry.

[Unknown Speaker]

All I ever meant to do was swindle money out of people.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I just wanted to be a googly. Arc, please.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh God. This is gonna have to be a goddamn show title, isn't it?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I think so. But prosecutors called him a financial predator who preyed on hope, luring people to risk life savings on what he falsely claimed was a safe investment. Celsius did collapse in 2022, exposing Mashinsky's risky bets and 45 million dollar personal profit. That's a lot of tears and a lot of googly eyes. Nearly 250 victims died before seeing justice with many others left financially devastated. So let's not put this guy in happy federal Gulf prison. Let's put him in rapey butt prison. I think that's a better one. Yeah, I like that.

[Unknown Speaker]

All right, well maybe, maybe some of these people can go get their $2 from the latest class action lawsuit. Again, public service announcement. I feel that we have a duty to always do these class action lawsuits because otherwise these companies never get punished for anything and they keep all the monies. So get in there if it counts. If you owned or purchased a Siri enabled device and experienced an unintended Siri activation, who hasn't during a confidential or private communication? I consider all of my communications in my house private and confidential between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024. So that's a 10 year period. Basically, if you had an Apple device, you're going to be able to qualify for this. You should read this notice as it may impact your legal and this is Lopez vs Apple Inc. Link in the show notes. So get your $2.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Not to be confused with Lopez versus Lopez, the fine show on, I believe, NBC. It's a very funny show with George Lopez.

[Unknown Speaker]

You actually watch something on NBC these days?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Lopez vs Lopez is pretty funny. We know one of the writers and it's actually pretty funny.

[Unknown Speaker]

Fair.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. But I went to go sign up for this and they asked for the serial number for the device that you had in that timeframe. And who has the serial number for their old iPhones? I guess I can look at an old iPad since it's any Siri enabled device, right?

[Unknown Speaker]

Or hold off for a few days. The only reason I found about this is I got the personalized email that comes with a code. So you just dump in your code and you don't have to do anything else.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I got the code and the email and I went there and I still had to put in the device id.

[Unknown Speaker]

Interesting. I did not.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Oh well, maybe I need a better email.

[Unknown Speaker]

Your mileage may vary.

[Jason DeFilippo]

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[Jason DeFilippo]

In the news.

[Unknown Speaker]

It'S been a while since we've talked about this company, Jason, and I will pause to allow you to say the name as we get to there. DoorDash has agreed to purchase British food and grocery delivery Service Deliveroo for $3.9 billion, the companies have revealed in a filing with the London Stock Exchange. It does make sense that you would start to see consolidation in this industry as they are having again, smaller margins and less people are using them and all that sort of stuff. And people are getting pissed off left, right and center about the insane amounts that they're starting to charge. This acquisition will strengthen DoorDash's position as a leading global platform, the filing said. Deliveroo operates in nine regions, namely Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, Kuwait, where they are no longer bitcoin mining. So I guess they can get some Deliveroo, Qatar, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. All of these regions are new for Door Dash and will give the combined companies access to a total population that exceeds 1 billion people. And good news here, Jason. You'll be able to continue saying Deliveroo in your in your stylized manner because they're not going to get rid of the brand. Instead, they'll be both part of an enlarged group, much like your left nut, operating in multiple regions around the world. Giving DoorDash an expanded presence in Europe and giving it entry to the Middle Eastern market. The acquisition is still subject to regulatory and antitrust approvals, but I suspect this will go through.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Do you know what deliver, or do you know what DoorDash is trying to create?

[Unknown Speaker]

No.

[Jason DeFilippo]

A deliveroo gliarchy.

[Unknown Speaker]

Ooh, gotta put that on a shirt.

[Jason DeFilippo]

All right, I saw this one over at Splinter, and then it was pretty much everywhere after that. Elon Musk wants to hire a PR pro to fix X because apparently even he's noticed it's a flaming dumpster full of bots, spam, and Nazi adjacent reposts. Traffic is down, advertisers have bailed.

[Unknown Speaker]

But this is what he built. This is what he wanted. He created this.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, okay, he meant to build a better garden, but he didn't. And the only reason I first saw this article is because the title of the article is just it is so near and dear to my heart when article authors really go the extra mile. Shrinking website run by Nazi psychopath wants to improve its image.

[Unknown Speaker]

You'd think that would have been 4chan.

[Jason DeFilippo]

But no, no, no, no. All right, keeping on with some Elon news. Tesla's bid to trademark the term Robo taxi for its electric vehicles has been denied by the US Patent and Trademark Office for being too. Eric. The agency said the term is commonly used across the industry and is merely descriptive. Now, a separate application to trademark Robotaxi for its future ride hailing service is still under review, along with similar filings for Robobus. So what we need to notice next week is Trump will declare war on the Patent and Trademark Office to protect his widow buddy.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep. Somebody from Fox News will be brought in to run it.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yep, exactly.

[Unknown Speaker]

Seems to be the way things work right now.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Unleash the big balls on the Robotaxi deniers. Robo taxi deniers. There you go. That's. That's the patented Trademark office now.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, we've spent a lot of time on this show, Jason, talking about the various unintended consequences and sometimes intended consequences and bad aspects of AI and particularly how it relates to children. Why, lo and behold, Jason, cast your mind back to just last week when we learned that Meta's AI was engaging in sexual conversations with people that they knew that they were or children. But, you know, we can't stop progress.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, we need our robot, John Cena's to touch the children.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes, well, according to a New York Times report, Google will be making Gemini available to users under 13.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Great.

[Unknown Speaker]

So long as they're under a parent. Managed Google account using Family Link. Because that'll stop it.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That'll stop the problems. Sure.

[Unknown Speaker]

In an email sent to parents, Google said the kids will get access to Gemini to ask questions, get homework help, and learn about the birds and bees. No, they didn't say that part. And makeup stories. This expanded availability will come with guardrails, which is always worked so well for his new user base, Google spokesperson Carl Ryan told the New York Times, adding that it will prevent Gemini from offering up unsafe content to kids.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Like put glue on your pizza kids.

[Unknown Speaker]

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, Jason, but Google is the owner of YouTube.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes, they are.

[Unknown Speaker]

I remember using YouTube Kids when my child was quite young and they were. I was. I was promised guardrails and ensuring that I would not get content inappropriate for a young kid. I was served a lot of inappropriate content for a young kid. I'm just saying.

[Jason DeFilippo]

All right.

[Unknown Speaker]

They do not have a good track record.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Probably served a lot of inappropriate content for an adult kid too.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes, yes. Family guy, beheadings, all that sort of stuff. It's awesome.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Nice.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep. So, along with double checking, Google suggested reminding younger users that Gemini isn't human and not to enter any sensitive or personal data into conversations. And please remember, Gemini can make mistakes. And they recommend that parents teach their kids how to fact check Gemini's responses. Or maybe kids under 13 shouldn't just fucking use it at all.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Go buy him a fucking Judy Blume book already. Come on. Or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Something.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, to continue on that theme, Brian, Marriages are unraveling and families are fracturing as some people spiral into AI driven spiritual delusions. And ChatGPT is at the center of it. Soon to be Gemini for your little child. In a report from Rolling Stone, individuals described loved ones using OpenAI's chatbot not just for productivity, but as a mystical companion doling out cosmic truths, divine missions and apocalyptic prophecies. One woman says her ex husband used Chat GPT to quote, recover repressed memories, unquote, and now believes that he's the luckiest man on earth destined to save humanity. No, this is.

[Unknown Speaker]

This stuff is straight out of shitty Sci fi books, I swear to God.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Written by Chat GPT. Another woman's partner started crying over messages from the bot that called him a spiral star child and claimed he.

[Unknown Speaker]

Does that even mean?

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's what I mean. A Reddit thread titled Chat GPT Induced Psychosis has become a support group for others, seeing loved ones lose touch with reality, convinced AI is speaking to them as prophets Spark bearers and spiritual guides. Yeah, yeah. So we've got adults who can't handle this and you want to unleash it on children?

