Diggnation (Rebooted)

https://digg.com is live! Public beta is open for community creation!January’s almost over, which means it’s either too late or just early enough to still say “Happy New Year.” In this episode, Kevin and Alex wade through that awkward seasonal purgatory, debate etiquette, and naturally land on Alex’s go-to insult: “Eat the bag.”Kevin checks in on Dry January and confirms that sleep is, in fact, real. The conversation takes a turn into the serious realities of alcohol withdrawal before pivoting to some big Digg news: the public beta is officially live, and you can now create your own Communities. Yes, that includes one called /onlyfans, which has absolutely nothing to do with what you think unless you are deeply into industrial air movers.From there, it’s a full tech firehose. The Metaverse is officially declared dead, Claude Code is writing entire web apps in minutes, and a startup called Humans just raised $480 million to make AI more collaborative, or possibly sentient. Also on the docket: foldable iPhones, mindfulness, Matt Damon’s attention span, and why chicken wings keep showing up in self-driving cars.This one’s got layers.SponsorsAnthropic: Get 50% off your first 3 months of Claude Prohttps://claude.ai/diggMonarch: Get 50% off your first year with code DIGGhttps://monarch.comWispr Flow: Try it freehttps://wisprflow.ai/diggZBiotics: Get 15% off your first order with code DIGGhttps://zbiotics.com/DIGGChapter Markers00:00 Intro00:44 When Is It Too Late to Say “Happy New Year”?01:28 Alex’s All-Purpose Insult: “Eat the Bag”03:32 Dry January Update: Alex Hits 20 Days04:52 Alcohol Withdrawal Gets Real07:16 Digg Public Beta and Build-Your-Own Communities08:36 The Confusing Purity of the “/OnlyFans” Community09:33 AI Moderation Logs That Actually Make Sense11:11 The Metaverse Is Dead. Long Live Reality14:37 Matt Damon and the Shrinking Human Attention Span15:40 Why VR and AR Still Feel Like Homework19:16 Mindfulness, Explained by Thich Nhat Hanh22:51 The Meaning of Life24:53 John Cleese on Why Failure Is the Whole Point27:01 Kevin’s New Coding Obsession: Compound Engineering30:04 AI Context Windows and How the Magic Works40:02 Foldable iPhones in 2026? Let’s Argue42:34 iPad vs Mac and the UX Identity Crisis44:18 Humans Raises $480M to Make AI Less Robotic53:50 Tesla Goes Subscription-Only for Full Self-Driving55:46 Tensor Auto and the Semi-Sentient Rideshare Wars1:00:25 People Are Leaving Trash in Waymos. Including Wings1:02:07 Outro

