Steve and Ben discuss Taylor Swift’s new album The Tortured Poet’s Department and the reaction by the internet, the leaking of carbon and oxygen from Venus, Apple’s plan to open up the NFC chip on the iPhone to third party payment providers and banks, and the furore generated by MKBHD’s negative review of the Humane AI Pin.

Steve and Ben discuss how the recent solar eclipse led to a spike in Google searches on why people’s eyes were hurting. They also discuss the Jewel at Singapore Changi Airport, the fallout from the Kate Middleton photo controversy, late stage Simpsons episodes still packing a cultural punch, and Microsoft and Qualcomm promising new PCs on ARM chips that can rival Apple’s offerings.

Steve and Ben discuss the escalating controversy around the Kate Middleton family photo doctoring scandal, the threats from Facebook to walk away from news content deals in countries like Australia and Canada, how shooting video or film with a square aspect ratio is quite rare and difficult to accomplish well, and how certain cinemas are selling tickets to hot movies such as Dune Part Two with escalated pricing.

Steve and Ben discuss the cancellation of the Apple Car project, battery issues with the iPhone 14 series, as well as indulging in a rare upbeat discussion about recent pop culture movies and television with the recent or upcoming releases of Shogun, House of Ninjas, Dune Part Two, and Deadpool and Wolverine.

Steve and Ben delve further in to the latest developments in AI, including Google’s deal with Reddit to lift the latter’s search information for new data, Nvidia’s incredible boost in its valuation due to its AI chip future, and the arrival of Sora which promises to generate high quality usable videos simply from a text prompt. Steve and Ben also touch on the Intuitive Machines Odysseus lander and it successful landing on the Moon.

Steve and Ben discuss Sam Altman’s recent and extraordinary call for seven trillion dollars of investment in to further development of chips to power artificial intelligence. Steve and Ben also discuss a recent Delta Airlines flight that was turned back due to maggots being discovered in carry-on luggage, as well as recent circulating social media stories of Apple Vision Pros being returned by customers.

Steve and Ben discuss Disney’s latest announcements for their film and franchise slate for the next two years and how Disney needs to do a lot of work to regain the public’s faith in their ability to entertain. Steve and Ben also discuss the latest discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope around black hole and galaxy formation, as well as which arm you should get your covid vaccine shots in.

Steve and Ben discuss how being under financial stress can have significant health impacts on any one experiencing that stress. Steve and Ben also discuss the advantages of portable monitors, how great the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra appears to be both functionally and aesthetically, and the Apple Vision Pro finally being out in the wild and perhaps its limitations are now known.

Steve and Ben discuss how knowledge from ancient civilisations has been lost over time that humanity has subsequently re-learnt, referring to the recent story of a geometric miracle tunnel being discovered in Egypt. Steve and Ben also discuss how calorie restriction is still the key component of any diet including intermittent fasting, and they also discuss the upcoming release of the Apple Vision Pro and whether or not it actually provides any additional computing value to consumers in its current form.

Steve and Ben celebrate their 300th episode of SciTech Culture by discussing the current trend of many YouTube content creators announcing that they are quitting YouTube due to the toll it is taking on their lives. Steve and Ben all discuss the Japanese lunar lander and its power issues on landing on the Moon, as well as their take on TV series For All Mankind.