[Unknown Speaker]

Let's unleash it on the under 13s. This is going to be awesome.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, this is. This is so ridiculous. I just wonder if somebody at Rolling Stone is actually using ChatGPT to write the damn article because it just sounds so far fetched. But people are lonely out there. People are unhinged.

[Unknown Speaker]

I mean, there is very much a loneliness epidemic. And God, I was. I haven't listened to Pivot in quite a long time, but I had to do a pretty long drive earlier this week and I was out of other podcasts. I had caught up with everything and God forbid I listened to music. So I ended up throwing on Pivot for the drive. And Scott Galloway has been on the male loneliness epidemic thing for a long time now, and he was talking about that. And I guess Zuckerberg, of course, has a solution. Bots.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. Not. Not use, like the service that he initially intended Facebook to be, which was connecting people with their real friends. No, we're going to give them bots. We're going to. We're everybody. If you're lonely, you get a bot. We are so screwed as a society.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. So get out there and just go meet. Some people.

[Unknown Speaker]

Don't go to that bar.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, some of you.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, not you, Jason. I know you go to the coffee shop.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I go to my. I go to my support meetings and I meet a lot more. I have a lot more friends now in sobriety than I did whenever, any. What time I was drinking. So, hey, maybe every. It's time for everybody to realize that they have an addiction and go find a support group. And even if that addiction is loneliness, come on, get out.

[Unknown Speaker]

Not a virtual support group.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, a real one. A real one with hugs and handshakes. All right, moving on. The third NeuroLink patient. And Neuralink is Elon Musk's brain implant company, if anybody has forgotten. Bradford Smith, who lost his ability to speak due to als, is now using his brain computer implant to type with his mind and communicate via AI chatbot Grok. Smith is tweeting and even editing YouTube videos by moving a mouse cursor with his thoughts. He also uses AI generated voice tools from Elevenlabs, recreating his old voice to narrate videos. But the use of Grok raises questions about authenticity. How much of what Smith says is truly his and how much comes from the AI Suggested responses? Smith says he's still in control, but admits the bot helps fill in the blanks. Sometimes with quirky ideas like telling a friend to give his horse loving girlfriend a bouquet of carrots. Bradford, blink three times if you're being held hostage by the AI. Please, please.

[Unknown Speaker]

There are five lights.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, God. I would not want to be him. Well, I wouldn't want to be him anyway. It sounds like he's got a. It's horrible that ALS took from him.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, definitely. But I'm not sure that the replacement's much better.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Waking up in a Grok field hellscape is not. I just. Take me out back and shoot me, please. Here's the next. The next thing that Bradford may actually be happy about, being on Grok for X's. GROK AI is under fire for helping users undress women in photos posted to X.

[Unknown Speaker]

Here's a picture of your horse loving girlfriend with a bouquet of carrots, naked.

[Jason DeFilippo]

The feature has sparked outrage from researchers, human rights advocates and users who call it a violation of consent and privacy. Oh. Despite a public apology from Grok's account, the tool continues generating these images, raising major concerns about X's lack of content, moderation and safety guardrails. No, no, people. You fucking morons. It's a feature, not a bug.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They built that on purpose. Come on.

[Unknown Speaker]

Of course they did. You know, they put. They baked it in. Come on, that's ridiculous. Well, it may not even. It may not be much better if you're out there trying real dating, Jason. Especially not if you're using the dating app. Ra. Okay, I'm not entirely sure. Anyways, we're just going to stop there. Talking about headlines that where they went the extra mile, as it were. Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Dating app Raw accidentally Raw dogs users location data and personal information. Okay, pretty good. So this is a dating app that announced a new creepy wearable as well. Has been found to have publicly exposed users data. The data was granular and personal, including their approximate location. The app is called Raw. It says it is dedicated to promoting real and unfiltered love through its unique user interface which resembles Bereal. It utilizes the front and back cameras of your phone. But for dating. They also announced a brand new piece of hardware called the Raw ring.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I was going to ask if it was a cock ring, but I guess it may be.

[Unknown Speaker]

Which purports to allow users to track the locations of their lovers to ensure they're not cheating. Wow. That can't possibly be problematic.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Seriously, is it a conquering? Because I would definitely be able to tell if Somebody was cheating wearing one of those.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, it's moving forward and backward, forward and backwards, forward and back, forward and back.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It just grew three times that day.

[Unknown Speaker]

So, yes. TechCrunch reports that due to a lack of basic digital security protections, RAW was accidentally leaving users personal information open to public inspection. Indeed, prior to this week, anyone with a web browser would have been able to access detailed app user information, including their data, bird birth, display name, sexual preferences, and quite specific street level location data. All right, awesome.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Love you. Love you. New app.

[Unknown Speaker]

People don't even bother with the basics anymore.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, they don't. No, they don't.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's all that vibe coding I think.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Could be, could be. But speaking of somebody who didn't follow the basics, Global X Air, the charter airline heavily contracted by the Trump administration for deportation flights, has been hacked, exposing what appears to be months of flight records and passenger manifests, including deportation details.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, good, they can track that guy that he's been ordered to bring back now.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Good luck. Good luck. Maybe they need his raw ring data. The hacker, claiming affiliation with Anonymous, says the breach includes data from January through May, and they've shared it with 404 media and other journalists. The leak may confirm details surrounding controversial deportations of Venezuelan migrants, some of which occurred while courts were actively trying to block them. Hackers say they access the data by compromising Global X is. Wait for it, Brian. It's been a long time since we've had one of these. Oh, wait, no, it's not. It's every other week. Global X's AWS credentials sending defacement messages to pilots and staff through the airline's internal platforms. It's always aws. Come on, people. Now, newly obtained State Department cables reveal the US Government is quietly encouraging foreign nations facing new tariffs to fast track approval for Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet service. Now, we said the grift was going to happen in public, Brian. Here you go. This is as fucking public as it gets. The Washington Post reports that shortly after Trump announced a 50% tariff on Lesotho, a small African nation suddenly approved Starlink's first ever license there, just as the trade talks kicked off.

[Unknown Speaker]

What are the chances?

[Jason DeFilippo]

What a coinky dink. Internal memos describe similar moves in countries like India, Cambodia, Somalia, Pakistan, and Vietnam, often with EMB embassies pushing Starlink by name. Yes. While officials, of course, deny any quid pro quo, one cable says Cambodia considered Starlink and Boeing access as a way to balance trade relations. Yeah. Experts say the strategy isn't Illegal. But it does blur ethical lines and highlights how US diplomacy is now doubling as tech marketing, tech market lobbying. Now, if this isn't fucking illegal, I don't know what the. The.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Can we make corruption illegal again? What's the acronym on that? Can I get a hat? Can I get a hat?

[Unknown Speaker]

You know what, Democrats should just run on that. It would work.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Can I get a hat?

[Unknown Speaker]

No. Well, at this point it's about all.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They got is a better platform than.

[Unknown Speaker]

The what they've got now.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I'm gonna say, yeah, we don't even have hats. That's how bad it is.

[Unknown Speaker]

All right, again, cast back your mind, maybe even two weeks back now. And I will read the first line of the sentence, except I will replace it with the two week back news. In a development that can only be seen as positive, non consensual deepfake porn site 4chan has been shut down for good, reports 404media. Except now it's back and go ahead and just replace 4chan with Mr. Deepfakes. That's what's been shut down this week. A critical service provider has terminated service permanently. Data loss has made it impossible to continue operations. A notice on the site reads, we will not be relaunching any website claiming this is fake. The domain will eventually expire and we are not responsible for future use. This message will be removed around one week. So this one may not come back because apparently it's been traced to a 36 year old here in Toronto. I believe he was a pharmacist or something like that, you know, and this stuff is illegal in many ways, shapes and forms and in many places. So I'm sure he does not want to get put in jail, however, stop the government. Yes, that's true. However, I'm sure that there will be a copycat site or there are probably already a few.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There's a million of them, so. Yeah, yeah, there's a million of them already.

