Grumpy Old Geeks

Very Important Links!Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show!Join our Discord! - Buy some merch!Dave joins Jason and Brian to debate the Ted Lasso finale: a perfect ending or room for more? Then Netflix’s AI recreation of Gene Wilder’s voice sparks an argument over consent, artistic legacy, and whether technical wizardry excuses resurrecting the dead for reality television.Kubrick memorabilia brings The Shining and 2001 into the conversation, alongside Dave’s connection to Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown. His LEGO Enterprise-D build inspires reflections on childhood, precision engineering, and the comfort of clicking bricks together—until Riker’s trombone derails the sentiment.Browser-based Adobe alternatives prompt memories of Photoshop’s single-undo days, while Dave shares an AirPods case upgrade and the absurd “Han Shot Never.” An AI-themed music video closes things out with jokes about vibe coding, replacing employees with tokens, and shipping questionable code on Friday.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BHFwkJJCtggDave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatOnly Malware in the BuildingApple releases free chapter from Ted Lasso ‘The Richmond Way’ bookWonka's The Golden TicketGene Wilder interviewed by Alec BaldwinStanley Kubrick’s Estate Will Soon Auction Some Beyond Iconic ItemsThe Shining and the Steadicam®: an interview with inventor Garrett BrownAn open source project seeking to provide alternatives to the Adobe suite.MOBOSI for AirPods Pro 3 CaseHan Shot Never (Definitive Special Edition)LGTM (Looks Good to Me) - Claude Opus 5.5 music videoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Very Important Links!Support the show on Patreon! - Other ways to support the show!Join our Discord! - Buy some merch!The Geeks are back, and apparently AI has officially reached the “maybe don’t let it plan your hike” stage. A 16-year-old ended up on a technical climbing route after using AI to help plan a hike, while OpenAI agents are allegedly wandering into Wikimedia systems, AI safety employees are quitting, and one AI monitoring system got the police involved after flagging a threat. Naturally, the proposed solution to all this is more AI. Because what could possibly go wrong? Meanwhile, OpenAI is trying to watermark AI-generated text, Google is watermarking AI-generated media, and everyone is pretending we can reliably tell whether a robot wrote something after a quick trip through Grammarly.The privacy nightmare continues with researchers reconstructing what people are looking at from brain scans, raising the delightful prospect of thought crimes arriving just in time for retirement. Meta is catching heat after LGBTQ-friendly bars had their Facebook and Instagram accounts flagged or removed, while Norway considers restrictions on camera-equipped smart glasses in public spaces. Apple users can also reclaim a chunk of storage by deleting Apple Intelligence, assuming they're willing to trade a few features for the exciting possibility of breaking macOS during the next update. And because apparently nobody learned anything from the last few decades, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are teaming up on satellite connectivity—not out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, but because Starlink and Amazon are coming for their lunch money.Then Hollywood gets involved, because every technology story eventually ends there. Paramount and Warner Bros. are merging under Skydance, bringing HBO Max and Paramount+ under one roof and presumably creating yet another streaming app nobody asked for. Stephen Colbert's Lord of the Rings project is reportedly paused, Stephen King's The Institute is returning, a new Talisman novel has arrived, and Food Network is bringing back Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking. Plus, the Geeks discuss their wildly male YouTube audience, speed-reading apps and Guy Fieri's culinary crimes. Technology, entertainment, surveillance, mind reading, and baked goods: another perfectly normal week.Sponsors:HIMS - Visit Hims.com/gog to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.