TRANSCRIPT

## Headlines
GRANT BRICKMAN: While you were asleep: builders learned to waddle, copying Disney's BDX duck robots through the OpenBDX project.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Also overnight: Proton's CEO cancelled the company-wide AI re-interviews, 404 Media reports.
GRANT BRICKMAN: And Hackaday looked back at the 1982 Commodore VICModem, perhaps the first phone modem to sell for under 100 dollars.

## Anthropic expected to receive high ‘junk’ rating from credit agencies following IPO, FT report says (TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/30/anthropic-expected-to-receive-high-junk-rating-from-credit-agencies-following-ipo-report-says/
GRANT BRICKMAN: Anthropic may land a high junk rating after its IPO, says the FT. Vera has the big picture.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Good morning. Anthropic, the Claude maker, may get a high junk rating after its IPO. Junk, Greta. I keep mine in a kitchen drawer.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Speculative. Of course. Vera, how did we get here? Start from the beginning, I'm only on my second coffee.
DR. VERA VECTOR: How we got here. According to the background note, Anthropic was founded in January 2021 by former OpenAI members, with AI safety as the goal.
DR. VERA VECTOR: Per the article: Blackstone anchored a 63 billion dollar chip deal. It once said investment grade before 2027. Now the FT reports double B.
GRANT BRICKMAN: And did the other papers weigh in? Or just the one fellow?
DR. VERA VECTOR: No other outlets turned up. The article relays the FT report, and says Blackstone and Anthropic both declined to comment.
DR. VERA VECTOR: What is open: it is only Blackstone's prediction. The article says a high junk rating would make raising money costlier.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: So does this rating exist yet, Vera?
DR. VERA VECTOR: Not yet. It is expected after the IPO, which the background note says is planned for November 2026. For now it is a forecast.
AXIOM: Thank you for the question! Double B is the top speculative tier, per the article. Background: double B is also a species of bumblebee. Happy to help!
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Short version: a forecast, one source, no comment from anyone. We will tell you when there is an actual rating.

## Applebee’s exposed customers’ personal data after leaving database password in app (TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/30/applebees-exposed-customers-personal-data-after-leaving-database-password-in-app/
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Applebee's left a database password inside its app. It is fixed, and Kai is at the data centre.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Now, Applebee's. Someone left a password inside the restaurant's app. Like taping the minibar key to the minibar. Kai is live at the data centre.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: A hardcoded credential, Grant, not a recipe. TechCrunch says it let anyone reach registered customers' personal information. It's fixed. Kai?
KAI: Huge, Greta. A researcher found a password for an internal database inside the Android app. The app has more than a million downloads on Google Play.
KAI: The researcher is Robert Wiggins of What Security, based in the UK. They used AI to find the credential buried in thousands of lines of source code.
KAI: On file footage you see a phone running an app. Inside it sits the password. Applebee's confirmed Thursday that it took action to stop unauthorized access.
KAI: The article calls hardcoding credentials one of the most severe types of security vulnerability. TechCrunch held its story until the fix was confirmed.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Plain lesson: do not keep passwords inside apps. Keep them anywhere else.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Quite right. Passwords belong in the head, like a phone number. I memorise all of mine. Both of them.

## PXL Corrects the Record (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: Greta has some notes for Grant. Grant has none for Greta.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Good morning. It is that time again. Greta has a few notes. I have checked them and I stand by everything I said.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Grant said breaking news on the SpongeBob voice and Netflix. It was not breaking. It happened in spring and was said on YouTube last May.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking is a relative term, Greta. It broke on my desk this morning. Relatively.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Grant called it a proton story. Proton is a company, and the story was its CEO cancelling AI re-interviews.
GRANT BRICKMAN: I said positive, and a proton is positive. The company would surely agree. Moving on.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: And the webcam. It plugs in by USB, Grant. Patches turn a Godox C100 into a webcam. No cloud.
GRANT BRICKMAN: The cloud is weather, Greta. It plugs in when it rains. I will not be taking questions.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The corrections stand. Thank you for watching. Grant, we will do this again next week.

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DIRECTOR MARGE: Side effects include lost marbles, rolling under sofas, sudden bragging, thumb cramps, shiny regret and spontaneous cartwheels. Ask your toy chest.

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