Guy Kawasaki on being remarkable

💸 This isn’t tech, but it is free money: Chase and Wells Fargo want your business so badly, they’ll give you $300 to open a new checking account. At Bank of America, it’s $200. The catch: You have to set up direct deposit. Check with your local branch for all the details.

For a stegosaurus named “Apex.” The 27-foot-long skeleton sold on auction for 10 times more than expected, making it the world’s most valuable fossil. Apex was discovered in Colorado just two years ago and is thought to have lived well into old age. Must’ve been taking his Flintstones vitamins …

¡Ay, car-amba! Last year, GM nearly tied its 1979 record for Corvettes sold. While other sports cars struggled, GM moved twice as many (paywall link) Corvettes as in 2019. Why? Engineers put the motor in the back, just like high-end supercars. I swear it looks like a Ferrari. Now, gearheads are lining up.

Ctrl + Space + X is Musk’s favorite keyboard shortcut: You used to be able to break into Elon Musk’s Starlink with just a leaked username and password. Then, bingo — you’ve got yourself some pricey hardware with someone else’s credit card. Now, they’re finally adding a two-factor authentication pop-up if someone tries to change your account email address or phone number. About time.

🗞️ Trust fall: Science says you’re more likely to believe fake news from an acquaintance than your best friend. That’s why so many scammers pose as long-lost classmates or distant relatives. Focusing instead on who’s sharing — not what’s being shared — could be the best way to stop fake news.

Stay far, far away: Scammers use crypto ATMs to defraud U.S. victims out of millions every year. They’re less regulated and let you send money overseas instantaneously. A 77-year-old woman just got scammed out of $9,000. Once her money left the country, she was SOL. Listen up: No legitimate entity will ever ask you to send money in crypto or from an ATM.

🚨 CrowdStrike’s global outage isn’t over: Scammers are out in full force using fake CrowdStrike websites to push phishing emails and phone calls posing as tech support to steal your info. Don’t give info over the phone, and check unfamiliar email senders’ domains very carefully. The official CrowdStrike website and domain is crowdstrike.com.

🪱 “Scarlet worm”: That term is in the Bible 25 times. It’s a dye made from ground-up insects and their eggs. Archaeologists just discovered a 3,800-year-old artifact, a woven fabric, made from that very dye. The little scrap, just two centimeters across, was hiding in the Cave of Skulls in the Judean Desert. Show this to someone who says the Bible is fiction.

He was onto something: In a newly released clip from 1983, Steve Jobs dreamt of a machine that could generate responses based on a person’s “underlying spirit, or underlying set of principles, or any underlying way of looking at the world.” Yeah, that’s an AI chatbot. Btw, Jobs wanted to talk to Aristotle and Plato. I’d like to chat with my parents.

♨️ Major recall: Some 3.2 million Bissell Steam Shot handheld steam cleaners shoot hot water or steam when you aren’t expecting it. Ouch. The steamers went viral on TikTok and were sold at Target, Walmart, Amazon and everywhere else. If you have one, hit this site.