Eps
691
April 4, 2025
691: Cry Me A River (to Cool Off My AI)
This week, the Geeks wade into a swamp of tech meltdowns, governmental facepalms, and the usual Elon-flavored absurdity. Kicking things off, protesters take their beef with Tesla to the streets while Proud Boys decide this is the hill to vroom and die on. Meanwhile, Elon’s privacy prayers have finally been answered—thanks to new FAA rules, he and Tay-Tay can jet around untracked like it’s 1999. Oh, and while Earth dodges a killer asteroid, the Moon might be signing up for an unplanned smackdown....
690
March 28, 2025
690: An Insult to Life Itself
The Dunning-Kruger Effect is alive, well, and running the show. Elon’s approval rating is cratering while experts warn he could blow a hole in federal spending; war plans are accidentally texted, and top U.S. officials’ passwords are found online; 23andMe files for bankruptcy; TikTok attempts a patriotic glow-up to stay alive in the U.S.; OpenAI admits trying to make chatbots honest, while research shows lonely users are emotionally clinging to ChatGPT; Amazon wants the Consumer Product Safety C...
689
March 21, 2025
689: What Would Dave Do?
AI influencers with Down syndrome are selling nudes; Tesla’s Autopilot crashes into a cartoon wall while 46,000 Cybertrucks get recalled; ICE ramps up creepy surveillance; OpenAI’s copyright grab faces pushback; California might hand AI to Big Tech on a silver platter; BYD dunks on Tesla with lightning-fast EV charging; White Trash Wins Lotto returns; Max kills the Looney Tunes; Apple gets sued, Amazon spies harder, and Roku pushes autoplay ads; Dave geeks out on keyboards like it’s 1994. Spons...
688
March 14, 2025
688: Why, Combinator?
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. ...
687
March 7, 2025
687: Uncanny Spaceballs
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...
686
Feb. 28, 2025
686: Not All Heroes Vibe Code
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...
685
Feb. 22, 2025
685: Bezos, Jeff Bezos
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 ...
684
Feb. 15, 2025
684: Don’t Be a Dick
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...
683
Feb. 8, 2025
683: There IS a Spoon!
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...
682
Feb. 1, 2025
682: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Luigi
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...
681
Jan. 25, 2025
681: Trough of Disillusionment
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 ...
680
Jan. 18, 2025
680: Failed Up
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 materi...
679
Jan. 11, 2025
679: Set Sanity to Zero
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 host...
1
Jan. 1, 2025
1: Grumpy Old Geeks Trailer
As one of the longest-running podcasts, "Grumpy Old Geeks" discovers what went wrong on the Internet, and who's to blame. Every week they cut through the BS from big tech and tell you what's really going on. With wide-ranging topics, this show has something for everyone. There is a reason Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and that crowd all hate this podcast. Listen and find out for yourself! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do...
678
Dec. 21, 2024
678: Stop Doing That!
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 ...
677
Dec. 14, 2024
677: What’s in the Bag?!
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-sel...
676
Dec. 7, 2024
676: Gay Nuclear Frogs
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 than ...
675
Nov. 30, 2024
675: A Thanksgiving Blast from the Past with Tim Ferriss
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 ...
675
Nov. 23, 2024
675: Your Own Personal Jesus
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 tro...
674
Nov. 16, 2024
674: Welcome to DOGE! The Department of Grumpy Entertainment
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...
673
Nov. 9, 2024
673: Copyright Win for OpenAI, Internet Shock for North Koreans, and much more...
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 ...
672
Nov. 2, 2024
672: Elon or Not?
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; ...
671
Oct. 26, 2024
671: Lorum Ipsum Is My Sister
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 nostalgia ...
670
Oct. 19, 2024
670: Just Buy the Thing!
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 kindl...