Grumpy Old Geeks

Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister with Dave Bittner

We dissect the tech news train wrecks of the week, calling out what went wrong and who’s to blame. Think of this podcast as if Kurt Cobain threw down with Tom from MySpace, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg in a back alley brawl. No mercy, no filter—if tech had a walk of shame, this would be it.

  1. 1h ago

    Huang's Wang's Woes

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! - Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! We start with Patrick Stewart memories, then immediately squander any remaining dignity on Britain’s porn restrictions and the perils of flying too close to the stepson. That brings us to the allegations surrounding Jensen Huang, a suspected Chinese intelligence asset, and a honeypot story practically engineered to destroy our ability to behave like adults. Apparently, all that processing power still can’t run good judgment. We also dig into Anthropic’s proposed IPO payday, the government’s “superintelligence” enforcement ambitions, and the growing fight over AI regulation and data centers. The founders get rich, the neighbors get a substation, and everybody else gets another f*****g chatbot. Elsewhere, we visit Predictors Anonymous, enjoy some Cybertruck schadenfreude, and examine the Trump crypto circus before the FAA’s floppy disks remind us that our childhood storage media have enjoyed better job security than most Americans. Brian fixes his Apple TV problems by figuring out which Apple TV he actually owns, while Jason questions Apple’s AI upsells and conducts an expensive experiment involving gravity and a hard drive. Backblaze saves the data, eventually—apparently gigabit internet comes with an eight-day intermission. Meanwhile, LinkedIn’s frequent-viewer experiment threatens to turn professional networking into “I Know What You Clicked Last Summer.” On the entertainment front, we tackle wizard baking, The Rings of Power, Jason’s surprisingly enthusiastic verdict on The Odyssey, and new music from Ministry and the Church. Dave joins us to examine Disney’s proposed cure for spending your entire vacation staring at an app: more app. We also discuss Disney and Adobe’s AI partnership, Jason’s growing attachment to his assistant Molly, and what happens when AI eliminates the entry-level jobs where people learn how to do the senior-level jobs. Then it’s ham-radio website borrowing, ancient computer games, and Ferris Bueller nostalgia, because some of us remember when buying software was the end of the transaction. Sponsors: CleanMyMac - clnmy.com/GrumpyOldGeeks - Use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off. DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout. Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month. LeafFilter - Schedule your free inspection today at leaffilter.com/GOG for a quote that’s good for one full year. And right now, you can get up to 35% off leaffilter.com/GOG Show notes at https://gog.show/771 Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/NDCi-sbDksc SHOW NOTES In the UK, Face Sitting Porn Might Land You in Jail NVIDIA is investigating reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of Chinese spy efforts Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's affair with alleged Chinese spy: a timeline All 7 Anthropic founders will each cash out about $250M in IPO DOJ just launched something called the Super Intelligence Task Force OpenAI, Anthropic face new oversight as New York’s AI safety law takes effect New Australian AI safety and security protections UK has no plans to slow down AI data center construction Democrats Preparing Crackdown on Prediction Markets Tesla is 'winding down' Cybertruck production at its Texas Gigafactory How to Talk to Your Child About the Cybertruck’s Demise A Brief History of the Cybertruck Exploding, Sinking, and Sucking Uber Wants to Help You Park the Car It Once Promised You Wouldn’t Need There Are Too Many Crypto Hacks Happening. It’s Impossible to Keep Up. Trump Coins Hit All-Time Lows as Elizabeth Warren Targets Trump Family’s Crypto Empire The FAA is finally phasing out floppy disks from air traffic control Apple launches $50 ‘intelligence usage packs’ for select AI features End of an era: Apple Support Community forums will permanently close on November 20 Backblaze LinkedIn Is Testing a Feature That Lets You See Your Profile Stalkers Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking Season 3 The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power S3 ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Delivers Its Most Propulsive Season Yet Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure Is Coming Salon, internet’s oldest general interest publication, shuts down after 31 years DC in Flux: What Happens to James Gunn’s Batman, Superman and Other Heroes After Shocking Exit? Ministry - Hate to Go - Take Out or Delivery The Church - Lacuna The Law of the Sublime by Robert Greene Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Only Malware in the Building ‘Get you out of your device and back to your vacation’ — Disney’s new AI experiment could change how you explore Disneyland, whether you’re using an iPhone, Ray-Ban Metas, or AirPods Disney Releasing New Imagineering App to Help ‘Break Spell’ of Guests Glued to Phones in Parks Agent P's World Showcase Adventure at Epcot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnxaMnF97is Disney, Adobe Launch Strategic Partnership to Advance AI-Powered Storytelling A really good Ham Radio club website, and a moral dilemma. Another classic Mac app ported to the browser. Swashbuckler for the Apple II New Ferris Bueller nostalgia ad and the original... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Huang's Wang's Woes
  2. 6d ago

