Techdirt has finally accepted the inevitable and gone full democracy blog—because let’s face it, politics and tech are now the same dumpster fire. Google rolled out AI Mode for Search, proving once again that the internet is just Clippy with better branding. Meanwhile, Billy McFarland insists Fyre Festival 2 is totally happening, despite Mexican officials pointing out that his coordinates literally lead to the ocean. Speaking of fraud, Tesla sales are in freefall thanks to Elon’s alt-right cospl...
Mar 07, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep 687•Transcript available on Metacast This week, the U.S. government takes another L in court as a judge rules that handing out personal data like free candy to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is, in fact, a privacy violation. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani’s dreams of walking free are crushed as a judge upholds their fraud convictions and massive fines. Sorry, no Silicon Valley redemption arc for you. Over in crypto, Bitcoin took a wild nosedive, sending traders into full panic mode before bouncing bac...
Feb 28, 2025•1 hr•Ep 686•Transcript available on Metacast Jason and Brian dive into a whirlwind of tech chaos, cultural absurdities, and dystopian developments. They kick things off with a nostalgic nod to the internet's past, highlighting the 88x31 GIF collection and quirky single-use websites like "Trump Golf Track" and "Are We Doomed Yet?" The asteroid 2024 YR4 briefly raises existential dread as NASA’s odds of a 2032 Earth impact fluctuate wildly, but relief follows as updated calculations show a near-zero chance of collision. Meanwhile, Elon Musk ...
Feb 22, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep 685•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks, Jason and Brian dive headfirst into the latest tech absurdities, financial scandals, and Elon Musk's ongoing chaos. We start with the annual frustration of unsubscribing from an email list that just won’t quit before jumping into the latest gem from Musk himself: "Some of the things that I say will be incorrect." Meanwhile, British IT worker James Howells is back with his ongoing quest to unearth his lost Bitcoin fortune—this time with a plan to buy the entir...
Feb 15, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Ep 684•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Jason and Brian dive into the chaos surrounding Elon Musk’s growing influence in government tech, with young engineers playing key roles in his takeover. DOGE employees are being ordered off Slack, USAID is crumbling, and Musk’s war with U.S. officials rages on. Meanwhile, AI takes center stage with the EU banning high-risk systems, DeepSeek’s security concerns, and Amazon throwing down $100 billion on AI advancements. Big Tech moves are equally absurd—Google is now open to AI-powered...
Feb 08, 2025•1 hr 21 min•Ep 683•Transcript available on Metacast Brian and Jason kick things off with a look at why Gen Z grads are getting fired just months after landing jobs and a curiously viral declassified CIA sabotage guide. Speaking of sabotage, U.S. students are struggling with their lowest reading scores in decades, raising questions about the future workforce. Meanwhile, Google Maps’ controversial renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” for U.S. users has sparked some amusing geopolitical tit-for-tats. In the AI wars, OpenAI is fuming o...
Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 27 min•Ep 682•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Brian and Jason kick things off by highlighting the troubling state of the gaming industry, with 11% of developers laid off in 2024, according to a GDC survey. Meanwhile, Elon Musk finds a new way to perplex us all by admitting he pays people to play video games for him. They then unpack a whirlwind of news, including Trump’s controversial pardon of Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht and his ongoing crusade against perceived social media bias. Elon Musk’s antics take center stage a...
Jan 25, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep 681•Transcript available on Metacast This week on Grumpy Old Geeks , Jason and Brian dissect the latest tech and cultural news, starting with a TikTok tempest. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a law potentially banning the app in the U.S. leaves the ball in Trump’s court, while TikTok’s CEO plans to attend his inauguration. As users flock to alternative Chinese apps and RedNote scrambles to hire English-speaking moderators, it seems the tech world is in chaos. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg faces lawsuits over using pirated mater...