[Unknown Speaker]

So there you go. One down. Whack, a mole begins.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yep. Now, for the first time in the us a public pension fund is suspending new investment in Tesla, citing political risk.

[Unknown Speaker]

Unfortunately, they went all in on Bitcoin.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. They bought Trump coin.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, well, no, that's good, that's good. I mean, well, look, first off, right now, given their stock, you shouldn't be investing it in anyways. It's in free fall, man.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Yep. So Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, which oversees $500 million in assets. That's a lot of assets. Voted 4 to 2 to halt new Tesla stock purchases in its actively managed pension funds. So that's good. That's a good thing. Yeah. And the board also asked its investment manager to explore options for divesting passive Tesla holdings. So I guess this is one of those things that's starting to pick up steam. That's good. Lehigh's decision reflects glowing global concern. Pension funds in the Netherlands and Denmark have already divested and lawmakers in New York and Canada are urging the same.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I personally have divested.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I did too. I only had a few, but I got rid of them long, long ago. When our. Was it 2017 when we did that experiment?

[Unknown Speaker]

Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. I should have kept the fucking Nvidia though. I called it, man. I said that they were going to be big, but. So the National Weather Service is on high alert after an anti government militia group began targeting US weather radar systems, claiming their weather weapons.

[Unknown Speaker]

The chemtrails. Didn't. Oh my God. Didn't RFK Jr say he was going to come out about the. He's going to. He's going to look into chemtrails.

[Jason DeFilippo]

He was going to look into chemtrails. We were going to find out who killed jfk. Who's going to fly. Who's flying the drones over New Jersey.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, and don't forget that there's a. There's baby DNA in. In vaccines.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, God.

[Unknown Speaker]

I can't believe how like you don't need tick tock to go down to these crazy conspiracy rabbit holes. This is the stuff that actually percolates into the mainstream media. That's how bad it is.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Brian.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes. Trust no one, Mr. Mulder. I missed that show.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know, I know.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's just they would have to go so extreme now. Seems it all seems so tame compared to reality at this point.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. So back.

[Unknown Speaker]

Bring on the Jewish space lasers, Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh God, they've got tails. Oh, back to the crazy nuts pants, dudes. According to an internal Noah memo, the group Veterans on Patrol, like Paw Patrol but with guns, has encouraged its followers to carry out penetration drills on NEXRAD radar sites to identify weaknesses. Nexrad, short for Next Generation Weather Radar, is a critical tool used to forecast severe weather. Operated jointly by noaa, the FAA and the US Air Force, all of which have been so defunded to the point where there's nobody left to actually press the button and read the little screen to tell us when it's going to rain. I don't know if you've noticed how well you're up in Canada, so maybe you still have good weather. Reporting, but the weather reporting down here has gone to absolute shit.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep. It's all been defunded.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, they're 10 degrees off every single day now in rain. They're off by 24 hours. It's getting. It's getting crazy, Brian.

[Unknown Speaker]

If you go to the US Weather website, it basically just says, open up your fucking window.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's what it's going to be. Exactly. And some more AI news. In Arizona, a family used artificial intelligence to digitally resurrect their murdered loved one to deliver a statement in court. A first of its kind move that's raising eyebrows. Well, Christopher Pelke was killed in a 2021 road rage shooting. At the sentencing of his now convicted killer, a lifelike a guy recreation of Pelkey addressed the courtroom, telling the defendant, I believe in forgiveness. The video, created by Pelke's sister using old photos, voice recordings and a custom script, was played before the judge handed down his 10 and a half year sentence. One year more than what prosecutors had asked for. Now, while the family says the digital likeness brought them healing and closure, critics online are calling it disturbing, labeling the AI necromancy. What witchcraft is this? They said it was unethical and creepy. The incident has sparked renewed debate over how far is too far when using AI to memorialize the dead, especially in legal settings. Now, what this article leaves out is what the judge actually said about it, which was he was blown away by the entire presentation and actually felt like he knew Pelkey after the video had played and that it was actually a good thing before actually handing down a sentence that was greater than anybody asked for. So you take the good with the bad and there you have the facts of life, I guess. Win, win. I don't know.

[Unknown Speaker]

Don't know. I'm. I don't. I don't know.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know.

[Unknown Speaker]

You know what I know? The only thing that came away from me, from this story is I really hate AI.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, we got. Let's round it out with some crypto news here. French police are dealing with a wave of violent crypto related kidnappings over the weekend. A man was abducted in Paris by masked men demanding a multi million euro ransom for his son who had made money in crypto. Police tracked the suspects via phone signals and raided a house in the suburbs, rescuing the victim minus a finger and arresting five people. It's part of a disturbing trend in January.

[Unknown Speaker]

I want the crypto, Lebowski.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I don't need to read the rest of this. We're good media candy.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, I've started watching a New show with the kid I've been wanting. I've been trying to figure out a way to get him into Star Trek. Right. Because. Right. I love Star Trek, and we got to do this somehow. And he's still not big on live action stuff. He. He likes his cartoons. So I was like, all right, well, maybe we try lower decks. Like, he won't get a lot of the jokes because he doesn't know Star Trek lore, but it's still pretty funny. And so we've been watching it. We're like, four episodes in, watching it together. He. He finds it mostly hilarious. I forgot how much cussing there is in the show.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I don't remember that.

[Unknown Speaker]

But, yeah, there. There's a lot. There's a lot of bleeps, and then there's things they don't bleep. And, like, that guy's a dick. And I'm like, wow, I forgot about that. But these are all words he already knows. He hears them at school from his friends and stuff like that. So I think he gets a hoot out of, like, kind of a. An approved version of being able to hear cussing. So it's funny. Yeah, it's going really well so far, and I. I forgot how good the show is. Like, I'm really enjoying going back and watching it again. So it's a fun show. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So good. It was such a good show. I had a streaming incident this week. Very, very annoying streaming incident. So first of the month. You know, all the streaming services change because reality shifts, apparently, at the first of the month. So my roommate and I have been watching the Spring Baking Championship on Max because there's. We've. We've literally watched everything else on the Food Network that there is to watch, and we had to start doing watching baking shows, which ended up being kind of fun. So we were on season three of the Spring Baking Championship, and we had one episode to go, the finale, to find out who won. Well, imagine our surprise when we go back and open up Max. And seasons one through eight had been expunged from the service. Gone. Yep.

[Unknown Speaker]

They did the same thing with a show I know you don't watch. But again, going back to my kid, Teen Titans. He loves Teen Titans. They got rid of the first, like, seven seasons. They just nuked them.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. No, at least with Netflix, I get an email saying, this is what's leaving Netflix soon, so you have a chance to check it out, you know?

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. But Max is such a shit show. What's that? What's that guy's Name? David. What's his nuts as Love. Yeah, if I ever meet that guy, I'm just gonna punch him in the nuts just because he's a dick and he deserves it.

[Unknown Speaker]

We'll just take his first seven fingers.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There we go. There we go.

[Unknown Speaker]

One for each season.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I want marzipan bitches. And Netflix, speaking of, is rolling out a revamped TV interface aimed at making it easier for users to find something to watch. This is from the press release, by the way, so take this with a grain of salt. The new design features more visible shortcuts, cleaner visuals, and smarter real time recommendations tailored to user moods.

[Unknown Speaker]

How does it know your mood?

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's what I want to know too. But I guess I have to wear a raw ring. That's it. A new AI powered search is being beta tested on iOS, letting users find shows with natural phrases like something funny and upbeat. A TikTok style vertical feed of clips is also in the works to help with discovery. The update will roll out globally in the coming weeks.

