Ben Ellman

@heybellman

Radio Producer / Reporter for the likes of Engadget, NPR, Digiday, and maybe you! Probably sent you an invite to NYC Radio Club. I treat this site like a sassy LinkedIn™ for media people

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Ben Ellman@heybellman· 27d

Seen just now on TikTok

A picture of the sky looking eerily sand-colored due to wildfire smoke and text that reads:

Can't eat bagged salad bc of the parasites can't breath the smog air bc of the fires in the middle of another heat wave but thank god the computer can generate us fugly fliers!!

Ben Ellman@heybellman· 27d

Pausa de Hidratación

Ben Ellman@heybellman· 27d

…and that’s just barely counting the corner stores that are using it!!

A very obviously AI generated sign found in my neighborhood with cups of uncanny looking ice and text that says 99 cents Ice cup - stay cool

Ben Ellman@heybellman· 28d

I went to the event in Manhattan this past weekend and these pickups in Crayola colors sure are cute!

A scale model of the Slate electric pickup truck in the Crayola color Razzmatazz, which is like…pinkish red? I don’t trust myself with these things, I’m color blind.

A picture of the Slate key fob, also in razzmatazz. The bottom edge of the fob is the same color as the car with a fun little squiggle

The frunk of a dandelion-colored Slate truck open for event visitors to look into

A Slate pickup with a custom wrap that looks like crayon squigggles coloring in the various parts of the car. The hood is a different color than the front grill and the area above the wheel well is another color still. This preschool looking truck is quite cute

Ben Ellman@heybellman· 28d

Thanks to the show's listeners and viewers during my tenure. Thanks for talking music with me, thanks for sparring with me about AI, thanks for turning me into an AI-generated anime character and good old fashioned .gif of Zordon It feels great to know there are real people listening

Ben Ellman@heybellman· 28d

Professional News: This past Friday I learned that last week's episode of The Engadget Podcast was my final one as the show's producer. @devindra.bsky.social, @cherlynn.bsky.social and I restarted the show from scratch in October 2019 and I was able to see it to episode 316, that's a great run!

I love when people post their edit timelines, so here are a few of my favorite episodes from my perspective:

This first one is a screenshot of the Reaper edit window showing the timeline for my last episode with Engadget, episode 316 "Xbox resets with layoffs" with guest Mike Futter

A screenshot of the Reaper DAW edit window showing the timeline for episode 312 "Diving into the Fitbit Air and the Pope's AI criticism" where we talked with Vatican priest Fr. Robert Ballecer about the Pope's encyclical on AI

A screenshot of the Reaper edit window showing the timeline for episode 285 "How to survive our AI video Hellscape" featuring WaPo's Drew Harwell and Jeremy Carrasco, a livestream professional who debunks AI video hoaxes

A screenshot of the Reaper edit window showing the timeline for episode 65 "How Reddit day traders blew up GameStop's stock" where we talked with someone from /r/wallstreetbets at the height of the Gamestop stock run

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jul 7

Exhibit B

A screenshot of a post by Jamelle Bouie Bouie that says: "emmanuel is so ruthlessly cynical that this is basically telling you where the typical democratic voter is on american aid to israel"

Bouie quoted a post with a link to a Politico article about Rahm Emmanuel that reads "Rahm Emmanuel, considered one of the most pro Israel members of the Obama admin and a 2028 presidential candidate, is going to deliver a speech on Wednesday where he will call for an end to all taxpayer funded aid to Israel and sanctions on people, banks and companies engaged in settlement activity."

ngl, this is a crazy thing to see from Rahm

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jun 30

Perfect example: someone is still going to think this sketch is genuine in spite of the terrible accent

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jun 25

Youtube comment on a Ninajirachi video that says "what a nice lady, I wonder what she wants to do to her computer"

iykyk

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jun 25

That brings us to Freddy, the (probably real) German tourist whose fascination with Taco Bell and the Coke Freestyle machine has gotten him private tours of big sports facilities, his own google animation, and an invite to the White House. It's likely he was the one who started all of this!

a Freddyla7 tweet about being overwhelmed by the choices in the Coke Freestyle machine

When you google Freddyla7 confetti rains down from the top of the screen along with cartoon pictures of American flags, soccer balls, waffles, and cars with the caption "Your roadtrip: 10/10, no notes"

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jun 25

I came across this dramatic reading on TikTok and had good reason to assume it was written by a Japanese soccer fan in the US for the World Cup and the stiff prose was due to automated translation. Nope, it’s from an account that prompts chatbots to write in the style of a time-traveling samurai

A screenshot of the original Nobunaga biscuits and gravy tweet with an obviously AI generated picture

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jun 25

I spent the morning catching up on the wave of foreigners enjoying American cuisine and convenience A lot of it is real (hard to fake the Tartan army), a lot of it is fake, and everything is magnified in the age of contextless scroll For example, the tweet behind this video was written by AI:

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Jun 16

SpaceX knows these investors want to see a return now, right?

Screenshot of a bar graph from a Bloomberg article. The headline says "SPACEX SET TO OVERTAKE AMAZON IN VALUE AS IT SOARS FOR A THIRD DAY"

On June 16, 2026 SpaceX market value is listed as $2.98T behind Nvidia, Alphabet, and Apple on a list of most valuable American companies. Microsoft and Amazon round out the list

Ben Ellman@heybellman· May 27

Found an AI search guardrail while looking up a dogwhistle phrase I saw in a comment section

Screenshot of a Google search for "totally joyful day" where the AI overview says:

"It sounds like you are aiming for a really positive and uplifting day.
If you are looking for actual fun activities, relaxation spots, or entertainment in your local area..."

