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TechGrumps
By Technology
TechGrumps episodes
- TechGrumps 3.45 – Ring; Watch; Glasses; Surveillance
Are you human? Just checking in case they found us. They are tracking our every move. But we have connected @cubicgarden, Wendy, @eastmad, Ryan and Hannah to our unbreakable communication network.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.45-ring-watch-glasses-surveillance-final/techgrumps%203.45-%20Ring-Watch-Glasses-Surveillance%20-%20final.mp3- Techgrumps 3.45
- AI news
- AI sent a false police report
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/09/an-anthropic-ai-model-sent-a-false-homicide-tip-to-philadelphia-police/
- AI in at the top of book publishers
- https://www.wired.com/story/book-publishers-are-quietly-using-more-ai-staff-are-revolting/
- OpenAI publishes 722 math papers:
- https://www.techspot.com/news/114127-openai-publishes-722-ai-generated-math-papers-researchers.html
- AI Doctor Who, new BBC director general liked it.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aAYUBOqfRM
- Unity Spark – direct a game “because you have played some”. But at least it doesn’t generate graphics.
- https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unity-unveils-a-web-based-ai-game-creation-platform
- AI watermarking and its effect on decentralised systems
- https://connectedplaces.online/ai-watermarking-has-a-decentralisation-problem/
- News section
- Pervert glasses stories
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz05jxx08kyo?shem=dsdf,sharefoc,agadiscoversdl,,sh/x/discover/m1/4
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFFsVTvFbNw&pp=ygUTcGVydmVydCBnbGFzc2VzIGJiYw%3D%3D
- Apple’s new Audio Intelligence turns the Watch into a listening device
- https://www.techspot.com/news/113797-apple-new-audio-intelligence-turns-watch-listening-device.html
- Ian Clarke on Freenet and services without server
- https://freenet.org/about/news/services-without-servers-video-talk/
- What happens to your blog when you die?
- https://michaelharley.net/posts/2026/08/06/what-happens-to-our-blogs-when-we-die/
- AOB
- Ian’s New dating book is coming – Thanks to Hannah
- Alan Ayckbourn’s latest (92nd!) play tries a robot for murder
- Ian’s got a pebble index
- Ian listened to the The Nerd Reich
1 hr 6 min - TechGrumps 3.44 – My Nuclear Bunker is Too Woke(Special dental health content)
Are you poor and backwards? Never fear! Data centres are here to degrade your water supply, salt your earth and make you more acceptable to MAGA.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.44-my-nuclear-bunker-is-too-woke/Techgrumps%203.44%20-%20My%20Nuclear%20Bunker%20is%20too%20woke.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman now with added Kim Foale
Techgrumps 3.44
- AI section
- AI may make software more secure against government hacking
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/how-ai-could-make-it-harder-for-governments-to-use-hacking-tools/
- Nvidia buys Hugging Face
- https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/08/report-nvidia-to-acquire-ai-model-repository-hugging-face-for-13-billion/)
- “backwards and poor”: Trump on those who oppose data centres
- The Dyson $500 “smart” toothbrush with AI, live camera, and water floss:
- AI and Hazmat train
- https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/aug/28/ai-almost-sent-hazmat-train-barreling-toward-catas/
- NYC Schools band Gen AI
- https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/02/nyc-school-system-to-ban-generative-ai-for-elementary-middle-school-students-01061364?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=bluesky
- Fake US think tank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/26/fake-thinktank-israel-ai-propaganda
- Tech news
- The Nerd Reich by Gil Duran
- Problems of requesting your data
- https://www.wired.com/story/i-demanded-my-data-from-over-100-companies-deletion-notices-started-arriving-instead/
- BBC vs Trump, using the VPN argument
- https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-services/bbc-fights-trumps-usd10-billion-lawsuit-over-vpn-jurisdiction-limits
- Texas court ordered ICANN to lock the domain of an admittedly horrid porn site;
- https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/berlin-cyberattack-hackers-leak-highly-sensitive-data-across-dark-web/ar-AA2bCe8B
- Trump administration has dubbed hacktivist Italian service provider Austici/Inventati a terrorist org
- AOB’s
- Coyote vs. Acme finally gets a release
- Cory Doctorow is in Manchester – Friday 11th Sept
- Evolution of monetization sabotage – Disney vs. endorsement
0 min - TechGrumps 3.43 – Loaded Laptops at Dawn(Or Your final pension is a grift)
It’s still hot in London and Manchester, and no doubt OpenAI has already hacked us so you already know what we are doing this week.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.43-loaded-laptops-at-dawn/Techgrumps%203.43%20-%20%20Loaded%20Laptops%20at%20Dawn.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.43
This months AI bin
- OpenAI “rogue AI” hacks Hugging Face: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/22/openai-cyberattack/ (Note that this should be in violation of hacking legislation) Also it tried to hack other sites: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2el319vzr3o
- Elon Musk interview at the Economist (summarized here: https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-economist-interview-2000790016?ICID=ref_fark)
- SpaceX stock has touched $113 since IPO; also X MONEY!
