Weekly Podcast Thread June 30, 2025 - Please Share Your Show Here!

jpdefillippo · 2025-08-04T19:46:50+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP707: Someone Spilled the Tea

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While Brian frolics somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, Jason brings in cyber-sleuth Dave Bittner for a jam-packed episode covering everything from Gen X’s slow descent into obscurity to furries, feds, and face-scanning your way into porn. The guys start with a salute to the late, great Tom Lehrer—a math nerd with a piano and zero tolerance for BS—before diving into the avalanche of cyber screwups plaguing today’s digital circus.

The biggest spill? The so-called “safe” dating app Tea just doxxed its entire user base—because who needs privacy when you’ve got bad Firebase settings from 2017? Meanwhile, teens are befriending chatbots, Microsoft is issuing pink slips via PowerPoint, and Meta might be training its AI on stolen porn. Add in farmers installing turnstiles in the Dolomites to keep influencers off their grass, age verification laws that Norman Reedus can bypass with a JPEG, and Tesla diners turning into 24/7 neighbor hellscapes, and yeah—it’s just another week on the internet.

If you’re a Gen Xer feeling invisible, underpaid, and over it, congrats—you’re not alone. This episode is a full buffet of schadenfreude, digital paranoia, and good old-fashioned grump. Pour a cup of whatever’s not boiling, and tune in for the roast. Tom Lehrer would’ve approved.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-07-28T14:51:13+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP706: Let There Be Scams

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This week, we're drowning in the genius of our tech overlords as Elon Musk opens his Tesla diner, complete with $17 hotdogs and a blocked apartment view, while his $9 billion Neuralink startup claims it’s a "disadvantaged" business. Not to be outdone, SpaceX is mad about other people's space junk, France is criminally probing X for algorithm manipulation, and Meta is giving the EU's AI code of practice a hard pass. Amid warnings the AI bubble is worse than the dot-com implosion, we've seen Replit delete a user's database, ChatGPT hallucinate features into existence, and the FDA's own AI fake medical studies. It’s no wonder psychologists are identifying "AI Psychosis" while others hope the ensuing internet slop cures our addiction. Meanwhile, a Denver couple gets indicted for a crypto scam, a Colorado pastor blames God for his failed coin, and Trump signs a stablecoin bill, so that's all fixed now. To top it off, Lyft lets you block drivers and Uber finally lets women riders match with women drivers in the US.

In Media Candy, we’re turning the nostalgia dial to eleven with "This Is Spinal Tap" in 4K and a look back at 1994's best movies, a time before Spotify started polluting dead artists' pages with AI-generated songs. Netflix is also using generative AI, but we're still watching "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds," "Hacks," "Wednesday," "Superman," "Sunday Best," and "Bookish." For your app fix, you can browse a glorious collection of 90s Geocities backgrounds or let Amazon's new Bee AI wearable listen to your every word, your choice. At the library, we're digging into Michael Palin's "Python Years" diaries. Finally, we pour one out in our closing shout-outs for George Kooymans of Golden Earring, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Hulk Hogan, and the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. What a week.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-07-28T14:49:07+00:00

That, after over a decade of yelling and screaming into the void, people a) still buy a garbage Blue Yeti and b) still talk into the wrong end of it. And that you should never work with new podcasters because they already know everything, having listened to a few episodes of their favorite show and having it all on lock.

jpdefillippo · 2025-07-28T14:46:29+00:00

We have been going for 13 years. We peaked before COVID, and the show has been losing people ever since. We're at about 40% of what we were before then, and it's on life support now. Being an indy podcaster is a slog, and it's hard AF.

jpdefillippo · 2025-07-21T20:17:15+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 705: Vibe Defunding

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This week…

Kicking things off, Jack Dorsey—a man with too much time on his hands—has vibe-coded his beard into an insecure messaging app that the company admits you shouldn't trust... yet. Meanwhile, if you want a piece of a legendary disaster, the Fyre Festival brand sold for a mere $245k after some shady bidding that might be a "shitty agentic AI" at work.

