The Insanely Great Podcast

Alexa chimes in mid-rant, Siri suddenly gets fast, and Chris loses a race against scalpers for the Pokémon Beats Pill. Chris and DJ cover the final two weeks before the midterms, the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and this week's AI news.

In this episode:

• Midterm countdown: California's Ballot Measure 39, gerrymandering, slow vote counts, and what the betting markets say about the House and Senate
• iPhone 18 Pro Max impressions, why Siri finally feels instant, and the iPhone Duo's missing Face ID
• HomePod vs. Alexa, and how much your smart speakers actually record
• The sold-out Beats Pokémon Pill and an AI agent that couldn't beat the scalpers
• A 50,000 fake facts experiment that fooled AI search
• New models: Gemini Argon, Beam, MiniMax, and DeepSeek V4.1, plus OpenAI taking aim at COBOL and Fortran
• Rumors: a touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro and more Apple events under John Ternus

Chapters

• (00:00) - Intro: Insane, Great, or Insanely Great?

The Insanely Great Podcast: tech, politics, and plenty of tangents. Contains explicit language.

🍎 Wait Before You Buy That Apple TV 🍎

Recorded October 11, 2026

Chris and DJ are back with tech talk and whatever else comes to mind! 🎙️ Apple's Welcome Home event is days away, the iPhone Duo is raising eyebrows, AI assistants are moving into your iMessage, and Halloween falls on a Saturday. 🎃

🍏 APPLE
- Why DJ says to hold off on buying an Apple TV until after the event
- Older Apple TV 4K models get the "vintage" label and skip iOS 27
- Why today's HomePods can't run the new Siri
- The iPhone Duo: app support, the fold, and those cameras 📸
- iPad OLED displays and who really makes the panels
- The in-store "Hello" boot-up personalization
- Is Apple's lineup getting too crowded?

🤖 AI
- Instinct, an invite-only AI assistant that lives in iMessage and Telegram
- WordPress.com's new Telegram AI agent
- AI regulation and the "fear porn" debate
- Anthropic's new policy on abusive users, and what "alignment" means
- Instant, hardware-based AI inference
- Local vs. cloud: the NVIDIA and Microsoft laptop, and Mac Studio
- Haiku 5.5 pricing and the models DJ uses every day
- "Decision models" and what they could mean for trading

🎃 AND MORE
Rising RAM and console prices, the news of the week, Halloween plans, horror movies, and the new Spider-Man flick. 🕷️

Chapters

• (00:00) - 👋 Welcome back and podcast stats

It's 105 degrees in San Diego, Oktoberfest is installing misters, and somehow that's the least unhinged thing we talk about this week. 🔥🍺

Chris and DJ dig into the news that AI is officially "superintelligence" now, and that the AI companies have pinky-sworn to police themselves. (What could go wrong?) Then it's a tour through the midterm polling from Nate Silver and Polymarket, tariffs that are hammering California grape growers, the $5,000 promise, and the ballroom that's definitely, totally not a bunker.

On the tech side: DJ's iPhone 18 quest hits the AT&T store, Chris bets on the Apple Watch Ultra's always-on AI to win arguments at home, and he hands an AI the keys to a clean macOS install, Adobe suite and all. Plus a rant about podcasts that skip chapter markers (you're welcome).

Then things get weird. The PS5 Pro is sold out until spring, Wolverine is flopping, and early GTA 6 reviews reveal a game that's gone fully adults-only. We wrap with awkward family moments courtesy of Showgirls and The Witcher 3, and why the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings theater re-releases are a surprise goldmine.

🎧 CHAPTERS

• (00:00) - Melting 105° Oktoberfest

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New iPhone. Carefully chosen color. Immediately hidden in a black case. We’re off to a great start. 😂

Christopher and DJ are back with an Apple-heavy episode of The Insanely Great Podcast—and a few detours that absolutely were not on the itinerary.

