TechTime with Nathan Mumm

Episode 301: This week’s episode dives into the tech stories that should keep you up at night. We start with the chilling reality of the 23andMe breach—proof that your genetic code, the one thing you can never change, can be stolen, sorted, and sold to the highest bidder. Then we move to smart‑city surveillance gone rogue, where police camera networks keep recording even after the city tries to shut them down, leaving officials resorting to trash bags and tape while the data quietly flows elsewhere. Add in AI-driven hardware shortages now hitting consumer devices, and the picture gets e...

Episode 300: AI’s extremes are on full display in our 300th episode. Anthropic’s Mythos model reportedly uncovered more than 10,000 security flaws in a month, accelerating vulnerability discovery for major partners. Yet the same “AI efficiency” falls apart in the real world, as seen in Starbucks’ failed AI inventory rollout that miscounted products and mislabeled items. That contrast sets up the core question of the hour: when is AI a powerful tool, and when is it just expensive theater?

We also dig into the rising stakes around biometric privacy, from Disney’s facial‑scan lawsuit to stadium and theme‑park...

Episode 299: Today on TechTime, AI is stepping deeper into places most people still think of as human‑only — including your doctor’s office. With nearly two‑thirds of U.S. physicians now relying on AI tools to help make medical decisions, we break down when that’s a breakthrough… and when it becomes blind trust in “the model said so.”

Then we zoom out to the bigger AI ecosystem: a Waymo robotaxi that took an unexpected swim, the ongoing OpenAI leadership drama, and what all of it says about accountability in the age of automation. Nick Espinoza joins us to talk...

Episode 298: This week’s TechTime episode starts with a cautionary tale: one innocent click on a “totally legit” AI site turns into a malware parade featuring the Beagle backdoor. We break down how a fake Claude page practically begs you to download doom, and why “but it was a Google ad!” is not a legal defense. Then we pivot into the psychology of the OnlyFans boom, where relevance, identity, and questionable career advice collide. Mike the Psychologist weighs in with just enough sass to make you rethink every influencer bio you’ve ever read.

From there, we tackle scam...

Episode 297: The next wave of cybersecurity hiring is sending a clear message: without AI fluency, you may not be employable. U.S. cyber pipelines are adding AI skill requirements because modern defense now includes securing AI systems themselves. From semi‑autonomous agents to fast‑moving model‑driven threats, the job is shifting fast. If you’re aiming for a government or enterprise cyber role, this breakdown clarifies what real “AI fluency” means and why it’s becoming a baseline skill.

Then we pivot to the strange side of AI behavior and why it still matters. OpenAI models inserting gobl...

Big tech is making a blunt trade: fewer people, more AI. We dig into Meta’s plan to cut more than 10% of its workforce while pouring an eye-watering budget into AI, then zoom out to the uncomfortable pattern across the industry where payroll turns into infrastructure spend. Along the way we hit a surprisingly human twist: one of the biggest uses of AI isn’t coding or design, it’s companionship and therapy, which says a lot about where our culture is headed.

From there, we step into the billionaire arena with Elon Musk versus Sam Altman. We wal...

AI is getting so good at faking reality that the internet is starting to demand proof you are a human, and that is where this week gets unsettling. We talk about Anthropic’s “Mythos” cybersecurity AI and why federal agencies reportedly went from pushing it away to urgently trying to get access again. When a model can map vulnerabilities, hunt zero-day weaknesses, and chain exploits across real networks, the conversation shifts from “cool AI” to “who controls the keys to the digital world.”

Then we hit the courtroom: a judge rules that private chats with an AI assistant are...

Episode 294: This week on TechTime Radio, we dive into rising AI safety warnings as OpenAI and Anthropic split on governance, explore why blue‑light panic became a myth, and break down Meta’s expanding fight over youth harm and accountability. We also cover new cybersecurity breaches, including Eurorail’s exposed traveler data.

Then we spotlight a retro‑camera gadget that turns classic film bodies into digital shooters, share Gen Z’s clever streaming‑service rotation trick, and wrap with a tasting of Abasolo Mexican whiskey. Tune in to TechTime Radio—where the future is now, the stories matter, and al...

Episode 293: This week on TechTime Radio, we begin by confronting the unsettling reality that trusting your senses isn't enough anymore, as deepfakes and AI-generated voices make distinguishing real from fake increasingly difficult. Even families and public figures encounter moments when authenticity is in doubt, fostering the 'liar’s dividend' in which dismissing everything as fake becomes common. The discussion considers why traditional code words are now a safeguard for families, executives, and teams who need to verify identities when it matters.

From there, we broaden our view to the growing data traces left behind in daily life, wh...

AI is quietly taking the wheel of the internet, and the ride is getting weird. We’re seeing data centers merge with cloud platforms, edge computing, and telecom networks into one distributed machine that can predict failures, reroute traffic, and optimize energy in real time. That sounds amazing until you realize how much of today’s traffic is no longer humans, but machines talking to machines, and every company’s AI is fighting for the “best” path across the same shared pipes.

Then we jump to a legal shift that could hit social media and online video hard: juri...

Your digital life is being priced, packaged, and sold, and sometimes the buyer is the government. We dig into the headline that reignites America’s privacy debate: the FBI confirming it purchases commercially available data that can be used to track Americans online. We talk about why this feels like a warrant shortcut, how the data broker economy thrives on “legal” loopholes, and why AI-powered analysis makes mass surveillance more scalable than ever.

Then we shift from invisible tracking to very visible chaos: a humanoid robot in a restaurant reportedly loses spatial awareness and starts thrashing near tables...

A wearable that logs your digestion by tracking hydrogen “events,” Hollywood betting big on one-minute vertical soap operas, and Wi‑Fi 7 routers that may not do what the box implies, this hour is packed with the kind of technology news that makes you stop and go, “wait, is that real?” We take each headline and separate the joke from the actual value, because the story behind the gimmick is usually where the truth lives. 

We also shift into practical mode with a stack of real scam and phishing emails that show how people get trapped by urgency, fake accoun...

Episode 289: TechTime Radio: This week, we open with Microsoft’s Project Helix, the ambitious “one box to rule them all” promising native PC gaming, Wi‑Fi 7 speeds, and a next‑gen low‑latency controller. With a rumored $1,000 price and a 2027 release window, we dig into whether true backward compatibility across Xbox generations finally makes a premium console worth the splurge. Or should we pass on the New X-box for the rumored Steam Machines? What new gaming machine will be the SNES, and what unit will end up being the Virtual Boy? 

Then Gwen Way takes over Gadgets & Gear with a p...

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287: TechTime Radio: A landmark social‑media addiction trial, brain‑steered pigeons, and a global memory crunch collide in an hour that questions who really controls attention, autonomy, and access. We break down Zuckerberg’s courtroom spotlight, the stakes of age‑verification and identity collection, and the eerie rise of biodrone pigeons that blur the line between experimentation and coercive tech. The conversation widens to AI‑driven DRAM shortages slowing devices, inflating prices, and reshaping hardware roadmaps, all while Copilot’s sensitive‑email summarization misstep raises fresh questions about guardrails and trust.

From bioethics to supply chains, the episode tracks...

Think you’re safe because you never downloaded TikTok? We unpack why that’s a myth, how a tiny pixel follows you across unrelated sites, and what to do right now to shut it down. From there we dig into a subtler dilemma hiding in your camera roll: computational photography that quietly invents detail, polishes your face, and reshapes memories. It looks great—until it doesn’t. We trade quick tips for getting more honest photos, including RAW capture, disabled scene “optimizations,” and when to favor control over convenience.

The conversation then turns to surveillance on your street. A gl...

Episode 285: Join us this week on TechTime Radio with Nathan Mumm: The Show That Makes You Go "HMMM." Welcome to our show as we guide you through all things tech with a lil' whiskey on the side.

