Episodes

  • How Growth Is Killing Video Games
    Mar 5 2025

    In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Gita Jackson and Nathan Grayson of worker-owned games site Aftermath to talk about how the growth-at-all-costs mindset is destroying games, how fandom culture naturally feeds extremism, how Aftermath does games journalism differently, and how despite everything, great games are still being made.

    Gita Jackson:
    https://bsky.app/profile/xoxogossipgita.bsky.social
    https://aftermath.site/author/gita-jackson

    Nathan Grayson:
    https://aftermath.site/author/nathan-grayson
    https://bsky.app/profile/nathangrayson.bsky.social

    Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen
    https://www.amazon.com/Stream-Big-Triumphs-Turmoils-Twitch/dp/1982156767

    Article on Skin Deep from Aftermath: https://aftermath.site/skin-deep-steam-next-fest-demo-impressions-pc

    The New York Times: Video Games Can’t Afford to Look This Good
    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/arts/video-games-graphics-budgets.html

    Aftermath - Fuck WB
    https://aftermath.site/warner-bros-discovery-games-wonder-woman-monolith-shut-down

    Pyre - https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/pyre/
    Supergiant Games - https://www.supergiantgames.com
    Avowed - https://store.steampowered.com/app/2457220/Avowed/

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Generative AI Is Not A Real Industry
    Feb 28 2025

    In the second of this week's two-part episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the dark truth of the generative AI industry - that consumer adoption of Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity is incredibly small, and it’s time to accept that there is nothing coming to justify the ruinous costs of Large Language Models.

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    43 mins
  • Monologue: What Bursts A Bubble?
    Feb 27 2025

    In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through what's making everybody worried about the bubble bursting - and what other signs might tell you that the party's over for AI.

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    11 mins
  • OpenAI Is Not A Real Company
    Feb 26 2025

    In this episode (the first of a two-parter), Ed Zitron walks you through how OpenAI isn’t a real company, but a venture-backed welfare recipient that spent $9 billion to lose $5 billion in 2024 with little product-market fit and a stagnant API business that suggests that there’s little adoption of generative AI.

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    36 mins
  • What We're Fighting For
    Feb 21 2025

    In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through the how the tech media misses the stories that hurt billions of people every day - and how deep down, most people really do like technology and miss when it wasn’t so actively harmful.

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    34 mins
  • Monologue: OpenAI Was Never A Non-Profit
    Feb 20 2025

    In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the early days of OpenAI - and the simmering war between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over its non-profit status.

    Suit: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69013420/musk-v-altman/

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    11 mins
  • How The Tech Media Can Beat The Rot Economy
    Feb 19 2025

    In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how the growth-at-all-costs Rot Economy has used software to poison so many parts of our lives - and how the tech media can rise to the challenge and fight for a better Silicon Valley by aligning with consumers against big tech.

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    28 mins
  • Monologue: The Super Bowl Showed That Generative AI Is Washed
    Feb 14 2025

    In this week's monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through how the AI industry’s limp Super Bowl commercials show how little this industry has to offer - and how much contempt they have for consumers.

    OpenAI: The Intelligence Age: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIhb5pEo_j0

    Google: Dream Job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7e6g11BJc0

    Salesforce: Gate Expectations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZqmBcqDkyw

    ---

    LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/

    Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

    Ed's Socials:

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    9 mins