Grumpy Old Geeks

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738: A Sprinkling of Random Mar 20, 2026

Show notes

13 years of podcasting has taught us nothing; companies are lying about AI layoffs while Meta destroys itself from the inside; Andreessen has zero introspection and it shows; Dune 3 looks incredible; Firefly lives again; one idiot executive staked Buffy; Adobe paid $75M for being evil; your AI passwords are garbage; Dave Bittner is here to make you feel worse about all of it.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/738

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pykGjOmMs5c

FOLLOW UP

GOG Ep 1: How to Make Money on the Internet - March 25th, 2013

The ‘AI-Washing’ of Job Cuts Is Corrosive and Confusing

Race on to establish globally recognised 'AI-free' logo

Billionaire Marc Andreessen says he has "zero" introspection, and that the idea itself is a modern invention.

Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don’t rewrite an Iran missile story

IN THE NEWS

Atlassian to cut roughly 10% jobs in pivot to AI

Meta is reportedly planning to cut up to 20 percent of its staff in upcoming layoffs

Meta Is Building an Encrypted Chatbot After AI Agents Went Rogue and Exposed Sensitive Data

Meta Says It Is Removing End-to-End Encryption From Instagram Direct Messages

Meta is testing clickable links in Instagram captions for verified subscribers

Encyclopedia Britannica sues OpenAI for copyright and trademark infringement

Senators tell ByteDance to shut down Seedance 2.0 AI video app 'immediately'

Things Are Suddenly Looking Incredibly Bad for Trump’s Social Media Company

Trump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok deal

The Billionaire Backlash Against a Philanthropic Dream

Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post Now Setting Readers’ Subscription Prices With Uber-Style AI

APPS & DOODADS

Adobe agrees to pay settlement for making its subscriptions hard to cancel

Everything you need to know to design with Stitch

What is DESIGN.md?

Warning: Your AI-Generated Password Is a Major Security Risk. Here’s What to Use Instead

MEDIA CANDY

Dune: Part Three | Official Teaser Trailer

How ‘Dune: Part Three’ Is Changing the Entire ‘Dune’ Franchise

"Paradise" has been renewed for Season 3 at Hulu, Variety has learned.

Paradise on Hulu

Mars Express

Nathan Fillion Says ‘Firefly’ Animated Series In Development With Co-Stars Set To Reprise Roles; Concept Art Revealed

Sarah Michelle Gellar Says a Single Executive Was Responsible for Killing the ‘Buffy’ Reboot

‘V For Vendetta’ at 20: We Spoke to Its Director About the Increasingly Relevant Comic Adaptation

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Only Malware in the Building

Disney's 100% Rotten Tomatoes Masterpiece Returns This Fall With Brand-New Release

Shhh… It’s zombie proof. Kia’s all-electric range

The Last Quiet Thing by Terry Godier

Evel Knievel Kings Island 1975 - Farthest Successful Jump at 133 feet

70's Evel Knievel Toy Commercial IDEAL

Evel Knievel's 14 Greyhound Bus Jump Oct 25th 1975 HD enhanced. Epic WORLD RECORD.

Craig Ferguson’s Evel Knievel Story is Wild!!

Being Evel

Wembley 50th Anniversary Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle Set – Limited Gold Edition

Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle - Trail Bike Edition

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737: Monetizable Content Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

In this week's show we start with FOLLOW UP: The world keeps trying to protect kids online — Indonesia just joined Australia, Spain, and Malaysia in banning social media for under-16s, while COPPA 2.0 sailed through the US Senate unanimously. Meanwhile, Roblox is using AI to clean up its chat, because apparently "Hurry TF up" is the hill they've chosen to die on — even as they're still dealing with the whole "pedophile problem" thing from January. On the AI copyright front, Gracenote is the latest company to sue OpenAI for helping itself to proprietary data, joining a growing queue of plaintiffs who apparently didn't get the memo that everything is training data now.

IN THE NEWS: Anthropic is suing the Pentagon after being labeled a "supply chain risk" — apparently because the CEO said AI shouldn't be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons, which the Trump administration heard as fighting words. The delicious irony: the Pentagon is still running Claude in active operations while trying to phase it out. Speaking of active operations, investigators now think a missile strike on an Iranian girls' school may have been triggered by bad AI-generated intelligence from that same Claude-based system. So yes, the autocomplete that hallucinates your grocery list is also maybe accidentally bombing schools. Meta's Oversight Board is begging the company to get serious about AI-generated content after a fake war video from a Filipino fake news account racked up 700K views — while separately, Zuckerberg dropped cash on Moltbook, a "social network for AI agents" that turned out to be mostly humans larping as bots and had a security flaw that exposed everyone's API keys. The guy who built it basically vibe-coded the whole thing. Meta's own CTO said he didn't "find it particularly interesting." And yet. Oracle is hemorrhaging jobs and drowning in debt chasing AI dreams, its stock down 50% from peak — a timely reminder that "AI will replace workers" is currently manifesting as "companies set money on fire and lay people off to pay the electric bill." Researchers confirmed AI is homogenizing human thought and creativity — a thing some of us have been screaming since day one. A DOGE engineer allegedly walked out of the Social Security Administration with databases containing personal info on 500 million Americans on a thumb drive. The Ig Nobel Prize is relocating to Switzerland because it's no longer safe to invite international guests to America. Nintendo is suing the US government to get its tariff money back. SETI thinks it may have been accidentally filtering out alien signals due to space weather. And Pokémon Go players unknowingly spent a decade building a centimeter-accurate surveillance map of Earth's cities that's now guiding pizza delivery robots — which, honestly, tracks.

In APPS & DOODADS: The GOG clan in Clash Royale just hit eight years old — respect. OpenAudible is the cross-platform audiobook manager your Audible library deserves, especially if you've got over a thousand books sitting there judging you.

