The secret science squad in your pocket
Think your phone is just for calls, texts and scrolling? Think again. You’re carrying around a secret lab in your pocket.
The accelerometer that flips your screen when you turn it? That’s what your fitness app uses to count steps. The barometer that helps your weather app? It can tell if you’ve climbed a flight of stairs. And the gyroscope that powers AR games? Aim it at the sky, and it points out planets.
🏀 Steph Curry signs with Google: No joke, it’s a multiyear partnership where he’s going to use their AI to get better at basketball. How? Their so-called Coach will use Gemini and Pixel cameras to study his jump shot, break down his form and give him visual feedback. Part of the deal is no vacations. After all, basketball players aren’t allowed to travel. (Get it? Tough crowd today.)
📺 Block the binge: Netflix loves to autoplay the next episode, but you can turn this off. On desktop, click your account picture and select Manage Profiles. Choose Your Profile, go to Playback settings and toggle off Autoplay next episode in a series on all devices. Now hit Save at the bottom.
$12.99 per month
That’s the new price of Apple TV+, up from $9.99. If you’re already subscribed, you’ll see the price change 30 days after your next renewal date. Some good news? Yearly TV+ subscriptions and the Apple One services bundle aren’t changing. At least not yet. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Orbital jump scare: Russia-affiliated hackers hijacked a satellite and streamed their military parade straight into Ukrainian living rooms. Now U.S. officials say Russia’s working on a nuclear space weapon that could black out all satellites. If it goes live, low-Earth orbit turns into one big no-fly zone for a year. At least that movie wasn’t Ice Cube’s War of the Worlds.
🍏 Update your Apple gear ASAP: Apple dropped an emergency patch for iPhones, iPads and Macs after hackers were caught exploiting a nasty flaw. The trick? Sending a booby-trapped image via text or email that lets them break in and run malicious code. Go to Settings > General > Software Update now.
Windows 11 update breaks SSDs: Last week’s KB5063878 update is making storage drives vanish, showing up as unallocated space. Since the update rolled out automatically, the only real fix is to roll it back. Here’s how.
67
The number that turned a rap lyric into Gen Alpha’s secret handshake. It started in a drill song, got memed onto NBA star LaMelo Ball and now lives on TikTok as flashy edits and a bouncing hand gesture. He’s 6’7” but plays small, the beat drops, they say “67,” and that’s it. No meaning. Welcome to Gen Alpha.
1,500 years
That’s how long ago engineers in Tajikistan built a hidden aqueduct system. Ancient designers used ceramic pipes and waterproof mortar to serve a fortress city long before flush toilets were a thing. And yes, it still impresses modern-day scientists. Click through the photos, and you’ll see why.
📧 Big Tech is reading your emails: Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, so annoying. They all snoop on what you open, click and even say. I use StartMail because it puts privacy first: no ads, no tracking, and encrypted email with unlimited disposable addresses. Try it free for 7 days right now, and get 60% off. It’s what I use, and I trust it.