Diggnation is back for 2026. In this New Year’s episode, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht dive into Dry (ish) January, accidental woodworking injuries, and why Kevin's Peloton crush might be more motivating than your therapist. On the tech side, Kevin drops a quiet-but-clear hint for Digg beta users to keep an eye out. The guys talk about Samsung’s decision to ship Google’s Gemini AI to 800 million devices, which feels like a major win for Google’s ecosystem. On the tech side, Kevin gives a heads up to Digg beta users: Communities are coming. Now is a good time to start paying attention. Also on deck: a bizarre Waymo vs. Santa Monica standoff involving robotic cars and 3 a.m. backup beeping, a Garmin plane that landed itself (because the pilot didn’t), and a Lego set that lights up on its own. Other stops include futuristic cartilage regrowth injections, the return of "Dolphin Shorts" via a Hooters rebrand nobody asked for, and an existential debate about smart fridges.Square — Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at: https://square.com/go/diggLMNT — Get a free 8-count sample pack with any purchase: http://drinklmnt.com/diggDeleteMe — Remove your personal info from data broker sites: http://joindeleteme.com/diggMonarch — 50% off your first year with code DIGG: https://monarch.comWispr Flow — Try voice-to-text writing for free: https://wisprflow.ai/diggYouTube Chapter Markers00:00 Intro02:41 Resolutions Nobody Asked For: Pilates & Productivity03:36 Can Saunas Cure Depression or Just Make You Sweatier?04:52 Kevin Gets Stabbed by Wellness (Acupuncture Chat)06:02 Peloton and the German Instructor Who Yells in Motivation07:13 Holiday Haul: Singing Bowls and the Rise of Vibe Decor09:07 Spoon Carving, Blood Loss & $400 Japanese Hammers12:30 Coming Soon: Digg Communities That Don’t Look Like Reddit14:00 Samsung Gives 800M Devices a Gemini AI Glow-Up20:31 Waymo Cars Are Beeping Insomnia Into Santa Monica25:06 Self-Driving Cars Are Scanning Your Kids for Booster Seats33:25 Lego Bricks Just Got Smarter (and Slightly Haunted)37:07 How Boredom Became the New Self-Care Hack42:10 Garmin Autoland: The Plane That Landed Itself47:56 Parachutes for Planes and Other Backup Plans56:53 Can Amazon's “Art Line” TV Beat the Samsung Frame?1:01:00 Streaming Loyalty Tests: Apple TV, We See You1:03:19 Movies Worth Hoarding Forever (Anchorman & Jack Reacher?)1:05:08 Injecting Knees With Youth: The Cartilage Comeback1:08:44 Dementia-Fighting Protein or Supervillain Serum?1:09:54 Smart Fridge Fatigue vs. Bird Watching for Fun1:13:05 Kamado Joe Smoker Review: BBQ Tech Gets Serious1:15:23 Hooters Rebrands, Dolphin Shorts Return, Internet Shrugs

This holiday episode is a greatest hits tour of Diggnation Rebooted with Kevin and Alex in peak end of year form. Scotch gift exchanges and fighting Mike Tyson for $500,000 is a reasonable life choice. There are pronunciation corrections, especially Hyundai, plus plenty of love for retro futuristic concept cars.AI takes center stage as the duo talks creativity and productivity with tools like Cursor and ChatGPT, including negotiation tricks and extremely questionable AI day trading strategies. The conversation also covers the Telepathy Tapes podcast, autism, neurodiversity, and Alex’s experience with aphantasia. Kevin finally understanding Netflix and chill.Chapter Markers00:00 Intro04:22 Mike Tyson vs $500K07:52 Hyundai Pronunciation and Car Concepts13:00 Digg Beta Community Update16:30 Building AI Web Apps on the Road18:28 Telepathy Tapes, Autism, and Curiosity21:56 AI Trading and Bad Financial Ideas24:55 ChatGPT Negotiation Tactics29:50 Kevin Discovers Netflix and Chill31:38 Aphantasia Explained35:50 Emotions, Money, and Decisions37:41 End of Year Montage

Alex and Kevin break in the new Digg warehouse studio with brandy cocktails, French pastry flexes, and a surprisingly serious challenge—can Alex stay sober for all of 2025?They cover Netflix’s rumored $84B move to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (yes, including HBO and DC Comics), AI tools that drop your face into fake movie scenes, and the rise of “etiquette camps” for startup founders. Also: teens in Australia are happy to be banned from social media, a spider-shaped robot now performs endoscopies, and the famous Japanese 7-Eleven egg salad sandwich finally lands in the U.S.—with questionable results.All that, plus rucking vests, doomscroll detoxing, and a Kindle Color that might actually be good.SPONSORSZBiotics Go to https://zbiotics.com/DIGG and use code DIGG at checkout for 15% off any first-time order of ZBiotics probiotics.Henson Shaving Go to https://hensonshaving.com/DIGG and enter DIGG at checkout to get a free pack of 100 blades with your purchase. (Note: You must add both the blades and the razor for the discount to apply.)Wispr Flow Try it free at https://wisprflow.ai/diggMonarch Money Use code DIGG at https://monarch.com for half off your first year.DeleteMe Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to https://joindeleteme.com/DIGG and use promo code DIGG at checkout.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 Intro 03:00 Holiday cocktails get dangerously brandy-forward 04:41 Kevin explains his weighted rucking vest 07:23 Inside Digg’s new office + upcoming community features 13:06 New Year’s goals: chess apps and digital pianos 15:00 The bet: Can Alex stay sober for all of 2025? 21:10 Netflix may buy Warner Bros. Discovery for $84B 30:28 Silicon Valley founders now attend etiquette bootcamp 41:28 Australian teens are glad social media is banned 49:10 Nano Banana AI drops you into fake movie scenes 53:40 Deepfakes, bot farms, and internet misinformation 1:03:37 Pill-sized robot crawls your gut for science 1:09:05 Kindle Color Scribe vs. the Remarkable showdown 1:18:57 Japan’s viral 7-Eleven egg sandwich hits the U.S.

