Ep. 502: Can we stop AI Slop? Second Attempt

Notnerd Podcast: Tech Better

AI is amazing, and it continues to improve every day. However, with that, there are many people who create content solely for the sake of creating content and attempt to game the system. YouTube and Facebook are looking to rein that in. Additionally, we have a lot of tech news to catch up on after our unusual 500th episode and then drastically short episode 501.

Watch on YouTube! - Notnerd.com and Notpicks.com

INTRO (00:00)

The ep. 501 incident - Portable car jump starter (03:25)

4 new subscribers! (07:15)

Alaska Airlines resumes - after IT outage (08:25)

MAIN TOPIC: Can we stop AI Slop? (10:30)

YouTube prepares crackdown on ‘mass-produced’ and ‘repetitive’ videos, as concern over AI slop grows

Following YouTube, Meta announces crackdown on ‘unoriginal’ Facebook content

Rock band with more than 1 million Spotify listeners reveals it’s entirely AI-generated — down to the musicians themselves

DAVE’S PRO-TIP OF THE WEEK: Travel Tech, traveling light (18:45)

JUST THE HEADLINES: (24:55)

China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match

These tiny lasers are completely edible

You can now rent a flesh computer grown in a British lab

Netflix Says 50 Percent of Global Users Now Watch Anime

UK police dangle 75 million pounds to digitize its VHS tape archives

“Vibe Coder” who doesn’t know how to code keeps winning hackathons in San Francisco

Microsoft to stop using engineers in China for tech support of US military

Japan sets new internet speed record — it's 4 million times faster than average US broadband speeds

Candy Crush maker King lays off 200 staff, replacing many with AI tools they built

AI note takers are increasingly outnumbering humans in workplace video calls

Hackers can remotely trigger the brakes on American trains and the problem has been ignored for years

Chuck E. Cheese launches new arcade concept for adults

Russian basketball player arrested in ransomware case despite being "useless with computers"

LISTENER MAIL: Todd: Maybe setting up browser profiles and how they work? Right now, I have 4 Google accounts I’m juggling in different windows, and they all sign each other out, and it’s hard to manage. (29:25)

TAKES:

Everything Samsung Announced at Its Summer Galaxy Unpacked Event (36:05)

Not News: A foldable iPhone could be slightly thicker than Samsung’s latest offering (38:40)

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, July 2025 Edition - Microsoft fix targets attacks on SharePoint Zero Day (40:15)

Belkin ending support for most of its Wemo smart home accessories (43:20)

BulletVPN shuts down, killing lifetime members' subscriptions (45:55)

BONUS ODD TAKE: Coldplay Canoodlers (50:20)

PICKS OF THE WEEK:

Dave: Saramonic Air 2-Person Universal Micro Wireless Microphone System with Lavaliers, 3.5mm/USB-C Output/Headphone Out/Charging Case/Noise Canceling/Magnetic Mounting (53:35)

Nate: Wood Blocks by Staple Games - Ryan Trahan #50states St. Judes (56:20)

RAMAZON PURCHASE - Giveaway (01:01:35)