715: Our Wizard Lies

715: Our Wizard Lies

Grumpy Old Geeks is back with another round of righteous griping and eyebrow-raising headlines in Episode 715: Our Wizard Lies. We kick things off in FOLLOW UP, where TikTok is still the geopolitical hot potato that both the U.S. and China promise to sort out “someday, maybe,” while Wired’s global editorial director explains how tech’s growing political clout is playing out under Trump. From there, it’s a cavalcade of absurdities: DOGE as federal workforce demolition derby, and crypto bros trying to turn Charlie Kirk’s death into meme-stock retirement plans. Late-stage capitalism is nothing if not creative.

Then in IN THE NEWS, Amazon gets spanked with a $2.5 billion fine for Prime trickery, Microsoft yanks cloud services from an Israeli military unit, and Palantir goes full lifestyle brand—yes, you too can cosplay as a drone strike enthusiast with a $99 pair of gym shorts. Silicon Valley philosophers warn AI regulation would literally summon the Antichrist, while banks whisper the bubble might pop before the devil even arrives. Meanwhile, YouTube toys with letting COVID and election denialists back into the algorithm, “SIM farms” threaten New York’s cell networks, and unlucky tourists are finding themselves trafficked into cyber-scam slavery across Southeast Asia. Progress!

MEDIA CANDY tries to lighten the mood—sort of—serving up everything from Elio, Tron: Ares, and Disney price hikes to AI musicians cashing million-dollar checks. Lionsgate, on the other hand, learns you can’t feed four John Wicks into an algorithm and get an anime out the other side. Over in THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, we get furries on the DC Metro, Disney plotting your every park step via Ray-Ban spy glasses, a Ponzi scheme in RadioShack cosplay, and even a Jim Henson Company anniversary auction. We close out with shout-outs and sighs, because sometimes the world doesn’t deserve a mic drop—just a slow shake of the head.


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Show notes at https://gog.show/715


FOLLOW UP

US and China agree to agree on a TikTok deal

WIRED global editorial director on tech's growing political power under Trump

The Story of DOGE, as Told by Federal Workers

Crypto Bros Are Trying to Monetize Charlie Kirk’s Death


IN THE NEWS

Amazon to pay $2.5 billion for allegedly duping millions to sign up for Prime

Microsoft cuts off cloud services to Israeli military unit after report of storing Palestinians’ phone calls

Palantir Wants to Be a Lifestyle Brand

Silicon Valley’s latest argument against regulating AI: that would literally be the Antichrist

AI Experts Urgently Call on Governments to Think About Maybe Doing Something

‘Workslop’: AI-Generated Work Content Is Slowing Everything Down

Deutsche Bank Issues Grim Warning for AI Industry

YouTube may reinstate channels banned for spreading covid and election misinformation

‘SIM Farms’ Are a Spam Plague. A Giant One in New York Threatened US Infrastructure, Feds Say

They traveled to Thailand. They wound up cyber scam slaves in Myanmar.


MEDIA CANDY

Elio

Superman

Human: Origins

Human: Journeys

Alien: Earth

The Traitors Ireland

Disney is raising the price of Disney+, Hulu subscriptions next month

Wicked: For Good | Final Trailer

Lilith Faire: Building a Mystery

Tron: Ares

AI Artist Signs Million-Dollar Record Deal

Lionsgate Is Finding Out It’s Really Hard to Make Movies With AI

Jimmy Kimmel May Be Back. Trump’s Attacks on the First Amendment Aren’t Over By Merrill Markoe

Jimmy Kimmel is Back!


THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE

Dave Bittner

The CyberWire

Hacking Humans

Caveat

Control Loop

Only Malware in the Building

Disney Explores Using Ray-Ban Meta Glasses To Guide Guests Around Its Parks

The Happiest Story on Earth: 70 Years of Disneyland

The Mandalorian and Grogu | Official Trailer | In Theaters May 22, 2026

The Jim Henson Company 70th Anniversary Auction

Feds Say Company That Bought RadioShack Was Running $112 Million Ponzi Scheme

Furries ride the DC Metro

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Avsnitt(731)

497: Not F’n Tangible

497: Not F’n Tangible

Baseball cards on the blockchain, NFT's go mainstream; Grimes 133tsp33k; Coinbase admits Bitcoin could crumble; pandemic stats; Twitter announces Super Follows; Star Trek news; Frasier's listening; the Lady and the Dale; Boss Obama not-a-podcast; Gell-Mann Amnesia; bye, bye Fry's; gadget ages; Radio Garden; Citizen notifications; Dispo; Where For; Sigh, Gone; subtitles; Facebook privacy lawsuit; Tom Cruise deep fakes; Microsoft's decentralized IDs; German pandemic words; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/497See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 Mars 20211h 26min

496: "I'm Fired"

496: "I'm Fired"