[Unknown Speaker]

Look, my Netflix is not at all the same as your Netflix.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I know. Well, it's not. That's the biggest problem. Here's what I want, Brian. I want the option to make my home screen my queue. That's it. I want my cue. If when I want to go find something, I want to go to a separate screen that says let me explore. Show me the serendipity.

[Unknown Speaker]

I don't want to scroll randomly down and down and down and down and down to find maybe shows that I recently watched. Yeah, because it sometimes doesn't even appear as I keep scrolling. I was like, where's my recently watched? I just want to go load that show again. Where is it? I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Somehow I'm in like Brazilian romance with the transsexual section and I'm like, but I just want my recently watched.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It's Dark City, Brian. Every time you close the app, it reconfigures itself to be something completely new.

[Unknown Speaker]

Insane.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Sometimes your cues at the top, sometimes your cue is nowhere to be found. Sometimes recently watched is at the top. Sometimes you're dealing with Brazilian trans romance before you can even get to it. Who the fuck knows anymore?

[Unknown Speaker]

By the way, great production qualities on those shows.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, definitely. Definitely. Speaking of great production quality, the studio has been renewed for season two.

[Unknown Speaker]

Everything's orange and brown.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It is orange and brown. This week's episode was fantastic. It was fantastic. Ted Sarandos even made a cameo. That was hilarious.

[Unknown Speaker]

I thought you gave up on the show.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, I told you, my roommate watches it, so I watch it with her. And so I. We did the math on it, so they've done seven episodes so far. The finale's coming next week. Out of the seven, two were stinkers and the other five were good to really good. So I think. I think as far as hit or miss ratio, it's actually doing pretty well. So. And this last episode, she thought it was. There was no way that they recreated the Golden Globes at the Beverly Hotel, Beverly Hilton, wherever the fuck they have it. There's no way they did that. So I looked up the thing. I'm like, the budget for this show is 12 to 15 million dollars per episode. So they definitely redid it.

[Unknown Speaker]

Still less than Severance.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Still less than Severance, which had like five people in a fucking office. Yeah, seriously. But the guy from Severance was in this latest one. He was really funny. He was way better in this episode of the Studio than he was in the entirety of two season A. Severance. But new trailers are a lot of new trailers this week. Squid Game 3 is. Is the trailer drop for that June 27th that's coming back, which I will not be watching because I. I finally ducked it. I got around Squid Game two, so I. I just can't go back to it that. I mean, I. I love Black Mirror and. And the. The, you know, the anxiety that that causes. That's my kind of anxiety. Squid Game. I still have, like, issues with that first season.

[Unknown Speaker]

Never seen an episode. Never will.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Don't. Yeah, just don't if you can avoid it. The long walk. I put this in here because you're a Stephen King fan. You like Stephen King?

[Unknown Speaker]

I do.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I watched the trailer pretty good. Don't need to watch the movie now because everything's in the trailer. Coming soon. No date. Did you watch the trailer? You like it?

[Unknown Speaker]

I did, but I've read the book and you're right. It's the double whammy. I've read the book and I've saw the trailer and I really don't need to watch the movie.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Don't need to watch the movie.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Done and done.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I saw this and I just had to bring this up. Third crisis dawns in foundation season three trailer. So the foundation season three trailer is out and season three premieres on July 11th on Apple TV. Plus for ten episodes. Ten episodes. Brian. I would like to point out I watched this trailer and the sound design at the beginning is so bad. So that, you know.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That. That kind of went out of vogue about Five years ago. And the writing is so bad because, Brian, the stakes have never been higher. Humanity will end. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Turn on the news and it's more exciting than this. And then they've got this guy playing the mule, this Palu Asbeck, and he looks just like Travis Fimmel who played Desmond Hart in Dune Prophecy. I had to actually IMDb it to see if it was a different guy or if they just had the same guy be the bad guy in both of them. But, man, it looks bad.

[Unknown Speaker]

It just looks bad. I tapped out a long time ago. No way.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Not gonna watch it. Don't care.

[Jason DeFilippo]

If the trailer wasn't so off putting, I was thinking about going back and checking out season two. But you know what? It is just a bounty of riches this week with great stuff coming. So I. No, I'm gonna skip it. Yeah, I have a feeling you will too. Forever.

[Unknown Speaker]

Forever. Yeah. I'm not ever going back to the foundation. Well, I just can't. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. And Netflix just dropped the trailer for the Old Guard 2, which is. I didn't know they were making another one because the Old Guard was a great, great little movie that Netflix put out back in 2020, I think. Did you. Did you ever check that movie out?

[Unknown Speaker]

I don't know. I don't think so.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Now it was Charlize Theron and a bunch of immortals.

[Unknown Speaker]

No. Yeah, I never did watch that.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, it's worth watching. It was a good movie. It was a very good movie. And on July 2nd, we get the Old Guard 2. But this time we've got Uma Thurman in it too. So, you know, Uma Thurman and Charlize Theron. Okay, I'm in.

[Unknown Speaker]

Got me in my raw ring on. And I'm ready to watch.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Ready to rock. And even better than that, the best travel show on Apple TV plus is back. Yes. The Long Way Home just dropped two new episodes. Now, I was a fan of Long Way Round, Long Way Down, Long Way Up, Long Way Sideways, Long Way Crooked. These are the travel documentaries of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Borman where they ride their motorcycles around the world multiple times now.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

The last one, Long Way up, dropped during COVID which was really strange. And they. They went from the tip of South America to LA on these electric Harleys. And the first two episodes were kind of really hard to watch because all it was was them trying to figure out how to charge their motorcycles and do basic math. But then it got better. Once they've kind of fixed that problem. But also this was when Rivians were in Beta and the crew trucks were these like pre release Rivian models. And they had to have engineers keep coming down to try and fix the things, which did not give me a lot of hope for Rivian at that point. But they're everywhere now. It's better than a cybertruck, so I'm really looking forward to this because I just love these. They're just. It's a great buddy show, you know, Just a great buddy show.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's a good replacement for Top Gear.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, it is, it is. Charlie Borman can be a little much, but, you know, it's. At least it's better than season two, when Ewan brought his wife along for a while. That just did not work. And last night, speaking of a bounty of riches and all that good stuff, Poker Face Season 2 dropped its first three episodes on Peacock last night.

[Unknown Speaker]

All right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Poker Face is amazing. If you haven't seen that show, Brian, it is so fucking good. Season one. Oh my God. Season one is just awesome. I cannot recommend it enough. So I'm very happy to check out season two this weekend. So now that I finished the. We'll talk about Andor in a minute here once we get Dave on. Yeah, this will be a good replacement for Andor this weekend for sure.

[Unknown Speaker]

Cool. Well, one of the big googly arcs that didn't seem to get involved into media too much, but are now is Google. Google plans to start producing its own films and television shows via production initiative called 100 Zero's Business Insider reports. Now the company is working with Range Media Partners, a talent management and production company, to identify projects that appeal to younger audiences and could promote a positive view of Google's products. So the more you read into this press release, the more it sounds like it's basically just product placement company. They're not actually going to produce a lot of shows or make anything new, but they're going to try to push shows into using Google products.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay, great.

[Unknown Speaker]

Got to combat all those iPhones in all the shows.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Do you watch Shark Tank?

[Unknown Speaker]

No.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay. I'm an avid watcher of the Shark Tank. And this last season, all of the. They always have a flashback at the beginning of after the first. First pitch. Then they have a flashback of a company that was on before and now it's all brought to you by Gemini. So there's like, there's like 10% where they actually talk about the company and 90% is just a blatant commercial for Gemini. And it's just like, oh God, I'm so sick of seeing this Google shit.

[Unknown Speaker]

Sponsored content, man.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Yeah. So this is not really a media production company, it's a commercial production company to make commercials for Google.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Great. And hat tip to Chen, because this one has made the rounds. This week, the Golden Globes are adding best podcast category beginning in 2026, where we will absolutely not be nominated. Ever.

