Musings on Meta Muse’s privacy problems and a look at OpenAI’s new Dots

Plus, driving at 406mph, how to tell if an image is an AI fake, electing a Klingon as mayor, in-depth SJVN interview, and Dark Dario.

Oct 05, 2026

I’m David Gewirtz. Welcome to this week’s Advanced Geekery newsletter. It’s been an exciting week. Let’s dive in.

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My articles

Here’s a quick recap of the articles I published in the last week on ZDNET.

Meta Muse is the worst AI agent for privacy - and I’ve tried them all: Meta’s AI agent holds its own against others from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. But don’t say yes to every permission without reading this first.

OpenAI’s Dots: Like OpenClaw declawed - for $100/mo ChatGPT Pro users: OpenAI’s Dots could transform work, but the pricing, permissions, training demands, and security tradeoffs deserve serious scrutiny before you subscribe today.

Project of the week

So… this is happening. Can’t tell you what it is yet. But it’s definitely been my project of the week. Stay tuned. There will, of course, be a video.

Must-watch YouTube

Moving on, let’s queue up some interesting YouTube videos for your entertainment and edification.

This week, we have a fascinating interview with ZDNET’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols on his career, Linux, the open source ecosystem, and AI. Dull, it’s not.
Speaking of AI, SNL does a hilarious sendup of Anthropic’s Dario Amodei. Dark. Really, frickn’ dark.
Here’s a short news report about some anonymous citizen’s quest to elect the Klingon Gowron as mayor. Who says Canadians don’t have a sense of humor?

Gear accessory of the week

I found this while digging around Amazon for something else. It’s a way to connect two monitors together side-by-side, using magnets. If you use multiple monitors, this might be an interesting resource.

Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Interesting reads

And now, some good stuff from around the Internet, well worth checking out.

Dude drives hydrogen-powered vehicle at 406 miles per hour. I feel the need, the need for speed!
Story in The Hill about how influencer culture is hurting folks financially.
ZDNET’s Elyse Betters Picaro shares six ways to tell if an image is an AI-generated fake.

Send in your projects

I’d like to regularly spotlight a reader project or two here. Your project doesn’t have to be a big Kickstarter launch. If you’ve built something cool, it has some pretty pictures, and you’re proud of it, I might be able to share it here.

If you have a photogenic reader project, send an email to me at david@zatz.com with the subject “READER PROJECT,” a few pictures, and a short one-paragraph description. If you have a social media link or a link to the project, include that, too.