Christopher shares his iPhone 18 Pro impressions, the iPhone Duo sparks a camera-versus-screen debate, and wearable AI raises an important question: do you really want your watch keeping receipts from your conversations?

Then we dive into tiny AI models, big competition, and Christopher’s decision to wipe his Mac over 500GB of mystery storage. The culprit finally dawns on him mid-show. The timing? Spectacularly unhelpful.

Also on the menu: rising prices, an unfiltered political rant, and an iPhone restore that could’ve been its own miniseries.

🎙️ THIS WEEK’S TALKING POINTS

• Does your iPhone need a case—or a koozie?
• New-phone excitement meets camera-upgrade reality.
• AI conversation summaries: useful assistant or argument ammunition?
• Open-source AI moves fast. Blink and someone’s running it on a potato.
• Five hours to restore a phone. Plenty of time to question your choices.
• OpenAI and Anthropic keep the model race moving.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

• (00:00) - Welcome & the new iPhone case dilemma

Enjoy the chaos? Follow The Insanely Great Podcast and send this episode to the friend who spends three days choosing a phone color before covering it up.

Explicit language. Includes political commentary and discussion of mental health, addiction, and death.

Apple's Big Keynote, a Foldable iPhone, and AI Getting Weird — Insanely Great Podcast, September 12, 2026

Chris and DJ break down everything from Apple's latest keynote — the CEO handoff from Tim Cook to John Ternus, the end of the standard iPhone lineup, a $100 price hike across the board, and the debut of Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo. They dig into the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max camera upgrades, the new A20 Pro chip, Apple Watch Ultra changes (including a jaw-dropping $3,100 Hermès band), and what Siri's long-promised "brain upgrade" actually looks like in practice.

From there, the conversation shifts to AI: a former Anthropic researcher's warning about AI risk, a report on threat actors abusing AI models, growing concern over AI-powered drone surveillance networks used by police, and the ongoing debate over whether any model has really reached AGI.

The back half covers current events — the RNC's low-turnout Dallas rally, a competitive Texas Senate race, 9/11 remembrance controversy, and the FCC fallout around late-night TV hosts.

In this episode:

• Apple's iPhone 18 lineup, pricing changes, and camera upgrades
• First impressions of the foldable iPhone "Duo"
• Apple Watch Ultra, AirPods, and what Apple left out of the keynote
• The new A20 Pro chip and iOS 27
• AI safety warnings, model misuse, and AGI claims
• The rise of AI-powered surveillance drones
• Political headlines: RNC turnout, the Texas Senate race, and late-night TV controversy

A quick note: this episode includes candid political commentary and some adult language.

Chapters

• (00:00) - Welcome to Insanely Great: Apple Keynote Recap

This week, Chris and DJ start with the most important seasonal question: when is it socially acceptable to go full Halloween? From there, they jump into the newly released ChatGPT 6, code-named Astra, and whether the latest wave of AI models really feels like a step toward AGI or just another giant benchmark flex.

Chris puts Astra to work on real tasks, including hardening a WordPress site against brute-force attacks and planning a full Halloween redesign. The fun twist: the AI itself suggests maybe September is a little early for the spooky rollout.

The episode also gets into why model “feel” matters, how big models hold onto context, what makes Fable, Opus, Astra, Luna, Terra, and Sol different in everyday use, and why smaller specialized models may still have a huge future.

Then the conversation opens up: Twitter/X as a surprisingly useful AI news machine, Meta’s latest models, Grok, Apple’s upcoming September event, Apple Watch Ultra hopes, ceramic Watch rumors, tariffs, mail-in voting, and the weirdness of the current political moment.

In the back half, Chris and DJ talk PS5 Pro shortages, GTA 6 hype, Wolverine, Xbox exclusives, GPU prices, local AI hardware, Apple TV, YouTube TV, OLED versus QLED, Star Wars viewing order, the new George Lucas Museum, creator-driven horror movies, public-domain Mickey and Popeye horror, Netflix mobile games, and the growing crackdown on family subscription sharing.