Jan 18, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep 680•Transcript available on Metacast In Episode 679 of Grumpy Old Geeks, titled "Set Sanity to Zero," Brian and Jason discuss the latest developments in tech, culture, and innovation. The episode opens with a look at Watch Duty, a wildfire-tracking app that has surpassed ChatGPT to take the top spot on the App Store amid California’s wildfire crisis. They also cover local news, including the arrest of an arson suspect in Woodland Hills, CA, and tech entrepreneur Kevin Rose’s home in the Palisades that is making headlines. The hosts...
Jan 11, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep 679•Transcript available on Metacast WordPress has officially jumped the pineapple, forcing users to agree that pineapple belongs on pizza to log in. Critics call it a kindergarten move, especially when serious feature requests are ignored. Meanwhile, the crypto world is celebrating its new political allies, but experts warn we’re inching toward a financial apocalypse that taxpayers will be stuck cleaning up. On the East Coast, people are mistaking stars for drones while pilots dodge lasers in what’s shaping up to be the plot of a ...
Dec 21, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep 678•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Jason DeFillippo and Brian Schulmeister dig into the Hawk Tuah meme coin disaster and where influencer-driven crypto schemes go off the rails, leaving chaos in their wake. They unpack WP Engine’s big win against Automattic in a high-stakes WordPress legal battle and take a closer look at Waymo’s rapid rise to match Lyft’s market share in San Francisco. The discussion heats up with GM’s decision to shut down its troubled Cruise robotaxi brand, Amazon’s bold move into the car-sell...
Dec 14, 2024•57 min•Ep 677•Transcript available on Metacast We dive into the TikTok ban drama, Elon Musk’s Tesla pay controversy, and a Chinese ship crew allegedly sabotaging undersea cables. In the news, the former Celsius CEO pleads guilty, Canadian media takes on OpenAI, and Elon Musk wants to rein in ChatGPT. Plus, drug smugglers with Starlink, Meta’s nuclear ambitions, and Apple spying allegations. For media candy, we’ve got Dune: Prophecy , Rings of Power shake-ups, and a Harry Potter baking showdown. In apps & doodads, Spotify’s CEO is richer ...
Dec 07, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep 676•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to our Thanksgiving Weekend Blast from the Past! This is a cleaned-up replay of our very first Thanksgiving with Tim Ferriss. We hope you enjoy and we’ll be back next week in all of our Grumpy Glory! This week, author Tim Ferriss is our special guest. Tim sat with us for an hour, and we talked about his new show on HLN, his fantastic new book club, cool stuff about the quantified self, sleep hacking, and more. We even got a story that wasn't in the books! Sponsors: Mint Mobile - Get a ne...
Nov 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 675•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks , we dive into the wild, wacky, and often worrying world of tech, media, and everything in between. From a Swiss church using AI to preach the gospel to OpenAI facing a copyright conundrum, and a DNA testing company ghosting its customers, the news is packed with surprises. We also explore Neuralink’s Canadian trials, bizarre domain drama between Alex Jones and The Onion , and why Google might be forced to part ways with Chrome. Plus, a study reveals Tesla’s t...
Nov 23, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep 675•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks , we break down the latest chaos in tech, pop culture, and humanity’s never-ending quest to out-stupid itself. Hackers are raiding Ticketmaster accounts (again), and Chegg is circling the drain after ChatGPT obliterated its business model. Meanwhile, Amazon is hawking boner pills that tanked Hims’ stock, 23andMe is laying off nearly half its staff, and Bluesky is quietly stealing users who’ve had it with Elon’s dumpster fire over at X. Driverless Waymo cars ta...
Nov 16, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep 674•Transcript available on Metacast Just Some of the Topics Covered in this Episode: Copyright Lawsuit Dismissal : A federal judge dismissed a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI, filed by news outlets claiming misuse of their content in AI model training. Truth Social’s Stock Drop : Despite a political victory for Donald Trump, shares in his media platform, Truth Social, have plummeted by 22%, leaving investors wary of its future value. Layoffs Roundup : Mozilla Foundation reduces its workforce by 30%, affecting advocacy and global ...
