702: TikTaco

In this week’s episode, Trump delays the TikTok ban for the third time—because procrastination is the new policy—and Twitter’s old sign finds new purpose as desert firewood. Tesla continues its streak of “hold my beer” engineering by blowing past a school bus in FSD tests, then mysteriously dumps Cybertrucks in Jersey parking lots while prepping a July 4th factory nap. Meanwhile, Elon’s xAI is incinerating a billion bucks a month and allegedly poisoning Memphis, OpenAI and Microsoft are beefing over who’s the bigger megalomaniac, and Sam Altman thinks your power bill should fund his robot overlords.

In other signs of the apocalypse: Amazon is gleefully replacing workers with AI, Microsoft finally admits it might’ve wasted billions chasing Skynet, and Wikipedia’s editors say no thanks to dumbed-down AI summaries. Studies warn ChatGPT may be turning your brain into smooth pudding, while swearing data reveals the internet prefers the F-word with regional flair. A broke crypto TikToker gets released because he’s too poor to ransom, and bankruptcies spike across the Bay as tech jobs vanish like investor confidence.

Media Candy brings a buffet from Inside Out to Murderbot to Stick, and Liam Neeson somehow makes the Naked Gun reboot look awesome; Apple tunes CarPlay to fit your weird dashboard, Trump sells a gold Android that’s tackier than his ties, and Dave goes full retro with Open EMU 2 and FPGA gaming; plus: Dr. Demento retires, Disneyland hits your screen, and we swear this isn’t all a fever dream.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/702

FOLLOW UP

Donald Trump will delay a looming TikTok ban for a third time

The 560-pound Twitter sign met a fiery end in a Nevada desert

IN THE NEWS

Tesla blows past stopped school bus and hits kid-sized dummies in Full Self-Driving tests

Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Nine Times

What are hundreds of Teslas doing in a New Jersey mall parking lot?

Residents Baffled as Tesla Dumps Dozens of Cybertrucks in Shopping Center

Tesla plans to shut down Model Y and Cybertruck production over the week of July 4

23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki will regain control of embattled DNA company after all

OpenAI and Microsoft Tensions Are Reaching a Boiling Point

Amazon says it will reduce its workforce as AI replaces human employees

Musk’s xAI Burns Through $1 Billion a Month as Costs Pile Up

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shocks industry by admitting AI has yet to deliver real value despite massive investment

Wikipedia cancels plan to test AI summaries after editors skewer the idea

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

Sam Altman Says "Significant Fraction" of Earth's Total Electricity Should Go to Running AI

xAI faces legal threat over alleged Colossus data center pollution in Memphis

Kidnappers free TikTok crypto influencer after realizing he has no money

Personal bankruptcy surges in the Bay as tech employment sags - The San Francisco Standard

201 ways to say ‘f**k’: what 1.7 billion words of online text shows about how the world swears

Vulgarity in online discourse around the English-speaking world

MEDIA CANDY

Brave

Inside Out

Families Like Ours

Stick

Murderbot

FUBAR

Sinners

Rear Window

The Snake

The Naked Gun - Official Trailer (2025) Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson

The Sandman: Season 2 | Official Trailer | Netflix

David Zaslav Is Getting a Pay Cut

How adversarial attacks in audio files give musicians new power against AI theft – Here’s what you need to know

Music Music tech Tech WebBenn Jordan’s AI poison pill and the weird world of adversarial noise

APPS & DOODADS

iOS 26 will fit CarPlay to better match the shape of your car's screen

Mahjong Titan+

Trump’s New Cash Grab Is a Gold iPhone Lookalike That’s Worse Than Any Budget Android

The golden Trump Phone is almost certainly not made in the US

AT THE LIBRARY

Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine by Derren Brown

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can't, and How to Tell the Difference by Sayash Kapoor, Arvind Narayanan

Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years (Michael Palin Diaries Book 1)

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

Open EMU 2

Analogue Pocket OpenFPGA Guide

All Major Gen-AI Models Vulnerable to ‘Policy Puppetry’ Prompt Injection Attack

Visit Disneyland From the Comfort of Disney+ With More POV Walkthroughs

Dr. Demento Announces Retirement After 55 Years

Star Wars metal.

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