Smartphones in school? Not so fast

Open/download audio

Giving your kid a smartphone is meant to keep them safe and connected. But now, schools are pushing back, saying they cause more harm than good. 

Tags: connected, download, fast, Now, open, safe, school, schools, smartphones


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!)

Continue reading

RIP, tax dollars: NASA scrapped a moon rover that cost $450 million to build. The VIPER had already been developed to explore the southern part of the moon, but further testing was deemed too expensive.

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.

Some 51% of people think sharing their smartphone PIN with a partner is normal and healthy. Checking internet search histories and tracking a partner’s location are a different story; 74% of those surveyed think location tracking is toxic, and that percentage jumps to 95% if the location tracking is done without the other party’s knowledge.

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.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a cop! Police in California used a drone to nab a burglar near the Santa Monica Pier. The little guy spotted a car thief using a screwdriver to punch open locks in a parking lot, and it called in officers and directed them to the exact location. Here’s the video.

✈️ You can opt out of airport facial recognition scans: Stand away from the camera, present your ID and say something like, “I opt out of biometrics. I want the standard verification process.” It could save you from a data breach or misidentification as a criminal suspect. Both have happened.

Self-driving Telsa hit & run

How do you explain this to the cops?

Police drone nabs a would-be burglar

Police in California nabbed a burglar near the Santa Monica Pier with a drone. The little guy spotted a car thief using a screwdriver to punch open locks in a parking lot. It called in officers and directed them to the exact location. Amazing, right?