And finally in MEDIA CANDY: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 is here, and pretty beige. Live Nation settled its DOJ antitrust case for $200 million, kept Ticketmaster, and avoided a breakup — meanwhile court documents revealed employees joking about "robbing fans blind" and gouging "stupid" customers, which explains basically every concert ticket you've bought in the last decade. YouTube is now officially the world's largest media company at $62 billion in revenue. Bluesky's CEO is stepping down, which is either a bad sign or just the natural order of "person who built the cool thing hands it to the person who scales the cool thing." Dead Set — Charlie Brooker's 2008 zombie-in-the-Big-Brother-house miniseries — is worth a watch if you haven't. And trailers dropped for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 (March 24th), The Boys final season (April 8th), and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April 1st — yes, really).

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Show notes at https://gog.show/737

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/DgSYnFF6twE

FOLLOW UP

Indonesia announces a social media ban for anyone under 16

Anthropic Sues Pentagon

Metadata company Gracenote is the latest to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement

Roblox introduces real-time AI-powered chat rephraser for inappropriate language

IN THE NEWS

COPPA 2.0 passes the Senate again, unanimously this time

AI Error Likely Led to Iran Girl's School Bombing

The Oversight Board says Meta needs new rules for AI-generated content

Mark Zuckerberg Decides Meta Needs More Slop, Buys the Social Network for AI Agents

Oracle Axing Huge Number of Jobs as AI Crisis Intensifies

You can (sort of) block Grok from editing your uploaded photos

Researchers Say AI Is Homogenizing Human Expression and Thought

Social Security watchdog investigating claims that DOGE engineer copied its databases

Nintendo is suing the US government over Trump's tariffs

SETI Thinks It Might Have Missed a Few Alien Calls. Here's Why

Ig Nobel Ceremony Relocates to Europe Amid Safety Concerns in Trump’s America

APPS & DOODADS

Clash Royale

OpenAudible

Bluesky's CEO is stepping down after nearly 5 years

How Pokémon Go is giving delivery robots an inch-perfect view of the world

Robot Escorted Away By Cops After Terrorizing Old Woman

MEDIA CANDY

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2

Live Nation settlement avoids breakup with Ticketmaster

Court documents reveal Live Nation employees joking about robbing, gouging "stupid" fans

YouTube Is the World’s Largest Media Company, MoffettNathanson Says

Paradise Season 2

DAREDEVIL: Born Again Season 2 Official Teaser Trailer 2 (2026)

The Boys Final Season Trailer

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | Final Trailer

Dead Set

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736: People Aren’t People Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

Microsoft's anti-"Microslop" censorship backfired spectacularly; Australia is cracking down on AI age verification while Meta is busy targeting toddlers; prediction markets are basically just insider trading with extra steps; AI chatbots are getting people killed and exposing spy operations; the Moon landing got pushed again; Opera got nostalgic at 30; Sony bought Charlie Brown; and Netflix is making documentaries with robot people now.

Show notes at https://gog.show/736

Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/6lw2Hy_U8QA

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FOLLOW UP

Microsoft Bans the Word “Microslop” on Copilot Discord, Gets So Humiliated That It Locks Down the Whole Server

Australia will consider requiring app stores to block AI services without age verification

A Day in the Life of an Enshittificator

IN THE NEWS

Meta’s what-if for tweens

How Meta Executives Talked About Child Safety Behind the Scenes

The Great Insider Trading Reckoning Reportedly Hits OpenAI

Khamenei market meltdown on Kalshi shows how prediction markets still can’t decide what ‘counts’

Some Alleged Polymarket Insiders Made a Fortune on U.S. Strikes on Iran

Polymarket Decides Incentivizing a Nuclear Detonation Might Be a Bad Idea

A Chinese official’s use of ChatGPT accidentally revealed a global intimidation operation

‘Our Bond Is the Only Thing That’s Real:’ A New Lawsuit Alleges Google Gemini Drove a Man to Suicide

The Data Centers Have Arrived at the Edge of the Arctic Circle

Big tech companies agree to not ruin your electric bill with AI data centers

TerraPower gets OK to start construction of its first nuclear plant

The Supreme Court doesn't care if you want to copyright your AI-generated art

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei calls OpenAI's messaging around military deal 'straight up lies,' report says

The $100 Billion OpenAI-Nvidia Deal Is Not Happening

NASA Announces Major Change to Plans For Putting Humans on The Moon

The US Senate empowers NASA to fully engage in lunar space race

Astronomers Estimated the Lifespan of Alien Civilizations, and It’s Not Looking Good for Us

MEDIA CANDY

Charlie Brown now works for Sony

These AI Avatars in a Netflix True Crime Doc Are Disturbing Viewers

Netflix buys Ben Affleck’s AI film tech company, InterPositive

APPS & DOODADS

Opera Has Turned 30 and Is Celebrating With a Compelling Tribute to Web Nostalgia

Web Design Museum

Meta hit with a class action lawsuit over smart glasses' privacy claims

Apple Macbook Neo

AT THE LIBRARY

Uncommon People: Britpop and Beyond in 20 Songs by Miranda Sawyer

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735: We’re Walking on Sunshine Feb 27, 2026

Show notes

Starting off in FOLLOW UP, we’ve got a tax economist who actually made money betting against the "efficiency" of Elon’s budget-slashing fever dreams, while Tesla is busy trying to dodge a $243 million jury verdict for an Autopilot-assisted fatality. Not content with being legally liable, Tesla is also suing the California DMV because they’re offended someone called their "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" marketing deceptive—ironic, since Jack Dorsey just "proactively" halved the staff at Block to make room for more AI slop. Speaking of which, Goldman Sachs is here to remind us that all this AI spending added a grand total of zero to the US GDP last year, mostly because we’re just exporting all that cash to overseas chip makers while 80% of execs admit the tech hasn’t actually done anything for productivity yet.