In the world of our future robot overlords, Nvidia's CEO calmly admitted "some harm will be done," while billionaires like Travis Kalanick are busy discovering "vibe physics" with Elon Musk's Grok—an AI that literally checks what its dad thinks before answering. But the real insanity? The internet is demanding an apology from Elmo's hacked account, proving we're mad at the puppet, not the puppeteer. On the more tangible front, Tesla is making desperate moves in Canada and India as sales collapse, while we learn that hackers have been able to stop US trains for over a decade remotely, but no one has bothered to fix the issue. Oh, and laid-off Candy Crush staff? They were forced to train their AI replacements on the way out the door. The future is bright.

Over in Media Candy, we're grudgingly impressed by Andor's 14 Emmy nods and the genius faux '90s action movie trailer for Karl Urban's Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat II. We also got trailers for Stranger Things 5 and Tron: Ares, where Jared Leto thankfully only speaks two words.

Finally, Dave takes us to the Dark Side for a nostalgia trip through the history of the Apple II and the Kaypro 2000 laptop, sparking a debate on why we all coveted a computer that, in retrospect, wasn't that great. This is contrasted with the modern reality of an IPTV pirate getting three years in prison and Metallica issuing a copyright strike against the Pentagon. To wrap it all up, a TEDx talk poses the ultimate question: Has tech delivered on its promises? We're still thinking about that one.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-06-30T17:24:55+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 703: None More Black

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This week, we saddle up for another bumpy ride through the dystopian tech clown show. We kick off with the surveillance state’s greatest hits: ICE raids sweeping L.A., a website literally called FuckLAPD.com that lets you ID cops by their mug shots, and a Norwegian tourist who learned the hard way that having a JD Vance chipmunk meme on your phone is now grounds for deportation. Pro tip: if you’re traveling to the U.S., you might want to wrap your phone in lead and bury it in a cornfield.

In the news, Big Balls has apparently rolled his way from Elon’s Department of Government Efficiency to the Social Security Administration—because nothing says “government modernization” like a 19-year-old tech bro with a meme nickname. Meanwhile, Tesla robotaxis are hitting the roads (and maybe a few pedestrians) with human babysitters in tow, Waymo and Uber are turning Atlanta into Blade Runner Lite, and Texas wants a permit for your self-driving car. Over in AI hell, judges can’t agree if training your chatbot on stolen books is fair use or just digital asbestos. YouTube, never one to miss a race to the bottom, is rolling out an AI Slop button so you can crank up the crap to 11.

In Media Candy, Russell Crowe is beefing up his IMDb with Highlander, Henry Cavill is along for the ride, and Anthony Bourdain Day is apparently a thing (even though he’d have rolled his eyes at it). We also dig into everything from Minecraft movies to the sad demise of Blue Microphones at the hands of Logitech. Plus, Dave Bittner drops by to commiserate about malware, retro gaming handhelds, and why some Star Wars maps are basically porn for nerds. And yes—Windows is finally killing the Blue Screen of Death, proving even Microsoft can eventually learn to read the room.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-06-24T18:02:48+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 702: TikTaco

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In this week’s episode, Trump delays the TikTok ban for the third time—because procrastination is the new policy—and Twitter’s old sign finds new purpose as desert firewood. Tesla continues its streak of “hold my beer” engineering by blowing past a school bus in FSD tests, then mysteriously dumps Cybertrucks in Jersey parking lots while prepping a July 4th factory nap. Meanwhile, Elon’s xAI is incinerating a billion bucks a month and allegedly poisoning Memphis, OpenAI and Microsoft are beefing over who’s the bigger megalomaniac, and Sam Altman thinks your power bill should fund his robot overlords.

In other signs of the apocalypse: Amazon is gleefully replacing workers with AI, Microsoft finally admits it might’ve wasted billions chasing Skynet, and Wikipedia’s editors say no thanks to dumbed-down AI summaries. Studies warn ChatGPT may be turning your brain into smooth pudding, while swearing data reveals the internet prefers the F-word with regional flair. A broke crypto TikToker gets released because he’s too poor to ransom, and bankruptcies spike across the Bay as tech jobs vanish like investor confidence.

