746: Reality is Frequently Inaccurate

FOLLOW UP starts with merchandise promotion and YouTube begging reminiscent of 2007, before GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen gets thoroughly criticized by eBay after proposing a $56 billion takeover plan that eBay called “neither credible nor attractive,” which is corporate-speak for “please stop emailing us at 3 a.m.” Meanwhile, California residents might finally receive a small settlement check from Grubhub worth about half a burrito, just as Americans realize they dislike AI data centers even more than nuclear plants because nobody wants a warehouse full of GPUs boiling away the local water supply. Lake Tahoe residents are learning their electricity now goes to AI processing plants instead of people, xAI keeps adding methane turbines despite being sued over them, and SpaceXAI employees are fleeing Elon’s “sleep under your desk forever” lifestyle as if it were the last helicopter out of Saigon.

IN THE NEWS, we start gently with the revelation that everyone at the Musk v. Altman trial is sitting on luxury butt cushions because apparently the singularity requires lumbar support, before plunging straight into the abyss: fake AI crypto journalists haunting Forbes and HuffPost like SEO poltergeists, OpenAI launching “Daybreak” so the robots can now secure the software they helped break, Anthropic trying to stop AI from becoming evil by feeding it morality fan fiction, and Google catching AI-generated zero-day exploits in the wild because cyberpunk novels were apparently instructional manuals. Waymo robotaxis are experimenting with driving into floodwaters, a family is suing OpenAI after ChatGPT allegedly advised their son to mix drugs with fatal results, graduating students booed an executive for praising AI as if she were announcing the arrival of cholera, and Meta continues its speedrun toward becoming the world’s largest scam mall while simultaneously demanding everyone trust its shiny new “encrypted AI chats.” Also: Meta is testing Grok-for-Threads, somebody created an AI poop-analysis startup that quietly sells your bowel movements to data brokers, GM got nailed for selling driver data, Lime still somehow exists and wants an IPO, and Japan’s first 3D-printed house shows that the future will at least look cool even as society collapses.

MEDIA CANDY features Spotify celebrating twenty years of collecting your listening habits into a psychological profile you absolutely didn't care about during the CD era, plus The Punisher: One Last Kill ironically looking like unfinished PlayStation cutscenes, Good Omens Season 3, Devil May Cry Season 2, NBC somehow turning Wordle into a TV show because every executive has fully given up, shorter waits for Severance Season 3, and Rings of Power returning in November to continue spending the GDP of a small nation on elf misery.

APPS & DOODADS checks in with Apple as it prepares Siri app integrations that developers already suspect will become subscription-based hostage situations. TikTok is testing an ad-free tier in the UK because, somehow, ads weren’t already enough punishment. Venmo is finally realizing that public payment feeds are insane. There's a Wikipedia clone made entirely of AI hallucinations, and an iPad arm mount sturdy enough to survive the upcoming climate wars.

AT THE LIBRARY wraps up with Clowns (First Contact), Dungeon Crawler Carl, the demise of another Goodreads competitor, Kindle alternatives for those trying to escape Amazon’s panopticon, and a reminder that Douglas Adams has now been gone for 25 years, which remains, in the immortal words of the man himself, widely regarded as a bad move.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/746

Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ICjNBnP3sMk

FOLLOW UP

Grumpy Old Geeks Merch Store

Grumpy Old Geeks on YouTube

eBay Brutally Rejects GameStop’s $56 Billion Proposal: ‘Neither Credible nor Attractive’

Wang et al. v. Grubhub, Inc.

Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area

Energy supplier abandons Lake Tahoe residents to serve data centers

xAI Got Sued Over Its Gas Turbines, so It Naturally Added More of Them

Elon Musk's SpaceXAI has been bleeding staff since its merger

IN THE NEWS

Everyone at the Musk v. Altman Trial Is Using Fancy Butt Cushions

Four Financial Journalists Accused of Being Fake AI-Generated Puppets That Shill Crypto in Forbes, HuffPost, and More

Daybreak is OpenAI's response to Anthropic's Claude Mythos

Anthropic blames dystopian sci-fi for training AI models to act “evil”

Google announces its first-ever discovery of a zero-day exploit made with AI

Waymo Admits Its Robotaxis Have a Small Issue With Driving Into Floodwaters

Family sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT advice led to accidental overdose

Graduation Speaker Says AI Is ‘The Next Industrial Revolution,’ Immediately Drowned Out by Booing Students

Meta is facing another lawsuit over scam ads on Facebook and Instagram

After Killing Encrypted DMs, Mark Zuckerberg Wants You to Trust His New Encrypted AI Chat

Hey @meta.ai is that true? Threads is testing a Grok-like AI feature

Internet of Shit: AI Poop Analysis App Offered to Sell Me Database of Its Users' Poops

GM agrees to pay $12.75 million to settle California lawsuit over misuse of customers' driving data

The electric scooter rental company Lime has filed for IPO

This startup built Japan’s first 3D-printed two-story home. It wants to solve the country’s construction crisis

APPS & DOODADS

Apple wants apps to integrate with Siri in iOS 27, but one fear holds some back: report

TikTok is rolling out an ad-free option in the UK

Venmo's redesigned app offers more discreet payments by default

New Wikipedia Clone Made Entirely of AI Hallucinations

YICOSUN iPad Mount Tablet Holder, 3-Section Foldable Adjustable Aluminum Alloy Arm with Rotating Clamp Base, Heavy Duty Desk Bracket for iPad Tablet Phone Portable Monitor, Bed Office Kitchen

MEDIA CANDY

Spotify is celebrating its 20th birthday with a Wrapped-like feature that covers your entire time on the app

The Punisher: One Last Kill

Here’s the Real Deal With That Viral Shot From 'Punisher: One Last Kill'

Good Omens Season 3 - The Finale

Devil May Cry Season 2

NBC is turning Wordle into a TV show

Adam Scott Promises the Wait for ‘Severance’ Season 3 Won’t Be Nearly as Long

‘Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Is Returning in November

AT THE LIBRARY

Clowns (First Contact) by Peter Cawdron

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

Tome, another Goodreads booktracker rival, shuts down

Bookshop.org

Kobo

Smashwords

eBooks.com

Kobo E-readers

ONYX BOOX

The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Omnibus

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

'Revenge of the Nerds' Actor Donald Gibb Dead at 71

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