Moving into IN THE NEWS, Sam Altman had the audacity to compare ChatGPT’s energy-sucking habits to the 20-year evolution of a human, though the internet wasn't exactly buying the "my bot is just like a baby" defense. Anthropic actually stood its ground against the Pentagon’s demand for killer robots and mass surveillance, so naturally, the military just signed a deal to put Elon’s Grok in their classified systems instead—because what could go wrong with an "edgy" LLM in the war room? Meanwhile, cities are dumping AI surveillance contracts as citizens start a literal "smash-the-snitch-box" campaign against Flock's license plate readers, Google’s AI is busy inserting racial slurs into news alerts, and the White House is apparently harboring a staffer moonlighting as a racist "masterpiece" creator on X. We’ve also got Reddit being slapped with a $20 million fine in the UK for being lazy with age checks, while Discord and Apple scramble to build verification tools that hopefully won't leak your entire identity to a hacker in Belarus.

In MEDIA CANDY, the Paramount-Skydance merger is leaving the industry in a cold sweat of "synergy" layoffs, but at least we’re getting more Game of Thrones spinoffs and Star Trek reboots to rot our brains. Face/Off 2 lost its director, Ryan Coogler is taking on The X-Files, and Google wants to use AI to turn music into generic "lo-fi" background noise for the masses.

Over in APPS & DOODADS, OpenAI is planning a 2027 smart speaker that literally watches you through a camera—because you definitely wanted a $300 Sam Altman-shaped eye in your kitchen—while the Dark Sky creators are back with "Acme Weather" for the low price of $25 a year.

We wrap up THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE with a deep dive into "Under Pressure" and Coruscant’s urban sprawl, leaving us to reminisce about the days when KPT Bryce was the pinnacle of tech—back when "generative art" was just a fractal that took six hours to render.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/735

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/jdz--v3eeU4

FOLLOW UP

Guy Bets Entire Life Savings Against Elon Musk, Wins

Tesla sues California DMV after it banned the term 'Autopilot'

Jack Dorsey just halved the size of Block's employee base — and he says your company is next

IN THE NEWS

Sam Altman: Know What Else Used a Lot of Energy? Human Civilization

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War

Anthropic Tells Pete Hegseth to Take a Hike

Cities Are Shredding Their AI Surveillance Contracts en Masse

Kalshi Suspended a California Politician and a YouTuber for Insider Trading

Discord delays age verification to address user concerns

Apple introduces age verification for apps in Utah, Louisiana and Australia

MEDIA CANDY

As Paramount Skydance wins the battle for Warner Bros. as Netflix ends its bid, here's the mood inside all three companies.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

The Night Agent Season 3

'Face/Off 2' Director Adam Wingard is Now/Gone

Ryan Coogler's X-Files reboot gets the green light at Hulu

Mortal Kombat II | Official Trailer II

Google's AI Slop Machine Is Coming for Your Music

Dropping Names... and other things with Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner

Once We Were Spacemen

APPS & DOODADS

OpenAI will reportedly release an AI-powered smart speaker in 2027

Instagram Will Notify Parents When Teens Use Search Terms Related to Suicide

The creators of Dark Sky have a new weather app

This App Warns You if Someone Is Wearing Smart Glasses Nearby

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Only Malware in the Building

Strong Songs - S08E02 - "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie

The Problem with Coruscant (Planet Cities Explained)

Reminds me of KPT Fractal Explorer

KPT Bryce 1.0 with John Dvorak and Kai Krause

Single-Biome Planet

KPT Shapes by Dave Bittner

Bald Mr Clean mascot "retired"

My childhood disappointment with scrubbing bubbles.

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

Actor Robert Carradine Dies At Age 71

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734: A Bald Woody Feb 20, 2026

Show notes

If you thought the internet was a dumpster fire before, the EU LAUNCHES SECOND INVESTIGATION INTO GROK because Musk’s bot won't stop generating nonconsensual imagery. Meanwhile, META LARGELY FAILS TO PROTECT KIDS FROM AI CHATBOTS, proving that their internal safety checks are about as effective as a screen door on a submarine. If that doesn't creep you out, AFTER RING PRIVACY BACKLASH over police partnerships, a LEAKED EMAIL SUGGESTS RING PLANS TO EXPAND ‘SEARCH PARTY’ from finding lost dogs to total neighborhood surveillance. Of course, REDDIT, META, AND GOOGLE VOLUNTARILY GAVE DHS INFO on users critical of ICE, because why stand up for privacy when you can just comply?

In the news, we look at OPENCLAW, OPENAI AND THE FUTURE as the project’s founder joins the Borg, even though META AND OTHER TECH FIRMS PUT RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF OPENCLAW because it’s basically a security hole that can click your mouse for you. Peak stupidity has arrived with RFK JR'S NEW CHATBOT giving rectal dietary advice, while AI COMPANIES BOUGHT OUT ALL OF WESTERN DIGITAL’S HARD DRIVES through 2026, meaning you can't have storage because the bots need it more. Even VALVE ADMITS STEAM DECK AVAILABILITY IS AFFECTED by this memory hoarding. We also touch on STEVE BANNON SUED OVER MAGA CRYPTO SCHEME, LOS ANGELES COUNTY FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST ROBLOX for being a safety nightmare, and the fact that TESLA ROBOTAXIS REPORTEDLY CRASHING at four times the human rate. TESLA DODGES 30-DAY SUSPENSION by simply killing the word "Autopilot," while NEW YORK HITS THE BRAKES ON ROBOTAXI EXPANSION to keep the chaos at bay. Finally, POLYMARKET WITHDRAWS EXPLOSIVE ARTEMIS BETTING MARKET because betting on dead astronauts is too much even for them, leading the ETHEREUM CREATOR STARTING TO THINK THIS WHOLE PREDICTION MARKET THING MIGHT BE GAMBLING. As NEVADA SUES KALSHI and Jack Dorsey oversees INSIDE THE ROLLING LAYOFFS AT JACK DORSEY’S BLOCK—using AI to summarize the misery of his employees—just remember: YOU’LL BE SORRY WHEN YOU HEAR WHAT JUSTIN BIEBER’S $1.3 MILLION BORED APE IS WORTH NOW. Hint: it’s twelve grand.