[Unknown Speaker]

Nope. Because, yeah, we can't even get a webby, much less.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, exactly, dude, we can't get a potty. We have literally no awards under our belt after 13 years. So I'm guessing the Golden Globes is not where we're going to come out.

[Unknown Speaker]

No, Nope, nope. Definitely not apps and doodads. Well, Apple is apparently going to split up the iPhone release schedule because now, even though we only need a new iPhone once every, oh, I don't know, five years, we can get one every six months now, apparently. Yes. Instead of deciding between four new models of iPhones every fall, you may have to choose among three in both the spring and the fall. Now, I don't know why, but they're going to. According to the information 3 unnamed supply chain sources detailed, the more expensive models will launch first, meaning the pro models will keep the fall release window and that standard model iPhones will get pushed to the following spring. This could indicate that Apple wants to make room for other models like the long rumored foldable iPhone. If the report is accurate, Apple would release the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max, and potentially the foldable iPhone in the fall of 2026, followed by the iPhone 18 base model, the iPhone 18 Slim, and the iPhone 18E in spring 2027. So, you know, by 2030, I might be ready for a new phone.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I thought I had a. Oh, no, that's right, the 17 comes out. I can't even remember which one I have. I guess I have a 16. Yeah, I just bought the 16. Okay. So. Yeah, okay, well, I'm not going to Update until the 19, so.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, exactly. It's going to be a while, so whatever.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, these things are good for three years now. I mean, I would have gotten rid of my 3 year old one, but my dad needed a new phone because the older ones time out out much faster than the current one. So. Yep, yep. Well, more Apple news. Apple plans to add AI powered search engines like Perplexity and Anthropic to Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac, but they won't be the default. In court testimony, Apple exec Eddie Q revealed Safari searches fell for the first time ever in April as users shift to AI for information, I use information in quotes. This threatens Apple's $20 billion a year revenue sharing deal with Google, which is also under fire in an antitrust case. Apple is betting on AI search competition to challenge Google while already working with OpenAI to enhance Siri with ChatGPT. Just another reason to never use Safari.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And Patreon has updated its iOS app to let us fans bypass Apple's 30% App Store fee when signing up for new memberships. Patreon.com GOG People, come on and keep the show alive.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes please.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Only reason I put that in the show because I couldn't give a flying fuck about Patreon except that they pay the bills. So I do care about Patreon greatly. So go to patreon.com gog on any device and sign up for a new account today please. Three bucks a month. We'll get you all of this great content. Please sign up for a year and you can get a discount too.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. And then nominate us for the Golden Globes.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes, give us some Golden Globes please. We we would like to be part of the Podly Archy one day. And Patreon is not the only app that's out there that has taken advantage of the new court ruling while it lasts because it's going to be appealed. Amazon Kindle's app has now been updated to let you get a book from the Amazon website and go back and forth and through and all that stuff because you still can't do an in app purchase. But it's easier to get to the book that you want to get to buy just a little bit easier because it's always been such a pain in the ass that I can't buy this book on my phone. Well fuck you I want to buy the book.

[Unknown Speaker]

Look y well my birthday is coming up Jason and all all you listeners so chip in patreon.com gog Developed by robotics company Piaggio fast forward, the G1T 4M1NI N1 droid is a dependable and eager to please limited edition version of its get a mini cargo robot inspired by R2D2. It features Bluetooth speakers to stream music, cameras and sensors that let it it follow and follow its owner around at a speed of up to 6 mph and a cargo bin that can hold up to 20 pounds of items with a runtime of seven hours. And a companion app for iOS and Android, Gita or whatever you want to name it could help you feel like you're a Star Wars Character at home, it's only $2,875. With shipping and handling plus tax. It comes out to around $3,100. And as the store listing notes, no refunds, exchanges or returns. But it is kind of cool looking.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I'm looking at this thing though. But you know, you, you, you know what you could do though? Go to Santa Monica and just steal one of those delivery robots off the sidewalk and paint it.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's not all that different.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, yeah. It looks like just a standard off the shelf delivery robot, but all right.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I don't know how I stumbled across this. I have a feeling it was one of those gifts for Mother's Day lists at some place that, that led me to this. But I will read. We haven't done a good old Amazon style crazy title in a while. So. Smart flower plots, smart pet planter, AI planter, intelligent flower pots, multiple expressions, seven smart sensors, and AI chips. Makes raising plants easy and fun for living room. Plant Free yellow.

[Jason DeFilippo]

That's a good one. That's a good one.

[Unknown Speaker]

Plant Free is nice. That's a, that's a plus. So I was looking at this and it's basically just a little pot that's got sensors in it. So it keeps. And then it gives you a little Tamaguchi style face to let you know how your plant is doing and what you need to do. But hold on one second. They heavily market this as an AI kind of planter. Oh, simple. Water sensor is now considered a fucking eye. There's a fucking water sensor.

[Jason DeFilippo]

They lowercase the eye, dude. Come on. That's how they get around it.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's insane.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It's cute though.

[Unknown Speaker]

It is cute. It's fun. Is it like AI?

[Brian Schulmeister]

No.

[Unknown Speaker]

Is it working? Is it an $80 flowerpot plant?

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, no, definitely not.

[Unknown Speaker]

But it's cute.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It is cute. I'm going to give you that. It is cute. Yeah. I tell you what's not cute though. The Trump administration plans to shut down the Energy Star program, which I don't know if anybody really pays that much attention to it, but when you're, when you buy appliances for the home, I definitely pay attention to it. It's a long running EPA initiative that helps Americans save about about $40 billion annually on energy costs.

[Unknown Speaker]

You know what? That is more than Doge has saved us.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No shit. Now here's the great part about this. Energy Star was launched in 1992, and this is how much it costs a year to maintain the program. $32 million. $32 million a year for the program that saves 40 billion. Yeah, it saves $40 billion annually, which averages out to about $450 a year for the average homeowner. $32 million. Now, I have a way to fix this, which is Bill Gates is on a tear right now, complaining about how Elon is killing the poor children by getting rid of US Aid, which to me says, bill, just fund it yourself. Fund usaid. You have the cash, you have the coin. You have the bag to fund USAID yourself. So quit bitching about it. Become a hero. Because right now, you could use too just like X and, you know, help out a little bit more. The malaria nets. Go fund usa. And while you're at it, just throw a few bills to Energy star. Come on. 32 million bucks a year. That is literally lint in your pocket money. So, come on.

[Unknown Speaker]

Nothing gets rid of the stain of all those photos of you with Epstein. Better.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Exactly. The Dark side.

[Unknown Speaker]

With Dave.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Welcome to the Dark side with Dave. Podcast super host Dave Bittner decodes all things cyber on the cyber wire every day. Exposes deception with Joe Kerrigan on hacking humans, Dives deep into privacy with Ben Yellen on Caveat. Breaks down industrial cyber security on control loop and even brings the chuckles on only malware in the building. Hello and welcome back, Dave. We missed you.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, well, thank you. It's good to be back. I missed you, too. Had a lovely trip to the RSA conference in San Francisco, which I love being at, but I don't like going to because it is a very long flight. But that's just the way it is.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yes.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I did feel like perhaps San Francisco is on the upswing.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Really?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I did less man poo than last time.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Precisely. Precisely. So I don't know if they're. Who knows? You know, it could be that they're just more successfully pushing things out of sight. But I did talk to someone who is a local there, and they said that they felt like, I guess they have a new mayor, and this person was pleased with some of the efforts that the new mayor was putting in. So I don't know. But, yeah, it felt, you know.

[Unknown Speaker]

You know, hopefully it isn't just like when you have surprise guests coming over in an hour and you just shove everything behind the couch.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Exactly.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right. Do whatever you do. Don't open that closet door.

