731: I Want My 13 Trillion Dollars!

We kick off FOLLOW UP by checking in on Elon Musk’s personal dumpster fire, where the EU is investigating Grok for deepfake slop while Tesla’s “unsupervised” robotaxis turned out to be supervised by literal chase cars — shocker. At least some of you are getting Siri settlement crumbs in your bank accounts, though you could probably double it betting against Musk’s worthless promises on Polymarket.

Transitioning to IN THE NEWS, Tesla is killing off the Model S and X to build robots while sales crater, proving that mixing hard-right politics with EV sales is a brilliant move for the balance sheet. Meanwhile, the corporate bloodbath continues with massive layoffs at Ubisoft, Vimeo (courtesy of the Bending Spoons buzzsaw), and Amazon, because “removing bureaucracy” is apparently HR-speak for 16,000 families losing their livelihoods. If that’s not enough, Google is settling yet another privacy suit for $135 million, the EU is threatening to weaponize its tech sovereignty against the US, and the Trump administration wants Gemini to write federal regulations—because if there's one thing we want drafting airline safety rules, it's a hallucinating chatbot.

Still IN THE NEWS, Waymo is under federal investigation for passing school buses and hitting children, while South Korea’s new AI laws manage to please absolutely no one. Record labels are suing Anna’s Archive for a cool $13 trillion—roughly three times the GDP of India—and the Winklevoss twins have finally admitted that NFTs are dead by shuttering Nifty Gateway.

We pivot to MEDIA CANDY, where the Patriots and Seahawks are heading to Super Bowl 60, and the Winter Olympics are descending on Milan. We’re doing the math on the Starfleet Academy timeline, celebrating the return of Ted Lasso and Shrinking, and trying to decide if Henry Cavill is the second coming of Timothy Dalton in the Highlander reboot. Plus, Jessica Jones is back in the Daredevil: Born Again trailer, and Colin Farrell’s Sugar is returning to explain that wild noir twist we all totally saw coming.

In APPS & DOODADS, the TikTok Armageddon is upon us as the new US owners break the app and drive everyone to UpScrolled, while Native Instruments enters insolvency, leaving our music-making dreams in restructuring limbo. Apple is dropping AirTag 2 with precision finding for your watch, which is great for finding the keys you lost while doom-scrolling.

We wrap up with THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, featuring the new Muppets trailer and Steve Whitmire’s deep thoughts on the state of the felt, plus a look at the artisans in Disneyland Handcrafted. Finally, Looney Tunes finds a new home on Turner Classic Movies, proving that the classics never die—they just move to a cable channel your parents actually watch. Dave finally learns about the Insta360 camera, a countertop dishwasher but no Animal Crackers, and a guide to gas masks and googles... for no particular reason.

Sponsors:

DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.

SquareSpace - go to squarespace.com/GRUMPY for a free trial. And when you’re ready to launch, use code GRUMPY to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

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/731

Watch the episode at https://youtu.be/B54je_oJWjM

FOLLOW UP

The EU is investigating Grok and X over potentially illegal deepfakes

People on Polymarket Are Making a Fortune by Betting Against Elon Musk’s Famously Worthless Promises

Elon Musk Made Tesla Fans Think Unsupervised Robotaxis Had Arrived. They Can’t Find Them

Tesla Quietly Pauses Its “Unsupervised” Robotaxi Rides as Reality Sets In

Apple Siri settlement payments hitting bank accounts. What to know.

IN THE NEWS

Tesla bet big on Elon Musk. His politics continue to haunt it.

With Tesla Revenue and Profits Down, Elon Musk Plays Up Safety

Tesla Kills Models S and X

Ubisoft proposes even more layoffs after last week's studio closures and game cancellations

Vimeo lays off most of its staff just months after being bought by private equity firm

Amazon Laying Off 16,000 as It Increases ‘Ownership’ and Removes ‘Bureaucracy’

Report Says the E.U. Is Gearing Up to Weaponize Europe's Tech Industry Against the U.S.

Google will pay $135 million to settle illegal data collection lawsuit

GDPR Enforcement Tracker

NTSB will investigate why Waymo's robotaxis are illegally passing school buses

Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica

Video shows Waymo vehicle slam into parked cars in Echo Park

Trump admin reportedly plans to use AI to write federal regulations

South Korea’s ‘world-first’ AI laws face pushback amid bid to become leading tech power

Spotify and Big 3 Record Labels Sue Anna’s Archive for $13 Trillion (!) Alleging Theft

Amazon converting some Fresh supermarkets, Go stores to Whole Foods locations

SEC agrees to dismiss case over crypto lending by Winklevoss' Gemini

Winklevoss Twins Shut Down NFT Marketplace in Another Sign Crypto Art Is Dead

MEDIA CANDY

Plur1bus

Shrinking

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Steal

How to watch the 2026 Super Bowl: Patriots vs. Seahawks channel, where to stream and more

Winter Olympics: How to watch, schedule of events, and everything else you need to know about the 2026 Milano Cortina games

Wait, So When Is 'Starfleet Academy' Set, Anyway?

The First ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Season 2 Trailer Brings Back Jessica Jones

Marvel Television’s Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 | Teaser Trailer

Ted Lasso Gets Kicked Back to Apple TV

There Can Only Be One First Look at the ‘Highlander’ Reboot

Colin Farrell’s Detective Show ‘Sugar’ Will Finally Have to Address that Wild Twist This Summer

APPS & DOODADS

TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes

TikTok users freak out over app's 'immigration status' collection — here's what it means

TikTok’s New US Owners Are Off to a Very Rocky Start

TikTok Data Center Outage Triggers Trust Crisis for New US Owners

Yes, TikTok is still broken for many people

Social network UpScrolled sees surge in downloads following TikTok's US takeover

Native Instruments enters into insolvency proceedings, leaving its future uncertain

Wispr Flow

AirTag 2: Three tidbits you might have missed

THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

The Muppet Show | Official Trailer | Disney+

Steve Whitmire, former Kermit the Frog performer, has written a long, thoughtful piece about the current stae of the Muppets.

Disneyland Handcrafted

‘Looney Tunes’ Has Found a New Home: Turner Classic Movies

The Dark Side of Scooby Doo

A Disturbing (Yet Convincing) Theory Reveals There Were Never Any "Monsters" In Scooby Doo

Cartoon Conspiracy Theory | Scooby Doo and The Gang Are Draft Dodgers?!

Producing A Multi-Person Interview With An Insta360 Camera

A listener on Mastodon pointed out that The Verge had a story on countertop dishwashers

A Demonstrator’s Guide to Gas Masks and Goggles

Emma Repairs

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