Ep 142: MALWARE - Trump Memecoin Drama, NVIDIA's Best Day Ever, Netflix Houses and a spicy Bridgerton Tweet, Zyn Ban

[00:00] He brought on Dr. Dre, YG, a bunch of other people. And Jose's tweet was like, what if Kendrick brought on a chavarone or something like that? [00:12] It was really funny. It was a really, really funny tweet. I put it in the show notes. Good for him. [00:34] The boys club podcast. No, no. [00:37] Just boy stuff. [00:38] Hey! How's it going? [00:40] Good. We're hard launching this podcast in the same feed, but in a slightly different format. [00:45] In a slightly different format. As we've been talking about, if you've been listening for the past few weeks, we've been doing some soul searching around this feed and thinking about where things make sense and how to organize the content that we love to do and that some people like listening to, which is great. And we've landed somewhere that we feel good about. So as we talked about on the Wednesday podcast, if you listened, that is now the feelings check in every Wednesday. We'll be coming in with some feelings. [01:10] Sometimes with guests. [01:11] Sometimes just the two of us, really fun. And then Fridays will be what we're calling malware, which is also going to be the Friday newsletter, which is emerging tech. [01:21] learning in community, talking about what's going on in technology, the same conversational approach that we've always had just with a little bit more organization. Yeah. And you may have noticed the new podcast graphic Diet Coke inspired podcast graphic. We just want to give a quick shout out to Alana, our incredible designer.

[01:41] who is a genius, and she did a great job of that. So anyway, we're... [01:47] We're excited about this new [01:50] format let us know what you think one thing i'll just say about diet coke yeah [01:54] I showed a Diet Coke with a friend the other day, where they're like, I'm gonna go to Diet Coke. Do you want Diet Coke? And I was like, yeah. And [02:01] It was so good. [02:03] It was so delicious. And this person is a man, and they were like, what's the-- [02:08] deal. Like what's, [02:10] What's the deal with the Diet Coke thing? [02:12] And I was like, [02:13] Don't ask questions you don't understand. Diet Coke is a religion and it is a spiritual experience. [02:19] And I can't explain why, but all I can say is that I love it. I should get a Diet Coke this afternoon. [02:26] I think that might help your mood. [02:27] I think so. I think that will bring me right back up. Yeah. A Diet Coke with some ice, although they don't really do ice in France, right? No, but maybe I could get a lemon. Un lemon, if they're feeling generous. A lukewarm Diet Coke with a lemon. [02:41] That sounds about right. A few nights ago, I've been hanging out with this group of ladies, beautiful model women who don't ever eat. And I was like, we need to go get something to eat. We all collectively need to go eat. And they're like, okay. And so we went and we ordered what I thought was going to be like a sausage. [02:59] Like I was like, great, like, let's get some like protein. [03:02] and it came out as just salami. It's like a few slices of like a charcuterie salami moment. And I was like, wow, that's not gonna feed [03:10] that's not going to feed the crowd here. And I was like, do you have any? And it's this super cute place that's like right under my apartment. And I basically live in the dime square, like above a dime square moment here in Paris. And it's very fun and it's very chic. And the food is great at this place, but...

[03:26] You know, it's more small plate. And I was like, hey, [03:29] With the waiter. [03:30] And we're, you know, [03:31] We're going back and forth. He's speaking some English. I'm speaking just English. And I was like, do you have any meat? Do you have any like meat? Like a piece of meat? And he was like, mm. [03:43] He's like thinking about it. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. La foie gras. Like, not what I'm looking for. I was like, never mind. I'll just do the fries. And he was like, okay. Everyone knows how filling foie gras is. [03:53] and also it's just fat it's not protein it's like we're on different pages my friend so anyway really made me laugh so we're not glamorizing eating disorders here on the voice club podcast not at all i just want to say i was trying to get us to go get food that's what i was doing i was like it's time to eat everybody it's 10 30 p.m dinner is served okay okay let's get into the news [04:16] you [04:17] Hey, Natasha. So a question we get asked a lot is, what do you look for in a crypto platform? So let's talk about it. Well, Dina, I look for a secure, no fuss platform that I can dive into right away. That's why I love today's sponsor, Kraken. If you're waiting for the right time to get into crypto, Kraken makes it super easy and intuitive to get started. Plus, if you get stuck, they have an award-winning client support team that's available 24-7, along with a bunch of educational guides, articles, and videos to help you along the way. If you're ready to check out [04:47] to kraken.com backslash boys club and see what crypto can be not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Cryptocurrency services are provided to us and us territory customers by payward ventures, incorporated PVI DBA kraken view PVI's disclosure at kraken.com backslash legal backslash disclosures.

