Grumpy Old Geeks

Grumpy Old Geeks

A few professional Gen X geeks 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. " ~ Fa…

Recent Eps

756
July 23, 2026

756: Log Off, Touch Grass & Touch Ass

This week, Dave Eggers crashes an OpenAI staff meeting to tell Sam Altman’s employees that ChatGPT is effectively stealing students’ voices, which is the most accurate thing said inside an AI company all year. Meanwhile, Anthropic gets a judge to approve a $1.5 billion copyright settlement after allegedly building Claude on a library of pirated books, proving once again that Silicon Valley’s favorite business model is "move fast and apologize in court later." And in the category of “this headlin
755
July 16, 2026

755: Less Chatty Mode

This week, the AI clown car somehow shifted into another gear. Apple is suing OpenAI over alleged trade-secret theft, newspapers accuse ChatGPT of training on stolen journalism while asking a judge to sanction the company, Anthropic is out here marketing AI with what looks like a feature-length anxiety attack, and Meta managed to launch—and kill—a creepy AI photo feature in less time than it takes to binge The Bear. Meanwhile, AI Appreciation Day wants you to thank the machines, but we'd rather
July 13, 2026

The Darkside with Dave's Not Very Christmas Special Special

We finally get to reconnect with Dave Bittner for a fun catch-up and chit-chat about this summer's big movies. Brian's kid discovers all of Star Wars at once. Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Control Loop Only Malware in the Building Knockoff - Amazon Brand Filter Bob Gurr: Living by Design Support the show at Patreon! - https://patreon.com/gog Other ways to support the show! - https://gog.show/donate Join our Discord! - https://discord.gg/r4ZmSHB Buy some merch! - https://
754
July 9, 2026

754: Frankly Asinine Questions

This week, the world finally discovers what we've been saying for years: Gen X wasn't forgotten—we were quietly keeping the entire damn machine running. New Census numbers show America's 45-to-64 crowd is shrinking fast, which means the people who know where all the bodies are buried (and why you never reboot that one production server) are disappearing without a replacement bench. Meanwhile, Meta continues its speedrun toward becoming history's most aggressively unlikeable company, staring down
753
July 2, 2026

753: No-Talent AI Clowns

The AI revolution keeps delivering exactly the future nobody asked for. A low-skill hacker used Claude Code and Codex to compromise fourteen companies with prompts so vague they could've been written by your uncle trying to reset his AOL password. Ford, meanwhile, spent millions trying to automate engineering before sheepishly rehiring the graybeards who actually know how cars work. Brown University discovered what happens when half your class outsources economics homework to ChatGPT, Meta ran o
752
June 25, 2026

752: Grandma Got Run Over By a Tesla

This week, the AI industry continues its speedrun toward becoming the tech equivalent of a late-stage casino. Elon Musk insists reports of aid-cut-related deaths don't exist despite mountains of evidence, SpaceX stock slides far enough to knock him out of the trillionaire club, and a startup is literally suing the U.S. government because Anthropic's Fable 5 model got turned off after three whole days of availability. Once again, we revisit the First Commandment of Grumpy Old Geeks: never build y

Reviews

Great Podcast

"Do you enjoy the two old guys from the muppets, that sit up in the balcony and heckle the stage? Boy! Do these guys have a show for you! They sit upon their podcast balcony heckling the tech world …"

Axe Coach David | July 3, 2021

First podcast

"This is the first podcast I listened to regularly and still the only one where I do not miss an episode and am also a paid subscriber. The mix of tech criticism and media banter makes for an enjoyab…"

PD Philly | Feb. 8, 2023

They think they're old!

"I've been listening to this podcast for a couple of years now, it is part of my weekly podcasts, along with Hacking Humans, Darknet Diaries, and a bunch of others. Must listen, all of them! They …"

Dave from WA and TX | Feb. 14, 2023

Long time listener, listen every weekend to protect my sanity!

"Love the show, each week is a great summary of the weeks highlight in tech news, the world and stuff going on. Dave Bitner's recent review of his trip to Walt Disney World and Star Wars land was awe…"

David Hinz | March 22, 2023

Dont Know where this is going - Yall keep it up

"Unlike many TV shows and podcasts, this show just keeps going on with great quality. Usually after about 20 episodes or less a podcast becomes complete crap. Been listening for 7 years and still feel…"

Anthony JB | Feb. 10, 2024