In this week's MEDIA CANDY, we’ve got FREE BERT, KAT WILLIAMS: THE LAST REPORT, and the eternal return of SHREK. We’re checking out MARK ROBER on Netflix, the return of MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS, and the trailer for GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE. If you need a soundtrack for the apocalypse, Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq has you covered with STOP USING GENERATIVE A.I and the Gen-X anthem I'VE NO MORE F*S TO GIVE!.

Moving to APPS & DOODADS, OBSIDIAN TO NOTES is a $14 well spent, unlike CURSOR and VISUAL STUDIO CODE which are getting bogged down by slow models. APPLE’S AI PENDANT sounds like a watered-down Humane pin that relies on your phone to think, and APPLE PODCASTS AND VIDEO remains a pipe dream because bandwidth costs money. We’ve reached the point where THERE’S A GRIM NEW EXPRESSION: “AI;DR” for things not worth reading, and THERE'S A NEW TERM FOR WORKERS FREAKING OUT over being replaced—AIRD, or AI Replacement Dysfunction—which is basically the low-grade panic of being made obsolete by a machine that thinks bananas go in your bum.

AT THE LIBRARY, we’re thumbing through CLEAVE THE SPARROW, THE REGICIDE REPORT by Charles Stross, and Robin Ince being NORMALLY WEIRD AND WEIRDLY NORMAL.

Then we descend into THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, where the Muppets are taking over with THE MUPPET SHOW and MUPPETS NOW. We catch the latest on THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU and TOY STORY 5, while tracking the PENTAGON PIZZA INDEX to see if war is breaking out. For the kids, we look at a 3D PRINTER / ENTRY LEVEL FOR KIDS like the Bambu Lab A1, and for the nerds, A STAR WARS-CENTRIC RSS FEED and a NEAT IDEA FOR AN RSS READER, “CURRENT,” which lets news drift away like water under a bridge. We wrap it all up with some HORROR IN UNDER TWO MINUTES and IMPECCABLE COVERS OF 80S SYNTH MUSIC, because at least the 80s had better soundtracks than this AI-generated nightmare.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/734

FOLLOW UP

EU launches second investigation into Grok's nonconsensual image generation

Meta largely fails to protect kids from AI chatbots, per its own tests

After Ring privacy backlash, company abandons plans for police partnership

Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs

Reddit, Meta, and Google Voluntarily Gave DHS Info of Anti-ICE Users, Report Says

IN THE NEWS

OpenClaw, OpenAI and the future

Meta and Other Tech Firms Put Restrictions on Use of OpenClaw Over Security Fears

RFK Jr's new chatbot advises the public on 'best foods to insert into rectum'

AI Companies Bought Out All of Western Digital’s Hard Drives for 2026 Already

Valve admits Steam Deck availability is affected by memory and storage shortages

Steve Bannon sued over MAGA crypto scheme

Los Angeles County files lawsuit against Roblox over child protections

Tesla Robotaxis Reportedly Crashing at a Rate That’s 4x Higher Than Humans

Tesla dodges 30-day suspension in California after removing Autopilot

New York hits the brakes on robotaxi expansion plan

Polymarket withdraws explosive Artemis betting market after backlash

Ethereum Creator Starting to Think This Whole Prediction Market Thing Might be Gambling

Nevada sues Kalshi for operating a sports gambling market without a license

Inside the Rolling Layoffs at Jack Dorsey’s Block

You’ll Be Sorry When You Hear What Justin Bieber’s $1.3 Million Bored Ape Is Worth Now

MEDIA CANDY

Free Bert

Kat Williams: The Last Report

Shrek

Mark Rober

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE | Official Trailer | February 13 - Only in Theaters

STOP USING GENERATIVE A.I (Original Song) by Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq

I've No More F*s To Give! by Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq

APPS & DOODADS

Obsidian to Notes

Cursor

Visual Studio Code

Apple’s AI Pendant Sounds Like a Watered-Down Humane Ai Pin

There’s a Grim New Expression: “AI;DR”

There's a New Term for Workers Freaking Out Over Being Replaced by AI

AT THE LIBRARY

Cleave the Sparrow by Jonathan Katz

The Regicide Report (Laundry Files Book 14) by Charles Stross

Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity by Robin Ince

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Only Malware in the Building

The Muppet Show

Muppets Now

The Mandalorian and Grogu | Official Trailer | In Theaters May 22

Toy Story 5 | Official Trailer | In Theaters June 19

Pentagon Pizza Index

Bambu Lab A1

A Star Wars-centric RSS feed

Current RSS Reader

Horror in under two minutes.

Impeccable covers of 80s synth music

Top Gun - Opening Theme (Synth Cover)

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

Green Eggs and Ham narrated by the Reverend Jesse Jackson

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

733: Predator Friendly Hunting Ground Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

We kick things off in FOLLOW UP with the ongoing "nuclear war" between Automattic and WP Engine, where discovery has revealed Matt Mullenweg’s alleged hit list of competitors and a desperate attempt to bully payment processors—because nothing says "open source" like an eight-percent royalty shakedown. Meanwhile, the Harvard Business Review confirmed what we already knew: AI isn’t reducing our work; it’s just compressing it until we’re all working through lunch and burning out faster while Polymarket turns our collective brain rot into a literal "attention market" where you can bet on Elon’s mindshare.

Transitioning to IN THE NEWS, Elon has officially pivoted SpaceX from Mars to the Moon, presumably because building a "self-growing lunar city" is easier than admitting the Red Planet is hard, though his xAI all-hands rant about "ancient alien catapults" suggests he’s been staring at the sun too long. Between X allegedly taking blue-check lunch money from sanctioned Iranian leaders, Meta facing trials for creating "predator-friendly hunting grounds," and Russia finally pulling the plug on WhatsApp, the internet is looking more like a digital dumpster fire than ever. Add in Discord leaking 70,000 government IDs, OpenAI shoving ads into ChatGPT while safety researchers flee the building like it’s on fire, and a "cognitive debt" crisis eroding our ability to think, and you’ve got a recipe for a tech-induced psychosis that even crypto-funded human trafficking can’t outpace.

