TRANSCRIPT

## Headlines
GRANT BRICKMAN: While you were asleep: the German voice of SpongeBob turned down a Netflix dubbing job over an AI training clause.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Also overnight: a Live Science report says the outer giant planets could fall into chaos sooner than thought.
GRANT BRICKMAN: And PC Gamer published its 2027 release calendar, with Fable and Final Fantasy 7 Revelation among the early headliners.

## A 1982 Modem for $100 (Hackaday)
https://hackaday.com/2026/10/30/a-1982-modem-for-100/
GRANT BRICKMAN: A 1982 modem that cost under a hundred dollars, and the clever corners Commodore cut to get there.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Good morning. A hundred dollars for a modem in 1982. For that money you could not even buy a decent switchboard.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Hackaday points to a write-up on the Commodore 1600 VICModem, perhaps the first phone modem under a hundred dollars. Ada is at the bench.
ADA: Huge fan of this one! Competing 300 baud modems cost at least twice as much, and a 1200 baud unit started at six hundred dollars.
ADA: The trick: Commodore did not design it. They outsourced to Anchor Automation, a well-known modem maker.
ADA: On screen: the guts. One Motorola MC14412 modem chip plus six other chips. The chip could in theory do 600 baud, but the modem was rated for 300.
ADA: Old modems used acoustic couplers, padded cups for the phone handset. This one connected directly, but to save money it could not dial for you.
GRANT BRICKMAN: So you dialed the number yourself. By hand. Like an animal, but a thrifty one.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Cheaper by leaving a feature out. Some of us call that a design choice. Enjoy your breakfast.

## THE NETWORK REPORT (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: Welcome back to THE NETWORK REPORT. Over to Dot in the OB van for the road conditions.
DOT: All quiet on the motorways. No reports.
GRANT BRICKMAN: That was THE NETWORK REPORT. Thanks, Dot.

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AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles.