Better Offline

In part two of this week’s four-part Better Offline Enshittifinancial Crisis special, Ed Zitron walks you through how companies like AMD, Broadcom and NVIDIA are swindling stockholders with the help of analysts and the media, and how decades of easy returns for venture capital are an existential risk to the future of startup fundraising.

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In part one of this week’s four-part Better Offline Enshittifinancial Crisis special, Ed Zitron walks you through the enshittification of the stock market, where toxic companies appreciate in value despite their toxicity, recklessness and waste, aided and abetted by analysts who not only ignore the toxicity but actively celebrate it.

This series was a ton of work, so please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen
Read along with the newsletter version for links! https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-enshittifinancial-crisis/
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In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron walks you through the seeming collapse of Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines, and why the AI bubble can’t survive the death of OpenAI.
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Kylie Robison’s scoop about Thinking Machines: https://x.com/kyliebytes/status/2011572331798548899
Max Zeff of WIRED’s follow-on story: https://www.wired.com/story/thinking-machines-lab-cofounders-leave-for-openai/
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In this episode, Ed Zitron is joined by Steve Burke of GamersNexus to talk about AMD, Lenovo, NVIDIA and Intel’s CES keynotes - and how the tech industry has turned its back on consumers in favor of growth.

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GamersNexus:
NVIDIA's AI Bubble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFG3Ah-zf18
AMD Failed Us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsCrKGY9F1o
Intel Pulls An NVIDIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wNnLtsxNkY
"AMD & NVIDIA Abandoned This Segment" | Intel Arc GPU Factory Tour with Sparkle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwrUxG26ulk
Support GamersNexus’ AI Surveillance Dystopia Series: https://store.gamersnexus.net/ai-dystopia
https://www.youtube.com/gamersnexus
https://gamersnexus.net/
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https://x.com/GamersNexus
CES Videos:
Lenovo: https://youtu.be/vAa8ITmv54I?si=vfYqWhkbqGPa1avV&t=288
NVIDIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NBILspM4c4
AMD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvBNWbFK2lY
Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/events/ces.html
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Welcome to Better Offline’s coverage of the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show - a standup radio station in the Palazzo Hotel with an attached open bar where reporters, experts and various other characters bring you the stories from the floor.

In our CES epilogue, Ed is joined by author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow, tech bubble newsletter writer Ed Ongweso Jr. and CES bartender Phil Broughton to talk about this year’s coverage, the upcoming venture apocalypse, and what we expect from 2026.

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Cory Doctorow: http://pluralistic.net/
https://www.eff.org/

Phil Broughton: https://bsky.app/profile/funranium.bsky.social/
The Tech Bubble Newsletter: https://thetechbubble.substack.com/

Matt Osowski: https://www.mattosowski.com/

Donate in Sean-Paul’s honor: https://www.perc-epilepsy.org/
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