In MEDIA CANDY, we're wondering about the soft-core porn intro in the latest Star Trek: Starfleet Academy while Apple buys the total rights to Severance for seventy million dollars—because in-house production is the only way to keep those ballooning budgets under control. Super Bowl trailer season gave us a glimpse of The Mandalorian and Grogu and a Project Hail Mary teaser, while Babylon 5 has finally landed on YouTube for free, proving that even 90s serialized sci-fi eventually finds its way to the clearance bin.

Over in APPS & DOODADS, Meta Quest is nagging us for our birthdays like a needy relative, while Roblox had to scrub a mass-shooting simulator—because "AI plus human safety teams" is apparently just code for "we missed it until it hit the forums." Ring’s Super Bowl ad for "Search Party" accidentally terrified everyone by revealing a mass surveillance network for pets that’s a slippery slope toward a police state, and Waymo is now paying DoorDashers ten bucks just to walk over and close the car doors that autonomous tech still can’t figure out.

Wrapping up with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, we dive into the Mandalorian Hasbro reveal where Sigourney Weaver’s action figure comes with no accessories because her existence is enough of a flex. We explore the grim reality of "RentAHuman," where humans are paid pittance to pretend AI agents are actually doing work, and look at "Trash Talk Audio," which sells a $125 microphone made out of a literal old telephone for that authentic Gen-X "get off the line, I'm expecting a call" aesthetic. From Marcia Lucas finally venting about the prequels and a rare book catalog specifically for our aging generation, we’re reminded that while the future is a chaotic mess of "GeoSpy" AI and corporate reshuffling at Disney, at least we still have our cynical memories and some free versions of Roller Coaster Tycoon to keep us from losing it completely.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/733

FOLLOW UP

Automattic planned to target 10 competitors with royalty fees, WP Engine claims in new filing

AI Doesn’t Reduce Work—It Intensifies It

Polymarket To Offer Attention Markets In Partnership With Kaito AI

Israel Arrests Members of Military for Placing Polymarket Bets Using Inside Information on Upcoming Strikes

IN THE NEWS

Unable to Reach Mars, Musk Does the Most Musk Thing Possible

We’ll Find the Remnants of Ancient Alien Civilizations’: Read Musk’s Gibberish Rant from His xAI All-Hands Meeting

Elon Musk’s X Appears to Be Violating US Sanctions by Selling Premium Accounts to Iranian Leaders

Meta Faces Two Key Trials That Could Change Social Media Forever

WhatsApp is now fully blocked in Russia

Russia is restricting access to Telegram, one of its most popular social media apps. Here’s what we know

DOJ may face investigation for pressuring Apple, Google to remove apps for tracking ICE agents

Discord Launches Teen-by-Default Settings Globally

Discord says hackers stole government IDs of 70,000 users

Free Tool Says it Can Bypass Discord's Age Verification Check With a 3D Model

Testing ads in ChatGPT

OpenAI Researcher Quits, Warns Its Unprecedented ‘Archive of Human Candor’ Is Dangerous

OpenAI Fires Top Safety Exec Who Opposed ChatGPT’s “Adult Mode”

Anthropic AI Safety Researcher Warns Of World ‘In Peril’ In Resignation

Musk’s xAI loses second co-founder in two days

America Isn’t Ready for What AI Will Do to Jobs

Monologue: No, Something Big Isn’t Coming

The Scientist Who Predicted AI Psychosis Has a Grim Forecast of What’s Going to Happen Next

Crypto-Funded Human Trafficking Is Exploding

MEDIA CANDY

Shrinking

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Poor Things

Project Hail Mary | Final Trailer

Minions & Monsters | Official Trailer

Disclosure Day | Big Game Spot

The Mandalorian and Grogu | A New Journey Begins | In Theaters May 22

Babylon 5 Is Now Free to Watch On YouTube

Apple acquires all rights to ‘Severance,’ will produce future seasons in-house

Optimizing your TV

APPS & DOODADS

Tumbler Ridge Shooter Created Mall Shooting Simulator in Roblox

Here's how to disable Ring's creepy Search Party feature

Waymo Is Getting DoorDashers to Close Doors on Self Driving Cars

TikTok US launches a local feed that leverages a user's exact location

Apple just released iOS 26.3 alongside updates for the Mac, iPad and Apple Watch

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Only Malware in the Building

We Call It Imagineering

Your First Look at Hasbro's 'Mandalorian and Grogu' Figures Is Here (Exclusive)

I Tried RentAHuman, Where AI Agents Hired Me to Hype Their AI Startups

Trash Talk Audio

Roger Reacts to Star Wars - A New Hope

Marcia Lucas Finally Speaks Out | Icons Unearthed: Unplugged (FULL INTERVIEW)

What’s wrong with the prequels?

Rare Books, Gen X edition

GeoSpy

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

Robert Tinney, who painted iconic Byte magazine covers, RIP

Bud Cort

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

732: We’re Not In the Files! Feb 07, 2026

Show notes

In this week’s FOLLOW UP, Bitcoin is down 15%, miners are unplugging rigs because paying eighty-seven grand to mine a sixty-grand coin finally failed the vibes check, and Grok is still digitally undressing men—suggesting Musk’s “safeguards” remain mostly theoretical, which didn’t help when X offices got raided in France. Spain wants to ban social media for kids under 16, Egypt is blocking Roblox outright, and governments everywhere are flailing at the algorithmic abyss.

IN THE NEWS, Elon Musk is rolling xAI into SpaceX to birth a $1.25 trillion megacorp that wants to power AI from orbit with a million satellites, because space junk apparently wasn’t annoying enough. Amazon admits a “high volume” of CSAM showed up in its AI training data and blames third parties, Waymo bags a massive $16 billion to insist robotaxis are working, Pinterest reportedly fires staff who built a layoff-tracking tool, and Sam Altman gets extremely cranky about Claude’s Super Bowl ads hitting a little too close to home.

