Silicon Valley


Sam Altman’s A.I. Bubble Burstin’ Blowout!

Read the comic on Patreon.

The A.I. bubble’s burstin’, after every tech company spent the past year forcing it into their previously useable products. There’s no consumer demand for this crap, but it’s all they have, and their stockholders demand growth. It’ll join the Metaverse and crypto in the trash heap along with all the processors that were wasted rendering boobs on anime cartoons.

In the world of useful innovations, green energy has been on a feverish pace this year, but it’s boring and requires actual technical know-how, so the tech bros will have to invent a knew scam for their next round of pump-and-dumps.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.


New Tech Trends

Read the comic on Patreon.

Apple started selling their dumb goggles this week, so we’re being subjected to another round of hype trying to sell this garbage. Every “big idea” Silicon Valley’s tried to sell over the last decade or two has either been outright fraud (self-driving cars, Theranos, crypto, etc.) or just re-inventing something that already exists, but with middle-men to extract money from users and the people doing the real work (gig economy, rideshare, streaming, etc.).

I swear I’ll get off my “Capitalism Bad” kick next week.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.


Wearable Tech Expo

Read the comic on Patreon.

Things are still bad, and tech companies are still trying to make VR a thing, including Apple now. No matter how hard Silicon Valley tries, VR will always be a niche thing for nerds, just like comics that make fun of them. Even wearable tech has an upper limit of people willing to pair and charge all that shit, THEN strap it on. People wear pajamas to the grocery store for a reason.

Volunteers for Elon Musk’s brain chip are a whole other thing. And that thing’s a cult.

Actual bad things continued to happen in the world, but I needed a break. I’m starting to suspect following and commenting on everything terrible about our current dystopia might be making me less fun at parties.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on The Nib.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.


Tainted Halloween Treats

Read the comic on Patreon.

The annual “Marijuana Candy” panic has already started on our garbage local news. Having waited in line forever at the Brookline recreational place, I’m not inclined to give that stuff to friends, let alone random kids.

Read the comic on Patreon.
Read the comic on Daily Kos.
Read the comic on GoComics.


Silicon Valley CaveBro

I wrote this way back when Juicero first made the news for being an insanely expensive, DRM’d, yet easily hackable (squeezable) proprietary juice machine.

The stupidity of Silicon Valley economics is an evergreen topic, so I saved this script for when I needed to do something in advance for vacation. Fortunately for me, Juicero’s back in the news and now no one will know I’m phoning it in the week after next.

Read now on Patreon.

Read the comic on GoComics.

Read the comic on DailyKos.


Sketchy Start-Ups

Sketchy Start-UpsUber and Lyft threw a tantrum and pulled out of Austin, Texas after voters upheld city regulations requiring background checks and fingerprinting for their drivers. A huge reason for the growth in Silicon Valley is reclassifying labor as “free stuff.” Users create content for free, contractors work without benefits, artists get pennies, if anything, when their work is streamed, and Silicon Valley turns their efforts into profits for venture capitalists and shareholders.

It’s not just start-ups, either. The constant demand for growth from shareholders makes responsible sustainability impossible.

Read the comic at The New York Times.