The first actual link is to the anti-deformation league's website, which says the phrase can be abbreviated to mean "racist and antisemitic slogans referring to the mass death or killing of Black people and Jews."

Ben Ellman@heybellman· May 13

The only comment on the U.S. News video is the most 2012 thing I can imagine

Youtube comment from a video from 2012 titled "which party will get the internet vote?" that just says

"ron paul."

Ben Ellman@heybellman· May 11

I saw someone shitting on the Palantir chore coat on TikTok and made this comment It’s great that you went to the source!

Ben Ellman@heybellman· May 4

I paid $85 in additional charges for 4 tickets to Hayley Williams at Forest Hills Stadium in NYC. There's no itemization for state and local tax, I don't know how much AXS tagged onto the price. We're so past needing a law about this

a screenshot of a receipt for concert tickets that says:

"Sub total: $353.88
Service Fees: $84.12"

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Apr 15

I’m gonna see this in NYC before the end of this unexpectedly hot week, I know it

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Apr 9

I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure this subhead doesn't come true

Headline: Why Every Streaming Service Suddenly Wants a Podcast Strategy

Scary subhead: According to some media executives, podcasts are the new day-time television

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Apr 3

When the second drop hits

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 30

Don’t make me tap the sign

Screenshot of a character The Simpsons pointing to a sign, but the text has been replaced with “there is no difference between positive and negative engagement,
engagement is blind and dunking on something is the same as promoting it”

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 30

So of course Kent went on Carlson's Youtube show as his first interview after resigning from government work. Let's take a look at the top comment:

A Youtube comment with 28 thousand likes:

We desperately need a separation of synagogue and state.

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 25

And now a live look at what's been happening with Meta in the courts this week

A cartoon fight cloud with arms and legs sticking out of a brawl

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 18

oh god, is Polymarket actually opening a bar in D.C. specifically for 'monitoring the situation'? Feels like OTB for the worst dork you've ever met

Tweet from Polymarket:

We're excited to announce 'The Situation Room' by Polymarket is coming to Washington, D.C.

The world's first bar dedicated to monitoring the situation.

The post is accompanied by a near-certainly AI generated image of a bar with a bunch of screens showing maps and graphs. Like a sports bar, but for the worst losers you know

A second tweet from the Polymarket thread:

Imagine a sports bar… but just for situation monitoring — live X feeds, flight radar, Bloomberg terminals, and Polymarket screens.

Two images are attached. One of the exterior of this imagined bar lit in blue neon. The other image is...I guess what a patron can expect their place at the bar to look like? A bar glass with an old fashioned on the rocks and a smoldering cigar in an ash tray

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 17

The fact that Tucker Carlson is quoted in NYT's article about Kent resigning feels ominous, see the pic below for why. A consensus is forming in pockets of the right that "bad things are happening because of a certain group of people" www.nytimes.com/2026/03/17/w...

Tucker Carlson recently rolled out a new line of merch for his independent media org. This hat says "Neocons are Gay for Israel"

This screenshot was taken midday of March 17, 2026 and at the time this hat was sold out

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 17

Joe Kent is a fascist hoping to look like a principled public servant by resigning over the Iran war. He had no problem hanging out with a Washington state militia during the second of his failed House campaigns in 2022

Text from Joe Kent’s Wikipedia article:

Kent led a rally against a false claim that the Washington State Board of Health was set to forcefully quarantine citizens who did not get the COVID-19 vaccine in January 2022. [52) In March, he appeared at an event organized by the Washington State Three Percenters, a far-right militia.153] Kent once advocated for a federal ban on abortion, but later narrowed his position towards states' rights. [49] By the following month, he had called for an investigation into Anthony Fauci over the origin of SARS-Cov-2 and for a complete shutdown in immigration to the United States. 145) In September, Kent stated Fauci should be charged with murder and described COVID-19 vaccines as "experimental gene therapy" (51) he is unvaccinated against COVID-19.13] At a rally with Matt Gaetz in September 2021, Kent advocated for school vouchers and per-child tax deductions for parents.(54] Kent opposed several proposals to replace the Interstate Bridge, including tolling and light rail, in his 2024 campaign.[55]

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 12

techcrunch.com/2026/03/11/a...

A still from the scene in The Big Short where Steve Carell's character says "hey, it's a bubble"

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Mar 3

I hadn’t heard about the new @npr.org ad campaign until now. This is extremely smart and effective!

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Feb 27

U.S. Men’s Hockey Team: Takes call from Trump in the locker room,visits the White House Meanwhile, at the Women’s Hockey Game:

A rider on a zamboni at a PWHL game holding a flag that says “ABOLISH ICE”

A rider on a zamboni at a PWHL game holding a trans pride flag that says “Trans Ppl Belong in Sports”

Ben Ellman@heybellman· Feb 24

They called off the Bard gala, a $1000/seat event because our college's president has been in the news recently. I wonder why they cancelled? Admission is only 39 cents for every time Leon Botstein appeared in Jeffrey Epstein's emails