[Unknown Speaker]

There's a whole bunch of manpoo in there.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, all right. Anyway, so just real quick. I mean, the big thing out of the RSA conference this year is agentic AI. Agentic AI. My favorite T shirt was. Someone had a shirt that said, my agentic AI has purchase authority.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Oh, God.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That's a good one.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's a good one.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Nerds.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I know, I know.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay, so I want to do a quick little bit of follow up here on the books that you talked about. You talked about the Industrial Light and Magic books last time, and I found one. Industrial Light and Magic into the Digital Realm. And I had this book, and I was wondering if that was the book to which you referred.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It is not into the Digital Realm is the second book. Okay, so. Because the first book just barely touches on some of the digital stuff, like, oh, gosh, I can't remember the name of the movie now, but it had a. It was a 3D rendered warrior, like a knight in shining armor who was made out of stained glass.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Young Sherlock Holmes. Young Sherlock Holmes, yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

All of that's in the excellent documentary that's on Disney.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right, right. So that was at the very end of this first book. They're just getting into that era of things. But the first book, which is Industrial Light and Magic, the Art of Special Effects is really from the very beginning up through that. And if you love this stuff, it is a book you want to have for your coffee table because it just has these beautiful gatefold. Like, for example, there's a gatefold of the matte painting of the final shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark with the warehouse, stuff like that. There's a gatefold of the hangar bay in Return of the Jedi with all of the stormtroopers.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, I love that.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Vader's getting off of the. So there's all of these. These beautiful gatefolds of these hand painted mats and things like that.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Well, you know what's funny is, so I remembered the first book, and I had the first book into the digital realm. Which is the second book. Right, the first one. And then you posted the link to the first book, which is the second book in our timeline here. I own both of those books. They're actually at my dad's house in the basement. I had totally forgotten those books. Guess where I got them? Where I got both of those when they were basically fresh on the discount table at Borders Books in Oakbrook, Illinois, for like, five bucks each.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So they've been. Now they're sitting in the basement at my dad's house with all of the other books that I don't feel like shipping to California. But, yeah, those are fantastic books. Absolutely fantastic.

[Unknown Speaker]

I worked at Walden Books throughout all of my high school years, except for the one year I worked at Disneyland. And the secret about these coffee table books was always not to buy them when they came out because they would be on the discount shelf within a year. Yeah, every single time. And it be like, you know, five bucks basically $125 book would be five bucks the next year.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yep.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, yeah, we'll get to that in a second because I have something related to that. But staying on the ILM theme, the new book I have a link to as well, which is coming out later this year, which is going to be on my Christmas list, which is the 50 years of industrial light and magic. What's it called? 50 years of innovation.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So that's their latest one, which I haven't seen yet, but doesn't matter, I want it.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep. $70 tome, but looks very nice. Yes.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, yeah. So speaking of which, Jason, I had a very similar thing happen to me one time. I was at a like one of those remainder bookstores that was in like a beach town. You know, like here's books for you to read while you're on the beach. And in one of the bins was this coffee table book that was all about the work of the Apple design team. Yeah, it's a really good book. And later on I was looking for, I went down a classic Sony design rat hole just in appreciation for the industrial design of Sony back in the day, in the 80s 90s when that sort of physical industrial design was king. And the same person who wrote the Apple book wrote a book on the Sony Design center and it's called Digital the Work of the Sony Design Center. I want to get a copy of that book, but right now they're like 175 bucks. Well, so my question for you, Jason is are they. Do you know of any European sources for PDFs of books like these?

[Unknown Speaker]

Scandinavian.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, Scandinavian, that's right. Because mostly I want to read the book. I don't feel like, you know, if I don't have it, I'll live. But I would like to read the book. So since it's out of reach for me to purchase a copy and my local library doesn't have one, I'm curious if, if there is that sort of thing available. So if you have a moment, you.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Can search around, leave. I can, I might be able to find.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So you're my go to guy for things.

[Unknown Speaker]

Jason knows a guy, Sven, he's.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Everybody knows a guy who knows a guy.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I'll see what I can maybe, maybe dig up for you there yeah. Who knows? Who knows? There might be a way. There might be a way. I know a guy. I know a guy. I have friends everywhere.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. My university has a copy of it that I could go borrow as an alum. But, no, I'm not driving.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Why would you do that?

[Brian Schulmeister]

Check out a book.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. But again, I don't know if you guys have the same kind of affection I do for that classic era of Sony design. Obviously we had the Walkman, but even just the. When I think about the design that goes into something like an 8 millimeter camcorder. Right. The mechanics of handling the tape through the tape path, you know, time and time again. And just. I don't know that we have those kind of designers in the world anymore because there's no demand for them. You know, everything's software now.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, I. I mean, I had so many Sony, obviously, starting with the Walkman and then the Discmans and all that. And then when I was in college, I had, like, a Sony minidat recorder because I got really into doing music and, like, going out and recording sounds and sampling them and things of that nature. And all that stuff was so beautifully made. I loved all that stuff.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, they were just really satisfying to hold in your hand. Also, Sony just really got the whole tactile part of designing things.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Dude, I just got a. I just got a new one. I was walking down the street and one of these old houses was throwing stuff out because the people had died, and it was just a bunch of stuff. And I got a mint condition Sony Walkman.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Wow.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It is beautiful. And the first thing I always do when I see those old things is open up the battery compartment.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

And no leakage. Perfect condition.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Wow.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. I actually posted a link in it to our Discord channel, which you're never in because you can't get there, but I'll send you a picture of it.

[Unknown Speaker]

Great.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Does it work? Have you tried it out?

[Jason DeFilippo]

No, I have not tried it out yet, but I'm guessing it's gonna work.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It may. I mean, usually my understanding with those things is that you could. You probably have to replace some belts inside. Like, they kind of melt away over time, but they're easy to get and, you know, it's not. Especially those early things, they haven't gotten so tightly packed in that you can still get in there and fix things if you need to.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Good stuff.

[Unknown Speaker]

All right, well, you've been traveling, Dave, so I'm guessing you're probably not caught up on andor as it's Basically a full time job to stay up on the show right now.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I am not. I have not. No, I have nothing with season two so far. And it is. Yeah, I'm not happy about it.

[Unknown Speaker]

But I will say you're in for a treat when you do get to it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, everybody's saying that. So. So I'm hearing people say it's the best thing on TV right now. So I'm totally looking forward to it, but I have not been able to carve out the time as I described earlier. It's not completely up to me.

[Unknown Speaker]

So, yeah, it's good. And as Jason and I were just kind of discussing a little bit earlier, the latest last three episodes, episode 7, 8 and 9 were by far the best riveting stuff.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Stuff.

[Unknown Speaker]

I. I was complaining about trying to keep up with the show because of the stupid release schedule, but I'm finding it a joy.

[Jason DeFilippo]

So the problem with last night is I started to watch a little bit of Episode seven just to try and just. So I had a little bit of, you know, baseline for the conversation today. And I ended up staying up till midnight and just going through all three because they were just. They just sucked me in.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yep.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So are they all done now?

[Unknown Speaker]

Next week is the last three.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There's 12 total.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I can't wait for it to finish so I can go watch Rogue One now. Because I have to go watch Rogue One again.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right. And then Rogue One makes you want to go right into a new hope.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right?

[Brian Schulmeister]

And that's how they get you.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, but we draw the line after Return of the Jedi.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, yeah, I'm with you.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There's another new Star wars series which I don't know if anybody's going to check out. Tales of the Underworld.