[05:07] Okay, we're trying something new, which is... [05:11] Instead of spending a ton of time on one story, we're going to do what we're calling the boys briefing. We're going to hit a lot of different stories. They're going to be kind of tech and business centered. [05:19] And we're going to give you [05:21] a sprinkling of the news that you need to take into your weekend. [05:24] How's that sound? [05:25] I love it. [05:26] Couldn't love it more [05:28] Okay. I mean, we haven't done it yet, so I don't know. [05:33] Let's see how it goes. [05:35] Would be remiss to not start with... [05:38] DJ T coin and the drama there. I'm calling this section of the pod the shit the bad corner. [05:46] Can you just give people for the listener what DJ T coin? Totally. So DJ T coin is a meme coin was actually launched a few months ago. It reflects the [05:58] Donald J. Trump's initials. [06:00] DJT. Perfect. And it's just your classic, classic meme coin. No, no. [06:06] Supposed utility. No notes. Yeah. A couple of days ago, pirate wires. [06:12] which is a media company that covers tech. They had a big scoop and they were like DJ T coin, [06:22] which had been out for months, but they're like, DJT coin is is backed by the Trump family, specifically Barron. And they send out this big tweet and the tweet goes crazy and everyone's like, Barron, what's he doing in this meme coin? And it totally pumps and it's going crazy. And they're like, what, Trump? And it kind of catches hold because

[06:39] Trump has been really vocal about crypto lately and being very pro crypto. So the story kind of [06:46] In a weird way. It's held together. [06:48] Yeah. [06:49] Also, Baron being into crypto really makes sense. Baron being into crypto really makes sense. And I also think he's kind of like a lightning rod where it's like, whoa, he hasn't done anything really publicly. And so they're like, wow. [07:00] Okay, big moment. Big news. [07:02] This tweet goes crazy viral. Pirate Wires gets the scoop. They said they talked to some insider. Can I ask you a question about Pirate Wires? [07:08] Yeah. [07:09] Are they sort of like a TMZ style... [07:12] media news organization or are they more serious than that? I'm not that familiar with them. I think they would say that they're more serious. [07:18] But it's very libertarian tech. [07:21] Okay. Okay. [07:22] Yeah, I think they would say that they're based [07:26] Okay. Like extremely based news, tech news. So... [07:30] That goes crazy viral. Then there's this research firm called Arcam. And they were like, this... [07:36] seems weird, we're going to offer a bounty, $150,000 bounty to anyone who could prove [07:42] the identity of the meme coins creator. So they're basically like, we want to know what's going on here. Here's a bounty. If anyone figures it out, you get the money. [07:49] Why do they care so much? [07:51] I think it's like probably a good marketing moment for them, I would guess. Okay. As a research firm. [07:55] To be like, we figured out the DJT thing. It's... Okay. [07:58] I think marketing. They could pay us $150,000 to just talk about it if that was interesting as well. Where's our check? Invoices in the mail. Okay. ZachXBT, who is Twitter famous for being...