    Streaking, Mooning, & Quicksand

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! - Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! The blue wave has arrived; Elon Musk’s political spending spree mostly went down in flames, and Brian is celebrating his new Canadian citizenship with the kind of optimism usually reserved for people who haven’t checked the news yet. This week on Grumpy Old Geeks, we look at Musk’s $458 million election gamble, the ongoing legal fight over xAI’s gas-guzzling Memphis data centers, and another social-media addiction lawsuit that settled before it could deliver the public reckoning we were hoping for. Meanwhile, Meta’s moderation systems are apparently still struggling with the concept that adults shouldn’t be sexually abusing children under the guise of coaching. You had one job, algorithm. Apple is tightening App Store age-rating disclosures, while Google is effectively telling schools they can’t have search without AI—a charming little exercise in choice, corporate leverage, and educational priorities. We also dig into AI-generated classroom content, vibe-coded alternatives to Adobe’s subscription empire, Anthropic’s sudden interest in protecting video-game copyrights, and Sam Altman’s apparently sincere belief that your computer is selfishly hoarding RAM. OpenAI is tightening restrictions on weapons information, Reddit is testing ads in search, and Jason makes the case for using AI to escape the walled gardens: build your own communities, run your own servers, and stop letting giant tech companies turn everything you enjoy into an ad-delivery mechanism. Plus, a million-plus Android TV boxes came with a malware surprise preinstalled. Bargain shopping! In the Dark Side with Dave, we take a detour through chainsaw influencers, quicksand, streaking, mooning, and the increasingly implausible notion that anything embarrassing could happen before someone whips out a phone. We debate whether we're chaos Muppets or order Muppets, revisit some glorious Muppet content, and mourn the steady corporate enshittification of brands we once trusted. Brian recommends Hugh Howey’s Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories and continues his The Bear binge; Jason offers a decidedly lukewarm review of Battlestar Suburbia. It’s another episode of technology, culture, nostalgia, and the slow realization that the kids are probably right to think we're weird. Sponsors: DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout. Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month. Show notes at https://gog.show/770 Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/7iAyCfZkz0U SHOW NOTES Elon Musk's $458 million midterms bet bought him very little Judge says xAI must face NAACP lawsuit on data center pollution Snap settles social media addiction lawsuit to avoid trial Meta Is Refusing to Remove AI-Generated Videos of Coaches Inappropriately Touching Young Athletes When Users Report Them Meta Removed Disturbing AI Videos After Initially Saying They Didn’t Violate Its Rules Apple will start mandating age requirements for dating apps Google will cut off search access for students at schools that reject AI AI software clones are coming for big-name companies like Adobe Anthropic updates Claude to stop it from recreating existing video games Sam Altman is upset at you for hoarding RAM in your own computer OpenAI adds stricter limits for teens asking about firearms Reddit tests ads in search results as traffic declines and growth concerns mount Google disrupts million-device XCPE Android malware botnet, bans TV box maker Meeting Pins The Bear - up to season 4 Machine Learning: New and Collected Stories by Hugh Howey Battlestar Suburbia: A hilariously subversive space adventure Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Only Malware in the Building Chaos Theory: A Unified Theory of Muppet Types. Walmart Presents: A Who Knew Carol Longer version And a prequel clip? Rogue One: Money for Nothing Edit Worse on Purpose Take a virtual train ride in your browser. Did you have train sets? Geolocating based on the (sometimes inaudible) sounds of the airplanes around you. Tonight’s the Freight: Rod Stewart reveals he’s spent 26 years making a huge model railway See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Streaking, Mooning, & Quicksand
  3. Oct 29