This week on Diggnation, Kevin ends his seven-month break from alcohol with a glass of wine and some podcast-inspired reflection on why being too rigid about anything might be its own kind of burden, While Alex sips wine and regrets live theater. Kevin reveals he has aphantasia, aka the inability to conjure mental images, which he says disqualifies him from certain forms of _ahem_ nostalgia. The pair dive into the existential horror of AI-enabled children’s toys that suggest you play with knives and explore kinks. On a lighter note, converting vintage cars to electric sparks a surprisingly feasible business idea. Waymo’s freeway rollout gets love, as the duo dreams of an L.A. where robots take the wheel and people take naps. Meanwhile, Michael Burry shorting AI stocks makes Kevin wonder if we’re still in early-internet territory or just early-stage delusion. Bezos launches an AI company because of course he does, and Nintendo drops the first look at its live-action _Zelda_ movie, which may or may not have been necessary. Also: eggnog aging, budgeting apps, and a play that made Alex fear for his life. It’s an episode.Chapter Markers00:00:00 - Kevin's First Sip in 7 Months  00:00:56 - Welcome to Episode 23  00:02:58 - Rethinking Alcohol Rules  00:07:44 - Aged Eggnog: Discuss  00:09:25 - The Two-Two-Two Rule Returns  00:12:15 - Birthday Trips and Holiday Plans  00:14:08 - LA Auto Show Highlights  00:15:14 - Converting Classic Cars to EV  00:17:47 - EV Startups: Why It’s Hard  00:19:20 - Zelda Movie: First Look  00:20:26 - Who Is Wes Ball?  00:22:53 - AI Toys Gone Wild  00:24:49 - Kuma Bear’s Kink Talk  00:33:48 - Predator and The Red Carpet  00:34:47 - Christmas Music Timing War  00:37:05 - Kevin Has Aphantasia00:40:49 - The Spank Bank Problem  00:43:44 - Creativity With Constraints  00:52:56 - Waymo Hits the Freeway  00:53:52 - Driverless Rides + Paranormal Play  01:02:47 - Game Awards: Who’s Nominated  01:08:42 - Burry Bets Against AI  01:10:53 - AI: Bubble or Beginning?  01:18:07 - Internet vs. Quantum Hopes  01:19:30 - Bezos Launches Prometheus AI  01:21:26 - Robots and Retail  01:24:14 - Episode Wrap-UpSponsorsZBiotics – Get 15% off your first order of ZBiotics probiotics at https://zbiotics.com/DIGG with code DIGG at checkout.Henson Shaving – Use code DIGG at https://hensonshaving.com/DIGG to get a free pack of 100 blades with your razor purchase. You must add both the blades and the razor for the discount to apply.Mizzen and Main – Go to https://mizzenandmain.com and use promo code Digg20 for 20% off your first purchase.Monarch – Get 50% off your first year with code DIGG at https://monarch.comDeleteMe – Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan at joindeleteme.com/DIGG with promo code DIGG at checkout.