[08:14] a kind of blockchain sleuth. They figure out a lot of crypto mysteries. A few months ago, weren't they sort of targeted? [08:21] Because they'll find scammers and stuff like that. Exactly. They'll find scammers, yeah. And have been instrumental in a lot of the big hacks and stuff like that. In a good way. Instrumental in a good way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're very much like good guy. Like a Robin Hood type of guy. And they... [08:37] figured out that it was Martin Screlly who [08:41] was the originator and how they figured it out was basically like they tracked some wallets and they were like the funds are basically going to this wallet and this wallet also been used by this other thing which was a martin squarely project [08:51] Wow. Wow. Nightmare Blunt rotation. Martin Scrooge, Byron, Donald Trump. Honestly, totally. And also all roads lead back to Martin Scrooge lately. I know. What is that? I don't know. [09:03] Man. [09:05] It's really the worst because for folks who don't know, he was involved in the Pleaser Dao Wu-Tang story of last week. You know what I think it is? I think he just inserts himself into these stories. Like, I think he's just really good. It's a different type of pick me energy. Yeah, totally. OK, so last night he did a Twitter Spaces and he was like, yes, it was me who created DJT. [09:26] Barron. [09:28] is in on it. [09:29] He's he's with it in it with me and he's going to say he's in it with me, too. [09:34] But he hasn't said that yet. And no one from the Trump family said anything yet. And so... [09:39] Now everyone's like you are just [09:42] So full of shit. [09:44] I really want to hear your opinion on it, but I'm curious how much trading volume is there on DJT?

[09:50] DJT, it's up 70%, 24 hour trading volume, 186 million. [09:57] Wow. [09:58] Okay. [09:59] There's a lot of money in circulation around DJT. [10:02] Yeah. [10:03] Thank you. [10:04] Couldn't be me making money on it, but someone's making money on it. Do you think Baron is involved or do you think... [10:10] And Scarelli is full of shit. I think Scarelli is full of shit. [10:13] Really? Oh, I have a different take. [10:16] I have a different take. - Oh, what's your take? - I think that Baron is involved. I could see Scarelli getting in touch with him, [10:21] them just two bitches just telling each other exactly you know and then launching this and like not really having anything to do with the token but being like yeah we should do it like whatever and then it happens and then trump's campaign manager is immediately going to want to shut that down and say do not say anything totally i mean the sec is just like taking notes and then someone his handler has locked him in his bedroom and that's probably what's happening [10:51] You said, you said. Yeah. [10:54] I don't know what's worse. I don't know what's worse. Either way, it's just a way to rip off retail. So don't buy it is... [11:05] what I would say to anyone listening. Okay, so that's DJT. What's cry? I see this on the notes. Okay, next story here, cry. This is a really quick hit here. Someone made a meme coin on the back of the news of Justin Timberlake's DJT. [11:17] wi arrest and there's really not much of a story around that except for it exists and honestly it's like any pop culture moment from now on we're making meme coins about it the one thing here that i did see is that his world tour tickets are now going for eleven dollars

[11:32] oh i know what's cry trading at it would be so great if cry was trading cry cry didn't seem like it was making much of a dent and this is gonna ruin the tour the world tour it's gonna ruin the world tour the world tour is ruined next story we're moving on from shit the bed corner to nvidia the exact opposite of shit the bed corner whatever the opposite is of shit the bed corner [12:02] Valuable company. [12:03] - Wow. - Chip maker, they make the chips that everything runs on now at this point, but the reason that they are so highly valued now is because [12:13] All the AI companies are using NVIDIA chips for their computing power and they [12:21] took Microsoft out from the top spot. I'm listening to an acquired podcast about the Microsoft story. [12:28] and it's pretty interesting actually it's not as interesting as the acquired episode about starbucks if anyone's listening that is the podcast to listen to right now not this one not this one turn it off and go to the acquired starbucks episode [12:42] So what's funny about the NVIDIA story is the chips are really valuable and NVIDIA is this insanely valuable company and that's like kind of the infrastructure for AI. [12:51] Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskweyer, do you remember that name? Yep. One of the original founders who left, right? Exactly. He was on the security team. He recently left OpenAI, very high profile