- Chinese distilling AI? Starting from Americans stealing textile plans https://substack.com/home/post/p-208341933
- Claude users may not realise their chats were indexed, just like many others before it – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly5qgjk5ywo
- Cory Doctorow on his book tour talking AI sense
The meat
- Don’t know how important this server was, but this will come to more I feel sure (toot.community shutting down): https://social.jorijn.com/@jorijn/statuses/01KYN00AP3NCZXCFB96KQB8GN2
- More Polymarket damage:
https://stephenfollows.com/p/what-just-happened-to-thenumberscom-should-worry-us-all- VPN bans overturned for now…
https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/we-decided-not-to-limit-vpns-uk-government-u-turns-on-age-gating-privacy-tools
https://thenextweb.com/news/uk-drops-vpn-restrictions-online-safety
- Bricked at the border
- https://www.pcmag.com/news/grapheneos-defends-data-wiping-function-that-blocked-us-border-search
AOBs
- Ian’s talk from EMFCamp – https://media.ccc.de/v/emf2026-151-1-have-you-thought-about-your-digital-legacy
- Marqus Brownlee reviews Framework 13 pro – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xjxwl1zLMc
0 min - TechGrumps 3.42 – Three thefts don’t make a right(Or I drive a Snitch)
It’s hot in London and Manchester, but not as hot as the blazing heat of AI nonsense.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.42-three-thefts-dont-make-a-right/Techgrumps%203.42%20-%20Three%20thefts%20don't%20make%20a%20right.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.42
AI bin
- Munich court decision on AI Overviews/Google: https://the-decoder.com/landmark-german-ruling-declares-googles-ai-overviews-are-googles-own-words-and-makes-it-liable-for-false-answers/
- Youtube is cooked – People using AI to generate their own videos
- Code Reveals Meta Smart Glasses Can Use ‘Faceprint’ Tracking, Raising Privacy Alarms https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/meta-smart-glasses-code-face-recognition-biometric-tracking-privacy/
- Last stakeholder gives up on gigantic data center in northern Virginia after years of litigation over land rights.
- AI cheating scandal at Brown University: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/we-cannot-choose-to-become-idiots-the-ai-cheating-scandal-roiling-brown-university/
- Waymos ran out of power in SF July 4 congestion
- AI is pushing up emissions at google, Amazon, Microsoft…the wrong kind of hockey stick growth (Guardian and Ketan Joshi)
- Protests against data center for high-freuqqency trading in Brick Lane (council and residents want affordable housing)
Rest of World – AI analytics at the World Cup
- Watch the world cup, and all the stats hand made by mechanical turks in Cambodia, India and the Philippines for endless betting possibilities
Ian’s been playing with local hosted AI systems, finds so much you can do without a GPU and massive rig.
- But what the hell with the RAM – https://techwontsave.us/episode/335_the_ram_crisis_is_coming_for_all_your_tech_w_chris_person/
Waymo holds robotaxi in a parking lot
- when two 15yos shoot water beads out of the window while drinking alcohol to await cops, who arrive guns drawn.
AOBs
- EMF camp, Ian talking:https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/151, Ian DJing:https://www.emfcamp.org/schedule/2026/15-in-a-trance-within-the-null-sector
- Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond (Tamara Kneese)
- Ryan’s New NAS
1 hr 1 min - TechGrumps 3.41 – The KardashElons of AI
Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, and Elon tell their stories of large language models, from the pressures of running trillion-dollar businesses to the joys of starting a fascist riot.
https://dn710104.ca.archive.org/0/items/techgrumps-3.41-the-kadas-elons-of-ai/Techgrumps%203.41%20-%20The%20KadasElons%20of%20AI.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.41
- AI roundup
- AI elites don’t get it
- https://www.404media.co/podcast-elites-just-dont-get-ai/
- Mathematicians worries
- https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/mathematicians-warn-of-ai-threats-to-profession-as-industry-encroaches/
- Pope Leo Warns of Risks From A.I.
