In this week’s FOLLOW UP, Bitcoin is down 15%, miners are unplugging rigs because paying eighty-seven grand to mine a sixty-grand coin finally failed the vibes check, and Grok is still digitally undressing men—suggesting Musk’s “safeguards” remain mostly theoretical, which didn’t help when X offices got raided in France. Spain wants to ban social media for kids under 16, Egypt is blocking Roblox outright, and governments everywhere are flailing at the algorithmic abyss.IN THE NEWS, Elon Musk is rolling xAI into SpaceX to birth a $1.25 trillion megacorp that wants to po...
In this week’s FOLLOW UP, Bitcoin is down 15%, miners are unplugging rigs because paying eighty-seven grand to mine a sixty-grand coin finally failed the vibes check, and Grok is still digitally undressing men—suggesting Musk’s “safeguards” remain mostly theoretical, which didn’t help when X offices got raided in France. Spain wants to ban social media for kids under 16, Egypt is blocking Roblox outright, and governments everywhere are flailing at the algorithmic abyss.
IN THE NEWS, Elon Musk is rolling xAI into SpaceX to birth a $1.25 trillion megacorp that wants to power AI from orbit with a million satellites, because space junk apparently wasn’t annoying enough. Amazon admits a “high volume” of CSAM showed up in its AI training data and blames third parties, Waymo bags a massive $16 billion to insist robotaxis are working, Pinterest reportedly fires staff who built a layoff-tracking tool, and Sam Altman gets extremely cranky about Claude’s Super Bowl ads hitting a little too close to home.
For MEDIA CANDY, we’ve got Shrinking, the Grammys, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’s questionable holographic future, Neil Young gifting his catalog to Greenland while snubbing Amazon, plus Is It Cake? Valentines and The Rip.
In APPS & DOODADS, we test Sennheiser earbuds, mess with Topaz Video, skip a deeply cursed Python script that checks LinkedIn for Epstein connections, and note that autonomous cars and drones will happily obey prompt injection via road signs—defeated by a Sharpie.
IN THE LIBRARY, there’s The Regicide Report, a brutal study finding early dementia signals in Terry Pratchett’s novels, Neil Gaiman denying allegations while announcing a new book, and THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE, vibing with The Muppet Show as Disney names a new CEO. We round it out with RentAHuman.ai dread relief via paper airplane databases, free Roller Coaster Tycoon, and Sir Ian McKellen on Colbert—still classy in the digital wasteland.
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Show notes at https://gog.show/732
FOLLOW UP
Bitcoin drops 15%, briefly breaking below $61,000 as sell-off intensifies, doubts about crypto grow
Bitcoin Is Crashing So Hard That Miners Are Unplugging Their Equipment
Grok, which maybe stopped undressing women without their consent, still undresses men
X offices raided in France as UK opens fresh investigation into Grok
Spain set to ban social media for children under 16
Egypt to block Roblox for all users
IN THE NEWS
Elon Musk Is Rolling xAI Into SpaceX—Creating the World’s Most Valuable Private Company
SpaceX wants to launch a constellation of a million satellites to power AI needs
A potential Starlink competitor just got FCC clearance to launch 4,000 satellites
Amazon discovered a 'high volume' of CSAM in its AI training data but isn't saying where it came from
Waymo raises massive $16 billion round at $126 billion valuation, plans expansion to 20+ cities
Pinterest Reportedly Fires Employees Who Built a Tool to Track Layoffs
Sam Altman got exceptionally testy over Claude Super Bowl ads
MEDIA CANDY
Shrinking
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
The Rip
Neil Young gifts Greenland free access to his music and withdraws it from Amazon over Trump
Is it Cake? Valentines
APPS & DOODADS
Sennheiser Consumer Audio IE 200 In-Ear Audiophile Headphones - TrueResponse Transducers for Neutral Sound, Impactful Bass, Detachable Braided Cable with Flexible Ear Hooks - Black
Sennheiser Consumer Audio CX 80S In-ear Headphones with In-line One-Button Smart Remote – Black
Topaz Video
Epstein
Autonomous cars, drones cheerfully obey prompt injection by road sign
AT THE LIBRARY
The Regicide Report (Laundry Files Book 14) by Charles Stross
Scientists Found an Early Signal of Dementia Hidden in Terry Pratchett's Novels
Neil Gaiman Denies the Allegations Against Him (Again) While Announcing a New Book
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
Dave Bittner
The CyberWire
Hacking Humans
Caveat
Control Loop
Only Malware in the Building
The Muppet Show
Disney announces Josh D’Amaro will be its new CEO after Iger departs
A Database of Paper Airplane Designs: Hours of Fun for Kids & Adults Alike
Online (free!) version of Roller Coaster tycoon.
Speaking of coasters, here’s the current world champion.
I am hoping this is satire...
Sir Ian McKellen on Colbert.
CLOSING SHOUT-OUTS
Catherine O’Hara: The Grande Dame of Off-Center Comedy
Standing with Sam 'Balloon Man' Martinez
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