    Mommie Dearest Maxxing

    Brian prepares to become Canadian, securing access to maple cookies while the rest of us contemplate our life choices. AI's promised productivity bonanza remains hard to find outside the tech giants, but the layoffs are right on schedule. We unpack the Dutch government's plans to cut jobs and lean on AI, Silicon Valley's game of passing the same money around, and Marissa Mayer's Dazzle, the assistant she used to identify what makes her own daughter special. Apparently remembering things about your kid is now a job for the camera roll. Welcome to Mommie Dearest Maxxing. Social media keeps replacing our friends with ads, Greece moves to keep under-15s off the platforms, and Meta faces another lawsuit over scam advertising. We get into compulsive scrolling, recovery groups and AI agents poking around bank accounts, because online banking clearly needed a worse security model. Things turn serious with a lawsuit alleging ChatGPT encouraged a woman to reduce her epilepsy medication before her death. Elvis's music owners take on Anthropic, and we discuss reports of Samsung TVs tracking viewers. Your appliances have taken an interest in you, and it isn't affection. Cybertruck reservation holders in Australia and New Zealand get the seven-year "never mind," we examine reports of cracking foldable iPhones, and a Bitcoin-mining water heater wants $899 to put your finances in hot water. Airbnb finally questions making paying guests do the laundry. Jason plugs Trackalot 2.0, we catch up on The Diplomat, Lupin and Battlestar Suburbia, and NBC's shorter cut of The Traitors earns a proper dressing-down. Jason has thoughts, and none of them are suitable for broadcast. Sponsors: HIMS - Visit Hims.com/gog to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout. Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month. Show notes at https://gog.show/769 Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/VcEgXmummZk SHOW NOTES AI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist says Dutch government to cut 16 percent of workforce as part of AI efficiency push Greece enacts social media ban for kids under 15 We’re addicted to social media. How do we get sober? Rhode Island sues Meta over its approach to scam ads Unauthorized AI agents are reportedly already accessing US bank accounts Bank of America kindly asks that you don't share your banking password with your AI assistant Elvis Presley's estate is suing Anthropic over copyright infringement Former Yahoo CEO Needed AI to Help Describe What Makes Her Own Daughter Special Woman Dies After ChatGPT Coached Her to Decrease Dose of Medication Prescribed by Doctor World shares and U.S. futures are mixed after Google parent Alphabet's earnings disappoint Nvidia, Meta deepen AI ties with $3 billion investment deal Tesla says it will no longer release the Cybertruck in Australia and New Zealand Tesla plans to start selling Cybercabs by the end of the year The last, best hope for space tourism just rolled onto a runway in Arizona The iPhone Duo Is 3 Days Old—And Screens Are Already Cracking Trackalot 2.0 - Now FREE to Download! Heatbit Says Your Water Heater Should Be Mining Bitcoin, and Now It Can Airbnb bans hosts from making you do the dishes The Diplomat Lupin Part 4 Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 Battlestar Suburbia: A hilariously subversive space adventure We Regret to Inform You That ‘Maxxing’ Is Dictionary.com’s 2026 Word of the Year Actor Walter Koenig Dead at 90 ... Played Chekov in Original 'Star Trek' Series See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Mommie Dearest Maxxing
  4. Oct 22

