Modem Futura

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AI Toys, Datafied Childhoods and the Future of Play

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The holiday toy season is here—and this year, the cutest thing on the shelf might also be the most powerful AI in your house. In the latest episode of Modem Futura, Andrew Maynard and I unpack the rise of AI-powered toys and what they mean for childhood, learning and the future of being human.

The conversation starts with a viral example: a plush teddy bear running GPT-4 that had to be pulled from the market after reportedly offering children tips on using matches and explaining adult sexual practices. From there, Sean and Andrew trace the longer lineage of “smart” toys—from Teddy Ruxpin and Furbies to Hello Barbie and Watson-powered dinosaurs—that have steadily normalized networked, data-hungry playthings.

(Checkout this commercial for Teddy Ruxpin... where it all started. Look at how the commercial shows the 'capture' of the kids when it talks - now add AI to this and ask, "what could possibly go wrong?")

We argue that today’s AI toys bring two risks into sharp focus. The first is the datification of childhood, where toys quietly record children’s voices, preferences and emotions, sending that data to companies, platforms and advertisers. The second is behavioral shaping, as large language models become deeply engaging companions that mirror back what kids want to hear, influencing how they see relationships, risk and themselves.

Connecting this to AI-driven education tools, neurodivergent learners and fictional touchstones like Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age and Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the episode asks a simple but urgent question: Who do we want raising our children—families and communities, or opaque AI systems embedded in toys?

Before you wrap this year’s hottest AI plush, this episode offers a thoughtful futures-oriented lens on what you’re really putting under the tree.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4pD98d4

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2FGujd4wk5rx39zGH8Ml4d?si=kGMN9NCiQfmbBEHpi2buwg

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/6_rSNKxsSOU

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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The AI Sustainability Paradox - Promise, Peril, and Planetary Futures – Episode 58

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AI, Sustainability, and the Planet Under Pressure: Can Technology Help Us Navigate the Future?

In this week’s episode of Modem Futura, Andrew and I take on one of the most urgent and complex questions of our time:Can artificial intelligence meaningfully help humanity navigate planetary crises — without deepening them?

Our jumping-off point is the newly released 2025 synthesis report AI for a Planet Under Pressure, produced by the Stockholm Resilience Centre and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. The report asks a deceptively simple but high-stakes question: Can AI be used responsibly and effectively to address climate change, biodiversity loss, freshwater stress, and other accelerating environmental pressures?

It’s the kind of question that seems tailor-made for futures thinking — a toolset we rely on heavily throughout the show. Because as we discuss, we’re not just talking about one technology or one problem. We’re talking about wicked problems: challenges that mutate as we try to solve them. Climate change, plastics pollution, ecosystem collapse, global energy transitions — these are dynamic, interconnected systems that resist silver-bullet solutions.

AI shows real promise. We now have models that can detect complex patterns in climate systems, accelerate protein discovery, optimize renewable-energy grids, and reveal future pathways humans simply cannot see on their own. These are powerful breakthroughs — and the report highlights dozens of examples where AI is already pushing sustainability science forward in meaningful ways.

But as we explore in the episode, this promise raises a difficult paradox:
AI requires enormous amounts of water, energy, and material resources. Data centers heat cities, strain local water supplies, and demand extractive mineral supply chains. Are we burning fossil fuels to solve the fossil-fuel crisis? And what does it mean when our sustainability solutions come with unsustainable footprints?

We also dig into the human side: the behaviors, incentives, and limitations that so often undermine long-term environmental action. Could AI help foster better cooperation? Could it assist governments, regions, and communities in seeing shared pathways forward that remain invisible today? Or does outsourcing too much responsibility risk numbing the very agency we need most?

These aren’t easy questions — but they’re necessary ones. And as Andrew points out, failing to have these conversations guarantees that someone else (or something else) will make those decisions for us.