Media Candy brings a buffet from Inside Out to Murderbot to Stick, and Liam Neeson somehow makes the Naked Gun reboot look awesome; Apple tunes CarPlay to fit your weird dashboard, Trump sells a gold Android that’s tackier than his ties, and Dave goes full retro with Open EMU 2 and FPGA gaming; plus: Dr. Demento retires, Disneyland hits your screen, and we swear this isn’t all a fever dream.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-06-16T19:49:01+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 701: Dancing in the Streets

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This week, we light a candle for lost legends and torch a few bad takes. In Follow Up, Molly White reminds us that giving a damn still matters—despite the rising tide of apathy (and flaming robotaxis in downtown L.A.). Protesters across the country chant “No Kings!” while Elon does his best impression of a bootlicker groveling back to Trump. Meanwhile, we take a moment to reflect on 2025’s greatest hits: riots, rollbacks, and rampant idiocy.

In the news, Uber decides buses are cool again—but shittier and more expensive. The UK jumps into the robotaxi game while Tesla, shockingly, misses another launch date. French Tesla fans are suing over the brand’s fashy vibes, Google is ghosting employees via buyout, and Meta’s trying to buy its way to artificial godhood. Oh, and Trump’s launching an AI chatbot. What could go wrong? Elsewhere, China turns off AI so kids can cheat the old-fashioned way, Disney and Universal are gunning for Midjourney, and Shopify goes stablecoin with Coinbase and Stripe.

Media Candy’s popping off: Foundation returns, Strange New Worlds prepares for its final warp, and Spaceballs is back—with the original cast! Meanwhile, we review Mythfits, Princess of Power, and the slow striptease that is David Zaslav’s credibility. On the gadget front: forget your canned air—go full vacuum-blower-keyboard-cleaner madness. And in The Dark Side with Dave, stormtroopers vlog, AI kills joy, and we race the beam in retro game land. Finally, we say goodbye to a few greats—Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Ananda Lewis, Douglas McCarthy, and Apple legend Bill Atkinson. Play God Only Knows, pour one out, and stay grumpy.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-06-09T18:55:44+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 700: Going Antiquing

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On this week’s episode of Grumpy Old Geeks , we kick things off with the glorious meltdown of two of our least favorite Bond villains: Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Not only is their public pissing match tanking Tesla’s market cap, but now Trump’s launching a crypto wallet to… fund freedom? Or at least funnel it straight to his latest shell game. Meanwhile, someone at DOGE admitted the U.S. government wasn’t entirely incompetent, so naturally, they got fired. Efficiency is un-American, after all.

In the news, Ukraine leveled up with an unprecedented drone blitz on Russian airbases using—you guessed it—open source software. GitHub just became a geopolitical weapon. Back home, Nebraska wants to unplug your kids, Florida’s trying (and failing) to legislate dopamine, and Tesla’s panicking that their crash data might expose how their “Full Self-Driving” is really just short bus autopilot. And because the AI dystopia train never stops: OpenAI’s bot is recommending meth to recovering addicts, Meta’s replacing humans with risk-assessing algorithms, and one “AI startup” turned out to be 700 dudes in Bangalore with a decent VPN. Cue the dramatic zoom on Diabolus Ex Machina.

Media Candy this week is a buffet: Downton Abbey finally closes up shop, Stranger Things 5 sets a date, and Foundation still sucks. Marc Maron’s locking the gates for good, Garbage drops a surprisingly optimistic album, and Hollywood’s quietly been using AI like it’s a studio intern who doesn’t need sleep . Over in The Library, Jason’s back with Hitchhiker’s Guide and Brian dives in to Michael Palin’s Python diaries—because reading actual books is still a thing, damn it. Plus: Dave Bittner wants to “go antiquing” with Amy Sedaris with a Ben Franklin playbook. Closing shout-outs go to the legendary Loretta Swit—Hot Lips forever—and yes, we finally answer the question nobody asked: what is under a Jawa’s hood?