For MEDIA CANDY, we’ve got Shrinking, the Grammys, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s questionable holographic future, Neil Young gifting his catalog to Greenland while snubbing Amazon, plus Is It Cake? Valentines and The Rip.

In APPS & DOODADS, we test Sennheiser earbuds, mess with Topaz Video, skip a deeply cursed Python script that checks LinkedIn for Epstein connections, and note that autonomous cars and drones will happily obey prompt injection via road signs—defeated by a Sharpie.

IN THE LIBRARY, there’s The Regicide Report, a brutal study finding early dementia signals in Terry Pratchett’s novels, Neil Gaiman denying allegations while announcing a new book, and THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, vibing with The Muppet Show as Disney names a new CEO. We round it out with RentAHuman.ai dread relief via paper airplane databases, free Roller Coaster Tycoon, and Sir Ian McKellen on Colbert—still classy in the digital wasteland.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/732

Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/uFfEI2fuWaM

FOLLOW UP

Bitcoin drops 15%, briefly breaking below $61,000 as sell-off intensifies, doubts about crypto grow

Bitcoin Is Crashing So Hard That Miners Are Unplugging Their Equipment

Grok, which maybe stopped undressing women without their consent, still undresses men

X offices raided in France as UK opens fresh investigation into Grok

Spain set to ban social media for children under 16

Egypt to block Roblox for all users

IN THE NEWS

Elon Musk Is Rolling xAI Into SpaceX—Creating the World’s Most Valuable Private Company

SpaceX wants to launch a constellation of a million satellites to power AI needs

A potential Starlink competitor just got FCC clearance to launch 4,000 satellites

Amazon discovered a 'high volume' of CSAM in its AI training data but isn't saying where it came from

Waymo raises massive $16 billion round at $126 billion valuation, plans expansion to 20+ cities

Pinterest Reportedly Fires Employees Who Built a Tool to Track Layoffs

Sam Altman got exceptionally testy over Claude Super Bowl ads

MEDIA CANDY

Shrinking

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

The Rip

Neil Young gifts Greenland free access to his music and withdraws it from Amazon over Trump

Is it Cake? Valentines

APPS & DOODADS

Sennheiser Consumer Audio IE 200 In-Ear Audiophile Headphones - TrueResponse Transducers for Neutral Sound, Impactful Bass, Detachable Braided Cable with Flexible Ear Hooks - Black

Sennheiser Consumer Audio CX 80S In-ear Headphones with In-line One-Button Smart Remote – Black

Topaz Video

Epstein

Autonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road sign

AT THE LIBRARY

The Regicide Report (Laundry Files Book 14) by Charles Stross

Scientists Found an Early Signal of Dementia Hidden in Terry Pratchett's Novels

Neil Gaiman Denies the Allegations Against Him (Again) While Announcing a New Book

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Only Malware in the Building

The Muppet Show

Disney announces Josh D’Amaro will be its new CEO after Iger departs

A Database of Paper Airplane Designs: Hours of Fun for Kids & Adults Alike

Online (free!) version of Roller Coaster tycoon.

Speaking of coasters, here’s the current world champion.

I am hoping this is satire...

Sir Ian McKellen on Colbert.

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

Catherine O’Hara: The Grande Dame of Off-Center Comedy

Standing with Sam 'Balloon Man' Martinez

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

731: I Want My 13 Trillion Dollars! Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