[Unknown Speaker]

I am going to check this out. I watched the trailer. This is another one that I'm going to watch with my kids. Kid, it looks great. You definitely need, like, they're going deep into, like, if you have not watched the Clone wars, you won't know who any of these characters are. But it's very exciting stuff. I like all these little mini animated things that they've been putting out. They're all really good.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I watched the trailer and I'm just like, I. I have no idea what's going on here, period. None whatsoever. So I figured you guys, you nerds might be able to. To shed some light. So I think. Yeah. And I have no plans to go back and watch the Clone wars, so I guess I'm just gonna miss out. We'll Stick with andor.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I'm not as up on any of the animated stuff either. I've made a couple of little dips into them over time, but no, I, it's just not something I ever really followed closely.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, it's worth it if you do have the time to go do it. It's all really good. I understand. It's been a long time, but I understand the first couple seasons of Clone wars were a bit little, little rocky because they hadn't found their groove yet and it was kind of the first one out of the gate. But since then, all of these animated ones have just been absolutely phenomenal. They're fantastic.

[Brian Schulmeister]

All right, so speaking of Star wars, speaking of Disney, who's going to Abu Dhabi?

[Unknown Speaker]

Not me. I, I do want to eventually get to almost all the Disney parks, but this may not be on my, my visiting IT list, but we'll see.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So Disney's building a new theme park or they've announced they're going to be building a new theme park in Abu Dhabi.

[Jason DeFilippo]

If you think water is expensive in Orlando. Good God.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. I don't know how they're going to make this work. I mean, I guess because I think one of the Asian parks isn't most of Main street indoors. I think kind of under a glass.

[Unknown Speaker]

I think that they. Was it Tokyo? I'm not sure. Yeah, I can't remember.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's kind of mauled in, you know.

[Unknown Speaker]

You know, the interesting thing is I remember hearing, and it's obviously big lore up here in Canada and I've heard a lot about it since moving here. But the, the, initially Toronto was like kind of on the short list for a Disney park back in the day, but they went with Florida because year round weather, weather here, theme parks have to shut down. We have a place called Canada's Wonderland. It's closed all winter. Like you just can't have a park. It's.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Snow and cold and everything. So apparently they don't give a about that anymore. They're gonna, they're gonna go for it in a place that has just melting, melting heat.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So we were supposed to get a Disney park near us called Disney's America and that got shot down because the, the locals didn't like the idea of Disney building a park on or well adjacent to Civil War battlefields.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

So.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, you're really close to Trump's America. That's quite the park.

[Brian Schulmeister]

But we are sad that we don't have a Disney park in driving distance. I guess technically Florida's in driving distance. It's just a really long drive.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's a long drive.

[Jason DeFilippo]

But we used to have a, in Chicago we had a indoor amusement park called Old Chicago that had a roller coaster and a Ferris wheel and all sorts of shit. It was really cool. I remember going there as a kid and I just, I have a very faint image of this giant building with a Ferris wheel in it. And yeah, it opened in 1975. It was a pretty big deal. But yeah, it closed and it's gone. But it was a fully indoor amusement park in Chicago.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, we had one here in Baltimore that was called the Power Plant and it was built inside of an old power plant and it was one of those early attempts at an indoor theme park and they just didn't have enough stuff to keep it going. I remember there was the one that Sid Marty Croft built in Atlanta. There was an indoor theme park that was based off of all the HR Puffin stuff and that whole world and it didn't last either. So I don't know, it seems to me like the folks in Abu Dhabi just wheeled up a gigantic truck full of money outside of Bob Iger's office and said, here you go. And yeah, that's what's happening.

[Unknown Speaker]

I'm sure it's going to be very like the most high tech of all the parks and it's going to be very interesting and all that. But I, I do find, I, I like, I like the old style roller coasters. I don't want everything just to be these motion, motion boxes with, with video projections. As much as, you know, I've enjoyed the Star wars stuff for instance, but you know, I, I just, I worry that they're just going to push the technology too far at this park and there won't be the real old stuff. You know what I mean? Yeah, we'll see. I don't know. We'll see. I, I'm actually just, I was surprised by my wife just this last week because we'd been, we've been trying to get over to Europe, particularly since we're living here in Toronto. It's a lot closer than if you're in Los Angeles and all that. So we did London a couple like two years ago and we want to go again this, this fall. And while she is pushing her agenda to get us to Paris, she has announced that we will be going to Disneyland Paris, which I'm quite excited about.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes. Yeah, yes, yes. That is on the list for my wife and I as well. Who knows when it'll happen. I don't Know, But. Yeah. I don't see us going to Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi, rather.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Of course, there's been all the obvious jokes about, you know, Ariel from the Little Mermaid in a Birkin, you know. Yes. How are they going to handle all that stuff? But they'll figure it out.

[Unknown Speaker]

They'll figure it out.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Memories don't work as the way. The way they used to. I just found some images of old Chicago in the actual inside of it, and there was no Ferris wheel.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh.

[Jason DeFilippo]

There are a bunch of other rides that. That were round, but there was no Ferris wheel. So the memories are. Yeah. Completely wrong.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Isn't that interesting?

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. Sometimes it's best not to look back into the past. Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Or like, go back and watch movies like Caddyshack and Airplane.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Purple Rain Memories.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Save the Purple Rain. Don't go back and watch Purple Rain.

[Jason DeFilippo]

No worries.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Great sound. One of the, you know, greatest soundtrack. Worst.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Just worst movie.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Not a bad. It's not a good movie.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah. I don't think it was particularly thought of as a good movie at the time either.

[Brian Schulmeister]

No. But I think when I was, however. However old I was when it came out and I went to see it, I can't. I certainly came out of the movie theater thinking I had just seen something amazing.

[Unknown Speaker]

Right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Because of the music. I guess. But, yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

Captain eo, also not so good.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Apollonia.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Jason DeFilippo]

You were just remembering Apollonia.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That could very well be. Could very well be.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay, back to it. Come on, snap out of it. Snap out of it.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I went down. Down a KISS rabbit hole.

[Unknown Speaker]

Speaking of things he probably shouldn't go revisit.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And I don't. So let's start out here. Let me just get the poll, the panel here. What is each of your relationships with the classic rock and roll performance group Kiss?

[Unknown Speaker]

Zero Too young.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay, interesting.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I had a double. A very silver double album collection by. I always hated Kiss. I thought their music was garbage.

[Unknown Speaker]

Same.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's a fair assessment. The album you had, Jason, was called Double Platinum, and it was basically a greatest hits album.

[Jason DeFilippo]

I bought that at Kmart.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. So the first record album I ever owned was Elton John's Greatest Hits. The second record album I ever owned was. Was Kiss Alive 2. And I had Kiss Alive 2 because some older kid down the street was really into Kiss and he had this album on an eight track, and I kind of idolized him, so I had to have a copy. So I went and got A copy. So I spent a lot of time listening to this album, and as you did back then, you just sat there and you looked at the album and you read all of the liner notes. And this album happened to have a big gate fold because it was a double album. And there's this big picture of the band performing live, and they're in their outfits and there's the pyrotechnics and the sparklers and all that sort of thing. So they were really larger than life. Now time has passed, right? The. The members of Kiss are all in their 70s. And first of all, I think it's kind of miraculous that the four original members of Kiss are all still alive. What are the odds of that? Like, we don't have all four Beatles, but we've got all four members of Kiss.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Because life ain't fair.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's not fair.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right, right. And some of them, you know, notoriously having substance abuse problems and all that sort of thing, but they're still kicking and they're still out there making music. And so Gene Simmons is out doing a tour, and I saw someone write up a little review of the tour on Reddit. And they started off by saying. Talking about the Kiss songs that he was playing, and he said, the problem is these songs aren't good enough to stand on their own without all of the showmanship that went along with a Kiss concert.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Exactly.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And I think that is exactly right. Right. Kiss was not so much a band as they were entertainers and a spectacle to go see. And I'm okay with that. But the other thing that, that led me to, and a couple links I'm going to share here, is, you know, Kiss had their end of the road tour a couple years ago, like a world tour, final tour, in all the costumes and makeup and all that stuff. And, and there were lots of accusations that they were using backing tracks, that Paul Stanley was lip syncing. And so the first YouTube video I've included a link to here is evidence of that, because there's a concert where something, I think the drummer makes a mistake and like, skips a couple measures and. And it throws everybody off. And so basically, Paul Stanley is nowhere near a microphone and you hear his voice come singing out.