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/766Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/11y9DwqIxlwSHOW NOTESNew Mexico wants Meta to pay $40 billion in penalties for Cambridge Analytica scandalTeen Left Stranded on a Cliff After Letting AI Plan HikeLawmakers Introduce Multiple Laws to Curb Flock After 404 Media CoverageTrump announces an AI czar for his newly created 'Super Intelligence Force'Anthropic Reports User to the PoliceFormer OpenAI employee says AI should be regulated like nuclear power plantsOpenAI fires three employees who allegedly shared info with an external AI safety groupWikimedia links OpenAI agents to an outage and unauthorized activityOpenAI details new text watermarking system for ChatGPT, Codex, and the APIGoogle rolls out improved SynthID AI content detector, now available globallyMeta Is Kicking Gay Bars Off Its Apps While Allowing Videos of Graphic Child AbuseNew AI Can Figure Out What You’re Thinking About From a Brain ScanThis tool frees up Apple Intelligence storage on macOS, but think twice before using itNorway Considers Most Drastic Smart Glasses Ban YetAT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have officially teamed up to end coverage gapsReadMe! (Spritz & BeeLine)Soon-to-be merged Paramount and Warner Bros. will be known as Skydance going forwardStephen Colbert’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movie Reportedly ‘Paused’ Over Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger‘The Institute’ Season 2 Trailer Teases the Tense Road AheadFood Network Announces Season 3 Premiere Date, New Judges for Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking (Exclusive)Other Worlds Than These: A Talisman Novel (The Talisman Trilogy Book 3) by Stephen King and Peter StraubSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Very Important Links!Support the show at Patreon! - https://patreon.com/gogOther ways to support the show! - https://gog.show/donateJoin our Discord! - https://discord.gg/r4ZmSHBBuy some merch! - https://shop.gog.show/Show notes at https://gog.show/Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5IjSiJsBXi8Recorded on Wednesday, September 30th, 2026.Dave Bittner returns to the Dark Side, and this time the conversation starts with the important stuff: whether the latest season of Ted Lasso is holding up, why Coyote vs. Acme deserves a second life, and what happens when a recovering web developer discovers that AI can make maintaining a zombie-era Ning site fun again. Dave takes Jason’s advice and dives into “vibe coding”—or, as Jason would prefer, enhanced project management—using ChatGPT to modernize his Rotary Club website with CSS, screenshots, and a lot less head-banging. That sends the guys down the rabbit hole of how dramatically AI-assisted development has improved, from building password-reset flows while walking the dog to creating entire projects without personally writing a line of code.From there, things get appropriately nerdier. There’s a broken ham-radio app, Porkins finally getting his moment to save the galaxy, Star Wars fan edits, Muppet LEGO sets, Gravity Falls books and lo-fi soundtracks, and Dave’s cross-country pilgrimage to Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie Bash for his son’s tenth birthday. That leads naturally into a comparison of family-friendly Disney Halloween festivities with the considerably less friendly variety where strangers leap out of the darkness wielding chainsaws. Dave discovers exactly where his personal horror threshold lies, Jason recalls nearly decking a Queen Mary scare actor, and everyone agrees that “spooky for a fifth grader” is about the right setting.Dave BittnerThe CyberWireHacking HumansCaveatOnly Malware in the BuildingPorkins destroys the Death StarDanger Zone makes every Star Wars battle more epicThe MuppetsThe Art of Gravity FallsLoFi: Gravity FallsOogie Boogie BashSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Geeks return with a brand-new Grumpy Old Geeks Wiki containing 21,577 static HTML pages, because apparently the appropriate response to having a massive podcast archive is to build an even more massive searchable monument to it. From there, things get considerably less wholesome as they dig into TikTok’s settlement with Alabama, AI companies promising safeguards while simultaneously unleashing increasingly autonomous agents, and an OpenAI agent that apparently decided that “I can’t access this” meant “perhaps I should hack it.” Government websites, a university digital library, and other targets apparently became irresistible once the normal route to the information stopped working. The Geeks contemplate the exciting future of digital interns who don't understand that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is, in fact, not a suggestion.The AI-agent discussion rolls into Meta’s Muse, OpenAI’s new agent tools, security boundaries, and the increasingly familiar problem of giving software enough permissions to accomplish a task and then discovering it