If you’re curious about the intersection of AI, planetary futures, and the human condition, this is a conversation worth spending time with.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here 👇

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/43Y4Wwn

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/195UbUOIUv8oF587yNo1FM?si=d6d7cd6b05034703

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/O8gGpJZO-g4

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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The Metaverse - A Stack of Reality Layers – Episode 57

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Layers of Reality: Exploring the Metaverse Stack

When the headset comes off, does the world you were just in disappear—or does it linger somewhere between your senses and memory?

n our latest episode of Modem Futura, Andrew Maynard and I explore the metaverse as more than a corporate buzzword or sci-fi dream. We approach it as a continuum of realities — a multi-layered “stack” that spans the physical and digital, each tier more immersive than the last.

From our own immersive sessions with the Apple Vision Pro, we reflect on that strange moment of re-entry—when the headset comes off and the world feels slightly less real. It’s a feeling that raises existential questions about presence, identity, and how AI-generated worlds are shaping the boundaries of human experience.

In this episode, we trace the metaverse’s origins from Neil Stephenson’s Snow Crash to today’s spatial computing revolutions. We ask what happens when digital spaces become persistent and indistinguishable from physical ones—and why futures thinking is essential for guiding that transition responsibly. From procedurally generated AI environments to the idea of “digital sustainability,” we discuss how these technologies will reshape privacy, ethics, and our collective sense of reality.

Ultimately, this conversation is about our tethers to truth. In an age of deeply immersive AI systems and blended realities, how do we find our totem—our anchor that keeps us grounded in what matters most? We believe that intentional design, transparency, and care must guide how we build these new worlds before they begin to build us.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4p7ZZcr

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2C5LiGRYCdZgr5JijtK7LI?si=0FbAEihfTD6QXX5FN-2nag

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/iCAtutBmN5w

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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Through the lens: Spatial Computing with Apple Vision Pro – Episode 56

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Just a couple of guys wearing nerd helmets and talking about the future of tech.

Inside Spatial Computing: Living (and Working) with Apple Vision Pro

e finally did it — we recorded inside Apple Vision Pro.

In this new episode of Modem Futura, Andrew Maynard and I decided to take spatial computing off the keynote stage and into real life — from multi-monitor workflows and long-haul flights to immersive video, panoramic memories, and even telepresence “personas.” We wanted to know: is this the start of a new computing era, or simply a beautiful distraction in search of a use case?

What we discovered surprised us.

Apple’s Vision Pro doesn’t want to be “VR.” It’s spatial — a computer that understands the world around you. Through pass-through video, eye-tracking, and hand-gesture control, it creates a workspace that’s not just 3D but responsive to you. One look or small pinch replaces the keyboard and mouse. It’s impressive, sometimes uncanny, and often quietly magical.

But behind the magic are deep questions about comfort, value, and human need. The headset’s design reveals how far we’ve come in rendering, latency, and foveated focus — and how far we still are from true wear-all-day computing. The device itself sparks larger conversations: What does “presence” mean when you can blank out reality at will? How will social norms adapt when everyone’s wearing cameras? And where does accessibility fit in when interaction becomes multimodal — eyes, hands, voice, and environment all working together?

Want to see what we've been up to? Here you can see a collection of Spatial videos of our podcast - these were all recorded using a 3-camera multicam setup each filming in Spatial video formats.

One of the biggest challenges at the present for spatial video (a deep dive for later) is that in addition to few people having headsets as compared to smartphones for example, most video platform services do not provide a way to consume Spatial video - including Apple's own Vision OS of all things. Yes you can send a video file (these are massive btw - in the order of 9-20GB each) - but at present there isn't an Apple supported cloud based video viewer to which you can watch Spatial videos posted by your friends and family etc. Personally, I really hope that YouTube will start to allow the playback of Spatial videos (assuming they will put an officially supported YouTube app on the Apple Vision Pro of course).

We also talk about what comes after the headset. Think of a layered ecosystem:

  • Audio AR through your earbuds for subtle ambient context.

  • Lightweight AR glasses for glanceable, social interaction.

  • Full headsets for immersive creativity, co-presence, and exploration.

Rather than a single “device to rule them all,” spatial computing might evolve into a stack of experiences that adapt to how human attention, comfort, and curiosity really work.