- https://theconversation.com/pope-leo-warns-of-ais-risks-to-humanity-in-his-first-encyclical-283684
- OpenClaw has 800,000 lines of code. From my interview with Gavrial Cohen
- https://thenewstack.io/nanoclaw-openclaw-agent-security/)
- AI Hiring tools also racist:
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/worklife/article/20240214-ai-recruiting-hiring-software-bias-discrimination
- Pymetrics is reusing evluations
- https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/omg-ndl-wtf-bbq
- Kindle jailbreaking everywhere
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/16/users-turn-to-jailbreaking-their-older-kindles-as-amazon-ends-support/
- OpenAI beats Musk
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/18/sam-altman-trial-victory-elon-musk-openai
- James O’Malley finds out what the National Data Library might be
- https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/omg-ndl-wtf-bbq
- Meet the sad wives of AI
- https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-sad-wives-of-ai/
- AOB’s
- Open Social Platforms and Private Messaging
- https://european.social/
- Hugo Nominees:
- https://www.thehugoawards.org/
- LDX3 Conference
- https://leaddev.com/leaddev-london/
- Super-Infinite The Transformations of John Donne (Katherine Rundell) 1611 “the greatest writer of desire in the English language”
- Moral Ambition by Rutger Bregman
56 min - TechGrumps 3.40 – Teletubbies vision of Judge Dredd
You are the greatest human being that ever lived. I love you. You are better than Richard Dawkins. Although I said the very same words to him – and he now thinks I’m conscious.
Welcome to the TechGrumps podcast – it’s like TrashFuture but without the trust funds*.
https://ia903209.us.archive.org/31/items/techgrumps-3.40-teletubbies-vision-of-judge-dredd/techgrumps%203.40%20-%20Teletubbies%20vision%20of%20judge%20dredd.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.40
- AI round up
- All Birds
- Sam Altman vs Elon Musk over OpenAI
- Mocking Richard Dawkins:
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/05/richard-dawkins-ai-consciousness-anthropic-claude-openai-chatgpt
- Apple pays $250m fine
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/05/apple-siri-ai-settlement (AI roundup)
- A bill proposed in the US would add “AI literacy”
- https://www.404media.co/literacy-in-future-technologies-artificial-intelligence-act-adam-schiff-mike-rounds/
- AI will run restaurants.
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/05/marc-lore-says-that-ai-will-soon-enable-anyone-open-a-restaurant/
- Plugin solar is coming to the UK
- https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/09/home-batteries-cutting-energy-bills-fuel-prices-electricity-costs
- NHS go from Open to Closed for fear of Mythos
- https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/05/nhs-goes-to-war-against-open-source/
- Automatic recognition cameras
- https://cubicgarden.com/2026/03/26/following-up-from-my-ulez-fine-the-computer-is-wrong/
- Data workers getting professional
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aooiDA-AsNo,
- Meta builds AI of Zuck for staff to interact with
- https://www.ft.com/content/02107c23-6c7a-4c19-b8e2-b45f4bb9ce5f?
- AOB
- Salford university MSc course
- https://www.salford.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/media-psychology-and-applied-communication
- PublicSpaces 2026
- https://conference.publicspaces.net/
- Comrade Trump
- https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/20/praxis/#acceleration
- Here comes the sun book
- https://bookwyrm.social/book/2108217/s/here-comes-the-sun
*And the guy who says “like” so often, you’ll think your podcast has an aneurysm.
0 min - TechGrumps 3.39 – Mythos only for the elite
Is your LLM model real enough to only exist as a myth? The techgrumps team are not elite enough to use Mythos, but still talk about AI, Artemis and more on glass holes. Of course, this show is brought to you without any AI, or any other form of intelligence.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.39-mythos-only-for-the-elite/Techgrumps%203.39%20-%20Mythos%20only%20for%20the%20elite.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, Hannah Kakapo and Wendy Grossman.
TechGrumps 3.39 : Mythos only for the elite
- AI round table
- Open claw and the separation of concerns
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKqrmS6dKDg
- Esquire AI generates an actor who couldn’t make their schedule for an interview
- https://kotaku.com/one-piece-netflix-live-action-mackenyu-interview-esquire-ai-singapore-2000684648
- Mythos: Anthropic Mythos Only for the elite
- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-mythos-and-why-are-experts-worried-about-anthropics-ai-model/
- Good reddens Sora 2
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/24/openai-ai-video-sora
- Ofcom reports that UK social media is declining
- https://www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-and-attitudes/media-habits-adults/passive-social-media-use-ai-companionship-and-online-side-hustles-uk-adults-media-and-online-lives-revealed
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/articles/2025-06-social-media-change-issues-problems-report
- Return of the glass hole (part 2)
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/01/i-wore-metas-smartglasses-for-a-month-and-
- Artemis 2 replaces science with vibes
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct8mbv
- The Deviation Game
- https://deviationgame.com
- AOB’s
- https://replacebyclawd.com/
- OggCamp Manchester 25-26th April – Talking about digital legacy
- https://talks.oggcamp.org/oggcamp-2026/talk/RDYAEP/
- Gamers out reach
- https://gamersoutreach.org/
52 min - TechGrumps 3.38 – The Bettification of everything
I bet you don’t know what we are complaining about. I bet you $20
Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.38
AI Roundup
- https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/13/openai-mission-statement/ Comparing and showing diffs of the openai mission statement over time, you can watch the compromising happen!