Nov 09, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep 673•Transcript available on Metacast Cash App class action; Tesla camera-based FSD questioned; Trump Media stock swings; standing desks are the new eggs; Dropbox layoffs; OpenAI Whisper invents parts of transcriptions, frequently; ChatGPT search; post scarcity AI BS; AI coding ouroboros of confusion; Musk crypto scams; Underworld; The Cure; A Man on the Inside; the Diplomat; Instagram throttles video quality; META to fill feeds with more AI; SetApp; Echoes of Extinction; Polostan; the Cube Rule of food identification; Disney hack; ...
Nov 02, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 672•Transcript available on Metacast San Fran embracing self-driving cars; not-Bitcoin creator in hiding; i h8 ai; anti-AI artist open letter; X updates their policies; more people leave OpenAI; SynthID; 23andMe and your genetic data; no more fake online reviews; private equity acquires Squarespace; right to repair; Tesla Blade Runner AI ripoff; Star Trek frogs; the Riker Maneuver; de-extinction; a whole slew of great new shows dropping - Star Trek, Dune, Silo & more; Good Omens season 3 now just a movie; Cruel World and nostal...
Oct 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep 671•Transcript available on Metacast More Wordpress & WPEngine shots fired; hate mail; European road organizations reject the Cybertruck; EU fines against X; civil rights commission pans FART (facial recognition technology); FCC looking into broadband caps; NYT tells Perplexity to stop using its content; AI writing police reports; Instagram becoming Myspace; TikTok knows damn well how bad their product is; Google, Amazon go nuclear for their AI; the Diplomat; Lincoln Lawyer; Shrinking; Silo; Apple digital car keys; new Amazon k...
Oct 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 670•Transcript available on Metacast The beginning of the end for Wordpress; open source, or not; police Cybertrucks; Apple Intelligence rolling out; dystopian AI text summaries; X sends money to the wrong bank, argues that Twitter ceased to exist; Internet Archive attacked; Instagram, Threads moderation out of control; the Penguin; Beetlejuice; Salem's Lot; Joker; Kaos cancelled; Bitcoin doc; Green Day demastered; Roblox; Megalopolis; Tesla's Cybercab; is Elon a modern PT Barnum, or worse; ham radios, HamFests, TRS-80, cameras, Di...
Oct 12, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep 669•Transcript available on Metacast OpenAI training data, dynamic pricing & digital IDs; Elon's good week; dockworkers strike over robots averted, for now; more AI models; some AI training techniques make AI better at deceiving humans; weaponizing DMCA takedowns; Cruise fined for omitting details; Cybertruck gets FSD; EV Jeeps catching fire; Neumann back doing workspaces; COVID-19 affected the moon; the Diplomat; Wolfs; The Traitors Canada; The Rings of Power; more Prime Video ads; Juicebox quits the US; facial recognition &am...
Oct 05, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep 668•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Altman stands alone at OpenAI; Gen Z employees not impressing bosses; X complies with Brazil's Supreme Court, but kill blocking; former FTX Exec given light sentence; Microsoft to reopen Three Mile Island nuclear plant to power AI; banning Chinese smart cars; Click to cancel bill passed into law in California; The Cure, Underworld new albums; Bad Monkey; Culinary Class Wars; BBC sound effect library; Duolingo piano; Wordpress vs WP Engine; Jony Ive working on a new AI device startup; AI play...
Sep 28, 2024•57 min•Ep 667•Transcript available on Metacast Fun 666 Facts; Notebook AI follow up; Moviepass fraud; 23andMe settlement, disappearing board; Elon's deleted tweet; AI laws in California; Trump cryptocurrency; Amazon returns to work 5 days a week; new Moderna cancer vaccine; Rebel Ridge; The Grand Tour's last ride; Jane's Addiction & the Cure; social media posting apps; iOS 18; Apple frustrations; Snap's Spectacles; Echoes of Extinction; In My Time of Dying; OnlyBots; iPhone deliveries; more Overcast; pagers & walkie-talkie speculatio...
