Chris and Matt discuss how age discrimination is still baked into many hiring and promotion decisions, especially in tech, even as demographic and performance data increasingly show older workers as critical to stability and knowledge transfer. At the same time, the “modern digital workplace” is creaking under the weight of unreliable, unpatched endpoints and a rush of unmanaged AI tools that sit on top of fragile basics. And in Detroit, Ford has quietly admitted that its AI-driven quality systems couldn’t replace decades of tacit know‑how, rehiring 350 experienced engineers to catch problems and mentor juniors. Episode 281 asks what it really means to put “humans in the loop” when your systems, your culture, and your org charts don’t fully respect the humans you already have. Let us know your Thoughts by sending feedback to [email protected]   See you on the 1 not the 0!

Chris & Matt connect three big anxieties about the future of work and learning: students who struggle to read long‑form texts, communities racing to save endangered languages with iPads and Macs, and an AI data center boom colliding with a massive shortage of skilled workers. We zoom out to ask what happens when literacy, culture, and infrastructure all hit their limits at the same time.   We want to hear from you!  Please send feedback to [email protected]   See you on the Digital Flipside!

Chris and Matt talk about the first Episode of the new Season of Start Trek: Strange New Worlds!   Please send feedback to [email protected]   May you Live Long and Prosper on the Digital Flip-Side!

Chris and Matt dive into how automation and algorithms are quietly reshaping daily life: police misusing Flock’s license‑plate surveillance to stalk people, AI tools allegedly helping gas stations nudge prices higher, and seed patents tightening control over the food system. We also look at the UK’s push for “trusted” news ranking, the fragility of old‑school checks in the era of mail theft, and why more than half of Americans say they’ve basically stopped posting on social media. Along the way, we pull the threads together into a bigger story about power: who gets to watch, who gets to charge, who gets to speak, and who gets left exposed.   Please send Feedback to [email protected] See you on the Digital Flip-Side!

Chris and Matt cover everything going on in the space industry (and man is there a lot going on)! Spring and early summer 2026 have been rough, chaotic, and genuinely wild for the space industry. Here's the condensed version. Starship goes big, then goes public. SpaceX's redesigned Starship V3 completed a full wet dress rehearsal and then launched for the first time on May 22, deploying 22 mock Starlink satellites despite losing an engine mid-ascent. Weeks later SpaceX itself went public in a roughly $75 billion IPO, one of the largest in recent memory, while simultaneously unveiling an 11-million-square-foot "Gigasat" factory for orbital AI data centers and floating plans for a Starlink-branded mobile phone service. Blue Origin's terrible, horrible, no-good stretch. A successful New Glenn booster reuse in April was undercut by a stranded satellite, then a static-fire explosion in May leveled the company's only launch pad. CEO Dave Limp is now considering Blue Origin's first outside funding round in 25 years, even as NASA publicly backs the company while quietly weighing backup lunar lander options. NASA presses ahead on the Moon. A three-phase lunar base plan is moving forward with contracts to Blue Origin, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost, and Firefly Aerospace, and NASA named its Artemis III crew (Bresnik, Parmitano, Rubio, Douglas). Blue Origin's launch pad explosion happened one month after that crew announcement — a reminder of how shaky the hardware timeline still is. Separately, NASA's Isaacman said he expects a Chinese crewed lunar flyby in 2027. Aging hardware keeps causing headaches. The ISS's Russian segment leak got bad enough in June that astronauts sheltered in a docked Dragon; Russia has now agreed to permanently seal off the affected module. The Lunar Gateway turned up corroded before it even launched. And a NASA Inspector General audit found Boeing's Starliner is now a full decade behind its original schedule, with NASA unsure it will ever be certified for routine crew flights. Consolidation and new bets. Rocket Lab agreed to acquire satellite operator Iridium for about $8 billion, instantly becoming a launch-plus-services company. SpaceX is building its own natural gas pipeline ("Starpipe") to feed Starship's fuel needs. Smaller stories worth a mention: Blue Origin demoed a reactor pulling breathable oxygen from lunar dust; JPL broke the sound barrier with Mars helicopter rotor blades; NASA's X-59 flew supersonic without a sonic boom, and the FAA is proposing to lift the 1973 ban on overland supersonic flight. Send feedback to: [email protected]   See you on the digital flip side!

Chris and Matt talk of the things going on in the Entertainment arena! May and June 2026 brought box office surprises, streaming mega-mergers, and a couple of franchise casualties. Star Wars stumbles, then gets outdone by YouTubers. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened stronger than expected at $82 million domestic, but still ranks among the weakest live-action Star Wars debuts ever — though its smaller $165 million budget softens that blow. The bigger story came a week later: the film dropped a brutal 70% in its second weekend, landing in third place behind two ultra-low-budget horror hits directed by YouTubers in their 20s (Backrooms and Obsession). Disney's reset attempt, Star Wars: Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling, is locked for May 2027. Media mega-mergers keep landing. The DOJ approved Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery with no conditions attached, merging HBO Max into Paramount+ for a roughly 200-million-subscriber service — though state AG lawsuits could still complicate things, and Paramount has accused Netflix of running a "scorched-earth campaign" to sink the deal. Separately, Fox announced a $22 billion buyout of Roku, folding in Tubi and pairing its networks with Roku's platform and data reach — a move existing Roku owners are none too happy about. Streaming regulation heats up. Canada's CRTC tripled the required Canadian-content spending for Netflix, Apple, and Amazon, from 5% to 15% of Canadian revenue, while lowering traditional broadcasters' requirement to 25%. Meanwhile, a fully AI-generated streaming channel, Artlist TV, launched June 1 to open hostility from filmmakers and viewers alike. Franchise shake-ups. Amazon quietly killed its in-development Stargate series despite an official season order, reportedly over fears it would only appeal to longtime fans. Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies has left the show again, alongside Bad Wolf, leaving the BBC without a Christmas Special this year and the franchise "out to tender." On a happier note, Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch got a season 2 renewal before season 1 even finished, after becoming Paramount+'s biggest series launch ever. Reviews were mixed to rough. Toy Story 5 drew praise for finally giving Jessie the spotlight but was knocked as a nostalgia-heavy retread. Supergirl fared worse, criticized for its script and murky VFX, with Jason Momoa's Lobo the one performance critics agreed on. Human interest: Ted Lasso's Cristo Fernández (Dani Rojas) signed a real professional soccer contract with El Paso Locomotive FC. And a New Mexico jury awarded $13 million to the family of Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols over hospital negligence in her 2022 death. Send feedback to [email protected] See you on the Digital Flipside!

