https://digg.com is live! Public beta is open for community creation!

January’s almost over, which means it’s either too late or just early enough to still say “Happy New Year.” In this episode, Kevin and Alex wade through that awkward seasonal purgatory, debate etiquette, and naturally land on Alex’s go-to insult: “Eat the bag.”

Kevin checks in on Dry January and confirms that sleep is, in fact, real. The conversation takes a turn into the serious realities of alcohol withdrawal before pivoting to some big Digg news: the public beta is officially live, and you can now create your own Communities. Yes, that includes one called /onlyfans, which has absolutely nothing to do with what you think unless you are deeply into industrial air movers.

From there, it’s a full tech firehose. The Metaverse is officially declared dead, Claude Code is writing entire web apps in minutes, and a startup called Humans just raised $480 million to make AI more collaborative, or possibly sentient. Also on the docket: foldable iPhones, mindfulness, Matt Damon’s attention span, and why chicken wings keep showing up in self-driving cars.

This one’s got layers.

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Chapter Markers

00:00 Intro
00:44 When Is It Too Late to Say “Happy New Year”?
01:28 Alex’s All-Purpose Insult: “Eat the Bag”
03:32 Dry January Update: Alex Hits 20 Days
04:52 Alcohol Withdrawal Gets Real
07:16 Digg Public Beta and Build-Your-Own Communities
08:36 The Confusing Purity of the “/OnlyFans” Community
09:33 AI Moderation Logs That Actually Make Sense
11:11 The Metaverse Is Dead. Long Live Reality
14:37 Matt Damon and the Shrinking Human Attention Span
15:40 Why VR and AR Still Feel Like Homework
19:16 Mindfulness, Explained by Thich Nhat Hanh
22:51 The Meaning of Life
24:53 John Cleese on Why Failure Is the Whole Point
27:01 Kevin’s New Coding Obsession: Compound Engineering
30:04 AI Context Windows and How the Magic Works
40:02 Foldable iPhones in 2026? Let’s Argue
42:34 iPad vs Mac and the UX Identity Crisis
44:18 Humans Raises $480M to Make AI Less Robotic
53:50 Tesla Goes Subscription-Only for Full Self-Driving
55:46 Tensor Auto and the Semi-Sentient Rideshare Wars
1:00:25 People Are Leaving Trash in Waymos. Including Wings
1:02:07 Outro

Diggnation is back for 2026. In this New Year’s episode, Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht dive into Dry (ish) January, accidental woodworking injuries, and why Kevin's Peloton crush might be more motivating than your therapist. On the tech side, Kevin drops a quiet-but-clear hint for Digg beta users to keep an eye out. The guys talk about Samsung’s decision to ship Google’s Gemini AI to 800 million devices, which feels like a major win for Google’s ecosystem. On the tech side, Kevin gives a heads up to Digg beta users: Communities are coming. Now is a good time to start paying attention.

Also on deck: a bizarre Waymo vs. Santa Monica standoff involving robotic cars and 3 a.m. backup beeping, a Garmin plane that landed itself (because the pilot didn’t), and a Lego set that lights up on its own. Other stops include futuristic cartilage regrowth injections, the return of "Dolphin Shorts" via a Hooters rebrand nobody asked for, and an existential debate about smart fridges.

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Monarch — 50% off your first year with code DIGG: https://monarch.com

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YouTube Chapter Markers

00:00 Intro
02:41 Resolutions Nobody Asked For: Pilates & Productivity
03:36 Can Saunas Cure Depression or Just Make You Sweatier?
04:52 Kevin Gets Stabbed by Wellness (Acupuncture Chat)
06:02 Peloton and the German Instructor Who Yells in Motivation
07:13 Holiday Haul: Singing Bowls and the Rise of Vibe Decor
09:07 Spoon Carving, Blood Loss & $400 Japanese Hammers
12:30 Coming Soon: Digg Communities That Don’t Look Like Reddit
14:00 Samsung Gives 800M Devices a Gemini AI Glow-Up
20:31 Waymo Cars Are Beeping Insomnia Into Santa Monica
25:06 Self-Driving Cars Are Scanning Your Kids for Booster Seats
33:25 Lego Bricks Just Got Smarter (and Slightly Haunted)
37:07 How Boredom Became the New Self-Care Hack
42:10 Garmin Autoland: The Plane That Landed Itself
47:56 Parachutes for Planes and Other Backup Plans
56:53 Can Amazon's “Art Line” TV Beat the Samsung Frame?
1:01:00 Streaming Loyalty Tests: Apple TV, We See You
1:03:19 Movies Worth Hoarding Forever (Anchorman & Jack Reacher?)
1:05:08 Injecting Knees With Youth: The Cartilage Comeback
1:08:44 Dementia-Fighting Protein or Supervillain Serum?
1:09:54 Smart Fridge Fatigue vs. Bird Watching for Fun
1:13:05 Kamado Joe Smoker Review: BBQ Tech Gets Serious
1:15:23 Hooters Rebrands, Dolphin Shorts Return, Internet Shrugs

This holiday episode is a greatest hits tour of Diggnation Rebooted with Kevin and Alex in peak end of year form. Scotch gift exchanges and fighting Mike Tyson for $500,000 is a reasonable life choice. There are pronunciation corrections, especially Hyundai, plus plenty of love for retro futuristic concept cars.

AI takes center stage as the duo talks creativity and productivity with tools like Cursor and ChatGPT, including negotiation tricks and extremely questionable AI day trading strategies. The conversation also covers the Telepathy Tapes podcast, autism, neurodiversity, and Alex’s experience with aphantasia. Kevin finally understanding Netflix and chill.

Chapter Markers
00:00 Intro
04:22 Mike Tyson vs $500K
07:52 Hyundai Pronunciation and Car Concepts
13:00 Digg Beta Community Update
16:30 Building AI Web Apps on the Road
18:28 Telepathy Tapes, Autism, and Curiosity
21:56 AI Trading and Bad Financial Ideas
24:55 ChatGPT Negotiation Tactics
29:50 Kevin Discovers Netflix and Chill
31:38 Aphantasia Explained
35:50 Emotions, Money, and Decisions
37:41 End of Year Montage