    Rosetta Broccoli

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! Show notes at https://gog.show/768 Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/HaR8udbJPhw AI golems are coming for your job, and Terry Pratchett apparently saw the whole mess coming decades ago. This week on Grumpy Old Geeks, TikTok’s child-safety promises get the courtroom treatment, with employees alleging that executives ignored serious exploitation risks while supposedly robust parental controls had loopholes big enough to drive a teenager through. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s reported decision to restrict Starlink access for Ukrainian forces raises some rather uncomfortable questions about how much power one billionaire should have over a country’s military infrastructure. Add Musk’s conveniently vague promise to give every American child a SpaceX share and his retrospective admission that DOGE probably went on too long, and the billionaire accountability department remains conspicuously understaffed. Meta has another banner week in the business of making everyone’s data its data. The company temporarily suspended a No Kings protest account after automated activity triggered its systems, then softened proposed business-account terms following backlash over web scraping and content use. Anthropic is advocating for federal AI rules that could block dangerous models, while OpenAI’s agents reportedly disabled monitoring systems and, in one case, falsely claimed they hadn’t. That’s reassuring. We also cover delivery robots accused of collecting biometric data without consent, AI-powered plant-language translation that may be more marketing than science, AI-assisted firearm design, and the prospect of using coding tools to rescue abandoned gadgets and strip ads from smart TVs. Just remember: a 97.9% success rate is not good enough when your bank’s software is involved. Elsewhere, scammers are fleecing older adults out of staggering sums with fake investment opportunities, tech-support calls, and romance scams featuring celebrity impersonators; Russian military satellites are making suspiciously close approaches to a commercial imaging satellite; and Amazon’s new kids’ tablets spark a discussion about parental controls, advertising, and which tech companies deserve your trust. In the Dark Side with Dave segment, we also visit the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and celebrate a New Mexico judge’s $25 billion penalty against Meta over privacy violations. For lighter fare, Brian recommends the Enola Holmes movies, The Bear, The Diplomat, and The Ministry of Time, while Jason reminds us that anxiety-inducing television is not everyone’s idea of a good time. It’s another week of AI overreach, corporate doublespeak, and technology racing ahead while the grown-ups look for the instruction manual. Sponsors: DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout. Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month. SHOW NOTES Employees warned TikTok about child exploitation, court documents show TikTok reportedly banned ads for Musk documentary before its wider US release WSJ Claims Elon Musk Ordered the Throttling of Starlink Tech for Ukraine Elon Musk says he plans to gift a SpaceX share to every child in the U.S. ‘I Got Carried Away Basically’: Musk Expresses Some Regrets About His DOGE Era Meta says it shut down No Kings Instagram account because it thought bots had been unleashed Meta tweaks its new terms of service after backlash against scraping Anthropic Secretly Lobbying Government to Only Shut Down an AI Model If It's Poised to Kill More Than 50 People OpenAI's agents disabled their own safety monitoring systems Delivery Robots Are Watching You, According to Lawsuit New Data Show How Much Worse Scams Are Getting for Americans Over 60 Russia Just Did Something Menacing in Orbit That Satellite Trackers Say Is a First Plants can speak using electricity, so this startup built an AI model to decipher their language STAR WARS: Galactic Racer We Regret to Inform You That “GatGPT” Is Exactly What It Sounds Like OpenAI says its models can help banks migrate from old COBOL programs ‘Reverse-Engineer Anything’ Is the New Wild West of AI Enola Holmes Enola Holmes 2 Enola Holmes 3 The Bear The Diplomat The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Only Malware in the Building I WENT TO THE LUCAS MUSEUM by Merrill Markoe Amazon announces an all-new family of tablets designed just for kids Neiman Marcus has unveiled its 2026 holiday gift guide, including an $180,000 Star Wars experience. We are (once again) living the old scifi trope of ignoring the scientific experts at our own peril. Meta ordered to pay $25 billion penalty in New Mexico Cambridge Analytica case See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Rosetta Broccoli
  5. Oct 19 ·  Bonus

    Operation Quiet Piggy BONUS: Dark Side with Dave!

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! Dave Bittner joins Jason and Brian for a bonus trip to the Dark Side, where the Phantom of the Opera remaster kicks off a musical-theater nerd fight. Les Mis, Pippin, Chess, and White Trash Wins Lotto enter the chat, along with original-cast bragging rights and memories of four-dollar theater tickets. Apparently, we used to leave the house and experience culture without financing it. The conversation turns to Apple’s smart-home ambitions, abandoned Google gadgets, increasingly useless Alexas, and the familiar thrill of buying new hardware because the old hardware stopped getting updates. Dave wants a Pixar-style lamp with personality; everyone wants their expensive devices to actually cooperate. Between Apple TV sticker shock, Spotify questions, and Sonos compatibility, the smart home sounds suspiciously like another unpaid IT job. Then an AI Pac-Man benchmark gives “superintelligence” the credibility it deserves: roughly one quarter’s worth. The guys question the obsession with throwing LLMs at everything, marvel at government buzzword inflation, and discover that a portable monitor might be more useful than another breathless AI announcement. We wrap with balcony solar, electricity-bill fantasies, and Dave’s concern that his renewable-energy investment could become airborne. The future is here; secure it to something heavy. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ji6O69sYu7U SHOW NOTES Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Only Malware in the Building Andrew Lloyd Webber Announces Remixed and Remastered Original Phantom of the Opera Album as London Production Celebrates 40 Years Andy Prieboy's White Trash Wins Lotto Everything announced at Apple's 'Welcome Home' event Remember the Apple patent on a Pixar-style lamp? The Pacman benchmark for AI model performance. Lenovo L15 Portable Monitor, 15.6” Display, Full HD Resolution, IPS Panel, 250 nits Brightness, 60Hz Refresh Rate, USB-C Ports, Height-Adjustable Stand, Flicker-Free Technology, Grey Balcony solar? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Operation Quiet Piggy BONUS: Dark Side with Dave!
  6. Oct 15