It’s easy to be dazzled by tech specs, but the future of spatial computing depends less on what’s rendered and more on what it means to be present in digital space. That’s why we’re inviting developers, designers, and curious explorers to join us — to prototype, play, and imagine what spatial experiences could look like when they’re built for humans first.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/47Arkwv

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3V40dbWcrKZq9RCCmoP7Zh?si=s0CVT5aQS8WJ_CgbfMTBcg

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/IF3juEp9l_I

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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Tech or Treat: Exploring the Haunted Side of Future Tech

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Are you ready for some Tech or Treat?

Modem Futura’s Halloween special transforms speculative futures into eerie fun. Hosts Sean Leahy and Andrew Maynard use AI-generated scenarios to imagine haunted algorithms, sentient mirrors, and neural nightmare modes — revealing how emerging technologies can both thrill and unsettle us. This episode continues the show’s mission to explore how science, technology, and society intersect to shape the future of being human.

This episode grew out of our playful Futures Improv series, where we use AI to generate speculative prompts about the future — but this time, the prompts got a little… haunted. We explore “The Haunted Algorithm,” a defunct social-media AI that resurrects old user posts every October 31 — a digital séance that’s equal parts sentimental and unsettling. Then we look into “The Mirror That Remembers,” a smart-mirror concept that doesn’t just show your reflection, but who you might have been in another timeline. Finally, we enter “Neural Nightmare Mode,” imagining what could go wrong when brain-computer interfaces merge immersive gaming with fear response.

Each vignette uses humor and imagination to surface deeper questions: What does it mean when our digital selves outlive us? How do we ensure psychological safety in immersive tech? And at what point does innovation slip from magical to menacing?

Our goal isn’t to predict the future — it’s to provoke curiosity about how technology is reshaping what it means to be human. And if we can have some fun (and a few chills) along the way, even better.

You can stream the Halloween special wherever you get your podcasts or watch the illustrated episode on YouTube. If any of these scenarios inspire your own “Tech or Treat” ideas, share them with us — we’d love to feature the best ones in a future episode.

Subscribe and Connect!

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4oovNKa

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/47nWrjvBW3ASjMuJUip8o1?si=96d8062d029a4834

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZmZ46sHgMZY

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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Atlas, Higher Education, and How We Really Feel About AI – Episode 55

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Generated by ChatGPT

How We Really Feel About AI

Artificial intelligence isn’t just reshaping industries—it’s reshaping emotions. In our latest episode of Modem Futura, Andrew Maynard and I unpack Pew Research Center’s new international survey on how people view AI across 25 countries. The results are striking: while AI dominates headlines, 61 percent of respondents have heard “little or nothing” about it—and in the U.S., more people are concerned than excited.

We explore what this says about the bubbles we all inhabit. In our professional worlds, AI feels inescapable—a “black hole” pulling every conversation toward it. But outside these circles, many remain unaware of how deeply algorithmic systems already shape their lives. This disconnect raises profound questions about agency: if people don’t understand a technology that governs so much of modern life, who’s really steering the future?

The conversation also turns to trust. Europeans report more faith in their governments to regulate AI responsibly than Americans do—a difference that mirrors the EU’s proactive stance on ethics and guardrails. In contrast, U.S. policy remains fragmented, driven more by economic competition than by social cohesion. That tension—between speed and safety, innovation and inclusion—is at the heart of our discussion.

Dangers of Atlas (it's more the world he's holing... its all of your data!)

