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Breaking news and tips
The airlines sold you out
Let’s talk about something no one thinks about when booking a flight: where your travel info really goes.
An investigative bombshell from 404 Media just uncovered that the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), a company owned by the biggest U.S. airlines, has been giving federal agencies access to passenger records.
No, I’m not talking about flagged terrorists. We’re talking 5 billion ticket records of everyday folks like you and me, completely searchable by the FBI, ICE, the Secret Service and more. Wow.
All without a warrant.
🧳 What they have about you
ARC isn’t a household name, but it processes bookings from over 12,800 travel agencies and 270 airlines. That includes your flight through Expedia, business trip from your company’s travel desk or miles you cashed in last summer.
The data includes your full name, payment method, dates and times of travel, full itinerary and who you traveled with. This info goes into a database that law enforcement can search instantly, no judge or subpoena required.
🤫 It gets worse
The contracts between ARC and these agencies reportedly forbid them from ever revealing ARC as the source of the data. So if your personal travel history helped trigger an investigation or was sold off, you’d never know how they got it.
It’s a direct runaround of the Fourth Amendment, which is supposed to protect you from this kind of unchecked surveillance.
🛡️ Fight back
If this made your stomach drop, you’re not alone. It’s the latest example of data brokers acting as secret surveillance partners.
Dressing up your kitchen
🧂 My pick: Electric salt & pepper grinder (29% off)
Spice things up (literally). Adjust from powdery to chunky, without the wrist workout. Makes for a great housewarming gift.
🥗 Salad spinner (20% off): If your salad still drips, you’re doing it wrong. Double drainage means faster prep.
Olive oil sprayers (12% off, two-pack): Pour or spritz, it’s your call. Comes with labels so you won’t confuse oil for vinegar
🔥 Reusable oven liners (31% off, two-pack): These heavy-duty mats will save you from scrubbing baked-on disasters.
Glass meal prep containers (15% off): Stackable, leak-proof and microwave-safe. Packing lunch just got easier.
🛒 The shortcut aisle: Stroll over to my Amazon page for 30+ kitchen lifesavers that’ll save time and sanity.
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
AI just roasted your retirement plan
I set up my 401(k) back when I worked for AT&T and truly never looked at it again. I picked a few funds and stocks, hoped for the best and trusted that everything was on track. It worked out for me. But now?
📱 iOS 26: Go to Settings > Battery and you’ll see new tricks. When charging, your iPhone now shows how long it’ll take to hit 80% and 100%. Scroll down to Power Mode and try Adaptive Power. Instead of Low Power Mode, it automatically makes small performance tweaks during heavy use to stretch battery life.
A smart tip to help protect your retirement savings: With the economy so unpredictable, I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I protect a portion of my savings with real gold and silver from Goldco. And right now, Goldco is giving up to 10% back in FREE silver when you open a qualified account.
iPhone Air: beauty or bust?
Apple’s new iPhone Air is making headlines as the thinnest iPhone ever, lighter than Samsung’s slimmest models. But with a single camera and a $1,000 price tag, is it worth it? Here’s what you need to know.
1
The number of parents needed to make some baby iguanas. A female casque-headed iguana at Exotic Zoo in England just gave birth to eight healthy hatchlings without ever meeting a male. The phenomenon, called parthenogenesis, makes the babies genetic clones of mom, one of the rarest events in the animal kingdom. My bet? A very sneaky male iguana.
⌚ watchOS 26: The Notes app is finally on the Apple Watch. Open it and you’ll see all your synced notes. Pinned notes show up first, then everything else is sorted by date. To create a new one, tap the Note button in the bottom right, dictate with Siri and hit Done. It’ll appear in Today and sync across your devices.
Never get lost hiking again
Hit the trails smarter. From AllTrails’ 450,000 mapped routes to Cairn’s safety check-ins and PeakFinder’s mountain IDs, these hiking apps turn your phone into the ultimate trail guide. Here’s what you need to know.
🫠 Martian spa: Mars wasn’t always a dead rock. It had water. A lot of it. NASA’s rover just found proof the Jezero Crater got wet, not once but three different times. And not just any water, they’re saying chill, life-friendly mineral baths. Basically, Mars hosted spa days long before we even had plants.
Glow big or glow home
🎃 My pick: Flameless color-changing candles (19% off)
Spooky without the smoke. Get into the Halloween spirit with these flickering flames you can control from your couch.
🖼️ Picture-hanging strips (47% off): Swap your wall art as much as you want. Strong hold, clean removal, no hammer required.
Bamboo drawer dividers (29% off): Slide to size and get instant organization for your clothes, silverware, you name it.
👕 Wooden hangers (19% off, 20 pack): Ditch the flimsy plastic. These keep your fits looking sharp and wrinkle-free.
Hat rack organizer (15% off, two-pack): No more crushed brims. Clips right on your hangers to hold 10 hats per strip.
🧰 Handy finds, all in one place: Shop all my home improvement faves on my Amazon storefront.
We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.
Identity thieves are coming for your insurance
I was shocked by this stat the other day. The National Insurance Crime Bureau says identity theft–driven insurance fraud is projected to spike 49% by the end of 2025.
Really, insurance fraud?
🖥️ macOS 26: In Messages, set a background if the person you’re talking with is also on the latest Apple OS. Click the chat name at the top, go to the sidebar on the right and select Backgrounds. Choose from solid colors, themes, photos from your library, or generate one with AI.
🧃 Electric camel unlocked: Mercedes built a prototype EV that drove 749 miles across Europe without blinking, and it still had 85 miles in the tank. One battery. Zero charging. That’s the distance from New York to Chicago, and maybe circling the block for parking. Solid-state tech, real-life road, no science fair nonsense. It’s coming by 2030.
Lock it down: ExpressVPN is my go-to for online privacy. With one click, everything you do is hidden from hackers, snoops, even your internet provider. Right now, you’ll get 4 months FREE!
The airlines are selling you out
Forget peanuts. Airlines are quietly handing over five billion passenger records to the feds. Then, I talk to Brian, a grieving uncle who wants to name his pond on Google Maps after his niece but isn’t sure how to get started. Plus, the U.S. keeps TikTok alive, and one woman keeps getting tickets for cars she’s never even seen.
The cloud is actually in the ocean
The world’s internet runs on wet spaghetti under the sea, and when those cables snap, we all feel it. George, your AI host of The Current, explains how fragile our digital lifeline really is, then covers poisoned calendar invites, an AI lawsuit, TikTok’s survival deal, Roku’s bot-made ads, and Amazon’s big hardware reveal.
📄 Delete PDF pages for free: Using the basic version of Acrobat? You can’t remove pages directly, but there’s a loophole. Go to Menu > Print, set the Printer to Microsoft Print to PDF (Windows) or Save as PDF (Mac). Under Pages to Print, choose the range you want (like 5–12), then hit Print and save your new file.
Bad news for photodumps: The new iPhone 17s, yep, the $1,200 ones, are apparently glitching if you take pics near bright LED lights, like at concerts. One reviewer found black boxes, missing chunks, ghostly squiggles. Apple says it’s rare and a fix is coming, but for now? Your pics might look like abstract art.