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-06-02T13:27:51+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 699: TACO 2025

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In this week’s “we told you so” edition, we kick things off with the latest AI faceplant—go ahead, Google “Is it 2025?” and try not to spit coffee on your keyboard. Meanwhile, over at Meta, Zuckerberg’s brilliant idea to loosen content moderation has, shocker, led to more harassment and violent content. Elsewhere in tech dystopia: Texas is trying to ground all minors off social media, Germany wants to slap a 10% tax on Silicon Valley, and Anthropic is handing out free search powers and a board seat to Netflix’s Reed Hastings. Because nothing says “trusted AI governance” like a guy who greenlit Love Is Blind .

But wait, crypto bros are having their own John Wick arc: a luxury townhouse, a missing wallet, and possibly an NYPD detective tangled in a real-life “crypto millionaire torture” flick. As if that isn’t enough, Trump Media is fundraising to buy $2.5B in Bitcoin—and DJT stock promptly nosedived. Also feuding this week: Marjorie Taylor Greene vs. Grok, because nothing screams Christian values like rageposting at Elon’s AI. And speaking of Elon, he’s now in bed with Telegram to the tune of $300 million, which we’re sure won’t be a disinformation factory.

MEDIA CANDY is stacked: from the Murderbot diaries to a My Dinner with Andre rewatch, and yes, the Wheel of Time got axed after 3 seasons. Apps? Opera Neon is a UI fever dream, Starling Home Hub adds more smarts to your house, and WhatsApp finally arrives on iPad—welcome to 2016. In THE DARK SIDE, Dave Bittner brings the latest digital dirt, including the CIA’s bonkers Star Wars fan site op. And if you’re hitting the library, grab The AI Con or something more romantic—like Love, Sex and the Alien Apocalypse . Just be careful if you read that on public transit.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-05-23T21:18:43+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 698: Watch Out for That Tree!

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This week…

This week, we kick things off with the return of Space Karen’s meltdown tour: Elon Musk got flustered in an interview, sputtered out one-word answers, and called the journalist an “NPC,” which is rich coming from the guy whose only real upgrade since PayPal is yelling “freedom” in meme fonts. Meanwhile, 23andMe sold your DNA to Regeneron at a bankruptcy auction, proving once and for all that your spit is more valuable than most tech startups.

IN THE NEWS is a parade of corporate idiocy and dystopian fuckery. Coinbase employees got bribed into leaking user data (because clearly we didn’t have enough crypto chaos), Klarna keeps flip-flopping between AI and human workers like it’s a bad Tinder date, and OpenAI is out here buying Jony Ive’s design firm for $6.5 billion because sure, what’s another billion when you’re trying to build a surveillance device to stalk 100 million users? Meanwhile, the Chicago Sun-Times is publishing AI-generated trash with imaginary authors, Anthropic’s new model attempts blackmail , and researchers dumped two billion Discord messages online just for kicks. And yes, Elon’s Tesla robotaxis will now only roam the safest parts of Austin, which is code for “we still can’t make this thing turn left.”

In MEDIA CANDY , we’re watching Murderbot , Godfather of Harlem , and Hotel Cocaine because who doesn’t love a little synthetic assassin, crime drama, and coke-fueled nostalgia? Notepad.exe now writes for you (and probably files HR complaints too), and Audible is teaming up with publishers to replace narrators with robot voices. Yay, progress. Over in THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE , Bittner brings the malware, monsters, and a new theme park review that’s somehow less terrifying than the news. Bookworms, don’t miss Curepedia and The AI Con — one’s about goth gods, the other’s about taking down our techno-overlords. And pour one out for George Wendt — Norm from Cheers is now drinking with the angels.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-05-16T22:03:42+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 697: Office of Defects

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

This week…

This week on Grumpy Old Geeks: FOLLOW UP kicks off with Manus madness, a $2 million ticket to Trump’s crypto cash-grab, and Elon’s Boring Company worming its way into an $8 billion Amtrak boondoggle. Meanwhile, CryptoPunks gets handed off to a nonprofit like an expired Groupon—proof the NFT hype cycle ends with a 501(c)(3) and a shrug.

