Grumpy Old Geeks

769: Mommie Dearest Maxxing

October 29, 2026·1h 3m
Episode Description from the Publisher

Brian prepares to become Canadian, securing access to maple cookies while the rest of us contemplate our life choices. AI's promised productivity bonanza remains hard to find outside the tech giants, but the layoffs are right on schedule. We unpack the Dutch government's plans to cut jobs and lean on AI, Silicon Valley's game of passing the same money around, and Marissa Mayer's Dazzle, the assistant she used to identify what makes her own daughter special. Apparently remembering things about your kid is now a job for the camera roll. Welcome to Mommie Dearest Maxxing.Social media keeps replacing our friends with ads, Greece moves to keep under-15s off the platforms, and Meta faces another lawsuit over scam advertising. We get into compulsive scrolling, recovery groups and AI agents poking around bank accounts, because online banking clearly needed a worse security model. Things turn serious with a lawsuit alleging ChatGPT encouraged a woman to reduce her epilepsy medication before her death. Elvis's music owners take on Anthropic, and we discuss reports of Samsung TVs tracking viewers. Your appliances have taken an interest in you, and it isn't affection.Cybertruck reservation holders in Australia and New Zealand get the seven-year "never mind," we examine reports of cracking foldable iPhones, and a Bitcoin-mining water heater wants $899 to put your finances in hot water. Airbnb finally questions making paying guests do the laundry. Jason plugs Trackalot 2.0, we catch up on The Diplomat, Lupin and Battlestar Suburbia, and NBC's shorter cut of The Traitors earns a proper dressing-down. Jason has thoughts, and none of them are suitable for broadcast.Sponsors:HIMS - Visit Hims.com/gog to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.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/769Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/VcEgXmummZkSHOW NOTESAI delivers ‘zero financial payoff’ to most companies, Apollo economist saysDutch government to cut 16 percent of workforce as part of AI efficiency pushGreece enacts social media ban for kids under 15We’re addicted to social media. How do we get sober?Rhode Island sues Meta over its approach to scam adsUnauthorized AI agents are reportedly already accessing US bank accountsBank of America kindly asks that you don't share your banking password with your AI assistantElvis Presley's estate is suing Anthropic over copyright infringement<a href="https://gizmodo.com/former-yahoo-ceo-needed-ai-to-help-describe-what-makes-her-own-daughter-special-2000830868

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