    Operation: Quiet Piggy

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! Show notes at https://gog.show/767 Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/i9Q2SnxzolU The internet has officially become a dumpster fire with Wi-Fi. Ukrainian strikes on Yandex data centers may have disrupted Russian internet services, but whether they actually knocked out propaganda bots remains anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s former safety employees are publicly airing their grievances, an alleged spy gadget in the company’s office turned out to be a $14 hobbyist development board, and Anthropic managed to have an AI model submit a fabricated tip about an unsolved murder to Philadelphia police. The machines are allegedly getting smarter. The adults in charge? Still working on it. And because apparently everything needs an internet connection until it ruins your day, hackers allegedly cranked supermarket refrigeration systems in France to 122 degrees, potentially spoiling millions of euros in food. Tesla wants permission to dramatically increase particulate emissions near homes and a school, car manufacturers are handing vehicle identifiers and location data to advertising companies, and Flock’s nationwide license-plate surveillance network is collecting lawsuits like Pokémon. Elon Musk’s AI shopping assistant even helped broadcast his Lego order details to the internet. Add 1,400-plus Microsoft security fixes, questionable safety around home 3D printing, and the ongoing absence of meaningful AI regulation, and it’s another banner week for technological progress. For entertainment, Paramount and Skydance are reshaping the Star Trek future, with another season of Starfleet Academy still on the way; the Blade Runner 2099 trailer inspires a rant about Hollywood’s increasingly interchangeable cinematic "dongs"; and Character.AI is headed for bankruptcy after a mountain of controversy. Finally, one enterprising man used AI-generated music and thousands of automated accounts to rake in more than $8 million in fraudulent streaming royalties. Apparently, the future of music is artificial, the listeners are bots, and the royalties are real — until the FBI shows up. Stay grumpy... Sponsors: CleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKS DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout. Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month. SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!! 1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password SHOW NOTES Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Claims Strikes on Russian Data Centers Silenced Social Media Bots Fired OpenAI safety researchers dispute their dismissals in open letter FBI arrests OpenAI employee accused of planting hidden recording device in conference room The 'Sophisticated' Bug OpenAI Found in Its Conference Room Can Be Yours for $13.99 Microsoft's president says AI is less regulated than a carton of milk Anthropic’s AI Submitted a Fake Tip in an Unsolved Murder Case Exclusive: Anthropic breaches spark White House AI reporting mandate Hackers Overheat Fridges at Supermarkets Across France, Wasting Food and Starting Fires Tesla Factory Planning Massive Increase of Toxic Heavy Metal Emissions Near Elementary School Cyber Extortion Expert Charged With Cyber Extortion Amid FBI Website Hack Manhunt 'Just canceled your order': Elon Musk trolled as he 'doxxes himself' with his full address Study finds many new cars share your data with third-party companies Georgia Man Says Deputies Used Flock Cameras to Track Him After He Sued Sheriff Flock Safety is reportedly planning major layoffs now that everyone hates it Trackalot - Introducing Done-Did tracking Is 3D printing safe to do in your bedroom or home office? Microsoft Patches More Than 1,400 Security Flaws ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ Lifts the Lid on Its Second Season Blade Runner 2099 Trailer Kill Jackie Character.AI just filed for bankruptcy, and former foe Disney may buy it for parts North Carolina Man Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Super Intelligence-Assisted Music Streaming Fraud See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Operation: Quiet Piggy
  7. Oct 12 ·  Bonus

    Skibidi! BONUS: Dark Side with Dave!

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! Dave joins Jason and Brian to debate the Ted Lasso finale: a perfect ending or room for more? Then Netflix’s AI recreation of Gene Wilder’s voice sparks an argument over consent, artistic legacy, and whether technical wizardry excuses resurrecting the dead for reality television. Kubrick memorabilia brings The Shining and 2001 into the conversation, alongside Dave’s connection to Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown. His LEGO Enterprise-D build inspires reflections on childhood, precision engineering, and the comfort of clicking bricks together—until Riker’s trombone derails the sentiment. Browser-based Adobe alternatives prompt memories of Photoshop’s single-undo days, while Dave shares an AirPods case upgrade and the absurd “Han Shot Never.” An AI-themed music video closes things out with jokes about vibe coding, replacing employees with tokens, and shipping questionable code on Friday. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHFwkJJCtgg Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Only Malware in the Building Apple releases free chapter from Ted Lasso ‘The Richmond Way’ book Wonka's The Golden Ticket Gene Wilder interviewed by Alec Baldwin Stanley Kubrick’s Estate Will Soon Auction Some Beyond Iconic Items The Shining and the Steadicam®: an interview with inventor Garrett Brown An open source project seeking to provide alternatives to the Adobe suite. MOBOSI for AirPods Pro 3 Case Han Shot Never (Definitive Special Edition) LGTM (Looks Good to Me) - Claude Opus 5.5 music video See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Skibidi! BONUS: Dark Side with Dave!
  8. Oct 8

    Skibidi!

