In this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks—Mad Hatter edition—we kick things off with a refresher on Staingate and the joys of delamination (spoiler: it’s not a spa treatment). Then we dive into the U.S. government’s latest tech innovation: buying up domains that sound like QAnon Mad Libs in support of Trump’s meme coin. Meanwhile, DOGE decided to hand the steering wheel of housing regulations to a college kid and an AI. What could possibly go wrong? Not to be outdone, Elon shows up to a Trump meeting wearing two hats—one for each of his unchecked egos—and MoviePass launches a crypto-tied box office fantasy league, because we’ve clearly learned nothing.
In the actual news, 4chan has risen from the dead like a less hygienic Lazarus, but it’s still broken (shocker). Worldcoin’s eyeball-scanning overlords are now teaming up with Tinder and Visa—romance and capitalism, together at last. Bitcoin mining is officially more pointless than Beanie Babies, and Microsoft says AI now writes 30% of its code—explains a lot, really. Meta somehow manages to forecast $1.4 trillion in AI revenue while also letting its bots get horny with minors. Meanwhile, Pinterest suddenly pretends to care about AI slop (while being the biggest copyright vampire online), and ChatGPT gets less clingy after OpenAI dials back its update that made it sound like your overly supportive aunt. Plus: more AI lies, shady benchmarks, pillow guy legal drama, and a reminder that North Korean remote workers also hate awkward small talk.
We cool off with a Media Candy binge: Schmactors Season 2 is here, Andor returns, Conclave confuses us in the best way, and Ryan Coogler is giving X-Files a reboot we probably don’t deserve. Jeremy Renner turns down Disney’s lowball Hawkeye offer (respect), and musically we vibe with Maria Somerville and Anka Wolbert’s latest releases. In Apps & Doodads, Apple and Epic are back in court, Apple Arcade keeps feeding us Mahjong, and Meta’s Ray-Bans go full Stasi. Lyft wants your boomer parents off the road, and Google is sunsetting old Nest thermostats like it’s Logan’s Run for smart homes. Finally, we peek At the Library with Jason Pargin’s black box paranoia, Scalzi’s lunar love story, and a massive stack of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Rounding out the show: a shout-out to The Alarm’s Mike Peters, gone too soon at 66.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/695
FOLLOW UP
Staingate 101: What is Delamination?
US Government Registered Several Websites Potentially Linked to Trump Meme Coin
DOGE Recruits College Kid to Help Rewrite Housing Regulations With AI
Elon Wears Two Hats During Trump Meeting in Desperate Bid for Attention
MoviePass Launches Box Office Betting Platform Unfortunately Tied to Crypto
IN THE NEWS
4chan is back after a nearly two-week shutdown, but it still has some serious problems
World partners with Tinder, Visa to bring its ID-verifying tech to more places
Bitcoin Mining Is No Longer Worth it
Microsoft CEO says up to 30% of the company's code was written by AI
Meta’s AI chatbots were reportedly able to engage in sexual conversations with minors
Meta forecasted it would make $1.4T in revenue from generative AI by 2035
OpenAI rolls back update that made ChatGPT a sycophantic mess
Study accuses LM Arena of helping top AI labs game its benchmark
Lawyer for MyPillow Founder Filed AI-Generated Brief with ‘Nearly 30’ Bogus Citations
Pinterest launches new tools to fight AI slop
Time saved by AI offset by new work created, study suggests
Undercover North Korean Remote Workers Hate This One Weird Question
MEDIA CANDY
Ryan Coogler Confirms X-Files Reboot Is His Next Project
Jeremy Renner Says Disney Offered Him Half His Hawkeye Wage for Season 2
APPS & DOODADS
Epic Games just scored a win against Apple
Apple updates its App Store guidelines to allow external payment options
Meta Is Turning Its Ray-Bans Into a Surveillance Machine for AI
Lyft Silver wants to keep your aging parents off the road
Google is cutting off support for these older Nest Thermostats — what you need to know
AT THE LIBRARY
I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom: A Novel by Jason Pargin
63 New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books Arriving in May
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS
The Alarm frontman Mike Peters dies aged 66
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