Sep 21, 2024•2 hr 30 min•Ep 666•Transcript available on Metacast Gaiman & Good Omens; Waymo means Uber drivers are cooked; local muggers; EU not messing around with Apple, Google; DOJ after Google as well; another genetic testing company with security breach disasters; META scraping Australian users' accounts to train AI; banning social media for children; AI to determine unemployment benefits; Lower Decks; Hope Solo vs US Soccer; Alan Cumming; the Perfect Couple; KAOS; Tears for Fears; FruitJuice; iPhone 16 pre-ordering process; AirPods Pro 2 as hearing ...
Sep 14, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep 665•Transcript available on Metacast SEC AI crackdown; Starlink & X vs Brazil; Navy's STINKY Wi-Fi; Microsoft tool for deepfake scrubbing on Bing; Clearview fines for violating GDPR; Bitcoin ATM scams; mobile phones not linked to brain cancer; NaNoWriMo AI kerfuffle; the Rings of Power; Ticketmaster Oasis dynamic pricing, explained; Sunny; Jesus Jones; Talk Tuah; No Such Podcast; Russian-funded influencers; AI streaming heist; Minecraft Movie; Claude AI powered Alexa; Fantasy Hike; Reeder; Disneyland wrap-up; the high cost of L...
Sep 07, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 664•Transcript available on Metacast Hey, hey we're all Monkees; Waymo rides; Sober Outfitters; the cruel passage of time; Telegram CEO arrested in France; Zuckerberg's bizarre open letter; Uber slapped with a big Dutch fine; Tesla semi crash; tariffs on Chinese EVs; NFT artist sues the SEC; Google Ireland refused data center due to power grid; solar panels on self-storage rooftops; Ted Lasson returning; Oasis reunion; the Grand Tour reaches the end of the road; Shkreli; Wonka; Palm Royale; Steve Martin; Starfleet Academy; another ...
Aug 30, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 663•Transcript available on Metacast Yes, we have all been p0wned; more Tesla recalls; Waymo honking greetings; Cruise recalls robotaxi fleet; more OpenAI content deals; Cortex delivers both fewer and more errors; just how bad was Musk's Twitter deal; billionaire calls major crypto PAC stupid & selfish; the Acolyte not getting renewed; Disney+ no longer a safe space; Chick-Fil-A streaming service; Megalopolis trailer shenanigans; revisiting Ted Lasso, House of Cards; the Anonymous; Alien: Romulus; more Overcast stuff; Sonos can...
Aug 24, 2024•59 min•Ep 662•Transcript available on Metacast AI label turning off consumers; Sonos app mess continues; SAG-AFTRA makes an AI agreement with Narrativ; former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says go ahead and steal content, let the lawyers clean it up after; Grok AI is a dumpster fire; every American's data leaked; geofence warrants unconstitutional; FTC rules on fake online reviews; Daredevil: Born Again; more Long Way; Blackberry doc; the Influencer; the Umbrella Academy; Borderlands; Overcast & podcast players; new solar panel tech; iPads on ...
Aug 17, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 661•Transcript available on Metacast NFTs & crypto, oh my; Google ruled a monopolist in search; you can't run an AI company ethically - with plenty of examples; Grokking without consent; Google's targeting "unknown" minors loophole; MetaAI celebrity voices; watermarking ChatGPT challenges; emotionally hooked on chatbots; Neuralink's second patient implant; Synchro's stent approach; Cybertruck spottings; Deadpool & Wolverine; American Conspiracy: the Octopus Murders; 2024 Olympics; enraging Google, Uber ads; living that iPad...
Aug 10, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep 660•Transcript available on Metacast Well hello, there, LA; State of the AI Union: staggering amounts of money, power & water for what; COPPA 2, electric boogaloo; no phone searches without warrants by border agents; TikTok data collection; DMV on the blockchain; AI doppelgängers no one wants; Grok gone wild; Tesla recall & deadly self-driving crash; AI Taco Bell; Cloudflare says 7% of all internet traffic is malicious; Aquaman & the Lost Kingdom; Confess, Fletch; Loot; Ted Lasso; Shrinking; Battle of the Brothers; new ...
Aug 03, 2024•59 min•Ep 659•Transcript available on Metacast 