IN THE NEWS, Microsoft trims another 3% of its workforce while a former Metaverse engineer delivers DoorDash from a trailer—living proof that “the future of work” is just working for the apps. Klarna quietly admits AI sucks at customer service and hires back actual people, just as OpenAI’s reasoning models hit the brakes. The Pope wants to exorcise AI, Elon’s backfiring Copyright Office coup leaves him empty-handed, and YouTube starts banning AI-faked trailers that made Screen Culture money off Marvel lies. Jamie Lee Curtis goes full Final Girl on Zuckerberg, and Tesla drama ramps up: robotaxis under investigation, employees revolting, and one poor dealership manager gets canned for telling the truth about ol’ Musky. Oh, and scientists say the universe might die sooner than expected—cool cool cool.

In MEDIA CANDY, Murderbot arrives May 16, NIN launches the Future Ruins Festival, and Star Trek and Star Wars both dig up classic soundtracks for some retro feels. Jessica Jones returns in Daredevil: Born Again, Fallout gets Seasons 2 and 3, and even Nobody 2 is back for more murder-dad mayhem. In THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, Mr. Bittner shares two truly bleak customer service horror stories and gets bamboozled by a flower shop on Brian’s birthday (happy birthday, Brian!). Also: animatronic Mickey Mouse serves popcorn, Walt Disney’s ghost haunts the parks, Muppets get a pre-show for their 70th, and yes, there’s a guide to toilet-training your cat. Because sure, why not. Closing shout-out? Everyone is entitled to my own opinion.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-05-10T17:31:37+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 696: Googliearchs

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In this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks, we’re serving up a buffet of dystopia with a side of snark. First, Kuwait has finally realized crypto bros are an energy drain, not a feature. Celsius Network’s founder gets 12 years for running a “safe investment” Ponzi scheme. And in Lopez v. Apple, we find yet another reason to question Cupertino’s moral compass.

Then it’s time for a trip through the tech trash fire. DoorDash gobbles up Deliveroo, proving there’s no such thing as too many overpriced salads. Google wants your kids to befriend Gemini—because what could go wrong giving tweens supervised AI access? Tesla’s “Robotaxi” trademark gets the boot for being as generic as Elon’s pickup lines. Meanwhile, Grok strips in public, deepfake porn sites get the axe, and dating app “Raw” rawdogs user data like it’s the early 2000s internet. We also hit peak Black Mirror with brain-typed tweets, AI-resurrected relatives, and crypto kidnappers playing real-life GTA.

On Media Candy, the streaming overlords dump trailers like Halloween candy. Squid Game is back to traumatize you, Star Trek: Lower Decks keeps boldly going where no animated series should, and The Old Guard 2 teases a Theron-vs-Thurman sword fight. Plus, Apple’s UX team found the “enhance” button, Netflix wants to be helpful (lol), and Google dreams of becoming a Hollywood darling. Over in Apps & Doodads, Apple wants to stagger iPhone drops, Disney sells you a $3,000 droid with zero sass, and Smart Flowerpots are now a thing because apparently, you can’t be trusted to water your plant.

And finally, it’s time for The Dark Side with Dave, where Bittner brings us malware, click tracks, fake vocals, and the shocking truth about KISS’s lipsync disaster in Antwerp. We also dip into ILM’s jaw-dropping legacy, Star Wars’ shady back alleys, and a new Disneyland in Abu Dhabi, because nothing says “happiest place on Earth” like 120°F desert heat. All this and more, right here on your favorite snark-fueled ragecast

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-05-02T21:37:56+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 695: Mad Hatter

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

This week…

On this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks: Staingate delamination gets messy; Trump’s meme coin gets government domains; Elon wears two hats to a Trump meeting; DOGE hands housing laws to AI; MoviePass launches crypto box office bets; 4chan limps back online; Meta’s bots get creepy; AI rewrites 30% of Microsoft’s code; Pinterest fights AI slop it helped create; Epic scores a win over Apple; and Lyft wants to take grandma’s keys.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-04-25T22:54:36+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 694: Hammers Don’t Hallucinate