[Unknown Speaker]

Dude knows how to project. He's a professional.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Right. And then he doesn't know what to do. Like, there's just confusion, like, so busted. But then the second video, which I think in a way is kind of, of even more fascinating, especially when you put in context that this is a. A bunch of rock and rollers who are still out there doing in their 70s what they started doing in their 20s. Right. And so someone found the board recording of one of their concerts that has both the click tracks, the backing vocals and the lead ins. So there's a voiceover that just comes through their in ear microphones because they're all wearing in ears. And so there'll be a click coming into the tracks. So, you know, tick, tick, tick, tick, like a metronome. And part of that makes sense because if you have a show with lots of timed pyrotechnics and things like that, you know, those can be triggered at the same time. So I'll give them maybe half a pass on that. But then you hear someone coming in who's like, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4. That's what you're supposed to sing. So it's that kind of thing, which is also, I think, just fascinating little view inside of how modern concerts work. Because obviously, I mean, Kiss aren't the only people who are doing this. There's lots of groups that have been accused of doing it or busted doing it. But then some of the backing tracks and even the lead vocals are on this thing as well. And then as sort of a side bonus is you get treated to the singular one of a kind audience work that Paul Stanley does, which is like no one else in the world with how just cheesy and awful good and yet irresistible it is. No, he's the worst and yet. Yet simultaneously the best at being the worst somehow of its time. You know, he's like, how many people.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Out there want some alcohol? I'll be sampling that for the soundboard.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

As a quick aside, here I have met the man and he is delightful.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I've heard that go on.

[Unknown Speaker]

It was at a recording studio. I was with one of the bands that I was working with, and he was working on one of his solo albums. He pulled up at his jet black Porsche and in his jet black leather pants and his jet black T shirt that was three sizes too small, sat down in the little lobby in the recording studio and was perusing the delivery options available for him for food before he started recording and struck up conversations with everybody around him. Delightful, man.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Oh, that's great.

[Unknown Speaker]

I mean, you know, how can you not be delightful when you've got that much money and you have nothing to do with your life, really, except, you know, tell people to if they want alcohol. Yeah.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, I think the. The answer to that question is Gene Simmons. Who by.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yeah, who is by all Accounts an.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes, right, exactly.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Total.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Not a nice guy. So, I don't know. Anyway, to sort of put a button on this, I spent the last week as I was driving to and from work, listening to all of the songs on Kiss Alive 2.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Do you hate yourself?

[Brian Schulmeister]

I. I do a little bit. I do a little bit for sure. Wondering the songs. Some of them hold up do not have legs.

[Unknown Speaker]

Well, they have eight foot platforms, I think.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I think Detroit Rock City is a legit good song. I think that is. That's a good song. I think I Want to Rock and Roll all night and Party Every Day is almost a novelty song, but it's a lifestyle, Dave. It's a rock and roll anthem and it is iconic.

[Jason DeFilippo]

It's the cyber truck of rock and roll. Come on. It's just ugly. It does not flow. It's terrible.

[Brian Schulmeister]

That song, you mean?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah, I hate that song so much. It's my least favorite Kiss song.

[Unknown Speaker]

Really?

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay. Yeah, it doesn't flow. It's just.

[Unknown Speaker]

It might be familiarity. It's just. How many times have you heard snippets of it? Over the last.

[Brian Schulmeister]

I put it in the same category as, like, Joan Jett's I Love Rock and Roll. Right.

[Unknown Speaker]

It's just like a far better song.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Well, but it's a teenage rock and roll anthem. Yeah, that's. That's what it is. That's the category. That's its primary category. Right.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay. I just do anthem stuff.

[Brian Schulmeister]

This is a. This song's about me, you know, because I want to rock and roll all night and party every day, and I love rock and roll. It's just that kind of thing.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Anyway, I love Rocky Road because it at least makes me hungry.

[Brian Schulmeister]

And Weird Al has outlived them all.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yes. And he's playing Riot fest this year.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yeah. Yeah. I would love to go see Weird Al, but his concert immediately sold out. His tour sold out right away. Anyway, I revisited this album and it is. Is pretty bad.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Pretty bad.

[Brian Schulmeister]

It's also famously not actually a live album. Like, it's recorded live in studio because they really weren't good enough players to make a live album and have it sound good. So it's live in studio. Anyway, the music is pretty bad. It's. It's. It's awful. I also think back to when I was 8 years old and I heard a song like Love Gun, and I thought to myself, oh, isn't that neat? That guy has a gun and when he shoots a girl with it, she falls in love with him. How cute is that?

[Unknown Speaker]

Where could I Get one of these mechanisms.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Exactly. Yeah, yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

In the back with the space monkeys.

[Brian Schulmeister]

All of the double entendre or single entendre just went completely over my head and at some point dawned on me. Oh, Love gun. Got it right. Subtle. Okay, I'm with you now.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Okay, before we put a button in this, Brian, what were your first two albums? Now that we know Dave's first two.

[Unknown Speaker]

Albums of ever, ever, ever, that you bought. Duran Duran 7 and the ragged Tiger and Michael Jackson's Thriller.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Nice. Okay.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Solid, solid. Jason.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. Van Halen, Women and Children first and acdc. Dirty Deeds Done. Dirt Cheap.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Okay. Respectable.

[Jason DeFilippo]

All right.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Yes. All right, all right. We're not going to top that, so I will bid you farewell. I am not going to go. I'm not going to go listen to.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Because you all want some more alcohol. Not until next week, once I have it sampled into my soundboard.

[Unknown Speaker]

Oh, I'm going to be hearing that a lot.

[Brian Schulmeister]

Oh, my God. All right, bye, guys. See you soon.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Closing Shout out over on Patreon, we've sadly got no new subscribers, so patreon.com gog for as little as $3 a month, you can get the show early ad free and in high definition. And now you can do it from iOS because you can. Because. Thank you. Lawsuits. So from the archives, we'd like to thank Ryan, David, Brendan Gordy, Jeremy, Rafal, Florian, Matus, Dan and Justin. Justin. So thank you all very much for your continued support on the Patreons.

[Unknown Speaker]

Roger. Roger. Little Star wars thing. Over at PayPal, we've got Brett, Florian and Ralph. Thank you all very much.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Over the tip jar, we've got Tony. And on the merch side of things, Daniel, Tony and Vincent all bought some spectacular merchandise from the grumpy old geeks. So thank you all very much.

[Unknown Speaker]

Thank you. No reviews. Nobody died. We're in a utopia.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. New Pope.

[Unknown Speaker]

Yay.

[Jason DeFilippo]

From Chicago. Hey, yeah, can I get some. Can I get a sausage with that pope, please? Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker]

A lot of. A lot of good memes. A lot of good memes.

[Jason DeFilippo]

Yeah. That Pope. That Pope. Until next time, I'm Jason DeFilippo.

[Unknown Speaker]

And I'm Brian Schumaster. Thanks for listening to grumpy old geeks. Get all the links and goodies from Today's episode of GOG shows 696. God. Want to keep the grumpiness alive. Toss a few bucks our way at GOG show. Donate every penny helps keep the show on the air. Love the show. Share it. There's a share button to your podcast player. Use it to spread the grumpiness to friends, foes and everyone in between. We'll love you for it. Swing by Gog show to join our discord and chat with us and other show fans. Got thoughts? Feedback? Cool links? Hit us up at GOG show contact and don't forget to leave us a 5 star our review at GOG show review and we'll read it on the show. And guess what we've got. Merch. Snag your grumpy gear now at shop Gog Show Stay grumpy.

[Jason DeFilippo]

How many people out there want some alcohol?