This week on TechTime Radio, we cut through a week where algorithms, automation, and accountability all collided. We opened with TikTok’s regulatory shakeup, where EU pressure and U.S. oversight triggered an algorithm reset that left creators scrambling. The conversation centered on what responsible design looks like when addictive features meet real duty of care, especially for younger users.

The headlines say TikTok just got “safer” under U.S. oversight—but we’re not convinced that swapping one set of power brokers for another changes the core data bargain. We unpack who really gains from TikTok’s algorithm shift, how investor incentives shape your feed, and whether creators and users can expect more transparency or just a new layer of control. From there, we dig into a surprising frontier in medical education: AI patients that look and sound real enough to train bedside communication. Useful? Potentially. Dangerous when overtrusted? Absolutely. We explore the promise of scalable practice and the risks...

What if the most exciting tech of the year wasn’t just shiny—it was useful, personal, and a little unsettling? We dive into our Top 10 from CES 2026 and share what genuinely moved the needle for everyday life, what felt like future shock, and where we think the line should be drawn.

We start with wonder and method: viral claims about “hidden cities” beneath Antarctica meet the real tools behind the map—satellite interferometry, glacier-flow physics, and AI reconstruction. That lens helps us parse a major education study on generative AI: students are learning faster, but thinking less. We l...

Imagine getting your lab results, feeding them into an AI, and realizing it caught a mistake your clinic didn’t. That’s where we start: the real promise of ChatGPT Health against the very real risks of privacy drift and model error. We unpack what “enhanced protections” actually need to look like, why accuracy and safety can’t play second fiddle to consent screens, and how patients can use AI without replacing their doctor. A candid story about a dropdown gone wrong makes the stakes feel personal, not theoretical.

From the body to the browser of your mind, we s...

A smart home vacuum goes bankrupt and suddenly the maps of your living room might be someone else’s asset—that’s where we start, and the questions only get sharper from there. We dig into iRobot’s Chapter 11, the failed Amazon deal, and why a China-linked manufacturer gaining access to device data should force a hard reset on how we think about ownership, privacy, and consent in consumer hardware.

From there, we test the limits of AI in the wild. Anthropic’s “Project Vend” handed a real vending machine to a cutting-edge model; within days it was giving awa...

What happens when convenience becomes the cost? We close the year by unpacking the eight tech stories that reshaped daily life, wallets, and trust. From streaming’s pivot back to bundles that feel like cable, to smart speakers and connected appliances that quietly ship household data to the cloud, we trace how “modern” increasingly means managed—and often monitored.

We dig into the robotics hype cycle and ask why humanoids still struggle with balance and dexterity while specialized bots make real progress. We revisit the year’s biggest cloud outages and map the true downstream impact on classrooms...

What happens when technology grows faster than the rules meant to guide it? We toast the season finale by tackling that question head-on—starting with a bold move to centralize AI regulation at the federal level and preempt state-by-state rules. We lay out what a single national framework could fix, what it could break, and how lobbying from the biggest AI players complicates the path forward. Uniform standards might speed innovation and reduce compliance chaos, but local expertise matters, and trust depends on safeguards that balance industry power with public interest.

Then we shift from policy to pa...

This week on TechTime Radio, a state-backed cyber scheme hiding in plain sight. That’s where we start: identity rental, deepfaked interviews, and remote tooling that let North Korean operators slip into real jobs at real companies. We unpack how recruiters lure engineers, what data they demand, and the quiet ways compromised devices become corporate backdoors. Then we get practical—clear verification steps for HR, device attestation, network controls, and a tighter handshake between hiring and security teams.

From the office to the bookstore, we shift to the uneasy rise of AI-written titles and the complicated dance betw...

What happens when a holiday “thankful” theme clashes with cutting-edge technology, bold policies, and some notable missteps? We begin with Dubai’s high-profile plan to introduce flying taxis and ask tough questions: can eVTOLs truly reduce travel time after accounting for boarding, airspace management, and vertiport capacity—or will they just be expensive toys hovering above gridlocked cities?