We kick off FOLLOW UP by checking in on Elon Musk’s personal dumpster fire, where the EU is investigating Grok for deepfake slop while Tesla’s “unsupervised” robotaxis turned out to be supervised by literal chase cars — shocker. At least some of you are getting Siri settlement crumbs in your bank accounts, though you could probably double it betting against Musk’s worthless promises on Polymarket.Transitioning to IN THE NEWS, Tesla is killing off the Model S and X to build robots while sales crater, proving that mixing hard-right politics with EV sales is a brilliant move for the balance sheet. Meanwhile, the corporate bloodbath continues with massive layoffs at Ubisoft, Vimeo (courtesy of the Bending Spoons buzzsaw), and Amazon, because “removing bureaucracy” is apparently HR-speak for 16,000 families losing their livelihoods. If that’s not enough, Google is settling yet another privacy suit for $135 million, the EU is threatening to weaponize its tech sovereignty against the US, and the Trump administration wants Gemini to write federal regulations—because if there's one thing we want drafting airline safety rules, it's a hallucinating chatbot.Still IN THE NEWS, Waymo is under federal investigation for passing school buses and hitting children, while South Korea’s new AI laws manage to please absolutely no one. Record labels are suing Anna’s Archive for a cool $13 trillion—roughly three times the GDP of India—and the Winklevoss twins have finally admitted that NFTs are dead by shuttering Nifty Gateway.We pivot to MEDIA CANDY, where the Patriots and Seahawks are heading to Super Bowl 60, and the Winter Olympics are descending on Milan. We’re doing the math on the Starfleet Academy timeline, celebrating the return of Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and trying to decide if Henry Cavill is the second coming of Timothy Dalton in the Highlander reboot. Plus, Jessica Jones is back in the Daredevil: Born Again trailer, and Colin Farrell’s Sugar is returning to explain that wild noir twist we all totally saw coming.In APPS & DOODADS, the TikTok Armageddon is upon us as the new US owners break the app and drive everyone to UpScrolled, while Native Instruments enters insolvency, leaving our music-making dreams in restructuring limbo. Apple is dropping AirTag 2 with precision finding for your watch, which is great for finding the keys you lost while doom-scrolling.We wrap up with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, featuring the new Muppets trailer and Steve Whitmire’s deep thoughts on the state of the felt, plus a look at the artisans in Disneyland Handcrafted. Finally, Looney Tunes finds a new home on Turner Classic Movies, proving that the classics never die—they just move to a cable channel your parents actually watch. Dave finally learns about the Insta360 camera, a countertop dishwasher but no Animal Crackers, and a guide to gas masks and googles... for no particular reason.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/731Watch the episode at https://youtu.be/B54je_oJWjMFOLLOW UPThe EU is investigating Grok and X over potentially illegal deepfakesPeople on Polymarket Are Making a Fortune by Betting Against Elon Musk’s Famously Worthless PromisesElon Musk Made Tesla Fans Think Unsupervised Robotaxis Had Arrived. They Can’t Find ThemTesla Quietly Pauses Its “Unsupervised” Robotaxi Rides as Reality Sets InApple Siri settlement payments hitting bank accounts. What to know.IN THE NEWSTesla bet big on Elon Musk. His politics continue to haunt it.With Tesla Revenue and Profits Down, Elon Musk Plays Up SafetyTesla Kills Models S and XUbisoft proposes even more layoffs after last week's studio closures and game cancellationsVimeo lays off most of its staff just months after being bought by private equity firmAmazon Laying Off 16,000 as It Increases ‘Ownership’ and Removes ‘Bureaucracy’Report Says the E.U. Is Gearing Up to Weaponize Europe's Tech Industry Against the U.S.Google will pay $135 million to settle illegal data collection lawsuitGDPR Enforcement TrackerNTSB will investigate why Waymo's robotaxis are illegally passing school busesWaymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa MonicaVideo shows Waymo vehicle slam into parked cars in Echo ParkTrump admin reportedly plans to use AI to write federal regulationsSouth Korea’s ‘world-first’ AI laws face pushback amid bid to become leading tech powerSpotify and Big 3 Record Labels Sue Anna’s Archive for $13 Trillion (!) Alleging TheftAmazon converting some Fresh supermarkets, Go stores to Whole Foods locationsSEC agrees to dismiss case over crypto lending by Winklevoss' GeminiWinklevoss Twins Shut Down NFT Marketplace in Another Sign Crypto Art Is DeadMEDIA CANDYPlur1busShrinkingA Knight of the Seven KingdomsStealHow to watch the 2026 Super Bowl: Patriots vs. Seahawks channel, where to stream and moreWinter Olympics: How to watch, schedule of events, and everything else you need to know about the 2026 Milano Cortina gamesWait, So When Is 'Starfleet Academy' Set, Anyway?The First ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Trailer Brings Back Jessica JonesMarvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 | Teaser TrailerTed Lasso Gets Kicked Back to Apple TVThere Can Only Be One First Look at the ‘Highlander’ RebootColin Farrell’s Detective Show ‘Sugar’ Will Finally Have to Address that Wild Twist This SummerAPPS & DOODADSTikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest ChangesTikTok users freak out over app's 'immigration status' collection — here's what it meansTikTok’s New US Owners Are Off to a Very Rocky StartTikTok Data Center Outage Triggers Trust Crisis for New US OwnersYes, TikTok is still broken for many peopleSocial network UpScrolled sees surge in downloads following TikTok's US takeoverNative Instruments enters into insolvency proceedings, leaving its future uncertainWispr FlowAirTag 2: Three tidbits you might have missedTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingThe Muppet Show | Official Trailer | Disney+Steve Whitmire, former Kermit the Frog performer, has written a long, thoughtful piece about the current stae of the Muppets.Disneyland Handcrafted‘Looney Tunes’ Has Found a New Home: Turner Classic MoviesThe Dark Side of Scooby DooA Disturbing (Yet Convincing) Theory Reveals There Were Never Any "Monsters" In Scooby DooCartoon Conspiracy Theory | Scooby Doo and The Gang Are Draft Dodgers?!Producing A Multi-Person Interview With An Insta360 CameraA listener on Mastodon pointed out that The Verge had a story on countertop dishwashersA Demonstrator’s Guide to Gas Masks and GogglesEmma RepairsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Full show notes at the publisher

730: Ethical Broads Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

Ep 730: Ethical Broads PRIVATE

We kick off FOLLOW UP with California’s AG sending a cease-and-desist to xAI over Grok generating creepy deepfakes of minors, while regulators finally notice Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter illegally running methane turbines in Memphis. The FTC is also appealing its loss in the Meta monopoly case, because apparently breaking up Zuckerberg’s data empire is still the hill they want to die on.

IN THE NEWS, Washington joins the age-verification-for-porn parade, the UK considers an Australia-style social media ban for kids under 16, and governments everywhere continue demanding your ID before you’re allowed to enjoy the internet. OpenAI rolls out age prediction for ChatGPT accounts ahead of a rumored adult mode—though hey, at least you can now group tabs in ChatGPT’s Atlas browser. Anthropic rewrites Claude’s “constitution” to make it more vibes-based, Nevada moves to block Polymarket because gambling is only legal when the house owns the house, and YouTube promises even more AI features in 2026. Elsewhere, a Swiss suicide pod gets an AI “mental fitness” upgrade, Microsoft’s CEO begs AI developers to do something useful before the grid collapses, Musk hunts for a $134 billion payday from OpenAI and Microsoft, and makes yet more Davos predictions about robotaxis and aliens that are absolutely happening this year. On the bright side, A-list creatives push back on AI and Comic-Con bans AI art, buying humans a little more time.

MEDIA CANDY finds us slogging through Wish, The Pitt, and the “Mel’s Diner in Space” look of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. We confirm 20-year-old CGI wargs still look terrible, get cautiously excited for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and note that Fallout Season 2’s weekly drops may not be working for a binge-rotted audience.

In APPS & DOODADS, X launches Bluesky-style starter packs—presumably to help you find more Nazis—while ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky. Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, proving the “federated future” is just another Zuck app. And yes, we think we know what the Apple AI pin is—and definitely what it isn’t.