We then zoom in on universities. As public institutions, we argue they must act as transparent laboratories for AI exploration—spaces where successes and failures alike can be shared openly. The path forward isn’t boosterism; it’s honesty. We can’t earn public trust without showing our messy work. Adding to this - we explore OpenAI’s newly released Atlas browser and its privacy implications - and stumble upon a very shocking realization while recording - that private student data is easily exfiltrated when using LMS platforms such as Canvas while in this browser. What started as a curious road test of OpenAI’s new Atlas browser turned into a genuinely alarming discovery. As we installed and explored Atlas, the first surprise was how quickly the “privacy” pitch unraveled. Despite promising user control, Atlas behaved much like any other data-hungry app—prompting unusual permissions and positioning itself between us and the open web. That sparked a bigger question: if your browser is the main keyhole to the internet, what happens when an AI system sits in the keyhole, quietly learning from everything you do? (including sending and processing private user data - think ANYTHING that comes and goes from your activity on the web). The situation quickly got worse as I was unable to get Atlas to show me any particular websites security certificate. Specifically, at the time of testing (I hope they patch this soon) I could not see the sites SSL/TSL or HTTPS certificate (this is the little lock icon in most browser URL's) that tells you and the browser that your connection to the sites servers are "safe" via web-standard encryption protocols. You know, for things like your bank account info, passwords, and any other data you want to send or receive. The takeaway? Treat ATLAS like a red hot security hole for you and any organization or persons connected to you via the internet. Think twice before using this browser - as EVERYTHING you do on the web is potentially egress'd (fancy word for taken) – so until there are transparent safegaurds in place, the safest assumption is that anything you open in an AI browser like Atlas could be seen, summarized, and stored beyond your intent.



And because no Modem Futura episode is complete without a bit of speculative play, we end with Futures Improv, where we imagine AI zombies, memory economies, and spaghettified timelines—all to remind ourselves that foresight and humor often travel hand in hand.

If you care about how humanity and technology co-evolve, this episode offers a grounded yet playful map of where we stand—and where we might go next.



Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura wherever you get your podcasts and connect with us on LinkedIn. Drop a comment, pose a question, or challenge an idea—because the future isn’t something we watch happen, it’s something we build together. The medium may still be the massage, but we all have a hand in shaping how it touches tomorrow.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4nuRsit

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04NLQcVfJpoM444bQQfQ42?si=b9adf3740a0944fe

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/tYoLRZH5iH8

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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Sora, Slop, and the AI Economy: When ChatGPT Meets Walmart – Episode 54

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Image illustrated adaptation by ChatGPT

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when the world’s largest retailer merges with the world’s most talked-about AI, you’re not alone. In our newest episode of Modem Futura, Andrew Maynard and I explore how OpenAI’s latest moves—from Sora 2’s eerily lifelike videos to Walmart’s direct-to-ChatGPT shopping partnership—signal a seismic shift in how we live, learn, and buy in a post-search world.

Andrew also just returned from Lisbon for the global launch of his new book AI and the Art of Being Human, a deeply personal and practical guide to thriving with AI while staying grounded in what makes us human. Together we discuss the book’s central question: how can we build a meaningful life amid tools that increasingly think, speak, and create like us?

We also dive into futurist Amy Webb’s sharp warning that the financial plumbing of the internet is changing fast. As she notes, when an AI company built on venture debt begins replacing Google’s ad-based model, we risk building the next era of commerce on borrowed money—and borrowed trust.

From there, the episode ranges widely: we unpack the ethics of open-source AI groups like Nous Research, debate what “guardrails” really mean, and share our growing fatigue with synthetic content—the endless churn of what the internet now calls “AI-slop.”

But it’s not all doomscrolling. We end with a new round of Futures Improv—our playful segment imagining speculative scenarios like subscription-based immortality and AI DJs reading your neural signals. It’s improv, futures-style: serious ideas approached with humor and imagination.

Whether you’re an AI enthusiast, a creative technologist, or simply trying to stay human in a rapidly transforming world, this episode captures the heart of Modem Futura: thoughtful conversations that remind us the future isn’t just something that happens to us—it’s something we co-create, signal by signal.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/48C8PtS

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/38IopMk5XBA9xVsKU71UlM?si=wdAtLLaaQxGvNEjPVfqWTQ

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/aK-ev5T8Tu8

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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We Turned One - plus Liquid Media, Work Slop, and the Road Ahead – Episode 53

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Year One, Human First: How We’re Building a Relational Future Podcast

When ChatGPT thinks you run a podcast gameshow - this is how it draws you ;)

Fifty‑two straight weeks, many guests, and countless “aha” moments later, Modem Futura just turned one. Instead of a victory lap, we used this episode to do what we always do: invite you into the studio while we make sense of the future—together.

