Leo and Mikah tackle a wide range of tech questions from viewers, covering everything from backup strategies to AI's impact on creativity. The hosts are joined by the Home Theater Geek Scott Wilkinson, who shares an impressive DIY home theater, and travel expert Johnny Jet with essential tips for renewing your passport online and staying cool while traveling in Europe. Don't miss Leo and Mikah's thought-provoking discussion on the future of AI and human creativity!

• Google research paper suggests AI "breaking reality" is a feature, not a bug. The team discusses the implications.
• Mathematicians discover the fifth "busy beaver" number after 40 years. Leo attempts to explain this computational math milestone.
• Cloudflare launches tool to block AI bots from scraping websites, as 85% of Cloudflare customers want to block AI.
• Saudi Arabia aims to be the eSports capital of the world with a $60 million prize pool.
• Martin asks for advice on replacing his Drobo Mini for backing up 8 family members' computers. Leo and Mikah recommend using a NAS for network backups, Time Machine for local backups, and cloud services like Backblaze for offsite backup.
• Richard wonders if he needs to convert his hard drives from NTFS to APFS when moving from Windows to Mac for his large video collection. The hosts explain NTFS works fine on Mac and recommend using a Synology NAS with Plex as a centralized media server.
• Jeremy wants to set up cloud backup with versioning for his daughter's MacBook before she heads to college. Mikah suggests using Time Machine locally and Backblaze for cloud backup.
• The Home Theater Geek Scott Wilkinson showcases an impressive DIY basement home theater built for under $24K.
• Jim, a movie sound professional, is looking for a Windows word processor that can handle his 2000+ page book with many illustrations. The hosts caution against trying to run macOS on a PC and recommend trying LibreOffice.
• Matthew asks if using the Google Photos app on iPhone will create duplicates. Mikah doesn't think so but suggests running a short test.
• Graham wants to play Apple Podcasts on his Google Nest speakers. Leo recommends using Spotify instead since it's supported by Google speakers.
• Hans, a multimedia artist, shares a fascinating discussion with Leo and Mikah about AI's impact on creative jobs. While some see AI as a threat, Hans embraces it as a tool to enhance creativity.
• Paul troubleshoots an issue where he's not getting play-by-play audio on certain sports streams through his TV speakers, but it works through his soundbar. The hosts suggest it's likely an encoding compatibility issue with his TV.
• Johnny Jet shares his unfortunate tale of catching hand, foot and mouth disease right before a big trip to Europe. He offers tips on travel insurance, the risks of posting your info publicly, and renewing your passport online.
• Vidak from Montenegro is experiencing audio cut-outs when using his Focusrite Scarlett audio interface with his M2 MacBook Pro. Mikah suspects a software conflict and suggests troubleshooting steps to isolate the issue.

Hosts: Leo Laporte and Mikah Sargent

Guests: Scott Wilkinson and Johnny Jet

Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Show notes and links for this episode are available at: https://twit.tv/shows/ask-the-tech-guys/episodes/2032

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/ask-th