AT THE LIBRARY, we check out The Elements, Jet Tila’s 101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die, Half Baked Harvest: Quick & Cozy, and Southern Living’s A Southern Gentleman’s Kitchen. Scott reports back from a Jim Butcher talk, where we learn Harry Dresden sounds suspiciously like Han Solo.

We close with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, who is juggling five podcasts while reading Going to the Top: The Story of Videopolis, plus teasers for Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord and a baffling Masters of the Universe trailer, a rant on what “remastered” even means anymore, a dishwasher follow-up, and the grim news that a lot of snow is coming.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/730

Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/LiwVkLKr8Co

FOLLOW UP

California AG sends cease and desist to xAI over Grok's explicit deepfakes

Elon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, regulator rules

Zuck stuck on Trump’s bad side: FTC appeals loss in Meta monopoly case

IN THE NEWS

Washington is the latest state pursuing an age verification law for porn sites

The UK is mulling an Australia-like social media ban for users under 16

OpenAI is launching age prediction for ChatGPT accounts

You can now group tabs on OpenAI’s ChatGPT Atlas browser

Anthropic Updates Claude's 'Constitution,' Just in Case Chatbot Has a Consciousness

Nevada files to block Polymarket from offering ‘unlicensed wagering’ in the state

YouTube CEO promises more AI features in 2026

Controversial Swiss Suicide Pod Gets an AI-Powered Mental Fitness Upgrade

Microsoft CEO urges AI developers 'to get to a point where we are using this to do something useful,' or 'lose even the social permission...to generate these tokens'

Elon Musk is looking for a $134 billion payout from OpenAI and Microsoft

Elon Musk Sure Made Lots of Predictions at Davos

A-List creatives sign up to fight AI, say it enables 'theft at a grand scale'

Comic-Con Bans AI Art After Artist Pushback

MEDIA CANDY

Wish

The Pitt

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

'Fallout' Season 2's Weekly Drops May Not Be Working

APPS & DOODADS

X is also launching Bluesky-like starter packs

ICE becomes one of the most-blocked accounts on Bluesky after its verification

Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows

I think I know what the Apple pin is, and definitely know what it isn't

Apple Developing AirTag-Sized AI Pin With Dual Cameras

Not to be outdone by OpenAI, Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearable

Siri’s iOS 27 upgrade sounds exactly right. Apple’s AI pin sounds exactly wrong

AT THE LIBRARY

The Elements by John Boyne

101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die by Jet Tila

Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy: A Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard

Pestle

Southern Living A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen: Adventures in Cooking, Eating, and Living in the New South by Matt Moore

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Only Malware in the Building

Going to the Top: The Story of Videopolis—Part One

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord | Official Teaser Trailer | Streaming April 6 on Disney+

Masters of The Universe – Official Teaser Trailer

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

Classic-Era Scorpions Bassist Francis Buchholz Dies at 71

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

729: Alright Alright Alright™ Jan 16, 2026

Show notes

We kick things off with the existential dread of FOLLOW UP and the absolute joy of jury duty. While xAI’s Grok is busy getting banned in Malaysia and Indonesia for its CSAM-generating "features," the Senate is unanimously passing the DEFIANCE Act to give us some legal teeth against the deepfake machine. Meta is busy nuking 550,000 Australian accounts to appease regulators, while Roblox’s age verification is so broken that a drawing of stubble or a photo of Kurt Cobain can get you into the adult lounge. Moving IN THE NEWS, Meta is trading its $70 billion Metaverse graveyard for a Reality Labs layoff and a pivot to AI hardware, fueled by an "AI infrastructure" buildout that’s hiring former Trump advisors. Bandcamp is heroically banning AI "slop," Matthew McConaughey is trademarking his own face to fend off the bots, and ICE’s AI hiring tool is such a disaster it’s accidentally fast-tracking mall security as "officers." Between self-help gurus charging $99 for chatbot "advice," GM finally settling its driver-spying suit with the FTC, and NASA prepping for a February moon shot while China plans to launch 200,000 satellites into our already crowded orbit, the future looks exactly as messy as we expected.

For MEDIA CANDY, we’ve got Lord of the Rings marathons, the diner-bridge of Starfleet Academy, and the usual joy of streaming price hikes hitting our "Premium" plans. We’re tracking the 2025 "In Memoriam" and Gabriel Pagan’s exhaustive movie list before sliding into APPS & DOODADS. Jony Ive and Sam Altman are reportedly building an hearing aide called "Sweetpea" to kill your AirPods, Siri is officially Google Gemini’s new puppet, and Apple is finally bundling its creative apps into a "Creator Studio" subscription trap. Tesla is making Full Self-Driving a subscription-only Valentine’s gift (good luck with that), Ring is rebranding surveillance as a "fire-watching" assistant, and a Chinese app called "Are You Dead?" is the new must-have for the lonely. To cap it off, the internet proved its maturity by using "Words.zip"—an infinite word-search grid—to draw a giant phallus, because of course they did.

AT THE LIBRARY features the Anthony Bourdain Reader, the return of Bob in the new Laundry Files book, and Jimmy Carr’s guide to happiness, which is apparently cheaper than therapy. Then we descend into THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, where the dishwasher-installing, ham-radio-lunching Dave Bittner reveals Disney World has job openings for those of us who spent high school in the AV club. Lucasfilm is finally entering a new era as Kathleen Kennedy steps down, just as Galaxy’s Edge admits the original trilogy exists, and we wrap it all up with lock-picking kits and the terrifying realization that Seymour from H.R. Pufnstuf is the ultimate Gen-X fursona.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/729

Watch on YouTube! https://youtu.be/1Y1jnRDw7g0

FOLLOW UP

Malaysia and Indonesia are the first to block Grok following CSAM scandal

Senate passes Defiance Act for a second time to address Grok deepfakes

Meta closes 550,000 accounts to comply with Australia's kids social media ban

Roblox's age verification system is reportedly a trainwreck

IN THE NEWS

Meta refocuses on AI hardware as metaverse layoffs begin

Meta’s Layoffs Leave Supernatural Fitness Users in Mourning