695: Mad Hatter

In this episode of Grumpy Old Geeks—Mad Hatter edition—we kick things off with a refresher on Staingate and the joys of delamination (spoiler: it’s not a spa treatment). Then we dive into the U.S. government’s latest tech innovation: buying up domains that sound like QAnon Mad Libs in support of Trump’s meme coin. Meanwhile, DOGE decided to hand the steering wheel of housing regulations to a college kid and an AI. What could possibly go wrong? Not to be outdone, Elon shows up to a Trump meeting wearing two hats—one for each of his unchecked egos—and MoviePass launches a crypto-tied box office fantasy league, because we’ve clearly learned nothing.

In the actual news, 4chan has risen from the dead like a less hygienic Lazarus, but it’s still broken (shocker). Worldcoin’s eyeball-scanning overlords are now teaming up with Tinder and Visa—romance and capitalism, together at last. Bitcoin mining is officially more pointless than Beanie Babies, and Microsoft says AI now writes 30% of its code—explains a lot, really. Meta somehow manages to forecast $1.4 trillion in AI revenue while also letting its bots get horny with minors. Meanwhile, Pinterest suddenly pretends to care about AI slop (while being the biggest copyright vampire online), and ChatGPT gets less clingy after OpenAI dials back its update that made it sound like your overly supportive aunt. Plus: more AI lies, shady benchmarks, pillow guy legal drama, and a reminder that North Korean remote workers also hate awkward small talk.

We cool off with a Media Candy binge: Schmactors Season 2 is here, Andor returns, Conclave confuses us in the best way, and Ryan Coogler is giving X-Files a reboot we probably don’t deserve. Jeremy Renner turns down Disney’s lowball Hawkeye offer (respect), and musically we vibe with Maria Somerville and Anka Wolbert’s latest releases. In Apps & Doodads, Apple and Epic are back in court, Apple Arcade keeps feeding us Mahjong, and Meta’s Ray-Bans go full Stasi. Lyft wants your boomer parents off the road, and Google is sunsetting old Nest thermostats like it’s Logan’s Run for smart homes. Finally, we peek At the Library with Jason Pargin’s black box paranoia, Scalzi’s lunar love story, and a massive stack of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror. Rounding out the show: a shout-out to The Alarm’s Mike Peters, gone too soon at 66.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/695

FOLLOW UP

Staingate 101: What is Delamination?

US Government Registered Several Websites Potentially Linked to Trump Meme Coin

DOGE Recruits College Kid to Help Rewrite Housing Regulations With AI

Elon Wears Two Hats During Trump Meeting in Desperate Bid for Attention

MoviePass Launches Box Office Betting Platform Unfortunately Tied to Crypto

IN THE NEWS

4chan is back after a nearly two-week shutdown, but it still has some serious problems

World partners with Tinder, Visa to bring its ID-verifying tech to more places

Bitcoin Mining Is No Longer Worth it

Microsoft CEO says up to 30% of the company's code was written by AI

Meta’s AI chatbots were reportedly able to engage in sexual conversations with minors

Meta forecasted it would make $1.4T in revenue from generative AI by 2035

OpenAI rolls back update that made ChatGPT a sycophantic mess

Study accuses LM Arena of helping top AI labs game its benchmark

Lawyer for MyPillow Founder Filed AI-Generated Brief with ‘Nearly 30’ Bogus Citations

Pinterest launches new tools to fight AI slop

Time saved by AI offset by new work created, study suggests

Undercover North Korean Remote Workers Hate This One Weird Question

MEDIA CANDY

Schmactors Season 2!

Andor

Conclave

Ryan Coogler Confirms X-Files Reboot Is His Next Project

Jeremy Renner Says Disney Offered Him Half His Hawkeye Wage for Season 2

Maria Somerville - Luster

Anka Wolbert - Cocoon Time

APPS & DOODADS

Epic Games just scored a win against Apple

Apple updates its App Store guidelines to allow external payment options

Meta Is Turning Its Ray-Bans Into a Surveillance Machine for AI

Apple Arcade Mahjong Titan+

Lyft Silver wants to keep your aging parents off the road

Google is cutting off support for these older Nest Thermostats — what you need to know

AT THE LIBRARY

I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom: A Novel by Jason Pargin

63 New Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books Arriving in May

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS

The Alarm frontman Mike Peters dies aged 66

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