Next, we discuss Australia’s eye-catching ban on social media for users under 16. We openly address the issues it aims to solve—cyberbullying, grooming, and addictive content—and consider the potential loss of social and educational benefits for teens, along with the...

A living room PC that wants to be your next console, a cloned dog that raises bigger questions than it answers, and a museum heist made possible by the world’s laziest password. That’s the lineup we tackle as we break down the most head-scratching, revealing tech stories of the week with equal parts clarity and humor.

We start with Valve’s Steam machine: a sleek, SteamOS-powered box aiming for 4K/60 on your TV. We unpack the real-world hurdles—8GB VRAM limits, upgrade ambiguity, and the make-or-break pricing line—while noting the window of opportunity as Sony stays...

Government data doesn’t just live in vaults anymore, and the latest suspected foreign cyberattack at the Congressional Budget Office proves how fragile our policy pipeline can be. We unpack why breaches keep landing on core agencies, what “zero trust” actually changes, and how identity, patch cadence, and monitoring fit together when the stakes are Congressional forecasts and budget models.

Then we pivot hard into the human side of tech: a Detroit police officer’s pantsless Zoom court moment. It’s funny until you realize how remote optics shape trust in high-stakes settings. We share practical rules for video...

Your Wi‑Fi might be your biggest blind spot, and we’re putting it under a bright light. We dig into the push to ban TP‑Link in the U.S., what “firmware callbacks” really mean, and the simple, concrete steps that actually harden a home network: changing default credentials, updating firmware at least yearly, enabling WPA3, and leaning on MFA to shut down credential theft. No scare tactics—just the playbook that keeps real people safer.

From there we pull the thread on attention economics in the oddest place: public restrooms. In parts of China, you now scan a Q...

A Halloween hour of tech that blurs the line between glitch and ghost, convenience and control, comfort and consequence. We move from Amazon’s outages and automation plans to AI intimacy, leaky satellites, doorbell surveillance, and malware hidden in blockchains.

• AWS outage root cause and ripple effects
• Amazon automation projections and workforce impact
• Prime settlement refunds and consumer friction
• AI cloning of public figures and grief displacement
• Mature AI chat, isolation risks and mental health
• Satellite comms exposure across aviation and utilities
• Ring and Flock integration expanding police access
• Blockchain-enabled “etherhiding” for mal...

Want a Halloween scare that sticks with you after the candy’s gone? We’re pouring a glass and pulling back the curtain on the creepiest corners of everyday tech: a cloud outage that toppled major apps and smart beds, a Prime refund saga with fine-print timelines, and Amazon’s bold plan to swap 600,000 human jobs for robots by 2033. The number that matters isn’t the 30 cents shaved off a product; it’s the blast radius when a single point of failure hits everything from payments to sleep pods.

We go deeper with cybersecurity expert Nick Espinosa to map the...

Apple finally blinks. We break down the rumored touchscreen MacBook Pro on M6 silicon and what it means for the Mac–iPad divide, creative workflows, and the future of touch-first productivity without giving up a real keyboard and trackpad. If Apple embraces touch on macOS, does the iPad’s role shrink, or do we enter a new era of flexible, two-in-one computing?

Streaming also sheds a skin as Apple TV drops the “Plus” while raising prices. We talk about what a name change signals, how the industry is normalizing higher monthly fees, and why subscriber rotation is your sma...

Start with the picture: tech titans quietly building bunkers while the rest of us watch AI sprint ahead and our living rooms turn into ad servers. That tension—between private safety and public risk—frames a candid hour where we press on what’s hype, what’s harmful, and what’s actually helpful. We dig into why billionaire doomsday prep resonates right now, and what it signals about trust, resilience, and the future they anticipate versus the future we’ll all inhabit.

Then we wade into the strangest corner of AI culture: a talkative bot that minted meme-coin mi...

What do a $500B AI valuation, mid‑match game ads, and a driverless traffic stop have in common? They all expose the gap between shiny innovation and the infrastructure, policy, and psychology that actually make tech work—or break trust.