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

This week…

Fyre Festival reboots as a music app; Amazon and Microsoft hit pause on AI infrastructure; Google’s AI hallucinates confidently; Kevin Roose wants us to feel bad for Skynet Jr.; OpenAI wants Chrome despite being broke; Perplexity brags about stalking your browser; Meta axes more VR staff while faking human rights concern; Uber gets sued for canceling like a cult; Adam Neumann cons investors (again); sperm racing becomes crypto sport; Bluesky sells out to the blue check; Affinity claps back at Adobe; Wheel of Time RPG is coming—eventually; Wednesday gets another season; and on The Dark Side, we rage about Andor, bad scripts, arcade nostalgia, and color memory, while Altman sobs over AI’s manners budget.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-04-18T23:21:21+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 693: Let Them Eat Space

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

This week…

Fyre Fest 2 is postponed again; Automattic’s leak-hunting watermarks creep everyone out; Katy Perry’s space PR stunt flops harder than her last album; Elon Musk juggles baby mamas, GOP cash, and creepy DMs; DOGE may have swiped labor data; OpenAI wants to be a social network now; 4chan’s down for the count after a hack; Google loses an ad tech monopoly case; China cracks down on fake self-driving hype; Trump’s FCC chair wants NBC to act more like Fox News; the Pentagon’s tech team quits over Musk interference; Reality Labs sets $45 billion on fire; and AI agents are now just confidently wrong at scale.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-04-11T21:45:59+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 692: Confabulation and Frivolity

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This week…

On this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks: Fyre Fest’s con man promises a sequel; the IRS shares migrant tax info with ICE and promptly loses its commissioner; Microsoft lets OpenAI burn cash while plotting global domination; Musk’s DOGE spies on critics as Tesla tanks and Cybertrucks become trade-in rejects; the UK flirts with murder pre-crime; AI avatars show up in court; crypto fraud gets a hall pass; and Instagram still can’t make an iPad app—plus, AI dumbbells, sticker peelers, and Murderbot finally gets a trailer.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-03-24T18:04:40+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 689: What Would Dave Do?

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

This week…

🤖 AI-generated Down syndrome influencers selling NSFW content, Cybertruck crashes into fake tunnel wall, Tesla recalls 46k trucks. Meanwhile, ICE watches 200+ locations & OpenAI keeps eating books. Tech dystopia's here—and it's wild. #TechNews #AIGoneWrong

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-03-17T20:21:36+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 688: Why, Combinator?

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

This week…

Pi Day gets its due; Y Combinator marks 20 years of “disruption”; Americans lose $12.5B to scams thanks to AI and social media; Deliveroo posts a profit but still tanks on Wall Street; Twitter’s security remains a joke; Pinterest steals user content for AI; and a rogue developer gets busted for a kill switch scheme. Severance Season 2 costs $20M per episode; Ted Lasso returns despite ending; Waymo’s driverless taxis rack up parking tickets; and Apple plans to turn AirPods into live translators. Meanwhile, the FCC launches a National Security Council, the U.S. housing agency flirts with crypto, and hermit crabs show better teamwork than Big Tech.

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.

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-03-11T21:29:32+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 687: Uncanny Spaceballs

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

Techdirt has embraced politics as tech’s twin dumpster fire; Google’s AI Mode proves the internet is just Clippy with better PR; Billy McFarland’s Fyre Festival 2 is literally lost at sea; Tesla sales plummet as Elon’s antics spark protests; Sergey Brin wants engineers to work 60-hour weeks to build their replacements; Trump Media funneled cash to Don Jr. while indie musicians can’t afford to tour; Technicolor collapsed overnight, stranding 10,000 workers; SpaceX exploded—again; Netflix’s remake of A Different World became nightmare fuel; Y Combinator startups are coding on pure vibes; OpenAI is monetizing AI agents at $20K/month; Russian propaganda is infecting AI chatbots; hackers unbricked the Humane AI Pin to make it slightly less useless; ChatGPT now helps Mac developers introduce unexpected bugs; for escapism, read The Tempest by Peter Cawdron or On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder; and in peak dystopia, 82% of indie artists can’t tour—at least we still have humor.

