In an emotional episode published July 28, 2026, DH Unplugged bid farewell to co-host John C. Dvorak, who passed away peacefully at home the previous week. Titled “Remembering JCD,” the episode features Andrew Horowitz and Dvorak's son, JC Dvorak, sharing memories and announcing a public memorial meetup in Fort Lauderdale.
Horowitz opened with a tribute, saying, “He made our audiences smarter, and friendships richer. And Tuesday nights are never going to be the same, ever.” The episode includes readings of condolence notes from listeners worldwide, highlighting Dvorak's broad impact.
JC Dvorak offered a personal glimpse into family life, recalling weekly dinners with his father. “For the past, you know, decade or more, we've been doing a dinner every Friday, and last Friday was really hard because it was, you know, we didn't have dinner,” he said. He also shared stories of growing up around tech luminaries like Larry Ellison and early CNET coverage.
The hosts confirmed an in-person tribute and meetup on 8/8 at 3:33 PM in Fort Lauderdale, coinciding with Dvorak's funeral earlier that day. This gathering aims to bring together friends, fans, and fellow podcasters to honor his legacy.
After the remembrance, the conversation shifted to financial markets, maintaining the show's core mission. Horowitz described a “rug pull” mood around SpaceX, Tesla's robotaxi promises, and Cathie Wood's trillion-dollar thesis. They analyzed a chart at dhunplugged.com showing Nvidia at the center of a circular financing loop involving Oracle, SoftBank, and major banks, drawing parallels to the Lucent and Nortel vendor financing during the 1999-2000 telecom bubble.
JC Dvorak, working inside the AI industry, detailed how models like DeepSeek and Moonshot's Kimi K3 are pressuring margins. He described a client moving from a $10 million Anthropic contract to a $100,000 on-prem Kimi deployment, underscoring the cost disruptions. He also questioned whether OpenAI's reported rogue model incident was genuine or “incompetence dressed up as existential marketing.”
The episode also covered Nvidia's $250 billion OpenAI backstop, the Ohio data center buildout, and circular AI financing. Semiconductors are entering a bear market, with SK Hynix earnings and the CXMT IPO surge in China adding to the uncertainty.
The show concluded with the “Close to the Pin” winner, Mark Pugner of Ireland, who used Dvorak's old pseudonym and accurately guessed SpaceX at $133 against a $123.99 close.
DH Unplugged, hosted by Andrew Horowitz and the late John C. Dvorak, is a weekly investing and markets podcast blending commentary, economic news, and cultural observations. Episode 811 is available now on dhunplugged.com, RSS, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