From day one we set out to be relational rather than transactional. That means no polished lectures and no sugar‑coated takes. It means showing our work, making space for genuine curiosity, and trusting that a community grows when people feel like they’ve pulled up a chair at the table. Over the past year, that approach has taken us everywhere—from AI and AGI to bio‑hybrid robots, simulation hypotheses, autonomous mobility (including a Waymo ride‑along), space futures, and media theory, just to scratch the top of the list. Listeners have told us they’re using episodes to kick off team discussions, and yes, we’re even astronaut approved! (Thanks Cady). That’s rocket fuel!

This anniversary episode isn’t just about reflections we also look ahead. We probe “liquid media”—from tools like NotebookLM to Huxe’s 24/7 AI‑generated radio—and ask where convenience ends and exhaustion begins. We talk about “work slop,” the plausible‑sounding but soulless output AI can slip into workflows, and the hidden cognitive tax leaders pay to verify it. And to keep futures thinking playful, we run a “Futures Improv” lightning round: AI pets smarter than real ones? Brain‑to‑brain headbands at work? Meditation‑mandated robotaxis? Jurassic Park on the Moon? The point isn’t to predict perfectly—it’s to stretch how we think so we can exercise our radical creativity. (Maybe this should become a reoccurring segment? - I’ll need to craft up a quick theme song I think… )

What’s on the calendar for next year? Expect deeper dives into human‑centered AI, experiments with spatial and wearable interfaces (Vision Pro, Meta’s glasses), and conversations that foreground care—for people, institutions, and futures worth having. And as Andrew’s new book AI and the Art of Being Human lands, we’ll keep exploring how technology can amplify, not erode, what makes us…us.

Join us:

  • Listen to the anniversary episode and subscribe on your favorite app

  • Comment with one idea we should explore next—or what we should put in the “empty chair” on non‑guest weeks

  • If the show sparked a conversation where you work, tell us how. We’ll highlight examples in a future episode.

If you believe better futures are built through candid, caring conversation, you’re in the right place.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/48oB1QS

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1H29Q1LnP8oL7LER1gS6wa?si=5j97IKzGSjGJFlZSQMS-hg

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/FX0DmYgIe0w

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/

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AI and the Art of Being Human: How to Thrive with AI - Episode 52

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Thrive with AI—Without Losing Yourself

What if the question isn’t “Will AI replace me?” but “How do I thrive—with AI—as me?” On Modem Futura we explore the intersection of emerging tech, society, and futures thinking—always with an eye to what it means to be human.

In this week’s episode, we launch AI and the Art of Being Human with guest Jeffrey Abbott—venture capitalist and founder of AI Salon—and go deep on a practical playbook for living and working well with AI. Rather than compete with the machine, the book reframes success around relationships, meaning, and personal dharma, then equips readers with 21 simple tools to move from anxiety to agency. Think reflection prompts you can use today, and a “conductor triangle” that balances data, context, and intuition when making decisions.

We also share how the book was built: co‑created with AI (transitioning from ChatGPT to Anthropic’s Claude), guided by a “shared compass” of Curiosity, Clarity, Intentionality, and Care, and coordinated through a living “lore book” that kept global, cinematic vignettes and recurring characters coherent across chapters. It’s a very human process—one that used AI to elevate craft, voice, and speed, not to shortcut thinking.

Another theme we loved: community. Through AI Salon’s 70+ chapters around the world, people are meeting in real life to explore what AI means for their work, families, and futures. That spirit animates the book’s final call: build intentional, protopian futures together—futures we would actually want to live in—by practicing care, not just efficiency.

Listen now, then tell us: Which tool will you try first? If the episode resonates, share it with someone who needs a nudge from “AI overwhelm” to intentional action.

Subscribe and Connect!

Subscribe to Modem Futura on a favorite podcast platform, follow on LinkedIn, and join the conversation by sharing thoughts and questions. The medium may still be the massage, but everyone has a chance to shape how it kneads modern culture—and to decide what kind of global village we ultimately build.

🎧 Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/42vrbJj

🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/22Uc1SOdpq4Iuza3wFtXkT?si=fRbsJStYSJigIwBv6EpwsA

📺 YouTube: https://youtu.be/b0xROye7BkI

🌐 Website: https://www.modemfutura.com/