[13:02] Person figure left and this week he announced his new... [13:06] AI startup. [13:08] And the sort of difference is that he's building safe AI. And he like did this whole thread that he was like, I'm on my own now and I'm doing safe AI and we're building a high trust team. You know, the meme where there's two people fighting. [13:19] and then there's someone in the back smoking a bowl. [13:22] yeah hey hey and the two people fighting were open ai and ilia's new startup and back smoking the ball was nvidia which like totally that's an incredible meme that's an incredible meme wow really good [13:35] you [13:36] It's time for a more open, inclusive, and transparent financial system. A system that serves nearly everyone, everywhere, all the time. That's why we love today's sponsor, Kraken. Kraken is a crypto platform that provides a super simple on-ramp to the world of crypto with a 24-7 support team. Crypto transcends physical and imaginary borders. No matter where you are, you can send funds easily and quickly to almost any part of the world. Plus, forget about waiting times and waiting lines. You can send, receive, and trade crypto anywhere near instantly. [14:06] B at kraken.com backslash boys club, not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Transfers to a third party are not available on Kraken. Cryptocurrency services are provided to U.S. and U.S. territory customers by Payward Ventures, Inc., PBI, DBA, Kraken. View PBI's disclosures at kraken.com backslash legal backslash disclosures. [14:27] Okay, next one. We're moving out of tech into tech entertainment. Did you see the story about the Netflix houses? I haven't. I have not.

[14:37] we're back to the sour patch kid we're back to the sour patch kid so for the listener i have a trauma trauma that has been shared on this podcast before when i i had a [14:49] job where I was working in marketing and I got one of my clients was Sour Patch Kids and they were doing these things called patch houses and I was working on the patch house team and they're basically like houses that they set up around the country and they had musicians come and stay in the houses and there was bowls of Sour Patch Kids that were out and it was like Sour Patch Kids styled. Like genuine actual homes that Sour Patch Kids has had rented or bought or whatever and yeah just had people coming through for the [15:18] content of potentially eating some Sour Patch Kids in it. Yeah. Yeah. [15:23] So Netflix is taking the playbook. Exactly. So Netflix houses, they're creating these pop-up experiential centers is what they're calling them. So they're opening one in Dallas, they're opening one in Pennsylvania, two hotspots. Oh my gosh. Dallas and Pennsylvania, sign me up immediately to go to the Bridgerton home. And basically they're going to be like little mini, not theme park that implies I think a ride, but there's going to be a Bridgerton [15:53] What are the shows that they're doing? [15:55] They said Bridgerton, Stranger Things, and Squid Game. [15:58] oh my god okay so this reminds me of the bathhouse in flat iron shout out amazing spot if you're ever in new york for a spa day right near it every time i walk to the bathhouse i have to pass the harry potter world experience in flat iron which i've never read any of the harry potters i've never seen any of the books don't come at me it's not for me maybe one day i will do that but like it's just not in the it just hasn't been no worries no worries it's all good that's that's never how

[16:28] Only time anyone's ever responded like that. [16:31] And... [16:33] It's so jarring. It's jarring to me to see full. It's Disney adult adjacent because it's adults. And they're sitting there and all it is is commerce. It's that's all that it is. Different version of commerce. And it's giving that. That's what it's giving. The Harry Potter world experience in Flatiron. But Netflix house in Dallas is absolutely something I will never, ever. You couldn't pay me to do it. Also, like the Bridgerton house in Dallas. Yeah, I just I don't know. There's [17:03] dissonance that I'm experiencing around those two words those two phrases being the same did you finish Bridgerton? [17:09] No, I'm still a season two. I'm moving really slow through it. Okay. [17:13] I'm really enjoying it. I'm getting to the point that the sexual tension has really been building between these two characters. To the point where I'm like, I don't even know if I want them to be together. Give it up. It's not going to work, I don't think. So anyway, I really didn't like the first season. I'm liking the second season more. So I don't know. Third season, I've heard, is very, very good. Very, very good, I think, is a stretch. But it's totally worth it. Very, very good for... [17:38] what it is. Right. [17:40] So I just finished the third season. I just I do want to do I do want to tell you about this tweet that I have because I don't have the guts to send it yet. But it is contextual to what we're talking about here. And there is a tech angle. So I do. So in the third spoiler alert, if you haven't watched the third series of Bridgerton and you want to maybe just pause fast forward.