Chris and Matt discuss the Cult of Coscto, what kicked off the upgrade of PC hardware, GM laying off workers, and more. We want to hear from our listeners!  Please send feedback to: [email protected] See you on the digital flip side! The Cult of Costco: https://slashdot.org/story/26/01/01/1752221/the-cult-of-costco?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed Windows 11, Not AI, Kick-Started the PC Upgrade Cycle: Windows 10's end-of-support deadline, not AI PCs, drove the 2026 refresh wave. URL: https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/20/windows_11_pc_refresh/ GM Cutting Hundreds of Salaried IT Workers: GM cuts 500–600 IT jobs while opening 82 AI/autonomy roles — reallocation, not retreat. URL: https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/05/11/1839238/gm-cutting-hundreds-of-salaried-it-workers-as-it-trims-costs-evaluates-needs?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed Remote Work, Not AI, Is Sidelining Recent College Graduates: NY Fed research links remote work — not AI — to a spike in young-grad unemployment. URL: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/06/01/2151248/remote-work-not-ai-has-sidelined-recent-college-graduates-research-finds?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed US Consumers and Businesses Pay 90% of Tariff Costs, Says Federal Reserve: NY Fed data shows Americans, not foreign exporters, absorbed nearly 90% of 2025's tariff costs. URL: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/us-consumers-business-pay-90-of-tariff-costs-says-federal-reserve/

In this week’s transport-tech roundup, Chris and Matt discuss a sector under pressure from regulation, economics, and real-world safety debates. On the EV side, the UK is moving toward a mileage-based tax, Ford is trimming its EV ambitions, and new U.S. rules are forcing automakers to strip out some Chinese software dependencies. Autonomous vehicle headlines are also getting sharper: Waymo is back in the spotlight after a dog collision in San Francisco, raising familiar questions about accountability and whether robotaxis should be judged by a higher standard than human drivers. Meanwhile, the more speculative end of transportation continues to attract attention, with new hyperloop efforts in Europe despite persistent skepticism about cost, capacity, and practicality. We want to hear from you!  Please send feedback to [email protected] See you on the Digital Flip-Side!

Chris and Matt explore how ordinary tools—browsers, smart speakers, cameras, police gadgets, and even robotaxis—have quietly turned into powerful surveillance and attack platforms. They look at data exfiltration via simple copy‑paste, police use and abuse of AI-powered systems like Flock license plate readers, security disasters in both consumer and government tech, and the growing backlash against invasive tracking. The line between “helpful tech” and “creepy, dangerous infrastructure” is getting thinner, and our security and consent models are not keeping up. Please send feedback to [email protected] See you on the Digital Flip-Side!

In this episode, Chris and Matt explore four stories that show what happens when AI, automation, and gadgets step off our screens and into the physical world. First, we look at a live demo where security researchers hijacked a commercially available humanoid robot using nothing but spoken commands, then used short‑range wireless to spread the exploit to an offline robot—turning embodied AI into a potential physical weapon.   Next, we head to Japan, where Ishinomaki City is deploying Terra Drone–built “bear‑repellent spray drones” to deal with record numbers of human‑bear encounters, injuries, and deaths, using capsaicin spray as a non‑lethal deterrent from up to a kilometer away.   Back at the dinner table, pasta sauce brand Prego and nonprofit StoryCorps have created the “Connection Keeper,” a $20, puck‑shaped, screen‑free recorder meant to get phones off the table and preserve family conversations, with an option to archive them via StoryCorps and even the Library of Congress.   Finally, we discuss de‑extinction company Colossal’s claim that it has hatched 26 live chicks from artificial eggshells—3D‑printed honeycomb containers with silicone membranes—positioning the technology as a step toward bringing back extinct birds like the dodo and giant moa.   Together, these stories raise big questions about safety, surveillance, conservation, and what counts as “humane” technology in a world where bits are increasingly attached to atoms. Links discussed: “Researchers Show Some Robots Can Be Hijacked Just Through Spoken Commands” (Slashdot / Interesting Engineering, DARKNAVY demo) “Japanese city deploys anti-bear drones as ‘human casualties at an all-time high’” (Terra Drone coverage and news reports) “Has the smartphone hijacked your dinner table? StoryCorps and Prego made this gadget to rescue your dinner convos” (TechRadar and Prego materials) “Chickens without eggs? De-extinction company creates artificial egg.” (Ars Technica, Colossal Biosciences) See you on the Digital Flip-side!