688: Why, Combinator?
Grumpy Old Geeks14 Mar 2025

688: Why, Combinator?

Pi Day gets its due; Y Combinator marks 20 years of “disruption”; Americans lose $12.5B to scams thanks to AI and social media; Deliveroo posts a profit but still tanks on Wall Street; Twitter’s security remains a joke; Pinterest steals user content for AI; and a rogue developer gets busted for a kill switch scheme. Severance Season 2 costs $20M per episode; Ted Lasso returns despite ending; Waymo’s driverless taxis rack up parking tickets; and Apple plans to turn AirPods into live translators. Meanwhile, the FCC launches a National Security Council, the U.S. housing agency flirts with crypto, and hermit crabs show better teamwork than Big Tech.

Sponsors:

DeleteMe - Head over to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use the code "GOG" for 20% off.

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/688


FOLLOW UP

It's Pi Day.

The Man Behind The American Oligarchy


IN THE NEWS

Deliveroo turns first annual profit

FTC says Americans lost $12.5B to scams last year

Consumer Reports finds popular voice cloning tools lack safeguards

The FCC is creating a new Council for National Security within the agency

DOGE axes CISA ‘red team’ staffers amid ongoing federal cuts

Judge Calls DOGE Firings a ‘Sham,

20 Plagues Y Combinator Unleashed on the World Over the Last 20 Years

‘We Are Witnessing a New Brain Drain’ as Scientists Flee America for France

Elon Musk claims bad actors in Ukraine are behind “massive“ X cyberattack

The Real Reason Twitter Went Down

Developer convicted for “kill switch” code

Pinterest to Train AI Models on User Content

U.S. Housing Agency Considers Launching Crypto Experiment

Waymo was slapped with nearly 600 parking tickets

Are We Inside a Black Hole?


MEDIA CANDY

Severance is laughing at you

Somehow, Severance season 2 cost an enormous $20 million per episode

Eddy Cue and Ben Stiller interview each other about Severance

Paradise

The White Lotus

Black Mirror: Season 7 | Official Trailer

Ted Lasso Returning for Season 4

Apple Music Classical expands to the web

Aphex Twin Curates a Massive 191-Song Playlist

Playlist - Music selected by Aphex Twin for Supreme.

Matt Pinfield Comes Out of a Coma After Suffering Massive Stroke


APPS & DOODADS

AudioShake Launches Breakthrough AI Model to Separate Overlapping Voices

Zoom PodTrak P2

Apple reportedly plans to add a live-translation feature to AirPods

'Don't let your kids be on Roblox', Roblox CEO tells parents


AT THE LIBRARY

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams

Meta is trying to silence a former executive


THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Only Malware in the Building

Gravity Falls

Baiting A Romance Fraudster

Hermit Crabs: Conga Line Cooperation

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(735)

565: Jason Blart: Mall Cop

565: Jason Blart: Mall Cop

Incompetencies; magnets on a stick; tennis elbow & fitness; go ahead and drink the rain in Spain; CHIPS is a go; Cuban does good & bad; Amazon's solutions without problems; Facebook still can't remove...

13 Aug 20221h 13min

564: Blame It On the Rain

564: Blame It On the Rain

Earth no longer has drinkable rain; Goodreads; Pickleball elbow; Twitter goes after Musk; the week in grift - Ponzi schemes, hacks, regulatory lies, "preemptive" theft, oh my; Meta's Super live stream...

6 Aug 202256min

563: Cracker Barrel Enthusiast

563: Cracker Barrel Enthusiast

Hot, Hot, Hot; Google fires engineer that claimed AI was sentient; Shkreli, Cracker Barrel enthusiast & ponzi schemer, is back; ghosted politician wants to make ghosting a crime; Senate grills Apple, ...

30 Jul 202249min

562: It’s Fuego Out There

562: It’s Fuego Out There

A rare in-person show; space news; piracy is good, so are eggs; Millennium Tower keeps sinking; TikTok job cuts; Twitter trial moves forward; Russian & Chinese fines on big tech; Microsoft hard pass o...

23 Jul 20221h 10min

561: Magnet On a Stick

561: Magnet On a Stick

Back from vacation; borrowing for crypto; saving lives; speed news recap: YouTube trailers, Apple & Ive, Microsoft layoffs, Instagram & TikTok for search, Nothing phone, political email spam, GameStop...

16 Jul 20221h 4min

560: Wankpuffin

560: Wankpuffin

Fun with compound pejoratives; TLDR; the layoffs are coming; old-timey Uber problems; Airbnb parties no more; space travel & the environment; limiting sales of Plan B; Facebook seems to be able to mod...

2 Jul 202259min

559: Black Box of Fools

559: Black Box of Fools

Breaking News! TikTok, COVID & coked-up shrimp; ad-targeting problems; Metaverse Standards Forum; designer clothes in the Metaverse; Tesla racial abuse; TikTok US data moved to Oracle; Twitter brings ...

25 Jun 20221h 14min

558: I Chat Therefore I Am (Not)

558: I Chat Therefore I Am (Not)

Crypto-crash; grifters gonna grift; Google chat-bot building system builds a really good chatbot, not an AI; how not to get people to track your jet; Uber & Lyft lose in Massachusetts; smart license p...

18 Jun 20221h 10min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
i-retten
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
fotballpodden-2
det-store-bildet
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-gukild-johaug
bt-dokumentar-2
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
nokon-ma-ga
rss-ness
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
frokostshowet-pa-p5
chit-chat-med-helle