Retailers have so many ways to track you – Here’s how to fight back
If you have an internet connection, companies are racing to gather every bit of data they can on what you might buy — and they’re getting increasingly sophisticated about it.
How do they do it? Let’s dive into how retail tracking works and, more importantly, what you can do about it.
Remember “Rickrolling”? It’s the prank when you trick someone into watching the video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” An AI CEO says his bot just did it to a customer. No kidding, the person asked for a video training session. When the AI couldn’t find one, it sent a link to the 1987 hit. Yes, they patched the glitch.
7,000 pancreases
Listed as missing and never transplanted from 2021 to 2023. There’s a loophole in federal transplant regulations that allows organ procurement organizations to use pancreas cells for diabetes clinical trials. Meanwhile, there are folks sitting on the waiting list for these organs and the operations aren’t happening.
Photoshop skills without all the training: It’s here with Adobe’s Magic Fixup. Imagine deciding you want something in an image in a different place or a little bigger. You can cut and paste it, then AI does all the work to make it look natural. Amazing stuff.
$300 a year
For Google Maps access in a new Chevy Silverado. It’s now built into the infotainment system through Chevy’s Connected Vehicle Plan, priced at $24.99 a month. To make matters more annoying, reviewers say it doesn’t even work well.
“He’s replaced me with ChatGPT”: A 25-year-old said her dad, a first-generation Chinese American, has replaced her with AI. Dad now uses AI instead of asking her for help translating, composing emails and keeping all his dad jokes in a dad-abase.
🗺️ It’s a joke, OK? Stop sharing the mock electoral maps flooding social media as if they’re facts. The trend is to take a blank map, color it mostly blue or red, and slap a clever line about how either Democrats or Republicans could win the Electoral College. Want in? Here’s a generator to make your own.
In Zelle hell: One tech pro lost $1,600 using Zelle. Eventually, Wells Fargo credited him for the fishy charge. He agrees with lawmakers who say Zelle and banks are quick to blame victims for using it “wrong.”
⚠️ Scammers’ new tactic? Using social media and messaging apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram to tell you you’re hot or offer tips to show you how to make money. About 86% of victims are tricked into transferring money themselves — without the crooks ever accessing their accounts. Come on! Please don’t fall for it.
3 years away
From having the perfect AI employee that works 24 hours a day and doesn’t complain. Alex Zekoff, co-founder of Thoughtful AI, has every reason to hope for that. His company creates AI employees for use in health care. Given how fast the industry is progressing, I can see it.