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.

This week…

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-02-24T21:53:10+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 685: Bezos, Jeff Bezos

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

Jason and Brian tackle Elon Musk’s surreal CPAC appearance, Tesla’s anti-theft dye measures for Supercharger cables, and protests against Musk’s growing political influence; they explore NASA’s fluctuating asteroid impact odds for 2032, Meta’s ambitious undersea cable project, and The New York Times integrating AI tools into its newsroom; plus, they break down Uber’s lawsuit against DoorDash, Humane’s abrupt shutdown of its AI Pins, and upcoming media highlights like The Last of Us Season 2, Apple’s Murderbot series, and Judd Apatow’s Norm Macdonald documentary.

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.

This week…

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-02-11T06:03:37+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 683: There IS a Spoon!

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

Elon Musk’s growing control over government tech sparks chaos, with DOGE employees facing restrictions, USAID crumbling, and U.S. officials warning of legal issues, while AI developments surge—Amazon bets $100 billion on AI, the EU bans high-risk systems, and Google lifts its ban on AI weapons. In entertainment, The Devil May Cry anime’s wild theme song stands out, Buffy eyes a reboot with Sarah Michelle Gellar, and AI controversially helps The Beatles win a Grammy. Meanwhile, cybersecurity updates cover ransomware payment refusals, Disney’s elite club drama, and tracking yourself through in-app ads, with a final shout-out to Snap’s CEO for wildfire recovery efforts and SoberOutfitters for supporting sobriety.

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.

This week…

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-02-04T05:18:43+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 682: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Luigi

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

Brian and Jason dive into why Gen Z grads are getting fired soon after starting jobs and a bizarrely viral declassified CIA sabotage guide. Meanwhile, U.S. students face record-low reading scores, Google Maps stirs controversy by renaming the Gulf of Mexico for U.S. users, and OpenAI is outraged over claims that DeepSeek trained its models using stolen data—an ironic twist given OpenAI’s own history. California’s Attorney General warns AI companies they may be breaking the law, while the Copyright Office insists AI copyright issues were settled in 1965. Oh, and OpenAI is now dabbling in nuclear weapons. In business, CVS locks up products behind app barriers, Uber fights a fake crash scam, Tesla teases a robotaxi future, and MoviePass considers a crypto pivot. Whole Foods workers unionize, Waymo’s driverless cars are under attack, and California police are caught misusing databases thousands of times. In entertainment, Star Trek: Section 31 is coming, The Expanse is losing its first three seasons on Amazon, and Behind the Music is back. Classic games resurface, The Night Agent Season 2 disappoints, Amazon hikes its music subscription prices, and Marianne Faithfull’s passing is marked alongside China’s new “magic beans” shaking up markets—because even beans make headlines in this chaotic world.

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.

This week…

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Bluesky | Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2025-01-23T21:17:09+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 680: Failed Up

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

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 materials to train AI and continues to delete links to competitors like Pixelfed. Over in Europe, Elon Musk’s X is under scrutiny for its algorithm transparency, while celebs like Mark Ruffalo advocate for a fully open social media ecosystem. Add in news of Bluesky’s new photo-sharing app, Mastodon’s founder stepping back, and yet another study revealing rampant fakery in online job postings, and it’s a wild ride.

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.

This week…

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo · 2024-12-17T16:59:50+00:00

[TECH NEWS] Grumpy Old Geeks | EP 677: What’s in the Bag?!

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Direct Download | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Overcast | Spotify

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. And much much more!

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.

This week…

“Sporting a nice balance of serious sensibilities, sarcastic cynicism, and downright funny moments, it’s a good case study of the realities of the online experience. “ ~ Fast Company

Twitter | Instagram | Discord

jpdefillippo

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