701: Dancing in the Streets — Grumpy Old Geeks

This week, we light a candle for lost legends and torch a few bad takes. In Follow Up, Molly White reminds us that giving a damn still matters—despite the rising tide of apathy (and flaming robotaxis in downtown L.A.). Protesters across the country chant “No Kings!” while Elon does his best impression of a bootlicker groveling back to Trump. Meanwhile, we take a moment to reflect on 2025’s greatest hits: riots, rollbacks, and rampant idiocy.

In the news, Uber decides buses are cool again—but shittier and more expensive. The UK jumps into the robotaxi game while Tesla, shockingly, misses another launch date. French Tesla fans are suing over the brand’s fashy vibes, Google is ghosting employees via buyout, and Meta’s trying to buy its way to artificial godhood. Oh, and Trump’s launching an AI chatbot. What could go wrong? Elsewhere, China turns off AI so kids can cheat the old-fashioned way, Disney and Universal are gunning for Midjourney, and Shopify goes stablecoin with Coinbase and Stripe.

Media Candy’s popping off: Foundation returns, Strange New Worlds prepares for its final warp, and Spaceballs is back—with the original cast! Meanwhile, we review Mythfits, Princess of Power, and the slow striptease that is David Zaslav’s credibility. On the gadget front: forget your canned air—go full vacuum-blower-keyboard-cleaner madness. And in The Dark Side with Dave, stormtroopers vlog, AI kills joy, and we race the beam in retro game land. Finally, we say goodbye to a few greats—Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Ananda Lewis, Douglas McCarthy, and Apple legend Bill Atkinson. Play God Only Knows, pour one out, and stay grumpy.

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Show notes at https://gog.show/701

FOLLOW UP

It matters. I care. by Molly White

Waymo Halts Service in Downtown Los Angeles After Its Taxis Are Set on Fire

What to know about 'No Kings' protests against Trump's policies

What It Was Like in the Shit in 2025

Elon Cuck Apologizes to Donald Trump

IN THE NEWS

Uber’s New Shuttle Is Basically a Bus, but Worse

The UK will get its first robotaxis next year