694: Hammers Don’t Hallucinate

This week on Grumpy Old Geeks, Fyre Festival rises from the ashes yet again—but not as a festival, because even Billy McFarland finally figured out he’s better at selling pipe dreams than tents. Meanwhile, Amazon and Microsoft are tapping the brakes on their AI data center dreams, Google’s AI keeps confidently explaining made-up nonsense like it’s gospel, and Kevin Roose once again tries to convince us to have empathy for the glorified autocomplete machines. (Spoiler: We won’t.) Also, OpenAI wants to buy Chrome even though they can barely afford their own lunch tabs, Perplexity says the quiet part loud about stalking your browser habits, and Meta lays off more VR developers while pretending they care about human rights.

In the “it’s all stupid, but at least it’s entertaining” department: Uber gets sued for making it harder to cancel than joining Scientology, Adam Neumann dupes investors again, sperm racing is now a real thing (and yes, there’s crypto involved), and Bluesky caves to the almighty blue checkmark. Plus, Affinity Suite reminds us you don’t have to sell a kidney to escape Adobe, The Wheel of Time gets an open-world game that’ll probably drop after the heat death of the universe, and Wednesday Season 2 is on the way, because Netflix refuses to let its only hits rest.

Stick around for The Dark Side with Dave where we grumble about Andor Season 2, lament bad writing decisions, geek out over old-school arcade games, and learn that memory colors are apparently a thing. Oh, and if you’re feeling fancy, go ahead and thank ChatGPT for wasting millions in server bills—because if Sam Altman’s crying about manners costing money, we’re grabbing the popcorn.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/694

FOLLOW UP

Fyre Festival is becoming a music streaming service that might not be a scam this time

Billy McFarland Is Selling Fyre Fest

IN THE NEWS

Amazon Follows Microsoft in Retreat From Ambitious AI Data Center Plans

You can trick Google's AI Overviews into explaining made-up idioms

Dan Rather’s Metaphors Anchored in Folksy Truisms

If A.I. Systems Become Conscious, Should They Have Rights?

A Strange Phrase Keeps Turning Up in Scientific Papers, But Why?

Google will keep third-party tracking cookies on Chrome as they are

OpenAI wants to buy Chrome and make it an “AI-first” experience

Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell 'hyper personalized' ads

ChatGPT’s responses will now include Washington Post articles

Sam Altman Admits That Saying "Please" and "Thank You" to ChatGPT Is Wasting Millions of Dollars in Computing Power

FTC sues Uber over claims the company makes subscriptions hard to cancel

Meta conducts layoffs in Oculus Studios, impacting VR exercise app Supernatural

Meta’s Oversight Board Is Worried Meta’s New Policies Will Harm Human Rights

Adam Neumann’s Flow raises $100M+, more than doubles valuation to $2.5B

Chinese AI startup Manus reportedly gets funding from Benchmark at $500M valuation

Two Guys, One Track: Sperm Racing Is Now a Thing—Yes, It Involves Crypto

RAMMS+EIN - 14.12.1997 – Palladium, Los Angeles, CA, United States

MEDIA CANDY

The Pitt

The Last of Us

Companion

The Order

Wednesday: Season 2 | Official Teaser Trailer | Netflix

Apple TV+ has its own spin on Indiana Jones, and it looks epic

Riot Fest 2025

APPS & DOODADS

Bluesky is getting blue checkmarks and an official verification system

Affinity Suite 2.6

The Wheel of Time Is Getting Its Own Open-World RPG Video Game

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

Andor Season 2

The Glorious, Terrible Delirium of Mon Mothma’s Liberating Andor Moment

Light & Magic Season 2

Strong Songs - The Music of the Muppets

Arcade Game: Lunar Lander (1979 Atari)When arcade games were boring.

Hard Drivin' - Arcade

Tempest

Memory Colors

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