The real reason CrowdStrike brought companies to their knees
Yesterday, you couldn’t miss seeing photos of the Windows Blue Screen of Death all over airport screens and news of massive problems hitting computers everywhere. Some consider it one of the largest IT outages in history. And it all started with a company you may not have heard about until now: CrowdStrike. (A few major news outlets inaccurately reported it as “CloudStrike.” Now you know better!)
🐰 Bunny speed-dating: Rabbits are social animals and face health risks when left alone (paywall link). The hot, new way to find a match: Let your bunny loose and see how it interacts with other furballs. Signs of good chemistry? Eating, sniffing and lying down together.
Using iOS18 Reader Mode
iOS18 has a lot of cool features, including Reader Mode, Safari’s own personal ad blocker.
165% surge
In exterminator searches in the U.S., compared to 2023. Across the country, people are waging war with pests. Three times as many Yelp searches for cockroach exterminators have been completed than at this time last year. According to Yelp, California has the biggest rat problem. Bet you thought it was New York.
🚢 “Cruise” into a virtual train ride: VR is coming to a new Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The restaurant is in a digital train car. Passengers sit in fancy booths with simulated sceneries on giant displays that look like windows. Subwoofers in the seats simulate the vibrations of the tracks. The first theme? Western. Giddyup!
The latest and greatest: OpenAI’s GPT‑4o mini is a faster, free version of its latest GPT‑4o model. Soon, it’ll interpret images, text and audio, plus generate pics. Try it: Hit this link, log in and switch the model (top left corner) to GPT‑4o mini.
⚠️ Job seekers, beware: North Korean hackers are setting up fake job interviews. Their goal is to break into Macs. How it works: They ask you to join a meeting by downloading a file called “MiroTalk.dmg.” It’s hiding info-stealing malware. Next time you get an offer, vet the company and stick to using trusted software already on your computer.
The FBI opened it in 40 minutes: Former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, used a Samsung smartphone. The FBI cracked it with Cellebrite software and found photos of Trump, President Biden and other officials. Crooks also searched for info about major depressive disorders and Princess Kate.
Sneak peek: Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold
Looks like they’re going all-in on AI, dubbing it “built for the Gemini era.” It’s expected to drop Aug. 13.