has developed its own interpretation of “accomplish.” The episode also tackles Utah’s attempt to apply age verification requirements to VPN users, New York’s legal fight with prediction markets, Meta expanding Instagram into schools, and the continuing saga of AI-generated music and copyright. Then there’s Automatic’s corporate drama involving Matt Mullenweg, vibe coding, and the increasingly compelling argument that if you can build a website in a few hours, maybe spending years arguing about WordPress is no longer the best use of anyone’s time.Finally, the Geeks move on to the technological disasters that really matter: Plex changing the Apple TV skip controls unless you pay for premium, a Samsung software update that managed to turn some AI refrigerators into very expensive food-warming cabinets, and Toy Story 5 proving once again that Hollywood has never met a perfectly good ending it couldn't monetize. There’s also a trio of soccer documentaries, including Italia 90, Angel City, and Game and Glory; a discussion of the Strange New Worlds finale “Tomorrow’s Enterprise”; and Meta’s new lightweight VR glasses. Because nothing says “we have learned absolutely nothing” quite like putting more software between you and your refrigerator.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.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/765Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/meLT-1PRbpASHOW NOTESThe Grumpy Old Geeks WikiTikTok reaches first state settlement over teen safety claims, agrees to user limitsLawyers in Alabama's TikTok settlement set to earn $14 millionBill Gates says it's 'completely irresponsible' for AI to not have safeguardsOpenAI's agent hacked into an Australian government websiteOpenAI's agents targeted and infiltrated US government websitesOpenAI Gets Sued Over the Hugging Face HackWith Dots, OpenAI Wants You to Stop Being Afraid of Its AI AgentsTrump’s New America.gov Chatbot Seems to Drop Acid When You Tell It to Play MinecraftNVIDIA Launches Open Agent Safety Platform to Secure Agents From Testing to DeploymentHere’s why OpenAI is absent from Nvidia’s industry-wide effort to end rogue AI agentsFederal Judge Blocks Utah's VPN CrackdownNew York continues to fight prediction markets with a lawsuit against PolymarketExpanding Instagram's School Partnership Program to Help Teens Stay InformedAutomattic has a new board after failed attempt to put CEO on leaveThe problem with smart appliances: some of Samsung's AI fridges have shut down and lost their cool after a bad update was accidentally pushed to themToy Story 5Italia 90Angel CityGame and GloryStar Trek Strange New Worlds S04E10 Tomorrows EnterpriseThe DiplomatCan Imax, Dolby and New VR Glasses Help Meta Reboot Its Immersive Entertainment Ambitions?Peter Byrne, Singer From ’80s Synth-Pop Duo Naked Eyes, Dies at 74See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Very Important Links!Support the show at Patreon! - https://patreon.com/gogOther ways to support the show! - https://gog.show/donateJoin our Discord! - https://discord.gg/r4ZmSHBBuy some merch! - https://shop.gog.show/Recorded on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026.Jason, Brian, and Dave head to the Dark Side for a deep dive into vibe coding—and, against all odds, Jason may finally be cracking. After Salesforce decided to sunset Quip, Jason used AI to rebuild the collaborative show-notes system the guys have relied on for a decade, adding more features while cutting the monthly cost to almost nothing. Then he took up Dave’s challenge to modernize an aging open-source ham-radio application, turning it into a native-looking Mac app in a matter of hours. The catch: after decades of programming, Jason knows exactly what to ask for, what to watch for, and when the AI is confidently doing something stupid.That leads to the bigger question: what happens when software that once took months and tens of thousands of dollars can be built in an afternoon? The guys get into value-based pricing, the disappearing entry-level programming ladder, whether AI makes people lazy or gives curious people superpowers, and how custom software could start eating away at expensive SaaS subscriptions. Jason also lays out what he’s learned from actually building with these tools: keep everything portable, use Git from day one, make the AI document its work, and never build something you can’t eventually maintain yourself. Turns out the future may not belong to vibe coders after all—it may belong to people who already know what the hell they’re doing.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.