738: A Sprinkling of Random

738: A Sprinkling of Random

Author: Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister with Dave Bittner March 21, 2026 Duration: 1:24:05
13 years of podcasting has taught us nothing; companies are lying about AI layoffs while Meta destroys itself from the inside; Andreessen has zero introspection and it shows; Dune 3 looks incredible; Firefly lives again; one idiot executive staked Buffy; Adobe paid $75M for being evil; your AI passwords are garbage; Dave Bittner is here to make you feel worse about all of it.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.Private Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/738Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/pykGjOmMs5cFOLLOW UPGOG Ep 1: How to Make Money on the Internet - March 25th, 2013The ‘AI-Washing’ of Job Cuts Is Corrosive and ConfusingRace on to establish globally recognised 'AI-free' logoBillionaire Marc Andreessen says he has "zero" introspection, and that the idea itself is a modern invention.Gamblers trying to win a bet on Polymarket are vowing to kill me if I don’t rewrite an Iran missile storyIN THE NEWSAtlassian to cut roughly 10% jobs in pivot to AIMeta is reportedly planning to cut up to 20 percent of its staff in upcoming layoffsMeta Is Building an Encrypted Chatbot After AI Agents Went Rogue and Exposed Sensitive DataMeta Says It Is Removing End-to-End Encryption From Instagram Direct MessagesMeta is testing clickable links in Instagram captions for verified subscribersEncyclopedia Britannica sues OpenAI for copyright and trademark infringementSenators tell ByteDance to shut down Seedance 2.0 AI video app 'immediately'Things Are Suddenly Looking Incredibly Bad for Trump’s Social Media CompanyTrump administration will reportedly get $10 billion for brokering the TikTok dealThe Billionaire Backlash Against a Philanthropic DreamJeff Bezos’ Washington Post Now Setting Readers’ Subscription Prices With Uber-Style AIAPPS & DOODADSAdobe agrees to pay settlement for making its subscriptions hard to cancelEverything you need to know to design with StitchWhat is DESIGN.md?Warning: Your AI-Generated Password Is a Major Security Risk. Here’s What to Use InsteadMEDIA CANDYDune: Part Three | Official Teaser TrailerHow ‘Dune: Part Three’ Is Changing the Entire ‘Dune’ Franchise"Paradise" has been renewed for Season 3 at Hulu, Variety has learned.Paradise on HuluMars ExpressNathan Fillion Says ‘Firefly’ Animated Series In Development With Co-Stars Set To Reprise Roles; Concept Art RevealedSarah Michelle Gellar Says a Single Executive Was Responsible for Killing the ‘Buffy’ Reboot‘V For Vendetta’ at 20: We Spoke to Its Director About the Increasingly Relevant Comic AdaptationTHE DARK SIDE WITH DAVEDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatControl LoopOnly Malware in the BuildingDisney's 100% Rotten Tomatoes Masterpiece Returns This Fall With Brand-New ReleaseShhh… It’s zombie proof. Kia’s all-electric rangeThe Last Quiet Thing by Terry GodierEvel Knievel Kings Island 1975 - Farthest Successful Jump at 133 feet70's Evel Knievel Toy Commercial IDEALEvel Knievel's 14 Greyhound Bus Jump Oct 25th 1975 HD enhanced. Epic WORLD RECORD.Craig Ferguson’s Evel Knievel Story is Wild!!Being EvelWembley 50th Anniversary Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle Set – Limited Gold EditionEvel Knievel Stunt Cycle - Trail Bike Edition See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There’s a certain flavor of chaos that defines the technology industry each week, and Grumpy Old Geeks serves as your brutally honest guide through the wreckage. Hosted by Jason DeFillippo, Brian Schulmeister, and Dave Bittner, this isn't a polite roundtable discussion. Instead, it feels like grabbing a drink with friends who have seen it all and have absolutely no patience left for corporate spin or broken promises. They pick apart the biggest tech news stories with a seasoned, cynical eye, always asking the messy questions about what actually went wrong and who should be held accountable. Listening to this podcast is like getting the unfiltered post-mortem from veterans who remember when the internet felt different. The tone is sharp, often funny, and deliberately irreverent-picture a conversation that’s equal parts informed critique and cathartic venting about the state of digital life. You’ll hear them dissect the moves of figures like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg not as distant celebrities, but as players in a ongoing saga of power and missteps. It’s a weekly ritual for anyone who loves technology but is deeply frustrated by the direction it often takes, offering analysis that’s as informed as it is impatient. If you’re tired of sanitized tech commentary and want a take that pulls no punches, this is the place.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Grumpy Old Geeks
Podcast Episodes
763: Dr. Strangeclippy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:30:55
This week, the future arrives with no steering wheel, no brakes, and apparently no adult supervision. AI agents are escaping, Cybercabs are steering themselves, surveillance cameras are multiplying, and Space Force wants…
762: ‘Tis But a Misalignment [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:02
AI agents go rogue while companies call it “misalignment”; autonomous cars discover federal regulators; surveillance gets a much-needed reality check; AI medicine offers a glimmer of hope; Twitter becomes Tweet.app; Star…
761: Whatever... [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:42
AI gets sued, the Pentagon gets sued, Tesla keeps finding new ways to make driving terrifying, and Sony would like to remind you that you never actually owned that game; meanwhile, the new Twitter rises from the grave an…
760: Level 5 Podcasting Accident [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:39
AI agents commit crimes, corporations get billion-dollar reality checks, data centers threaten to become everyone's problem, Tesla makes doors complicated, LinkedIn fights AI slop, plus books, movies, cybersecurity, retr…
759: Seeking Mrs. Claude [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:27:57
Meta faces a $1.4 trillion reckoning; OpenAI reportedly downsizes its preparedness operation while Congress lets AI write legislation; Amazon scans books, Comcast scans your house, and tech keeps finding ingenious new wa…
758: Perverts at Large! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:02
Zuck says the future of AI depends on trusting humans, while his yacht ignores a distress call, AI agents hack gym reservations, Meta's smart glasses become surveillance goggles for creeps & OpenAI goes ethicist-free. Te…
757: This Time With Chicks [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:26:50
The AI industry spent the week arguing with itself. Nvidia says "don't regulate us." AI researchers say "please regulate us." Uber, Patreon & BuzzFeed cut jobs, China rents faces to AI, eBay pays $56M for a pig mask hara…
756: Log Off, Touch Grass & Touch Ass [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:23:45
The AI clown car is back: pirated books, escaped models, chatbot girlfriends, mood-tracking patents, getting banned from the dugouts and a school buying a classroom robot from the company behind RealDolls. New Grumpy Old…
755: Less Chatty Mode [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:47
AI companies keep proving that trust is optional but hype is mandatory; Big Tech spends another week suing, spying, and stumbling over its own ambitions; meanwhile the real world quietly reminds us that humans, books, mo…