Pay-to-park warfare: A viral site let San Franciscans dodge parking tickets by showing where enforcement officers were in real time. The leaderboard showed one officer writing 192 tickets in a single day, over $20K in fines! The city patched the data feed within hours, killing the tool, after 50,000 people tried it.
$725 million
That’s the total Facebook is shelling out for its privacy sins. Payouts depend on how long you were active between 2007 to 2022, so your hardcore FarmVille grinding may finally pay off. Don’t expect much, though. Basically, 15 years of oversharing buys you lunch, not a vacation.
📸 Add Instagram highlights secretly: Create highlights without posting to your story. Open the app, tap your profile button, then the (+) in the top right. Select Story, pick a photo and hit the arrow at the bottom. Under Close Friends, choose someone who doesn’t follow you back and tap Share. Then hit Add to Highlights.
Search goes live: Google just dropped Search Live in the U.S. You point your camera, talk out loud, and it feeds you answers plus links in real time. Ask which munchies to grab or how to fix your busted fan, and boom, Google talks back. Free, no sign-up required. At this point, even my snacks are getting SEO’d.
CapCut’s hidden side: Think CapCut’s just a video-editing app? Nope, it’s TikTok’s little cousin without seat belts. No parental controls, weak age checks, and kids can run into strangers or even see posts with phone numbers. Docs say it fuels oversharing and self-esteem hits. If your kid’s using it, check their settings, peek at their uploads and talk about what not to share.
Big TikTok news: Trump is expected to sign an executive order today that officially puts TikTok’s “sale” in motion. Word is that ByteDance will drop its control and the U.S. will lease TikTok’s algorithm so it stays “American enough” to keep running.
🍊 Fruit ninja: Coca-Cola has teamed up with MIT to save … oranges. Seriously. A bacterial disease is wrecking citrus trees, and Coke’s using AI to fast-track a cure. If they don’t figure it out, orange juice could be basically extinct in 25 years. The project’s called “Save the Orange.” Yes, that’s real. I’m rooting for juice. Your future breakfast might just be toast.
⚡ Apple Pay’s “free money”: You have to see this TikTok of a woman crying because she thought Apple Pay was Apple’s way of giving her money. She thought every tap, every time she accepted cookies and every app she downloaded earned her cash. I bet she thinks American Express is a train. Watch the short video here. Real or not? Let me know when you rate the newsletter at the end.
TikTok gets a chaperone: Instead of a ban, TikTok’s getting a weird fix. ByteDance will lease its algorithm (paywall link) to a U.S.-controlled company. Oracle handles the “don’t spy on Americans” part, and the app on your phone? Works the same. No re-download needed, no sudden disappearance.
⚡️ 3-second tech genius: On Facebook, save interesting posts for later. Tap the three-dot menu on a post, select Save post and find them anytime under the Saved section.
💻 The kids are not alright: I read this new report and felt sick. One in three boys, ages 9 to 12, has had sexual interactions online. Yeah, 9. Instagram, Discord, even Roblox. Most aren’t telling anyone. If you’ve got kids, ask what apps they use. No shame, no lectures, just real talk. Be their safe place before someone else pretends to be.
🫣 Wait, is TikTok … different? The U.S. takeover deal’s in motion, and with it? A few quiet tweaks. Your “For You” might feel a little … less global. New terms, new vibes and maybe fewer dance trends from Berlin. It’s not broken, it’s just moving in with Oracle.
🌎 Map versus reality: Ever wondered how big a country really is? The True Size Of is a free tool that lets you drag and drop places side by side. Type the name of a country or state, move it where you want, and search another. Use the compass in the bottom left to rotate and your mouse wheel to zoom. Cool.
🔮 Witches on the payroll: Before their hot streak, the Mariners were cooked. Then a fan hired SpellByLuna on Etsy to “unf*ck the team.” Now? Nine wins straight and a team-approved witch cameo on X. Players even shouted out the witch. Sports curses? Cliché. Sports spells? Apparently working overtime. I think the witch was from Austin, which makes her a hexin’ Texan.
💊 Beware the Benadryl: A South Carolina teen landed in the ER after trying TikTok’s “Benadryl Challenge,” sending her heart racing to nearly 200 bpm while hallucinating. She’s OK, but high doses can cause seizures, coma, even death. Her parents are warning other families.
🇨🇳 TikTok on the clock: Looks like the U.S. and China are inching toward a deal that could keep TikTok alive in America. The plan would move U.S. operations, with Oracle overseeing data here in the States. Communist China’s ByteDance would still have a hand in the algorithm, which is the heart and soul of the app.
🔮 Fringe vs. formula: YouTubers and podcasters are stirring up physics drama, asking why the field feels stuck. Eric Weinstein pushes his own theory, Sabine Hossenfelder calls out cowardice, and Joe Rogan treats cosmic debates like UFC fight night. Physicists insist progress is real, but the internet wants receipts on trending hype vs. conspiracy fuel, with the algorithm keeping score.
👀 Trading goes social: Robinhood’s turning into a social app. You’ll see verified trades (paywall link) like time stamps and profits. Even follow public moves like Pelosi’s options game or Zuck’s stock moves. Beta’s just 10,000 people early next year. Basically, a social feature for Wall Street gossip making it way too easy to copy.
🦜 Scammers’ new low: Two domestic abuse survivors in Cleveland connected through a Facebook post about a parrot named Precious, hoping the rescue would bring some comfort and healing. But it turned out to be a scam. The so-called rescue used stolen business info to appear legitimate, took their money and disappeared. There’s a special place for scammers targeting people at their most vulnerable.