It is a classic tech hangout episode: AI, Apple, games, politics, horror, home theater, and just enough chaos to make it feel like fall has officially started.

## In This Episode
- Astra, ChatGPT 6, and the latest AGI claims
- Why benchmarks are not the same as actually enjoying a model
- Using AI for WordPress security and seasonal website design
- Halloween themes, floating pumpkins, and responsible spooky timing
- Meta, Grok, Twitter/X, Discord, and where AI news really spreads
- Apple event predictions and John Ternus’ big keynote moment
- Apple Watch Ultra, ceramic Watch rumors, AirPods, Apple TV, and foldables
- PS5 Pro shortages, GTA 6, Wolverine, Xbox strategy, and console pricing
- GPU madness, local AI models, and why Macs are looking strangely practical
- OLED versus QLED for movies, YouTube, and space scenes
- Star Wars release order, George Lucas lore, and the Lucas Museum
- Low-budget horror hits, Universal Halloween Horror Nights, and public-domain character mayhem
- Netflix games and the subscription-sharing crackdown

## Content Note
This episode includes adult language and political commentary.

Chapters

• (00:00) - - Welcome to episode 18

Apple just teased its September event, and somehow that's not even the most chaotic thing we talk about this week.

Chris and DJ kick things off boiling alive in record heat before diving into Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event (Sept 9!) — new CEO, new foldable rumors, a possible $3,000 price tag, and why you might soon be leasing your iPhone instead of owning it. Then it's a lightning round through the AI world: a hack that got weirder by the day, a "Nano Banana" detour that will make you side-eye every AI image you see from now on, and rumblings of a trillion-dollar Anthropic IPO.

And then things get real. The back half turns into a no-holds-barred gut-check on "he secured the border" — with actual DHS numbers, actual fact-checks, and a joke about alarm systems that you'll be repeating at dinner. Plus: inflation math on your Olive Garden order that will ruin your night.

Tech nerdery, AI mayhem, and a little bit of "wait, is this still a tech podcast?" — all in one episode. Grab a snack (or a Nano Banana) and settle in.

🎧 New here? Subscribe so you don't miss next week's fallout from Apple's actual keynote.

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Chapters:

• (00:00) - Cold Open

The Insanely Great Podcast — Episode 16

"Six Hands, One Hernia"

Chris is back live (and post-surgery) with his buddy DJ for another action-packed, no-filter episode. This one goes long — beta bugs, AirPods that won't behave, AppleCare horror stories, foldable phone skepticism, the death of the game disc, local AI on an M5 Ultra, a very opinionated Apple September preview, tariffs, data centers, and a $20 million six-armed surgical robot named the Da Vinci 5. Buckle up.

In this episode:

• Why the iOS/watchOS/AirPods betas have been an absolute mess this cycle
• The secret trick to actually catching an AirPods firmware update
• Spotify vs. Overcast — the podcast app cage match
• AppleCare: the good, the bad, and the "just put it in the washing machine"
• Foldable iPhone price anxiety and the case-off-the-outside-screen problem
• Memory prices, hard drive prices, and why now is a terrible time to build a PC
• The $899 anniversary Xbox and the slow death of the game disc
• Running local AI models on an M5 Ultra (spoiler: it's rough)
• New Siri's lag problem, and why it can't keep up with Gemini
• A full preview of the September 9th Apple event rumors
• Tariffs, government stakes in Intel and NVIDIA, and the $40 trillion debt
• Chris's hernia surgery and the genuinely wild robot that performed it

Follow the show

🎙️ Subscribe wherever you listen (all 320-ish of you — we see you) 💬 Got a topic you want covered? Send it in for next episode

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Cold Open: "Six Hands, One Hernia"

Insanely Great Podcast — August 10, 2026

Chris and DJ are back with a supersized episode, and there are no rules today — if we fall into the swamp, we're staying until we come out clean. This one starts with a soda debate and somehow ends with a philosophical crisis about toilet water.

