719: Uniquely Devoid of Feeling

We open with a sobering follow-up: the future is less about AI toast (though Red Dwarf predicted it) and more about a soul-stripping "infrastructure of meaningless" after an AWS outage proved how fragile the internet is. Corporate overlords, like Elon Musk, are taking note: he finally addressed Starlink's use by Asian scam syndicates, but his attention is mostly on superintelligence, which Wozniak, Prince Harry, and 800 others want banned. Meanwhile, Meta, despite pouring $27 billion into data centers, suddenly cut 600 AI jobs, and Amazon is preparing to automate a half-million warehouse positions, offering drivers AR spy glasses and suggesting a new "Help Me Decide" AI tool to automate the exhausting micro-decision of which air fryer to buy. This dystopian fever dream peaked when Suzanne Somers' widower revealed he built a full-on robotic AI twin of the late actress. Predictably, Tesla stock tumbled, and the crypto grift continued with the pardoning of Binance founder Zhao, leaving SBF to ponder his failed check-bounce in jail.

Speaking of soul-crushing, Disney's latest nostalgia raid, Tron: Ares, tanked harder than anticipated, proving not every Gen-X intellectual property is a worthy cash cow. But fear not, there's still great TV to be had: we recommend the clever dramas Slow Horses and The Diplomat Season 3, the high-stakes culinary nightmare Knives Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, and the surprisingly excellent Gen V (which you must watch before the next season of The Boys). We also got our fix with the Pluribus trailer, Bullet Train, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and the deliciously low-stakes reality shows Come Dine With Me, Hotel Costiera, and The Celebrity Traitors UK/Canada. Sadly, we must mourn the end of Food Network’s The Kitchen. Yet, no matter how good the show, you still have to deal with Ticketmaster, which is still lying about "fighting bots" while cornering the secondary market.

In the world of Apps & Doodads, OpenAI dropped its "Anti-Web" browser, ChatGPT Atlas (a data mule in disguise), and a new app now fakes your vacation photos (perfect for burned-out users). X is poised to sell "rare" usernames for millions (with a terrible subscription catch), while some clever hacker figured out a $60 mod to disable the privacy light on Meta's Ray-Ban spy glasses. Fellow podcast host Dave Bittner joined us to agree that the new Hall of Presidents format is better without the political posturing and confirmed the joy of old-school, purple-ink-smelling Spirit Duplicators (and we checked out a Star Wars fan film trailer for the AT THE LIBRARY section). Don't forget your Tilly Hat! Finally, R.I.P. Soft Cell's musical force Dave Ball, aged 66; the hits still hit.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/719

FOLLOW UP

Does Anyone Want Any Toast? | Red Dwarf | BBC

A Tool That Crushes Creativity

IN THE NEWS

Amazon's AWS outage knocked services like Alexa, Snapchat, Fortnite, Venmo and more offline

SpaceX disables 2,500 Starlink terminals allegedly used by Asian scam centers

Yelp is getting more AI, including an upgraded chatbot

Steve Wozniak, Prince Harry and 800 others want a ban on AI ‘superintelligence’

Suzanne Somers’ Widower Built “AI Twin” of Late Actress

Meta Cuts 600 AI Roles From Its Superintelligence Labs After $27 Billion Data Center Deal

New report leaks Amazon's proposed mass-automation plans

Amazon Rolls Out New AI Tool to Help You Decide What to Buy: The Great Mental Outsourcing continues.

Amazon unveils AI-powered augmented reality glasses for delivery drivers

Tesla reports revenue growth after two down quarters. Why the stock is falling

Trump pardons convicted Binance founder Zhao, White House says

Crypto billionaire pardon is insane by Coffeezilla

MEDIA CANDY

‘Tron: Ares’ Is an Even Bigger Bomb Than We Thought

Tron: Legacy

Human: Into the Americas

Human: Building Empires

Come Dine With Me

Food Network’s The Kitchen to End After 40 Seasons

Knifes Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars

Pluribus — Official Trailer | Apple TV

Bullet Train

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Hotel Costiera

Slow Horses

The Diplomat Season 3

The Celebrity Traitors UK

Traitors Canada Season 3

Ticketmaster Is Going to Have to Do Better Than That

APPS & DOODADS

OpenAI's AI-powered browser, ChatGPT Atlas, launches on macOS today

ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web By Anil Dash

Too burned out to travel? This new app fakes your summer vacation photos for you

X's handle marketplace will sell some 'rare' usernames for millions of dollars

A $60 Mod to Meta’s Ray-Bans Disables Its Privacy-Protecting Recording Light

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

Gen V

Tilly Hats

Firefly | The World's Smallest Pro-Audio Microphone

Spirit Duplicators: Copies Never Smelled So Good

STAR WARS ENTRENCHED: Fan Film TEASER 2

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

Soft Cell's musical force Dave Ball dies, aged 66

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