Grumpy Old Geeks Operation Quiet Piggy BONUS: Dark Side with Dave!
19 snips
Oct 19, 2026 
Dave Bittner, cybersecurity journalist and CyberWire podcaster, joins for a lively detour through musical-theater nostalgia, from Phantom and Les Mis to cult favorites and original-cast bragging rights. They debate Apple’s pricey smart-home ambitions, abandoned gadgets, and unreliable upgrades, then roast inflated AI claims after Pac-Man benchmarks fall flat. Portable monitors, balcony solar, and airborne panels round out this chaotic tech-and-culture conversation.
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Phantom Remaster Revives Musical Theater Nostalgia
- Jason DeFillippo listened through Andrew Lloyd Webber’s remastered Phantom album and found the lossless production remarkably immersive.
- He kept only five or six standout songs for walking playlists, while still preferring Les Misérables from beginning to end.
Four-Dollar Tickets Created Theater Superfans
- Dave Bittner saw Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the original Phantom production and later saw the original Les Misérables cast.
- Jason DeFillippo saw both shows more than 25 times because Chicago’s student theater pass offered tickets for four dollars.
Apple Enters Smart Home With Premium Expectations
- Apple’s smart-home push looks attractive because its devices promise polished design and integration across cameras, thermostats, doorbells, and home controls.
- The panel still expects early buyers to serve as testers, reflecting Apple’s familiar premium-price and wait-for-version-two pattern.