Use AI to recreate a loved one’s voice
Mark in Washington, D.C., wrote in with a question that absolutely pulled at my heartstrings:
“Kim, I love your newsletter and shows on WTOP 103.5 FM. My dad passed away recently, but I have all his voicemails on my phone. Is there any way to recreate his voice so my two young kids can hear him read their favorite bedtime stories?”
🚨 Precious metal scams: A Florida couple lost over $2 million after fraudsters told them there was a warrant out for their arrest. The fix? Buy gold bars and coins in exchange for their freedom. They handed it to a courier and only found out months later it was all a lie. Folks, police will never ask you for money or gold.
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Where America ranks in online vulgarity among English-speaking countries. Yes, “land of the free” also means land of the free to say anything we want. Turns out, 1 in every 2,800 words typed by Americans online is a swear, making us the reigning champs of digital potty mouths.
Google Home update: Some nine new features are here. You can now watch Nest Cam footage picture-in-picture on Google TV, and Gemini has more smart home controls. Automations take fewer steps, and you can skip through video by double-tapping. FYI: Most features are in public preview. Join here.
🕳️ Internet’s new boogeyman: Online predators have gotten a terrifying rebrand. “764” is a nihilistic extremist group targeting kids via Discord, Roblox and social media. The FBI is on it, but that’s cold comfort if your 12-year-old is getting radicalized during Minecraft. Talk early and often with your kids about online dangers. Audit their apps, and maybe uninstall a few.
2 wolves
That’s the entire “pack” of lab-grown dire wolves Colossal Laboratories has unleashed. Made with a gray wolf base, 14 tweaked genes and a heavy pour of Game of Thrones fanfic (named Ghost and Khaleesi). Some of the dire-specific genes were too dangerous to include. Frankly, if we can make French bulldogs, we can make anything.
Your receipt is poison: Some receipts are still printed with BPS, a BPA cousin that’s banned in the U.K. but alive and well in the U.S. Scientists say it’s probably fine, but maybe don’t rub your face with it like it’s a love letter. Cancer links are unproven, yet, but just leave it or throw it out.
🔥 Baseus charger recall: Over 55,000 portable chargers are being recalled after reports of them catching fire. Look for model BS-30KP365 with a serial number ending in 0 to 9 or D (check the bottom). If that’s you, get a free replacement on their website.
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Dead Sea Scroll fragments redated by AI with a better eye than your average historian. The system, named Enoch after the biblical prophet, was trained on radiocarbon-dated samples and subtle handwriting quirks invisible to humans. Then it read the Dead Sea Scrolls and confidently told researchers they were late by 100 years.