[17:59] Pause. Pause. Finish the series and come back. [18:04] so there's this there's do you mind if I spoil it for you [18:07] No, I kind of have like the contours. It's just one part of it. So there's a polyamory subplot. [18:14] Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's scandalous. One thing that I've been pretty aware of is like, I'm two seasons in and it's very heteronormative. Like it's just totally heteronormative. There's no queerness anywhere to be found. It's kind of surprising in 2024. There's not like one closeted character. Usually there's one. [18:30] I think there is, but it gets revealed. But anyway, there's a polyamory. And there is definitely, there's, I mean, queer... [18:38] notes in this story. Yeah. In the polyamory story, but it's really a polyamory story. And okay. So do you know who Ayala is? [18:47] Um... [18:48] I don't know. I don't think so. She's [18:50] She's a sex worker. She's very open. She goes viral all the time for in real life. [18:56] yeah yeah yeah no she's not a virgin character i thought you were talking about like the one woman in richardson oh no no no no no no no no um her name no i know she's on twitter you've definitely seen she's very problematic so i the reason i haven't sent this tweet is because she's [19:17] There's a lot, there's so much stuff around her and her persona that are like, you don't want to go anywhere near. Okay. [19:22] And it's not the sex work. The sex work is the tamest thing about her. Oh, she's so based. She's one of those people that's so base. It's like the other side. I think I've liked some of her tweets before. The most recent one was the fluffer chart.

[19:37] Okay, I haven't seen that. [19:39] Yes, we have. We talked about it. She does a lot of data. [19:43] and sex stuff you did not i've not seen this that whole joke about the fluffer do you remember this [19:49] No! [19:50] Okay. I don't think this was me. I think this is someone else. Okay. It might have been Parker, but I'll send you it. Okay. [19:57] Okay, I'm dying to see. Well, now if you don't know who she is, I don't know that I can explain the story. But anyway. [20:02] The amount of explanation that this tweet is requiring makes me feel like it's not going to be a winner. The tweet that I'm working on is season four casting announcement. [20:12] this character who had the polyamory subplot [20:14] is [20:15] Aiella gets cast on season four and she's put opposite this character who had the polyamory some plot. It's a really roundabout. [20:23] Oh, that's the tweet. That's the tweet. Yeah. That's very funny. [20:26] That's very funny, but very, very niche, I think. The overlap of Bridgerton fans and IELA. I think it's... [20:34] Three to four people. [20:37] Maybe I'll just send it and see where you get to. Yeah. It might be one of those things that goes viral. You know, you never know. You never know. [20:43] . [20:46] Okay, last story here. We have to end with the Zin ban. Oh my god. Incredible. Incredible news. I don't actually know what's going on that much. I've just seen the memes and tweets about it. So I'm happy to be free. The memes and the tweets are incredible. So shout out to our Gen Z intern, Stephanie, who flagged the story for us. [21:03] She's like, urgent, urgent news. One tweet here, Jesus died for our Zins. Basically, they're suspending their online sales. And that's it. That's the full story.

[21:16] There was a 2022 ban on... [21:19] the sale of all flavored tobacco and the company that [21:24] makes ends received a subpoena from [21:27] DC basically about this and they're like, okay, we'll just like [21:30] Stop online sales. [21:32] My understanding is that they're still being sold in stores. So it's really not that big of a hit. Oh, so like bodegas can still... [21:39] buy and resell them. It's just like you can't buy it online. [21:42] I believe so. Yeah, that's my. Okay. So that's really not a big deal whatsoever. It's not a big deal. It's not a big deal. The memes are much better at it. But I do want you to guess how much Philip Morris. [21:51] I'm so sorry, but I do have your notes open here, so I can't guess. [21:56] How much Phil Morris bought the original maker of Zins for? [22:01] In 2022. [22:03] $16 billion. Wow. [22:05] That's that... [22:07] How does Philip Morris still have that much money? I don't know, but that's like addiction business money. [22:12] That is addiction business money for sure. That's casino gambling addicts. [22:17] vibes that money feels really bad [22:20] really dirty this dirty dirty dirty money yeah that's tough that's really tough um all right that's it that's the briefing [22:28] There it is. Thanks for listening. See you next week. And I hope you like malware. [22:34] Let us know.