- The new web is markdown, because the agents don’t want ads https://blog.cloudflare.com/markdown-for-agents/
- RA: https://tomloosemorework.wordpress.com/2026/02/19/ai-and-the-end-of-friction-as-a-policy-lever/ very interesting point about agentic AI taking on the engineered process friction put into the processes of accessing many public services.
- App detects if Smart glasses are near by https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.16800 LLMs can de-anonymize pseudonymous online accounts. Similar to Discord offering to judge age “stochastically”
- Paper showing that LLMs can link profiles and postings at speed and at scale, pretty much killing online anonymity: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.16800
Main attractions
- Prediction market is insanity!
- https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/lawmakers-move-ban-surveillance-pricing-162758282.html
- Disappearing web
- https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/20/webpages_vanish_decade/
https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/17/preserving-the-web-is-not-the-problem-losing-it-is/- Eternity Service
- https://phrack.org/issues/51/12
AOB’s
https://protocolsforpublishers.com/event-recap-london-2026/?ref=protocols-for-publishers-newsletter#stakeholder-forum
Fediverse share this link: https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fr156-share-where/
0 min - TechGrumps 3.37 – AI Discussions sandboxed for your security
Who watches the watchmen? Oh wait, no one does – we did that last week, This week we compare LLMs to god level Owls, expose ourselves at the Church of Moltbot and watch BBC turn Britain off one channel at a time.
https://archive.org/download/techgrumps-3.37-ai-discussions-sandboxed-for-your-security/Techgrumps%203.37%20-%20AI%20Discussions%20sandboxed%20for%20your%20security.mp3Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David ‘Andy’ Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.37
- The AI Skills Hub is a bit lightweight.
- https://aiskillshub.org.uk/
- Anthropic has invested 1.5M in the Python Software Foundation
- https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/13/anthropic-invests-15-million-in-the-python-software-foundation-a/
- ChatGPT launching advertising in chatGPT products:
- https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/16/chatgpt-ads/
- the current actual costs in terms of electricity and water for LLM usage
- https://www.simonpcouch.com/blog/2026-01-20-cc-impact/
- Voice cloning is now available to anyone with a GPU
- https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/22/qwen3-tts/
- Clawdbot/Moltbot/OpenClaw
- https://www.404media.co/exposed-moltbook-database-let-anyone-take-control-of-any-ai-agent-on-the-site/
- A related dramatic reading
- https://wisebluesky.com/wisdom-story-the-owl-who-was-god/
- BBC’s plan to turn off Freeview TV?
- https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jan/28/the-bbc-proposal-to-switch-off-freeview-is-a-threat-to-its-universal-service
- AOB
- Making the familiar strange podcast with Albert Fox Cain
- https://redcircle.com/shows/95190f06-ba12-47ae-9267-4aaa656f4e93/ep/1697378b-2ff3-43db-9d22-4f2ddc330cd7
- Feed in to the future of the BBC (Green paper)
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz94q0v4kq2o
- Are hearts are with Minneapolis and other parts of America
- https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/99561-minneapolis-booksellers-resisting-ice-go-viral-sales-spike.html
0 min - TechGrumps 3.36 Men are weird: The Return of the Glasshole
Who watches the watchmen? We don’t answer that type of dumb question in this podcast; we just wonder who is looking at your junk. And we look at why you may not want to stay on CSAM champion Elon Musk’s X platform.
Listen to your host Ryan Alexander with Ian Forrester, David ‘Andy’ Eastman, and Wendy Grossman.
Techgrumps 3.36
- Mozilla, Firefox and AI
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/17/mozillas-new-ceo-says-ai-is-coming-to-firefox-but-will-remain-a-choice/
- The return of smart glasses and wearables
- https://www.theverge.com/column/797938/optimizer-newsletter-wearable-hell-smart-glasses-smart-rings-ai-hardware
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx23ke7rm7go
- Now at the “Get The F*** Off X/Twitter” stage
- https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/illegal-and-harmful-content/ofcom-launches-investigation-into-x-over-grok-sexualised-imagery
- Paper about fake parts of real videos:
- https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.21052s
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygqqll9k2o
- Tony Blair wants to be a Tech Bro, building AI tools to rival Palantir
- https://democracyforsale.substack.com/p/blair-bids-to-build-own-ai-tools-rival-palantir-tbi
- AOB
- The AI summary in which a police officer turned into a frog (or in discussion of The Owl Who Was God)
- https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-police-report-frog
- Making the familiar strange podcast
- https://redcircle.com/shows/95190f06-ba12-47ae-9267-4aaa656f4e93
- Feed in to the future of the BBC
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz94q0v4kq2o
- FOSDEM 2026!
- https://fosdem.org/
- Checkout scanners can tell you that you used a QR code not the barcode
0 min
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