635: Optical Vortex

02/10/24 • 83 min

1 Listener

Science should be taken seriously; Read Write Own; layoffs at Snap, Microsoft, Grammarly & Warner Music Group; Americans going back into credit card debt; Amazon new AWS charge; Google's confusing Gemini AI plans; AI robocalls outlawed; META's confusing AI approach & continued useless Oversight Board; Moviepass shenanigans; Taylor Swift's private jet tracked; Optical Vortex to correct vision; Poor Things; Leave the World Behind; Moana 2; Apple Vision Pro reviews; Bluesky open to everyone; Slack is 10; Jason gets new gadgets; the 4 S's with Dave; smart toothbrush DDoS attack, smug superiority & journalism versus curators.

Sponsors:

Mood - For 20% off your order and a FREE THCa pre-roll, go to hellomood.com and use promo code GOG.

1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password

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.

Show notes at https://gog.show/635/

FOLLOW UP

Review: Chris Dixon's Read Write Own by Molly White

How Tech Firms Made a Crypto-Boosting Book an NYT Best Seller by Gaming the System

IN THE NEWS

Snap is laying off 10 percent of its workforce

Microsoft’s gaming layoffs include 86 jobs at Skylanders studio Toys for Bob

Grammarly lays off 230 employees as part of a ‘business restructuring’

Warner Music Group Plans to Lay Off 600 Employees

Graphics show how Americans' total credit card debt reached record high

Amazon’s new AWS charge for using IPv4 is expected to rake in up to $1B per year — change should speed IPv6 adoption

Google launches Gemini Advanced to compete with OpenAI

Get Gemini Advanced and more with a Google One AI Premium plan

Google saves your conversations with Gemini for years by default

AI Tools Like GitHub Copilot Are Rewiring Coders’ Brains. Yours May Be Next

Phony AI Biden robocalls reached up to 25,000 voters, says New Hampshire AG

AI-generated voices in robocalls can deceive voters. The FCC just made them illegal.

Axact sells fake diplomas and degrees. What could go ...

Sponsors:

Mood - For 20% off your order and a FREE THCa pre-roll, go to hellomood.com and use promo code GOG.

1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password

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.

Show notes at https://gog.show/635/

FOLLOW UP

Review: Chris Dixon's Read Write Own by Molly White

How Tech Firms Made a Crypto-Boosting Book an NYT Best Seller by Gaming the System

IN THE NEWS

Snap is laying off 10 percent of its workforce

Microsoft’s gaming layoffs include 86 jobs at Skylanders studio Toys for Bob

Grammarly lays off 230 employees as part of a ‘business restructuring’

Warner Music Group Plans to Lay Off 600 Employees

Graphics show how Americans' total credit card debt reached record high

Amazon’s new AWS charge for using IPv4 is expected to rake in up to $1B per year — change should speed IPv6 adoption

Google launches Gemini Advanced to compete with OpenAI

Get Gemini Advanced and more with a Google One AI Premium plan

Google saves your conversations with Gemini for years by default

AI Tools Like GitHub Copilot Are Rewiring Coders’ Brains. Yours May Be Next

Phony AI Biden robocalls reached up to 25,000 voters, says New Hampshire AG

AI-generated voices in robocalls can deceive voters. The FCC just made them illegal.

Axact sells fake diplomas and degrees. What could go ...

Previous Episode

634: How the Sausage is Sequenced

AI Carlin was people; FTX not coming back; Neuralink implants a human; Yaccarino invents a new company; Senate hearing on online child exploitation; Universal pulls its music from TikTok; music piracy is back; Comcast forced to drop misleading 10G Network claim; 23andMe almost worthless now; FCC takes on AI-generated robocalls; Musk's bad week, Tesla sued, Musk loses case, voted most overrated CEO, SpaceX sued; Monarch: Legacy of Monsters; Eugene Levy; SiriusXM vastly overpays for SmartLess; Hulu cracks down on password sharing; Masters of the Air; Monsieur Spade; Star Trek ghost sex; Apple Vision Pro; Snap drone fireballs; AI & blockchain bullcrap; This Book May Save Your Life; Daily Laws & Daily Stoic.

Sponsors:

Mood - For 20% off your order and a FREE THCa pre-roll, go to hellomood.com and use promo code GOG.

1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password

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.

Show notes at https://gog.show/634/

FOLLOW UP

That AI-generated George Carlin comedy special was written by humans

Study finds that once people use cargo bikes, they like their cars much less

IN THE NEWS

Thank God FTX Won't Be Coming Back

Elon Musk Says Neuralink Has Implanted Its Chip in a Human for the First Time

X CEO Linda Yaccarino claims company has 90M US users, less than 1% are teens

Senate tells social media CEOs they have ‘blood on their hands

Universal Music Group Warns It Will Pull Songs From TikTok After Deal Expiration

TikTok Is Thrown Into Disarray As Music From Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande Disappears

Music Piracy Is Back in a Big Way—Especially From YouTube

Comcast reluctantly agrees to stop its misleading “10G Network” claims

23ANDME HAS LOST BILLIONS, ALMOST WORTHLESS NOW

FCC moves to outlaw AI-generated robocalls

iRobot and Amazon call it quits, terminate acquisition agreement

Tesla sued by 25 California counties for allegedly mishandling hazardous waste

HEAVY METAL DRUMMER COST ELON MUSK $55.8 BILLION

<...

Next Episode

636: Verified Terrorists

1 Recommendations

Layoffs at Paramount, Instacart & Mozilla; Musk must testify in SEC investigation of Twitter takeover; Tesla driver not sure if he killed pedestrians because he was on autopilot; crowd burns Waymo car; 23andMe selling DNA data; Amazon Prime Video pulls Dolby Vision, Atmos on ad-supported plan; queer.af shut down by Taliban; X blue checks sold to literal terrorists; Past Lives; We Are the World; Jacqueline Novak; Somebody Feed Feel; Star Trek Disco; Downtown Abbey; AMC fined for 1988 law; Apple Cash to offer virtual cards; AI news round up; don't get an AI girlfriend; thought crimes; Sora & floating feet; Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey; the Bad Batch; cybercriminals stealing iOS users' face scans... are they, though?

Sponsors:

Mood - For 20% off your order and a FREE THCa pre-roll, go to hellomood.com and use promo code GOG.

1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1password

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.

Show notes at https://gog.show/636

FOLLOW UP

Axact sells fake diplomas and degrees. What could go wrong with this business plan?

Found a cool easter egg on the Ookla speedtest app

IN THE NEWS

Just to keep the pink slips chat going.. Paramount doing some work.

Paramount lays off 800 workers in cost-cutting bid: 'This is the right decision'

Instacart lays off 250 employees, or 7% of its workforce, to 'reshape' company

Mozilla is laying off around 60 workers

Court orders Elon Musk to testify in the SEC’s investigation of his Twitter takeover

Tesla Driver Says He's Not Sure If He Killed a Pedestrian Because He Was on Autopilot

Crowd Sets Waymo Self-Driving Car on Fire: ‘They Couldn’t Even Recognize the Vehicle’