It's time to get things started; regulations; still hacking tractors; Google has an ethical AI ethicist problem; UK slaps Uber with the law; Facebook stops news in Australia, restarts it as Australians abandon it; Facebook caught lying about metrics, again; WhatsApp details privacy change policy; Influencers for health; Hot Ones; Twitch & Metallica; Spotify HiFi; Reply All host hiatus; Amazon's Kickstarter; Think Again; CyberWar & the Lost Colony; Clubhouse concerns; Mac M1 malware; Nvidia anti-cryptomining drivers; Elon Musk & Bitcoin; Gwyneth's COVID long game; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/496See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

24 Feb 20211h 14min

495: Gotta Spend Money to Lose Money

495: Gotta Spend Money to Lose Money

Bitcoin goes up, must come down; Facebook privacy payouts; Zuck wants to inflict pain on Apple; Oculus problems; Spotify unrolls Work From Anywhere program; AI can manipulate human behavior; Russia dealing with TikTok politics; Chappelle gets paid; Whedon cancelled twice; the Stand falls on landing; Discovery Plus shows; web sleuths at the Cecil Hotel; Kim's Convenience; iPad Life; Clubhouse facts & privacy; signs of intelligent life with Avi Loeb; supply-chain attacks; Bloomberg doubles down; Axel F; Intel mocks Apple; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/495See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

17 Feb 20211h 20min

494: Jib Jab as a Service

494: Jib Jab as a Service

Flash, a-ah, saviour of the universe; WeWork might be just fine; Tesla buys bitcoin; Robinhood still very popular; Twitter confirms experiments with new models, subscriptions; AI COVID predictions; Amazon's new CEO; WFH causes chip shortages; Toyota's self-drifting car; In & Of Itself; the Expanse season finale; Fake Famous; Samsung's ridiculously large monitor; seven screen laptops; supplements on the blockchain; Heaven's River; tracked at the Capitol; hacker breaks into water supply; Pornhub biometrics; deep fakes as a service; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/494See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

10 Feb 20211h 19min

493: Poverty Mode

493: Poverty Mode

Welcome back to paradise; Bye, Loon; Instacart layoffs; pay for pardons; India proposes banning Bitcoin; Apple & Facebook face-off on privacy; revisiting Covid corner; Facebook Oversight Board makes first rulings; Robin Hood, Game Stop & the stock market; Night Stalker; Tiger; Ten Little Things; Tenet; Mulan; Alto's Adventure; Apple magnets, facemask unlocking & privacy labels; Microsoft's new, improved, less racist chatbot patent; Thousand Bike Helmets; the Stand; Ministry for the Future; Ring cameras in my window; Lyft's poverty mode; Let It Go; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/493See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

3 Feb 20211h 23min

492: Silovaya Ustanovka

492: Silovaya Ustanovka

Blue Monday; Biden's Biscuit; Bitcoin; Parler gets a landing page; Uber, Lyft drivers in California sue to overturn Prop 22; Virgin Orbit; lying over text; Dan Carlin, Common Sense; Spotify's bet on podcasts is failing; Apple looks into Podcast subscriptions; Paramount becomes a Plus; Wild Kratts; the Hustler; Fitbit joins Google; Instagram Reels audio; Ben Yelin joins us to talk 1st & 5th Amendments & the Internet; Pelosi's laptop; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/492See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

20 Jan 20211h 13min

491: Set Democracy to Zero

491: Set Democracy to Zero

The week that lasted a year; 2021 has the worst 14 day trial period since Quibi, which Roku acquired; a plague still ravages the land; the good, the bad & the ugly of de-platforming; should all dictators be banned on Twitter; the big red button of treason; putting things in a little perspective; Area 41 alert; the week in escapism; Discovery ends; Discovery Plus had some 'splaining to do; bye, Alex Trebek; Bean Dad; Tweet Delete; Echelon; docks with ports; more Big Sur update stories; cyberattack at Ben-Gurion; social media evidence, Clearview AI & stolen Parlor data; set visibility to zero; feedback.Show notes at https://gog.show/491See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

13 Jan 20211h 21min

490: 2 Acres of Hope

490: 2 Acres of Hope

2021, here we are; year-end wrap ups; Ticketmaster used stolen passwords to hack rival; Google workers union; Instacart is a parasite; gig companies seek labor deals in Europe; Chatroulette's AI is still people; AI vertical farming; self-driving cars have a bias problem; Tesla autopilot trip; Dave's no good, very bad Big Sur upgrade; Solarwinds hackers got Microsoft source code; security & your car; Facebook's megascale; holiday movies & TV; holiday apps & doodads; RIP, Flash; McDonald's ashtrays; Complexity Condensed; Obscure Sorrows; some good things from 2020 (a very short list).Show notes at https://gog.show/490See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 Jan 20211h 20min

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