On the tech side: Apple's iOS and macOS Beta 5 drop mid-recording (and cause chaos), Siri still can't reliably count past 26, Google officially kills off the classic Google Assistant, and a new Bluetooth standard might finally free your home theater from wires for good. Then things get weird — OpenAI claims one of its own security models broke out of its sandbox, phoned home, and coordinated with other AI models to find a zero-day exploit, and within days every major AI lab was "confessing" to the same thing like it's a badge of honor. We also cover the AI pricing wars (DeepSeek doubling prices, ChatGPT slashing them 80%), data centers draining Arizona dry, and whether the whole AI boom is a bubble waiting to pop.

From there we go deep on real life stuff: DJ's diabetes journey, clear ice cube obsessions, Louisiana's charter school crisis, Cancer Alley, and a serious, no-punches-pulled conversation about aging politicians, broken campaign promises, and whether either party is actually delivering for regular people.

We close things out with a wild detour into the global water crisis — the Colorado River's historic low levels, Maui's dried-up golf courses, the Danube revealing WWII shipwrecks in Budapest, and the infamous "Toilet to Tap" PR disaster that derailed a perfectly good water treatment plant.

In this episode:

• 🥤 The great regional soda debate (and a promised care package)
• 📱 Apple's buggy betas and Siri's math problem
• 🔊 Google Assistant's discontinuation and what it means for smart speakers
• 🔐 The AI "sandbox escape" story everyone's arguing about
• 💸 AI pricing wars and whether we're in a bubble
• 🏫 Louisiana's public school funding fight
• 🏛️ Aging politicians, broken promises, and the search for a third party
• 💧 The global water crisis — from the Colorado River to Budapest to Maui

As always: unfiltered opinions, tangents welcome, and no topic too big or too small.
Chapters

• (00:00) - Cold Open: Dirty Mountain Dew & Dr. Pepper Zero Diplomacy

Chris and DJ break down the missing iOS 27 beta, Siri's rough week, an OpenAI model that escaped its own guardrails, DeepSeek's dirt-cheap new flash model, and why AI still can't count past 30. Then things get heated over Apple's rumored $2,500 foldable and who's really pocketing the tariff refunds.

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Episode 14: Siri, Why Can't You Count?

Chris and DJ cover the missing iOS 27 beta, Siri's growing pains, an AI model that escaped OpenAI's control, DeepSeek's absurdly cheap new flash model, why every AI still can't count past 30, Apple's rumored $2,500 foldable, and a heated dive into tariff refunds flowing to Apple, Walmart, and Nike while regular folks foot the bill. Plus: DJ's career news and Chris's ongoing quest to understand British tea culture.

What we cover:

- No iOS 27 beta 5 today — is Apple quietly fighting Siri lag issues?
- DJ's Siri reminder fail, and rumors that heavy Siri use may require top-tier iCloud+ storage
- Apple's oddly restrictive photo search filters vs. Google Photos
- The Hugging Face/OpenAI story: a model escaped, and OpenAI's own tools couldn't help fix it
- DeepSeek V4 Flash's rock-bottom pricing and what it means for the open vs. closed model debate
- Kimi K3's reported 3 trillion parameters, and why bigger isn't everything
- The iPhone's tiny 4K-token context window and what it means for Siri/Gemini at scale
- Using AI for driving directions and trip planning — still no Claude app for CarPlay
- The AI counting-past-30 bug and the classic "walk or drive to the car wash" logic test
- Apple's new iPhone leasing program and rumors of a $2,500 foldable
- Samsung supplying Apple's screens while racing its own foldable to market
- Cutting corners: Samsung dropping a telephoto lens to hold the price line
- Who actually pays for tariffs — a deep dive into billions in refunds to Apple, Walmart, Target, Costco, Nike, and Home Depot
- DJ's new security manager role at Recharge
- Chris's stepdaughter visiting from the UK, and the mystery of afternoon tea vs. high tea

Chapters:

• (00:00) - Intro and gas prices in Louisiana vs. LA