740: To the Moon!

740: To the Moon!

Author: Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister with Dave Bittner April 4, 2026 Duration: 1:16:39
Welcome to Grumpy Old Geeks, where we're starting to notice a patience epidemic! As people get used to barking orders at their AI, they're starting to talk to other humans with the same terse impatience. We discuss the enshittification of social media like Threads, which are now completely overrun with AI-generated slop. This week, we dive into the corporate shenanigans of the tech world. OpenAI was caught secretly funding an advocacy group to push for age verification laws that just so happen to benefit Sam Altman's other company. We also cover Elon Musk's troubles, including all of xAI's co-founders quitting, a SpaceX satellite exploding, and Tesla's "fully autonomous" robotaxis being revealed to have remote human drivers. Plus, we celebrate NASA's successful Artemis II launch, review a fantastic Premiere Pro plugin for multicam editing, and give our thoughts on shows like "The Pit" and "Downton Abbey." Sponsors: 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/1password Show notes at https://gog.show/740 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IpzOakbBftY FOLLOW UP Austria is pursuing a social media ban for kids under 14 Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI OpenAI takes on another “side quest,” buys tech-focused talk show TBPN IN THE NEWS Elon Musk’s last co-founder reportedly leaves xAI SpaceX loses contact with one of its Starlink satellites SpaceX has reportedly filed for the biggest IPO in history OpenAI Is Falling Out of Favor With Secondary Buyers Oracle Lays Off Thousands to Offset AI Spending Anthropic leaks part of Claude Code’s internal source code Anthropic is having a month Wikipedia Just Drew the Line on A.I.-Written Content Tesla Admits Its Robotaxis Are Being Driven Remotely Getting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared of White House App Found Tracking Users' Exact Location Every 4.5 Minutes via Third-Party Server Kash Patel's personal email account was accessed by hackers linked to Iran NASA's Artemis II Live Mission Coverage (Official Broadcast) MEDIA CANDY The Hobbit: The Tolkien Edit The Pitt DTF St. Louis Project Hail Mary SUPERGIRL | Official Trailer Downton Abbey Darker Waves Festival APPS & DOODADS Bluesky's next product is an AI assistant that helps build custom social media feeds ChatGPT app launches for CarPlay on iOS 26.4 Apple Removes iPhone Vibe Coding App from App Store Meta is testing an Instagram Plus subscription service with exclusive features Wraith Multi-Cam Editor THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE Dave Bittner The CyberWire Hacking Humans Caveat Control Loop Only Malware in the Building Current Reader Journalist Sues FAA Over Drone No Fly Zone Designed to Prevent Filming ICE Nicholas Carlini - Black-hat LLMs | [un]prompted 2026 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: 100

Grumpy Old Geeks
Podcast Episodes
732: We’re Not In the Files! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:06
In this week’s FOLLOW UP, Bitcoin is down 15%, miners are unplugging rigs because paying eighty-seven grand to mine a sixty-grand coin finally failed the vibes check, and Grok is still digitally undressing men—suggesting…
731: I Want My 13 Trillion Dollars! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:24
EU vs. Grok, Tesla kills the S/X, mass tech layoffs, Waymo in trouble, South Korea’s AI mess, and record labels suing for $13T. Then: Super Bowl 60, Ted Lasso, Highlander, AirTag 2, new Muppets but no Animal Crackers. Bu…
730: Ethical Broads [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:26:31
California tells Grok to stop making deepfake minors, Musk’s Memphis methane datacenter gets busted, the FTC keeps trying to break up Meta & every government on Earth demands your ID before you’re allowed to have fun onl…
729: Alright Alright Alright™ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:24:25
Grok gets blocked by world governments as the US Senate tries to stop the deepfake deluge; Meta abandons the Metaverse for AI hardware and high-powered political hires while Bandcamp bans AI slop; Apple and Tesla move mo…
728: No Face to Shoot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:06
A year after the LA fires, we spiral into AI surveillance & protest safety to Meta ads, Disney spying, Grok’s legal black hole, robotaxis at dusk & Tim Cook’s $74M payday. Toss in MTV nostalgia, holiday gadgets & tech su…
727: Merry Slopmas [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:21:17
Hallucinating AI recaps, Tesla’s Autopilot under legal fire, TikTok’s shell game, Reddit fights age bans, iRobot sucks up Chpater 11 and “slop” crowned Word of the Year. Add orbital junk, fake books & Gen-X sideeye - it’…
726: Sycophantic and Delusional [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:31
Job Hugging is here, OpenAI’s in damage control mode, the AI bubble is overheating the grid, Instagram pricing games, Waymo gives birth and Uber is selling your data. Also: Disney’s AI dreams, EU smackdowns, and Jason wi…
725: The Mistake Machine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:02
Spotify Wrapped thinks we’re 82, Palantir thinks war crimes are bad for business, and Google’s AI is wiping hard drives. Netflix buys Batman, Fallout S2, ROMCON, Knives Out, scientists invent the blackest fabric ever and…
724: Sam Altman’s Boutique [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:57
The DOGE is dead, Apple and HP are blaming AI for layoffs, teens are lonely (talking to bots!), greedy tech bros are pouring millions into fighting state AI regulations. Welcome to the tech industry, where nothing is a s…
723: Don’t Want No Samsung [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:36
From Larry Summers fleeing the OpenAI board to Nvidia tanking, Bitcoin crashing, Grok praising Elon, and a Tesla robotaxi driver asleep at the wheel, yeah, tech is weird. New trailers, open-sourced Zork, broken keyboards…