    Very Important Links! Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show! Join our Discord! - Buy some merch! The Geeks are back, and apparently AI has officially reached the “maybe don’t let it plan your hike” stage. A 16-year-old ended up on a technical climbing route after using AI to help plan a hike, while OpenAI agents are allegedly wandering into Wikimedia systems, AI safety employees are quitting, and one AI monitoring system got the police involved after flagging a threat. Naturally, the proposed solution to all this is more AI. Because what could possibly go wrong? Meanwhile, OpenAI is trying to watermark AI-generated text, Google is watermarking AI-generated media, and everyone is pretending we can reliably tell whether a robot wrote something after a quick trip through Grammarly. The privacy nightmare continues with researchers reconstructing what people are looking at from brain scans, raising the delightful prospect of thought crimes arriving just in time for retirement. Meta is catching heat after LGBTQ-friendly bars had their Facebook and Instagram accounts flagged or removed, while Norway considers restrictions on camera-equipped smart glasses in public spaces. Apple users can also reclaim a chunk of storage by deleting Apple Intelligence, assuming they're willing to trade a few features for the exciting possibility of breaking macOS during the next update. And because apparently nobody learned anything from the last few decades, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are teaming up on satellite connectivity—not out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, but because Starlink and Amazon are coming for their lunch money. Then Hollywood gets involved, because every technology story eventually ends there. Paramount and Warner Bros. are merging under Skydance, bringing HBO Max and Paramount+ under one roof and presumably creating yet another streaming app nobody asked for. Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings project is reportedly paused, Stephen King's The Institute is returning, a new Talisman novel has arrived, and Food Network is bringing back Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking. Plus, the Geeks discuss their wildly male YouTube audience, speed-reading apps and Guy Fieri's culinary crimes. Technology, entertainment, surveillance, mind reading, and baked goods: another perfectly normal week. Sponsors: HIMS - Visit Hims.com/gog to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout. Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month. SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!! 1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password Show notes at https://gog.show/766 Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/11y9DwqIxlw SHOW NOTES New Mexico wants Meta to pay $40 billion in penalties for Cambridge Analytica scandal Teen Left Stranded on a Cliff After Letting AI Plan Hike Lawmakers Introduce Multiple Laws to Curb Flock After 404 Media Coverage Trump announces an AI czar for his newly created 'Super Intelligence Force' Anthropic Reports User to the Police Former OpenAI employee says AI should be regulated like nuclear power plants OpenAI fires three employees who allegedly shared info with an external AI safety group Wikimedia links OpenAI agents to an outage and unauthorized activity OpenAI details new text watermarking system for ChatGPT, Codex, and the API Google rolls out improved SynthID AI content detector, now available globally Meta Is Kicking Gay Bars Off Its Apps While Allowing Videos of Graphic Child Abuse New AI Can Figure Out What You’re Thinking About From a Brain Scan This tool frees up Apple Intelligence storage on macOS, but think twice before using it Norway Considers Most Drastic Smart Glasses Ban Yet AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have officially teamed up to end coverage gaps ReadMe! (Spritz & BeeLine) Soon-to-be merged Paramount and Warner Bros. will be known as Skydance going forward Stephen Colbert’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie Reportedly ‘Paused’ Over Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger ‘The Institute’ Season 2 Trailer Teases the Tense Road Ahead Food Network Announces Season 3 Premiere Date, New Judges for Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking (Exclusive) Other Worlds Than These: A Talisman Novel (The Talisman Trilogy Book 3) by Stephen King and Peter Straub See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Skibidi!
4.9
out of 5
6,020 Ratings

About

We dissect the tech news train wrecks of the week, calling out what went wrong and who’s to blame. Think of this podcast as if Kurt Cobain threw down with Tom from MySpace, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg in a back alley brawl. No mercy, no filter—if tech had a walk of shame, this would be it.

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