We open with OpenAI’s eye‑popping valuation and go beneath the headline to the parts no press release glamorizes: data centers, power, cooling, fiber, and GPU supply. With partners like Nvidia, Oracle, and Microsoft shaping access, we unpack why AI will likely consolidate around a few players and what that means for startups burning cash on compute...

Call screening technology is finally getting the upgrade we've all been desperately waiting for. Apple's iOS 26 introduces a revolutionary feature that puts unknown callers into a holding pattern, requiring them to state their business before you decide whether to answer. For those of us bombarded with daily spam calls, this could be the most practical smartphone innovation in years.

Meanwhile, the digital safety nets meant to protect our children continue to show alarming gaps. A troubling study reveals that Instagram's teen safety tools are largely failing, with researchers finding that 30 out of 47 protective measures are either substantially...

Prepare yourself for a sobering look at the increasingly invasive world of technology monetization. Nick Espinosa, Chief Security Fanatic, joins the Tech Time crew to expose how tech giants are finding alarming new ways to serve us advertisements – from Samsung refrigerators with built-in ads to Microsoft's new full-screen "scoop" ads in Windows 11 that you can't escape. As Nick bluntly puts it, "We're never going to get rid of ads. They are trying to monetize absolutely everything."

The conversation takes a disturbing turn when examining the recent deepfake case in Scotland, where a man received only a fine af...

What happens when the digital economy collides with traditional service industry models? This week, we dive deep into President Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" that unexpectedly includes digital content creators in tax-free tipping benefits. We debate whether streamers and influencers should receive the same treatment as waitstaff and bartenders, exploring how this could reshape creator economics and potentially lead to more aggressive tip solicitation online.

The tech absurdity meter hits maximum when we examine Foster City, California's $400,000 solution to their goose poop crisis. With 400 pounds of droppings collected daily, the city is deploying drones, dogs, and...

Data privacy wars are heating up as tech giants face mounting legal and social consequences for their actions. In this eye-opening episode, we dissect Google's staggering $425 million privacy lawsuit settlement after the company was caught collecting user data even when people explicitly opted out of tracking. The verdict raises crucial questions about what "privacy choices" actually mean in today's digital landscape.

The billionaire bubble gets punctured as we explore Mark Zuckerberg's neighborhood troubles in Silicon Valley. After purchasing 11 properties for a massive $110 million compound, Zuckerberg's construction projects have neighbors up in arms over noise, privacy invasions, and...

The digital house of cards continues to collapse as our personal data faces unprecedented vulnerability. This week, we reveal how the Department of Government Efficiency's reckless handling of over 300 million Americans' Social Security numbers could lead to a massive security crisis. After repeatedly warning about these dangers, our predictions are unfortunately coming true - just as we've seen with Taco Bell's embarrassing AI drive-thru experiment.

Remember when Microsoft promised Windows 10 would be "the last operating system you'd ever need"? That promise expires October 14th, 2025, when support officially ends. But don't panic - we break down exactly how...

The digital world's most alarming vulnerabilities take center stage as we dive into how AI is compromising our justice systems and personal privacy. A senior Australian lawyer shocked the court by submitting AI-generated fake legal citations in a murder trial, with both defense and prosecution failing to verify their accuracy—revealing how our cognitive shortcuts create dangerous blindspots when working with artificial intelligence.

Privacy breaches continue their relentless march as hundreds of thousands of conversations with Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot were exposed through Google search results. These breaches, containing sensitive information from drug manufacturing instructions to me...

Pour yourself a glass of Eagle Rare and join us for a fascinating dive into the invisible technology that's changing the whiskey world forever. 

Counterfeit whiskey has plagued collectors and enthusiasts for years – empty bottles refilled with cheap spirits, fake seals carefully applied, and unsuspecting buyers paying thousands for fraudulent products. Now, Buffalo Trace, Johnnie Walker, and other premium distillers are fighting back with tiny but powerful NFC chips embedded in their most valuable bottles.

We explore exactly how these authentication systems work, from the wires that run through bottle seals to detect opening, to the...